Briarwood Church

In today’s society, the real meaning of love has been lost. However, the apostle Paul gives to us a biblical definition of real love. He tell us what love is and what love is not. In I Corinthians 13 beginning with verse 4, he says: “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”

This is what real love is about. We are commanded to Love God with all our hearts, mind, soul and strength and to Love our neighbors as ourselves. The only way to do that is to have God ruling in our hearts, because God Is Love.

In Exodus 3, Moses has an incredible experience with God. Moses sees this bush that is burning, but it is not consumed. God speaks to him from the burning bush. God speaks to him an amazing truth in verse 14. “And God said to moses, ‘I Am Who I Am’. And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I Am has sent me to you’.” God is the great I Am. This name for God expresses His self-existence and the unchangeableness of His character. He transcends the past, the present, and the future. He has always been, He is, and He will always be. As the Great I Am, He never changes; He will never leave us nor forsake us. I’m reminded of the great hymn that says: “Change and decay in all around I see; O thou who changest not, abide with me.”

This is probably the most important week of celebration in the Christian World. It is when we celebrate the death and the resurrection of Jesus. He died that we could live. He arose so we could live in victory. It was all a part of God’s perfect redemption plan. Some look at the death of Christ as being a time when satan got the upper hand on God. But nothing could be further from the truth than that. God was always in control. They didn’t take His life from Him. He freely and willingly laid His life down. We deserved death because of our sin. But He took our place. He gave His life for you and me. Then, three days later, He arose victoriously over death, and the grave. Death could not keep Him. The grave could not hold Him. He arose and He lives forever. “You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart”. 

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday, as we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus. Don’t forget the Sunrise Service at the Rhoades Ranch. Then we will all gather at Briarwood @ the regular service times.

So often in our times of disappointment and need, we lose sight of the blessings of God on our lives. Regardless of how difficult life may get at times, there is so much for which to be thankful. Today, I saw a youtube song, sung by Jeff and Sheri Easter. It was a song that Jeff’s dad had written, when he first got saved. He was very poor and lived in a two-room shack. But he realized that he was truly blessed and was excited about the Lord. I want to share with you some of the lyrics:

“As the world looks upon me, as I struggle along,                                                        they say I have nothing, but they are so wrong.                                                         In my heart I’m rejoicing, how I wish they could see.                                             Thank you Lord for your blessings on me.

There’s a roof up above me. I’ve a good place to sleep.                                        There’s food on my table and shoes on my feet.                                                      You gave me your Love Lord and a fine family.                                                      Thank you Lord for your Blessings on me.”

Regardless of what happens in our lives, we should always stop and say, “Thank You Lord For Your Blessings On Me”.

One of the great truths in scripture is that God answers prayer. We sometimes get confused about that because His answer is not always what we want. However we need to remember, He always knows what is best. That’s why He answers in different ways. Sometimes He answers”yes” and something happens immediately. That is always our perferred answer. But sometimes He answers “no”. We don’t like that answer. I like to relate it to when we say no to our children. It is because we want what is best for them. So as loving parents there are times we must say no to our children and God deals with us in the same way. Sometimes God’s answer to our prayers is “not now”. “Not now” sounds a lot like “no”. But it has to do with God’s timing. He operates on a different time schedule than we do. The way we must deal with God’s answers to our prayers is always faith. He loves us and knows what is best for us. He knows even better than we do. So not matter what we deal with in this life, we must practice “making our request known unto God” (Phil. 4:6). Because, God Answers Prayer.

In the 18th chapter of Matthew, Jesus tells a story about a servant that owed a debt that he could not pay. This servant owed his master, in our present day economy, millions of dollars. His master, the king, called him in to collect the debt. The servant could not pay, but pleaded with the king and the king forgave his entire debt. Then that same servant went out and found a fellow servant who owed him a small amount of money. And when his fellow servant could not pay the debt, he had him thrown into prison.

It is easy for us to see the ungratefulness and lack of compassion in the unforgiveness of this servant. But when we refuse to forgive others, we are just like this servant. We all owed a debt that we could not pay. But as we “confessed our sins, He was faithful and just to forgive us”. And just as God has forgiven us, out of gratefulness and compassion, we too forgive others. He wants us to Be Forgiving.

Abba Father is a name for God that Jesus and Paul used in approaching God. “Abba” is actually an Aramaic word of affection for “father”, similar in meaning to “daddy or pappa”. The religous people of the New Testament avoided such an affectionate term for God. They thought of Him as an exalted and larger than life being who demanded such respect and distance. They felt that God was to be spoken of only in hushed reverence, rather than addressed as if He were a member of the family. But Jesus saw His relationship with the Father different.  He  addressed the Father as “Abba” because He knew Him in an intimate way. Well, God offers to us that same kind of relationship. We too, can know God in an intimate way. Galatians 4:6,7 says, “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father’! Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

Paul writes in I Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” Paul first of all makes it clear that, being joyful, praying and being thankful are all choices we can make. We can decide to be joyful. We can decide to pray. We can decide to be thankful. And we should decide to do all three of these things, because it is God’s will for those who belong to Christ Jesus. A lot of people are wanting to know God’s will for their lives. Well one aspect of God’s will for all of us it: “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”

So often we spend a lot of time and energy blaming others for the mess we are in. And there are times when, because of the actions of others, we have hardships in our lives. But we must not allow the fact, that we are where we are because of the doings of others, to be an excuse for not moving on in our lives. Regardless of how we got to where we are, we are responsible for where we go from here. Paul says in Philippians 3:13, 14 “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Paul says we have to put somethings behind us. We must not allow past events to hold us back. We must press forward. We must move on. Regardless of how we got to where we are, we are reponsible for where we go from here.

As we here in the panhandle of Texas have experience the snow, I want to share with you a passage in scripture that talks about snow in a symbolic sense. God speaks the following to us in Isaiah 55 verses 10 and 11: “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, So shall My Word be that goes forth from My Mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

What God is saying to us it that His Word was sent for us. And the purpose of His Word is to Prosper us in all aspects of our lives. There is something very similar written in Psalm 1 verse 2 and 3: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord (the Word of God) and in His law (Word) he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.”

In other words, the person who delights in the word, and meditates on the word will prosper in all areas of his or her life. That’s why we should read it, study it, memorize it, meditate on it, and live in obedience to it. If we do,we will prosper, body, soul and spirit. “Whatever he does shall prosper.”