Brothers and sisters make sure you give way to fear ... of God.

Now is a time to stand tall in confidence rather than quaver in fear! Our heavenly Father has saved us and we are ready to live here or live in eternity ... whichever. My prayer for us all is that we remember first and foremost that we are God's children and that He is in charge! Pray for others to come to this peace and safety as well. Remember that they will have a harder time coming to it if they don't see it in us first. People follow the sermon of the actions much more than that of the lips alone. Stay on your knees for the sick and struggling in our church family. Pray for one another, the elders, deacons and preacher. Let us keep in touch and see what a blessing we have in our assembly ... now that we will be away from it for a while. Remember, many don't have this blessing!

This too shall pass applies to the Corona Virus ... don't yield entirely in fear to something that will die and go away. Yield to God ... our Heavenly Father. He will always be here ... remember that!

Have You Heard That Money Can't Buy Happiness? If So, Not True!

Now, as is true of so many things, context is everything. If you are apart from God your money and your pursuits may give you momentary fits and starts of happiness. But it would be the equivalent of an engine sputtering and trying to die. But without God there is never the smooth hum of contentment.

In Christ, via love, money can buy mountains of joy, happiness and contentment. But it will never do that here on earth if that money is the root of the pursuit rather than the Godly directed vehicle you harness it for to facilitate service and love.

If there was one thing I would change about our Declaration it would be that I would say, "God, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." We have far too many believers who leave God out!

When the Apostle Paul said and meant ... "For me to live is God and to die is gain," I'm ashamed at how few of us have truly invested deeply into that same rationale.

Many believers pay more money for their alcohol, cigarettes, coffee, bad habits and hobbies than they ever do when the collection plate goes by. The average giving today is around 3%. The average gift each Sunday morning is less than $20. Muslims and Jews give more on average than Christians who claim they would die for their faith!

What if people were so sold out for Jesus and living in the next life that they sought to give as much as they possibly could rather than the LEAST they could get by with?

Many people will make it to Heaven with the realization, too late, that they gave up most of their treasure on frivolous garbage. Brothers and sisters we can truly help people in this life and into eternity. What a crying shame that so few care about that!

I know people who are happy to give 2.5 % of their income and think it is worthy of bragging! The poor who wandered in the wilderness with Moses paid more than that!

There are orphans to feed and house, widows to care for, missionaries to send and support, souls to save, songbooks and bibles to buy, local preachers to support, churches to plant ... but go ahead Christian ... have your coffee and donuts, eat out and stay very, very busy justifying it.

In the meanwhile, my aim is to buy happiness with my money and to seek to teach others to do the same. Using it selfishly is empty and worthless. And the kind of happiness it gives starts here and compounds by an eternal factor ahead of us.

" In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Acts 20:35

by John Fields

Sometimes Faith Grows Most in the "I Don't Know ..."

Abraham was told to leave his loved ones and trail-blaze a path with only God's command to follow. He did not know what was ahead. What dangers would there be, uncertainties would abound or challenges would arise?

But this man had one overwhelming superpower ... his faith! Whether he knew what we now know is debatable. If he didn't, it makes his faith that much more remarkable and ours that much more in need of rebuke when we don't act with so much more on our side of history to help us.

"For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, 'I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.' And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil." Hebrews 6:13-19

Brother or sister in Christ. Do you trust me, myself and I more than God? Do you trust your five senses and your prior experiences or do you place your hands in the hands of the One Who stills the water? There are many things you don't or can't know in this life. When you get backed up against sickness, loss, abandonment, death or any other number of challenges who do you give your energy and attention to ... your doubts …. or God's promises given in His Word?

There are many things you don't know. But if you know that there is none greater than God and that He never ... not even once ... broke a promise ... you must know He won't start with you!

There is nothing in this life you and He cannot handle ... nothing at all! Believe it!

by John Fields

Forget YOUR Agenda …. God Isn't Interested

If there was anyone who I'd believe came closest to a legit complaint it would've been Job. It's likely that he was the most faithful man alive in his day. He was a model citizen and loving follower of God when his life was turned inside out by Satan.

His children all died and most of his servants were killed as well. His livestock was all stolen. His wife was demoralized and we never hear from her again after she advises Job to "curse God and die." He is in abject pain with infected boils and larva literally crawling under his oozing skin when his "friends" come to visit.

Instead of being sympathetic they only added to his misery.

After a long back and forth between them accusing Job and him defending his honor and alternately either accusing or defending God Job finally has the opportunity to literally face God Himself!

A sense of what Job is in for comes quickly when God says to Job, "Get ready and gird yourself like a man." As God answers Job out of the whirl-wind all thoughts of Job's prior intention to interrogate God fled away.

Finally, Job replies back to God, "“I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” ‘Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.’ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:1-6

Whatever your interests are, make certain that they are aligned with God and that you are not carrying around bias and selfish intentions masquerading as servitude or obedience to God. Whenever you bring your baggage with you into study seek to be honest and honorable enough to shut your mouth and open your ears. God has much to say and we have need of being all ears to what God wants to bring into our lives.

Remember, it all ends well for those who love God and put Him first. It must because He promised that it would.  

by John Fields

Are You Calling God a Liar?

God said that these shall not inherit the kingdom of Heaven. He then goes on to name who “these” are. 

     “Or don’t you know that the unrighteous won’t inherit the kingdom of God? Don’t be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

I take this list to be a partial one. Liars are included, along with the profane, worldly, unloving, un-giving, as well as etcetera, etcetera and a whole lot of etceteras. These unrighteous include those who are staying in Christ by continually trusting Him and seeking to love God and their fellow men by seeking to overcome sin as they fully glorify God with their lives. 

Shall they continue in these various sins in all of their multifaceted ways of disobeying God? Should they walk as though they are holding hands with Jesus the Groom on one side and the planned sin (think adulterous lover) on the other? NO! If we are using grace as a means of continuing in the very thing that sent Jesus to a gruesome death in the first place we are making a liar out of God. 

God said the penalty for sin is death. It was our future without Jesus. Did He give us freedom so we could continue walking in it, enjoying it and continually spitting in Jesus’ eye? One man, one woman for life was not just a reality … it was a picture of a spiritual reality as well. It meant that we wouldn’t be joined to Jesus and remain joined to our sin at the same time. Because we died to sin we would not continue as though we could have sin as our side lover.

Be very careful in how you treat sin. When we communicate that we can continue sinning without seeking to overcome it we are hurting ourselves and others. While it is very true that I serve a Savior Who is greater at forgiving than I am at needing it that does not change the fact that repentance is to be a daily endeavor and struggle. If I say I can give in to sin and remain in Christ I am walking and communicating a dangerous lie.

I was washed, set-apart and justified so I could overcome it. I must seek to leave it behind. I may stumble and fall and may struggle with the old, “ball and chain” of that previous life. But I must never forget that love dictates that I will always seek to leave it in my past!

By John Fields