God's Favorite Instrument

Have you ever heard a guitar that is super out of tune? Nobody likes that sound. It clashes with itself. I think one reason that it bugs us is because we expect the guitar to sound good. We expect it to produce a melody that is sweet to our ears.

In a way, our hearts are just like guitars, or any other stringed instrument. Our hearts have been created with the intention of producing a sweet and pleasing melody. We see all over the Bible that God created us with intention, that He knit us together, and that He has made us to give praise to Him. When our hearts are right before God, it is like an instrument giving glory to the King. When we join together, our hearts can become like an orchestra of praise. We see in Scripture that God desires our obedience from the heart, not just outward action. With this knowledge, I think we can safely say that properly tuned hearts are God’s favorite instrument.

However, just like other instruments, our hearts can get out of tune. Our hearts can become flat or sharp through various means. Whether it is from sin in our lives, or just constant use, our hearts need to be tuned regularly. This tuning is something that only God can do. We have not been given the ability to tune our own hearts. We have however been given the ability to go to the Father and be tuned. We get tuned by God whenever we spend time with Him in worship, in the Word, or in prayer. Fellowship with our Creator is the means by which our hearts are tuned.

This should cause us to act. We should find desire to seek God more and more, as we will be used by Him and require more frequent tuning. Empty glasses don’t quench anyone’s thirst, and out of tune instruments don’t make pleasing sounds. Our hearts don’t bring joy to God when they aren’t right before Him, when they aren’t in tune. Also, this should change our outlook on the people around us. Rather than judging people, seeing that they have things wrong, we can notice that they are out of tune. When we make these observations, we can’t do anything to fix them. We can’t tune ourselves, and even more importantly, we cannot tune others. We can pray for them, and lift them up to God asking Him to tune them, but God is the only one with the power to do that, through intimate, individual fellowship.

Let our prayer become as the line from Come Thou Fount…

“tune my heart to sing Thy grace.”

Today.

During the course of this week a friend of mine lost her grandmother. She and I talked after she found out and she told me about her grandmother. This woman had been a Christian, and I was so blessed to hear about her life. My friend had such positive things to say, and remembered her grandmother as someone who really loved the Lord.

This got me thinking about how we will be remembered. We all have a set number of days, we won’t exist forever.

Psalms 39:4, “O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!”

In comparison to God, in the grand scheme of things, we have almost no time whatsoever. Our lives are very brief. I think that when we realize this, we begin to feel a sense of urgency to complete the things that are important to us.

The question of how we will be remembered is one that we all ask at times. Years from today, what will people think of us when they look back on our lives? Will people even take the time to look back on our lives? The answer to that question lies in what we do with today.

James 4:13-14, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make profit” – yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

We have today, and while it is scary to think about it, we aren’t even promised to make it through today. In the moment, the choices that we make can seem irrelevant. However, those choices when put together make up who we are.

We aren’t promised the chance to be the people that we want to be one day, or the people we want to be remembered as. The only chance to be those people that we are guaranteed to have is the chance right before us, today.

When someone looks back at your life, what will they see?
I doubt they will remember the kind of car that you drove, or how much money you made. People will remember the impact that you had on their lives. So therein lays our question.

What impact are you making on the people around you today?

You might not get tomorrow, so don’t waste today.

Unexpected Entrance

The time of year has come around again, and to be honest, it's come up much more suddenly than other years. We are all busy in the hustle and bustle of day to day life, and all of a sudden Christmas is less than three weeks away.

Being busy isn't bad, but I think it is important that we stop and reflect for a moment. Some two thousand years ago, there was a young pregnant woman, with her fiance, and they were looking for somewhere to stay for the night. She was about to have her baby. As we all know from the account given in the gospel of Luke, there was no room in the inn, so Mary and Joseph ended up in the stable, with the animals. What a stage had been set for the entry of such a King.

Had we planned this, it would have gone very differently. The King of kings is entering the scene of mankind to bring life and salvation. We would have cleared out the inn entirely. The whole staff of this bed and breakfast would have been catering to Mary's every need, Jesus would have been born and instantly wrapped in the finest cloth, and in the softest bed. Announcements would have gone out. Little blue "its a boy" cards, with His weight, length, and possibly a footprint.

However, this wasn't what happened. Jesus was born in that stable that night. The Bible tells us that He was placed in a manger, which sounds almost cute. This wasn't some nice soft manger with fresh hay and a glowing light above it. This wasn't the "manger special crib" from Ikea. This was the feeding trough for the animals in the stable. This was where they ate. Jesus was placed in a food trough. It would have smelled. It would have been pretty gross, but it was good enough for God.

You see, God came to dwell with men with a purpose in mind. Jesus' purpose was to reach out to men, to give them opportunity to respond to God through something other than the law. To give mankind something more personal than the ten commandments. God gave them a person, someone they could talk to, and see, and touch. Something tangible to them. Jesus lived among the people. He was not set apart from them as something greater than they could attain. Jesus made efforts to relate to people. He spent a good amount of time sitting at the dinner table, talking with tax collectors, and prostitutes. On more than one occasion, Jesus reached out and physically touched people that the world wouldn't have gone near. Then, some thirty years after this common birth, Jesus was nailed to a cross where He died for the sins of the world. This is the greatest picture of love we have ever seen, that God would come down and die for sinful, undeserving men.

He returned three days later, having conquered death, and He will return again in all of His glory and splendor, but consider the first picture we see of Jesus.

He was a baby, He couldn't take care of Himself.
He was poor, Mary and Joseph didn't "have it made" Joseph was just a carpenter.
Jesus was born without even the extended family coming in and celebrating. There wasn't too much of a big deal made out of it that day, but it was the greatest day in history to that point.

"But He made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." - Philippians 2:7-8

Encourage (Today)

Hebrews 10:24 - "Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works"

The author of Hebrews is writing, telling believers to think about ways to live out what we're called to do!

What can we be doing practically to encourage others, to build up others, to help them grow in their faith? This is something that I find really neat, because regardless of what point you're at in your walk, you're capable of encouraging someone.

Did you know that?

You have the ability to encourage someone.

Today.

It can be something as simple as sending a text message or phone call, telling someone that they are important, that God loves them, or even just a Bible verse. You could take someone out for coffee or lunch, spend time with them, listening to them and sharing life with them. Pray for someone. You could pour into someone through a Bible study, you could be mentoring someone. There are hundreds of ways!

Don't take me the wrong way, I'm not at all trying to condemn you if you aren't encouraging someone.

However, God's Word is clear that we're to lift each other up, to edify the body of Christ, so I challenge you today, how are you encouraging those around you? What are you doing to build up the body of Christ?

It doesn't have to be huge, it doesn't have to be expensive, it doesn't even have to be time consuming, but encourage someone today.

Choose This Day.

In Joshua chapter 24, Joshua is giving what will be his final address to the people. Part of his speech includes what we have all seen on someone's desk, or wall. "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." but before Joshua gets to that part of it, he tells Israel of all that God has done on their behalf. He recounts to them how God has delivered them from Egypt, and fulfilled His promises to them. Then Joshua asks Israel, choose this day who you are going to serve. Choose if you want to serve the Lord, who has done all of these things for you, or if you want to give yourself to the foreign idols, who do nothing but bring death, and separation from God.


We have this same question before us today. We might not have a house to determine for, we might only be deciding for ourselves. However, the question arises, what are you going to serve?
It can also be argued that we would never serve idols like Baal or Dagon, we're smarter than that. But how often do we serve money, or our jobs, or even more common, ourselves?

Today, God is calling on you heart to serve Him, to obey His commands. Jesus said in John 14:15, that if we love God, we will exemplify that love through obedience. In James, we're told that when we seek God, He seeks us. We have been promised the power of the Holy Spirit to walk out this life we have all been called to, one question remains for us all.

Who will you serve today?

The Pursuit of...

In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul is addressing the church in Corinth on the proper use of gifts in the church. He spells it out in verses 26, 33, and 40. He tells the church first, that the gifts are for building up, that God is not the Author of confusion, but of peace, and also that the gifts should be used in a decent and orderly fashion. These verses are absolutely vital for bringing clarity to the way that these gifts are to be used, especially among the congregation. However, it is not all of the explanations of the gifts, and prophecy and tongues that sticks out to me.

What sticks out to me in 1 Corinthians 14 are the three things which Paul tells us to pursue, desire, and seek.
The word "pursue" literally means to follow, in order to overtake or capture. Pursue is a verb. To pursue requires action. Now that this is established, what has Paul commanded us to pursue? The answer to that is found in verses 1 and 12. Paul tells us, pursue love, earnestly desire spiritual gifts, and strive to excel in building up the church. I'm sure that most of us read this list and are automatically drawn to the first part. "Pursue love." That sounds so nice. Maybe someone will make a sign of that and put it over their door with "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord" right? WRONG. When Paul says to pursue love, he is telling us that we are to actively hunt down ways to better put ourselves last. Now you're all thinking that the second two items sound better, but wait. Lets continue to look at pursuing love. Paul has just finished penning 1 Corinthians 13, which is widely known in churches today as "the love chapter" where new definition has been brought to love. To sum up Paul's new definition, love is putting the needs and desires above our own. Love manifests itself through humble service. This is something seen throughout the Gospels. Romans 5:8 tells us, in this we know that God loves us, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Christ's death showed His love. What we do shows our love. This death to self is something that Paul even uses as an example specifically for husbands in the way that they treat their wives. Love, as Christ loved the church, giving Himself for her. The love that Jesus Christ brought embraces selflessness. "Pursue love" might as well be read "pursue selfless living"

Secondly, Paul tells the church in Corinth that they should earnestly desire spiritual gifts. These gifts encompass every way in which the Spirit of God moves among His people. As followers of Christ, our desire should always be to see God move in our midst. Jesus calls us to love God with everything that we are (Luke 10:27). That involves seeking His face above everything, regardless of how we feel, putting His will above ours. If we have Jesus on the thrown of our hearts and lives, nothing should excite us more than God Himself coming down to our level and moving in our midst. Spiritual gifts are not only when God's Spirit moves among us, but through us. The Holy Spirit Himself moves and works in and through us. How could we, as disciples of Jesus, desire anything more?

Finally, in verse 12, we are called to strive to excel at building up the body of Christ. Paul doesn't just tell us to try to build up the body of Christ, but to excel at it. We are supposed to be professional edifiers. The church of Christ should be the most encouraging, most uplifting people on this planet. That is how God calls us to be set apart. If we aren't edifying the body, glorifying Christ, then we are not reflecting a faithful image of Jesus to the rest of the body and the world outside. When someone excels at something, not only are they the best at it, but it comes naturally to them. We as the church must be so wrapped up in who Jesus is and what He has done for us that edification should come naturally. This last item will truly be a product of the items which Paul places before it. When we are living selfless lives, fully dependent on the constant moving of the Holy Spirit, edification is the result. When we move away from this, we go from operating as a member of the body of Christ to operating in our own flesh, and it is certain that edification will not be brought to the body of Christ through one of its members walking in the flesh.

Pursue love, earnestly desire spiritual gifts, strive to excel at building up the church.

On Christ the Solid Rock.

Steadfast [sted-fast] -Adjective.
1. Fixed in direction; steadily directed: a steadfast gaze.
2. Firm in purpose, resolution, faith, attachment, etc., as a person: a steadfast friend.
3. Unwavering, as resolution, faith adherence, etc.
4. Firmly fixed in place or position.

Immovable [ih-moo-vuh-buhl] -Adjective.
1. Incapable of being moved; fixed; stationary.
2. Incapable of being influenced by feeling; emotionless: An immovable heart; an immovable tyrant.
3. Incapable of being moved from one's purpose; steadfast; unyielding.

You might be wondering what these two words have to do with the old hymn, "On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand."

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:58, uses both of these words together, as he encourages the Corinthian believers to comtinue because of the work of Christ in defeating death.

"Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain."

In Matthew 10:22, Jesus says that it is those who stand firm in their faith who will be saved.

This whole idea of standing firm in our faith, not being shaken, is obviously very important.
Paul brings it up in almost all of his letters, and Jesus referenced on more than one occasion for us to continue in strength, to not be shaken, to not waver. James says that the one who wavers is like a wave driven by the sea, and that they are unstable in all of their ways.

What is so important about standing firm?
Two things I see that are the product of immovable faith.

First, immovable faith, standing firm in Christ, results in our growth. When Satan attacks us, tempts us, when God allows our faith to be tested, there is temptation to give in, to allow the difficulties that arise to overcome us, but Paul and James both speak of the reward in being overcome by Christ, and overcoming our difficulties and struggles through the strength that He gives. Endurance, hope, patience, and character. These are all qualites that are worth the pursuit.
Our faith does not grow unless it is tested.
Take the example of a body builder. If a person wishes to get stronger physically, they will never accomplish their goal if they go to the gym every day, pick up the 5lb weight once, and then leave.
Strength is built through added resistance.
Our faith is the same way! When the problems grow, and the difficulties increase, it is to grow and stretch our faith. It will more than likely be painful, but we will not grow otherwise!
Difficulties, problems, struggles, and trials all serve to grow our faith, and our reliance on strength from God.

Secondly, when we stand firm in our faith, when we refuse to be shaken, it stands as a testimony to the faithfulness of God.
Things go wrong for everyone, all the time. Nobody on this world has a perfect life, free from any issue that may arise. The way that these predicaments are dealt with however, varies greatly. Some people complain and whine through them, some people fight through them, some people blame God for them and grow bitter, and some people fall on God in them, allowing the things which come against them to push them closer to the Lord.
We should strive to be like the last person. When things arise against us, let them push you to Jesus, cling to Him, and rely on His grace and power to see you through.
When we stand firm in trials, is leaves an example for other believers. Paul told the Corinthians to follow him in the way that He followed Jesus. We can set an example for other believers. When we refuse to be moved by troubles of this world, it can encourage other believers to do the same.
Also, when we are resistant to the common responses to these trials, when we refuse to complain, or accept defeat, it leaves a testimony which those who don't have relationship with Christ can see.
When you stand firm, non-Christians will notice. This exemplifies the power of Jesus Christ in ways that cannot be shown apart from struggles. It is easy to be a Christian when things are easy, but its more of a witness to remain a Christian in your actions and words when things are difficult. When people expect you to cave in, to be overwhelmed, refusing to be overcome by your difficulties is a powerful witness for Christ.

What kind of witness are you being?
Are you facing difficulties? If so, are you overcoming them through the redeeming power of Jesus Christ, or are you allowing them to overcome you?

"Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." -1 Corinthians 10:12-13

More Than Conquerors

In today's society, the idea of a God who conquers and defeats His enemies is considered to be something of the past. "That's Old Testament God" people might say. Our culture, the church included, tends to lean much farther to the side of the loving, humble Jesus.
Do not mistake what I am saying. I am not saying that Jesus was not loving and humble, or that these are bad things to focus on. Jesus said Himself in John 13:35, that the way we LOVE is what sets us apart as His people. Just as it was with Christ, love is what motivates us in what we do, and humility is the manner in which we are to act. However, this only covers the how and the why. What exactly was the mission objective of Jesus?

Jesus Christ came to conquer. He came humbly, in the form of a baby, being laid in a manger. He came because of His great love for you. But do not forget that Jesus Christ came to defeat the enemy.

Hollywood loves to produce movies with heros. Often, the hero is against fighting, until an injustice happens to him. When this happens, he goes and cleans house. What Christ did for us is incredibly similar. We were overtaken by sin, our flesh had the victory, and Satan had dominion over us.

But Jesus wouldn't allow things to continue this way, so God Himself came to deal with the enemy. He came in behind enemy lines, under cover as a human. He then went to His own death. Paying the price we deserved, and in doing so defeating Satan, the world, and sin. Once and for all. What an epic storyline!!! And it didn't end there!! After defeating every enemy standing in opposition, Jesus Christ rose again on the third day. He conquered DEATH.  This means that there is nothing which can stand against us, whatsoever. (Romans 8:31)

We see in the love and humility of Christ, the example set for us, and in the death and resurrection, we have hope. We have the motivation that keeps us going. May you be encouraged by the fact that Jesus Christ came to earth, and crushed all opposition.  Also, we see in this victory, our mission objective.
After Jesus rose from the dead, in Matthew 28 He left His disciples with some final words.
He told them to GO. Share what had happened, help others to grow in their faith. We all love to share with people when we see a new movie, we love describing the battle scenes, and the drama of it all. I challenge you, reader, to go. Share the victory of Christ! He has truly defeated the enemy, crushing sin, satan, death, and sin, all in one blow.

He has made us more than conquerors. (Romans 8:37) Our mission objective is to live in the victory that Christ provided. (Galatians 5:1) and to bring others into that victory!

That is a story worth sharing.

Worship: 24/7

In the fourth chapter of John, Jesus is conversing with the Samaritan woman, and in verse 23, Jesus tells her,

"But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him."

This brings up a few points. First, let me say this. God is desiring you to worship Him. God is blessed by the Christian who lifts up His name regardless of circumstance.
Because of our sin, we have no access to God on our own. Jesus died that we could have right standing and relationship with God, part of that is the access to worship Him freely.

However, we can often fall into the pattern of thinking that says worship is just singing "Lord I Lift Your Name On High" during the service on Sunday morning.

This idea is incredibly false.

Jesus says worshipers who worship in spirit and truth. What this means, is that we are not called to just worship Jesus with our voices at church, we are called to worship the Lord from our hearts. It is to be a sincere proclamation, glorifying Jesus Christ with our hearts, and beyond that even, with our lives.

Paul brings this out when writing to the church in Colossae, in Colossians 3:23 Paul states, "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men."

Jesus touches on the same thing in Matthew 5:16, "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works, and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven."

The definition of the word glorify, literally means "to honor with praise, admiration, or worship."

This goes to show that we are to do everything in our lives to worship God, from driving to work, to taking out the trash. And beyond that, the way that we live our lives should cause other people to worship.

That is heavy.

How we live, every minute of every day, should make people want to worship God.

Sometimes, this is easy, when things are fun, and life is great, worshiping God comes naturally. Its when things are hard, and they don't go our way, that worshiping God becomes a challenge.

However, it is when we worship God through those difficult times that it becomes a testimony of His great name.

Can you honestly say that you live like that day to day?

I challenge you to examine yourself. Is what you're doing at work, or in school, or at home alone when nobody is looking bringing glory to God?
Is your life lifting Jesus' name higher?

Let me close with a prayer that Jesus prayed in John 12. He was approaching the crucifixion, and while expressing how He is troubled over what lies ahead of Him,

in verse 28, He simply prays, "Father, glorify Your name."

I Wish I'd Waited | Teens

I Wish I'd Waited | Teens

That's All Folks

On Sunday night at THEFOUNDRY, we talked about the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem, which took place only five days before He would die on the cross to save us from our sins. He rode into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Back then, when kings were proclaiming peace, they entered towns on donkeys.
(see 1 Kings 1:32-38)
When kings are coming in war, proclaiming their dominion over an area, they show up on horses. Creatures they used for war.
In Revelation 19:11-16, Jesus is entering into this world. He is riding on a horse, proclaiming His dominion over it.
We talked about the return of Jesus a lot.
He is coming back!
He told His disciples that it would be like a thief in the night. UNEXPECTED.
We won't know when it is going to happen, but there are things that we can watch to discern the times.
There are also things we can do to prepare for His return.

Lets look at some of the things we can watch for to know about the approach of His return.
in Daniel 9, an angel comes to Daniel and gives him a prophecy. He tells him that from the time the decree is made to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem (happened in Nehemiah 1:6) there would be 69 weeks.
In looking at this, it doesn't make sense for these to be literal weeks (a little bit less than a year and a half)
However, if we look at these 69 weeks as sets of seven years, that adds up to 483 years. Daniel prophecied the exact date that Jesus would enter into Jerusalem.
This leaves one of those sets of seven years left. The 70th week.
At the end of Daniel 9, the prophecy ends with the description of that final week.
Daniel 9:27 "And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, untill the decreed end is poured out on the desolator."

That verse is probably the shortest possible description of the book of Revelation.
For seven years, the antichrist will rule the earth. For 3.5 years, there will be a peace treaty, and halfway through that peace treaty, the antichrist will set himself up to be god in the holy of holies in the temple.
Israel then realizes who he is and flees. He declares war on them, and so on and so forth, but in the end, God wins!

We are in between the 69th week and the 70th. The 69 weeks ended when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey, and the 70th week begins the great tribulation, and will end when Jesus comes again, riding on the white horse.

We don't know when that last seven years will take place. Nobody does except for God, and I'm not going to try and guess it, or tell you that I do.
However, Jesus does give us some help of signs that will happen before that takes place.
In Mark 13, Jesus is talking with some of His disciples. In verse 10, He says "And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations."
That is one thing that we are still waiting on. It does not mean that the moment the gospel makes it to that last nation, things will happen, but it is just something that has to happen first.
In Matthew 24, Jesus is explaining the signs of the end of the times to some of His disciples, and He tells them that there will be wars and rumors of wars. There will be famines, and earthquakes, and that is just the beginning. Many false prophets will arise. A lot of this is already happening. Think about all the wars going on in the middle east. Think about all of the earth quakes and natural disasters that we hear about, or experience on a regular basis!
Jesus uses the analogy of a tree in Matthew 24:32-35. He says that we know summer is coming becasue of what the tree is doing, and in the same way, if we watch the world, we can know when the end will be getting closer.
Matthew 24:44, "Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect."

We must be ready. How do we do that? Jesus goes on after that verse, talking about the wise servant, who is serving his master and prepared for his master's return.
The ways that we prepare are by obeying Christ. Abiding in Christ.
Christ told us in Matthew 28, and in Acts 1, to go and preach the Gospel, to everyone.
Paul and the other writers of the New Testament epistles continue this thought beyond just preaching the gospel into living it out.
One of my favorite passages is in Galatians 5:22-26, where Paul gives the fruit of the Spirit.
Just like we can watch trees to know what season it is, and watch the world to see where we're at, we can watch our lives to see where we stand Spiritually. The fruit that we have, whether it pertains to the list of the fruit of the Spirit, or the works of the flesh seen before the fruit of the Spirit, will give us a great picture of where we are Spiritually.
1 Peter 4:7, "The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers."
BE READY for Jesus to come back!!! Stand FIRM!!

I've talked a lot now.
Everything I've said can go right in one ear and out the other. You can get up and walk away from your computer, and not do a single thing about it.
But is that the best thing to do?

Reader, I challenge you here to examine yourself. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 tells us that God's will for our lives is to be sanctified, to be set apart. to be DIFFERENT from the world!
We can do that in His power.
Before you stop reading, and disregard everything I've said, do one thing for me. Examine your heart. Examine the fruit in your lives.
Are you living entirely as God calls you to?
What needs to change?
What are you going to do to make that change?

My prayers go out to those of you who have read this, whether you read the first line alone, or made it all the way down to the end. May God pour out His grace on you, and reveal Himself to you more every day.

In Christ,
-Wes Weber

A Good Start

Proverbs 9:10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight."

The phrase "the fear of the Lord" can sound really negative, almost like "you'd better watch out for God, because He's coming for you." However, it is important that we remember that this fear is not the same kind of fear that we might have for spiders, or clowns, or heights. On the contrary, this word fear is speaking more of respect, honor, or obedience.

So respecting Jesus, and obeying Him is the beginning of wisdom.

The opposite of wise is foolish, so the opposite of a wise person is a foolish person. and it doesn't say that once you've obeyed Christ, you have completed wisdom, it says that this honor and obedience of God is the very beginning of wisdom. Its a good start to being wise. Often, we can get into thinking that wisdom is what we know. However, that is only half of it. Wisdom is taking what we know, and applying it. Living out the truths that we have been taught. If you don't want to be foolish, the first step you have to take is honoring God, and obeying Him.

I know that this can sound like a lot of Old Testament stuff, but Jesus actually continues this thought in John 14:15, He said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." Jesus actually takes it a step past obedience to love. We don't just obey Christ because it makes us wise, but we obey Christ because we love Him.

We've talked a lot about why its important to obey Jesus, and to do what He says, but lets look at what that looks like.
Luke 9:23, "and He said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me."
That can sound like a lot of religious talk, but lets look at what Jesus is actually saying.

Jesus says if we want to follow Him, we have to deny ourselves. Another way of wording that would be that we have to put ourselves last. Last in what we want, last in how we feel, last in everything. I don't just mean letting someone else go before you in a line, but it means caring more about how someone else feels than how you feel. Taking care of someone else and what they want, rather than doing what you want.

Jesus also says to take up our cross daily and follow Him.
The cross isn't something that is comfortable to "take up". The modern equivalent would be "take up your lethal injection and follow Me."
Jesus is going one step further in how we are supposed to act. We are to put ourselves, our flesh that is, to death. Our flesh (the part of us that wants to sin) needs to be given no place of authority in our lives, because Jesus Christ has freed us from it. (Galatians 5:1)

I know that looking at this, and what that means for our lives, that's pretty scary. We can't do that on our own. I can't do that on my own!

However, Jesus never expected us to do it on our own. In Acts 1:8, Jesus told the disciples, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Jesus doesn't expect us to follow and obey Him in our strength, and there in the first chapter of Acts, He promises the Apostles that the Holy Spirit will fill them, and the Holy Spirit will give them the power to overcome.

Paul later writes about this same thing in Romans 8:11, "If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."

The Holy Spirit has the power to raise the dead, and that Spirit lives inside of YOU.
Think about that for a minute. If that is true (which it is) is there anything to big for us?
Later on in that same chapter, Paul says "...in all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." -Romans 8:37.

Because of Jesus dying for us, and the Holy Spirit living inside of us, we have done more than defeated our enemy, and we have more than beaten our flesh.

I know that when we think about how we need to obey Christ, and put Him first in our lives, He reminds us in our hearts what changes we need to make, and if that's you, knowing that things aren't right, then I challenge you today, fix that sin in your life, put Christ where He belongs as the Lord and King of your life.
Begin on the path to wisdom!

In Christ,
-Wes Weber
Philippians 4:19

Know His Word, Know Him.

I would like to encourage you all to continue 

to read  your Bible's daily. Reading God’s 

Word will bring you into a closer relationship 

with your Savior JESUS CHRIST. 

A “relationship” is key! If you 

don't know anything about your friend

...are you friends? 

 "For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it 

penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and 

attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight Everything is 

uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."

-Hebrews 4:12

God’s Word is LIVING and active! Cool, huh? I’m sure you all have read some books 

that you think are awesome but I can promise you they were not actually living and 

active and judging your thoughts and attitudes of your heart! Reading your Bible will

bring positive changes to your heart and soul resulting in a more joyful you! 

Your Father God knows what is best for you. 

"So is My Word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will 

accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." -Isaiah 55:11

God’s Word always produces results! Sometimes it seems to us that an unbeliever or 

sometime even a Christian may not believe God’s Word has done anything but that is 

simply not true! You just read it from your Father God! His Word always does what He

intended it to do. 

What is God speaking to you?? You all have been equipped by the One and Only Living

God to do radical things for His Kingdom!! If you want, comment with the insights God 

has shared with you while you read His Word. I’d be stoked to hear what you hear 

from God! So stoked that I will hook you up with candy!!!!!

Be Blessed!
-Miss Stephanie