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Jump Start # 482

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 482 

 Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving

  This is a great passage! Devote yourselves to prayer is what Paul says. Stay with it. Be committed to prayer. Use prayer. Make prayer a regular habit with you. The apostle links two other great thoughts to prayer—first, keeping alert in it. I think we’d say today, “stay focused.” Prayer is powerful, handle with care. There are so many things to pray for and about, that a person ought to keep alert. The other aspect to all of this is to do this with an “attitude of thanksgiving.”

  Right there Paul tells us that thankfulness is an attitude. It’s not about stuff. The guy with the most stuff will be the most thankful—not at all. It is an attitude that one walks with in life. One chooses to be thankful or one chooses not to be, usually by not thinking about it at all. The thankful attitude. An attitude of gratitude.

  We know how attitude works—it’s like food coloring, it has a way of getting into something and coloring it all. That’s the way attitudes work. Our attitude affects how we see other people, it affects our relationship with God, how we approach work, our we deal with our failures—attitude colors our life.

  Someone who is sour and grumpy and miserable all the time has a bad attitude. He may not understand how things are, but he’s not much joy to be around. Others can walk through one mess after another but maintain an incredible attitude. Why is it that way? Because we do not choose what happens to us, but we do choose how it will affect us. Pain is inevitable, but misery is optional, my good friend Barbara Johnson, used to write in her books. How true this is.

  An attitude of thanksgiving. Choosing to be thankful—first, in our prayers. It’s one thing to always be asking God for help or forgiveness, we sure need that, but it’s something else to pray with an attitude of thanksgiving. God is so good to us. I wonder how many times you have prayed to God already in your life? Have you thought about that? I wonder how many times God has been there for you in your life? How many times do you think He has forgiven you? A dozen? a thousand? A million times? You’re alive today—that’s reason to be thankful. If you’re reading this, you have a computer and electricity, and eyes and a mind to just name a few things.

  Have you noticed how easy folks complain? I guess I’m complaining about the complainers! One person starts in and soon everyone jumps on his band wagon. The weather stinks…the government is dumb…the Colts are hopeless…woe is me and you’ll find others singing that same song. It’s easy to complain. Anyone can do that. It’s harder to keep that attitude of thanksgiving, that attitude of gratitude.

  Keeping an attitude of thanksgiving tends to make you see things brighter and better. It finds hope and more than anything else, it puts confidence and trust in God. God is on the throne, always has been. No matter how dark the skies get, nor how bad things are, God is still in charge. That alone is a major reason to be thankful! Can you imagine what the day would be like if God decided to step out of the throne for a while? Or worse, He put someone like me in His place? Gracious—talk about a mess. He doesn’t do that. No king, no apostle, no prophet, no preacher, no politician sits on that throne—only God. Nothing is greater than God. Jesus proved that. Sickness? He cured it. Demons? He cast them out. Death? He talked to the dead and they were resurrected. Storms? He stopped them immediately. More people than food? Not a problem for Jesus. Over and over He showed that God can do all things.

  This is the God that loves you so much and wants you to pray to Him. This is the God that has been patient with you, working with you and working through you. This is the God that can’t wait until you come to His home, Heaven.

  An attitude of thanksgiving. It starts in our prayers but it carries over in our conversations and our outlook on life. Sometimes a person just needs an attitude adjustment—a little course correction, especially in the area of thankfulness. We tend to forget to count those blessings. Maybe it’s not so much forgetting as it is not sure where to start, there are so many!

  It all starts with a simple, “Thank you, Lord!”

Roger

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Jump Start # 481

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 481 

Psalms 30:4 Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones, And give thanks to His holy name.

  This week is Thanksgiving. I want to devote our Jump Starts this week to the theme of thankfulness. For our Jump Start readers, there will be no Jump Start on Thursday.

  Give thanks. Often in a group of people we hit the safe topics when listing things we are thankful for, such as: this country, our family, our health. We ought to be thankful for those things, they are huge. Ask someone who doesn’t have those. Thankfulness can be shallow if we are not careful and it can be based on the physical aspect of life too much.

  I have found in the Scriptures three aspects of forgiveness that is important.

  First, it needs to be expressed to the giver. Remember the story of the ten lepers? Only one turned back to Jesus and thanked Him. Were the others NOT thankful? No. I’m sure they were. I don’t think one of them thought, “Bummer, I’m healed. Now I have to go back to work.” No, not at all. They were thankful, but they didn’t express it to Jesus. God wants you to be thankful. We are to sing with thankfulness and our prayers need to be sprinkled with thanksgiving to God. Say it. That is important.

  Second, thankfulness changes a person. They become responsible and appreciative of the gift given to them. They care for what they have and it makes them realize without God they would not have these things. Thankfulness has a way of keeping us humble. The less a person is thankful the more they will be filled with pride. The thankful person realizes how he is gifted by God.

  Third, being thankful opens your eyes to many, many other ways your life has been blessed and you may not have realized it. We start thanking God for people He has put in our lives. We thank God for talent, not just in ourselves, but in others. We thank God for great leadership in the church. We thank God for those who are not afraid to take risks and make Biblical adjustments to help a congregation get stronger and better. Thankfulness has a way of melting envy and jealousy. Instead of wishing you had what others do, you become thankful that they have those talents and that you can benefit from them. A gifted song leader, a talented Bible class teacher, a passionate preacher, a caring shepherd, those with the heart of a servant, those that are dependable and loyal. The thankful heart has a way of seeing those things and realizes what a joy it is to be surrounded with such great people.

  It is interesting how many times thankfulness and singing are connected in the Bible. Thankfulness tends to make one joyful which in turn just naturally wants to be cheerful and singing. Maybe the world doesn’t sing much anymore because it fails to be thankful.

  Here is Roger’s short list of thanks:

1. for a congregation that loves to hear me preach

2. For young people that decide to follow Jesus

3. For older Christians who have stayed on the path

4. For all my deacons who make things work and want to give the best to God

5. For a church that pays me more than I deserve

6. For spiritual friends who allow us to empty our hearts with each other

7. For an incredible group of shepherds who love the Lord more than anything else

8. For the gift of preaching and writing. I’m not really sure how all this came about, but I do see God’s hand in it.

9. For the amazing Bible—fascinating, deep and soul stirring

10. For Jesus—for His love, compassion and forgiveness. I hate to think where I would be without that today.

  How about you? Got a short list? It does good to make one and then to thank God as you read over it.

Roger

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Jump Start # 480

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 480

Hebrews 12:25 “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from Heaven.” 

  Twice in the closing section of this chapter the writer of Hebrews uses the expression, “See to it.” He does it here in our verse and he said it in verse 15, “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God…” See to it—we might say, “look after it,” or, “get about it.” See to it carries responsibility.

  Our verse is a reminder to take serious the warnings of God. Do not refuse Him who is speaking. Two apparent reasons, first, He is speaking from Heaven, which means He is divine. Secondly, He is warning from Heaven. We tend to pay attention to warnings. The skies look threatening and you turn on the TV and there are weather warnings in the area. That grabs our attention. You start your car in the morning and red warning lights flash on your dashboard—that grabs your attention.

  He is wanting the warnings from Heaven to grab our attention. The context of our passage takes us to when God will “shake heaven and earth.” This is reference to the end of the world. God has warned what will happen. We know, because God has said. The world will end the way God said it would. There won’t be an environmental mishap that wipes out humanity, nor an invasion of aliens, nor a nuclear war that destroys all life—that’s not what God says. The end begins with the coming of Jesus. There will be Christians alive when He comes. There will be a resurrection of all dead. The earth will burn up. Paul and Peter tell us many details about this.

  The emphasis of the Bible is not the manner in which the world will come to an end, nor the total destruction that will take place but the preparation of the righteous to spend forever with God. The end of the world is not the end of us. We shift to a different place and a different realm—the eternal.

  Throughout the N.T. God warns about this. He warns about not being ready. He warns about being caught unprepared. He warns…does anyone listen?

  That’s the thought of our verse today. See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking…now why would someone do that? Could it be that they don’t like the message He said? Could it be that they don’t want warnings, they only want promises? Could it be that they are tired of people telling them what they ought to do? Could it be that they think no one tells me what to do?

  Whatever the reason, don’t refuse Him. Don’t refuse what He says. Don’t refuse to take action.

  Have you ever given much thought to what the first day in eternity will be like? It will be so different from our routines here. First, there is no getting up to get somewhere else. There is no where else to go. You won’t need to turn any lights on—it will never be dark in Heaven. You won’t need your medicine in the morning, you won’t age, be sick or diseased.  Everyone in God’s family will be there. No one whose name is in the book of life will be missing. No one will be late, no one will have other commitments, we will all be there. All of us—God’s family. People we have worshiped with for years and years. They will be there. Christians we have met from other places—they will be there. Some we will not have seen in years, maybe our parents or grandparents. There will be those we heard about but never met. Some preachers from years ago, many who died before we were born, but we heard about their good work and their love for the Lord—they will be there. There will be tons of folks that we never met, but it will seem like we’ve known them forever. Christians from other centuries, and other lands, some who have endured great things for the Lord. There will be those that we came to know through reading the Bible—the heroes of the Bible, they will be there. The Daniel. The Timothy. The Abraham. Amazing!

  Everyone who is there will want to be there. No one sleeping, bored, or wishing that this would get over so they could do what they wanted to do. That spirit won’t be there. I expect there will be many smiles, many hugs, and many tears of joy. And unlike the holidays or other occasions, this setting won’t end. We won’t have “closing songs and closing prayers.” There is no closing. I expect Heaven to be bright—has to be, Jesus is there and it doesn’t need any sun light. I expect it to be beautiful, because God is there. Heaven is a reflection of God, it is His home. Just as our homes are a reflection of us, His home is a reflection of Him—perfect, beautiful and never ending. I don’t know what it will sound like, but I tend to expect the singing to be the best I’ve ever heard. Angels, lots of angels. Angels everywhere.

  There will be some who are missing. Those who chose to ignore Jesus all their life. Those who walked through life being sour and making life miserable for everyone else. Those who are selfish and mean. They’re not there. Heaven will be safe. You won’t have anything to fear. No locks on the doors, no security at the gates, no weapons, no police force to seek out the bad—the bad won’t be there.

  And of course, then there is Jesus. He’s the one responsible for getting us there. He’s the one we’ve thought about, sang about, studied about all of our life. There He is—looking for You. Not too busy in meetings or paper work or talking with the really important people—no, looking for you because He has wanted you there ever since you were born. He has blessed you, watched you, forgiven you, and guided you. Now you are together with Him. Amazing.

  All of us comes back to our verse today, “see to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking…” You don’t want to miss Heaven.

  We are one day closer!

  Roger

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Jump Start # 479

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 479

Hebrews 12:22-24 “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.” 

  The Hebrew writer is contrasting what the Christians have compared to what ancient Israel had. This was done to illustrate how much greater and better the N.T. system is over the O.T. Some of the Hebrew Christians were going back to Judaism. They were giving up on Jesus. This was a fatal mistake that was not well thought out. This book contrasts how superior Jesus is in every way to the O.T. way.

  One of the contrasts is found in the context of our verses today. Ancient Israel came to a mountain. It was the mountain that Moses climbed and talked with God and received the Ten Commandments. But the mountain was encased in clouds and fire often came out of it and when God spoke it scared the people. They were so frightened that they told Moses to talk to God, they didn’t want to. There were serious laws about the mountain. If anyone tried to climb it they would be executed. Fear dominated the mountain experience.

  For the Christian, their experience through Jesus was much different. It was incredible. Seven times in our verses the word “to” is used. He is describing what the Christian comes “to”

  • Mount Zion
  • Myriads of angels
  • The church enrolled in Heaven
  • God
  • Spirits of departed righteous
  • Jesus
  • Sprinkled blood

  What a list! These are the benefits of being a Christian. This is the support systems for a Christian. The O.T. way didn’t offer this. The world can’t touch this. This is only found in Christ. It is a fellowship of God and the things connected to God.

  I especially like the expression, “myriads of angels.” I’m not sure how much a myriad is, but I know it’s a lot. If you had myriads of dollars, you’d be rich. Some may think I have myriads of ties, not quite. You have come to massive amounts of angels. Angels that protect. Angels that help. We learn more about angels from Hebrews than just about any other book. We are told that they are ministering spirits sent by God to render service to God’s people.

  Angels are spirits, like God. Only when they take human form can they be seen, and often, they look so human that they are not recognized as angels. Have angels been in your life? Probably. You probably didn’t know it. They are not sent to be worshiped, praised or gawked at. They are God’s tools. They are sent to do what needs to be done.

  Do we each have a guardian angel? No, not like the common thought that most have. No, instead we have myriads of angels. I was awake the other night thinking about “myriads of angels” and wondered if there have ever been God’s angels in my house. I don’t know.

  The Hebrew writer is letting the Christians know that they are not alone. You do not journey alone. God is not on a far away island telling us to find Him. We have with us…Jesus, Christians, angels, God, and on and on the list goes. That’s what’s with us. That’s what we journey with.

  Not one lonely lost little angel, but myriads! Not one or two little Christians, but the church enrolled in Heaven—all of us! We do not journey alone. Help is not on the way, help is here!

  Some day Jesus is returning. He’s bring all the angels with Him. How many? Probably myriads. Some day we will surround the throne in Heaven and sing praises to the One who forgave us. Singing with us will be the angels. How many? Myriads. Won’t that sound powerful!

  We live in good times. We live on the best side of the cross. We have what others never had. All of this leads us to being stronger, more faithful, and definitely more thankful!

  Myriads—I like that word. I like the thought it brings!

Roger

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Jump Start # 478

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 478 

Proverbs 19:23 “The fear of the Lord leads to life, so that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil.” 

  Earlier in Proverbs we learn that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Here we are told that the fear of the Lord leads to life. This fear is devotion, respect and a desire to follow the Lord. God’s laws are not intended to box us in and keep us from enjoying things, rather, they keep us holy, safe and with the Lord.

  I especially like the later half of this verse, “so that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil.” Sleeping satisfied. It almost sounds like a commercial for mattresses. What keeps most folks from sleeping satisfied is not what we are sleeping on but what is weighing on our minds and our hearts at night. Sometimes it’s hard to let things go. Sometimes the burdens of life seem to close in during the night. Worry, stress, frustration, fear keep us tossing and turning and they take rest from us. We awaken the next day, not charged and ready to go, but rather, sluggish, weary and barely able to function. That leads us to being cranking, mean, and short tempered. It’s a recipe for a coming train wreck. People can’t go on that way.

  Today, we’d say, go find a counselor to talk to. That is helpful many times. Our passage doesn’t go that direction, it takes us to God. Sometimes we just need to talk to God. Peter said, “casting all your anxiety upon Him because He cares for you.” That “casting” means to release or throw off. It’s like a balloon, we’ll hold it up, but we just can’t let go of the string. So, another night of worries. Another night of fears. Another night of no answers or solutions.

  I think there are two reasons for most of this. The first is that we try to fix the lives of other people, usually our family members or church members. We care about them, especially our kids, especially when they are grown. We want them to make right choices, do the right things. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they do dumb things, like we did when we were their age. Those things just race through our minds at night. The way they live financially, the way that they are constantly late, to everything, the way that they care for their kids, the way that they clean their house, or rather, don’t clean their house—it drives us nuts. We can’t stand it. We want to fix them, but we can’t, their adults. So while they sleep like a baby, we are awake at night thinking of them. Seems backwards, and it is. For some families, the problems are not messy houses, but messy lives. Addictions, abuse, divorce, jail are things that they never ever thought would happen to their family, but it has. There is little sound sleep that takes place in those homes. What can be done? Talk to them. Encourage them. Point them to help. PRAY…PRAY…PRAY.

  The other reason sound sleep escapes us is because of the guilt that we carry. We have hurt others. We messed up. Sin led us to wrong choices and now we are living with the consequences. What can be done? Pray to God. Resolve to walk with the Lord. Believe in the forgiveness of God and forgive yourself.

  The fear of the Lord is what leads to the satisfied sleep. It’s not perfection. It’s that devotion to God and His way. There is no other way that works, than God’s way. Every generation finds those who try to demonstrate otherwise, and they always fail. The fear of the Lord…Walking with the Lord…trusting the Lord…

  The final expression in our verse, “untouched by evil” follows the satisfied sleep. It’s as if God is watching over, and He does. He is protecting. He is caring. The one sleeping may be unaware of the dangers of evil that are lurking about, but God knows. Paul said the peace of Christ guards your hearts…similar idea. Safe in the arms of Jesus is a hymn that is similar to this. The one sleeping puts his trust in God. God is on the throne, that’s all that matters. He will make things right. He will keep one safe.

  It’s like a child who is frightened by a storm. They come into the bed of mom and dad. Sleeping between them the child falls to sleep. The storm is still going on, but the child now feels safe. It’s the same with us…satisfied sleep—it comes from fearing the Lord.

Roger