Wisdom from above

In James 3:13-18 James is speaking about wisdom of the earth and man compared to wisdom from above.  Sadly I can identify with both. Wisdom is the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting. Wisdom that is earthly has selfish ambition and jealousy as well, it also creates disorder (I have caused plenty of disorder with my own wisdom in my lifetime).  James 3:13 says let him show his works in wisdom, this implying that wisdom isn’t just in our speech but also in our actions. How we live will show our wisdom as much as our speech.  “Wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. “ (James 3:17) First its pure, then peaceable – wisdom to be pure and peaceable has to follow the truth. We know that the word of God is truth so it’s got to line up with that. We have a God of peace, so naturally wisdom from above will provide the peace we need in our decisions. When making a decision I want to have peace about it. Nothing more frustrating than deciding something and then feeling no peace about it. Wisdom from above gives us just that, peace.  

We can rely on our own strength and it will get us only so far; but when we allow God to have say in our choices and actions they become wise.

He already did it! (Pastor Ben)

Have you ever been in a place where you felt like your past were over taking who you were? I have been in this place. The past seems to dig its claws into you not allowing you to move forward, not allowing you to be free from the sin that once plagued you. There is something about the past that is determined not to be walked away from. It doesn’t want to accept the inevitable that we are always moving farther from it, making it more irrelevant with every passing minuet.

Being free from the sin that occurred in our past shouldn't be as hard as it sometimes seems. Jesus did a mighty work on the cross. One that will reverberate throughout history, shaking the sin of our past off of our backs forever. "For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God." (Hebrews 9:13,14).

Hebrews 9:28 gives an implicit message that is powerful, "so Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him." He's coming back not to deal with sin! The implicit message is that it's already been dealt with! How cool is that?. We don't have to be burdened with a sin from the past for the Lord has already dealt with it. It’s his and the blameless sacrifice he did shakes us free of it.

Walking in freedom is what he designed for us, and it allows for a great impact on the kingdom when my attention is not on my sin but the reaching of others for the one truth... Jesus.

A cool thought from Psalms 80 "who are we"

Hey blog has been on a brief hiatus but is returning shortly. In the mean time I am blogging cool thoughts that I come across.

"Who are we"
Psalm 80:8-11 "You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with it's shade, the mighty cedars with it's branches. It sent out it's branches to the sea and it's shoots to the river."

What an awesome thing! The vine is the Church, and God brought his people out of Egypt. At His hand he cleared the ground of the enemy or weeds that wouldn't allow the vine to grow. The deep root is Christ, He's the one who makes us strong and sturdy. He's the one who provides what we need just as the root for a vine. The branches being the believers (you and me) and because we don't rest, we are able to spread far and wide from mountain to sea to river with the news that brings rest for the tired, with living water for the thirsty.

God has made us what we are, placed us where we are, and is the root or foundation that allows us to BE who we are! We have a mighty calling on our lives to be the vine/branches rooted by Christ planted by God. Now lets walk it out and continue to grow the way He intended us to.

Pastor Ben Rushing

Devos for may 24th (by Jordan W.)

“His mercy endures forever” (Psalms 136)

Some songs get stuck in your head and others get stuck in your heart.  This was the case for Israel in Psalms chapter 136.  Stubborn Israel, whose unfaithfulness was at times legendary, takes to heart the great mercy that God had shown them.  And, they don’t just sing it, they proclaim it over and over again.

The song describes every significant event in their history and after each event, they proclaim, “His mercy endures forever”.   But, was it really necessary for them to say it 26 times in 26 verses?  To them it was, because the mercy of God trailed their every step.  His mercy defined them as a nation.

It was mercy that compelled Him to strike Egypt and lead his people out of bondage.

It was in mercy that He divided the waters of the red sea so that Israel could cross safely.

It was His mercy that provided His people a land that they could call their own.

But, that was all in the past and they were not just talking about the past.  They said that “His mercy endures forever”.  And long after this song was written, the world saw His enduring mercy again.  They saw it when He opened the eyes of the blind man, touched the leper, befriended the outcast, restored the cripple, raised the dead, and died alone on a cross for you and for me.  Mercy, always mercy and it endures forever…  Even now.

There are times when our feet tread in places so dark that we are ashamed to admit that we have been… “ His mercy endures forever”.

There are times when our temptations consume us and the enemy wins…  “His mercy endures forever”.

There are times when we are no better than the Romans who struck him or Peter who denied him, and for all of these times and more… “His mercy endures forever”.

No matter where we find ourselves and no matter what mess we got ourselves into, we need to hear these words, we need to cling onto them and know that He is not willing to give up on us.  Let these words get stuck in your head like the chorus to your favorite song.  “His mercy endures forever”.  And as you cling onto these words for this moment, know that after you are gone they will still trail off into eternity.

Prayer:

Please remind us daily that your mercy goes deeper than our deepest, darkest sin.

Devos special friday the 13th edition (by Hannah)

1 Thessalonians 1:2-9
In this part of Scripture the author who is the apostle Paul was encouraging a group of believers and sharing with them how their strong faith in the Lord is shining bright for all of those around them and people all around the city have heard of this mighty Savior. He tells them they live godly lives and are a great example to other believers. After I read these verses I thought what Paul was saying could be used to set standards in my own life. Not that I need to live my life so I can be better than people but with the mindset of with strong faith and actions that speak louder than my words I could be a warrior for Christ and make a difference in my sphere of influence. I need to be a good example for my friends that don’t know this awesome Jesus that I know.
Prayer:
Father I am so thankful for all that you do for me and my family. I would be lost and hurting without you. I pray for strength to stand tall even when the enemy tries pushing me over. I pray for boldness to speak your words to my lost friends and family. I ask that you would guide me in my every day decisions. I love you with all of my heart and I want to be a better person for you. Amen.

Devos for May 3rd (by Joy Berg)

1 Chronicles 17

What an amazing chapter!  David comes up with this really "good" idea to build a house for God.  Nathan, the prophet, thought it was a "good" idea too.  God had different plans. Psalm 139:16 says that every day has been ordained for our lives before we are born. How many good idea's do we come up with in our lives that really just keep us from accomplishing what the Lord has for us? That very night the Lord appears to Nathan the prophet and tell him to go have a chat with David, to let him know HIS plans for David's life. That David was not going to build a house for God, but told him some incredible insights into what God had in store for David. I love David's response to this message from the Lord.  He sits before the Lord and says this in verse 23 "Now, O Lord, let the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house be established forever and do as You have spoken!" Instead of following his own thoughts (even though they were good) David surrenders to the Lord and prays that the will of God be established in his life! Are we listening? Are we paying attention to the prophetic voice in our lives? Are we surrendered to the will of God? Or do we choose to do it our way? 
I choose Your will for my life Lord.  I choose Your perfect plan ordained for me even before I was born.  I trust that you are good and that what Your desire for me is good. I completely surrender to Your will for my life Lord.  I love you Father.

Devos for April 28th (by Jordan W.)

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”   (Matthew 15:8)

Sinners never made Jesus angry.  He was concerned about them, he saw in them a brokenness that needed to be fixed, but never was he angry at them.  All the lowlifes and corrupt people of his day were drawn to him and in the hearts of each one of them, they found a friend in Jesus.  You would think that such a holy man would reserve his closest friendships for the religious leaders of the day, but he most assuredly did not.  In fact, the religious leaders of the day (the Pharisees) wanted no part in Jesus and were the only people that could do what no sinner could do…  Make Jesus angry!
Pharisees were not bad people, they were misguided people.  That is the mistake that we sometimes make.  We cast them as the villains of the New Testament, but these people committed their lives to living out God’s law, following it precept by precept, living by the very letter of the law.  Their problem was that they were not doing it for their hearts, they were doing it for their egos.  That is why Jesus said of them, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”  The Pharisees were responsible for leading God’s people closer to Him, instead they only pushed them farther away by heaping on them rule after rule.  Not to mention, at the same time, they thought that they had it all together themselves.
I think it is important to realize that Jesus was not angry at the Pharisees because their “hearts were far from Him”.  I think it actually grieved him deeply that they were far from God.  What made him angry was that they were causing others to be far from him!  They were the “blind leading the blind” and if “a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a ditch”.
Look, you and I are not Pharisees, but we are representatives of God.  We lead and influence people by the choices that we make and we cannot lead people if we are blinded into thinking we don’t have any problems.  We are just sinners needing Jesus and that is the message that we need to project to the world.
At Rhapsody Church we have this saying, “It’s not about me”.  The Pharisees made a choice a long time ago that it was going to be about “them”.  We have the same choice to make.  We can be like the Pharisees and make it all about us, or we can be like Jesus’ sinner friends and make it all about him.
Prayer:  God, please teach me that what I do matters.  Help me to conduct myself in a way that honors you and does not cause others to stumble.