Author Archives: oneminuteministry

It ain’t a sprint

Romans 5:3-4 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

You might say, “I am gonna get off this couch and go run a marathon.” You might say, “I am gonna live my life for Jesus and not let anything in this world bother me.” Both require training, both require sacrifices, both require pain through endurance, both require that your heart be truly in it to press through it. If you are to attempt to run a marathon, you are taking your body places it has never been; if you are seeking to live as Jesus’ disciple, your life has never went upstream against the world. You are telling the world that the pleasures and pains of it no longer matter to you, for you see the goal at the end of the race of life; you are working towards eternal paradise in heaven with Jesus. You will have angered the limited ruler of this world, Satan, and he will come at you with vigor and trials of seemingly endless sorts. You will have days and weeks that everything that can go wrong does, and you will have weeks that pleasures of the worldly sorts abound. Both of these are spiritual warfare tactics to make you focus on this world and not the eternal one where you reap your decisions made here. Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on things above, not on things of this earth.

I promise you that sanctification is a lifelong process that God takes transforming you into the image of his Son. You are not going to run that marathon just off the couch, and it is going to take your lifetime for you to be closer to Jesus than the day you gave your life to and for him. God will use every tactic that Satan deploys against him. Everything that Satan seeks for you to lash out at, or curse God for, God can use to draw you closer to himself. Every time Satan seemingly blesses your life or your business to get you to invest in earthly pleasures, God reminds you that all good gifts come from above (James 1:17). Every time that Satan gives you those days, even weeks at a time, where all that can go wrong does, God shows you that pain is temporary, and does the situation really have eternal consequences. Likely Satan is just trying to weaken your faith, and God is using Satan’s fire to refine your faith. Where you once lashed out, you may find yourself just moving on and realizing there is not much you can do about it, and it really doesn’t matter at all. The thing Satan meant for evil, God meant it for good. (Romans 8:28).

Make up your mind through your heart that you are going to live your life for Jesus. Don’t just say a prayer and go on with your life as it was; draw a line in the sand to divide your life before and after Him. Let God have control of your life through your heart and testify to the change he has worked in you. Become a person that is truly a disciple by living through every day life’s situations as a disciple. Don’t let the little things become big things; don’t let the problems of the day take away from the hope Paul writes about here in Romans. This eternal hope outweighs any little thing that Satan is allowed to send your way.

Only two know your heart

Acts 8:18-23 And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! 21 You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. 22 Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”

The early church was suffering great persecution and had scattered for safety; God used their persecution and scattering to begin to spread the gospel. Christ was being preached in places and to people that might never had heard because of prejudices and backgrounds without the persecution. God used a leader of that persecution, Saul who became Paul, to write much of the New Testament, and God used his testimony in ways even today we can’t begin to understand. God is always at work either allowing or designing everything to fit his purpose. Our little minds cannot comprehend even a glimpse of the sovereignty of God.

Simon was a magician who had on the surface seemingly come to faith after hearing the gospel. Somewhere in him Satan still had a great stronghold on his heart, and Simon still thought he could buy the power of the Holy Spirit from God. Simon was playing to be a Christian, but in his heart their was still much sin. Had he professed with his mouth and not his heart? How many today go through the motions for the wrong reasons just as him? How many today sign cards, say prayers, or just attend church on Sunday but their heart has never changed? How many live a life of hypocrisy and will pay for their mistake eternally? God knows the heart, and sadly most false believers may even in their heart know they are not right with God; but the pleasure of sin they will not let go of. You can see where Peter points to Simon that his heart is not right with God in verse twenty-two.

You cannot call yourself a Christian and not live a different life that before you came to repent and believe in the gospel. The gospel is not your fire insurance; it is not your get out of jail card; it is not a pass to live under grace and continue to sin. Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? There are two groups of people, those who are saved and those who are not. Sadly many may think they are, but will hear the scariest words in the Bible from Jesus one day; Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ If you have truly had a change in your heart, and a desire to live the rest of your life as a disciple of Jesus Christ, you live your life with eternal security and the cares and fears of this world no longer bind you. This security is only found between you and God, for only you and God know your heart.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4a679aqjzxxb8o3/The%20Enduring%20Word%20Sermon.docx?dl=0

PFM

Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

The world races in
The demands press deep
My mind on prayer
Not a thought I can keep.

Relationships work and life
They all take their toll
Command all our thoughts
Prayer brings peace to our soul.

Thoughts take many paths
Words seem jumbled about
Scattered prayer thrown everywhere
Clear words just won’t come out.

Weary from the pressures
Tired from life’s demands
But resting in the assurance
I am still in His hands.

His Spirit lives within us
Nothing in this life we do alone
His Spirt is praying for us
With heavenly holy groans.

He intercedes for me
He says what I cannot
He assures God of my heart
He assures God what it is not.

He prays for my mind
He prays for the trials
He prays for the strength
To endure these miles.

He prays for healing
He prays for what I can’t see
He prays for God’s will
To be done to and through me.
God knows my heart
Even when I can’t seem to say
God lives in my heart
He is with me every day.

It’s just Monday

Matthew 16:24-26 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Some days, especially some mornings, I have trouble praying. My mind is racing on usually work related pressure, and I just can’t seem to focus. I stumble around trying to get a clear train of thought, and sometimes the pressures of the morning sneak in to steal my joy of my early time with God. Satan even uses the ruse of writing this blog to pull me from prayer, or even to pull me from scripture to pen what I think, and not what God said. This morning I pled for God to just feed me, to help me just for today, to help me see something in his Word; I prayed for wisdom. I just continued reading in Matthew where my Bible was open. I continued reading through the parables of heaven, reading into how Jesus explained them to his disciples. I then read of how Jesus questioned the disciples of who everyone thought he was. The outspoken Peter, you can almost hear him shouting his response, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16.) It encouraged Jesus greatly to see and know that God had revealed this to Peter. Jesus encouraged Peter greatly and told him that he was the rock on which His church would be built. Then Jesus told them all how hard it was about to get for Him, and them as his followers. Peter was quick to be outspoken again, and received from Jesus a rebuke that stirs our souls. 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. If Satan can use Peter at the feet of Jesus, never underestimate Satan using anyone close to you. Those closest, can do the greatest harm to our eternal focus. Jesus speaks of that eternal focus after Peter’s rebuke. 24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

It is Monday, and likely the pressures of the week and the world are commanding your attention also. How will you face the pressures; how will you face the week; how will you face the day? Concentrate on facing just the day alone, and pray for God to guide you through the day alone. We are told in Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Just seek to live for today, and not to miss God’s blessing for today. Seek to live your life for Him today; pray and find time to open God’s Word to you. There is nothing in this world that can provide you a taste of what is to come in heaven. That heavenly focus will enable you to let some of the pressures of the day not get to you as they once did. The way you handle the pressures of life with the strength of God is a witness to God; those around you cracking under the world’s pressures want to know more; there is your door opening to share your faith. Don’t let Satan, don’t let Monday, don’t let the pressures of a temporal world steal your eternal focus and joy. It is just Monday, and Jesus may return before the next one.

Time Lost

Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

I used to think I could solve all the world’s problems with time on my tractor; the solitude of it or long solo car trips are something I value and enjoy. I just returned from an 800 mile day trip to visit one of my closest friends. We had the best time, and other than trying to pack two years of life into an afternoon, it was like nothing had changed. We talked a lot about the busyness of life and the importance of a Sabbath rest. You can feel the hectic pace of the area; I spent time revealing the hectic pace of my own life on the way home. It was a painful self-evaluation as I looked at where my time was spent, and where my time lacked. I did come home with a vow to change and improve in the area of my family, both my wife and my boys. We do not get back the time lost in those we love.

Jesus was addressing the burden of religion here in Matthew’s gospel. Jesus was addressing the inability to keep the law, the inability to perform the law to it’s perfect requirement of religion. The law pointed to our need for a Savior, but the law bent towards a religion that based our salvation on our works; if you want to get to heaven, this is what you must do. Sadly many outside of Christianity believe the Bible is a book of rules, what to do and what not to do. The Bible clearly states sins and consequences of it, but the Bible is the story of God’s plan to get you to an eternal paradise. An eternal paradise that will surpass your wildest dreams. Heaven is a word that none compares; heaven is a place without sin, and your mind cannot comprehend it because it is limited by sin. The religions and any works based blend of it produce the burden that Jesus is offering to free you from.

When you keep reading in Matthew, you find where Jesus and his disciples walked through the grain fields one Sabbath picking the heads off the wheat because they were hungry. Jesus had just spoken about the binds of religion, and then he gave the example. Matthew 12:1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” Jesus rebuked the religious leaders telling them the unimaginable. 6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. 7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Jesus had said he was greater than the temple, and Lord over the Sabbath. Verse seven had been quoted from Hosea 6:6, where the prophet had told Israel that God desired a relationship with them based from their love for him; a heartfelt relationship of reverent awe, not the one built on the religious duties of sacrifices and such of the day. They were fulfilling their duties, but living in sin and outside of a love for God.

Your life for your short time here is preparation for the next eternal one. Your life here is measure by your heart for God and your investment in eternal things. Your life here is measured by the gospel and how you live through it. How do you share the hope of Jesus Christ? How do you invest in your family, friends, and those God puts in your circle of influence? How is he made known through your life? Are you bound in religious duty such as the Pharisees? Are you not taking time to rest from work and life to invest in those closest to you? You do not get your time back from that lost with those we love. Take some solitude, and pray for God to let you look at your life as he does; from the outside in.