Luke 18:13 NASB
“But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’”

Personal Challenge…
Yesterday our worship focused on the Publican and the Pharisee. I must shamefully admit that all too often I find myself puffed up and looking around to see who might be looking at me and all my “godly” stuff. In reality I have no “godly” stuff. I am a sinner and I must follow the lead of the Publican and fall on my face before my righteous God crying out, “Lord, have mercy!” I am redeemed from death only by the work of Jesus. His desire for me is to be humble with my fellow man and to always point them to Him.

Isaiah 66:1-2 NASB
Thus says the LORD, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the LORD. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”

Personal Challenge…
God is not interested in the institutions and edifices that man has built for Him. He is not enamored by our practices or rubrics that we have established and follow for Him. He is interested in the state of our heart and spirit. Only from a contrite and humble heart and spirit comes worship that truly glorifies God. Only from this state will the practices, the rubrics, the institutions truly point to Him and glorify Him.

I know that I must constantly check my spirit, my heart, my intentions to make sure that it is God that I am worshipping and glorifying and not me that is looking to be recognized.

2 Corinthians 9:7-8 NASB
Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;

Personal Challenge…
Every once in a while I need to check my spirit in the giving of my resources and time to God. He has given me so much and in so many ways. What He wants more from me than the gifts that I give back to Him is a cheerful heart in the giving of those gifts. He owns it all anyway. What is important is the state of my heart when I am giving to Him.

Acts 20:29 NASB
I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

Personal Challenge…
Have you ever caught yourself asking the question, “What is going on in this church?” I have. And I am reminded by this verse that we were warned many years ago, at the beginning of the new church, that this would happen. It is so critical for us to know the Truth and to follow Him and what He established and not the institutions that individual men create. It is so critical that I stay grounded in His Word and see Him in the midst of everything…including my church.

Matthew 10:32-33 NASB
Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

Personal Challenge…
Contrary to popular belief the act of confessing Christ before men is not a one time event, like saying the “sinner’s prayer”. It is an active, ongoing profession of faith in Christ the Redeemer through words, actions, thoughts, and our entire being. Being a Christian is not a noun…it is an active verb.

Proverbs 8:17 NIV
I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.

Encouraging Words…
Sometimes it is just the simple things about faith that are the most powerful. He wants us to love Him and seek Him. He will do the rest.

Psalm 18:46 NASB
The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock; And exalted be the God of my salvation,

Encouraging Words…
It has truly been a blessing to have been able to live most of my life with a Rock as my friend, my protection, and my salvation. It is encouraging to know that He will always be there, solid and consistent through the remainder of my days.

Ephesians 5:25-28 NASB
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself;

Encouraging Words…
Today I am celebrating my fourth anniversary with my wonderful bride. It is such a blessing to have a godly, Christ-centered partner to share this journey through life with. I do love her dearly.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8 NASB
Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight—we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

Personal Challenge…
What a dilemma to live with every day…to be here on earth in our physical bodies separated from the presence of our Lord or to be absent from our physical bodies and in the presence of our King. What a great reason for living each day by faith, knowing in our hearts and ultimately our minds that today is the day that the Lord has given us to live for Him and through Him. Through this kind of living we can bring a piece of Heaven to those around us. Eternity has already started for those of us who claim Jesus as our Lord…it does not start when we die physically because through Him we have already died to our physical selves and are (or should be) living for Him now.

Luke 10:2 NLT
These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. Pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest, and ask him to send out more workers for his fields.

Personal Challenge…
Having been working in Haiti as a missionary for two years now I am just beginning to understand the urgency of this verse. There is so much work that needs to be done in the world around us. We are called to reach out to the lost, the orphans, the widows, the homeless, the hungry. But we are not just called to reach out to them, but we are commanded to lead the lost to a home in Christ, to take care of the orphans and widows, to provide shelter for the homeless, and to feed the hungry.

Some of us can do that by going to where the needs are and giving of ourselves to meet these needs. But some cannot go, however, they can be senders…providing for the needs of those who do go with their wealth and their time in prayer. Please be a support system for those in your life that you know are the “go’ers”. Support and encourage the workers of the harvest.