Author: AdminYearGrace3405 (Page 17 of 26)

Matthew 7:15 – “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶ By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. (NLT)

I once had a District Superintendent who said that he was not really a good judge of pastors, but that he was a pretty good fruit inspector!  We all knew what he meant.  In this passage, Jesus is speaking specifically about false prophets.  I do not believe that it is a stretch, however, to apply this passage to anyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to live a holy life (Romans 12:1; 2 Timothy 1:9; Hebrews 12:14; 2 Peter 2:21).  If our very lives are called to be holy, then it goes without saying that our very lives should be a witness. We must live carefully for the sake of the Gospel!  We must carefully examine ourselves to see what kind of fruit we are producing.  If we truly want others to believe that Jesus can do anything for them, they must first see that Jesus has done something for us.

In John 15, Jesus calls himself the true vine, and tells us that we are the branches of the true vine.  He encourages us to stay connected to him, so that we can produce ‘much fruit’ (John 15:5).  Indeed, Jesus says: “When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples”. (John 15:8).  According to Jesus, we are only true disciples of Jesus when we produce much fruit! 

Is the fruit that we are producing in our own lives love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? (Galatians 5:22).  Today, let each of us be a fruit inspector.  Today, let each of us look carefully at the fruit that we are producing.  Let us ensure that our lives are truly a witness to the life changing power of Jesus Christ!   

Posted by Ramón Torres

Psalm 29:1 (NLT) – Honor the Lord, you heavenly beings;
honor the Lord for his glory and strength.
² Honor the Lord for the glory of his name.
Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

³ The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea.
The God of glory thunders.
The Lord thunders over the mighty sea.
⁴ The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is majestic.
⁵ The voice of the Lord splits the mighty cedars;
the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon.
⁶ He makes Lebanon’s mountains skip like a calf;
he makes Mount Hermon leap like a young wild ox.
⁷ The voice of the Lord strikes
with bolts of lightning.
⁸ The voice of the Lord makes the barren wilderness quake;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
⁹ The voice of the Lord twists mighty oaks
and strips the forests bare.
In his Temple everyone shouts, “Glory!”

¹⁰ The Lord rules over the floodwaters.
The Lord reigns as king forever.
¹¹ The Lord gives his people strength.
The Lord blesses them with peace. 

The story behind this Psalm was that David had watched a storm move across the land.  The power of the storm that David witnessed turned his thoughts towards God.  Many of us have witnessed firsthand the results of severe weather.  At such a time it is easy to think of the power of God.

The storm that David witnessed must have made him think of God speaking, for seven times we are told about the ‘voice of the Lord’.  The voice of the Lord echoes; is powerful; is majestic; splits the mighty cedars; it strikes with bolts of lightning; it makes the wilderness quake; it twists mighty oaks and strips the forest bare.  Wow!  Who could ever miss the voice of the Lord?

Well, I think we all miss the voice of the Lord at times.  I find it interesting that this Psalm, which at first glance seems to be all about hearing the voice of the Lord, begins with three calls to honor the Lord, and one call to worship the Lord.  Could there be a connection between our honoring and worshipping the Lord, and our ability to experience the voice of the Lord?  Yes, most certainly!

I’m sure that we would all love to hear from God.  When we have decisions to make, hearing from God would be great.  When life confronts us with what appears to be a dilemma, hearing from God would be welcomed.  Let’s strive to honor God with our lives.  Let’s worship God as we are able.  Let’s do this, and then let’s listen for the voice of God.

Posted by Ramón Torres

1 Corinthians 12:4 – There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. ⁵ There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. ⁶ God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.

⁷ A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. ⁸ To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. ⁹ The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. ¹⁰ He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. ¹¹ It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

¹² The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. ¹³ Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit. (NLT)

Spiritual Gifts. The Holy Spirit. These are words that scare many Christians!  I believe it to be tragic that many Christians steer clear of all things ‘spiritual’.  Why fear God’s Spirit?  By definition, Christians should be Spirit filled!  Verse seven tells us that the Spirit is given to each of us – so that we can help each other!

There are two powerful things about verse seven that speak to me.  First, it says that each of us has been given some spiritual gift.  You may not know what it is, but you’ve got one!  This list of spiritual gifts that Paul gives here is not an exhaustive list, and there are other gifts mentioned in other New Testament passages.  However, each of us should pray that we would come to know what gift has been given to us.

Secondly, our spiritual gifts are given to us for the purpose of helping one another.  Spiritual gifts are not given to build ourselves up, but instead to build up others.  In this chapter, Paul goes on to illustrate how we are the Body of Christ, and the body is put together so that all its parts benefit the body.  Likewise, we are ‘put together’ here on earth so that we would benefit one another.

Today, let’s do what we can to benefit one another!   

Posted by Ramón Torres

1 Kings 8:54 – When Solomon finished making these prayers and petitions to the Lord, he stood up in front of the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands raised toward heaven. ⁵⁵ He stood and in a loud voice blessed the entire congregation of Israel:  ⁵⁶ “Praise the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the wonderful promises he gave through his servant Moses. ⁵⁷ May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us or abandon us. ⁵⁸ May he give us the desire to do his will in everything and to obey all the commands, decrees, and regulations that he gave our ancestors. ⁵⁹ And may these words that I have prayed in the presence of the Lord be before him constantly, day and night, so that the Lord our God may give justice to me and to his people Israel, according to each day’s needs. ⁶⁰ Then people all over the earth will know that the Lord alone is God and there is no other. ⁶¹ And may you be completely faithful to the Lord our God. May you always obey his decrees and commands, just as you are doing today.”

⁶² Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices to the Lord. ⁶³ Solomon offered to the Lord a peace offering of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats. And so the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the Temple of the Lord.     ⁶⁴ That same day the king consecrated the central area of the courtyard in front of the Lord’s Temple. He offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of peace offerings there, because the bronze altar in the Lord’s presence was too small to hold all the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.

⁶⁵ Then Solomon and all Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters in the presence of the Lord our God. A large congregation had gathered from as far away as Lebo-hamath in the north and the Brook of Egypt in the south. The celebration went on for fourteen days in all—seven days for the dedication of the altar and seven days for the Festival of Shelters. (NLT)

In this passage we have Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple.  This passage is actually the latter part of the prayer, which takes up most of 1 Kings 8.  There is much to learn from this prayer, but unfortunately many people just focus on what seems odd to us – peace offerings with tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of animals.  I try not to get hung up on such matters, but it does remind me that peace with God comes at a mighty cost.  Indeed, we know that our peace with God came at the cost of God leaving heaven, coming to earth through Jesus, and dying for our sins.  That was costly! 

Unlike Solomon, we don’t need to sacrifice animals in an effort to have peace with God.  Romans 5:1 tells us, “we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Since our peace with God has been made, what now?  I think we can look to this prayer from Solomon for the answer.  In verse 58 Solomon asks that God would give us the desire to do God’s will in all things.  Jesus also teaches us to pray this prayer (Luke 11). Furthermore, Solomon knew that there could be no better witness for God than for he and his people to be truly living out God’s will (verse 60).

Today, let us seek God’s will for our lives so that others may know of God!

Posted by Ramón Torres

Psalm 33:12 – What joy for the nation whose God is the Lord,
whose people he has chosen as his inheritance.

¹³ The Lord looks down from heaven
and sees the whole human race.
¹⁴ From his throne he observes
all who live on the earth.
¹⁵ He made their hearts,
so he understands everything they do.
¹⁶ The best-equipped army cannot save a king,
nor is great strength enough to save a warrior.
¹⁷ Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory—
for all its strength, it cannot save you.

¹⁸ But the Lord watches over those who fear him,
those who rely on his unfailing love.
¹⁹ He rescues them from death
and keeps them alive in times of famine.

²⁰ We put our hope in the Lord.
He is our help and our shield.
²¹ In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
²² Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord,
for our hope is in you alone.

Recently, an out of work money manager in California who had lost his fortune murdered his family, and then he killed himself.  In Massachusetts, a housewife hid her mounting financial crisis, and then wrote a note to the mortgage company warning them: “By the time you foreclose on my house, I’ll be dead.”  A 90 year old Ohio widow shot herself in the chest as authorities arrived to evict her from her home.  Sad stories.  Tragic stories.

What is even more tragic is that similar stories play out each and every day.  In addition, countless marriages and families across our country and in our own communities are being torn apart over financial worries.  Verse seventeen warns us not to count on our warhorses to give us the victory.  What is a warhorse?  The ancient Hebrew word referred to a strong horse, which was a very valuable piece of property. What are our warhorses?  What are the things of this world that we look to for a victorious life? Our homes? Our bank accounts and our retirement accounts? Our stuff?

Let us remind ourselves that our hope is in the Lord (verse 20).  Our strength needs to be found in the unfailing love of the Lord (verse 22).  Today, let us share our hope with someone! 

Posted by Ramón Torres

Romans 8:14 – For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

¹⁵ So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. (NLT) 

There is so much packed into these four verses, we could probably stay with this passage for a week!  So, just a couple of things I would like to share, you may have others.  First, in verse fifteen we are told that we have received God’s Spirit.  Really?  God’s?  God’s Spirit joins with ours?  I find this empowering and frightening all at the same time!  It’s empowering in that we should look to God’s Spirit for the strength to be who and what God calls us to be.  I find it potentially frightening for the very same reason. So my prayer is often that I would not be a fearful slave, but rather one with a bold spirit from my Abba, Father.

The second thing I take away from this passage is that we are heirs of God’s glory along with Jesus!  What an awesome thought, but then Paul goes on to say that we must also share in Jesus’ suffering.  Too often I would like to settle for the glory and forget the suffering.  Fortunately for most of us today, our suffering doesn’t compare to Jesus’.  However, we are called to action, and we are called to put the needs of others before our own. 

It doesn’t come close to Jesus’ suffering, but today let’s answer the call to be Christ-like to someone we would rather stay away from.  In our own small way, let us share in Jesus’ suffering and Jesus’ glory!  

Posted by Ramón Torres

1 Peter 4:7 – The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. ⁸ Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ⁹ Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. ¹⁰ Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. ¹¹ If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. (NLT)

In this reading we are confronted with a text that would make us ask, “How near is the end?”  In the grand scheme of things, the end is near for each of us!  Psalm 103 reminds us: “The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; ¹⁶ the wind blows over it and it is gone.”  Most of us don’t live our daily lives thinking about the brevity of this earthly life, but it is a reality.  My sister told me shortly before she passed away from ovarian cancer, “We’re all terminal, I’m just more aware of it than most.”

This Scripture passages is a reminder that this life is fleeting.  So, what shall we do about it?  Verse eight says that above all else, we should love others deeply.  Above all else!  What will be the most important thing that you do this day?  I do not want to belittle anything that any of us may have planned, but the Word of God tells us what is most important.  Above all else love each other deeply.  This is the most important thing that any of can do during this day, or any day.

With life so fleeting, who knows if we have tomorrow to show our love for others?  We, or they, could be gone like a flower of the field.  So, make the most of this day, and above all else, love each other! 

Posted by Ramón Torres

Amos 5:18 – Woe to you who long
    for the day of the Lord!
Why do you long for the day of the Lord?
    That day will be darkness, not light.
¹⁹ It will be as though a man fled from a lion
    only to meet a bear,
as though he entered his house
    and rested his hand on the wall
    only to have a snake bite him.
²⁰ Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light—
    pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?

²¹ “I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
    your assemblies are a stench to me.
²² Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
    I will have no regard for them.
²³ Away with the noise of your songs!
    I will not listen to the music of your harps.
²⁴ But let justice roll on like a river,
    righteousness like a never-failing stream!

 Today, across our nation, many will gather to remember the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.  They will gather to remember not only the life of a man, but the life of a movement. This great movement, which for this country found its voice in Martin Luther King, did not begin with Martin Luther King.  This movement did not begin in this country.  From our reading from an ancient prophet, we hear that this movement was alive some twenty-eight centuries ago. 

 “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”  These words were spoken by a simple herdsmen named Amos who could not understand how a people who claimed to worship a God of justice could then turn around and use their system of human justice as an instrument of their own greed.  Indeed, in the days of Amos the name of God was used to oppress the poor, and Amos, a simple herdsmen by trade, could not stand idly by and watch as the children of God were ruthlessly burdened in the name of justice.  So, the prophet cried out, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

 Amos was not blind to the fact that the government of the land, which by all rights should have stood up for those who could not stand for themselves, was corrupt and unjust. The courts were easily swayed by money. Not only were the poor oppressed, but the opportunity for a fair trial was non-existent. Perhaps worst of all, Amos recognized that the religious institutions of the day, while busy with its various religious activities, was totally oblivious to the living conditions of the common people.  To be sure, there were sacrifices and prayers of every kind, but what did all this religion amount to except to nurture a false hope?

Likewise, Martin Luther King could clearly see things that many people refused to see.  He had the power to speak out against injustice.  Most of all, he realized that if religion was to be true to its nature it must be concerned not just with religious rituals and prayers, but that it must be concerned with all of life.  While still a young man Martin Luther King had the courage to face those who hated him and boldly proclaim that: “Any religion that professes to be concerned with the souls of men and is not concerned with the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them is a dry-as-dust religion.”

 It was a dry as dust religion that Amos sought to change.  Through Amos, God spoke to the people. God told them that it was not sacrifices that satisfied the heart of God.  It was not feasts; it was not elaborate shows of fanciful assemblies.  The songs that God’s children offered up in praise of God were nothing more than noise.  Indeed, God refused to even listen to their music!  What made Amos a visionary is the same quality that made Martin Luther King a visionary.  Like Amos, Martin Luther King challenged the entire religious system.  He did not challenge a few.  He did not challenge the black church. He did not challenge the white church. He challenged the Church – all of Christianity. He challenged the whole system, from smallest congregation in the backwaters of Mississippi to the largest and fanciest churches in New York City.  Martin Luther King, Jr., challenged the church to understand the true nature of God.

The issue for Amos came down to the understanding of the very nature of God.  That was the issue for Martin Luther King, Jr., as well.  This must be our issue today.  Our actions, our behavior, must be modeled after our beliefs and concepts of God Almighty.  This is true for our congregations, and this is true for us as individual Christians.  Because of our understanding of the nature of God, each of us must seek to relate to one another as God would, not as we would like. 

Amos, though he lived thousands of years ago, was ahead of his time when it came to spiritual insight.  Martin Luther King, Jr., knew those same insights.  And we, three millennia after Amos, nearly six decades after Martin Luther King, Jr., must continue to strive to achieve what they could see so well – injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.  Whatever we do to the least of the children of God, we do to God. 

Posted by Ramón Torres

Psalm 99:1 – The Lord is king!
Let the nations tremble!
He sits on his throne between the cherubim.
Let the whole earth quake!
 ² The Lord sits in majesty in Jerusalem,
exalted above all the nations.
³ Let them praise your great and awesome name.
Your name is holy!
⁴ Mighty King, lover of justice,
you have established fairness.
You have acted with justice
and righteousness throughout Israel.
⁵ Exalt the Lord our God!
Bow low before his feet, for he is holy!

⁶ Moses and Aaron were among his priests;
Samuel also called on his name.
They cried to the Lord for help,
and he answered them.
⁷ He spoke to Israel from the pillar of cloud,
and they followed the laws and decrees he gave them.
⁸ O Lord our God, you answered them.
You were a forgiving God to them,
but you punished them when they went wrong.

⁹ Exalt the Lord our God,
and worship at his holy mountain in Jerusalem,
for the Lord our God is holy! (NLT)

Well, Sunday is behind us and now it’s Monday again. Our worship from yesterday is over and it’s back to the grind.  Wait, the Lord is still king on Monday!  Verse one reminds us daily, regardless of what this world confronts us with, the Lord is king! 

Verse two tells us that the Lord sits in majesty in Jerusalem.  Other translations say ‘the Lord is great in Zion’.  In other words, among those who follow God, God has made God’s presence known.  That’s you and me!  God has made God’s presence known to us.  God didn’t make this presence known to us so we could just feel good about ‘our’ God on Sunday when we worship, but so that we would share with others what it is we find so good about God.  This sharing is a daily thing, because the Lord is king!  This Psalm reminds us that God reigns today, and we ought to let it be known.

Verse eight tells us that God is forgiving, yet punishes.  Unlike the ancient people who recited (and sang) this Psalm, we have the full story.  Thanks be to God!  Yes, God has punished sin.  He punished our sin on the cross through Jesus.  So this day, let us exalt our God, and worship the Lord our King, even on a Monday! 

Posted by Ramón Torres

John 8:21 – Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.” ²² This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”  ²³ But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. ²⁴ I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

²⁵ “Who are you?” they asked.  “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. ²⁶ “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”

²⁷ They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. ²⁸ So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. ²⁹ The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” ³⁰ Even as he spoke, many believed in him. (NIV)

I find the Gospel of John to be, perhaps, my favorite Gospel.  However, some passages can be a difficult read.  This is one of those passages!   Theologically, there is much to unpack here, but essentially it boils down to whom do you say that Jesus is?  This is an important question as we approach the celebration of the birth of Jesus – Who is Jesus to you?   

Jesus tells us in verse 24 (and again in verse 58) that, “I am he.”  Many believe that Jesus was referring back to the name that God gave Moses to use when confronting Pharaoh.  There are also a number of times in the Book of Isaiah where God uses this name.  Regardless of what came before, each of us must decide for ourselves who Jesus is to us this very day. 

The Gospel message is that Jesus is God in the flesh: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God., The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (John 1:1, 14).  Then we are told that Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice for the sins of all: “He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” (Hebrews 7:27).

As basic as this seems to our faith, we must reaffirm to ourselves daily what we believe about Jesus.  If Jesus is who he says he is, will that make a difference in your life this day?   

Let the difference Jesus makes in your life be seen by those around you!  

Posted by Ramón Torres