ToEncourage March 30, 2013 Vol 1 Issue 5

I John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

The greatest gift this world has ever been or will be given is remembered this week and weekend.  The life of our Lord and Savior that was offered as a substitute, a precious Sacrifice to atone for the sin of mankind.

Why? “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. (John 3:16) The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ was a result of the great love for His creation (“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth…all things were created by him, and for him:” Colossians 1:16), God so loved His creation that He gave His life to save those He created for Himself.  In the early hours of that midweek day our Lord took upon Himself a cross to bear.  That cross contained the sins of the entire world (“By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10:10).

The greatest price, began at noon on that day, when, for a three hour span God the Father and God the Son, for the only time in eternity, were Separate one from another.  God’s eyes are purer than our eyes and unable to look upon iniquity or sin, therefore in order for Christ to pay the world’s sin debt He must ‘become sin’ for us, the very One that knew NO sin, became sin on the cross (Galatians 3.13) to pay a debt He neither owed, but one we were incapable of paying. Our Lord was wrapped in grave clothes and placed in a tomb never to be used, just before sundown.

Three days would past as  another sunset would come to fruition when our mighty Lord cast off those grave clothes, gather Himself up, rolled away the stone and stepped out of that sepulcher.  In three days time, the Lord proclaim victory over sin, death and the grave, hallelujah!

Friend, we realize that sin requires a blood sacrifice as payment in full (Hebrews 9.22).  Consequently, the Lord did not ‘spill’ His blood as if in some random act, but rather He Shed His blood upon the cross of Calvary.  In His death, burial and resurrection all may freely choose His free gift and receive life everlasting.  His blood may have been shed on Golgotha’s hill, but His love was shed abroad unto all mankind.  The Lord’s example of love is seen in a gift; for to love is to give.

The love of God is shed abroad through His wonderful gift given to humanity, we, His disciples and believers on Jesus Christ are given over one to another to love one another.  There are many ways we can love one another: prayer, lifting, helping, listening, protecting, etc.  Love is a gift that feeds upon is Creator, “for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.”.  The closer we draw to the Lord (that changes not) the more desire we possess to love one another.  The more we lean on and learn of Him that died for us yet rose again, the more we develop a desire to emulate His heart and actions.  As believers in Christ, we have crucified the flesh and take no pleasure in a hurting, injured or fallen brother/sister in Christ.  To know God is to know love and ‘every one that loveth is born of God’.  My love for my wife is what it is because of the great love my Savior had for me.  I could not love my wife correctly, nor my children without first knowing the love of Christ.  The same with my brethren, I can love them, seek to help them especially in the darkest hours of their life because on the darkest day of Christ’s life, He loved me.

There are opportunities, many times on a daily basis where we can exercise the love that is shed abroad in the lives of all around us, especially those of the household of faith.  Jesus Christ gave His life because He loved us, let us also give ourselves one to another so the love of God may be seen and known throughout our community and the world.

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God”

 

ToEncourage Vol 1 Issue 3

Ephesians 4:31-32. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

As we move into the final week looking at these Scriptures I think we all understand that in order to practice verse 32, we must first perform verse 31.  Bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour (loud and confusing noise) and evil speaking are weights and sins that easily beset (hinder) our Christian race that has been so set before each child of God.  Of a truth, if we are going to live a life pleasing to the Lord and encouraging to our brothers and sisters in Christ, Ephesians 4.31 must be performed, many times on a daily basis.  We simply need to seek the direction and guiding hand of our Lord and Savior each day to assist us with removing these things from our lives in order to practice the art of being kind one to another, being tender hearted and forgiving one another.

Now, the actions the Apostle Paul provides, by inspiration of God unto the church at Ephesus as well as unto all of the saved world, a formula is given for success in this area.  After we have put off the negative we are to put outwardly the positive, starting with “be ye kind one to another”.  I have found that if I start my day looking for opportunities to cause someone to smile, the day in and of itself becomes much more rewarding.  When I say smile I do not mean laughter of foolish jesting, although there is nothing wrong with a good laugh, brethren we need that!  Yet, causing someone to smile can be by simply placing a tract into a clerk’s hand in the middle of the day.  Furthermore, causing someone to smile many times I have found results from a simple text message or phone call letting that person know you are praying for them and love them.  For several years, a great preacher of the gospel in FL would phone me up ‘out of the blue’, just to say “I love and praying for you!”  He would then dismiss the phone call.  That happened for years on end.  Several times he would call late at night to just share with me that souls were saved at church that night or their commitment to faith promise missions for the year.  Friend, he was an encourager to say the least and one of the great reason, was because he was ‘kind one to another’.  He is now with the Lord and I have found myself many days and months longing for that call, missing it immensely.  His testimony of encouragement has been a blessing, one that I took to heart and desire to pass on to others.  This week, months and years to come, if the Lord lays someone on your heart – send them a text or call them personally and let them know you love them and that you will pray for them (make sure you pray for them too).  You may never know the benefit that message from afar, will have in that persons life, I promise you it will not be in vain.

Tenderhearted, (having a kind, gentle, or sentimental nature) there are certain people in our life that exemplify this quality better than others.  One of the qualifications of a pastor is that of being ‘given to hospitality’, now also, there some that exemplify this quality better than others as well.  Nevertheless, it is a characteristic externally experienced that is a quality of internal origin.  We have all heard the cliche ‘you can catch more flies with sugar’ (maybe it is bees with honey – but you get the picture), tenderheartedness becomes a fruit  or byproduct of setting our intentions of being kind one to another.  Tenderheartedness is the willingness to understand what someone else is experiencing in order to help them through a situation or comfort them in a time of need.  Some may be simple, others are quite difficult.  Yet, when our minds are set to be kind one to another our heart becomes tender to the needs of others.

The foundation of the former two are built upon that of forgiveness, ‘forgiving one another’.  In life we deal with humans, thus having to deal with human nature.  People are going to offend and be offended.  The key is to not allow these offenses form a wedge in the way we live our life (this is where performing v.31 enables the practice of v.32).  Many may say ‘well preacher, you don’t understand what he or she did to me’, and you are correct I don’t understand.  Just remember, the Lord has never given us a task that He has not also given us the capabilities to fulfill, nor without the needed instructions.

With that said, how are we to forgive one another so that we may be kind one to another and tenderhearted?  “even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”  The same way that God forgave us, because of the great sacrifice paid on the cross, is the same way we are to forgive others.   Sure people are going to hurt, harm and attempt to hinder you.  The greatest ‘weight loss’ method in all the universe is that of forgiveness.  As Christ hath forgiven me, thus releasing me from the bondage of my own offenses, we forgive others also.  In doing so, we not only lay aside the weights, that can eventually become sins, besetting our race, but we also are set free to be kind one to another and tenderhearted.  In turn pleasing our Lord and encouraging the brethren.

My challenge to you this week is to set your mind to be kind to those you come in contact with, becoming tenderhearted for their soul.

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

March 9 2013 Vol 1 Art 2

Ephesians 4:29-32 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

 

Last week we were left with a challenge to: 

“choose our words wisely.  Let’s determine in our heart what effect our words will have (yes that which we say and type).  Let’s ask ourselves, ‘will our words lift up or tear down?’”

Of those that accepted the challenge, how well did you perform?  You may have discovered there was less speaking in your day than before.  I have received countless testimonies over that simple fact, that by ‘choosing our words wisely considering whether they will lift up or tear down’ people found they naturally had less to speak about in ‘common conversations’ throughout the day.

 

That is the practice of the Ephesians 4.29a “let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth…”.   The word ‘let’ means ‘allow’, ‘permit’ or ‘give permission’, when followed by the word ‘no’ it is easy to decipher that we are to ‘prohibit’, ‘disallow’ or ‘prevent’ the proceeding of corrupt communication from our mouth.  Jesus Christ said: “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart…” (Matthew 15:18).  Jeremiah said: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).  I personally believe we are aware when corrupt words proceed from the mouth of believers, those words orginated in the heart which is desperately wicked.  Nevertheless, the admonition from the mighty Apostle is to ‘prevent’ those corrupt words from going on from our mouth.  It really does not matter how true they (words) are, we must examine our words according to our manner, motive, and matrix.  

 

Every word we say effects our manners (I Cor 15.33), even-so our motive for the words we say must be examined asking ourselves “what am I attempting to achieve?”, “is there a reason of self preservation or sacrifice involved?”  Many times the true motives of ‘corrupt communication’ are masked by ‘needing to talk to someone’.  In the shadow of Ephesians 4.29, it is prudent for us to examine our motives of that which continues out of our mouth.

 

Moreover, the matrix of our words must be considered.  A matrix is a pattern, a structural mould that shapes or reshapes the image of another in the minds of the ‘hearers’.  It is my personal conviction that Christ is referring to this aspect of what we say when He stated: “…That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof…”(Matthew 12:36).  You may disagree and that is fair, but I would rather err on the side of caution, before idly speaking to comfort myself and altering the image of a fellow brother and sister of the Lord in the mind of another soul.  Even more-so, altering the image of my Lord and Savior in the minds of those that are lost.  

 

The practice of Ephesians 4.29a enables the purpose of remainder of the verse, namely the latter portion: “that it may minister grace unto the hearers”.  For years I have strove to clearly and keenly grasp the full teaching of this verse, even though the practice is difficult, the purpose is plain.  Yet, even by understanding the verse, do we thoroughly understand what it means to minister grace?

 

The term ‘minister’ is in the action or verb usage in this verse, which means ‘to give’ or ‘to bestow a gift’.  In this context we are exhorted to ‘give’ grace unto the hearers or those that witness our life and hear our words.  

 

There are many facets to ministering grace unto the hearers, one in particular builds upon the thought of edifying (lifting up).  The world we live in teaches our young people they have come from nothing and when they die they will go to nothing.  Therefore they surmise they are nothing.  That is a discouraging and disheartening outlook of life.  It is no wonder that suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among ages 5-14 year olds and the third leading cause of death among 15-24 year olds.  An entire generation has been conditioned that they are accidents in the cosmos and at the end of their accidental existence it all ends, the lights go out.

 

Jesus Christ felt very different, He did not see them or anyone as ‘nothing’, but rather something and someone.  So much so, that He gave His only earthly life, suffering a shameful death He did not deserve so those those feel or are taught they are nothing can realize they are so important, the God of universe and Creator of all things made an appointment for them personally, that they may live eternally.  

 

These words are simple, but true and will minister grace to the hearers.  Despite one’s crimes, convictions or coincidence the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is for them that they may live; So they may receive and accept the forgiveness of sins.  

“…that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” Ephesians 4.29c

ToEncourage Vol 1 Art 1

Ephesians 4:29-32 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

For several years, as a pastor, I had a weekly blog titled “Weekly Words of Encouragement”.  It purposed to provide many, some words that encouraged as opposed to discouraging with news and opinions of the day.  A dear friend of mine said over lunch one day “B.J., you need to continue with that blog and send it to as many people as you can…people need encouragement today, not the condoning of sin they receive from others…but simple, Biblical encouragement.”  Sadly enough, due to the pressures of pastoring and other ministry involvement I was unable to continue with a weekly column/blog as such.

Through a simple text conversation last night with one of my best friends in the ministry, the Lord impressed upon my heart to resurrect and recommit the weekly article/blog/column (whichever one desires to call it) of sending out some weekly words to encourage everyone from the pews to the pastors, the missionary to the manager, the evangelist to the educator and all between.  So, as we move forward, I covet your prayers and would like to introduce to you the weekly words simply titled: “ToEncourage”.

Our opening passage and most likely theme Scriptures for the next several months is Ephesians 4.29-32.  The mighty missionary and Apostle, Paul, exhorted the Ephesian church to ‘control what you say’.  I would agree that includes what we ‘text’, ‘chat’, ‘blog’, ‘email’, ‘post’, ‘like’, ‘forward’, ‘friend’…etc (did I forget anything?).

Personally I am tired of the camps and critics which twist (which comes from the same Greek word for pervert) Scripture to malign with their agenda of promoting themselves and movement.  Choose whichever one comes to mind, but most of these men have only chosen such positions because they were taught that from their pastor or someone else.  Brothers and sisters, such things ought not be so.  We are compelled to ‘search the Scriptures’ to ‘rightly divide the word of truth’.  By obeying Scripture, we also properly interpret Scripture, consequently correctly applying Scripture.

 

Paul says to us, by way of inspiration of the Holy Ghost “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying…”.  My goal in this article and hence in life if not only to ‘control’ the communication of my mouth from so much of the negative as it is to ‘control’ the communication of my mouth to ‘the use of edifying’; thus ‘lifting up’ those that hear (be it electronically or verbally).  You may ask why?  You may say within yourself “yeah, but we are IFB, we are expected to blast, stomp, criticize…etc.”.  Friend, whereas it is appropriate to call sin, sin; it is not appropriate to do so with an agenda of aligning others against brothers and sisters.  Our words, are like a tube of toothpaste, once it proceeds out it can NEVER be put back.  Our intentions should be examined in light of Scripture, and the true and simple question becomes: ‘do my words lift up or tear down?’.  I am not attempting to make this a sermon, if so, there are hundreds of verses that support the words of the mighty Apostle Paul.

There is a great reason the Apostle was so adamant on this subject.  Paul witnessed firsthand the result of perverting Scripture to serve an agenda: the death of a good man filled with the Holy Spirit.  The Acts of the Apostles, for the most part concerns four men: Peter, Stephen, Phillip and Paul.  Remember what Paul saw and heard in Stephen?  The face of an angel and his final words: “lay not this sin to their charge.”  It was Paul who was ‘consenting’ unto Stephen’s death, yet it was Stephen that besought the Lord on their behalf to be forgiven.  These are the words that proceeded from the mouth of a man full of faith and power (Holy Ghost) in the final moments of his life.  He did not die as prey (reactionary), but rather a victor.

In his death, the motive and movement of the greatest church planting missions resounded.  The instrument utilized of God to write more books of the Bible experienced that day the great effect ‘words’ possess when they proceed from our mouth.  We may think we can go back and correct them, but we all know human nature is negative.  Man’s nature is to sin and sin separates, that is its result and reason of existence.  Words are used either as a tool to build up or a weapon to dismantle the work of God.

So, this day, this week I challenge us all, to choose our words wisely.  Let’s determine in our heart what effect our words will have (yes that which we say and type).  Let’s ask ourselves, ‘will our words lift up or tear down?’.

“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” Ephesians 4.29