Stay Connected
In John 15:5 Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Take a moment to consider Jesus as the life-giving vine. Sometimes we can get so busy with life and ministry that we forget that we are branches, and lifeless without the vine. We are fruitless without the vine. We must always stay connected and dependent in order to accomplish anything of value.
Let’s take note of a two powerful truths from this verse:
- Jesus promises that if we remain in Him, we will bear “much fruit.” It is His purpose for every believer that we will be so connected to Him that we will not only bear some fruit, but much fruit. We are to be abundantly fruitful. We’re not talking about a random grape here and there, but a harvest.
- If we become disconnected from Jesus, will find ourselves powerless to bear any fruit at all. Our effectiveness in ministry and the Christian walk will be stopped up. He clearly says, “apart from me you can do nothing.” If we try to live the Christian life, rather than allowing Christ to live through us, we will be fruitless branches.
Perhaps a question this passage raises is, “What does it mean to remain in Him?” It means to stay right where you are. Don’t go anywhere that takes you away from a close, abiding relationship with Jesus. Stay completely dependent on Him every step of the way.
How can you begin to do this today? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Stay Connected
In John 15:5 Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Take a moment to consider Jesus as the life-giving vine. Sometimes we can get so busy with life and ministry that we forget that we are branches, and lifeless without the vine. We are fruitless without the vine. We must always stay connected and dependent in order to accomplish anything of value.
Let’s take note of a two powerful truths from this verse:
- Jesus promises that if we remain in Him, we will bear “much fruit.” It is His purpose for every believer that we will be so connected to Him that we will not only bear some fruit, but much fruit. We are to be abundantly fruitful. We’re not talking about a random grape here and there, but a harvest.
- If we become disconnected from Jesus, will find ourselves powerless to bear any fruit at all. Our effectiveness in ministry and the Christian walk will be stopped up. He clearly says, “apart from me you can do nothing.” If we try to live the Christian life, rather than allowing Christ to live through us, we will be fruitless branches.
Perhaps a question this passage raises is, “What does it mean to remain in Him?” It means to stay right where you are. Don’t go anywhere that takes you away from a close, abiding relationship with Jesus. Stay completely dependent on Him every step of the way.
How can you begin to do this today? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Maturity Takes Time
The dictionary gives two definitions of aging and here they are. Which one would you prefer?
1 : to become old : show the effects or the characteristics of increasing age
2 : to acquire a desirable quality (as mellowness or ripeness) by standing undisturbed for some time. Wine is one of those things that get’s better with age. Cheese must be aged and if you invest in a CD it has its full value when it reaches maturity.
Rather than saying I am getting old I would prefer to say that I am maturing. Now maturing in the dictionary means: “to bring to full development”.
Yep, that’s me. I’m not aging I am being brought to full development.
My question to you this week is. Are you being brought to full development in your faith? Are you being seasoned and brought to full maturity as a Christian? Eph 4:11-13 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ .
Notice here how this maturity comes. It comes through the teaching and preaching of the word and through serving the Lord. This maturity also results in the building up of the church to a place of unity and of growing in the knowledge of Jesus. Age well in your faith, the body of Christ needs you.
Can Man fulfill the Law of God?
Interestingly this topic continues to crop up, or should I say, “weed up.”
Unfortunately, with certain ones that hold to having to live the law, there is a disconnect with the clarity of the Word of God. The New Testament debate was recorded in Acts 15. Verse 5 “…certain ones of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed, stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them (Gentile believers) and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.”
Peter refuted this false teaching and stood up in the assembly and said to them, “…and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by FAITH.” “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?” “But we believe that we are saved through the GRACE of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”
Paul also corrects the Galatian believers who, according to Galatians 1:6, had quickly deserted their FAITH in Christ to live a different gospel, one that required living the LAW. Paul teaches that those who teach this type of gospel are “…disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of Christ.” Paul warns them not to accept this false gospel no matter who may be the messenger. It is a lie and those who teach it are accursed. (verse 8 “but even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.”)
Paul can be accused of being “anti-LAW” or undoubtedly offensive. But he cared enough for the people to risk his life to bring clarity to the fact that God does not justify men because they attempt to live the law. God justifies men by faith in Christ Jesus. Galatians 2:16
“… nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in
Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.”
Paul thoroughly explains the difference between being justified by faith and not the works of the Law in Galatians Chapter 3.
Questionably, why then do we need the LAW? In Galatians Chapter 3 Paul explains in verses 19-22
“Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. 20 Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one. 21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. 22 But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
He closes his argument in verse 24, “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith”
Let the reader be aware, if you have committed yourself to living the LAW you are living in contrast to the Word of God and to the Gospel of grace.
In my personal background I was a follower of those who teach, “you must live the LAW to be saved.” The terminology was cloaked this way;
“We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. “
This requires perfection first, and then salvation is available to you.
Moroni 10:32 tells us, “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness: and IF ye shall deny
yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, THEN is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ: and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.”
I agree that my perfection is only in Christ. (see Gal 2:16 above)
But the Christ described above requires that you MUST FIRST deny yourself of all ungodliness and IF you do, along with loving God with all your might, mind and strength, THEN is his grace sufficient for you.
I had done a lot of good things, I was trying, though I knew I wasn’t perfect, I assumed that God was gracious enough to pardon me, because I had tried. But the teachers of the LAW say there is no try, you can and you must. These are the teachers Paul WARNS us about in Galatians Chapter 1 (see above) and, also in 2 Corinthians 11:3-5
“But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. 4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.”
Those who teach that you must follow their rules and instructions to be saved are well described by Paul in the forgoing verses. They teach another Jesus, another spirit, and another gospel.
We are reminded of the clarity of God’s Word in the Bible. Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been SAVED THROUGH FAITH; and that NOT OF YOURSELVES, it is the gift of God; 9 NOT AS A RESULT OF WORKS, so that no one may boast.
Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. 2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. 3 For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. 4 FOR CHRIST IS THE END OF THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS TO EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES.
ROMANS 10:9-13
if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”
Paul’s writings are clear; they are substantiated by the validity of the Bible. In my life “before faith in the Christ of the Bible” I would mock the truth of the above verses saying, “it’s only correct as far as it is translated properly.” Now I would respond and politely ask, “please show me where these passages have been incorrectly translated.”
When Isaiah wrote about man’s righteousness he described it in this manner;
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags ; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
If our greatest righteousness is nothing but filthy rags to God, those which are discarded and burnt, consumed by fire (a picture of judgment) then why would I try to defend my righteousness by saying I am living the LAW?
4 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
My plea for all of us is found beautifully stated in the Word of God, the book of Galatians (again)
Galatians 6:7-8 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; BUT HE THAT SOWETH TO THE SPIRIT SHALL OF THE SPIRIT REAP LIFE EVERLASTING.
Ya buddy! Reaping life by the Spirit, Ron Heath
Priorities
How many of us have had that inner feeling to do this or that? I think I’ll go this way or, no that’s the wrong way to do it! I’ll bet that all of us have tried something, done something or proceeded into a project and finally stopped and said WOW that was wrong. I knew it should have been done the other way from the start. This most often is that still small voice in side of us, God talking to us. Listen to me before you start or do that!
What are the first things that come to your mind in the morning when you get up? Do you immediately start setting priorities for the day? Thinking about the projects or deadlines that need to be met. Maybe jotting down the items that should be done first, then second and so on. Schedule the load or the people that work for you so as to meet the customers requirements.
Where was the priority to fit God into your schedule or day? Was it first when you woke up or was it not even thought of? Did God get put on the back burner? Maybe I’ll check with Him tomorrow if I have time. I’m too busy right now to put God into the plans of the day. When things lighten up I’ll stop and plug God in. At the end of a day how many times have you thought or even said to someone, wife or fellow worker, WOW what a messed up and terrible day!
What about going back and thinking about how the day started. What frame of mind were you in when you woke up? Where and what was controlling your mind set? If the day ended all screwed up and terrible, I bet God wasn’t brought in at the start or maybe He wasn’t included at all.
Do you have a quiet time with God each day? Do you set time aside to read the word and pray? Have you sot your heart and listened to the still small voice in side and said God I’ll let you set my priorities. Mathew 6 verse 33 says, But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. This verse doesn’t say second, third or last, it says first! This is a command and it should be our priorty as we start and set our daily priorities! God bless all.
Never Say Never
Have you seen or heard on the news lately about this gal who suddenly woke up from a coma after 25 years. She asked the nurses to wait and not tell her parents until she could speak again clearly. When she could she had the nurses call her folks and say “there is someone here who wants to say hi” she then got on the phone and said “hi mom and dad”.
This was an astounding event. The odds are against anyone coming out of a coma, but one thing I have been learning is “Never say never”.
Why, why never say never? In Matthew 19:26 After talking to his disciples about how hard it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
That family member who is not open to the gospel, that wayward child that never seems to understand you, that financial mountain that you can never seem to get over or that weight problem that seem insurmountable that is a constant issue in your life.
Fill in the blank, whatever it may be God is equal to the task. Jer 32:17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:
With God in your life you should “never say never”.
Is Lighthouse Rising?
I love the name LIGHTHOUSE for a community of believers….what an amazing image of Jesus’ light shining out across the angry seas of life beckoning lost souls to find the refuge that only He can provide.
And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me will not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.” John 12:44-47
I also love the name LIGHTHOUSE RISING. The name had just been chosen for the worship team when the Lord was leading us to Lighthouse at the beginning of 2010….
But I believe the name Lighthouse Rising is much more significant than the name of our worship team…I believe it is a powerful vision for our church body.
It has been incredible for our family to become a part of the Lighthouse community….for my wife Heidi and me to see how the church passionately ministers to the Magic Valley that we both grew up in and love….and to see our children be nurtured in a Christian school in a way that we couldn’t have even imagined possible.
But I believe there is so much more for Lighthouse on the horizon….
I see Lighthouse Rising…I see more of us rising up one brave heart at a time to use the unique and valuable gifts that God has given us….more of us taking a bold step of faith off the river’s edge and into the current of the life lived in the Spirit.
He has put us here for a reason. He redeems our lives and He sets us on a mission….a mission that is often ignited for so many of us within our biggest trials and heartbreaks. When we truly humble ourselves, God uses our shortcomings and failures as great assets to impact others for the His Kingdom.
“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a light and put it under a basket, but on a stand and it gives light in all the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16
Jesus said that we are the light of the world…and to let our light shine before others….to bring glory to the Father.
What does a changed heart in action look like? What does a city on hill look like as it burns on the horizon?
Well, I have a powerful picture to share of a brother in Christ….
As I write this at midnight tonight, one of my best friends from Tennessee is in Russia with his wife standing before a judge pleading to adopt a beautiful special needs girl named Evan.
God has done such a powerful work in his life. It is Jesus in him that has brought to the surface who the Lord called him to be. He and his wife have three children, and I say in faith, that it is about to be four. Their oldest child Tori, is biological, and their sons Jace and Levi are both adopted. I only wish I could add a picture of their entire family to this blog post because it is obvious that it was created by the Lord. God has lit a fire in their hearts for the orphans in this world, and they are courageously responding to God’s call on their life….they are a Lighthouse Rising!
I feel inspired to share this story with you tonight because Clark is a lot like so many of us. It was only a few years ago he had all of this potential in his heart, but it was buried beneath the cares of this world and a bunch of other stuff (read crap).
He has always dreamed of owning a Harley-Davidson motorcycle…his wife was adamantly against it. He is a passionate man and finally wore her down. She relented and said that when he turned 40 she would somehow look the other way and allow it… and he was almost there….when it all changed.
Some friends at church shared with them about a child that needed a home…a special needs boy named Levi. God moved in both of their hearts and they knew it was the Lord’s will for them to step up. Clark knew he had to let go of his selfish dreams for a better dream that the Lord had for them….and through a series of miracles, Levi became a member of the Hook family. This dream looked nothing like riding a Harley on the open road, on the contrary, at one time they spent 30 days straight in Vanderbilt Hospital due to Levi’s heart condition. And through it all, he has NO REGRETS!!!
And now the Lord has them on the other side of the world bringing another orphan home….
The saying is true…the Lord is not looking for the qualified…He is looking for the willing and He qualifies them…
They are a Lighthouse Rising….rising up to reach beyond their fear of the unknown and trust the Lord…waaaayyyyy beyond their own comfort zone.
This is what I see for us….this is what I hope for us. This is what I pray God pours into the hearts of our young people as they seek Him….
What is the next step of faith for you and your family into the great unknown? Or for our students…is God calling you to college or to the mission field? Are you seeking His Kingdom first or yours?
I know God is calling us to rise!
“You are a city on a hill….” Do not try and hide….the first bold step is to simply ask God His purpose for your life…and humbly and expectantly surrender your own.
P.S. I got word THIS MORNING that the judge in Russia said “YES!” to their request to adopt Evan and they are making arrangements to bring her home!!! The Lord is faithful!!!!
The picture included was taken in Russia as they celebrated the victory!
What God Can’t Do…?
While visiting with a friend recently we shared about the amazing things God had been doing in each of our lives. Acknowledging how He uses adversity to bring about greater dependence upon Him. Then my friend asked, “Is there anything God cannot do?”
We agreed again on 3 things.
1. According to Titus 1:1-3, God cannot lie.
Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, 2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, 3 but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior,
2. According to Malachi 3:5-6, God cannot change.
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,” says the LORD of hosts. “For I, the LORD, do not change;
3. According to John 3:2-3, God cannot let anyone into heaven unless they are born again.
Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Therefore, the simple conclusion of God’s truth that will never change, “you must be born again or you cannot see the kingdom of God.”
We discussed how these 3 statements can be used as an evangelistic tool to engage people in a non confrontational conversation about the most important decision of their lives. We can ask a question that people may be intrigued by, “Did you know that the Bible says there are at least 3 things God cannot do?”
I would encourage you to be praying about the opportunity to talk with the lost about the importance of being born again. You don’t want to leave this place without it.
Rejoicing in my “born again” heavenly birth,
Ron Heath
New heaven, New earth
Japan has just experienced a 9.0 earth quake, a conservative estimate of those who lost their lives is well over 10,000, entire towns were washed away in the ensuing tsunami that followed. Some may ask how could God allow this to happen, does he just not care? These kinds of things make people think that God, if there, is impotent and uninterested in the affairs of man—as if He just set the world spinning and then left us to fend for ourselves.
Actually the bible teaches us that when man sinned it not only brought about death and the decay of the physical body but also the decay and deterioration of the earth itself.
Rom 8:20-22 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
Just as we long to shed this corrupted body of flesh and be clothed with our new spiritual body so the earth is groaning as it anticipates the coming of the new heaven and new earth.
2 Peter 3:10-12 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
What we saw in Japan was the result of the sin of man that has not only cursed our physical bodies with death but also doomed all of creation.
Rev 21:1-4 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. 2 Pet 3:13
Trust
Hello, As one of your new pastors, I have been asked to provide you all with this weeks devotion. First of all, for those that don’t know me, please let me introduce myself. I am Larry Fredrickson, if that doesn’t help look for me hidden under my cowboy hat, and for most, know that a few weeks ago the pastoral staff prayed over me to become one of your Lighthouse pastors. For the most part you won’t see me teaching or doing ministry in the halls of our Lighthouse church. A few years back, God’s calling came upon me to serve in the motor sports world. I have been blessed to serve in the RFC ( Racers for Christ ) ministry. This will be and is an off campus ministry. We at Lighthouse know that one of our missions is to reach out to the community and where ever God leads us. So for me, I have accepted that mission calling and as scripture says, SEND ME.
As I have the opportunity to take God’s word to those in the motor sports world, I also think of many that have jobs that put them on the edge of danger. Some work with high voltage systems, others work with equipment that provides an element of danger. Some are involved with our law enforcement that blesses us, but puts them on that edge of danger. Those that find themselves in the motor sport world, many of whom climb into a race car that in seconds ( 4 to 5 plus ) will accelerate to over 200 and many to over 300 mph. Those drivers are on a razor sharp edge between life and death. They put all the confidence in their machine, pit crews to perform correctly. Many of these drivers know that the most important thing that they have is their TRUST in God. I have the blessing of praying with many of them just before they start. When you find yourself on that edge, what do you do? Where is your trust, do you go to God for the strength and guidance that only He can provide? Or do you take it upon yourself and say “oh I can handle it”? Psalms 37 verse 5 – Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. For many of us it’s difficult to commit or give to the Lord and let him take care of the situation. As you find yourself on those razor sharp edges of life, try wearing out your knees at the foot of the cross and Trust in the Lord for He has promised to take care of it, if you will just surrender it to Him.
Isaiah 26 verse 4 – Trust in the Lord forever, For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock.—- These promises are for our joy and the peace that our God provides.