"For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, `Do not be afraid'" (Acts 27:23-24a)

Paul was a prisoner on his way to Rome for trial. The ship he was traveling on had been tossed by a hurricane force wind for several days. God sent comfort to Paul so that he would not despair. As He passes the good news on to the others that they would not die, Paul mentions God - "to whom I belong and whom I serve."  

To Whom I Belong

Christians belong to God. We have been purchased by the blood of Christ. "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  

Some are unwilling to belong to the Lord. They belong to their jobs, their spouse, their children, their hobbies, etc. Most simply belong to themselves. They do what they want, not what GOD wants. Many are controlled by sin. " ...do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts" (Romans 6:12).  

And Whom I Serve  

Never forget that, because children of God belong to God, we have a duty to do all that He asks us to do. Paul served God because he belonged to Him. "Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey? Whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness.” (Rom. 6:16) When we understand that we have given control of our lives to God, we will obey and serve Him in ALL things.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." (Romans 12:1).

To whom do YOU belong?

- Roger Hillis, evangelist

"...the heart of Asa was wholly true to the Lord all his days. And he brought into the house of the Lord the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels." (1 Kings 15:14-15)

The story of those gold & silver vessels becomes a bit of a theme throughout the story of Israel and God. Through the books of Kings & Chronicles, as various monarchs give away parts of the set, we get the impression that they are giving away part of their national relationship with God. And when the vessels are finally taken away by the king of Babylon (2 Kings 24:10-13 & 25:14-15), it is because the people have so fully rejected God that their home and their nation must be wrenched from their hands.

The evident problem with all of this is that these vessels were used for worship, and to see the people giving them away shows the extremely low value that they place on that worship. It reminds us that honest, heartfelt worship should always have a place of prominence in our lives. When we love God, we worship him. And conversely, when we do not worship him, it indicates our lack of love for him. King Asa's addition to the vessels of worship speaks to his deep appreciation of God's worthiness, and it is a lesson for us. To neglect worship is to neglect God himself. We dare not treat our worship with the same negligence as Israel's kings treated the Temple vessels.

- Dan Lankford, minister

"If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31b)

The sentence above is made up of two clauses, and each one of them contains an important reminder—one to drive us on to diligent faithful living; the other to assure us that living like that is worth it.

"If God is for us..." means we must be in a proper relationship with him—one in which we are for him and he is for us. If we are against him, why should we demand that he should be for us? When we live as we should, we demonstrate that we are living for him. So as long as we are trying to do that, we can know with certainty that he is for us.

"...who can be against us?" There are obviously some people who will be against us; persecution is an eternal problem for God's people. But the rhetorical question (and the rest of the context at the end of Romans) shows us very clearly that their efforts will not stand. Jesus said that the gates of Hell will not prevail against his church (Mt. 16:18), and Peter said these words: "Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed." (1 Pet. 3:13-14)

So today, give your best effort to live for God as you should, and as you do that, find peace and assurance in his promise that he is for you and no one else can stand against you.

- Dan Lankford, minister

The Thanksgiving holiday is a special one for Christians. Historically, it looks back to a time when a group of believers who were making serious efforts to follow only the teachings of Scripture gave thanks to God for the help he had given them in finding a new land in which to practice Christianity as they understood it. But theologically, it looks back way further than that.

When God created the first humans in his image and placed them in the Garden of Eden, God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food." (Gen. 2:29) So why did Adam and Eve eat the one kind of fruit that God had forbidden when they had every other kind of fruit available to them? The simple answer: ingratitude.

While it is certainly true that the underlying cause of every willful sin is pride (when we think our own way is a better choice than God's way), a case can be made that another underlying cause of every sin is ingratitude—a dissatisfaction with the rightful & wonderful blessings God has given us. Ingratitude leads to discontentment, discontentment leads to entitlement, and entitlement leads to arrogance, which gets us right back to the problem of pride that causes us to sin.

What do we do about this? We remember that Paul's encouragement to the Thessalonians is more than a cheap platitude—it is a divine command with the potential to increase our faithfulness and bring us eternal joy. "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."  (1 Thess. 5:16-18)

In the aftermath of last week’s shooting in Thousand Oaks, California, one news agency played a soundbite of a victim’s mother who said, “I don’t want prayers. I don’t want thoughts. I want gun control and I hope to God nobody else sends me any more prayers.”

In the aftermath of a natural disaster from a few years ago, one Christian tweeted: “When things like this happen, don’t pray. DO something.” Perhaps even more disheartening was the number of enthusiastic responses he received from other Christians.

Biblically-minded Christians are right to be saddened when we hear these things. We see the inconsistency in directing our hope to God and also refusing prayer. We see the inconsistency in another Christian’s thinking that prayer and action are contrasts when prayer is a most important first action in response to a major event. It hurts us to hear anyone—whether believer or not—belittle something so sacred and so wonderful as a prayer to the God of Heaven.

Because we know that it is more than a magic incantation to distance us from suffering. And we see that, even in moments of deep pain and deep outrage, rejecting prayer is not just a rejection of people who pray; it is a rejection of God to whom we pray. My hope for all of us is that we live and speak in such a way that the world becomes aware of how powerful prayer really is because they see how powerful God really is.

Far from being a simplistic distraction from one’s own pain or a heartless dismissal of someone else’s, prayer is how we approach God in our pain. It is a place to build and enjoy a relationship with God Almighty. It is—and it must always be—faithful Christians’ first response to wickedness and suffering in this world.

- Dan Lankford, minister

“Virtue signaling” is a term which comes from the psychological sciences, but has worked its way into mainstream thought where it describes those among us who loudly decry an injustice in society because everyone else seems to be doing that right now. It’s what happens when a person who has little conviction on a particular subject suddenly jumps on a bandwagon of outrage to be seen as a good person. And it is easy to see this kind of behavior if one looks for it. Whenever there is a call for public outrage, there will be those who have previously shown no concern but who suddenly want to appear that they are part of the virtuous crowd.

Christians may find this especially tempting because we are right to be appalled (though not surprised) by sin and its filthiness. But while we are right to denounce sin, we do not decry its presence because we want to be seen as good people. In fact, “virtue signaling” may be the modern word for this practice, but our Bibles use a much older word for it: hypocrisy. Jesus said, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:1) The desire to be seen and praised by others cannot be our motivation for spirituality. Our goal is to do the will of God just for His own sake.

Let’s do our best to just be good people. All the time. In every way. “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see... and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16)

- Dan Lankford, minister

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” (John 13:34)

“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” (John 14:21)

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” (John 15:9)

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:12-13)

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:7-11)

“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.” (1 John 4:16)

What a truly wonderful message.

Today is September 2. That means that two-thirds of 2018 is already gone. This is the time of the year that most of us start asking, “Where did the time go?” With that in mind, maybe this is a good occasion to take stock of what you’re doing with your time right now and what you intend to make of the rest of the year.

The apostle Paul said, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil.” (Eph. 5:15-16) The verses around that encouragement tell us how.

• First, he says, “don’t be foolish, but understand the will of the Lord” (v. 17). This reminds us of the high priority that Bible study and prayer should have. They help us understand God’s will for our lives.
• In the next verse, he says, “don’t get drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit.” This, too, reminds us that the best use of our time involves filling our minds with the things of God. And one good way to do that: sing songs of the faith (v. 19).
• In verse 20, he says, “give thanks always and for everything in Jesus’ name.” While it might not sound like what we typically think of as time management, it is hard to imagine something more valuable to the mind and heart than a period of introspective gratitude.

You can make the most of your days by putting these practices of the soul to work in your life. They will sharpen your mind, soften your heart, and enhance your time in some truly powerful ways.

- Dan Lankford, minister

In our daily Bible reading program, we're marching through the Psalms. this past week’s group of psalms reminded us of the Israelites’ story with God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer called these “Psalms of Holy History,” and with good reason. The reminders about God’s deliverance from Egypt, about all the times he answered their cries during Judges, and about his marvelous abundance poured out in Solomon’s time should have reminded the people of their dependence on the one true and holy God—Yahweh. Indeed, “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction” (Rom. 15:4)

All Christians need a working knowledge of Bible stories, because we need the same reminders. One of God’s frequent criticisms of his people during the time of the prophets was, “You have forgotten me” (Isa. 17:10, Isa. 51:13, Jer. 13:25, Jer. 44:9, Ezek. 22:12, Ezek. 22:35, Hosea 4:6). It wasn’t that they had forgotten that God exists, but that they had forgotten the many stories that manifest his goodness and faithfulness to them in the past. And since they forgot the stories of the past, they neglected to trust him in the present.

On one occasion when the disciples forgot to bring any bread on a journey with Jesus, they were afraid that he would be angry with them. But Jesus asked, “Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand…?” (Matt. 16:9)  They and all generations of believers need to remember that God has shown himself trustworthy and good. We must remember our Bible stories because they remind us that we can trust God today with anything and everything that matters.

- Dan Lankford, minister

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before 
its shearers is silent, so he opens not his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7)

“And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they 
know not what they do.’” (Luke 23:34)

“Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on 
the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matthew 5:39)

“Roll with the punches.” That phrase comes from the realm of boxing, where competitors are taught to pull their bodies in the direction that an opponent’s punch is thrown in order to lessen the blow and therefore allow the fighter to endure a little longer.

While Jesus does not use that same imagery, he does give us some related encouragement to endure the blows that life will inevitably deliver. In the verses above, the Holy Spirit encourages us to press on in a life of faith even when you must suffer. Obviously, these verses are meant to encourage Christians in the toughest times: when you or your loved ones are threatened, attacked, or killed for believing in Jesus. But if we are being encouraged to roll on through the punches in those hard times, how much more should we endure our smaller sleights and struggles? Can’t we learn to “roll with it” sometimes?

My encouragement to you is this: Don’t take too many things personally. Find peace in forgiving others. And when life delivers a hard blow: roll with the punch, admit that it hurt, and keep on fighting the good fight.

- Dan Lankford, minister