THE KANSAS CITY ROYALS AND THE CHURCH

I grew up in Overland Park, a suburb of Kansas City.  I graduated from Shawnee Mission North High School there in 1984.  I then went to college at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas.  I've gone to several baseball games at Royals Stadium (Now called Kaufman Stadium in honor of the man who got the Royals started and built the stadium for so many to enjoy.)  With the Kansas City Royals so much a part of my childhood, looking up to and wanting to be like the 1985 World Series champions, I remember the thrill of their come-from-behind win over the St. Louis Cardinals (whom I also later grew to love).  I remember specific games.  I remember idolizing the players.  I remember playing with my friends and imagining we were those players as we played our summer-league baseball games.  It was a time filled with imagination, hope, and wonder.  And it was a time when our community - which crossed cultural and state lines.  The Kansas side owned the Royals as much as the Missouri side.  The Royals were "our team."  And they united us all.  Even as I sat in our student union in Emporia, Kansas watching the 1985 World Series, we all pulled together for the Royals!  And what a surprising win that was!

Now, sitting here in South Central Missouri, "saddened" that my "other" team, the St. Louis Cardinals were not playing the World Series, I ponder the reach of unity and celebration the World Series Champions of 2015 bring to the area.  My friends and family closer to Kansas City than I are using Facebook to announce their plans to take the day off to attend the victory parade.  School Districts are closing in KC to allow staff and students alike to celebrate.  That team, the Kansas City Royals, has won more than a World Series - they have won the hearts of people for miles around - as far as their fans are across the globe!  The thrill of seeing the underdogs (at least the underdogs from the media's perspective) win by coming from behind game after game after game is something that stuns, amazes, and delights the heart - even if you root for another team.  And it unites you with the community of Kansas City! 

I say all that because I sit here also pondering that the excitement over the our "Boys in blue" is a very fleeting thing.  In a few weeks, Spring Training will begin again, and a new season will begin, making the journey to the World Series a whole new race, with entirely new contenders in the post-season, uniting their communities.  With that in mind, why is it the church sees so few victories worthy of such amazing celebration?  Or have we simply forgotten the amazing victory of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Talk about a "come-from-behind" win!  I mean, He was dead!  He was buried!  His tomb was sealed!  And still He came back!  That should have us all attending a parade!  We should all be cheering, making and wearing apparel, and lighting up social media with our pride that our Lord has won the day!  Every enemy, every opposing team has lost, and Jesus is King!  We should take a day off and truly celebrate this win!  It's an eternal win.  And it will be repeated by everyone who will follow Jesus!   Shouldn't that make us all glow with wonder, excitement, and spark our imaginations?

And that's Just A Thought for today!  

HOLINESS, NOT HAPPINESS

Contrary to popular opinion, God's greatest wish is NOT our happiness, it's our HOLINESS.  Jesus didn't die to make us happy, He died to make us holy.  He didn't forgive us so we could be free of guilty feelings, He forgave us so we would be free of the penalty for our sin - eternal separation from our righteous Creator. 

A change in our lifestyle, interests, and pursuits is in order.  Before salvation, we lived for ourselves, we did ungodly things, and we were unholy in our thoughts and our deeds.  We had no hope of being able to do or think rightly, godly, and purely.  But God, in His mercy, sent Jesus to pay our penalty on the Cross of Calvary.  God in His grace, offers this truth to all men, that those who receive salvation through Jesus Christ will learn to deny the ungodliness and worldly lusts and live for the godly, rightous, and pure ways of God.  There really IS a way out of much of the pain of living in this world - and it is by living for Jesus rather than self!

Titus 2:11-14 (KJV) ¹¹  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, ¹²  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; ¹³  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; ¹⁴  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

This means that the drug addicted, sex addicted, homosexual, rapist, murdering, abortionist, lying, stealing, bitter, lonely, drunken, judgmental, angry, hopeless, fearful, gluttonous, deviant persons in this world have hopes of being made pure and right with God forever.  The salvation that Jesus brings is a salvation from all these things, not a means of gaining happiness through them, or an excuse to continue. 

But before you try to reform yourself to obtain that salvation, you'd better think again.  It is not in the deed that the sin resides.  It is in the desire!  That means that you'll need to be made into someone you aren't!  And that is exactly what the grace of God is when applied to your life.  God makes you a new creature in Christ Jesus - complete with new desires, abilities, and purpose in life. 

2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV) Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Suddenly, happiness is intertwined with holiness.  What will now make you happy is that God has made you holy!  And you will work alongside the Lord to grow in holiness.

Are you saved?  Is living for Jesus an act of gratitude for His grace to you by making you perfectly holy in God's sight (Your position in Christ)?  Are you living a more holy life today than you were yesterday (Your practice in Christ)? 

If not, will you take a moment and repent of your sins, and seek the Lord's grace of forgiveness and ask Him to make you new today?  Give yourself to Him, let Him teach you what is sin, and purify you from it - for the rest of your life.  You will not be disappointed when holiness is your aim.

That is Just A Thought for today.  May the Lord bless you and keep you as you practice these things.

Striking Love

"The love of the Lord." -

Hos_3:1

This phrase is almost like "count your blessings" - for the Lord's love is as easily forgotten as His blessings... and they are inseparably linked. His blessings flow from His love, demonstrate His love, and define in many ways His love. Yet, His love is a well that never shall run dry.

Many people consider love to be a feeling. We define love by that warm fuzzy feeling we get when we are around someone we care deeply for. God defines love quite differently - and expresses His love for us according to HIS definition, not ours. He defines love as a verb - an action word. He demonstrates His love for us by what He does, not how He feels.

One of the most striking demonstrations of God's love toward us is His burning desire to separate our sins from our souls. God knows, by His holiness, the destruction that sin causes. He knows how far we come from Him the moment we sin. He hates both the destruction and the breech of fellowship that sin causes in our lives and our relationship with Him. He hates to see His creatures hurt or damaged in any way. He knows that sin is at the root of that. The love of the Lord has prompted Him to go to great lengths to separate us from our sin. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life." The blood of Jesus was shed to wash us from that debilitating, imprisoning sin, and forever unite us with Him.

It is also a striking demonstration of God's love that He should heap upon our heads burning coals of good deeds, that we might repent of our evil deeds - most namely the enmity we have had toward God Himself by our mocking, disobedience, irreverence, and inconsideration. Repenting - turning away from such things - is how we actively embrace the love of the Lord for ourselves.

Therefore, there is the sense that we are cleansed by God of our sins, and the sense that we willingly are cleansed by our repentance. The Love of the Lord precipitates both equally, and as we reflect, we see that true love hates sin in all forms. It is not evil to want good for another - or to pursue it. Love is the active pursuit of good for another, not the fear of retaliation for confronting evil in another, as many parents do when they fear to discipline their children; as many spouses do when they fear to hold their loved ones to a higher standard than drinking, drugs, gambling, spouse abuse, or any other sinful neglect. It is all love - and a love that the Lord has for us. May we all respond with genuine repentance and return His love by devoted obedience and faithful proclamation of how much we love Him!

Do you have too much Jesus?

"And of his fullness have all we received." - Joh_1:16

The fullness of God...

There is a thought that we all need - the complete thing, nothing shy of a full deal. Think about what we have in His fullness. We have a fully God savior. He has the full power, full character, full nature, and full wisdom of God. Our Savior, whom we have received, is fully man. He fully knows our needs, our weaknesses, and our limitations. We have a full justification from sin, not a momentary or partial justification only to be later condemned. We have a full salvation that includes our hope of resurrection. We have a full victory over death, and a full intercession for us. There is a full companionship with the Lord, as He always goes with us where He leads us. There is a full forgiveness and a full redemption, imputing to us a full righteousness. There is a full triumph that is His at His ascension, and a full glory for Him to share with those whom he will. No blessing He bestows is ever partial, but full. He is able to sanctify fully, give full grace, fully protect, and fully guide us. His comfort is fully given in times of stress and affliction. We are fully loved, and fully embraced by the Loving Father through the Holy Son.

We lack nothing in the fullness of Christ - save a full appreciation and a full love in return. It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell - and we have received Him! May we who have be filled with His fullness today, and share it with those who have yet to receive Him!

Morning Devotions

Bible Reading: Psa_111:9

I awoke this morning with a yearning for a closeness (companionship) with the Lord that He has already filled. I didn't feel it; and like I said, I yearned for it - but it was there already. It was established by Jesus Christ before the foundation of the earth. It is eternal - written into the covenant and sealed with the blood of Jesus.

There is a companionship that is everlasting, unseverable. It is the desire of most people to have such. I believe it is what men and women look for in a mate. I believe it drives our lives in ways we may not comprehend. When it fails through human relationships, our hearts are broken. If our hearts are broken often enough or deeply enough, we withdraw, and are made less of a companion ourselves. There is only one remedy for such earthly companionship - forgiveness and love. These two things seem so rare in our world today.

But the void in our hearts for such companionship is filled with the Living God and Loving Savior. Jesus has sent redemption to us - filling us with Himself. He has made us a promise that will never be broken - Himself. He is mighty, and He is pure. He is Holy and He is ours!

It is this passion that makes our worship for Him overflow. It is this covenant that makes our hope of heaven sure. It is His name upon it all - sealing it with His precious blood that indelibly stamps it "sealed" and "perfect." This morning, let your love for Him flow freely in your worship and thanksgiving to Christ.

Bro. Greg