A Tale of Two Sons Part 1

Most of us are familiar with the parable of the Prodigal Son.

Which one of the brothers do you relate to the most?

Perhaps, you relate more to the Father because you have a prodigal child.

Over the next two weeks, I want to look at these two very different sons and their unique struggles.

The younger son comes to his Dad and says, “Give me my inheritance.”

So, the Father divides his possessions between them.

Note that they both get their inheritance.

The younger one travels to a distant land and spends it all on wine and women.

When his resources are gone, he hires himself to a man who has him feed his pigs.

He looks at the pigs’ food and longs to eat it because his boss isn’t even offering to feed him.

He comes to his senses and remembers how his father at least feeds his servants decent food.

So, he decides to return home to ask to be his father’s servant.

While he is far off, his father sees him, feels compassion and runs to embrace and kiss him.

The son humbly apologizes and asks to be his servant, but his father ignores him and orders a change of clothes that symbolize sonship and calls for the fattened calf to be killed and a party held.

The Father rejoices in his son’s return and wants nothing more than to celebrate his son’s rebirth.

This is indeed a beautiful depiction of God’s love and grace toward all of us.

But, how many prodigals believe that they’ve messed up so bad that they cannot come home because of their sins?

Beloved, there is nothing that will make Father God run from you.

He longs to run toward you.

But, you must first turn around and start heading toward Him.

Coming home for the prodigal meant first turning away from sin and heading back to his Father.

He didn’t expect a party; he felt so unworthy; he didn’t understand grace.

Grace frees us from the trap of performance based acceptance.

Beloved, if we are in Christ, we are always accepted by the Father by His grace.

He is always looking to extend His grace to anyone willing to turn from sin and come home to Him no matter what they have done.

He doesn’t make any of us second class Christians either.

He makes us all full fledged sons and daughters and celebrates our return to Him.

Never stop praying for your prodigals.  Be ready to celebrate their return!

Blessings!

Robyn Henning

Threefold Thanksgiving

The first American Thanksgiving did not occur in 1621 when a group of Pilgrims shared a feast with a group of friendly Indians.

Rather, the first recorded thanksgiving took place in Virginia more than 11 years earlier, and it wasn’t a feast.

The winter of 1610 at Jamestown had reduced a group of 409 settlers to 60.

The survivors prayed for help, without knowing when or how it might come.

When help arrived in the form of a ship filled with food and supplies from England, a prayer meeting was held to give thanks to God.

We celebrate Thanksgiving once a year, but as believers, we are to give thanks every day.

In this Thanksgiving Blog we want to look at three things we are to be thankful for every day.

First, we are to be thankful for Material Blessings.

1 Tim. 4:3-4 says, “God created food to be received with prayers of thanks by those who believe and know the truth. Everything God created is good. Nothing should be rejected if it is received with prayers of thanks.”

We see from these verses that we are to give thanks for our food.

From this, we can say that we are to be thankful for all the material blessings that the Lord gives us.

We aren’t to become materialistic and live for material things, but what the Lord gives us, we are to be thankful for.

Second, we are to be thankful for People Blessings.

Philippians 1:3 says, “Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God.”

We are to be thankful for the people the Lord has brought into our lives, since they enrich our lives and help us to grow in Christ.  Even those who bug us at times!

Third, we are to be thankful for Spiritual Blessings.

Let’s look at six ways that the Lord blesses us spiritually:

1. God hears our prayers.

John 11:41 says, “Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me.”

2. God has freed us from sin.

Romans 6:17-18 says, “Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin … Now you are free from sin, your old master, and you have become slaves to your new master, righteousness.”

3. God has given us victory in Christ.

2 Cor. 2:14 says, “But I thank God, who always leads us in victory   because of Christ.”

4. God has given us a rich inheritance in Christ.

Col. 1:12-14 says, “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

5. God causes our growth in Christ through the instruction we receive.

Col. 2:7 says, “Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done.”

6. God has given us the greatest gift of all – Christ.

2 Cor. 9:15 says, “I thank God for his gift that words cannot describe.”

Take a moment and thank the Lord for all His blessings in our lives!

Blessings!

Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries

 

Energy of the Flesh Christ-Centeredness

Joe thought to himself, “I am totally frustrated as a believer. I try really hard to live a Christ-Centered life, but I find myself frequently failing to keep Him at the center of my life. I get all caught up in my daily life and problems, and I spend more time thinking about everyday life than Christ.”

How do believers go about living a Christ-Centered life?

Is it putting Him first above all human relationships?

Are we to always be talking about Him throughout the day as we interact with those in our lives?

Is it trying to live as He lived while on earth?

Maybe if we witness, obey the Bible, have our devotions daily, faithfully attend our church, help those in need, or disciple other believers, we will be more Christ-Centered.

There seem to be so many options that we find ourselves struggling to put Christ first and to keep Him there in our daily lives.

Christ-Centeredness in definitely the Biblical goal for our lives as we see in Col. 1:18:

“He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.”

He is to have first place in our lives.

The question we need to ask is: what is true Biblical Christ-Centeredness?

This question is answered by 1 Cor. 1:30:

“By His doing you are in Christ Jesus.”

Did you catch that?

The moment we trusted Christ as our Savior, God the father put us in Christ, thereby centering us in Christ.

The Bible also says in Col. 1:27:

“to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

The Father not only put us in Christ, but He put Christ in us, in our human spirit.

Because of this, Christ is already the center and core of our life.

Actually Col. 3:4 says:

“Christ, who is our life”

So, Jesus is our very life.

So Christ-Centeredness is not about me trying to place Christ at the center of my life and seeking to keep Him there.  That approach is energy of the flesh.

We need to learn and remind ourselves that our life is already centered in Him, because God put us in Him and Him in us.

This is all by grace, God did it and it will never change and remains true even if our thoughts and feelings don’t always line up with this truth.

If we realize we already have a Christ-Centered life, we can live it out by faith.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Blessings!

Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries

 

Wholly Righteous

How righteous does a person have to be to get into heaven?

51%? No.  The answer is 100%

Say what?  Then, who can hope to go to heaven?

Only those who have received the righteousness of Jesus in exchange for their unrighteousness have the assurance of heaven.

You see, this is what makes Christianity unique in its message.

No other religion offers mercy and grace.

The others only offer a system of do the best you can and hope you get in.

But, for those who put their faith in the shed blood of Jesus to pay the penalty for their sins, they can rejoice in the exchange that happens at the very moment they accept Jesus as their Savior.

At the very moment of salvation, all of our sins are paid for in full and in exchange we receive the righteousness of Jesus.

His righteousness is constant; it never changes.

So, our standing before the Father as righteous in Christ never changes no matter how bad we mess up in the here and now.

That’s really comforting to know, but it is not an excuse to be lax about appropriating Jesus’ victory over sin in our lives.

As Paul pointed out in Romans 6,”What shall we sin all the more, that grace may abound all the more? May it never be!  How can we who have died to sin, still live in it?”

In other words, how can we who have died to sin, still go back to it for life?

God wants us to walk in His path of life — the path of obedience to His will for our lives.

This is the path of peace and joy and all the other fruits of the Spirit.

Now, if we try to defeat sin in our own strength, we will fail miserably.

But, when we admit our weakness and glory in His strength, Jesus leads us in His victory over sin’s temptations, accusations and deceptions.

When Satan tries to remind you of your sins, tell him to be silent because you are clothed in Jesus’ righteousness.

Beloved, if you’ve trusted Jesus as your Savior, He has given you His righteousness in exchange for all of your sins.

Rejoice is this, and live out of it as you learn to appropriate Jesus as your life each day!

Blessings!

Robyn Henning

Navigating Life’s Storms

How do you react to storms?

Some folks like to curl up with a hot drink and watch the show out the window.  Others want to hide under their bed covers.

I have to admit that after being without power for 5 days because of Hurricane Sandy, I wince when I hear that a storm is in the forecast.

But, storms come in a variety of formats not just the weather.

Life storms can include illness, death of a loved one, financial crisis – both personal and global, wars and rumors of wars… all of these create stress in our lives.

So, how do we navigate these storms without letting fear drive us to panic?

I think that the key is to stay aware of our connection to Jesus.

He was really good at staying calm in storms.  They didn’t faze Him at all.

Why?  Well, He knew who was really in control and that nothing could separate Him from His Father.

Beloved, is there anything that can take Jesus out of us or us out of Jesus?  Nope.  Not even death!  We should  not even fear death.

The day we die is the best day of our lives.  It’s the day we start to really live life as God intended for us in the beginning.

So, when storms arise, remember that we are sheltered in the arms of the Lord Jesus Christ.

While the storm rages, He will keep us safe in Him.

Choose not to be offended by the storm.  It can’t really hurt us because it cannot separate us from Jesus.

I’m not saying to ignore the storms; I am saying that we need to stop seeing them as a threat.

The only genuine threat to  believers is something that can sever our connection to Jesus.

There isn’t anything that can do that!

We live in Jesus’ perfect love, and His love picks up fear and throws it out of our lives.

Satan wants to paralyze us with fear.

But, when we remember how safe we truly are in Christ, he loses fear as a weapon to use against us.

Beloved, set your mind on Christ in you navigating the storms through you, and you will experience His peace and calm even when the storms of life are raging around you.

Blessings!

Robyn Henning

Spiritual Amphibians Part 2

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;  who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”  Philippians 3:20-21

Heshen was a Chinese ruler in the eighteenth century.

He began his career as an imperial bodyguard known for his handsome appearance and charm.

After a revolt in 1796, Heshen was put in charge and, at the same time, he began to put money into his own pockets. His wealth was legendary.

He reportedly owned 8,000 acres of land and 60 million ounces of silver. There were 600 women in his harem.

But his career ended when he was removed from power and forced to commit suicide.

Wealth and power do not guarantee a long and happy life.

We saw in our last blog that it is hard to live like spiritual amphibians, since our main problem is that earth operates in a totally different manner from heaven.

If we are not careful, we can get so involved with the philosophies and lifestyle of this world where we live.

In order for us to be living like spiritual amphibians, we need to focus on 3 realities. We saw in our last blog that We are citizens of heaven, vs. 20a.

We learn in verse 20b that we are to get excited about the Rapture, vs.20b–“from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;”

The phrase “eagerly wait” is a strong compound word and speaks of an attitude of intense anticipation withdrawing one’s attention from other objects.

How about us? Are we just waiting for Christ or are we eagerly anticipating Him?

If we are, it will cause us to live like spiritual amphibians by living in our true identity in Jesus Christ and not out of our own fleshly strength.

“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” 1 John 3:2-3

Two psychologists at UC San Diego have published research showing that people who read “spoilers”—information about what will happen in a story—actually end up enjoying a story more than people who don’t know what is going to happen.

As believers, we already know the end of the story, so we can enjoy life as we get excited about the Rapture!

Blessings!

Rev. Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries

Just Do It

Have you ever sought the godly counsel of another believer only to receive a Bible verse, a pat on the head, and the challenge to just do it?

I call this the Nike approach to Christian counseling.

Having trouble loving your spouse?  Well, just love them.

Having trouble with anxiety or fear?  Don’t worry; be happy; trust God!

Having lustful thoughts?  Don’t think about sex.

Is this bad advice?  No, but it’s powerless and guaranteed to leave the recipient frustrated and discouraged.

If they could do what they wanted to do….walk in victory… they would!  But they can’t.

Why?  They’ve never been taught to plug into the power source of the life of Jesus within them.

Why?  Many churches are content to teach the Nike approach to the Christian life.

So, churches are full of two kinds of Christians:

• Those who think they are doing well because they have most of the Christian check list checked off.
• And those who are really frustrated with not measuring up but are too afraid to ask for help because they know they are only going to hear a Bible verse along with, “Just do it.”

So, instead they hide their struggles or walk away from church and give up altogether.

Remember that Pride says, “You can do it; just try harder.”

Beloved, there is only one Person who ever successfully lived the Christian life:  Jesus.

Here’s more good news: He knows you can’t live the Christian life, and He’s okay with that!

In fact, He’s taken up residence in your skin, so that He can express His life in you and through you.

So, if you’re struggling in an area, consciously engage Jesus in the battle.

Let Him fight it on your behalf.  He wins every battle that we yield to Him.

If someone comes asking for help, do not give them a Bible verse and tell them to just do it.

Give them a Bible verse and share how Jesus can do it through them for His glory.

He is far more powerful than the Greek goddess Nike could ever be.

Our victory has already been won for us by Jesus, and we live out His victory as we walk in total dependence on His life expressed in us and through us for His glory.

Blessings!

Robyn

In Sync with Jesus

Have you been watching the Olympics from Rio?

I have, and I was excited to hear the testimony of two US athletes who won the silver medal for men’s synchronized diving.

Both David Boudia and Steele Johnson indicated that it was because they understood their identity in Christ that they were able to be at peace and enjoy their performance.

You see, they knew that their performance does not define them, Jesus does.

This understanding helped them to relax and trust Jesus to dive through them without worrying about the result.

They both knew that in God’s eyes they already had been victorious because they were resting in His love and acceptance no matter the result of their performance.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have peace and joy in every task we face?

It’s possible for every believer, but the key is to rest in our new identity in Christ instead of falling into the worldly trap of defining and valuing ourselves based on the outcome of our performance.

Beloved, because we are in Christ, we are all winners.  Why?  Because Jesus has already gained the ultimate victory.

He lives in us; and we live in Him.  His victory is our victory.

So, relax and enjoy His life flowing in you and through you.

By faith, receive His love and acceptance every day.

Set your mind, just like these men did, on this reality, and you will experience Jesus’ peace as you let Him do all things through you for His glory.

If you want to see NBC’s interview with David and Steele, I have it posted on ELM’s facebook page.

Blessings!

Robyn

The Believer’s Metamorphosis

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

 2 Cor. 3:18

An Amish family goes to a city, and they have never been in a city before. They are amazed at everything they see, and they go into a mall. While the mother and daughter are walking around together, the father and son see an elevator. He and his son are fascinated, so they watch as an old lady goes up to the elevator, pushes the button and walks inside. Thirty seconds later, a young beautiful blond lady comes out. The father says to his son, “Go get your Mother.”

Don’t we all wish that physical transformation could be that easy! But, far more important than physical transformation is our spiritual transformation.

In our verse above, the phrase “are being transformed” is the Greek word Metamorphoo from which we get our word metamorphosis. It is a complete change from the inside out.

The context of our verse is when only Moses was allowed to see God’s glory, and as a result, his “face shone with the glory of God … who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory fade.”

In this Age of Grace, all believers have the privilege of beholding Christ’s glory with unveiled faces. The “mirror” in this verse is God’s Word, which reflects back to us the glory of Christ as we read and meditate on it.

So what happens when we consistently do this? The Holy Spirit teaches us His Word and as we yield to His power, He continuously transforms us into the very image of our Savior.

The phrase “from glory to glory” is literally: “from one degree of glory to the next.” Our spiritual growth is a process which comes from our two power sources, the Word of God and the Spirit of God.

When a caterpillar is changed into a beautiful butterfly it goes through the process of metamorphosis.  May we allow the Word and Spirit to bring about of spiritual metamorphosis, so that we can be like our beautiful Savior!

Blessings!

Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries

 

 

 

Friends with Jesus

Last week, we started to look at our new identity in Christ. Remember that mental health comes from seeing ourselves as God sees us.

This week our focus is on the reality that Jesus calls us His friends.

In John 15:15, He states that He considers His followers His friends, and as a result, He shares all that the Father shares with Him.  Now, that’s intimacy.

Do you have any friends that you can share anything with and know that they will share your joy or sorrow?  That’s how Jesus views our relationship with Him.  Why?  Because He loves us with Phileo love — the love of friendship.

For friendships to be what God wants them to be, they have to be rooted in Agape.

Agape expressed in phileo looks like one friend considering his friend’s needs as more important than his own, as he sacrifices to serve his friend’s well-being, no matter the cost or how he is treated in return.

Jesus loved us with Phileo when He died on the cross for us, and He loves us with Phileo every day.

But, here’s something even harder to comprehend: He not only loves us, He really, really likes us too!

Now, He doesn’t like our flesh – the ways we operate in our own strength and selfishness, but we are not our flesh.

We are who we are based on being members of His family.

So, He sees us as we really are: complete in Him.  He sees the finished us.  He sees us in Him, righteous, holy, sanctified, and so much more that He’s given us by His grace.

Beloved, we don’t have to like our flesh; in fact, we shouldn’t.  We should detest our flesh patterns so much that we choose to put them off and put on our new identity in Him.

The more we learn to rest in our new life in Him, the more we will increase in our awareness of His presence dwelling in our spirit as He expresses Himself through our soul/personality.

As we connect with Him, He will speak in our spirit through His Word and through the Holy Spirit and share all the that the Father shares with Him.

Beloved, think about that.  All that Jesus has from the Father, He shares with us.  Why?  Because we are His friends!  How awesome is that!  That’s mind-blowing folks!

So, if you react to this with, “Why would He ever want to be my friend?”  Stop it!

Reset your mind on the reality that He is your friend because you are in Him and He is in you.  You have an intimate friendship with Him!

Blessings!

Robyn