Watchful GROWTH

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But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Pet. 3:18)

Spiritual growth is essential for every Christian and just as crucial as persons maturing through the four main stages in human development.  Healthy infants will move from infancy to childhood, from childhood to adolescence, from adolescence to adult manhood and womanhood. The stages of human development can be seen outwardly, but inwardly there needs to be guidance.  Individuals need help to mature relationally, cognitively, emotionally, and volitionally.  Without parental guidance, persons can get stuck inwardly in one stage and appear to be in another.  We see this similarly in the Christian faith community as persons can be in the Church, dress the part, know when to say amen, but stuck with no continuing inward work impressing upon their soul and spirit.  In 2 Peter, we learn that the Church is vulnerable to corruption from within if our faith is not growing.  False teachers are busy influencing the immature believers causing them to live in the shackles of the past and not the freedoms realized by those with an expectant heart of our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The epistle of 2 Peter was written during the late middle 1st century of the New Testament period (63-64 AD), and the world was predominately under the rule of the Roman empire.  The Roman Emperor Nero appointed the Roman procurator’s Festus and later Albinus over Judea.  Roman influence and her philosophical schools were influential voices in the ears of those living in the Greco-Roman culture.  The school of Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, the Cynics, the Stoics, and the school of Pythagoras had many followers. [1]   The Epicureans did not believe in prophecy and that no means of predicting the future existed.  The thoughts of Christ already coming or never coming back frustrated the peace and blessedness of our living hope in Christ Jesus for many Christians. We, as believers, must live with expectant hearts of Christ return in order to continue to grow and mature spiritually progressively.

In 2 Peter 3:14-18, we are encouraged to turn the page on the chains and pains of the past.  To prepare to enter into a new chapter where each day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before. Our faith in Christ brings us into his kingdom as babes in peace, but we are to be intentional about growing up in faith spiritually as we experience Christ and his kingdom over the process of time (2 Pet 3:14). If we are not diligently building upon our faith, we can become blind, seeing only ourselves (2 Pet 1:5-9). Our experience with Christ and his kingdom will erect the building blocks for a victorious faith in virtue, experiential knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. If we want to be healthier and stronger spiritually, we must keep growing, standing on the gospel message, and the finished work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  False teachers were causing persons to become insecure and unstable in their faith.  Believers are compromising by lowering standards to follow the crowd (the world).  The results are insecurity and instability whenever we replace the authority, the truth, and the power of God’s word personified in Christ with something else (2 Pet 3:15-17). The holy scriptures are the word of God supervised by the Holy Spirit (2 Tim 3:16-17; 2 Pet 1:20-21).  If you want security and stability, be on guard and watch your diet and whom you are listening.  Humanity shall not live by bread alone but by every word from God’s mouth (Matt 4:4).  Many persons drift away from the Lord without even realizing it, being drawn away by false narratives, ideas, and opinions.  However, when you are guided by the reality of the sovereignty and care of God and experience with him, his truth and promises, you will dwell safe and secure in our heavenly Father’s arms.  That your right thoughts about our LORD, God, and Christ will lead us into the right praise and worship of Him (2 Pet 3:18).  The care of his grace and the experiential knowledge of the truth of God provides, can guide us to safety bearing fruit on good soil having Christ as our firm foundation (Col 2:6-7; Eph 4:15-16). If you want better, to make better choices, and respond better to problems and challenges? Stay root and grounded in your faith!  Grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!  Keep growing closer and closer to Him!  Keep bearing fruit and glorifying his name!  Be thankful to him!  Bless his name!  Be diligent in faith! Be watchful in hope! Draw near, grow closer and abundant life with Jesus can be yours both now and forever!

Turn the page and walk into your new chapter. These are some thoughts on how you can see the grace and the experience of Christ in your life bearing fruit.

•    You are reading the word of God regularly.

• You are praying regularly with your spouse and children.

•    You are serving actively in your Church’s body to experience the overflow of a deeper work of Christ.

•    You are studying God’s word in a group where you can be vulnerable and can be held accountable.

•    You are tithing from a giving heart and enjoy blessedness.

•    You are serving outside the Church in the community to be a light in the midst of the darkness.

The next chapter with Jesus will be sweeter than the last as we watchfully GROW!

Because He Lives,

Pastor Reggie Sheppard

[1] Joel B. Green and Lee Martin McDonald, The World of the New Testament : Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts, (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013) 143-46.

Make the Right Choice

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The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe. (Prov. 29:25)

Everyday is shaped by the choices we make. Who or what we choose to trust determines our peace and security throughout the day.

Louisa Snead, was having day out with her family. She, her husband and daughter were enjoying lunch by the ocean and time together. Until her husband saw a boy drowning, so he went out to help the boy. The boy was so afraid that he also pulled her husband under and they both drowned. Louisa and her daughter could do nothing but watch, but a few days later out of the depths of of her pain and sorrow she as able to write the words of this hymn “’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His word, just to rest upon His promise, just to know, “Thus saith the Lord.”

Listen, it is your choices and not chance that determines your serenity and destiny. Put your faith in action today. Start right now and make the right choice to trust in Jesus!

Watch the Lord send you the help you need to keep going and strengthen you get around the obstacles that blocking the abundant life with Him he has for you.

Prayer: Lord God, thank your for being my shepherd and caring for me and protecting me day after day. I choose to trust you more that anything! I know that in trusting my day to day will be sweeter than the day before. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The Lord be with you mightily today.

Pastor

Spiritual DISTANCING

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Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (Jas. 4:8 ESV)

In the wake of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, over 80,000 COVID-19 deaths in the US, and over 280,000 deaths worldwide, it is clear that business, as usual, is not the right response. The change needed is nothing that this world is offering. Time and time again, the lives of people are marginalized to fit the desires of those in power. It is Mother’s Day, and I find it impossible not to consider the loss of many children to unnecessary violence. Additionally, disregard for the care of our fellow man by not wearing a mask or practicing social distancing. The blood of our brothers and sisters are crying out from the ground for justice from above. Every life is precious in the sight of God. Still, somehow the frequency and volume of these deaths can become overwhelming to consider. We must never grow insensitive to image-bearers of the Almighty God perishing and recognize that these are only symptoms of a greater problem. We need the wisdom of God like we have never needed him before. We need his solution and to join Him in it. If not, then we are a part of the problem as well. The Epistle of James teaches that peace is experienced and share through God’s wisdom (James 3:17-18). The faith community in Judea and those scattered abroad throughout the Roman Empire were not experiencing peace. The dominate culture oppressed the poor, there was favoritism for the wealthy, hope for material gain, and the rich took advantage of the poor. The solution is not if you cannot beat them join them, but the answer is seeking the LORD to enlighten you and empower you to put His wisdom into practice. How?

  1. Critical Self-examination (Repentance): Pluto said an unexamined life is a life not worth living. The fact is that all of us have issues if we look in the mirror. Our desires and passion drive and lead us astray, so we must examine our ways and return to the LORD (Lam 3:40). The chaos and disorder around us are evidence people are doing what they want and not what God wants. James challenges believers to pray and to pray effectively that God wisdom guides and re-positions in His will and not our own (James 4:1-3).
  2. Allegiance exposure (Restitution): Faithfulness and commitment to God are commanded. We are commanded to love Him with all of our being (Matt 22:37). However, our associations reveal our commitments; we have one foot on the solid ground with the Lord and the other on ice with the world (1 John 2:15-18). In so doing, we are functioning as an enemy of God, and we don’t want that fight (James 4:4-6). We must choose sides; there is no middle ground. Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection redeemed us. As friends of God, we too must be courageous and make the declaration, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). Stop following the crowd!
  3. Spiritual distancing (Reconciliation): We must reject the wisdom that leads to sin and death (James 3:14-15). James provides ten (10) imperatives that represent the acts of confession for a repentant heart in total surrender to God (James 4:7-10). Humility provides the closeness and confidence to experience greater grace and access to glory (Heb 4:16). If you want to change, want peace, want clarity through the chaos, don’t drift away from God, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

As Christians, we must reject strife and surrender to God, and He will produce the peace we need in and through you by spiritual distancing.

Because He Lives,

Pastor Reggie Sheppard

Hopeful WAITING

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but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isa. 40:31 ESV)

I recently preached a message called “Who are you waiting on” from the subject of waiting. Waiting is understood to be practicing patience, but it is essential to understand that waiting on the LORD is not a passive exercise but a very active one. In my studies of Isaiah chapter 40, I saw the LORD impressing upon the readers and hearers to wait correctly knowing that no one or nothing can compare to who he is, what he has done, or what he can do. Yet, there remains the problem of waiting in crisis or difficult circumstances for various reasons. In our study of “Experiencing God” by Henry Blackaby, we read that waiting in hope shifts the responsibility of the outcome to God, where it belongs. After reading that, I could recall a countless number of times I moved in advance of God without even a prayer whisper, and the outcomes were disappointing because I excluded my help and strength. So, how do we wait, and in crisis, why must we put all our hope in the LORD?

  1. We must wait on the LORD because He is a faithful and dependable God (Isa 40:27-28). Our words and thoughts can be condemning, ill-informed, and self-serving. Yet, our limitations do not limit the everlasting God. Nothing can disrupt the plans he has for you. God can step in and out of time whenever he wants to fulfill the promise of His word. He has an eternal plan to care for you and give you a future and a hope that will not disappoint you (Jer 29:11).  So, in waiting, we are refusing to take-over but trusting in our dependable God who is faithful to do all that he has called you to be and accomplish (1 Thes 5:24). 
  2. We must wait on the LORD because He is a powerful and capable God (Isa 40:29). When we are hungry and thirsty, we can pursue those desires to satisfy ourselves and can make matters worst when we give up waiting on God to provide. Try to satisfy our own needs can reveal a pattern of self-gratification. We are unhappy with the house so buy another one; we are unhappy with the car, so we buy another one, we are happy with our spouse or friend, so we get another one, unhappy in the town we live, so we move to another one. Our satisfying strength for weaknesses and inabilities are through Christ Jesus (John 7:37-39).  So, in waiting, we are refusing to give up expecting the LORD to enable and empower us, understanding the He can do exceedingly and more abundantly than all we ask or think (Eph. 3:20).
  3. We must wait on the LORD because He is mindful and dedicated to us (Isa. 40:30-31). It is clear from the text that God has the endurance and power we need to be successful in healing, restoration, and deliverance, but sometimes we drift and start to wonder if He is concerned about what is happening to us. Our God sent His Son in demonstration of His love (Rom 5:8), and through Him, God has been careful and mindful to ensure that we are purposed and positioned to reach where He has destined us (Ps 8:3-5).  So, in waiting, we are refusing to self-rescue ourselves, trusting the LORD to renew, restore and deliver us to reach every appointed milestone causing us to soar across the finish (our destiny) knowing he will never leave nor forsake us (Heb 13:5).

Waiting on the LORD ensures that we are sustained, strengthen, and soaring into our destiny even through a crisis and difficult circumstances. Wait on the LORD!

Because He Lives,

Pastor Reggie Sheppard