HEY JUDE

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

Had the rare opportunity to share a Sunday with our THRIVE kids yesterday (1^st through 5^th graders).  My wife Beth had the reins on the lesson, my daughter Sam the “games” and I in a frantic cobbling together of resources, the technology.  All in all after a shaky start, we had a wonderful time.  

There is nothing like seeing Christ through the eyes of a kid.

And the lesson was a wrap up to a series the kids had been doing for some time.  It was taking them creatively through the Bible and yesterday’s little lesson was on the “general Epistles”.  They learned that 1 Peter was often referred to as the “Epistle of Courage” that James was the “Proverbs of the New Testament” to some and that no one knows for sure who wrote Hebrews.  The kids all locked in.  They did great in the Q and A that followed.  All in all it was a good day of learning for me too.  I didn’t know that about 1 Peter.

But as the little puppets and the music were telling the kids about Jude, I got intrigued. Jude sometimes gets overlooked.  We don’t quote much from Jude.  He doesn’t get quite the run that Paul does. But there is some great teaching in this little one chapter letter. Teaching we can use as we wade into today.  

Teaching like this:

Jude 1:20

Dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith. Let the Holy Spirit guide and help you when you pray…As you wait for his mercy, remain in God’s love.

Good stuff!  Simple.  Let the Holy Spirit guide your prayers and remain in the LOVE OF GOD.  Who can’t benefit from that wisdom?

Try this one…

Jude 1:22-23

Go easy on those who hesitate in the faith. Go after those who take the wrong way. Be tender with sinners, but not soft on sin. The sin itself stinks to high heaven.

Who couldn’t store that little nugget away for future guidance and application?  Help folks find their faith.  Love the sinner but hate the "stinky" sin.  

Awesome stuff!

So yesterday I learned a little.  Yesterday I took the time to go and give JUDE a read because a puppet pirate and two Australian pilots told me to.  

And I am glad I did.

And today I will leave you with the last little snippet from our overlooked morsel of truth, Jude.  It is a beautiful way to “lift our LORD” this morning; to let Him know HOW awesome and mighty and amazing He truly is.  Why don’t you give an “aloud read”.  Let’s let Jude lead us in a little worship this morning.  

What do you say?

Jude 1:24-25

24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore!

Amen.

HEY JUDE!

Thanks for a awesome start to the day!

Have a blessed day!

I love you all!

Freedom Church

 

Pastor GDelaney

SUCCESS FROM FAILURE

Have you thanked Him?
Have you praised Him?
Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?
Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?
1 Timothy 2:1 (MSG)
1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how,

There is a book that has been instrumental in my recovery. It is called “Approval Addiction”. It is a best seller from Joyce Meyer. And recently she pared the book down into a little devotional that I have handy for “refreshing and referral”. In the little devotional is this story. And while Wikipedia and others have categorized it as “lore” to some degree, it is still a wonderful and encouraging story about the role of failure in success!

Charles Darrow set a goal when he was in his twenties; he determined that he was going to be a millionaire. This isn't all that unusual today; but back then, it was extremely unusual. Charles lived during the Roaring Twenties, a time when a million dollars was an enormous sum. He married a woman named Esther, promising her that one day they would be millionaires. Then tragedy struck in 1929 - the Great Depression. Both Charles and Esther lost their jobs. They mortgaged their house, gave up their car, and used all their life savings. Charles was absolutely crushed. He sat around the house depressed until one day he told his wife she could leave him if she wanted to. "After all," he said, "it's clear that we're never going to reach our goal." Esther wasn't about to leave. She told Charles they were going to reach their goal, but they would need to do something every day to keep their dream alive.

What she was trying to tell Charles was this: Don't let your dreams die just because you made a few mistakes in the past. Don't give up just because you tried something a few times and it didn't seem to work. God wants you to press on past mistakes. The devil wants you to give up. Progress requires paying a price, and sometimes the price you pay for progress is just to "keep on keeping on" and saying: "I'm not going to quit until I have some kind of victory." Don't be the kind of person whose way of dealing with everything hard is: "I quit!" Esther Darrow told her husband, "Keep your dream alive." Charles responded, "It's dead. We failed. Nothing's going to work." But she wouldn't listen to that kind of talk; she refused to believe it. She suggested that every night they take some time to discuss what they would do toward reaching their dream. They began doing this night after night, and soon Charles came up with an idea of creating play money. His idea was something quite appealing since money was so scarce in those days. Since they were both out of work, he and Esther had lots of time, and now they had lots of easy money to play with. So they pretended to buy things like houses, property, hotels...You guessed it. It was the beginning of a game you probably have in your closest right now, it's called Monopoly.

You see, God can take the “failures” of life and inexplicably make a success out of them! And the message today is God wants to do the same type of thing through each of us. He is "no respecter of persons"
Acts 10:34
…understand now that God does not consider some people to be better than others.

Simply put God doesn’t offer breakthrough and success for a limited few. NO!
God's principles and providence are available to all! So when failure “comes calling”, defeat it with FAITH! Jesus Himself said,
Mark 9:23
“Anything is possible if you have faith.”

I ask:
Has this week been a struggle? You depressed? Beat down? Knocked sideways? Unsure?
Stay positive, keep on believing, and refuse to give up, God will lift you up!

Psalm 3:3
…thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
Remember you are not a failure just because you have failed. God sees your worth no matter what and success and the impossible are RIGHT around the corner!
Jeremiah 1:5
Before I made you in your mother’s womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I chose you for a special work.

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. - Winston Churchill
Have faith!

Have a blessed WEEKEND!
I love you all
Freedom Church

You CAN HELP!

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (MSG)

1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how,

"I want to help!"

"I do!  I just don’t know how.", you say

Don't let that stop you!  It is too important!  You have been designed for it!

"...the Church...exists for others...not dominating, but helping and serving."― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

If you are fearful when it comes to "helping out", I have some good news today. You don’t have to know "how to help" because someone has already “dealt” with what you are facing and has the right word and the right direction!

Hebrews 4:14-16 (MSG)

(Here is) what we have—JESUS, this great High Priest with ready access to God—

let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.

As hard as we try, as much as we wish we had them, there are some situations or some circumstances faced by the folks we love for which we “really” don’t have any answers.

We might say we know how they feel.

We might say we “wish it were better”.

But the truth of the matter is we can’t begin to understand what another is feeling even when we have walked through a similar valley.  But Jesus does.

And "comfortable or not", GOD has called us, His CHURCH to be His hands and feet. So it is our job to help those around us who are facing crisis or dealing with the unthinkable.  And GOD has given us the blueprint for how to do it.

Ask Jesus. Lean on Jesus, and CONNECT them with Jesus.  

So what does that mean? Pray with them! Jesus will guide you!

Pull out the Word and offer the medicine and soothing balm of truth! Jesus will speak to you!

Then point them to JESUS! He has been there, done that and has the answers for the seemingly "answerless" questions.

The good news is we don’t have to be psychiatrists or sociologists.  We can help because the help is readily available!  Jesus says walk right up and take it.  Grab some of My mercy. Grab some of My help. Grab My direction. Grab My peace. Grab some love. Grab some comfort. Grab whatever it is that you need for yourself or for those you to whom you are ministering!

"I will help!  And where you are lacking, I will do the rest.", Jesus eludes.

And not only that, GOD will honor you and bless you for leaning on Him and heeding the call to help!

Hebrews 4:16

He won’t overlook the work you have done or the love you have carried to each other in His name...

So don’t ever be intimidated to step in to help another in need.  The help is there!  Don’t rely on your own steam. Let Christ direct and equip you!

You will be blessed!

“When you quietly serve a person in need, you are being shaped into the image of Jesus. When you generously give, your heart is being remade into the image of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.”  ― Allen R. Hunt

Have a blessed DAY!

I love you all

Freedom Church

 

 

Pastor GDelaney

SPEAK POSITIVELY

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (MSG)

1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

 “Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself ...― D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Is that you?

Do you awaken today still befuddled or dragged down by the events of past days?  Already complaining?  Maybe the mere “effort” to wake up and face the mirror caused you to moan and groan before you uttered another syllable.

Was that your tone this morning?

Or were you up and ready for what GOD had for you today? Did you embrace the freshness of His new mercy and grace? Are you approaching the day with the zeal and possibility? 

Or are you carry the spoiling elements of past failures, past sin, and past disappointments into the freshness that is today?  

What are you saying to yourself today?

This?

Psalm 118:24 (TLB)

24 This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Or this…?

Psalm 42:6

…I am standing here depressed and gloomy

What we speak over ourselves each and every day is a crucial element as to how we will handle the day.  We can either continue to broadcast the complaints of the past or the lies of the enemy (we are not good enough, we failed, we will never live up to the expectations, we can’t…) or we can begin to speak truth from our mouths and into our ears!

Truth like:

1 Peter 2:9

...you have been chosen by God himself—you are priests of the King, you are holy and pure, you are God’s very own—all this so that you may show to others how God called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

Joyce Meyer makes this point…

"Sometimes you may feel discouraged, miserable, and depressed. In those times you need to take a close look at what’s been going on in your mind. Isaiah 26:3 tells you when you keep your mind on the Lord you will have “perfect and constant peace.” By focusing on the goodness of God and waiting, hoping, and expecting Him to encourage you and fill you with His peace and joy, you can overcome negative thoughts that drag you down. Think and speak positively. Begin believing right now that you are about to see God’s goodness in your life. Wait, hope, and expect His blessings to be abundant in your life.”

 

You have a choice today my friends.  

I know that life is hard.  I know that days can be long.  I will confess yesterday did its best to discourage me by punching me relentlessly; 16 hours on the ropes.  The enemy wanted to have that battle bleed into today.

But I am not allowing it to taint the possibilities of today.  

I even know that lurking over the horizon are several storms.  But I am rejoicing in the day regardless!  GOD woke me up.  He has pulled me from the darkness into HIS light one more time! He has something for me to do and it doesn’t have anything to do with lamenting past mistakes or perceived inadequacies!

“Today is a new day. Don't let your history interfere with your destiny! Let today be the day you stop being a victim of your circumstances and start taking action towards the life you want. You have the power and the time to shape your life. Break free from the poisonous victim mentality and embrace the truth... ― Steve Maraboli

Speak positively into today! (that goes for you Jeff!)

 

I love you all

Freedom Church

 

 

Pastor GDelaney

PERFORMANCE PRESSURE

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

Titus 3:5

He (GOD) came to save us. It’s not that we earned it by DOING good works or righteous deeds; He came because He is merciful.

We live in a performance driven culture.

And sadly that “performance mentality” seeps to our relationship with GOD.  It even can block one’s ability to see GOD or to accept Him.

I was recently sharing with a friend the challenge another friend was having with “accepting Jesus”.  My friend was convinced that he hadn’t lived up to GOD’s standards and that until he “did” some more, performed more righteously, made the right choices more often or cleaned up his act, GOD would not allow him “in” as were.

I am sure he isn’t the only one to feel that way from time to time.

But GOD doesn’t approach us in the same way that we often approach Him.  GOD isn’t about our “performance”.  In fact try as we may, our performance regardless how “flawless” in the face of GOD is still, well flawed.

But we are often tricked into thinking that GOD’s acceptance of us, His love for us is somehow tied to today’s performance.

“We think His love rises and falls with our performance. It doesn't”  as Lucado points out.

GOD’s love and grace for us, His acceptance of us and His desire to “be with us” has “nothing to do” with “what we do”.

Ephesians 2:8

For it’s by God’s grace that you have been saved. You receive it through faith. It was not our plan or our effort. It is God’s gift, pure and simple. You didn’t earn it, not one of us did...

God’s grace, God’s love for us is not predicated nor tied to performance.  The mercy GOD shows us is not in correlation to how “good or bad” we have been in recent days or weeks.  Rather GOD forgives GOD grants grace and GOD offers mercy to all of us because that is HIS NATURE it is HIS desire for us!

Yet so many of us struggle with "performance pressure" and its subsequent anxiety. 

And why?

As I said, in almost every aspect of life, others evaluate us by our performance. Are we successful in our careers, fit, and attractive? How much wealth do we possess? It's easy to believe God judges us in a similar way–based on our behavior.

I want to help you change that.

If you are like my friend and are bogged down or blocked from the blessings of GOD, consumed by your performance anxiety, drop the curtain on the show, close the door to the theater, put a sign out front that the show has wrapped.

End the "performance".

Instead, wake up today in the wonderful gift that is GOD’s grace. Walk in that grace.  Listen for GOD’s voice as to “what and how to do” life today. Get in tune with His spirit within you! He will guide you as to what needs done. 

Then DO your best to carry it out.  

That is all He asks.

2 Corinthians 9:13

…live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient…

That is a wrap!

 

Have a blessed day!

I love you all!

Freedom Church

 

Pastor GDelaney

SPIRIT-LED

Have you thanked Him?
Have you praised Him?
Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?
Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

Romans 6:12-14 (MSG)
...you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day…Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—into God’s way of doing things.

You do have a choice today.
You do!

All day long you will be faced with decision after decision, choice after choice and GOD has offered a simple solution to the decision dilemma.

Do things MY way; listen to the Holy Spirit.

This isn’t new advice; isn’t new counsel. But sometimes we try to "over-complicate" the simple don’t we.
Charles Stanley has built a ministry around this simple truth.
“Obey GOD and leave all the consequences to Him”.

Yesterday Pastor Mark shared the importance of not allowing our sinful nature to continue to dictate our decision-making. If left unchecked, our flesh will lead us to sin and that only leads to “less than favorable” consequences. I know this all too well.
Galatians 6:7-8
… For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

GOD gave us free will and GOD loves us enough to let us choose.
It is up to us to make wise choices. It is up to us to allow GOD’S Spirit within us and not our flesh to dictate our paths and to offer guidance for our choices!
Romans 8:13
For if your life is just about satisfying the impulses of your sinful nature, then prepare to die. But if you have invited the Spirit to destroy these selfish desires, you will experience life.

As you prepare for your day today make a good first choice.
I am going to do my best to make it!
Choose to listen and be led by the Holy Spirit. When faced with the challenges and decisions of the day let the Spirit dictate your response. Sin will be lurking and tempting you all day long. It never lets up.

But don’t allow it to run the show today. Don’t give it a vote as Paul recommends. You belong to Christ. 
Galatians 5:24-25 (ESV)
24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

The choice is yours.

HAVE a “Spirit-led” DAY!
I love you all!
Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney

BRICK WALLS

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (MSG)

1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

 

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.” ― Randy Pausch

In times of crisis or when under pressure we want change don’t we?  When under the gun or facing a big consequence we make promises to GOD and others. “Get me out of this and I will fix it.” “This is the last time”, we say.

We agree to do “anything” and everything.

Yet when the smoke clears and the pressure eases, many of us forget the “commitments” that were made and the “promises” that were promised.

Or maybe those commitments suddenly become more challenging or more than we bargained for and we start making excuses.

I like this little quote I opened with.

"The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.” 

Day after day I work with folks in crisis.  Jail may be looming. Homelessness coming. Yet when the “brick walls” need scaling to overcome the crisis and consequence, often instead of pressing through or over them, many folks choose to quit, to make excuses, to play the victim rather than seeing the wall as a challenge to overcome!

Remember Jesus said there would be challenges.  Jesus said there would be brick walls.

John 16:33

In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration

But Jesus promises later in that same passage for us to BE OF GOOD CHEER for He has overcome them! 

Never forget, Jesus knows the brick walls you are facing.  In fact He may have allowed them to be built.  He wants you to trust Him to help you over them and through them.  He wants to see how badly you want it.

Matthew 17:20

…if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.

They are there to refine and define you!

Romans 5:3-5

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character 

produces hope…

Far too many times in life we allow the BRICK WALLS to dictate to us rather than trusting the truth that says NO WALL is big enough to keep us from what GOD has destined for us.

The question is how badly do you want to overcome?

The question is how much faith, trust and hope are you bringing to the wall?

Are you staring at a brick wall today?  Was there a time recently when crisis hit and you were willing to do anything to change the circumstance?

Don’t lose that desperation.  If walls need to be scaled then scale them!

GOD WILL HELP!

Matthew 19:26 (AMP)

26 But Jesus looked at them and said, With men this is impossible, but all things are possible with God.

“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

― Thomas Edison

Have a blessed weekend!

I love you all

Freedom Church

 

Pastor GDelaney

FAVORITE DAY

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (MSG)

1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

“What day is it?"

It's today," squeaked Piglet.

My favorite day," said Pooh.” ― A.A. Milne

Are you like POOH today?

Ready for the possibilities and opportunities of today?  Or are yesterday’s trials and failures doing their best to seep into the prospects of this day too?  Or maybe there is so much on the horizon, so many things to do, achieve, plan or complete that today is just in the way.

Ever since I "came back" in the hospital back in July of ’08, GOD has helped me to appreciate the "day".  Recovery even encourages “one day at a time thinking” and offers 24 hour tokens to relish its importance.

And while I know we all need to have an eye to the future and planning is part of life, GOD says don’t sacrifice the joy of the day fretting over it.

Matthew 6:34

The Message (MSG)

34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.

GOD even encourages us to “rejoice in the present” to grab hold of these moments we DO have with both hands, to be glad in them!

Psalm 118:24 (NLT)

24 This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Far too many todays are either sabotaged by the endlessly heaping baggage of a past we can’t impact or fully rectify or by anxiousness and worry over a future we have not been guaranteed.  What ends up lost in the sauce is today, POOH’S favorite day.  And why was it POOH’S favorite?

Probably because there was some honey to be discovered and enjoyed.

Probably because there were friends to see and enjoy in the 100 acre wood today.

Probably because POOH knew that today Piglet and he were getting one more day together to just be together.

Pooh knew today could be an amazing day!

Now I know this sounds a little "schmaltzy" and childish.  I get it.  POOH and PIGLET don’t have bills to pay and consequences to iron out and financial issues looming like a midsummer storm.  I get it.  POOH and PIGLET don’t have real problems.

But it doesn’t make what POOH is saying childish at all.

Pooh is wise. 

Don’t allow all that you can’t control today; the past or the future to steal the gift that is today.  Be PRESENT in your PRESENT today.  Don’t forget to pause and take it in.  Don’t be so preoccupied with the past and future that you miss out on something GOD has planned for you just for today.

“Doesn't every day deserve a chance to be a good day? An opportunity? A shot? A tryout? An audition? A swing at the plate? After all: "This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it." But what of those days when traffic snarls, airports close, friends forget, and spouses complain? Or divorce days, final exam days, surgery days, tax days, or even days when the cemetery dirt is still fresh?

Yes, every day.

Jesus' delightful formula for upgrading each of your days to blue ribbon status: saturate your day in Jesus' grace; entrust your day to His oversight; accept His direction. Grace. Oversight. Direction. G-O-D. The perfect prescription for filling your day with divine power and giving every day a chance. – Max Lucado

Listen to POOH and Max.

Allow GOD to help make today a “favorite” day.

 

Have a blessed DAY!

I love you all

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney