Alive and Active

Luke Chapter 2 describes how the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ, came into the world. As we celebrate Christmas, be reminded that we were dead in our sins but Jesus saved us and redeemed us and now we get to share that good news with others. There's no greater gift than receiving Jesus Christ into your life as Lord and Savior.

Another fundamental of the faith is the fact that we must be intentional about our relationships. We must be aware of the opportunities that the Lord will give us and we should anticipate being ready to show hospitality to strangers.

There are a number of fundamentals of the faith listed in scripture. Hebrews 13 tells us to let brotherly love continue. As believers in Christ, we need to have deep relationships and be in the paint with one another.

Are we content? As believers we should be content because we know Jesus Christ and we are grateful for what He did on the cross in taking our sins. Someone is truly content when they are unmoved by circumstances. Let's take inventory of our heart and ask the Lord to help us be content in Him.

In 1 Kings 10, the queen of Sheba arrived in Jerusalem to see for herself the wisdom of Solomon. She was speechless and she praised the Lord. God had entrusted Solomon with everything but eventually Solomon went sideways. Can God trust us with adversity and prosperity? We must not lose sight of the Lord and we can't put anything before Him.

James 1 tells us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. As believers, we need to go to the Lord first before we deal with anything horizontally. We must fall back on our training and speak with wisdom and kindness to others. Don't let something awful come out of your mouth that you can't take back.

In Luke 18 Jesus described two men who went to the temple to pray. One man was a Pharisee who thought he followed the law but in all reality, he was self-righteous and prideful. The other man was a tax collector who was hated by everyone and he humbly asked God for mercy since he knew he was a sinner. The tax collector and the Pharisee needed to be rescued and only Jesus Christ will set us free fr...

Exodus 20 instructs the Jewish people to remember the Sabbath by keeping it holy. The Pharisees made it legalistic and forgot the real reason for the Sabbath. Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross so that we could rest in Him. We have flexibility in how we observe the Sabbath, but the key is celebrating the Lord Jesus Christ and resting in His finished work

In 1 Kings 6 the Lord came to Solomon and promised Solomon that if he observed His laws and kept His commands then the Lord would live among the Israelites and not abandon His people. Solomon knew the law, especially  Deuteronomy 17 which instructed kings on how they should serve. By 1 Kings 11 Solomon had violated the law and pursued gold, foreign women and foreign gods. When we are tempted for p...

In 1st Kings 5 the Lord gave wisdom to Solomon and Solomon was strategic in the way he allowed his workers to be refreshed and rested. Solomon trusted in the sovereignty of God despite the monumental task. Whatever we have, we can offer it up to the Lord so he can distribute as He sees fit. We need to be disciplined and we need to make rest a priority so God can recalibrate our thinking.

What does it mean to honor a friendship? Solomon's father David had a great friendship with King Hiram of Tyre and now Solomon was hoping to use that friendship. In 1st Kings 5, Solomon connects with Hiram about asking for cedars so he could build a temple for the Lord.  Hiram and Solomon worked together to accomplish an important task for the Lord. As believers we should honor the friendship...

Solomon's first test is recorded in 1 Kings 3 when two prostitutes come before him claiming one child as their own. Solomon tested both women and exposed their inner thoughts to find out who was the rightful mother.  Israel was in awe of the king because they saw the wisdom he had from God as he was administering justice. We have the opportunity each day to expose our children for who they ar...

In 1st Kings 3, God comes to Solomon in a dream and asks him to ask for whatever he wants. Solomon understood the important responsibility of leading God's people and he asked for a discerning heart to govern God's people. It says the the Lord was pleased with Solomon's ask and God blessed Solomon and gave him way more than he could have ever asked for. We tend to be trivial with ou...

2 Corinthians 6:14 says "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers." When it comes to marriage, the Bible says two shall become one flesh and the Lord says let no man divide. God gives us urges and impulses but they are to be guided in the right direction and we must be grounded in our training. We must go to the Lord first when seeking a spouse and we should follow God's word inste...

Before he died King David gave his son Solomon instruction on how to establish the Kingdom of God and how to set the culture. In 1 Kings 2, Solomon wisely addressed Adonijah, Abiathar, Joab and Shimei and he judiciously dealt with each of them. Because Solomon set the temperature, the kingdom was now established in his hands. Solomon was not afraid to make tough decisions so that the culture would...

In 1 Kings 1, David had grown old and unfortunately the consequences of not disciplining his son Adonijah have caught up to him. Adonijah knew his brother Solomon was to be the next king, but he tried recruiting people to help him take the crown. Bathsheba and Nathan brought the news to David who was unaware of Adonijah's rebellion. David's supporting cast showed up and helped get David&...

In 2nd Samuel 12, David acknowledges his sin of sleeping with Bathsheba and killing Uriah and he pleads that his son would stay alive. When he finds out that his son died, David gets up, washes, eats, and goes to worship the Lord. David recovered quickly and he comforted Bathsheba. When you understand how much Jesus loves you, you won't want to take advantage of Jesus. When we go out of bound...

In Psalm 139, David asks God to search him and know his heart and to test him and know his anxious thoughts. As believers, we need to continuously go to the Lord and have him search us like David asked in Psalm 139. We know that the end times are near so we must prepare and choose to trust God and His word.  When we let the Lord search our heart, it's like a grand slam because if we confess,...

Jesus went across enemy lines and shed His blood to cleanse us from all sin. In 2 Samuel 23, David's mighty warriors risked their lives to cross enemy lines and bring back water that David longed for from his hometown of Bethlehem. David refused to drink the water because the water represented the men's blood. There was a culture of love with David and his men. The culture of love starts...

Brook Berringer, a highly skilled backup quarterback for the Nebraska Huskers was a winner on the field but he also faced incredible adversity. When Brook gave his life to Christ, his definition of success changed and now he offered his circumstances to the Lord. Brook believed in John 3:16, which says, "For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believ...

In Matthew 18, the disciples asked Jesus, "who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?" Jesus told his disciples that they must become like children and be humble. Jesus used a young boy to show what reliance on the Father looks like.  It's not where we've been in life, it's where we are going and we can humbly submit to our heavenly Father in all things.

In Daniel 1, Nebuchadnezzar,  King of Babylon,  came to Jerusalem and besieged it. The best of the young men, which included Daniel, were taken to Babylon for the King's service. They tried to change their diets and minds, but Daniel  understood the times and he courageously requested to not defile himself with the food and wine. What seemed like a demotion, quickly turned into a spiritual pr...

In Deuteronomy 6, we are told to impart the commandments on our children throughout their entire day. Jesus was fully man and fully God and he went from a boy to a man because he desired to do his Father's work. We can teach our kids about the Father's work and we can set a high bar for our kids so they go from boyhood to being a man of God. Jesus matured and increased in stature and wis...

In Luke 22, Peter denied Jesus three times. Jesus looked at Peter with love and pursued him after his resurrection. Peter went back to fishing, but Jesus met Peter on the shore in John 21 and he wanted to challenge  and teach Peter that he no longer needed to be fearful of man. We too can walk in the unconditional love that Jesus alone provides.

In second Samuel 24, David's pride shows itself as he takes a 10-month census to count how many soldiers he had. At the end of the census David realizes the sin he committed and how he had put his hope in the number of fighting men over his trust in the Lord. David owns his sin and falls on his face before the Lord. There were consequences, but David modeled what true repentance looks like an...