First Friday Fellowship

We are in a constant war with the enemy of humankind, since the beginning of time; A war for our hearts, our minds, and most importantly, for our souls. 

And as a result, we tend to look at the world one of two ways: 

The Human Perspective: Get as much as we can, as quick as we can, live the best life that we can, and when we die, it’s over.  

OR

The Godly Perspective: That He has a plan for us; That our loving, perfect creator designed us to have a relationship with Him, by sending Jesus, His son, to save us. 

Ephesians 6:12

12 “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” 

Through the Bible, God has given us the plan for vision and sight, to be able to see the world as it really is; An opportunity to know The Creator at a personal level. 

All we have to do is believe that Jesus is, who He says He is.

No matter how much you trust in God, no matter how much you try to follow Him and seek His face, why does it feel as if the world is always out to get us?

Jesus was hated first, and we are not greater than the master, so we will be hated as well.

We’re going to suffer and have struggles, BECAUSE:

We follow Him;

We love Him;

Our enemy is powerful.

Stand firm, love your brothers and sisters, and PRAY for those that persecute you.

We will do it with prayer and holding firm to His promises and His word. We look forward with hope to the kingdom He has prepared for those that love Him, trust Him, and surrender to the mercy that only He can provide.

“The first to speak in court sounds right, until the cross-examination begins.” ~Proverbs 18:17 

We are the perfect creation of a loving creator, who wants nothing more than to have a relationship with us.

He didn’t make us into mind-numbing robots, that are designed to automatically do whatever he says. 

He gave us free will, and with that free will, we have the freedom to love him, or not.  

Because for love to be true, it has to be free.   

So, if the Bible is correct and God is real, we’re either on his team, or we may be unwittingly working against him.  

Unfortunately, the bulk of what we hear today comes from journalists, reporters, authors, etc… commenting, teaching us, about the world around us as they see it.  

We consistently only hear their agendas, as they are amplified through the media, and through institutions of education.  

“The first to speak in court sounds right, until the cross-examination begins.” ~ Proverbs 18:17  

If we’re not exposing ourselves to the cross examinations, to every idea… then we’re never going to get the full picture.

I had a teacher in high school who would always say whenever you point the finger, three are pointing right back at you. 

We are far more likely to accuse of what we are, than what we aren’t. We are really good at spotting the weakness in other people, and very often, we are really bad at seeing our own.

Hypocrisy is everywhere.

Are you a good person? 

You see, God is the perfect judge. He literally is perfection and he has zero tolerance for sin of any kind.

Moral Relativism: “I have told a white lie here and there but I am no Charles Manson.” “Sure I am bad, but compared to them it's not even close.” 

The difference between infinite and finite - The difference between where God is in holiness, and where we need to be, is an infinite gulf that we cannot cross without help.

God tolerates zero sin.

But the big problem with sin, is that it starts in our hearts before we actually physically commit the sin. So we have actually committed adultery by embracing lust. We have committed murder by hating first. We have stolen by simply taking anything that doesn’t belong to us, like even someone’s time.

James 1:14-15 “14 …but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

So, I ask you again, “Are you a good person?”

If you can’t answer honestly that you have lived a sin free life, and I sure can’t answer that, then God says the wages of sin are death.

All sin!!

Luckily, He had a plan for us. And that plan was to send someone to stand-in, to pay the price for our sin and to take the sentence of death for us.  

There is only one person in the history of time that has ever done this, and that person was God incarnate, Jesus Christ.

We have all fallen short and we are all hypocrites, and we all need a savior.

Matthew 7:3-5 3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

A person can be incredibly persuasive, have amazing communication skills, appear to be humble, searching, teachable, and look to truly have your best interests in mind. 

Yet, at the same time, be as dangerous to you as any human could possibly be.

Style is not the same as character. Style is not the same as who the person really is.

Style is how you come across, how you appear to others.

Style is a powerful skill of being self-aware; A skill of recognizing how you look to other people.

Substance is completely different. It is simply character.

You are who you appear to be. What you say is true, even if you don’t sound like a Harvard professor or a primetime anchor.

You are who you say you are.

You may not be beautiful, but the content of your character is rock-solid and reliable, and that of course is where true beauty comes from. 

You are who you appear to be.

Style, on the other hand, can take us anywhere. Style has nothing to do with the truth.

We’ve been trained, we’ve been conditioned to look for style first.  We follow people, we’re attracted to them because of they way they look, how they speak, they way they sound…

The apostle Paul, one of the most influential people in the history of the world, didn’t embrace style.

We have to look for the deep character, which is going to require us to THINK FOR OURSELVES; To not ask what someone else’s opinion may be.  

Highly charismatic, style-filled leaders have taken people to all kinds of bad places since the beginning of time.

But character, substance and authenticity… well, that’s we we need to look for.

What Love Looks Like - Matthew 8:2-3

God will show you how much He loves you, and it will be exactly where you need it to be, for those that trust Him, and look to Him.

Matthew 8:2-3

2. Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.” 3. Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared.

Why the need to physically touch the man with leprosy, when clearly it wasn’t necessary for Jesus to touch him to heal him? Why is this so important and accounted for in Matthew?

Jesus was more than just interested in healing the man physically - Do you think it is possible that he spotted an even deeper need that the man was struggling with and that was the man had no human contact? Lepers were considered pariahs they were kept away or at the very minimum only in groups with other lepers. They were unclean and needed to be kept from the healthy population.

We don’t know how long this man had struggled with leprosy. We also don’t know the real reason that Jesus touched him. We can only speculate.

But one thing we do know, and what all of us should attempt when we read scripture, is do our best to put ourselves in the situation being described, and watch God’s word unfold as if you were an eyewitness seeing the heart of God being revealed in His word.

How often do we just gloss over scripture and don’t fully immerse ourselves and miss the real teaching?

When we play this movie out in our heads and we see the leper with his disease afflicted arms and legs and we watch him kneel and beg the Lord to be healed and watch in our mind’s eye.

Jesus look deeply in the eyes of the man who is afflicted and maybe hold his hands or hold the sides of his face and say “I am willing,” “…be healed”.

Then watch how the man responds, as not only his skin is instantly made whole, but the direct warm contact from someone who clearly and affectionately loved him PERSONALLY.

You see, the Bible is telling real stories of real men and women who lived, loved and died. We have to make sure that we do our best to see what the truth really might have looked like, and avoid the sterility of words on a page.

We have to work hard not to miss the real story, as we do any Bible studies or daily devotionals.

I know I am guilty of frequently being more concerned about checking things off a list, than getting the insight that I need from God’s Word; Which is why a daily devotional is on the “list” in the first place!

WE HAVE TO GET THE INSIGHT.

WE HAVE TO SEE WHAT GOD IS TRYING TO TEACH US.

GOD LOVES US!

He literally will move heaven and earth for us.

He only asks us to recognize, respect and honor that love by trusting Him, following His commands (for our own good) and thereby TRAINING OURSELVES ON HOW TO LOVE HIM BACK.

Make no mistake, Jesus was every bit as interested in showing the man with leprosy that he loved him, and was willing to heal his body and the even deeper needs of his soul.

Every word in the Bible can be used to learn something.

Something to think about - until next time.

700 years before the birth of Christ, the book of Isaiah was written.

The prophet Isaiah's writings are probably best known for their prophecy about Israel’s coming savior, the promised Messiah, who Jewish scholars call "The Suffering Servant."

These words have not changed in almost 3000 years. Religious scholars, historians and kings have poured over these words since they were first pressed to a scroll, long before Mary carried Jesus in her blessed womb.

Let’s revisit some of these words now as we remember the death and resurrection of Jesus the Savior, the Christ and our Messiah.

During this Easter Season, surrender your heart to the only one who saves, the only one who restores, the only one who redeems and our true King - In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be His, and be saved.

One of the greatest tests of our faith, is when we are confronted with our own mortality.

When we truly believe that God has already prepared a home for us, then why should we fear?

A much higher authority stated in 1 John 4:16-18:

16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

The Consummation of Love

17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

So go forward, live in love ~

FFF

The book of Psalms were written 1000 years before Christ was born, and was written, primarily, by King David.

The 22nd Psalm opens with “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Three of the Gospels, Matthew 15:33, Luke 23:44, and John 19:28, all share this particular expression of, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

What was David thinking when he wrote those words? Were the words meant only for David? We do know that David experienced extreme trials in his life.

In Psalm 22:1-15, is David meant to only refer to the challenges in his own life?

Psalm 22:16-18 states, “(16) The congregation of the wicked has enclosed me. They pierced my hands in my feet. (17) They look and stare at me. (18) They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”

David’s hands and feet were never pierced. But yet, he chose to put this in the book of Psalms, 1000 years before Christ walked on this planet.

When the 22nd Psalm is read, and you think about Jesus, those images look just like him. It’s a perfectly clear vision of Jesus on the cross. With his hands and feet pierced.

This is what can be called, “The Fingerprint God.” And it shows up all over the Old Testament.

Only an infinite creator, outside of time, could actually put something in the book, that will clearly point to the future.

God is real. Jesus is his son.

Salvation, is through Jesus Christ alone.

Until next time…

By any measure and any account, 2020 was a tough, strange year - And that might be the understatement of all understatements. 

However, it has led us as a nation to a place we haven’t been in a long time...