Worship for Today

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in 1 John 4:4,

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

John speaks of false prophets and teachers that have gone out into the world. He calls these “antichrists” and in chapter 2 he points out that they attempt to lead the faithful astray. John says his readers have overcome these false prophets and teachers.

As I look at this verse this morning I notice how it is that his readers have overcome these false teachers and prophets. I note it is not because they have read the latest book on “overcoming”. I note also that it is not due to the “spiritual muscles” his readers might have, or “spiritual disciplines” his readers might engage in, or the pastor they listen to on Sunday mornings or anything whatsoever that is innately from within them. Not that any of these things are not helpful, but He says his readers overcome these false prophets and teachers because “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” Because God resides within believers we have all that we need to overcome anyone who would attempt to lead us astray.

I am reminded of Paul’s observation, “Who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive?” 1 Corinthians 4:7. It is God who provides us spiritual wisdom and strength. My weakness is the canvas upon which God’s strength is displayed. As Paul says in his second letter to the church in Corinth, 12:9-10, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

This morning I take great encouragement that it is the strength of God in my weakness that makes me an “overcomer”. Jesus Christ is greater than anyone in the world and upon God’s own faithfulness he assures me he will keep me strong and blameless till the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. “Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” 1 Corinthians 1:7-9.

I think our God is wonderful and how wonderful it is that whatever spiritual strength I need, I have it within me as it is God who dwells within me! Just how wonderful is that?!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!

Trevor V. Fisk

(314) 814-8486

trevorf@gracehill.org

 

 

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Worship for Today

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in 1 John 4:13-16a,

“We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

This is such a rich passage with so much contained in it. In just three and a half verses John tells us, yet again, how we can know we are a child if God (God has given us his Spirit), that within the Trinity the Father has sent his Son for us as the Savior, that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the whole world (not just a select few – although we learn only those who will embrace him in faith by acknowledging he is the Son of God will be saved from God’s judgment), that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he dwells in believers and that we know of the love of God and rely on it. As is typical of John he speaks of profound truths in few words. The depth and complexity of theology that John presents in his writings is enormous. Pregnant with the deep things of the faith his writings leave us with a mountain of truth to digest.

What strikes me this morning is his comment that we know and rely on the love God has for us. We know he loves us and has demonstrated this by sending his Son to us as our Savior from his own judgment for our sins. But John goes on to say that we rely on the love of God. Just how reliable is the love of God? What does that mean and what kind of confidence and assurance does it provide us as we look to the future?

This morning I listened to Max McLean recite Psalm 136. Each of the 26 verses of this psalm end with the stanza “His love endures forever.” As I listened to it I couldn’t help but think that our God takes particular effort to ensure we know of his love and to take confidence it. God’s love will never shrink, never fade. He will love us as much at the end of our lives as he has at any time. He will love us just as much ten thousand years into the resurrection as he does today. His love never wavers, it is not based on anything we do, it is not performance based, and it does not rely on me. It relies on God alone and he never changes.

Truly his love endures forever! We can take great confidence and rely entirely on it!!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!

Trevor V. Fisk

(314) 814-8486

trevorf@gracehill.org

 

 

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This electronic transmission and any documents accompanying this electronic transmission contain confidential information belonging to the sender. This information may contain confidential health information that is legally privileged. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. The authorized recipient of this transmission is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to delete or destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or takinf of any action in reliance on or regarding the contents of this electronicallytransmitted information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this E-mail in error please notify the sender and delete this message immediately

Worship for Today

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in 1 John 4:7,

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”

Our God is a wonderful God. In every aspect of his being there is that which is to be found that brings adoration, admiration, love, reverence, respect and fear. All we need do is but look. Even just cast a glance to behold our majestic God of splendor and we can’t help but be hopelessly drawn to him. This morning as I consider what it is we are asked of him through John I marvel at him: he asks us to love one another!

What is so unique and wonderful about that? As I think of it I recognize we live in a world where most look out for themselves. They elbow one another out of the way to get theirs. Often those in the world exploit one another for their own personal gain, whether in the workplace, in “romance”, at home, even in many churches.

As I consider what God asks of us, I find it so refreshing and wonderful. He could have asked us to snoop on one another, to be the boss of one another, to use others for what we need as it might be a while before the Lord returns. He might have asked us to “carry out jihad against the infidels”, to punish one another, to take advantage of one another to achieve certain goals. But not our God… he asks us to love one another!

What a reflection of his character to ask this of us. “God is love.” 1 John 4:8. And what a wonderful God he is!!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!

Trevor V. Fisk

(314) 814-8486

trevorf@gracehill.org

 

 

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This electronic transmission and any documents accompanying this electronic transmission contain confidential information belonging to the sender. This information may contain confidential health information that is legally privileged. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. The authorized recipient of this transmission is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to delete or destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or takinf of any action in reliance on or regarding the contents of this electronicallytransmitted information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this E-mail in error please notify the sender and delete this message immediately

Worship for Today

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in 1 John 3:2,

“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

“We know that when he appears…” Jesus Christ is coming back! Just how sobering is that?! A great cause for joy and excitement for some of us and a foreboding angst for others! He is coming back!

Just as we read the gospel accounts of what Jesus did while here, the things he did, the people he touched, the lives restored, the compassion, the condemnation of the money changers in the temple… all that stuff comes to mind as I think of the coming of Jesus Christ back to earth! Not that we will be expecting to see the same kinds of things. When he comes again he will be coming for different purposes and will be doing different things. I am just reminded that these are going to be very exciting times. It will be a time like no other on the face of the earth.

This will be a time where the things of this world stop and a whole new paradigm of life unfolds. Jesus is coming for those of us who are waiting for him. “He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” Hebrews 9:28b. And he will bring his judgment on those who have rejected him, “Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.” 1 Corinthians 4:5.

He will establish a new order of things on planet earth. Rogue regimes and terrorism will be eradicated forever and God will make his abode with mankind. The wicked will be removed and God will wipe the tears from our eyes. This will be an exciting time, a time that will fill volumes of the things God will do and say. A time when we will be able to behold God in all his glory, a time where the discouraging and disheartening things of this life will cease to exist as God casts Satan, his minions and the wicked into a lake of fire and bring healing and restoration to the rest of us. Sickness, infirmity, disease and death will be destroyed!

And… we will be transformed!!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!

Trevor V. Fisk

(314) 814-8486

trevorf@gracehill.org

 

 

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This electronic transmission and any documents accompanying this electronic transmission contain confidential information belonging to the sender. This information may contain confidential health information that is legally privileged. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. The authorized recipient of this transmission is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to delete or destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or takinf of any action in reliance on or regarding the contents of this electronicallytransmitted information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this E-mail in error please notify the sender and delete this message immediately

Worship for Today

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in 1 John 3:23-24a,

“This is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them.”

Here from John’s pen is what God requires of us, to believe in Jesus Christ and to love one another. Imagine! Of all the things God could require of us he simply asks us to recognize who Jesus Christ is and what he has done for us and to treat one another wonderfully! That doesn’t seem so overwhelming to me.

There is no end to the many things a lot of folks say we have to do to please God. I have seen lists of the things a person has to do in order to be saved. These seven requirements or those twelve (or whatever) things you have to do. As a believer, now that we are “in”, there are fresh lists of all sorts of things we need to do.

I don’t see a big list here from John. In his gospel John says “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…” John 1:12. In Romans 10:9 we read, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” That seems pretty simple to me.

Sometimes I wonder if we don’t get overly complicated with all kinds of things we pile into lists in order to live our lives pleasing to God. I certainly wouldn’t criticize the wonderful intentions we all have, but sometimes I just wonder…

A lot of Scripture tells us how to live out these simple commands John gives us. One passage that I feel has great bearing on our deportment as believers is found in Colossians 3:12-14 “Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” What a wonderful way to describe how to love one another! Again, it seems pretty simple to me. It does require humility though…

Just before this passage in Colossians 3 we read in verses 5-10, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” Maybe this is where things get complicated for us. The many expressions of our sin nature seem to require attention in so many areas of our lives.

Yet we are told that the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within each of us when we embrace Jesus Christ in faith and that he is in conflict with our sin nature, Galatians 5:17. As Paul reminds us in Romans 8:9, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” It would seem to me there is a natural (or should I say “supernatural”) tendency for those of us indwelt by the Holy Spirit to live consistently with what God is doing in our lives and that these many areas would take care of themselves.

Maybe simple does not necessarily rule out challenging at times…  Just a few rambling thoughts this morning.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!

Trevor V. Fisk

(314) 814-8486

trevorf@gracehill.org

 

 

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This electronic transmission and any documents accompanying this electronic transmission contain confidential information belonging to the sender. This information may contain confidential health information that is legally privileged. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. The authorized recipient of this transmission is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to delete or destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or takinf of any action in reliance on or regarding the contents of this electronicallytransmitted information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this E-mail in error please notify the sender and delete this message immediately

Worship for Today

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in 1 John 3:24b,

“This is how we know that he [God] lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”

There is an experiential validation of our new life in Jesus Christ. This validation comes in the person of the Holy Spirit. In the wisdom and love of God he has chosen to dwell within us as his children by the Holy Spirit. Throughout this letter John points to the changes the Holy Spirit brings in the lives of believers so that his readers can tell who false teachers are (who are missing these changes) and take encouragement in recognizing these very same validating changes within themselves.

Where God dwells in a sinful and fallen world, change takes place! The Holy Spirit starts a wonderful transformation in our lives that bring a richness and fullness in life as we begin the process of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, Romans 8:29. From the well-known passage in Galatians 5:22-23 we know these changes include: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The Holy Spirit enables us to live our lives in ways that are pleasing to our God. We are now enabled to “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Colossians 3:12-14. God’s people are the most pleasurable people to spend time with!

There are so many wonderful things that come into our lives as believers because the Holy Spirit dwells within us. He acts as a seal upon each of our lives guaranteeing our inheritance in eternal life, Ephesians 1:13-14. He gifts us with talents and abilities to serve one another and motivates us to do so, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. The Holy Spirit illuminates our minds by revealing to us the truths contained in the Scriptures and the things of God, 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. He is our counselor, our teacher, he guides us into all truth, he brings us peace and confidence and he reveals the things of Jesus Christ to us in such a way that we find ourselves in glorious awe and admiration of him. John 14:25-27 and John 16:12-15.

How wonderful this is that we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!

Trevor V. Fisk

(314) 814-8486

trevorf@gracehill.org

 

 

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This electronic transmission and any documents accompanying this electronic transmission contain confidential information belonging to the sender. This information may contain confidential health information that is legally privileged. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. The authorized recipient of this transmission is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to delete or destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or takinf of any action in reliance on or regarding the contents of this electronicallytransmitted information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this E-mail in error please notify the sender and delete this message immediately

Worship for Today

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in 1 John 3:9,

“No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.”

Here is a fascinating statement. Our being born of God results in God’s seed remaining in us! It makes me think of when someone speaks of having a certain heritage so they act in a particular way: “So and so has a temper, it must be his Irish blood”, etc. While we live in a day where it is not fashionable to speak in such terms or to generalize in this way about a group of people, it illustrates the point. Those who have been born of God have his seed in them and so there is something different about them. John’s point is that living a sinful lifestyle is a contradiction to both being born of God and God’s resulting presence from that birth that remains within us.

I guess, giving it some thought, how could anyone go through the transformation that takes place during a spiritual rebirth and not reflect that rebirth? This reminds me of a passage Paul wrote, Romans 8:9, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.”

God’s presence in our lives represented by the Holy Spirit insures we will live changed lives. This is so much so that John uses this reality to help us overcome struggles we may have with our consciences or when we possibly might entertain certain doubts. In 1 John 5:13 he says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

I simply find it remarkable that those of us who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith carry within ourselves “God’s seed”. It makes a new creation of us and results in our lives being changed!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!

Trevor V. Fisk

(314) 814-8486

trevorf@gracehill.org

 

 

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This electronic transmission and any documents accompanying this electronic transmission contain confidential information belonging to the sender. This information may contain confidential health information that is legally privileged. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. The authorized recipient of this transmission is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to delete or destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or takinf of any action in reliance on or regarding the contents of this electronicallytransmitted information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this E-mail in error please notify the sender and delete this message immediately