Worship for Today: Praise the Lord!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalm 148:1,

"Praise the Lord..."

In this beautiful psalm of worship all are invited to praise the Lord.
This psalm is sweeping in its invitation. It goes out to the heavens
above, to all his angels and all of his heavenly hosts. Even the sun,
moon, and stars, the heavens and clouds are invited to praise him -
because they were created by him. Earth creatures are also invited to
worship, sea creatures, the meteorological elements, mountains, trees,
wild animals, cattle, insects and birds, kings and all the rulers on
earth, young men and maidens, old men and children.

The cause for the invitation of worship is the Lord's transcendent
name and splendor, verse 13. He is also to be praised because he has
"raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his saints..."
Verse 14. This is none other than Jesus Christ who will come to planet
earth to provide a way into God's family!

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God's promises are certain!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 3:22,

"The Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so
that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ,
might be given to those who believe."

Paul points out to the Galatian believers that the only escape from
the prison of sin - which leads to certain eternal death in the lake
of fire - is faith. Faith brings what was promised to Abraham before
the law was ever given. This promise, given by God is a certainty that
comes through faith, not just to Abraham, but to all who believe. In
Romans 4:20-24, Paul tells us, "Yet he [Abraham] did not waver through
unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his
faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power
to do what he had promised. This is why 'it was credited to him as
righteousness.' The words 'it was credited to him' were written not
for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit
righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from
the dead."

How wonderful is this promise that is available to all who will
believe! As Paul tells us in Romans 11:29, "God's gifts and his call
are irrevocable." God's promise to us of eternal life is certain. Just
as we who are here in this life were brought into existence, so also,
we will just as certainly share in God's promises to us in the
resurrection. God's promises are certain!

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Freedom in Jesus Christ - freedom from do-gooders.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 2:4-5,

"This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our
ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us
slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of
the gospel might remain with you."

In Paul's writings, he speaks of the wonderful freedom we have in
Jesus Christ. In Romans 6:7 he speaks of freedom from sin. In Romans
7:6 Paul talks about being freed from the law. In Romans 8:5 we read
of the freedom we have to now live according to what the Holy Spirit
desires. We are freed from our past lifestyles and habits, freed from
God's judgment and free to look forward to and embrace the inheritance
that is ours now that we belong to Jesus Christ.

As the verse in Galatians 2:4-5 says, there always seems to be those
who simply can't stomach all this freedom. Rather than enjoying the
freedom we have in Jesus Christ, these "do-gooders" feel a compulsion
to control the rest of us by insisting the Lord is unhappy with us
because of this, that or the other thing. I'm not speaking of the
various prohibitions in Scripture, but of all the rules and
regulations these people set up for the rest of us to order our lives
by.

Just as Paul and company didn't give in to these "do-gooders", I
celebrate the wonderful freedoms we have in Jesus Christ. I'll leave
all the dos and don'ts these folks invent for the rest of us to them
and let them explain to the Lord later why they felt compelled to pass
on the freedom we have in Jesus Christ and why they tried to rob it
from the rest of us.

For me, I celebrate the wonderful freedom Jesus Christ secured for us
on the cross and thank him for it by using that freedom to please him.

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Rejoicing at the house of the Lord.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalm 122:1,

"I rejoiced with those who said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord.'"

David speaks of a joy of anticipation when invited to go to the house
of the Lord. In verse 4 he says that it is where the tribes of the
Lord go up to praise the name of the Lord.

For me, joy is something that both precedes worship and follows it.
Recognizing the wonderful perfections of our glorious God and
marveling at the wondrous things he has done brings a joy to my heart.
It is the kind of joy that needs to find its appointed expression in
worship. Acknowledging both to God and others his wonderful majestic
splendor and his divine acts become the expressions of worship for me.
In this expression joy is generated in thinking about, meditating on,
mulling over the wonders of God as I express to him my appreciation,
love and adoration - and even astonishment - for all he is.

There is simply no other greater source of joy in this life than that
which attends the true worship of our matchless God!

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The grace of our Lord keeps us in him!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 6:18,

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen."

After writing this very intense letter, calling for a curse upon the
false teachers who attempted to infect these new Galatian churches
with bad doctrine and correcting the Galatian believers, Paul ends his
letter this way. I am reminded that it is the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ that any of us are able to keep a straight course in our lives
with the Lord. It is the Lord's wonderful enablement, entirely
unearned and unmerited in any way, that feeds the engine of any
sincere and dedicated follower of Jesus Christ to stay on the path
pleasing to him.

Out of a love for us and a wonderful disposition inclined to our
safe-being and for our best, our Lord provides us with all we need
through his grace. Whether it might be the work of the Holy Spirit in
our lives, the encouragement of the Scriptures, gifted brothers and
sisters he places in our lives, it is always the Lord's grace that
carries us through this lost and fallen world, safely home to him when
our lives are finished here.

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The Holy Spirit brings freedom from sin!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 5:16-17a,

"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of
the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to
the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature."

When Adam and Eve turned from God in sin and rebellion in the garden
they assumed a changed nature. Over the generations mankind became
increasingly more sinful and wicked. Paul calls this condition the
"sinful nature". About it, he says in Romans 1:18-31, that mankind has
gone through a devolution of wickedness because they didn't glorify
God or thank him, they exchanged the glory of God for images of
created things, they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and they
abandoned the knowledge of God. The result of all this is that mankind
has become increasingly more sinful and wicked with a sinful nature
that is predisposed to sinful thoughts and acts.

This increasing sinfulness is destructive and creates havoc on every
level of society and culture. It reaches down into the most personal
aspects of our lives and creates damage and disappointment. But Jesus
Christ came as a light piercing the sinful darkness of this world. He
brings liberty from our enslavement to sin and sets us free. While
here Jesus Christ said he would send the Holy Spirit as a counselor,
comforter and companion. One of the many wonderful things the Holy
Spirit does in our lives is that he brings conflict to our sinful
natures and provides for freedom from the domination of our lives by
that sinful nature. He brings a wonderful new nature that is
characterized by such things as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

I find that pretty amazing!

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God knows us!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 4:9a,

"Now that you know God—or rather are known by God..."

Here is something that is sobering and even a little frightening to
think about: we are known by God! In this passage Paul asks the
Galatians why they would turn back to former "weak and miserable
principles" in light of the fact that they know God and are known by
God.

It is astonishing to think that God knows us. That he who crafted the
cosmos and brought all things into existence is aware of all of us is
mind boggling. I sense here that Paul is thinking of a more intimate
knowing of us as his children as he mentions earlier in the chapter.
We are God's sons and daughters and co-heirs with his Son, Jesus
Christ.

I would suspect Paul would agree that God knows us intimately. He
knows our likes and dislikes, our preferences, what excites us and
what frightens us. He knows what we like to eat and what we like to
wear. He also knows the things we do, the things we think, the things
we say, the things we feel. He knows about our tendency toward certain
sins and he knows where our strengths lie. He knows how to enable us
to do what he wants done through us and he knows how to "gift" us to
meet the needs of others. He knows the good, the bad and the ugly. As
the writer of Hebrews puts it, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from
God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of
him to whom we must give account." Hebrews 4:13.

In spite of knowing all these things about us, he embraces us as his
children. He loves us more than any natural parent could and I am
convinced he does things for us constantly, often in little ways. He
has decided to spend eternity with all who will embrace him in faith.
He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. As Paul puts it so
wonderfully in his letter to the Ephesian church, "Praise be to the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the
heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose
us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in
his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through
Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise
of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he
loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on
us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the
mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed
in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached
their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together
under one head, even Christ." Ephesians 1:3-10. Just how wonderful is
that?

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: We have the promised Holy Spirit!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 3:14,

"He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come
to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might
receive the promise of the Spirit."

As this passage tells us, the Holy Spirit is received by faith. There
are those groups today, who have been around just a little over a
hundred years, who, for whatever reason, feel they have the corner on
the Holy Spirit. They are the ones who feel they have some special
inside track on the Holy Spirit and have the only bona fide gifting of
the Holy Spirit. Nothing could be further from the truth.

All born-again believers in Jesus Christ have the Holy Spirit dwelling
within them. Paul tells 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." Pretty clear: all Christians have the
Holy Spirit. Having the Holy Spirit does not indicate a spiritually
superior condition for anyone. Paul told the Corinthian believers they
were all baptized into the Holy Spirit and shared in the various gifts
of the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit dwelt within them, 1 Corinthians
12:1-11; 6:19. And, yet, having the Holy Spirit, these same believers
were called "worldly", by Paul, 1 Corinthians 3:3.

The Holy Spirit as a comforter, counselor and constant companion was
promised us by the Lord while he was still here. He said, "I will ask
the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you
forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it
neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with
you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come
to you." John 14:16-17. Here is the wonderful promise of our Lord
himself to send us the Holy Spirit when we become his. This mystical
reality impacts our lives in a variety of ways as the Holy Spirit
lives in us and brings about change within us. Galatians 5:22-23
provides a wonderful outlook as to what becomes of us due to the
indwelling Holy Spirit.

Fascinating, isn't it?!

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Paul's authoritative endorsement by Jesus Christ.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 2:6,

"As for those who seemed to be important—whatever they were makes no
difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance—those men
added nothing to my message."

As Paul provides the account of when he visited Jerusalem to report to
the church there the gospel he preached among the Gentiles he makes
the above statement. He tells the Galatians that as he wanted to
insure he and the leaders of the church in Jerusalem were all on the
same page, he didn't really give a hoot as to who the other apostles
and leaders in Jerusalem were. His issue was that he wanted to insure
his efforts and those in Jerusalem were not at odds. The reason he
didn't care what importance these leaders might have had is simply
that he received his message and his authority to carry it from Jesus
Christ himself. Paul had all the greatest credentials anyone could
possibly have.

As I think of Paul's outlook in today's setting, it seems to me there
is always importance attached to anyone recognized as a leader.
Something of their message, their effectiveness, their results. Folks
tend to look up to those in leadership positions. Paul, however, was
in an arena where the authority of Jesus Christ was preeminent. Within
this arena, results, effectiveness, the ability to lead others, all
bow to the lordship of Jesus Christ. The very need for this letter of
Paul to the Galatian churches is testimony to the shortcoming of
traditional means of establishing authoritative leadership. These
Galatians had been swayed by the false teaching of "leaders" who had
led them astray.

Today we live in a time where there are many "leaders" who have
thousands and millions of followers. They fill the churches, the
coliseums, the stadiums, the arenas. They have massive attendance at
the seminars and conferences they hold and they bring in millions of
dollars to their ministries. We know they cannot all have the
authoritative endorsement of Jesus Christ because many of them are at
odds with one another.

This reminds me of God's perspective on those who seem to be
"leaders". "God does not judge by external appearance."

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Paul and his message - a mission from God.

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

"Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ
and God the Father, who raised him from the dead..."

As Paul responds to the occurrence of false teachers leading the
Galatian believers into theological error, he addresses his letter to
these churches as an apostle sent by Jesus Christ and God the Father.
Paul's credentials to speak authoritatively as God's representative
were impeccable. He wasn't sent on is own, he wasn't sent by the
mother church in Jerusalem or the theological center in Antioch (the
location where the Holy Spirit had commissioned him and Barnabas to
take the gospel to Galatia and other regions, Acts 13:2). He was sent
by God himself. No other authority comes close to that commission.

As God's hand-picked man, Paul was sent with a message. Again, the
authenticity, authority and accuracy of the gospel message Paul had
brought these churches is fully established by the origin of the
message. It did not come from another church, Paul didn't make it up
and it didn't come from some newly endowed school of theology. Paul's
gospel message came directly to Paul from God himself, Galatians
1:11-12.

I am often amazed to see folks these days argue against the writings
of Paul. They place themselves in the position of arguing against God
himself. I can't think of a more insane position to place one's self
into than to find yourself arguing with God. As the writer of Hebrews
says, "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God." Hebrews 10:31. It is to God we will have to give account of our
lives, of the decisions we have made, the things we have done. It is
God before whom we will all stand and have our eternal destinies
determined. Paradise or a fiery lake of burning sulfur?

How I thank our God for giving us his Son, Jesus Christ, to save us
from God's own wrath! May we all heed the gospel message of salvation
by faith that God himself gave to his hand-picked emissary, Paul, for
us.

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God's wonderful grace!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 6:18,

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen."

God's grace is an amazing thing. It is that wonderful aspect of God's
nature that disposes his loving intentions toward us. Jesus told
Nicodemus, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only
Son..." Why would God do such a thing? Mankind has turned his back on
God in sin and rebellion. Mankind has gone his own way, rejecting God
and fulfilling his acquired propensity to sin. We are told that God is
a god of Justice and sin has its inevitable consequences with him:
death.

But, we are also told of God's great love. Of himself, he revealed to
Moses, "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow
to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to
thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does
not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their
children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth
generation." Exodus 34:6-7. God's character is both rich in justice
and love. We call that most wonderfully favorable disposition of God's
love toward us his grace.

In God's grace he has sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty
for our sins. In his grace he has made that payment of sins credited
to us simply by placing our faith, our trust in him. In God's grace he
has provided us a place at his table in the resurrection and provided
us a wonderful inheritance!

How wonderful is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ!! May it always be with us!

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Our exciting hope!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 5:5,

"By faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for
which we hope."

Hope is a wonderful thing. In this context it is not meant as "I sure
hope something happens" as if we are uncertain. Here it refers to the
excitement of something pending that we are assured of. Hope is that
element of waiting with an exquisite anticipation for something
wonderful we know for certain is coming our way. Paul speaks of that
wonderful day when we will stand in God's very presence with a right
standing with him. In spite of any and all sin in our lives, in spite
of all of our shortcomings, in spite of all the things we should have
done and never did, we will stand in his presence as righteous. Jude
puts it this way, "To him who is able to keep you from falling and to
present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great
joy be glory, majesty, power and authority..." Jude 24.

We also wait with eager anticipation the redemption of our bodies.
While some claim today to already possess it, our bodies are still
under the curse and we will all die. Paul points out that one day
these bodies will be redeemed, however, which is something we look
forward to in the resurrection. Paul calls this our great hope. "Not
only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the
redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope
that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But
if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."
Romans 8:23-25. But this waiting patiently, is as I say, an exquisite
anticipation as it is something promised us from our God who is
entirely trustworthy to deliver on all his promises.

This hope provides that edge, that excitement in our relationship with
our God. In another letter of Paul he says, "We always thank God, the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have
heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all
the saints— the faith and love that spring from the hope that is
stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in
the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you." Colossians
1:3-6a. This hope produces faith and love within us.

What a wonderful hope we have as children of God!

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Free will - the opportunity for love and worship!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 4:12,

"I plead with you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you."

As Paul admonishes his readers to reject the false teaching that has
come their way, he pleads with them. In verse 20 he tells them how
perplexed he is about them and of his desire that they remain true to
the gospel he faithfully brought to them. It is this pleading of his
that catches my eye this morning. It brings to my mind something that
we all assume, that theologians love to discuss endlessly and is one
of the most important aspects of the nature of man's relationship to
God: God has given us our own wills to exercise at our own discretion.
Within the constraints of life that God has placed us all, such as
that we all face death, that we are all have certain limitations (e.g.
we can't fly like birds), etc. we are free to make our own choices.

These choices we are free to make determine our eternal destiny. Paul
pleads with his hearers to choose Jesus Christ as he shares the gospel
message. After Paul delivered the gospel message to King Agrippa in
Festus' courtroom, the king responds, "Do you think that in such a
short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?" Acts 26:28. Paul
replies that is exactly his intent. Here in this letter to the
Galatian church he pleads with these believers not to abandoned the
faith they began, appealing to the exercise of their own wills.

God has given us each a will which is a reflection of our being made
in his image. I suspect God is not concerned with many of the choices
we make, such as which chair we sit in at the table, but there are
those we make that are important to him.

The upshot for me in God giving us our own free will to exercise is
that it provides the context in which real love and real worship can
take place. Not a manufactured love and worship, but real and
spontaneous - the type that comes from our own exposure to that which
is breath-taking. All we need do is behold the magnificence of God's
majestic splendor to fall in love with him, to worship him... and it
all starts with a decision to do so...

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The Holy Spirit comes to us without human effort.

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

"I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the
Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you
so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to
attain your goal by human effort?"

Paul asks the question here to make the point that the Galatian
believers received the Holy Spirit by faith. It wasn't anything these
believers did to receive the Holy Spirit, they received him by faith
and faith alone. This tells me that the presence of the Holy Spirit in
my life is not due to anything I do, it is God's response to my faith.
It is as simple as that.

There are those who market in the Holy Spirit, claiming that if we do
this or that we can receive the Holy Spirit in ways they have and we
have not. I don't know how many times I have seen advertisements on
religious broadcast TV where if you send in your faith-pledge promise
of $35 or more you will receive a series of messages to help you
receive God's abundant gift of the Holy Spirit. Money is always
involved here. It is, after all, "to keep the ministry going".

While Paul's point is that the Galatian believer's received the Holy
Spirit as evidence of their salvation by faith, and not law-keeping,
it reminds me today that the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life is
not due to my efforts either. Even the apostles, when performing
miraculous healings, acknowledged that it wasn't their godliness or
spiritual superiority that God worked miracles through their lives
(something that ought to bring some much needed humility to those who
could use a little these days). When Peter and John were going to the
temple to pray one day, they met a crippled beggar. After healing him,
Peter told the crowd that gathered, "Why do you stare at us as if by
our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?" Acts 3:12.
Peter understood it was God who healed the man and he could claim no
credit for it, not even a claim of "godliness".

Our receiving of the Holy Spirit is due to faith, not any work we do.
We simply cannot take credit for what we are not responsible for. It
is an expression of God's grace and his wonderful love for us that he
has sent the Holy Spirit as a companion and comfort to us.

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Jesus Christ is all we need!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 2:15-16a,

"We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is
not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ."

Paul tells his hearers, it is faith in Jesus Christ that brings
justification. Justification is where my sins, my offenses, my
violations of God's law are not held against me. It is a legal term
indicating that in God's court, I am not guilty of any sin. The guilt
has been paid for! Therefore I am qualified and will participate in
the resurrection of life. All others who do not place their faith in
Jesus Christ will spend an eternity in the fiery lake of burning
sulfer.

Faith in Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ is all I need! I don't need
rosaries, I don't need mantras. I don't need T.D. Jakes, Joyce Meyers
or Joel Olsteen. I only need Jesus Christ. I don't need the Baptists
or the Budhists. I don't need the pope or a priest. I don't need a
book, a purpose, a seminar or a conference. I only need Jesus Christ.
I don't need John Calvin and I don't need Jacob Arminius. I don't need
chakras and I don't need the Dhali Lama. I only need Jesus Christ. I
don't need a religion, a denomination, the right political party and I
don't need my immunization record current. I only need Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ and his apostles are the ones I listen to. The words
written by those who were carried along by the "Spirit of Christ" are
the ones I listen to. It is Jesus Christ I love! It is Jesus Christ I
follow! It is Jesus Christ that holds me spell-bound with the splendor
of his many-faceted perfections! Jesus Christ is the one I am
awestruck by! It is Jesus Christ that I worship, that I adore, that I
find meaning and purpose in life in! It is Jesus Christ who loved me.
It is Jesus Christ who came and died a horrible death for me! It is
Jesus Christ who guarantees me abundant eternal life! It is Jesus
Christ who will share his inheritance with me!

How could I possibly need anything else when I have this wonderful
person, Jesus Christ?!

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 1:8-9,

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other
than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we
have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you
a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally
condemned!"

As Paul sets the record straight for the Galatian believers, after
they had a visit from some folks that attempted to pervert the message
of the gospel by adding to the message a requirement of having to be
circumcised for salvation, Paul calls for a curse on anyone who would
alter the gospel message. "Let him be eternally condemned!"

Is this merely colorful language to adorn Paul's oratory? Or it there
a serious threat here from Paul? As God's messenger, sent by Jesus
Christ and God the Father, do we have a threat here from God himself,
since Paul was speaking on God's behalf? I firmly believe so. Paul's
credentials, unlike so many self-appointed folks these days, are
impeccable. He clearly was sent by God with the gospel message as he
tells us in this first chapter of Galatians. And he wasn't sent empty
handed. God gave him the gospel message to bring to the Gentile world
and now, having been opposed by others who attempted to pervert the
simple message of salvation by faith, Paul calls anathema on them.
God's curse. My perspective is this would be all it would take for
someone to be found confined to the fiery lake of burning sulfur for
an eternity.

Paul's ability to bring a curse on someone and have God's certain
judgment fall on them is amply demonstrated by the occasion of Paul's
first missionary trip. When he and Barnabas arrived on Cyprus a
sorcerer named Elymas attempted to turn the proconsul from the faith.
Through Paul he was struck with blindness.

Does an apostolic curse remain active only during the lifespan of the
apostle? Was Paul's curse on those who would pervert the gospel of
Jesus Christ only a temporary thing -only for those who troubled the
Galatian believers? I would not want to be in the shoes of those who,
today, pervert the gospel. Today we see all sorts of theologies,
denominations, religions supposedly based on Jesus Christ, isms and
schisms. Certainly, there are many who have squarely placed themselves
in the cross-hairs of Paul's curse. Woe to them!

Our God is not to be trifled with...

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The offense of the cross.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 5:11,

"Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being
persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished."

The "offense of the cross"... Paul tells his hearers that if he were
"preaching circumcision", that is, that people needed to keep the law,
the offense of the cross would be abolished. But, Paul is saying that
keeping the law results in Christ being of no value, verse 2. He does
not preach keeping the law. He preaches the "offense of the cross".

As I read what Paul writes about this it causes me to think of the
reality that the horrible death Jesus Christ was willing to make and
did experience on that cross was to help me out of a horrific
situation. His sacrifice speaks of the sin in my own life and the need
I have to escape God's judgment of it. As his sacrifice satisfied my
heavenly Father's justice for my sin, it was a payment for what is
wrong with me: sin! I was born a sinner, I have a sinful nature that
is ever present and I have committed all I need to spend eternity in a
fiery lake of burning sulfur per the justice of our creator.

Here is the "offense" of the cross. If I were able to be a "good
person" by keeping God's laws, God would be indebted to me to provide
a place for me in the resurrection of life. As it turns out I am
unable to be that good person because I cannot keep those laws.
Something is wrong with me. Sin. The cross of Jesus Christ is an
offense in that it speaks of my own sinfulness.

The rest of the story, however, is rich with the warmth and kindness
of God's massive loving heart. In spite of my shortcomings, in spite
of my sinfulness, God reached to me, to us all, by sending his Son to
be that sacrifice that would make me right with him! What mercy! What
love and kindness!

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The wonderful promises of God!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 4:28,

"Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise."

God made a promise to Abraham. In Genesis 15:6 we are told, "Abram
believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness." As
Paul presents to his readers the difference between being a law-keeper
versus people of faith, he points out that those who receive the
promises of God do so due to their faith in God that emulates the
faith of Abraham. Isaac was God's promise of a first born son to
Abraham. Paul says that likewise, we are children of promise.

God makes promises and unlike many others, he always keeps them. Paul
said in Romans 4:13-16, "It was not through law that Abraham and his
offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but
through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live
by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless,
because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no
transgression. Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may
be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only
to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of
Abraham. He is the father of us all."

How wonderful are those promises of God!

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 3:6-9,

"Consider Abraham: 'He believed God, and it was credited to him as
righteousness.' Understand, then, that those who believe are children
of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles
by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: 'All nations
will be blessed through you.' So those who have faith are blessed
along with Abraham, the man of faith."

Years ago, while in desperate need to read my Bible more (a condition
I still find myself in), I used to think that God gave the law through
Moses and when that didn't pan out, he came up with a better way,
salvation by faith. I couldn't have been more wrong. Here Paul makes a
point that the new kid on the block was not salvation by faith.
Salvation has always been by faith as revealed to Abraham. The
johnnie-come-lately was the law that came through Moses. It arrived
430 after God's promise to Abraham of righteousness by faith.

Paul will go on to tell us that faith is not in competition with the
law of Moses as a means to righteousness at all. The purpose of the
law was never to provide salvation to anyone. As it turns out, God's
purpose for the law, the Ten Commandments, etc. was simply to show us
we are sinners and desperately in need of salvation: a salvation
available only through faith!

How wonderful our God has chosen that those who embrace him in faith
will be saved! That makes it possible for even someone like me!

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Jesus Christ's sacrifice can't be added to!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 2:21,

"I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be
gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

Paul presents his case to the Galatians: salvation is by faith, not by
works of the law. Here he tells his hearers that if they could become
right before God's justice by doing works of the law, Jesus Christ
suffered and died for nothing. If sinful man can redeem himself by
doing things to "earn" God's approval there would have been no reason
for Jesus Christ to come to planet earth, take on a body, and then
offer it as a sacrifice on behalf of sinful man through a miserable
death.

But Jesus Christ did die for something! For you and me! As Paul points
out in verse 16, "by observing the law no one will be justified." We
are simply unable to secure a right standing with God on our own. But
the good new is, Jesus Christ did die for us and we can have that
right standing with God by placing our trust in him!

No law keeping can add to that. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ was a
perfect and complete work. I can't embellish it or add to it. I can't
make it any better. His sacrifice is a perfect sacrifice and any
attempt to add to that only has the effect of communicating a distrust
in the "finished work" of Jesus Christ. The sacrifice he made stands
alone as the only and fully sufficient work to redeem us from the
wrathful judgment of our heavenly Father.

This is an important point for me because I know that if my eternal
destiny required a certain performance from me, I just could not make
it into the resurrection of life. I'm just not that good enough. As
the writer of Hebrews says, I enter into that rest, and celebrate the
wonderfully full-measured sacrifice of Jesus Christ for all the sins
of all people for all time, including mine!

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God makes new creations of us!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Galatians 1:22-24,

"I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.
They only heard the report: 'The man who formerly persecuted us is now
preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.' And they praised God
because of me."

Paul recounts for the Galatian believers the response of the churches
in Judea when they heard that their arch-enemy, Paul, had converted to
the faith he once persecuted. I'm not sure what the Judean's thoughts
were of Paul, but it was God they praised because of the
transformation they had seen in Paul's life. Of this Paul tells
Timothy, "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength,
that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. Even
though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I
was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace
of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and
love that are in Christ Jesus." 1 Timothy 1:12-14. Paul goes on to
tell Timothy that he had been the worst of sinners and that the
transformation the Lord made in his life was a message to all: "Here
is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for
that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of
sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an
example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life."
1 Timothy 1:15-17.

Here is the cause of the Judean's praise of God. God makes new
creatures out of us. Here, Paul, a violent persecutor of the church
became its most ardent, active and productive promoter of the gospel
among the Gentiles. He personally established countless local
assemblies, which secured the future of the church for all ages. He
wrote thirteen of the New Testament's twenty seven books, clarifying
and preserving the gospel message for all eternity. All this from the
man whose previous life's zeal was to destroy every trace of the
church.

But... the Lord stepped in. He confronted Paul and changed him from
the inside out. No longer was he a persecutor of the church, he now
carried a huge personal care and concern for it. In the letter to the
Galatians he spends himself to insure the gospel not be adulterated
with false teaching. In another place he speaks of the burden he bore
for the health and welfare of the churches, "Besides everything else,
I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is
weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not
inwardly burn?" 2 Corinthians 11:28-29. In Paul's life, in the lives
of those around us, in our own lives we see the masterfully,
magnificent work of the Lord making new creations of us!

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

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com