Worship for Today: The greatest lover of all time!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ephesians 5:1-2,

 

"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

 

As Paul asks his readers to be imitators of God, what follows, as he illuminates what that looks like, is going to be a reflection on what Paul knows about God. Since I love to find out what my God is like, to discover him as he is revealed - to know him the best I can, this passage grips my heart.

 

The first thing that strikes me is that God must be one who loves greatly. The very first thing in Paul's thoughts of living a life that imitates God is to "live a life of love". He provides an example of this in the love Jesus Christ manifested to the world when he gave himself up for all of us as a sacrifice to appease his Father's justice for the sins we have committed. John speaks to this in 1 John 4:9-10, "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." Paul tells us, "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8.

 

Jesus said of himself to Nicodemus, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." John 3:16-18.

 

When Moses met God on Mt. Sinai, as God revealed himself to Moses he said, "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." Exodus 34:6-7.

 

Surely God loves greatly from his own god-sized heart! From time to time I think of what life might be like were we to discover that God was not loving. I shudder the thought! How thankful I am he is just the way he reveals himself to be... and that he does love greatly!

 

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: True spiritual enlightenment.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ephesians 5:8a,

 

"You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord."

 

As Paul paints his picture of what it looks like to live a life "worthy of the calling you have received", Ephesians 4:1, he points to the light that we have become in the Lord.

 

All people enter this world in a sinful and fallen condition. As such we begin our sojourn here on earth living in a spiritual darkness. The apostle John tells us in his first letter that we know that we have been born of Jesus Christ if we do "what is right". 1 John 2:29. An entire lifestyle change takes place when we are born into God's family and a part of this is an "anointing" we receive. 1 John 2:27. This anointing brings true spiritual enlightenment to us. John tells us, "Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him." 1 John 2: 10-11. True spiritual enlightenment comes by the regeneration that takes place within us when we embrace Jesus Christ in faith.

 

Jesus spoke of this spiritual darkness and light in his conversation with Nicodemus, "Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light..." John 3:19-21a.

 

Many people have gone on quests to gain a perceived spiritual enlightenment. Eastern mystics with a myriad of followers present themselves to us as "spiritually enlightened". There is no end to the claims and hoopla  drawing the unsuspecting and naive to a supposed "spiritual enlightenment". There is a genuine and true spiritual enlightenment but it is not found here.

 

True spiritual enlightenment only comes through the "light of the world", Jesus Christ himself! Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12.

 

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: Acts of worship in lifestyle choices.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ephesians 5:1-2,

 

"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

 

Being an imitator of God and living a life of love comprises much of the material in the last half of chapter four through the end of Paul's letter. Paul provides us a picture of what that looks like together with the choices needed to be made in order to pursue just such a lifestyle. We are to take off the old, that sinful nature with its desires and acts, and put on the new, "created to be like god in true righteousness and holiness." It includes things like getting rid of all bitterness, rage and anger... every form of malice, sexual immorality and so on. It also includes putting on things like kindness, compassion and forgiveness.

 

I note, however, that doing these things do not make anything of us. Sometimes some of us develop a misunderstanding of why Paul writes these things. We are not to do these things in order to become "dearly loved children" but because we already are dearly loved children, 5:1. We are not to do these things in order to received a calling from God as a reward for doing these things, but because we have already received a calling that is worthy of it, 4:1. We don't do these things to become what we must already be in order to do them. We do these things because it is worthy of what God has done for us, because God himself is worthy of it.

 

The choices we make to become imitators of God in our daily lives are to be expressions of worship, not bargaining chips to receive anything from God. God has already demonstrated his love for us in sending his Son to die a horrible death on our behalf to pay the penalty for our sins. God has already guaranteed an inexpressible inheritance for us for all eternity - we don't do these things to earn it.

 

If Jesus Christ was willing to give himself up "as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" because of his love for us, is he worth anything less than our full attention and action on these things he asks of us through Paul?

 

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: Maturing in Jesus Christ.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ephesians 4:11-13,

 

"It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

 

Paul speaks of the "whole measure of the fullness of Christ" as something we attain to as we are built up by those the Lord himself has gifted to accomplish just such a work in our lives. In the previous chapter Paul speaks of the possibility of believers being "filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."  3:19. There he says it is had by a strengthening of our hearts by God in order that we attain the power to grasp the full dimension of the love of Jesus Christ.

 

As new believers in Jesus Christ we have some things to look forward to, things that are not given us "up front" when we become his children. These are things that are had by effort made. In the chapter 3 passage, it takes power from God that is apparently tapped into through prayer, as Paul demonstrates through his prayer. In the chapter 4 passage, maturing is something that is attained to, something reached only by effort made, both by gifted ones the Lord provides in our lives as well as our own efforts.

 

Just when is it we arrive at this kind of maturity? When do we finally graduate from this process? I have met some wonderful believers who have matured in the Lord, but I have never met anyone yet of whom I would say has attained "to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" or "filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Although they have certainly developed a level of spiritual maturity in their lives, these descriptions indicate there is always room in our lives for further growth. I am certain that it will not be until the resurrection, the moment when we will be changed, "in the twinkling of an eye" that we arrive at this complete fullness of Jesus Christ, this fullness of God that Paul speaks of here.

 

Until then we all have purpose and meaning in life as we pursue a maturity that the Lord himself has provided us to attain. I can think of no greater pursuit than that of growing in our maturity in the Lord! I find it wonderful that he has this for us to work toward.

 

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 ascension of Jesus Christ

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ephesians 4:10,

 

"He [Christ] who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe."

 

As Paul tells of the wonderful gifts Jesus Christ gives the church, to build her up, he points to his ascension to heaven. Following his death on the cross and his resurrection, we are told Jesus Christ was taken up into heaven. When he ascended to the right hand of our heavenly Father he extended his grace to us in the form of gifts designed to build up the church, his body. "To each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it... to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4:7,12-13.

 

We read of the ascension of Jesus Christ in several places in our Bibles. Luke speaks of it in Luke 24:51, and Acts 1:9-11. Paul tells us that one of the activities he is engaged in there is to speak to the Father on our behalf, "Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us." Romans 8:34. The writer of Hebrews says of Jesus Christ, "We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man." Hebrews 8:1. He also tells us in 12:3, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." And, Peter tells us Jesus Christ remains on his throne at the right hand of the Father until the day he returns for us, "God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear." Acts 2:32-33. And, "He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets." Acts 3:21.

 

The ascension of Jesus Christ and his lofty position at the right hand of our heavenly Father is important to know of. Knowing I belong to one so well connected to the Father provides assurance I am as well connected as anyone can ever get. No one else sits in that lofty position, only Jesus Christ. There is no religious figure, no other that has the lofty position Jesus Christ has. Knowing him brings all there is to have for both this life and life in the resurrection.

 

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: Enlightenment for the faithful!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ephesians 4:17-18,

 

"So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. You, however, did not come to know Christ that way."

 

The world exists in a spiritual blindness, a darkness. The cause of why there are so many "isms" and "schisms", cults and religions, false doctrines and bad teaching. Ever wonder why so many have a different perspective on who God is and what he is like? God resides in objective reality and truth. The issue isn't with God, it is with people. As Paul points out in this passage, the world exists in a state of darkened understanding. Sadly, people live in ignorance of God. Paul accounts for this as being due to the hardening of their hearts. As Jesus told Nicodemus, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." John 3:19-20. And, so, people live in a spiritual darkness and invent all kinds of answers to the classical philosophical questions in life, hence, "isms", "schisms", cults and religions.

 

But, when we respond to the gospel message and embrace Jesus Christ in faith, Paul says in this passage that it wasn't through this darkened ignorance of sinful man we came to know Christ. In fact, this darkness is lifted from our hearts when we respond in faith to the gospel message. God provides us an ability to come into an understanding of spiritual things as the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our lives.

 

"We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Corinthians 2:12-14.

 

How wonderful is this?! God brings enlightenment to those who come to his Son in faith!

 

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 nature of God's forgiveness.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ephesians 4:31-32,

 

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."

 

Here is an interesting observation. We are to forgive one another just as God has forgiven us. In painting a picture for us as to what a life lived worthy of the invitation we have received from God, 4:1, Paul presents us with the manifold aspects of taking off the sinful "old" person we used to be and to put on the "new" person, "created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." Verse 24.

 

My experience is that these kinds of passages seem to be almost universally ignored by almost everyone we fellowship with. How many do you know are given to what Paul asks of here in this chapter? Not many I suspect. A precious few to be sure. We find much of the same material in Colossians 3. Another passage we seem to "skip" over in our Bible reading. I don't think I'm being overly cynical here, just honest. We seem to pick and choose what we feel is important in Scripture and ignore the rest.

 

But... I digress. Paul says to forgive others as God has forgiven us. Just what does God's forgiveness look like? When we forgive others (a rarity in my observation) we often hold something in reserve. "Cross me once, shame on you, cross me twice, shame on me." Does God hold something "in reserve" against us when he forgives us our sins? What we are told is astonishing to me. In chapter 1, verse 4 Paul tells us that God chose to hold us "holy and blameless" in his sight. He decided this before he even created the world that his forgiveness would reach this far! In Jude's wonderful doxology we read, "To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy..." Jude 24. "Without fault"!

 

This isn't because we haven't had any. God has chosen to forgive us as though we had never done anything wrong! Amazing to 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: Grief of the Holy Spirit.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ephesians 4:30,

 

"Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."

 

The reality that we can "grieve" the Holy Spirit tells us something about him. As I think of this relationship, I am drawn to thinking about the parent/child relationship. I must confess that when I read of some difficulty or some misfortune of a stranger in the news, I may not feel much grief over it. When it is the child of a friend (or spouse, etc.) I may feel some grief over it. But, if it is my child, I feel grief! I suspect it relates to my level of care, concern and love for my child. As parents do, I wish for a happy outcome in life for each of my children.

 

I have a desire that each of my children do well, that they succeed. I have a desire that they make choices that are the best in life for them, that they not become deceived, that they not become carried away by harmful influences, that they not make poor choices. It is my desire for their very best that prompts grief in my heart if I see poor choices made by them, unfortunate or harmful outcomes headed their way that draw them away from their Creator.

 

As I think of my own feelings about that which might bring me grief, especially when choices are offered, as Paul speaks to in this context, it tells me a couple of things about the Holy Spirit. The first is that he has his own desires for me and those desires are aligned with what is the very best for me - that which is consistent with the desires of my loving and kind Creator. As opposed to a caricature of a parental figure shaking his finger at me for some infraction, the Holy Spirit experiences grief when I make poor choices, just as I might feel grief if my own children do so. Not to say he won't do what is necessary to "bring me around", I don't want to miss the point that he does experience grief at the poor choices I my make. He loves me and has my very best at heart. The second is, based on the first, I can always count on the Holy Spirit to lead me in a direction that is the very best for me. He will always guide me in a direction that has my very best interests at heart. 

 

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: Renewal in Jesus Christ.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ephesians 4:22-24,

 

"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

 

Paul speaks to his readers about living their lives in a manner that reflect the new reality of their lives. Now that they have become children of God there is a "new self" to be put on, replacing an old self which is to be taken off. Like entering into the changing room and removing old  garments prior to putting on new, we are to change from one to the other.

 

In verse one of this chapter Paul says this being "made new in the attitude of your minds" is "worthy of the calling you have received." It is a new creation from God, to be like him in "true righteousness and holiness", something prepared for us to do. Paul provides a variety of examples of what this new life looks like that has been prepared for us to put on. It involves a taking off of things like anger, bitterness, slander and malice. And, not simply a matter of the removal of things that mark our old way of life, it includes the putting on of new things as well, things like kindness, compassion and forgiveness.

 

It is just here the realities of becoming a member of God's family find their manifestation in our lives. The process of becoming a new person in Jesus Christ speaks louder than any apologetic argument defending the gospel message. God makes a new creation of us which cannot be accounted for in any other explanation than that his Spirit now resides in our hearts!

 

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them." 2 Corinthians 5:17-19a.

 

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: Leveraging our wonderful inheritance!

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

 

"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received."

 

What follows this statement is revolutionary in a personal way to each of Paul's readers. In this chapter alone he tells us to be "completely humble and gentle", be patient and bear with one another, keep a unity within the church, to put off our "old self" (the sinful nature), to be "made new in the attitude of your minds", put on the "new self" (created to be like God!) in "true righteousness and holiness", speak truthfully, refrain from anger, stealing and unwholesome talk, don't grieve the Holy Spirit, and "get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every from of malice." Be kind and compassionate to one another and to forgive one another.

 

How many of us believers are engaged in this process? This is no mere task to earn a merit badge... we are talking of changed lives here, change to the core of our being! What could possibly motivate us in such a task? Paul states it as clearly and straightforward as possible in our verse here: these changes reflect living life worthy of the invitation God has extended us! Our calling by God through the gospel message carries with it a tremendous inheritance that becomes ours!

 

What is it worth? Paul puts it in terms of where the rubber meets the road in our lives. Our inheritance we are receiving is worthy of us engaging in all the Lord asks of us here! Do these things get us to heaven? No. Will not doing these things keep us from getting to heaven? No. Will doing these things earn us God's love and acceptance? No. Those things are all ours due to God's grace!

 

These things we do because what he gives us is worthy of it! It expresses the value of the Lord to each of us as we live out these things in our lives. It is, in a way, a measure of the greatness of the grand inheritance that is ours in the Lord! Paul leverages this wonderful inheritance that is ours to urge us in living our lives in a manner that brings pleasure to the one who loved us, who gave his Son for us that we might have a place at his table!

 

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 builds us up.

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

 

"To each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it."

 

Here we read that Jesus Christ himself dispenses his grace by gifting us all with abilities to carry out the assigned tasks he intends us to accomplish in other people's lives. In this context Paul refers to those the Lord provides us who build us up in the faith. The Lord himself (as opposed to those who self-appoint themselves) "gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ my be built up..." 4:11.

 

The Lord has not left us alone in the church. He is actively involved in equipping us to do those things he wants done. A big part of that is the care and feeding of his sheep. He actively engages us all in the process. While most of us may not be apostles or prophets, or even evangelists, pastors or teachers, we nevertheless are equipped by him for some purpose to build others up around us. Paul speaks of this in his first letter to the church in Corinth were he says, "Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." 1 Corinthians 12:7. There he speaks of other giftings he provides different ones in the church for the building up of others. Peter also points to this when he says, "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." 1 Peter 4:10.

 

I find it fascinating how the Lord takes care of his people by building up ones that then turn and build others up.

 

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: Worship due our Lord - serving him!

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

 

"For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—"

 

Paul wrote this letter while a prisoner in Rome. He was the chosen emissary of Jesus Christ to the Gentile peoples and yet, here he sat in prison. As the apostle to the Gentiles he had a burning desire to take the gospel message throughout the known world. This is clearly evidenced by his efforts chronicled in the book of Acts and his letters we have available. I suspect there were times Paul chafed at not being free whle imprisoned, to take the gospel to further places he had not yet visited. There must have been times he struggled with his imprisonment.

 

However, Paul provides his thoughts about potential imprisonment in his farewell to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:23-24. There he says to them, "I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace." Paul cared not that his efforts in bringing the gospel message to the Gentiles might result in imprisonment and hardships. What was of highest priority for Paul was to "finish the race and complete the task" the Lord had given him.

 

We live in a day where the appeal to come to Jesus Christ is built on what is in it for the potential convert. It is often preached that if we would but submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ, our lives could become full of the things we desire. Jesus will heal us of our illnesses, he will bless us with prosperity. He can give us the best marriage ever and insure our children turn out all right. He can help us get that job or promotion. He can fill our need for the spiritual component to an otherwise full and healthful lifestyle.

 

Where is the burning desire to please the Lord who died for me - to save me from God's justice - in any of those things? While the Lord may indeed bless us in many ways, where is the passion of overwhelming heartfelt appreciation and gratitude for his sacrificial love for me in those things? Where is the desire to please him who has done so much for me? Where is the fear of God in any of those things?

 

The passion Paul felt for the Lord is something that needs some re-igniting in our day. The perspective of "what is in this for the Lord?" needs to replace the "what is in it for me?" perspective. Our Lord is due no less. He loved us. He left his lofty position in heaven to come and rescue us. He lived as a man and died a miserable and cruel death to pay for my sins. He died and ascended into heaven and sits on the throne at the right hand of God the Father! Our Lord is simply due no less than our full passion to serve and please him. This is where genuine worship resides. Not in the polished performance of well-dressed people on a platform singing shallow "worship" songs that resemble toothpaste jingles but in the burning desire to love our Lord, to live for him, to serve him in a way that speaks to "what is in it for the Lord"! He is due no less!

 

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 works through others.

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

 

"Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly."

 

It is fascinating to me to see how God works. Everybody does their work after their own way, their own pattern, their own method and strategy. God has his own way of doing things and it is very different than how many of us might seek to accomplish what we desire.

 

What I see in Paul's comment here is that God had given Paul an "administration of God's grace". God gave Paul something. But what he had given Paul, a Jew, was something God desired to give others: his grace for those who were most distant from God of all - the Gentiles. God employed Paul to take his message of grace to those who were foreigners to the covenant of promise God had made to Israel.

 

God used the intermediary, Paul. He often uses others when he has something for someone. Sometimes we view something from God as for us personally when in reality he is seeking someone else through us. Peter makes reference to this when he tells his readers, "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." 1 Peter 4:10. God seeks to touch the lives of folks by giving gifts through others. In 1 Corinthians 12:7 we read, "Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." Paul calls these "spiritual gifts" and tells the Corinthians that they are to be used for the good of all, in the lives of others around his readers. This has a way of pulling believers together, giving us purpose in this life by allowing us to share in the work of his agenda.

 

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 reveals a mystery from God!

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

 

"This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus."

 

Paul was the bearer of a mystery God had given him. He tells us that this mystery was hidden in the past. None of the prophets of old had known of this mystery. The patriarchs, Moses, David, Solomon were not aware of this mystery. It "was not known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit", 3:5. Paul tells us that now God has revealed this mystery to his "holy apostles and prophets", men of his day.

 

This mystery is that believing Gentiles would become heirs together with believing Jews in a new body, the church! As members of this new entity, both Gentiles and Jews would become heirs of God, co-heirs with Jesus Christ (see Romans 8:17). As Paul spoke at the beginning of this letter, 1:5, of the wonderful blessings we have in Jesus Christ as believers, he points out that God decided beforehand to adopt us as his children. This makes us heirs of God and co-heirs with his Son, Jesus Christ.

 

This mystery should be breath-taking for any believer to read of it! Far better than anything anyone could accomplish or attain in this world is the standing of being an heir of God for an eternity! Better than landing that hard, sought-after job, better than winning the big lottery, better than finding that perfect mate, there is simply nothing in this life that can come close to the reality that believers become heirs of God in a new entity created for them - the church!

 

Here we find the "unsearchable riches of Christ", verse 8. It is here we find God doing "immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine"! Verse 20.

 

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 our only access to God!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ephesians 2:17-18,

 

"He [Jesus Christ] came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit."

 

Here is a statement about Jesus Christ that echoes his own words in John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Access to God the Father is made possible only through Jesus Christ.

 

In speaking to the rulers and elders of the Jews, Peter said, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12.

 

Not only is Jesus Christ our access to God, our access into his family, our access to eternal life, he is the only access there is. There simply is no other. No one else came to planet earth as God's one and only Son! No one else has demonstrated power over creation as Jesus Christ did. No one has expressed the wisdom and insight into the things of God as Jesus Christ. None other has been offered up as a sacrifice of atonement for our sins and no one else has been raised from the dead! No one else has ascended into heaven and no one else sits at the Father's right hand. No one else in heaven, save the Holy Spirit, intercedes on our behalf with our heavenly Father.

 

Jesus Christ stands alone as our one and only access to God our Father!

 

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 purpose in God's agenda.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ephesians 2:10,

 

"We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

 

Paul is careful to point out that all God does is not done "on a whim". God didn't just get up in the morning and decide to scrap what he had been doing through Israel, the Mosiac law and the temple and replace it all with the apostles, the gospel and the church. These things were "prepared in advance". God chose the faithful for himself "before the creation of the world", 1:4. He predestined the faithful to be adopted as his children (as opposed to just making them subjects in his kingdom), 1:5. God predestined that believers would be "for the praise of his glory", 1:11-12. All we see God doing in the New Testament had its origin with God long before the events of the Old Testament, even the creation of the world!

 

What Paul refers to in Ephesians 2:10 is that God has a purpose for us. God has some things he has prepared for us to do. We are simply not placed in life to dangle in the wind. As his creation we have a part to play in his grand design, God's scheme of things. Here is where we find fulfillment of our lives. Here is where the richness of a life well lived is enjoyed. Here is where real purpose and meaning in life is found.

 

Our wonderful Creator created us in his own image and then partners with those who are his to carry out his agenda. We participate in and with the intelligent force that drives the cosmos, God himself. What are the things God has for us to do? All I need do is open my Bible and read all about 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: God's great love manifested on Good Friday.

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

 

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved."

 

Paul speaks of God's "great love" in this passage. This great love of God is, as I have often said, something I struggle to wrap my mind around. It isn't that I don't understand that God loves us, but it is the depth, the full dimension of that love that is hard for me to fully comprehend. Perhaps I will not ever attain a full understanding of it in this life, a full appreciation for it. In the next chapter of this book Paul prays his readers might do just that with the expected result they would be "filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.", Ephesians 3:17-19. I suspect a full appreciation of God's love lies with those who have grown in a full and deep measure of faith and closeness with our heavenly Father.

 

What I do know is this: God loves all people, the whole world, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16. This love prompted him to give his Son as a ransom for all us lost and fallen sinners. "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John 2:2. Jesus died a miserable and horrible death as a sacrifice of atonement to our God, to satisfy his justice, a satisfaction that will always and without fail find its complete fulfillment. On this Paul says, "God presented him [Jesus Christ] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." Romans 3:25-26.

 

This giving of his Son is a manifestation of love beyond none other. Of it, the apostle John says, "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:9-10. The astonishing thing to me is that this love of God was expressed by him to me while I was living a sinful and rebellious life. "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8.

 

What can we say of such a love as this? Beyond measure!

 

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: I'm saved by faith!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Ephesians 2:8-9,

 

"It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."

 

I realize it is the popular theological position these days to view an exercise of faith as a work and so great lengths and efforts are taken to somehow retain the notion that salvation is by faith- but only as a result of other than a choice anyone makes for themselves. Paul clearly sets the two, faith and works, in opposition to one another. Paul teaches us that salvation is by faith and the exercise of our choice to trust in Jesus Christ is not a work. His letters are rife with this position as he is here. One day these folks will have to give an account to Paul as to why they chose to misrepresent him. Worse, these folks will have to give account to God as to why they felt it necessary to distort his simple gospel message of salvation by faith. Not a position I would want to find myself in.

 

For me, however, this passage is not all about correct theology. It is about the wonderful grace of God and his gift of salvation! He freely credits us with "righteousness" when we choose to trust in him. This righteousness is that quality that makes us acceptable to God, our ticket, so to speak, into his kingdom. We learn that it is not something we earn, something we get if we are "good enough". The death of Jesus Christ on the cross was to pay the penalty for all sins ever committed and there is simply nothing I can do to add to that. Why would I want to? My efforts would only pollute an otherwise pristine and perfect payment for my sins! All given me freely as an expression of God's marvelous love and mercy, his "grace" toward me - when I chose to embrace him in faith!

 

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