THE OLDER BROTHER

As I mentioned yesterday, I am reading a book about The Prodigal Son, by Henri Nouwen. In his book, he uses the picture by Rembrandt about the Prodigal Son. In this painting we see the Father who is an elderly man, placing his hands on the Prodigal son that has come home. The son is on his knees before his father, and the father is holding him tightly and his hands of blessing are on his son. The Prodigal son is dirty, with torn clothes, one sandal is broken and the other one is off. The son is at home with the father.

A short distance away in the painting is a man that is described as the elder brother. He is standing with a large distance between the father and the prodigal son. He is standing erect with his hands folded. He is dressed in royal colors, but with a scowl on his face. In the book, Nouwen talks about how many times we are like the older brother as Christians. We have this idea that we are better than the sinner, and have a right to all that God has for us! He says in the book - that we really have two prodigals in this story. One realized it and went home to the Father, and the other one does not even see his need for the father!

The reality is we all need to be home with the Father. He loves us and wether we are a prodigal in the world or a prodigal in the church, we need to be in a right relationship with the Father!

We have a father that is waiting for us!!!

THE PRODIGAL IN ALL OF US!

In Luke 15 - we have the familiar parable of the Prodigal Son. How many times we read the Word but we do not allow it to speak to us in real life issues that we deal with on a daily basis!

I was given a book by Henri Nouwen, "The Return Of The Prodigal Son." A Story of Homecoming. Henri Nouwen was a priest, who after 30 years, felt like there was more in his spiritual journey. He saw a painting by Rembrandt - "The Return of the Prodigal Son." He was scheduled to go to the Soviet Union where the painting was on display at St. Petersburg Cathedral. He sat in front of the picture for 2 days, and the book is his thoughts as he sat in front of that picture, and what the Lord spoke to him.

One of those things, was the price of leaving home! How many prodigals leave home trying to fill their lives with the things of the world. However, the reality is how many Christians leave home. Home - is the place of God's unconditional love and we try to fill it with material things, emotional things, relationships, friends, hobbies. etc.... Why would we want to go to a distant country when we can go home to the Father!

How many of us have areas that are prodigal and the Father is asking us to come back home! It is at home that God will uncoditionally love and accept us, even when we sin, fail and mess-up. I am tired of being a prodigal, it is time to go home to the Father!

OVERCOMING LIFE'S DIFFICULT TIMES

Jesus tells us in His Word - "Do not worry about tomorrow, since today has enough troubles of it's own." I do not know about you, but life has a way of throwing us very difficult, sometimes almost overwhelming situations in our lives. I know that if it was not for the Lord, the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, that I would not make it!

I have been reading the Psalms during this time of great struggle and I am thankful for the Holy Spirit that fills us with His presence, His power, His love, His comfort.

I want to encourage you to read Psalm 27 and allow the Lord to encourage you from His Word.

In verse 1 - "The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid."

David was a man who understood fear? He was a hunted man, running for His life. David committed adultery and murder and he understood difficult times in life. Today, you may be experiencing fear over situations in your life. Fear from people, fear of the future, fear of rejection, fear of finances, fear of guilt and condemnation, fear of bad choices, fear loneliness, etc.

The Lord gives us hope in verse 1 - by making these things a reality!
- The Lord is MY LIGHT (light has a way of making things clearer and easier to handle. God's Word is light - and when we are in a time of darkness, confusion, depression, what we need is God's light!

- The Lord is MY SALVATION - I need a personal relationship with the Lord! Not my parents salvation, religion, but a real and living relationship with the Lord personally in our own lives. Is the Lord YOUR PERSONAL SALVATION today?

- The Lord is the STRONGHOLD OF MY LIFE - What is the strongest thing in your life? Is is your family, mate, children, friends, finances, job, or a number of other things? These things will always fail you, let you down, disappoint you. I am so thankful that the LORD IS THE STRONGHOLD OF MY LIFE!

Today if you are going through a rough time! Encourage yourself in the Word of God!

LIGHT OF OUR COMMUNITY

Jesus tells us - "To be the light of the World." I am so thankful for the churches that pulled together to be a light in our community this morning! It was great to get together with other Bible believing churches and just serve our community. I am also proud of the great job that our people did to just serve and shine in our community!

It was a hard job, dirty job, but you all did a great job! I appreciate your servants' attitude and am thankful for you!

SOWING AND REAPING

With all the negative talk today about the economy, jobs, finances, it is so easy to become fearful and overwhelmed by life! We must make a decision concerning our lives and if we will live by FEAR or live by FAITH! When you read the Word of God - it tells us over and over that we must live by faith. Hebrews 11 tells us that without Faith it is impossible to please God! If I want to please God then I must become a person of faith and not fear.

I was reading this morning in 2 Corinthians 9: 6-9 (I want to encourage you to read it). In these verses we see that the choice of how much we sow will determine how much we reap in our lives. Sow little, reap little. Sow much, reap much. We must understand that the sowing always comes before the reaping. That is what faith is! When you really get to the issue - it is a heart issue! Do I trust God or not? Do I have faith or not? Will I take Him at His Word or not!

The choice is up to me, and I want to sow and sow and sow, so that God will give me a great harvest so that I can sow more! How about you??

TIMES OF REFRESHING

I will be out of town until Tuesday night, at our Annual District Council. I am looking forward to being refreshed myself as we hear God's Word as pastors. I am reminded that we all need to be fed spiritually if we want to live a healthy life.

Tomorrow night, will be a highlight as Pastor Phil receives his ordination!

May God give you times of refreshing in your life!

SHOWER CHRISTIANITY!

The old saying is "April showers bring May flowers." Well we are having a lot of showers in May. At least the grass is green and it is great to be able to get outside and enjoy the beauty of the Lord.

I was reading in 2 Corinthians 7:1 this morning - "Because we have these promises, dear friends; Let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body and spirit, and let us work toward complete purity because we fear God."

As I was reading that verse a few words jumped out at me.

Cleanse ourselves - in reality we know that we cannot clean ourselves spiritually. We must confess and repent of our sins and the blood of Jesus Christ cleans us of our sins. The word cleanse means a continual process, and we must allow His Word, His Spirit to cleanse us continually. It is just like I can be dirty, smelly and know that I need a shower, but until I step into the shower and turn the water on, I will never be cleansed. Let us allow the Spirit to cleanse us of anything and everything that will defile, dirty, our bodies, minds and spirits.

Work toward complete purity - I see this as a process, and that is an ongoing process in our lives. We must work with God, obey His Word, and to do our part in living a life that brings glory to God!

When was the last time we got into the spiritual shower?

BEING AT HOME???

I love being at home! At home I can really be myself and get comfortable! I can sit in my recliner and watch the Red Sox (hopefully beat the Yankees tonight), and drink a diet coke. There is just something about being at home with your family, and being loved and accepted!

We also need to realize that God's Word says that we are the HOME OF THE HOLY SPIRIT! That we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Is the Holy Spirit at home in our lives? Is the Holy Spirit welcomed in our homes, lives?

I was reading this morning in 2 Corinthians 6: 16-18 and we see the purpose and the blessing for allowing the Holy Spirit to be a full-time resident in our lives. "For we are the temple of the Living God. As God said, I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore come out from among them and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don't touch their filthy things and I will welcome you. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

When God lives in our lives - how in the world can we not be different! If you really want the blessing of God in your life - then welcome Him to become a full-time resident in your life?

WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM JESUS?

I am praying for our healing service tomorrow morning, that we will come expecting something great from the Lord? What do we really want from the Lord? What are we expecting from Him? It all comes down to faith!!

Philip Yancey said - "Faith is trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse."

Let us answer the question for ourselves: "What do we really want from Jesus?" What is your answer?