Promise without the Premise?

1. Hayden 5-23-18

Have you ever been in a dark room, stumbling around to find the light switch? Feeling around on the wall for what should be easily found but is seemingly doing everything to escape your grasp? It’s an uncomfortable feeling until the light goes on and then you can see clearly. In Psalm 18:28 David says, “my God turns my darkness into light.” Isn’t that an awesome promise? No matter what you may be going through and how much darkness pervades over your life, God can turn it into light. However, I have noticed that most promises come with a premise first. In other words, “if I do this, God will in turn do that.” In Joshua 1:8, we are told at the end of the scrip­ture that we will be prosperous and successful. The premise found in the beginning of that verse, however, is for those people who study and meditate on God’s law so that they are able to do it.

When we turn to the light of the Gospel, we see the need to understand and accept the premise along with the promise. Most people want the promise without the premise. They want God to do His thing, but then they want to do their own thing regardless of God’s thoughts on the matter. Psalm 18:22-24 declares, ^“For all His judgments were before me, and I did not put away His statutes from me. ²³ I was also blameless ^[a]before Him,
And I kept myself from my iniquity. ²⁴ Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
According to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.” In other words, I have kept myself from sin, and that the rewards have come from that kind of living. The premise of God being our shield (vs.30) is “for all who take refuge in him.” The promises of God are yes and amen for all who desire to know and do His Word; for those who “take refuge in Him.”. We cannot expect to have the promise without the premise, because it’s the founda­tion upon which the promise will come to pass. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, (PREMISE) that whosoever believes in Him……(PROMISE) shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

Be blessed even more!!

Pastor Chris

The House of Salt and Light

1. Hayden 5-10-18

The last couple of Thursday mornings (10am), we have been studying the portion of scripture known as the “Sermon on the Mount.” This study has been an excellent journey into one of the most powerful sermons of our Lord Jesus recorded in the Gospels. It is in the Sermon on the Mount that we find the Beatitudes, the Lord’s Prayer, and the call to enter through the narrow gate, not the broad way leading to destruction. It is also in this divine oration that we find the inspiration for the back of our Central Christian t-shirts “The House of Salt and Light.” I wanted to put this phrase on our shirts to send a message to others and to ourselves that our purpose in this world is to be salt and light as directed in the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 5:13-16 says this, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 14 You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” In this passage we are to be salt and light. Salt which is a mineral that is used as a preserver of other foods, a seasoning that brings flavor to meals, and causes one to thirst for water. As Christians, we should live out our faith in such a way that we are agents that preserve God’s righteousness in this sin filled world, brings flavor as carriers of God’s Good News, and causes unbelievers to thirst for knowing the Christ they see in us.

We are also to be the light to those who are living in the darkness of sin and a worldly way of life that, in essence, denies the Lordship of Jesus the Christ. Billions continue to live without a relationship with the Son of God, and as carriers of God’s Word, we are lights that point the way to God and the path He has laid out for the salvation of the world. That is why we are to be the House of Salt and Light! The challenge we leave with you this week: Be the salt of the earth and be the light of the world! By doing so, we will become instruments of rescue for a lost and dying world.

Be blessed even more and have a wonderful week!!

Pastor Chris

It’s a Spirit Thing
C. Hayden 4-23-18

The past several Sundays, since Easter, we have been focusing on the Holy Spirit and His reality in our lives.  We often over look the power of the Holy Spirit and His working in us.  This topic is so important that I have even decided to teach on the working of the Spirit to the Seniors in our community at the Heritage of Huntington this week!  Keep me in prayer!  The subject often baffles us and concerns us because of so much fear and disinformation surrounding what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Today I want to bridge the issue by revealing to you what a person who is filled with the Holy Spirit looks like and acts like.  Once we see what type of atmosphere is created by a Spirit-filled person, our fears of having the Holy Spirit take over our lives can be diffused.  We find the results of being Spirit-filled display in the book of Galatians.

Galatians 5:16-17 and Galatians 5:22-23 says this, “16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” AND “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”  Did you catch all of that?  This it what the Spirit looks like in a person:  LOVE, JOY, PEACE, LONGSUFFERING, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS, and SELF-CONTROL.  This list is known as the nine fruits of the Spirit.  There can be other signs in a person’s life that give a clue that the Holy Spirit has been given control, but these are the nine listed in God’s Word as the fruit that will come forth from a life given over to the Holy Spirit’s leading.  Does this describe you?  Maybe some but not all?  If we are lacking in any of these fruit, we know that there is more of us that we need to give over to the Holy Spirit fro His review and refinement.

What I would say to every believer today including myself, be filled with the Spirit.  As the scripture states above, “Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16).

Be blessed even more and have a wonderful week!!

Pastor Chris