Lent Devotion: Interrupted - Ephesians 2:4-5

 

Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved. (ESV)

 Do you ever lie awake at night and are unable to sleep because you’re thinking about all of the foolish mistakes that you’ve made? Do you ever relive those stupid moments in your mind and regret the things that you’ve said or done? Do you wish you could live parts of your life over again and avoid causing the problems or even the hurt that happened to other people? Me, too.

 It’s sometimes hard to come to terms with our imperfections and foolish ways. It’s not easy to get over the guilt for the wrong or shameful things that we’ve done. And it’s difficult to deal with the times when we should have said or done something to help someone else, but we were too scared, too busy, or too proud to do it.

 I used to think that the older I got, the more that I’d be able to handle the past and because I would be chronologically distant from those moments, I would be able to shove them aside. But that’s not true because the closer I get to being face-to-face with God, the more I know that He knows everything about me from the day of my birth to the time when I will die.

 It could make me despair, but then Jesus interrupts my melancholy and reminds me of His role as Savior. From the riches of God’s mercy, Christ applies grace to the moments and memories that keep me awake. He not only saves me from my sinful past, He rescues me from my hopelessness, so that when I do meet God face-to-face, Christ will be standing with me as my Savior, my Advocate, and my Friend.

 Q: What regrets do I have about my life? Am I ready to let Jesus apply His grace to those moments?

 Prayer: Lord Jesus, we all make mistakes; we all experience shame; we all do foolish things. Save us from ourselves and graciously forgive us. In Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

Pastor John Stuart

www.erinpres.org

Inspirational Devotions: Love and Hate - Philippians 2:8

The podcast for today’s devotional can be found at the following link:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/stushie/Love_and_Hate.mp3

Philippians 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!

I love the snow; I just hate driving in it. Even though I was born in Scotland and drove through many blizzards on the West Coast at night, when I could barely see a thing, I find that driving in the snow covered streets of the South is much more hazardous. There seems to be more black ice and bad drivers here than I ever experienced back in Scotland, so even when an inch of snow hits our roads in and around Knoxville, it’s deathly dangerous.

I guess it’s because people are just not used to the white stuff falling on the streets each winter. The local authorities don’t seem to be wholly prepared either and yet, we all know that winter comes around every year at this time.

I love being a Christian; I just hate the struggles that I have each day in trying to maintain my faith. Even though I grew up in the Church and have spent much of my life as a pastor, it’s still hard to be the perfect saint that everyone expects. I’m only human after all, so I’m going to make mistakes and at the end of each day, I’ve usually got a whole list of sins to ask God for forgiveness. As each day starts, I begin with the best of intentions; as each day closes, I seek pardon for the offenses I’ve caused and the temptations to which I have yielded.

I love Jesus Christ too; I just hate the fact that He died on the Cross for me. Even though I know He did it to obey God and obtain my salvation, I feel guilty about driving the nails through His hands with my personal sins. I know that I’ll never be perfect and that I’ll need His Cross each day to pin my sins upon Him. I hate that, but at the same time I am also deeply grateful that Jesus saved and saves me from my sins by His humility and obedience which led to the Cross.

Perhaps you are feeling guilty about something you once did or said. Maybe you feel distant from God or separated from Him because of sinful acts and shameful secrets. I hate those things too, but this I love: there is nothing that we have ever done or said that can ever separate us from the love God through our Lord Jesus Christ. If we let Him into our lives and open our hearts to Him, if we accept Him and believe that He has the power to pardon us, then He will grant us forgiveness instantly and immediately, totally and completely.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we love You dearly, but we hate the fact that we caused You to die on the Cross for our past mistakes and present sins. We are humbled by Your humility and are in awe of Your obedience to God. Without Your death, we would have no Life; without Your sacrifice, we would have no salvation. In Your Name, we live and pray. Amen.


John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org

Today’s drawing is a nighttime scene of the Henley Street bridge in Knoxville. The picture is called “Moon over Henley.” If you would like to view a larger version of the drawing, please click here: http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5249/5322272559_cdb65afa3d_b.jpg

All of John’s drawings can be found on the Web at his art site at http://www.stushieart.wordpress.com/

Signed, numbered and matted prints are available for only $20 each (plus shipping if necessary). They make unique gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings and new homes. Just contact John by email and he’ll be delighted to help you.

4 Minute Daily Devotions - Peer Pressure

(It's getting harder to preach the Gospel these days - even in the Church, of all places!)

Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by whom we must be saved.”

Podcast version here

I’m having a tough time relating to my peers. It’s always been hard because I didn’t go to an American seminary, so I’ve no class fellowship to identify or connect with. I also was brought up in old-school Presbyterianism, so my Scottish Calvinist background doesn’t help me get close to my progressive Presbyterian associates.

At times, I feel like a fish out of water and I wonder if my family and I would have been better staying in Scotland. And then I remember that I am called by God to be here, so there must be a reason that I am constantly crying in the wilderness and feeling out of place.

I’m a Gospel preacher by trade. I owe everything to Jesus and because of that I’m not willing to give up on His ways, His teaching, or His Lordship. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not perfect by any means, but I believe that Christ is. And I fervently believe that everything which the Old & New Testament reveal about Christ is completely true, unchangeable, and unarguable.

There’s a lot of pressure put on Christian people to give up part of their beliefs by equating Christ with Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, or even Krishna. Religious people are all part of one theological soup that tastes of God. The Gospels are just another batch of sacred documents which tell us tales about a great teacher called Jesus. Other religious documents from all over the world are supposed to be just as insightful, instructive, and important about showing us how to find God.

I’ve even got peers, who are Presbyterian pastors, who don’t believe in the Resurrection, nor do they think the Gospels are trustworthy. They follow their own path and sadly they take other people with them down a dead end.

When Peter the fisherman stands up fearlessly in front of the Sanhedrin and boldly declares that “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by whom we must be saved,” I believe him. He’s just a fisherman from Galilee, putting his life on the line, and courageously preaching the Gospel. He’s out of place in Jerusalem. He’s crying out for Christ in a theological wilderness. He’s declaring the divine truth and does not care what his peers, elders, and leaders believe. Peter has given his life, heart, and soul to Christ. He can do nothing else but preach the Gospel.

I choose to be like Peter because I want to serve the Lord. I will always preach the Gospel because I truly love Jesus. And whether my pastoral peers like it or not, I will keep the New Testament Christ in my heart because I know of no other Name through whom humanity can be saved.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we live in troubled times and the Church is causing a lot of trouble for herself by mincing Your words and devaluing Your truth. Help us to get back on the right track. Grant us the courage to remain loyal to You and to the Gospels that reveal Your ways, Your words, and Your holy works. In Your sacred Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment upon today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org. Please feel free to forward this message to your friends.

4 Minute Devotions: Salvationists

The season of Advent is a special time for salvation…

Luke 3:6 And all mankind will see God's salvation.

Podcast version here

When I was a teenager in Scotland, I worshipped with the Salvation Army. My best friend at the time, George, had joined the Salvationists and was a great trumpet player. He always seemed to have a good attitude, was very dependable as a friend, and worked hard at school. I wanted to be like that, so I went to the Army Hall for a number of Sunday morning meetings.

I liked seeing the worshippers in their uniforms and the worship was amazing. The participants sang enthusiastically and the brass band played along. It was a wonderful experience and I wanted to be part of their community, but to do so I needed to sign the pledge and I just wasn’t prepared to do that at the time.

I guess I wanted to have my cake and eat it, or to put it another way, I wanted to have my beer and drink it. Eventually, I stopped going to services because I knew I was being a hypocrite. It never affected George’s friendship with me. If he was disappointed, I never knew it. He was a true Christian and years later, when I fiercely battled against alcohol and struggled with my faith, George’s example kept me going at times. I could see God’s salvation in him when I was a teenager and it helped me seek Christ later in life.

Advent is a time when we can rediscover Christ. We often think about Him as the holy child in the precious manger, but for those of us who have struggled in life, He is much more than a Christmas card baby. Christ is the Savior of our souls. He is the Chosen One in whom God’s salvation can be seen by the entire world.

If you’re presently struggling with issues in your life and you’re feeling insecure, then please come to Jesus and receive His total reassurance. He has promised us that He will help to carry our burdens and restore us to God’s merciful love. It’s a wonderful blessing and a remarkable opportunity for salvation.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for the true Christians in our lives, whose characters and conduct attract us to God’s salvation. Bless them for their understanding and support. Bring us closer to You through God’s amazing love. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Going to Hell the easy way: Playing Games with our Faith

It’s not what we want to hear – that the Lord blesses and curses. We just want the good parts of the Bible to apply to us and reject the rest. Our generation of Christians is pampered compared to previous ones. We want things the easy way; we want our faith to be unfettered by commandments, demands, and curses from the Lord. We want God to accept us and never want Him to change us, before we will accept Him. We want to make God into our personal assistant, dumping our burdens on Him, and fully expecting Him to bail us out. Instead of revering the Almighty Ruler of the Universe, we want the genie from Aladdin’s lamp. In other words, we want to be in control of every part of our lives.

It doesn’t work that way and never has. We fool ourselves everyday if we think that God doesn’t judge our deeds. And if we turn off just because we read in the Bible something we don’t want to see, or hear from the preacher words we don’t want to accept, then we’ve become the biggest fools in all the centuries of Christendom.

I see people playing with their faith instead of practicing it. I watch folks indulge themselves at this time of year, instead of giving thanks and being grateful to God. I look at our depraved society and it sickens my heart, not because I’m better than anyone else, but because I’m part of the disease itself.

I want to tell people about Jesus and how stern He could be at times, but people don’t want to hear it. I want to preach a Gospel that demands an unconditional surrender to God, but people don’t want to do that. I want to shake up the whole of our civilization and shout out: “Don’t you realize we’re all going to Hell in a hand barrow?” but nobody wants to listen to that kind of Holy Roller talk anymore. We just want to be happy and have a good time. We just want to say to God on Judgment Day, what happens on Earth, stays on Earth.

I won’t play this game anymore because I love the people around me. I won’t dance with the devil any longer in order to keep the peace. I’ll do what the Lord calls me to do – to prepare people for His Coming and to help them get ready for judgment. To do anything less is to disobey God. To do anything other is to come under His curse.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we don’t want to think about judgment or accept Your non-compromising Gospel. We want to be happy, not harassed by You. We want to feel good, not to face God. We want to get to heaven, but none of us wants to die to our sins. O Lord, help us and save us; rebuke us and restore us. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor at Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.