The invitation

Revelation 3:20 New King James Version (NKJV)

20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

Here we see an invitation given to the Church of Leodicia from The Lord. He states that if anyone hears His voice and opens the door He will come in and dine with them. It is a wonderful invitation suggesting warmth, intimacy and friendship. Have you heard The Lord and asked Him to join you?

In the Chicago Tribune Magazine actor Kyle Chandler was asked a series of finish-the-sentence questions.

One question was, "I'd give anything to meet___."

Chandler answered, "God Almighty. I'd like to share my favorite meal with him, and I'd let him do all the talking."

Such an offer is open to Chandler. Revelation 3:20 states: "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."

[Cheryl Lavin, "Fast Track," Chicago Tribune Magazine (March 2001); submitted by Lee Eclov]

Not only hear, but do

James 1:22 New King James Version (NKJV)

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

We all have a problem with our heart, not a physical one, but a spiritual one. Throughout The Bible, God has told us how to live our lives, yet we often ignore the words He has given us. In our disobedience, there are consequences we face. If only we would listen to what God has told us our lives would be much simpler.

A [2006] medical study reveals just how difficult change is for people. Roughly 600,000 people have heart bypasses a year in America. These people are told after their bypasses that they must change their lifestyle. The heart bypass is a temporary fix. They must change their diet. They must quit smoking and drinking. They must exercise and reduce stress.

In essence, the doctors say, "Change or die."

You would think that a near-death experience would forever grab the attention of the patients. You would think they would vote for change. You would think the argument for change is so compelling that the patients would make the appropriate lifestyle alterations. Sadly that is not the case.

Ninety percent of the heart patients do not change. They remain the same, living the status quo. Study after study indicates that two years after heart surgery, the patients have not altered their behavior. Instead of making changes for life, they choose death.

Change is that difficult. The majority of the heart patients choose not to change. They act as if they would rather die.

[Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger, Simple Church (B & H Publishing Group, 2006), p. 229]

Remembering God's Words

Psalm 119:114 New International Version (NIV)

114 You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.

Remembering God’s words at critical times in your life can bring peace and hope you may have otherwise missed.

Scripture memorization is a great challenge to a modern day saints. But in the old days, many of the saints of God would memorize large portions of Scripture because they were devoted to God.

One such man was John Ruskin. He lived in the nineteenth century in Great Britain and was raised by a mother who was unsparing of herself and others. One of the things she made him do was memorize Scripture. He memorized Psalms 23, 32, 90, 91, 103, 112, 119, and 139.

Later in his life when he was writing some about some of his life experiences, he wrote, "It is strange that of all the pieces of the Bible which my mother taught me, that which cost me most to learn, and which was, to my childish mind, chiefly repulsive--the 119th Psalm--has now become of all the most precious to me in its overflowing and glorious passion of love for the Law of God."

Another man was William Wilberforce who fought slavery in London and was largely responsible for its downfall wrote in his diary in the year of 1819: "Walked today from Hyde Park Corner, repeating the 119th Psalm in great comfort."

Henry Martyn, a missionary to India, memorized Psalm 119 as an adult in 1804. He had an extremely laborious life but he wrote that it was the Bible alone that gave him the strength to keep on going. He died of exhaustion in 1812.

David Livingstone, the pioneer missionary to Africa, won a Bible from his Sunday school teacher by repeating Psalm 119 by heart when he was nine years old.

One Irish pastor out of the Keswick convention said that God did not call him to ministry but his mother did. I don't recommend this kind of calling but he said that his mother told him on her death-bed, "Derrick, my boy, you have the gift of gab. But you don't know the Word. If you'd learn the Word, the Lord might be able to use you." He took what she had to say to heart, determined to study the Bible, and within three weeks of his mother's death was preaching!

(From a sermon by Philip Harrelson, A Clean Life With a Hidden Deposit, 5/14/2012)

Conducting your affairs with justice

Psalm 112:5 New International Version (NIV)

5 Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice.

God tells us to be generous and lend freely, but we are to do so as stewards of God’s money. For everything we have is of God and therefore we should treat it as God’s money.

The classic film It's a Wonderful Life celebrates the significance of one man's contribution to his community. George Bailey (played by James Stewart) consistently demonstrates self-denial and generosity. A proprietor of a loan institution, George helps families through tough Depression-era times.

Bailey's Building and Loan is put in jeopardy by George's uncle, who misplaces $8,000, and George realizes he could go to jail. He wishes he'd never been born. But Clarence Oddbody, an angel dispatched from heaven, shows George what the world would have been like had he never been born.

Early in the movie, George marries his sweetheart, Mary, on Black Tuesday in October 1929. The stock market has just collapsed. En route to the train station, the cab driver calls attention to a crowd clamoring for their money at the Bedford Falls Bank. Fearing a similar scene at the family business, George asks to stop by the Bailey Building and Loan.

George jumps out of the cab and finds a crowd of people waiting at a locked door. The stock market collapse has motivated his clients to try and withdraw their money. Though perplexed about what to do, George opens the door and lets in his friends, who demand their money at once. George attempts to calm the crowd, all the while knowing he doesn't have sufficient cash on hand to honor everyone's request.

George tries to calm the crowd, saying, "We can get through this thing all right. We've got to stick together, though. We've got to have faith in each other."

An elderly woman responds, "But my husband hasn't worked in over a year. I need money."

Just in time, George's new bride has an idea. Retrieving the honeymoon nest egg from her purse, she holds up the money and asks, "How much do you need?"

Immediately, George announces, "I've got $2,000. This should tide us over."

One man insists on withdrawing all $200 from his account. George pleads with him not to be greedy, so the money will go further. Several others ask for more modest amounts. As the time approaches 6 o'clock, George and Uncle Billy count down the waning moments that will close out the business day. "5…4…3…2…1…Bingo!"

Uncle Billy beams, "We're going to make it, George. They'll never close us up today."

[It's a Wonderful Life, (RKO Radio Pictures, 1946), rated G, written by Philip Van Doren Stern, directed by Frank Capra; submitted by Greg Asimakoupoulos, Naperville, Illinois]

The Gospel

Romans 1:16 New Living Translation (NLT)

16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.

The gospel is given to free us from the condemnation of sin. It was given first to the Jewish people and then to the Gentiles. It is a freeing power to help us who are in sin move from sin to the better things God has in store for us.

JoHannah Reardon from Sycamore, Illinois; wrote the following newsletter in ChristianBibleStudies.com. When our children were young, my husband and I decided we wouldn't watch R-rated movies. We wouldn't allow our children to watch them, so we decided that to watch them ourselves would be confusing to them. We made this decision in good conscience and never regretted it. I found, however, that it made me feel judgmental toward other parents who watched R-rated movies. I began to feel they weren't fully committed to Christ because they watched things I'd decided not to watch.

Even as I write this, I realize how ridiculous it is to judge someone's relationship with God by what rating of movies he or she watches, but it was so subtle at the time. Since it was a sacrificial commitment for me, I instinctively evaluated other people's spiritual dedication when they talked about the latest movie they'd watched. As I made this judgment, I never thought about my own sin or all the things that person was doing right. Instead, I focused on this one thing I thought they were doing wrong.

The ability to see sin in others and ignore it in your own heart is one of the distinguishing characteristics of a Pharisee, and being a Pharisee is so easy. It's great to make rules to guide our own behavior, but when we extend those rules to everyone around us, we're in danger of becoming pharisaical.

A work in progress

Philippians 1:6 New Living Translation (NLT)

6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Sometimes we see nothing but a mess in our lives, but God sees something different. He sees a work in progress waiting to be completed.

Kellie Kutkey from Vancouver, WA writes in Today's Christian Woman, an article."Heart to Heart." We live in a small house, so even little messes seem big. Recently, I looked at my sewing projects and thought, If my child left this mess, I'd be mad. Then I realized I wasn't angry at myself because, in my eyes, I could see the finished product--to me it wasn't a mess at all! I'm thankful God looks at me the same way. He sees in me the righteousness of Jesus--and I can be confident that "He who began a good work in [me] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6).

Praise His name

Isaiah 12:4 New Living Translation (NLT)

4 In that wonderful day you will sing:

    “Thank the Lord! Praise his name!

Tell the nations what he has done.

    Let them know how mighty he is!

The prophet Isaiah reminds Israel that there would come a time where the people would remember to praise and thank God for the things that had been done. It would be a time of true worship, praising His mighty name.

The praise chorus "We Exalt Thee" took on a whole new meaning when I heard my three-year-old daughter singing her version: "We exhaust thee. We exhaust thee, O Lord."

[Tammy Lindsey, Utica, New York. Christian Reader, "Kids of the Kingdom."]

It’s true, we probably often exhaust God in the things we do and say. But our purpose is to fellowship with God and praise His name. Hence, the words of the song actually go as follows:

I love you Lord

And I lift my voice

To worship You

Oh, my soul rejoice

Take joy my King

In what You hear

And let it be a sweet sweet

Sound in Your ear

We exalt Thee

We exalt Thee

We exalt Thee

Oh, Lord