Grace for the Race

When Jesus entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.  Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. (Mark 2:1-4)

Every time I read this passage I have two thought-provoking questions: First, do I have any sold-out friends like that who would make a hole in someone’s roof because the doorway was blocked, just to get me in front of Jesus? Second, am I a sold-out friend like that to anyone in my life right now, where I refuse to be denied in bringing them before Jesus? Powerful questions don’t you think?

Sold-out saints have a way of making things happen for the good of others and the glory of God. They simply refuse to be denied. Blocked doors will not keep them out. Crowded rooms will not cause them to shy away. And if they cannot bring someone to Jesus by the ordinary way that has been set before them, they will simply make a new way and not stop until they get before our Lord.

Luke shares this insight on the above account, “When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd” (Luke 5:19). What great risk these men took to get their paralyzed friend before the Christ. Just the sound of them on the roof would have drawn the attention of those in the home. Then when they started digging and tearing away at the roof tiles, everyone below would be looking up as dust and pieces of the roof began to cascade down into the room below. 

I really cannot think of any better phrase than “sold-out” saints in reading this account. They would let nothing stand in their way in getting their friend an audience with Jesus. And how did Jesus respond?

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  Then Jesus said, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” (Mark 2:5, 11)       

Their “sold-out” faith not only brought their friend physical healing, but spiritual healing as well. So the question I want to leave you with today is this: Do you have the kind of “sold-out” faith that will tear through roof tiles to get someone you know before the Savior of the World? May that be the confession of all our lives as we look for opportunities to bless those God has put in our lives to the glory of the praise of His name. 

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”   (1 Corinthians 10:13)

As a pastor, I cannot count how many times I have heard people say that the temptations they are dealing with are sin. Not true!  Jesus was tempted. We are all tempted. Temptation is simply a part of living in a fallen and broken world. It is giving in to temptation that is sin and who reading this right now does not know this truth by way of personal experience. So what is the key to fighting against the temptations that we all face? 

Perhaps there is no better section in all of sacred Scripture that can strengthen us when we are facing temptation than the wilderness experience of our Lord Jesus Christ. After forty days fasting, the devil comes to Jesus and tempts Him, not once, but three times. And each time Jesus deals with the temptations of the devil the same way . . . with Scripture. With each temptation, Jesus used Scripture for strength so as not to be overtaken by it. 

Now it is important to note one thing in the encounter between Jesus and the devil in the wilderness. Both quoted Scripture. Both Jesus and the devil know the Word of God. What that means is they both were students of Scripture. They were both in the Word of God. But there was one great difference between Jesus and the devil.  Inasmuch as both were in the Word of God, the Word of God was only in Jesus. You see, it’s not enough to simply know and be able to quote Scripture. We must be submitted and surrendered to its authority and rule in our lives. 

So, what temptations have you been wrestling with lately? In your personal life? In your professional life? Remember, temptation is not sin. It is giving in to the temptation that is. The more we get into the Word of God, the more the Word of God will get into us, and the better we will be able to fight against it. Oh, one final thing. When temptation does overtake you, remember the cross. Jesus has already paid for that sin and you have already been forgiven for that sin. Yes, grieve over your sin. Yes, be filled with a godly sorrow and repent of your sin. But never forget, nothing can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Not Satan or even your sin. Now that is a personal and powerful promise from our God. 

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

“And my people will be filled with my bounty,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:14)

Just like our cars need to be filled with gas to keep running, we too must be filled with God’s (gas), His bounty, to keep doing what He has called us to do. So, are you filled with the bounty of the Lord or do you feel like you are running a bit on empty? 

Notice “my” is written two times by the prophet Jeremiah in the above verse, and these two words are as encouraging as they are equipping. God says “my people.” These are the people who God sought, caught, and bought with His precious blood. These are the people He has claimed as His own. Is that you today? It is if you have believed and received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. Knowing you cannot save yourself, you have, by God’s grace, transferred your trust from yourself to your Savior. You are part of God’s “my” when you have put your trust in Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone, for the glory of God alone. 

Next God says, “my bounty.” He does not say the bounty of the world rooted in power, position, prosperity, pleasure, or prestige. Rather, God’s bounty is rooted in God Himself.  When God says, “my people” He is saying we are His portion. When God says, “my bounty” God is saying He is our portion. He is satisfied with us and we are satisfied in Him. It is in Him that we find everything we need. God is our Faithful “Filling” Station and you can be assured that He will never be closed or run out of the gas we need to do what He has called us to do. 

Think about it this way. God has promised to fill us with His bounty. If His bounty will not satisfy us what will? Now I know that we all run to things smaller than God to find our filling from time to time. But we all know that we are left more empty after our wandering than we were before. No matter how many times we go to the wells of this world, we are never filled to satisfaction, and each time we try to get filled apart from God, it takes more and more to reach the previous level of filling. 

May this year be different than last year. May we rest in God’s first “my” knowing that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. And may we rest in God’s second “my” knowing that our God has promised to meet our every need in the glorious riches of Christ Jesus. There is only one Faithful “Filling” Station – our Faithful Savior.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. (Isaiah 26:3)

For those of us who have never experienced an “earthquake” personally, we still know what it is from reports and scenes in movies. The textbook definition is as follows:

An earthquake is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth’s lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in size from those that are so weak they cannot be felt to those violent enough to propel objects and people into the air, and wreak destruction across entire cities.

Now this is an accurate picture of what happens to all of us when a significant life event has suddenly come upon us: when a family member calls to tell you someone close to you has died; when the doctor’s office calls to tell you to come in to the office to hear about the results of the biopsy; when a work email shows up in your inbox informing you of the rumored layoff; when your child tells you they no longer believe in the faith you raised them up in. The opportunities for “earthquakes” in life are endless, but you are not powerless to endure it and the cross makes this perfectly clear.

The earth quaked for our Lord Jesus Christ, when He went to a cross to pay the penalty for our sins. Nailed to a wooden cross, Jesus endured the judgment and wrath of God, cried out, “My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me?” and then gave up the Ghost. But the story does not end there. After being taken down from the cross and placed in a tomb, three days later, the earth quaked and it was felt all over the world. On that first Easter morning, the ground began to shake, the stone was rolled away, and Jesus walked out of the grave and into the hearts of all those who would trust in Him as Savior and Lord.  

Regardless of what it is you are facing today or will face tomorrow, when your earth quakes and you feel like you have lost your way, don’t look out at your circumstances. Look up to your Christ, who is the solid Rock that no life experience can shake. Circumstances that are designed to cause you to tremble are no match for the Christ who was delivered from death to cause you to trust.

Remember, Jesus conquered sin, Satan, and death, and He will help you conquer anything that causes your earth to quake. Perfect peace is always available for those who trust in the Prince of Peace.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us. (Ephesians 3:20)

For those who walk by faith and not by sight, they have learned the deep truth that God is enough no matter what is going on in life. Is this the foundation upon which you have built your life? Is God enough for you?

• Is GOD ENOUGH when your health is failing?
• Is GOD ENOUGH when your relationships are in turmoil?
• Is GOD ENOUGH when you have been betrayed by a friend?
• Is GOD ENOUGH when your check is returned NSF?
• Is GOD ENOUGH when your nest goes empty?
• Is GOD ENOUGH when you suffer loss?

One of the most important lessons we can learn in life is to realize that GOD IS ENOUGH. God is enough to meet our every need, both physical and spiritual. God is committed to meeting not only our eternal needs through the forgiveness of our sins, but also, our every day needs through the faithfulness of His service. 

Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)

And my God will meet all your need in the glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

It was Helen Roseveare, English missionary who put it this way, “There is a wonderful truth that God has enough to supply all our needs. Enough for salvation, enough for forgiveness, enough to overcome temptations, enough to persevere in adversities, enough to calm our fears and anxieties. Enough grace, enough love, enough power. His supply is sufficient to meet not only all our needs, but the needs of everyone else in the world now and at all times.”

So, how do you know that you know God is enough? When God is EVERYTHING to you in both life and death. May this be the confession of our lives!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

To live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)

Christ was at the center of the apostle Paul’s life. The question we need to ask and answer is this: “Is Christ at the center of my life too?”

It is easy to move Christ to the circumference of our lives. Yes, we still have Him sitting on the throne, but we have simply moved the throne to the outer edges of our lives. There are so many voices that are vying for our attention and we are so easily distracted. Do you remember how the Tree of Life was in the center of the Garden of Eden? God’s Word was painting a vivid picture of a spiritual lesson of how God, the very source of life itself, was to always and in every way, be at the center of our lives. We were made by Him and we were made for Him, for in Him, we live and move and have our being.

God created us all for worship. So, we will always be worshipping something. The question is what is that something? If God is not at the center of our lives, something else is. And it does not necessarily mean it is a bad thing. Family is a good thing. Work is a good thing. Prosperity is a good thing. Health is a good thing. Recreation is a good thing. All these things are good things, but can so easily become bad things when they become ultimate things – when we allow them to be at the center of our lives.

So, what is at the center of your life right now? What are you most passionate about? Where do you invest your time, talent, and treasure? If you are not sure, ask those who are closest to you because what we worship is impossible to hide. Our deepest passions will always rise to the surface of our lives. For those, like Paul, who have Jesus at the center, it will be obvious to those around you. They will hear you talk about Him. They will see you walk with Him. They will see that your greatest goal in life is to glorify God and expand the cause of His Kingdom, not your own.

Remember, it is the fear of the Lord (Psalm 19:9), the constant awareness of the presence of a God who loved us enough to die on a cross for us, that keeps Him at the center of our lives – but this will be done imperfectly. We will fall, fail, and even forsake Jesus at times. Inasmuch as the goal is perfection, the best we can hope for is progress. May this be the confession of our lives, as we seek to keep Him at the center of our lives.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

I know that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. (Psalm 119:75)

Now that is a biblical truth that every child of God needs to have etched upon the heart when the storm winds of life are blowing, beginning with me.

Everything God does is good and right. In God’s economy, there are no mistakes and no missteps. Everything is happening for two reasons – for God’s glory and our ultimate good. To be sure, we all must process the challenges we face, but they must be processed in faith not fear. And when we do this, we will always come to the same conclusion that the psalmist reached:

In faithfulness you have afflicted me!

You see, it is during the times of great difficulties and challenges that God is most at work in our lives. When I look back over the years in my walk with Christ, my deepest pains have produced my greatest progress because God was in faithfulness afflicting me. Is this not true for you also when you look back over the years in your walk with Christ? Our Good God is too wise, too faithful, too loving, too, well good, to do anything that is not for our ultimate good as He is conforming us to the image of His Son. It is always in faithfulness, not fickleness, that our God sends storms our way.

We need to remember that we do not rejoice in the experience of the storms that we endure. Rather, we rejoice in the results of them. No one likes to be buffeted by the winds and the waves of challenge in life. But because we know that God is in complete control of all things, including the storms of life, we can rest in the results that He has promised. As someone once said,

My Father’s way may twist and turn, My heart may throb and ache,

But in my soul I’m glad to know, He maketh no mistake!

So, regardless of the storms you are facing today, or will face tomorrow, remember that you can trust God to lead you through safely to the other side because He knows the way. And if God does not change your circumstances, it’s only because He is changing you. No mistakes will ever come from the hand of your Master.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  (Hebrews 13:6)

Did you know that you have a Holy Helper standing at the ready as the Source of every solution you seek? Because God does not change, you can count on Him to help you through every set of circumstances you face.

The Hebrew phrase Jehovah Ezrah is one of the names of God and it is translated as the “Lord My Help!” The psalmist tells us, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). Notice the word “ever-present.” God is always available to you no matter what you are going through. The Bible does not tell us that our God is “sort-of present” or “half-way present” or “part-time present.” No! Our God is “ever-present” and nothing will distract Him or keep Him at a distance.

Remember, when Jesus was getting ready to finish His mission on this earth and go back to His Father in heaven, He promised to send our Holy Helper.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth . . . But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:16, 26)

What a powerful promise we have knowing our Holy Helper is with us every step of the way through this life. He is with us through the sunshine and the rain. He is with us through the good times and the bad. And because of this gospel truth, we will not be afraid. What is there to fear when the Creator and Sustainer of the universe has promised to be our Helper no matter what we are facing? Omnipotence will guide you around every obstacle that stands in your way because greater is the power that is at work within you than any power that comes up against you.

So, where do you run in times of trouble? Friends are good. Family perhaps is better. But God is the Best One to go to. Remember, our Holy Helper is not only willing to help, he is able to help and has promised to meet your every need.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. (1 Chronicles 16:11)

Think of all the things you might be seeking throughout this ‘New Year.’ Is the face of your Lord on your list? The Hebrew word “face” can be translated “presence.” To seek the Lord’s face is to seek His presence. But you might be thinking, “I thought I am always in the presence of Jesus. He promised never to leave me.” This is true. But are there not times when you do not sense His presence in your life? If you are anything like me, the answer sadly is ‘Yes!’

There are times in our lives when we can get so preoccupied with life we can forget or even forsake our Lord. There are times when we trust in ourselves rather than our Savior and we find Him “unmanifested” in our lives. It is easy to hide His face behind the curtain of carnal desires and the shawl of sinful pursuits. For this reason, God tells us not only to seek His face, but to seek it always. Just like we are to pray without ceasing, we are to seek the presence of our God without ceasing.

So, how do we seek God’s face always? Both the Old and the New Testaments provide for us the answer.

Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God. 1 Chronicles 22:19

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your heart on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:1-2

Seeking God’s face will not happen by accident. It will only happen when we are intentional about fixing our focus on Him. To be sure, this too is a gift of God grace, “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ” (2 Thessalonians 3:5), but we must appropriate this grace as we go through life. There are many ways to appropriate this grace, but at the top of the list are reading the Word and prayer.

Remember, the degree of the presence of God you experience in your life will always be in direct proportion to the amount of time you spend with Him in His Word and prayer. The promise for this is clear, “If you seek him, he will be found by you.”

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! (Isaiah 43:18-19)

As you launch out on yet another ‘New Year,’ remember these words from God through the prophet Isaiah, “I am doing a new thing,” and it begins with you.

God is in the business of doing new things which means God wants us to move through this ‘New Year’ with the forward focus of hope and expectation. But we simply cannot do that if we are dwelling on the past. We are to learn from the past, not live in the past. We are to treat the past like a school. We are to take the lesson from the past and press on into our promised future. We must refuse to let our past possess or persuade us. If we do not, we will be paralyzed by our past. So, let me ask you this question: “How are you doing in not dwelling on your past and forgetting the former things?”  

Now God has a formula for doing new things. Because God won’t put new wine into old wineskins, He will not begin a new thing in your life until he does away with the old that is holding you down. The next question to consider is this: “What old has become an obstacle in your way of becoming all God is calling you to be?”

• Old way of living?
• Old way of thinking?
• Old way of doing?
• Old way of desiring?

Remember, the most important new thing God is doing is conforming you into the image and likeness of Jesus. And He will do it by any means necessary. Embrace this new thing He is doing in your life with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, regardless of the cost or circumstance, knowing this new in you will be the greatest good you could ever receive.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!