We Are Complete In Christ

We Are Complete In Christ

Colossians 2:8 - 10

8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 

10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

   IMHO (In my humble opinion) when we recognize our completeness in Christ we gain a tremendous safeguard against deception.  Before we are saved, we are incomplete and live a hungry life never being satisfied.  We hunger for something and try to satisfy ourselves with many things but never achieve satisfaction.  But when we experience new birth, we become complete in Christ and our hunger should change to want more of Christ in our lives.  As we fill our lives with more of Christ we become closer to Him and the lies of the enemy have less power in our lives.  A big part of temptation is dissatisfaction.

   Adam and Eve would not have eaten of the forbidden fruit if they hadn't been made dissatisfied with what they had.  They listened to Satan’s lies and let themselves be led to believe that they didn't have it all.  They began to think God was holding out on them; keeping something wonderful from them.  Genesis 3:5 “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

   The truth was, they did have it all.  They were more like God before they ate of the fruit than after they ate the fruit.  They enjoyed a personal relationship with God before they ate the fruit but their relationship was severed by sin after they ate.  Their dissatisfaction was the first step to sinning.  Satan tempts us in the same way he came against Adam and Eve.  2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 
   When we study the Bible, when we pray regularly, when we meditate of Christ, we fill our lives with Him and as we draw closer to completeness in Christ we will be satisfied with Him and not hunger for the things of this evil world.  When the Evil One comes calling with his satchel of lies we do not feel the need to go chasing after all the things he has to offer.  If anyone tells you that Christ isn't enough; that you need something more, then that's the devil trying to turn you away from your completeness in Christ.  Send him packing!  He will flee from you when you use the name of Jesus against him and stand firm in your relationship with God.

   It’s there in the Bible for you to read.  Just as Christ has all the fullness of God in Him, we have the fullness of Christ in us.  That makes us complete in Him.  In other words, our born-again spirit is identified with the Spirit of Christ.  We are no longer strangers to God the Father, but we are now sons and daughters of God and joint-heirs with Christ.  Our lives should no longer be filled with hunger for the world but we should be hungry for more of God and His word.

Stephen Cram                                                                    

Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, following the tradition of men according to the rudiments of the world, and not in accordance with Christ. 

Visit my pastor’s blog at http://pastorjonrhinehart.blogspot.com/.

Join Pastor Jon Tuesday nights at 6:30 for Praise Chapel TV at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/praise-chapel-tv .

Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible.

Good Ground In Disguise

  Good Ground In Disguise

Mark 4:8

But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

   I read an excerpt from a book by Brian Cavanaugh, a Franciscan priest, who tells a story about when he was in seminary.  He and some friends wanted to plant a small vegetable garden in an empty patch of ground in back of the seminary.  It was an old dirt-covered hard-packed parking lot.  They asked the head of the seminary if they could use a sunny corner of the plot to put the garden in.  The old gentleman looked at the hard-packed dirt and gave permission, saying, 'You're wasting your time. Nothing will ever grow there! But, go ahead if you still want to.''

   They found a pick-ax and a rake and a shovel and raked four inches of stones into neat walls outlining the garden.  One of them swung the pickax and struck what must have been a former refuse area.  It was a gardener's dream:  dark, composted, fertile soil just sitting there waiting to be discovered under that dusty, hard-packed top.  They looked at each other and smiled and said in unison, 'Ah, nothing will grow there.'  Their garden did grow.  They harvested fresh, plump veggies out of it that fall.  What looked dusty and dead on top had really been rich ground for growing.

   I have known some people much like that dusty, hard-packed parking lot.  They looked like unlikely soil to sow the Gospel to.  Yet they have, indeed, received the Gospel with gladness and yielded much fruit.  Worried about who you’re sowing the Gospel to?  Think that person is just a hard-packed, dusty parking lot where nothing will grow?  Worried about spiritual crop failure?  Sow those seeds anyway!  Plant seeds where you can as often as you can.  All you see is the surface; you can’t see what lies just under the surface.  If Brother Cavanaugh and his fellow students had listened to the head of the seminary they would not have enjoyed fresh vegetables that fall.  They would never have had the satisfaction of seeing the tender young plants shoot up through the soil and grow in mature plants. 

   Another story, and I do this from memory, was a patch of ground in back of a neighbor’s house on the dead-end street I grew up on.  They decided to plant a garden in a marshy area of their back yard.  It was thick with weeds and had many small trees growing in random there.  They didn’t have tools to properly prepare the ground so they cultivated what they could and planted their garden in patches.  They grew a small but fruitful garden.  They harvested tomatoes and cukes and potatoes that were big and ripe and good tasting.  Most of the neighbors told them not to bother planting there but they went and planted anyway and their efforts paid off with a good crop.     

   Did you see a dusty patch of ground in your mind when you read this?  Sow seeds there.  Do you see a weed-covered patch of ground?  Sow your seeds there.  Only God can make the seeds grow but they won’t grow if you don’t sow. 

   Don’t expect God to give increase where you haven’t done any work.  “O Lord God, we want more souls to come to our church!”  Well, if you really want that then go plant seeds so God can give us a harvest. 

Stephen Cram                                                                      March 23, 2014                   

Daniel 1:8

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

Visit my pastor’s blog at http://pastorjonrhinehart.blogspot.com/.

Join Pastor Jon Tuesday nights at 6:30 for Praise Chapel TV at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/praise-chapel-tv .

Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible.

   

Miracle Needed – Apply Within

  Miracle Needed – Apply Within

Matthew 17: 18-20

18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.

19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”

20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 

   First off, if you don’t believe miracles are for the church today, you are free to stop reading.  You probably will not get anything from this devotional, but I sure would like you to read it anyway.  

   Still with me?  This passage from Matthew and a similar one from Luke 17 compare the level of faith needed to a mustard seed.  Have you ever seen one?  There are small, really small.  The mustard seed is not the smallest of all seeds, but it is the smallest that they would have known of in Israel so Jesus was using what was common to His listeners.  The mustard seed was the smallest they were familiar with.  The point Jesus is making here is the size of your faith and whether you can muster faith at least as big as this tiny seed. 

   He also is using a mountain in this illustration.  A mountain is a huge thing, whether we’re talking about a Himalayan mountain or an Appalachian mountain.  Moving a mountain by myself is logically impossible, but He claims that moving that impossible object is possible if I have faith the size of this tiny seed.  My mind then moves to ask myself what “mountains” I have in my life that needs moving. 

   I don’t have any actual dirt and rock mountains that need to be moved, but I have other quote-unquote “mountains” that do.   February 2013 I was working in the church with my Pastor when we both realized we came from families plagued by diabetes.  My sugar at that time was averaging as much as 200 points higher than what was considered normal by medical science.  So was his.  My mother died from complications of diabetes.  So did his.  He prayed for our mutual conditions and said he was expecting a miracle in our bodies.  Merriam-Webster defines “miracle” as:  an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs.  My doctor, who is a wonderful and caring physician, says that in his experience diabetes can be controlled but never reversed.  This is the truth of life and the result of many years of study by some very smart people.  Never can be reversed.  Never.  My doctor had been telling me many times that I could expect to be taking insulin injections within one or two years from my visit in January 2013. 

   After Pastor Jon prayed for me, I went home and the next morning I was eating breakfast and took out my pill organizer and stopped.  I was looking at the six pills I was scheduled to take that day, and every day, and asked myself if I believed what he had prayed over me.  Did I really have faith the size of a mustard seed to believe diabetes to be plucked up and removed from my life?  I decided I did and dumped the pills in the sink and washed them down the drain.  And I did it again every day until the ones in the organizer were gone.  

   During the remainder of February and the whole of March 2013 my blood sugar levels went even higher, but by April it began to fall.  And by February this year my A1C reading had dropped from 12.8 to 9.3 and I know with certainty it will drop to normal soon.  My doctor said the reading was “an anomaly” and not to get too excited.  Diabetes never reverses in the body. 

   I am here to say, “Yes it does!”  I am living proof it does and each day that goes by when I test my glucose levels I am happy to see this miracle happening right in front of my eyes.  Diabetes is submitting to the power of Jesus’ name.  This mountain was not removed all in one go, but it is being removed and taken out of my life.  I also had begun to try to eat better and prayed for myself saying that this was another mountain and it, too, needed to be removed.  Without any special diet regimen I have lost about ninety pounds.  I was taking between eight and twelve Ibuprofen tablets a day for arthritis pain.  Currently I am taking zero to four a day.  I was suffering asthma attacks on average of once a week.  I have not had one single attack since sometime last fall. 

   I declare that having a little faith really does move mountains.  I have seen several moving out of my life and it’s not just me; my wife has seen many obstacles in her life submit to Jesus’ name as well.    

   How about you?  What mountain is really big and scary that blocks your path?  If you have faith as small as a tiny mustard seed it will move out of your life.  I ask you to try it.  I beg you to try it.  I challenge you to try it.  Stretch your faith muscle and take the risk.  And keep in mind in Jesus’ lesson He does not say, “Speak to this mountain and God will come and move it.”  He says YOUR FAITH will move it.  Why live with mountains that have come into your life?  Speak to that mountain and say, with the authority of Jesus’ name, “Move out of my way!”

Stephen Cram                                                                  March 16, 2014                    

Daniel 1:8

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

Visit my pastor’s blog at http://pastorjonrhinehart.blogspot.com/.

Join Pastor Jon Tuesday nights at 6:30 for Praise Chapel TV at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/praise-chapel-tv .

Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible, 

The Crisis or the Christ

The Crisis or the Christ

John 14:1 

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.”

   In my life, normal is just a setting on the washer.  It doesn’t happen a lot to me.  And talking to others, I find that normal doesn’t happen a lot to them, either.  Life seems, at times, to be filled with crisis followed by crisis.  And many of these are just minor crises that happen all the time, but what about when the doctor tells you that you need surgery?  Or when your child moves out in a fit of anger saying, “I never want to see you again!”  Or when a parent suddenly dies?  These are not just stressful, these are a personal crises that will try to take over your life.  Then the question becomes, are you focusing on the crisis, or on the Christ?

   Is there hope in the midst of a crisis?  Yes, and His name is Jesus.  Hebrews 13:5 tells us He will never leave us or forsake us.  Hebrews 4:16 tells us: Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

   God wants us to pray and ask when we’re in a crisis.  He wants us to ask for help.  When we do, we can re-focus and stop looking to the crisis to run our lives, but look to the Christ.  We need to stop looking up through our problems and look down from God’s perspective.  I once heard a preacher say to stop telling everyone how big your troubles are and begin telling your troubles how big your God is.    

   You will face a crisis from time to time and may even face multiple crises at times.  The big thing is not to panic and to rely on God for strength and grace.  The evidence of His faithfulness is written in the Bible.  The Bible itself is a testimony of His faithfulness to provide us with grace and He will lead us to the knowledge we need to face a crisis and come through it.  Listen to David in the middle of crisis as he cries to God. 

Psalms 5:3 My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up.

   Jesus loves us.  He demonstrated His love by dying for us so that we might be forgiven of our sins and have eternal life with Him.  We matter to Him!   Paul learned to face crises with confidence because he knew he was in God’s love and was secure in Him.  Jesus loves us so much He will fill us with love even when we’re frazzled by life and under attack. 

2 Corinthians 12:9

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

This excited Paul so much that he changed his tune about problems; he almost welcomed them from that moment forward.

2 Corinthians 12:10

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

   Whatever crisis you are facing today, place it in the nail-scarred hands of Jesus and leave it there.  Don’t forget to rest in His love and His grace.  Remember what He thinks of you and in your moment of absolute weakness, begin to see Him as absolutely strong.

Stephen Cram                                                          March 9, 2014                   

Daniel 1:8

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

Visit my pastor’s blog at http://pastorjonrhinehart.blogspot.com/.

Join Pastor Jon Tuesday nights at 6:30 for Praise Chapel TV at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/praise-chapel-tv .

Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible.

Why Did Jesus Come?

Why Did Jesus Come?

Luke 4:16-21

16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 

17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 

21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

     Why did He come?  I’ve been asked that question, but never really thought it through.  There are many reasons He came, and I guess the simplest explanation is John 3:16 – For God so loved the world.  This sums up Jesus’ life and ministry in a nutshell.  He was here because God loved the world. 

   And looking beyond that, there are many more reasons.  Jesus came to proclaim good news to the spiritually hurting; those who are fearful and depressed, hurting in mind and in spirit and broken-hearted.  Medical science has found ways to reduce and even remove pain, but they have no cure for a broken heart.
   He not only came to these, He came to set people free who are bound by sin.  People who are still in sin are like people bound by a huge, heavy chain.  Jesus came to break those chains and set people free.  He provided a way for the sinner to be forgiven and to come back to God and be reconciled.  He gave His life and became sin for us.  He submitted to death on the cross for our sins and paid a price He did not owe but we could never pay.

   He came to set free those bound by oppression.  Whether oppressed by sin or oppressed by sickness, He is the answer to set you free.  He did not say to the woman who was bent over for seventeen years, “be straight.”  He said to her, “be loosed.”  She was bound by her affliction and He set her free from that affliction.

   He came to give us life, and not just life but life abundantly.  He brought us a Comforter to be our constant companion.  The Holy Spirit will come and live in you all the days of your life. 

   He also set an example for us to live by.  He came to reveal the Father to us.  He said if we would see Him we would see the Father.  He brings truth to a world built on lies and brought light to a world of darkness.  He came to destroy the works of the devil. 

   Why did Jesus come?  Many reasons, but the main reason is that He came for you.  He came to meet your needs.  He came to break your chains and to give you life abundantly.  He came to teach you and strengthen you and to redeem you from the pit. 

   I do not have the ability to explain, even in a small way, the reasons Jesus came.  I can not even wrap my head around His life.  I can only humbly say, “Thank you.”

Baruch HaShem Adonai!

Stephen Cram                                                                  March 2, 2014                    

Daniel 1:8

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

Visit my pastor’s blog at http://pastorjonrhinehart.blogspot.com/.

Join Pastor Jon Tuesday nights at 6:30 for Praise Chapel TV at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/praise-chapel-tv .

Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible.