PT's Daily Devotions

Say what?  I thought school was coming to a close.  What do you mean back to school?

 

This week is my week to write the daily devotionals.  I want to spend the week covering this theme....

"With God you never fail a test.  

You just keep taking the same test until you pass it."

 

Take heart...you are never out of the reach of God.  God will not abandon you.  Never feel like you just don't measure up!

 

God is always developing our character.  We are always in the process of becoming more like Christ.  That being said, we will have certain "tests" of our faith that we must pass.  Let's look at Moses for example:  In Exodus 3:1 we read this; "And Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law..."

 

Think about that for a moment. From Palace living to Sheep herding.  From being a "Prince" of sorts to working for his father-in-law.  Moses needed to pass a test in order for God to use Him in a much greater way!

 

The lessons learned with sheep would be lessons needed in the Wilderness - a time in which the people of Israel learned how to dwell with God! Wow!

 

You may be "tending sheep" today. Working on a dead end task or doing the same old stuff you have always been doing - this is your test!  Pass the test. Be found faithful in this task.  Serve God through it with all your heart. Ask God what it is you are supposed to be learning.  Learn from it so you can go on to the next level.  Find God in your desert (Exodus 3:1).  Let God build your character.  It is in this process that you will discover God is doing a new thing. It will be this new thing that excites and ignites a passion in you to serve God with a heart expecting more great things from God! You will have a renewed, fresh heart!

 

Back to School - it's a good thing because it is a God-thing!!

 

 

Ron Smith, PhD

Executive Pastor

"But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life."  Romans 6:22

 
Do you feel like you have been set free from sin?  Have you become a slave to God?  As is my answer when people ask me "What's your favorite food?" or "What's your favorite color?", my response would usually be, "It depends on the day!"

Some days I feel more successful than others.  But I don't think I ever feel accomplished.  Can you relate to that?  I would venture to say that the majority of us who are being honest with ourselves don't feel like we have been set free from sin most days! 

I come from a secular background.  I am not an ordained pastor or preacher, and can relate to the folks who take Jesus to church on Sunday morning and then put Him back in the closet the rest of the week.  I did not grow up in the church.  I was fortunate to have an older brother who found Christ in college and brought Him home to us on break one year.  He was on fire for Christ and had truly been set free!

"We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?  Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."    Romans 6:2-4

When we choose to become a child of God, we choose a new life.  We should no longer be controlled by the sinful nature.  We reap the benefit of holiness!  Holiness is a privilege and can only be accomplished by living a new life in Christ.  If we have truly asked Jesus to come into our lives, His thoughts become our thoughts and His desires become our desires.

Just like I tell the kids in Children's Church, our "Best Friend" gets to be our best friend because we spend time with them.  We talk with them.  We listen to them.  God wants us to spend time with Him.  He wants us to listen to Him in quiet meditation and to talk to Him in prayer.  Have you committed your life to Christ and accepted His free gift of eternal life?  If not, I pray that today is the day you are set free.

Have a blessed weekend,

Cory Caslow
Director of Community Outreach

"If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer"

 Matthew 21:22

 

You know what I like the most about God?  He made it real simple for people like me!  I refer to this bible verse quite a bit when I pray with the kids.  You notice that God didn't say "If you hope", or "If you wish"?  He said "If you believe"!  All you have to do is believe and you can receive whatever you ask for!  Amazingly Simple!!

 

My Aunt sent me a book in the mail about two weeks ago out of the blue.  It's called "Wonder, Fear, and Longing - A Book of Prayers" by Mark Yaconelli.  I want to share a cute story and some insight from Mark on prayer with you from the second chapter:

 

            "A number of years ago I was preparing to go out of town for an important meeting.  I was worried because my wife was feeling sick, and at the time we had two young boys who needed care.  On the morning I was to fly out, I sat on the edge of our bed talking with my wife.  My voice was taut with guilt and anxiety.  My son Joseph, who was four years old at the time, heard my voice and walked into our bedroom.

            "What's wrong?" he said.

            "Mom's sick." I told him.  "And Dad needs to go on a trip for a few days."

            Joseph looked at his Mom, then carefully walked over to the bed and gently placed his hand on her forehead.  He closed his eyes and stood silent for a good minute.  It was such a tender and curious gesture that, when he opened his eyes, I asked Joseph what he was doing.

            "I was praying"

            "And what did you pray for?"

            "I prayed that Mom would feel better."

            "That's a very good prayer, Joseph.  Mom needs our prayers.  "I reached down and hoisted him to my side.  "Joseph, would you be willing to say a prayer for me, and for my trip?  I have to fly on a lot of planes.  I would love to have you pray for me."

            Joseph shrugged his shoulders, "Sure".  He then placed his hand on my leg, closed his eyes, and sat in perfect silence.  I closed my eyes as well, trying to receive the prayers of my son.  After a moment or two he opened his eyes.  I felt calmed.

            "Thank you, Joseph." I said.  Joseph turned to leave the room.  "Hey Joseph," I called after him.  He stopped and turned around.  "What did you pray when you prayed for me?"

            Without hesitation he said, "I prayed for you to bring me a toy."

 

 Prayer is an act of trust.  Trust God, even when your prayer feels dull and flat.  It is through prayer that God teaches us real rest, real freedom, real truth, real inspiration, and real compassion.  It is in prayer that we are found, in  prayer that we are welcomed, in prayer that God meets us, celebrates us, heals us, and awakens us to the life of Jesus.

            So...

            Whatever your age, whatever your situation, whether your life feels broken and full of despair or bursting with love and life, whether you are lying in a field of grass or reading in bed with a flashlight, know you have this moment

            right now

            and in this moment

            there is God,

            a loving God,

            a compassionate God,

            a God who waits quietly within your own heart,

            a God who is "mercy, within mercy, within mercy."

            So what are you waiting for?

            All is ready.

            Here you are.

            Let us pray.

 

Praying that you receive God's full blessing!

 

Cory Caslow

Director of Community Outreach

"I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

 John 16:33

 

You usually don't have to look too hard to find trouble! As a matter of fact, you don't have to look at all!! Sometimes, trouble has a way of tracking us down right where we are and taking up residence in our lives.

 

 

There are people right now, all over the world, facing situations that threaten to send everything they hold dear crashing to the ground. Maybe it's the result of absolutely nothing they did wrong. Maybe they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or maybe it was the result of poor decision making on their part leading to things reeling out of control! Either way, they have awoken in the middle of a tornado and can't decide which way is up.

 

Am I some kind of a fortune teller able to make predictions about people's lives?! Heck No! This is the nature of life as I know it. This world is filled with a bunch of broken people..... and I'm not too ashamed to say I am just as imperfect and broken as any!

 

God didn't tell us that when we submit ourselves to Him and accept His free gift of salvation we were going to get a free ticket on the Candyland Express! Actually, He told us life would get HARDER when we stand up for Him!  My Dad, an ex-marine and father of four boys, would call this "bass-ackwards"! Oh, and it gets better. Life's going to get harder AND I want you to go out and tell everybody about it! Go figure?!

 

Well, for those of us who have been there, thank God we know "the rest of the story". When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we don't receive the promise of a trouble free life. We receive the promise of an Eternal Life spent in the presence of the Prince of Peace. The Creator of the Heavens & Earth. The Alpha & Omega. That is where we shift our focus from today's troubles to a life of eternal happiness with the Lord. 

 

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."   2 Corinthians 4:17

 

The battle has already been won. Christ has already overcome the world! The final victory is ours if we place our faith in Christ Jesus.

 

 

Victorious in Christ,

Cory Caslow

Director of Community Outreach

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."   Galatians 2:20

 

As many of you may or may not know, I have been actively involved in the Children's Ministry at FBC Altamonte Springs for about the last 7 years or so.  I have also had the privilege of being involved in a multitude of Ultimate Slooze Shows in many different states and countries!  Presenting the Gospel to kids never gets old!

 

The above verse is one of my favorites.  But I can honestly say that I don't ever really think of it as a verse I associate with or think to share with children.  Weird isn't it?!  I guess I feel like it's just a little too edgy for the kiddos!  Crucifixion was not a thing for the weak of heart.

 

The truth of the matter is that when we identify ourselves with Christ, we must also identify with His death.

 

"Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?"   Romans 6:3

 

True salvation requires that we are "crucified with Christ".  That we can completely identify with His life and sacrifice on the cross.  He was humiliated, whipped, beaten and put to death for our sins and has crucified the old sinful nature of all who believe and ask Him to come "live in me".  Did you hear that?!  The old nature has been crucified - it is dead!  I struggled with that for many years.  There was one thing in my life that I could not seem to forgive myself for.  It seemed I would always pull it out and allow it to war with the things of the Spirit.  Then one day, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to this old nature.  I realized that Christ did not suffer on the cross so I could take this old sin nature out and use it on myself whenever I felt like I deserved it!  The victory had already been won!  I was slapping Jesus in the face every time I did this.  I finally let go and accepted what Christ did for me on the cross. The life we live in this body is not our own, we have died with Christ.

 

  "The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world"   Galatians 6:14

 

The purpose of being crucified with Christ is so we can let go of the old and begin to live the new.  Just as Christ was crucified and resurrected, we too have been crucified and can begin to live a resurrected life in Him.  Don't just be crucified with Christ and then sit around and wait for Him to return!  This new life we have received should set us free - free from our old ways, free from what the world tells us is success, free from what others think about us and how they evaluate our lives, and free to live each day dedicated to the approval and glory of God, not man. Young or old, when we are "born again", we cross from an eternal death to an eternal life. 

 

"Whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life"  

John 5:24

 

Praying that you live a life which is both crucified and resurrected.

 

 

Please continue to pray for the Butler Family.  There will be a Funeral Service today to celebrate Ben's life at 10:00 am at the church.

 

Blessings,

 

Cory Caslow

Director of Community Outreach

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."   James 1:2-4

 

Have you ever felt that maybe God got real busy one week and lost track of how your life was going?  I mean, there are just under seven BILLION people in the world!  That's a lot of lives to keep track of....right?

 

Count it ALL joy?!  I hear what You're saying Lord, but do You know what kind of week I've struggled with?!  Or month...or year?!  Can you relate?

 

Do you know that what most of us consider to be "joy" really isn't "joy" at all?  According to James McDonald's book, "When Life is Hard", joy is something completely different.  What most of us would refer to as "joy" is actually what a majority of us would call "happiness".   So, for the record, the Lord is not saying, "Be happy about your trials", when James says, "Count it all joy".

 

Happiness is circumstantial.  Happiness is based on happenings.  According to McDonald, it's an "in-the-moment, Oh-I'm-so-excited" kind of feeling.  I believe each of us has a definition of what we would consider "happiness".  Maybe for you happiness involves a certain type of food.  Pizza, chicken wings, Mexican or Chinese!  Maybe any form of chocolate will do the trick!

 

Or possibly your form of happiness doesn't have anything to do with food at all.  I had the pleasure of being in the toddler room this past Sunday during check-in.  I was focused on the face of one of the little preschool girls that had already arrived and was seated at the small table coloring, when another mom was bringing her child in the classroom.  The look on the 3 yr. olds face at the table was priceless when she saw her "girlfriend" come in the door!  She had the most beautiful smile across her face and couldn't help herself from getting out of her chair and making her way over to the other toddler.  Maybe your happiness, much like this beautiful little girl, results from a special relationship that you have with someone.

 

The fact of the matter is, we can all find happiness in something or someone.  But, you can't make yourself joyful.  Joy only comes from God.  Again, McDonald defines joy as "a supernatural delight in the Person, purposes and people of God".  I'm sure we have all been a part of something we just knew, deep down, was the work of God alone. 

I was driving home the other night just before 7:30 pm and looked out into the western horizon across I-4 at the most breathtaking sunset I have ever witnessed.  The sun was partially obscured by a group of clouds that looked like they had been arranged by the hand of God Himself!  It was spectacular!

 

James tells us that no matter what we may be experiencing, we are to "count it all joy".  This scripture actually says, "Count it all joy, my brothers".  This means that as a brother or sister in Christ, you get to experience Christ's joy.  Or hope lies in what Christ did on the cross for each of us.  Only by submitting ourselves to God and asking Jesus to take control of our lives are we able to experience God's joy. 

 

We will each experience things in our lives that we could never make sense of, more less consider joyous!  Only with the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ could this be possible.  Remember why we submit ourselves to Him, who gave Himself up for us, and we will be able to "count it all joy".

 

Please be in prayer for the Butler Family.  There will be a viewing tonight from 5:00 - 8:00 pm at Baldwin Fairchild and the funeral services and celebration of Ben's life will be at 10:00 am on Tues. 5/17/11, at the church.

 

Blessings,

 

Cory Caslow

Director of Community Outreach

"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses,

neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

Matthew 6:14-15 ESV

 

Let's start with this most obvious lesson in our verses today: we must choose to forgive. Forgiveness is a decision I'm making. In Matthew 6:14-15 Jesus said, "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But, (don't miss this) if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."   

 

Sometimes a passage of scripture seems complicated as soon as you read it. That's not the case when we realize what Matthew 6:14-15 says.  Jesus' words are stunningly clear.  

 

Do you get it? I mean, those are pretty serious verses, right? Not hard to understand - just hard to undertake. You read them and think, "That's gonna leave a mark! I'm going to have to look again at how forgiving I am." The verses aren't complicated - but they will definitely complicate your life if you are an un-forgiving person!  

 

And it's not saying that you get saved by forgiving. It is saying that people who really are saved are forgiving people, increasingly so. Not perfectly, not entirely, but increasingly we are more and more forgiving as we grow. As the love of Christ penetrates our hearts more and more deeply and more and more genuinely, we become more forgiving people. Forgiveness is one of the bi-products of genuine salvation.

 

You ought to be the most forgiving person in your work place.  When others think of you the word forgiving should be a descriptive word they use. The more you get to know Jesus, the more it ought to be true in your life that you choose forgiveness because you understand how much you have been forgiven.

 

Something to think about:

·         What do people closest to you really say about you? Are you forgiving or   

          un-forgiving?

·         What immediate steps can you take in the area of forgiveness?

 

Today's prayer:

"God, help me to show Your kind of love to those around me by being forgiving.  Also, help me to forgive myself for my own acts that are not pleasing to You.  I realize I cannot be effective for You if I am held back by having an un-forgiving spirit.  Help me begin that process today! In Jesus' name I pray, Amen."

 

In HIS Service,

 

Pastor Chris

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."     Colossians 3:12-14 ESV

 

Forgiveness is a decision. It's an act of will to release a person from the obligation that resulted when they injured you.   

 

Unforgiveness sounds like this: "You owe me! I'm going to make you pay by hating you, by slandering you, by returning in kind, by recruiting other people to my bitterness. I'm holding this over you!"

 

Here's forgiveness: "You don't owe me. I'm not trying to get even. I'm not looking for a chance to pay you back. God didn't make me that way. I choose to forgive."   

 

You say, "I can forgive today, but I know by Friday I'll have that thing back on my back again." I understand that. Get this: forgiveness is a crisis and a process. The first thing you have to do is see your unforgiveness as sin. You have to acknowledge that God's not going to forgive you if you don't forgive others. You've got to have that crisis. You've got to stop explaining, defending, holding onto it, cherishing, and reviewing it. You've got to say, "I don't want this for my life."

 

The crisis means, "I choose to forgive. I'm letting it go." But the process means, when the painful matter comes into your mind again, you promise yourself to maintain the following process: "I won't bring it up to the person; I won't bring it up to other people;" and most hard by far, "I won't bring it up to myself anymore."

 

Someone said to me, "I can't help myself. As soon as I see the person, Bam! My mind goes right to that thing." That's why forgiveness is a crisis and a process. In the crisis you decide, in the process you live it out.

 

Now, here's a key: When you fail in the process you have to return to the crisis. When you find yourself flashing back to unforgiveness, realize you failed in the process. You've got to return to the crisis. You've got to get before the Lord and say, "God, forgive me. I want to be a forgiving person and here I'm holding this again, Lord. Help me again. I commit afresh to let it go."

 

Crisis/process. Over time you'll let it go and you'll be a lot happier because of it.

 

In HIS Service,

 

Pastor Chris