Take Jesus at His Word

In John's Gospel, after Jesus' encounter with the woman at the well, He returned to Cana in Galilee. An Official came to Jesus and pleaded for Him to heal his sick and dying son. Cana is a good twelve miles from Capernaum, the home of the Royal Official. After climbing the foothills and mountains into Cana the man begged Jesus to come and heal his son. Jesus then says: "Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe." The man makes an impassioned plea, "Sir, come down before my child dies." Jesus responds to this hurting father, "You may go. Your son will live." Now notice what the scriptures says in verse fifty about this man. "The man took Jesus as his word and departed."

When your life gets blindsided by sickness, disease, heartache and the prospect of loosing someone you dearly love, then you are often very willing to make any trek to find Jesus. Once found you may want Him to come with you to solve your problem and ease your fears. Jesus has such authority, He need not travel to the site of your suffering. He simply exercises the authority the Father gave to Him. He speaks and thing happens. That is the active powerful grace of God at work on your behalf.

Notice however that the Official has to do something also. He has to believe by faith in order to recognize the power of God. He has to take Jesus at His word and go back to this place of responsibility. Where are you today? What do you need Jesus to do by grace in your life? Are you willing to take Him at His word? Are you willing to go back to your place of responsibility knowing that all authority belongs to Him? Ephesians 1:18-23 speaks of the authority and power that are under the feet of Jesus at this very moment. When we ask Him to move according to His will, then at some point we need to turn around and take Jesus at His word and go forward with our lives. As one who knows how paralyzing fear and grief can be, it is a great reminder that after we ask, seek and knock, our work is far from done. We then need to take Jesus at His word and depart to finish living the life for which He cherishes, protects, guides and provides.

Take Jesus at His word!
Ed Litton

Open Minded?

When Jesus met with His disciples following the resurrection Luke tells us that he ate broiled fish. Let that taste swirl in your mind for a moment. I wonder if the white flakey fish was douched in butter and Tony Chachere's? This tidbit of information reveals a unique quality to the body post resurrection. It brings joy to know that in our resurrected experience we will be able to eat. That is however, not the main thrust of this passage in chapter twenty four. Verse 45 says; "Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures." I do not dare suggest that I fully understand this, but what a thought. He opens minds so that His disciples can understand the Scripture concerning Himself.
Paul prays for the "eyes of our hearts" to be opened. We need open eyes and open minds to the Word of God. Our very understanding of God's word is predicated upon the work of the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would lead us into all truth. This is a vital part of the grace of God working daily in the life of the disciple. Pray for an open mind in your relationship to the Word. Pray for open eyes to see, understand and perceive what God is doing in our world. He is moving and we can live much of our lives with closed eyes and closed minds if we do not pray such prayers.

Eph. 1:18-19 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength,

Open My Eyes Lord!

Prayer is a challenge. Have you found this to be true in your life? I certainly have. Often times it seems that we can master many of the disciplines of the Christian life but prayer remains our last and greatest challenge. It is easier to study for a sermon or bible study and even teach it but prayer is easy to neglect. Devoting ourselves to prayer in private can seem like a boring and unhelpful because it seldom leads to immediate or tangible results. We like results so we tend to gravitate toward things that make us satisfied.

However, if we pray in faith, pray like we mean it, the benefits are real and will become obvious if our eyes are opened. This week's passage of scripture Ephesians 1:15-19 we enter into Paul's prayer for the believers in Ephesus. This is a powerful prayer for our good and God's glory. It is also a model for how we can pray for ourselves, our children, our mates and the other members of our church family.

Read this passage and pray for the Lord to open the eyes of your heart as well as the eyes of the hearts of First Baptist North Mobile.

Looking forward to Sunday!
Pastor Ed

The Eyes of Your Heart

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, Ephesians 1:18 (NIV)

What a strange expression. I can almost see a Geico commercial where a stack of money has goggly eyes staring at me. Eyes are the instruments by which we perceive things. The eyes of our mind are grasping ideas. What then do the eyes of our heart do? The heart needs to see things and grasp truth and understand that truth by applying them to action. The heart is often the seat of emotion in scripture.

Remember when Jesus walked unidentified with the two men traveling on the Emmaus road. As he explained scripture to them what did they say? "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" Luke 24:32.

The "burning of the heart" was the emotional response to having the eyes of their hearts opened. When the heart begins to burn with truth, when truth takes its root in your heart, it demands response. Response is at this moment the easiest part of the process. God gives us these opened eyes when we are willing to receive them. We sing a chorus that says, "Open the eyes of my heart Lord." What a prayer! But open eyes are not the end result but the beginning. How we respond to having our eyes opened determines much. With open eyes we know the certainty of God's work in our lives. We know that He is real and that our hope and calling is genuine. We know that the power of His presence is real. We know that we are becoming a people of Grace.

Satan's strategy for Believers young and old is simple. Separate the child of God's heart from truth. It is a well worn pattern of attack. When they eyes of your heart are closed to God's word, you drift. You get discouraged and give up on church, you drop out of fellowship with other believers. This is why is it critical to pray for one another. We need to pray with Paul that God will open the eyes of our friends who are drifting from the Lord. We need to pray this for ourselves also.

It is not enough to simply teach truth. You cannot effect the whole person until the eyes of their heart are opened and enlightened by truth. When truth makes the journey from the head to the heart it grips the emotions and change is transformed from undesirable to desirable as the next simple step. This is when we can see growth as we become a people of grace.
Pastor Ed Litton

Grace

I asked Kathy for permission to reprint her thoughts about defining Grace from a few years ago. (This is Aubrey and her Nanny)

GRACE
I am thankful for the grace of God. Unfortunately in the Christian culture it is far too easy to grow dull or numb to the depth and reality of Biblical terms. We throw them out casually but somehow our minds and hearts disconnect to the powerful, very real daily implications. Old words can take on new meaning. Grace has for me. My late husband in a sermon series some years ago crafted this definition of grace: “The disposition, pursuit and provision of God toward fallen men, whereby He freely offers Himself as a sufficient resource for their every need.” Yes, a mouthful yet a full rich picture of the grace of God. He is a sufficient resource for every need. God by His grace empowers us to do things we would not otherwise have the strength to do on our own.

My first understanding of grace came with my own childhood salvation. Jesus Christ was a sufficient Savior to provide for my need to be made right with God. I did not have in my strength the ability to be right with the God who created me. “Saved by grace” is the entry point of relationship with the God. Yet, God’s grace does not end there. His grace to BE the resource for every need is His perpetual disposition to us.

Six years ago on Thanksgiving my “every need” was recent widowhood. At our Thanksgiving table was an empty plate and empty chair that left us devastated, broken hearted and grieving. It was a meal that was nearly unbearable to my heart. I remember it well. Does God offer Himself as a sufficient resource for the common human experience of death that seems to come far too soon? He does. His tender care, His mercy, the hope of Heaven and His strength in the midst of our weaknesses was more real to that 45 year old widow that I can communicate. Even with tears in our eyes, He was enabling us to walk even if feebly so.

On this Thanksgiving I look back at the six years that have swiftly passed. His grace, His sufficient resource for my every need has not failed; even in dark days of grief, financial uncertainty, single parenting, critical decisions, disappointment and loneliness. He truly empowered me to do things I did not have the strength to do on my own by Grace.

I am thankful for Grace.

It truly is amazing.

Defining Grace

2Cor. 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Listen to the language of grace, listen to the words surrounding it: “all…abound…all things…all times…all you need…good…” This is the language of indescribable truth.

Grace is a challenge to define. A word so magnificent should be a challenge to define. We use this one simple, short word to describe the glide of a dignified woman across the dance floor. We use it to describe praying over a meal—and yet it’s the word God uses to describe His indescribable and unfathomable love for sinners like you and me. How can we discover what grace means? Well, the problem with simple definitions is that we burp them out and then move on. Grace deserves more than that. Grace deserves study and thought, reflection and appreciation. Grace requires that we ask God to open our ears so that we can hear what He’s saying to us.

It’s amazing what you can hear if you try to listen. This morning I had my quiet time with the Lord on the back porch of Tammy's mom's house in Tucson, Arizona. There on the edge of the desert I heard the mournful cooing of doves and other birds chiming in as the sun rose over the desert. I was surprised to hear an owl. I closed my eyes and listened, asking the Lord to help me hear. Then I heard the faint sound of coyote pups whining for their mother to feed them. Soon they were silent, since apparently she also heard them.

Yes, it’s amazing what you can hear if you try to listen. But our spiritual hearing depends on the power of God. We need His grace, His supernatural help, to hear what He is saying in our pain, our sorrow, and our struggles. Grace is truly amazing. It saves us, heals us, helps us, guides us. It’s the power of God to come to the aid of those who trust in Him. Grace transforms our eternal destiny and gives us the ability to take the next step of doing what is right when wrong seems easier and more desirable. Grace is enough for whatever you’re facing today.

As we launch into a study of the book of Ephesians, let us ask for grace to hear and understand the magnitude of His grace in our lives. May we become people of grace. Dependent upon His grace and givers of grace to those around us.

1Pet. 5:10 — And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.