Thursday, Jun 19, 2008

TWG - June 19, 2008

Download this episode (18 min)   
TWG - June 19, 2008
To Listen to Today’s Reading http://timewithgod.mypodcast.com
Exodus 28:1-14; Psalm 38; Acts 2:1-21

Today is June 19, this is time with God, I’m Pastor Dennis - I’ve been waiting here for you. Welcome to our life transforming community. We are doing something of eternal significance. We are redeeming the time. That is one of the basic premises of TWG. We believe that what we do every day is so important that we must do the important things each day. That is why we read the word every Day

Apologies are in order. Yesterday for the first time in a year and a half I didn’t publish Time With God. That’s because I couldn’t get to sleep the night before until the wee hours and I needed to sleep in. I hate it when that happens. I am still tired from it. But… I did dig a stump out of the church’s back yard! That was fun. Then I used the backhoe to run topsoil on to the stage of the amphitheater and leveled it. Yay! It’s looking good. I got the bulletin done… a day early! What’s wrong with me? I spoke with Joyce about her daughter who was threatening suicide. She’s still struggling, but has calmed down some. Pray for her. Last night we had a singing group from California Baptist University sing in the Amphitheater. What a beautiful setting! What a blast. We had two of the girls stay the night with us, and one of them helped Susan and I put together her belated birthday present, a Mantis Tiller. I put a picture of the two girls, Alyssa and Kristin posing like tool models on the blog at timewithgod.mypodcast.com. check it out.

This week’s theme verse is Matthew 6:33-34 …But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Are you righteous? A righteous person is someone who is living right! It is the idea that his life is pleasing to God. A righteous man is one who lives a life of integrity, virtue and purity. How does one know if he is pure enough, virtuous enough or has enough integrity to be called righteous? What is the standard? In the Old Testament the standard was the Law! In theory, if you obey the divine laws of God and keep His commands you will be righteous! The question I have about that is, “does God grade on a curve?” I mean, I do pretty good at most of them, I don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t bow down before any other gods… etc. But I mean sometimes I slip up! Does one slip up mean that I am not righteous? How about two? How many times can I fail and still be considered a righteous man? Is there a way to measure it? The Jews decided that yes, you could measure it. The way to do so was to define every aspect of life. In their commentaries they attempted to cover every possible situation so that you would know when you were naughty or nice. Every detail down to the minutest minutia had to be covered, that way you could know for sure! Here’s my dilemma: I don’t need more detailed definitions to tell me I have lied… I can look back over my life and admit that at least once in life (maybe more) I have lied. It only takes one lie to make me a liar! I also remember stealing. I was much younger then but, a theft is a theft, and now I am a thief! (Me a lying thief! - how is that for a righteous man?) I can also tell you that I have not always put God first (no other gods before me), have not always “worshiped” God on His day (remember the Sabbath), have disobeyed my parents… and you can go through all of those simple statements in the Ten Commandments and I have broken most all of them! But at least I’ve never had the scarlet letter “A” hanging around my neck! (adultery)! Of course, you might want to question whether a “lying, thieving, Sabbath breaking, disobedient” guy can be trusted to be honest about that! It doesn’t sound good for me! And the Bible itself has a few sobering things to say about my righteousness: “If you break one law you’ve broken them all!” (Check out James) “All my righteousness is like a filthy rag!” (Isaiah). Maybe that’s why this verse tells me to “seek HIS righteousness.” I don’t really have any of my own, so I need His! The good news? Righteousness can be “imputed” or granted. It is like a pardon for a crime. Jesus died on that Cross to pardon our sins and crimes. He also died so that he could “impute” or give us His righteousness. It is a matter of credit (as in a bank deposit of a million dollars into my account). He credited His million dollar righteousness to my account! I am righteous not because of my own deposits, but because of His! What a relief for a sinner like me! Amen.

Dear righteous Father. I need your righteousness. I have none of my own. Please keep me seeking you and desiring to be just like your son Jesus. I need a relationship with you. I need to know you. That is all that matters in life. Thank you for your million dollar deposit of righteousness to my account!

I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers

Posted by Dennis Kreiss at 9:42 AM |  MAKE A COMMENT  

<< Home