Have you ever noticed how many times in the Bible that Jesus goes against what might be considered normal in culture?  He often ends up doing or saying the opposite of what is expected.  Luke 18 has 4 different stories where the crowds and even His disciples expect one thing and Jesus does something different.  Let’s look at one of those stories about public prayer together today but I encourage you all to read the entire chapter as well.  

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

I often talk to people who are uncomfortable with public prayers.  Perhaps it is because they have heard long prayers with large theological words and flowery language and that is all they are used to.  There is a time and place to pour your hearts out to God in such a way but I also love the humble, heart pouring out prayer of the tax collector here.  “Lord have mercy on me a sinner.”  That is a prayer that we can all pray.  God’s interest is our hearts not our prayer vocabulary.  May we all pour our hearts out to God in our prayers whether we use fancy words or simple ones God is simply interested in our hearts.  

Have you ever been extremely grateful for someone or something?  How do you respond when you are feeling gratitude?  Jesus tells a story about it in Luke 17.  Let’s take a look at the story together today.

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

In the culture of Jesus’ day there wasn’t a much worse fate you could experience than being a leper.  I am certain that all 10 people who were cleansed were extremely grateful.  Their lives were changed for the better in so very many ways.  They could return to their families and friends.  They no longer suffered from this horrible disease.  They would no longer be considered unclean and could participate in worship.  They were not outcast of society any longer.  So why did only one return to Jesus and thank Him?  It is easy to simply blame the 9 lepers but perhaps a better activity is for us to consider how often we thank Jesus for all He has done and continues to do in our lives.  We were also outcasts from Heaven and Jesus made us whole.  He has made us heirs to the Kingdom of God.  He leads, guides, and directs, us in life.  He watches over us.  He gave His life so that we might live.  Today and every day make it a point to be like the leper who returned.  May we all be people of gratitude toward God for all He has done and continues to do in our lives. 

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

The Bible talks a lot about money.  Money is not a bad thing in fact it is important to be responsible with our money so that we can accomplish the ministry that God has set forth for us to do.  There are times however where money can be a distraction or stumbling block.  Jesus knew that this was the case for the Pharisees and for others so He often addressed it.  Let’s look at His words together today from Luke 16.

10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? 13 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” 14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.

Jesus uses this strong example to get to the heart of the matter.  Money isn’t and wasn’t the problem.  The problem was the hearts of the Pharisees.  They were focused on the outside appearance and wanting to appear to be wise and good but they were not truly interested in following God.  Money is often a reflection of our hearts and our priorities.  I pray that God would grant all of us a healthy attitude toward money.  May we be generous and responsible with it and continue to help use it to share the love of Christ with the world!

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

Have you ever lost or misplaced something that was important to you? You typically can’t rest until you find what you are looking for.  I can remember having bought a present for one of my kids and I was so excited to give it to them.  I hid it because I did not want it to be found ahead of time.  When it was time to give the present I could not find it anywhere.  I spent hours looking and could not find it anywhere.  I searched and kept searching and trying to remember where it was.  Eventually I found it days later in a place I would never look (of course) my sock drawer.  Jesus tells us several parables describing God searching for the lost in such a way.  Let’s look together at His words in Luke 15.

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. 8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

If rescuing those who are lost is that important to Jesus than it should be important to us as well.  The Pharisees were upset that Jesus was hanging out with sinners but He was teaching them that is exactly where He should be.  Obviously we receive support and encouragement and mutual growth from our time with other believers.  We also have a responsibility to bring God’s love and message to the lost.  I pray that we all would do this with the same passion that we search for things that we have lost.  After all we are simply helping our Father find His lost children.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

Have you noticed that some of the teachings of Jesus are particularly difficult? The passage we are looking at today from Luke 14 is one of those.  Jesus uses extremely strong language to stress the importance of being all in when it comes to following Him.  Let’s look at His words together today. 

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ 31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. 34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

Jesus has tons of people following Him at this point.  He wants to be strong with His message so the curious and those just following the crowd know that this is a serious commitment. Jesus is calling His followers to a completely different way of life.  He calls us to a kingdom life that has different priorities from the rest of the world.  He starts off by telling people to hate their family to follow Him.  To us this seems even more extreme than it actually is.  “Hating” is actually a Semitic expression for loving less.  Jesus is saying that He should be our first priority even over our family.  Then with His next illustrations He is encouraging us to count the cost.  He doesn’t want people to make an impulsive decision to follow Him and then fall away or lose their saltiness.  Jesus wants us to be “all in” when it comes to following Him.  Sometimes during our journey with Jesus being “all in” is easy and other times it is hard.  Jesus certainly went all in for us even to the point of dying for us. He simply calls us to in our fallen, broken, way go all in for Him as well.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

There are certain stories we have in the gospels that just clearly illustrate the difference between the heart of Jesus and the approach of the religious leaders.  There is one found in Luke 13 that I would like to look at today. 

On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. 14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” 15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” 17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

Of course we all know that Jesus had compassion on people.  Time and again He breaks down barriers and crosses lines to help others.  In this instance He sees a woman who has been suffering for 18 years.  He knows it is the Sabbath and He knows how others will respond but He doesn’t want her to suffer a moment longer.  He also wants to teach the Synagogue leader and other religious leaders something important.  He pointed out their hypocrisy on this issue and also showed them how important God’s children are to Him.  The religious leaders were so caught up in God’s law that they were missing the heart of God for His people.  Jesus came to show us that and to ultimately show it in the greatest way by giving up His own life for us. Today thank Jesus for His great compassion and love that He showed then and continues to show every day in our lives!

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

Many of you know that I am currently down in the Florida Keys on a Pastor’s retreat.  It has been a good couple of days and we are wrapping things up today.  Yesterday we were having lunch at the Keys Fishery and Bobby McFerrin’s famous “Don’t Worry Be Happy” came on the radio.  We began to joke a little bit about the connection of the concept of the song to the gospel.  Ironically the text connected to this concept is where we happen to be in the book of Luke today.  Let’s take a look at chapter 12 of Luke.

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?27 “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

Jesus tells us that we need not to worry because we can rely upon Him.  It’s not quite don’t worry be happy but it’s more don’t worry trust Jesus.   We are told to turn our focus to building God’s kingdom and let Him worry about our daily needs.  I find that the more I learn to rely upon God and trust Him, the easier it becomes to put the worries of life aside.  I pray that God would help all of us to rely more and more upon Him and worry less and less.  Don’t worry trust Jesus!

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

Sometimes I feel as though we go to God to timidly or passively in prayer.  Almost approaching the throne with a sorry to bother you God but…  Jesus talks about a completely different approach to prayer.  He tells us to pray with shameless audacity.  Let’s look at some of His words about prayer found in Luke 11

Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. 9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

We all love to give good things to our children.  When they come to us we do our very best to give them what they need.  We may deny a want but that is only because we think that will not be best for them.  Jesus reminds us that if this is the case how much more does our Father in heaven want to meet our needs.  He reminds us to present our requests boldly before God to pray with persistency.  God has the ability and the power to grant everything that we need and always wants what is best for us.  Sometimes God’s “no’s” even turn out to be huge blessings in our life.  Today go to God with shameless audacity. Jesus tells us to pray that way!

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

How do you do at showing love to people you don’t like very much?  It is easy (most of the time) to love our friends and family.  How we show love to strangers and to the “other” is a truer test of whether or not we are living out the kind of love that Jesus calls us to.  Let’s look at what Jesus says about this when he is being tested by some religious leaders.  The story is found in Luke 10.

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

This parable of the Good Samaritan is probably a familiar one to many of us.  The trick is how are we doing at living it out.  Samaritans and Jews were enemies, religious enemies and they did not associate with each other at all.  He went above and beyond to show love to the Jewish man who had been robbed.  This is the kind of extravagant love that Jesus shows to us.  Sometimes we will ”love” others by doing the bare minimum but this man interrupted his life and poured his resources into helping someone he did not know who was his enemy.  I pray that God would give all of us a heart to love others this way.  After all love is why we are here.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

There have been times in my life where I have faced a really big task that seemed intimidating.  The thing about big jobs is that they are not that big when you get a lot of people pitching in together.  Jesus left us a huge job of sharing his message and love with the world.  It can seem daunting and even impossible.  When everyone gets involved it becomes less intimidating.  He starts this off for the first time in Luke 9 when he sends out the 12 disciples.  Let’s look at the passage together today. 

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. 5 If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” 6 So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere. 7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was going on. And he was perplexed because some were saying that John had been raised from the dead, 8 others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life. 9 But Herod said, “I beheaded John. Who, then, is this I hear such things about?” And he tried to see him.

It would have been easy for the disciples to just sit back and watch Jesus teach and share with people.  Jesus knew that while He was the one best equipped to do the work, it was important for all of the disciples to share His message.  The same can be true today.  We are all called to share Jesus’ message and love with the world.  While missionaries, evangelists, and traveling speakers may have a platform to do this we all need to do this is our daily lives as well.  Every haircut, plane flight, meal eating out, and everything we might do in life is an opportunity to point people to Jesus.  Sometimes all it takes is the smallest thing.  I pray that this year we might all be more intentional about taking advantage of opportunities to share Jesus with the world. 

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave