_____ of all Grace

1 Peter 5:10 says, “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”

I’m glad I serve a God who is rich in Grace, because I am a person in need of much grace.  The word grace simply means undeserved favor.  The thing about this verse is that if God (the big kahuna) is the God of all grace…why aren’t we a people of all grace.  We are so quick to write people off and shove them in the back…do you know what those kind of people are?  JERKS!  Do you want to be a JERK?

I love the last part of this verse…The God of ALL grace will restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.  Soak in the grace of God, so that you can pour out the grace of God.  Are you showing grace to people who need it? (i.e. family, co-workers, students, people who pull out in front of you on the highway?)

Let the God of All Grace restore you today…

Prosperity v. Daily Bread

Proverbs 30:7-9

⁷ “Two things I ask of you, O LORD; do not refuse me before I die: ⁸ Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. ⁹ Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD ?’  Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

Whoa…how many of us pray this prayer?  We love to pray for prosperity…but how many of us actually pray that God only gives us what we need to survive?..NOT more money in our 401k and our personal savings…NOT more houses and cars and other material trinkets.  But what if we prayed for God to only give us our daily bread, or only what we need to live?  Otherwise we become rooted in our greed and idolize our materialistic things/wealth and forget what Christ has already done for us.

I’m just sayin’

Peace & Love-

Thoughts on Judges

Not Sonia Sotomayor…The book in the Bible.

1.  Joshua finally lead the Israelites to their promised land…Not Moses…Joshua.

2.  God was with his people…As the Bible says, Joshua asked that the sun stand still while they finished up whipping the Amorites.  Joshua 10:13 & 14 says, ‘The sun  stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.  There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a man. Surely the Lord was with Israel!’

3.  God was truly doing a work for the Israelites.

4.  BUT…Let’s move on in the book of Judges…soon after Joshua dies here’s what Judges 2 says…After that whole generation (the one that saw the sun stand still in mid day) had gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.  Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served other gods.

Okay…I’ve got to pause a bit on this one.

How in the crap can this certain generation not know who the Lord is?  The previous generation caused the freakin SUN to stand still!!!!

Here are my thoughts…

I must tell my son, and other children Merinda and I will have, about the Lord.  I must tell them about the ‘sun stand still’ moments in my life.  I must tell my grandchildren (hopefully in 25 years) about what God has done.  I must tell the people I see around me about Jesus.  I must tell everyone, so that the next generation knows who the Lord is.  We cannot afford the next generation to be like what we just read.  The word says that because of their wickedness, they were in great distress.  I do not want the next generation to be in great distress because I didn’t tell them about the love of God.  I am freaking pumped about this.

You must tell someone about the ‘sun stand still’ moments in your life…so that the next generation will know and serve our living savior.

The Bread of Life

I’ve been stuck on the life, death, and resurrection of Christ lately…God has really been revealing Himself to me in many ways on this subject matter.

Each night Merinda and I pray The Lord’s Prayer over Jude…which he can say by himself.  I was saying it one night and I believe I had a revelation when I got to the ‘give us this day, our daily bread’ part.  Jesus said it like this in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life, He who comes to me will never go hungry…’

As I say this prayer each night I think…Give me this day, our daily bread…or, give me my needs, give me the necessities of life, give me this, give me that…and before I know it I have a huge ‘to-do-list’ for God with just the simple words of, give me my daily bread.  But I think there’s something more to this.  I think Christ was saying I am the bread of life and when you pray, pray that you will eat of my bread, daily.  In other words…give me You, Jesus, the bread of life that was broken for all of humanity.  Fill me with the life of Christ…fill me with your spirit…so that I will never go hungry.

So when I pray the Lord’s Prayer I pray it like this in my spirit…”Father in heaven, holy and righteous is Your name.  Let your kingdom come and let Your will be done in my life and on earth just as it is in heaven.  Today…live inside of me and give me new life that is only found in You, Your daily bread.  Forgive me of my wrong doings as I forgive those who have done me wrong. Save me from the trails of this life and deliver me from evil.  The kingdom, power, and glory are Yours forever.  So be it!

-Matthew

Recommended song – ‘Your Love is Strong’ – Jon Foreman

He Blessed it, Broke it, and Gave it

Easter is an incredible time of year for the Christian Faith.  It is a time where we remember that Christ died for us, Christ has risen for us, and Christ is coming again for us.  I pray that many will encounter Him on this Easter Sunday and become a disciple of Christ.

I was reading about the Last Supper this week from Luke 22 and was reminded of something I heard about a year ago and I wanted to pass along with you.  Luke 22:19 says he took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given to you…”

I am reminded of Joseph when God blessed him and gave him dreams and promises, but then Joseph went through a broken stage in life.  Joseph actually went through 13 years of brokenness…(loneliness, prison, etc…)  but God took Joseph in all of his broken pieces and gave him everything he needed.  God truly fulfilled his promise that Joseph would become a ruler of many…God blessed him, broke him, and gave it to him.

I am also reminded of Job…Job was blessed beyond measure, but then Job became broken…in fact he went through such a rough time that his wife told him to curse God.  Just when it seemed like Job was going to die, God restored everything that was taken away from him.  God Blessed him, Broke him, and Gave it back.

Remember when God blessed Jesus?  I think about when Jesus went to be baptized the voice of God came from the heavens saying, “This is my beloved son, in whom I’m well pleased.”  He was blessed.  But then God broke Him… He was wounded, broken, bruised for all of humanity… God broke Jesus for you and me….and then God gave His only son so we could live forever with Him.  God Blessed Him, God Broke Him, and God Gave Him.

We are all blessed people, but how many of us have been broken?  We all go through broken times in our lives, but we have to remember that God Broke His only son for us…God gave His son to us so we could not only have eternal life, but so we could give it back to someone else.

So…Jesus took the bread and He blessed it, He broke it, and He gave it.  Jesus knew He was the blessed hope, He knew that He (the bread of life) was about to be broken, and he knew that He was going to give it.

Will you give Him to someone on this Resurrection day?

-Matthew

The Change We All Need

Don’t you hate this time of year?.?.?  When spring starts to tease us into thinking it’s about to get warmer, yet old man winter keeps coming back with a bitter vengeance.

I think this is where a lot of us are in our lives.  We are anticipating a season of newness and growth, yet the old dead season keeps trying to haunt us.  In these times of change God is preparing us for what He is about to do in our lives.  I personally believe that God is about to bring us into a new season.  I don’t know about you, but I am ready to embrace a fresh newness of His Spirit and I am ready for new growth in my life.

Are you ready to embrace the change of season God has for you?

The Synoptic Gospels of Matthews

1.  Matthew Thrower is 26, married, and has one 2 yo.  He is a musician, singer, songwriter…  He loves Jesus, his family, and the arts (in all forms).  He studies the Bible and tries to understand all of the great mysteries in it.  He loves debating fellow Christians in the subject of politics.  (His view is not always the popular ‘christian’ political view.)  He desires a deeper understanding of leadership.  He, at times, is caught up in the materialistic things of this world.  He is funny, charming, and sarcastic.

2.  Matthew Thrower (Approx. 20 yo) is commonly cited in the local newspaper for being charged with illegal behaviors.  A strapping young lad…who appears to have everything together.  Loves to party, drink, do a little drugs every now and then…you know…a little innocent behavior.  His parents have a lot of money, in fact he’s never had to work one day of his life.  He gets a little slap on the hand when he gets in trouble. He too is funny, charming and he’s a good-looking lad.

3.  Matthew Thrower (age unknown) is a hard working blue-collar guy who loves the world of information technology.  It is not known if he is married, nor if he has any children, but I’d think he does.  He comes from a different walk of life.  He is a militant atheist.  (Don’t worry; he’s not going to kill you.)  He only seeks to oppose the imposition of religion and religious views into daily life. He’s just making sure that there is a separation of church and state.  No compulsory act of worship in schools, for example.  He’s a very likable guy.  In fact, he looks like Tom Cruise, but he’s not.

I know this is beginning to sound like a joke…’There was a preacher, an atheist, and a drug dealer who walked in a bar…’

Are you one of these people?  Are you the Christ follower?  Are you the person who seems to have it all down, but keeps holding on to the things of this world?  Or are you the person who looks good on the outside, but is a mess on the inside…the person that denies the existence of God?

There’s a lot of work to do, but who is willing to reach them?   Jesus said that the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  I think one way to reach the lost is to do things that we haven’t done before.  Now, I’m not sure what that is yet.  But I’ll let you know when I find out.  Who are you witnessing to?  What different ways are you trying to reach the lost?

Peace-
Matthew