Month: December 2022

And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Colossians 4:3

While Paul was in Ephesus establishing a church, two men Epaphras and Philemon became Christians. It is believed that they carried the message of Salvation back to their hometown of Colossae. In this incredibly diverse community, a small group of believers began to worship regularly. This young church struggled to put aside traditional cultural ideas and philosophies that polluted the true Gospel of Salvation.

Mysticism was one of the greatest threats to confidence in early faith living. Jewish Mystics taught that they held elite secrets of the Kingdom, unavailable to every believer. Paul taught that there is no mystery except the love of God, manifested in His Son’s sacrifice, that surpasses all understanding.

God does not keep secrets from some and share the best of Himself with others. Neither does rule keeping grant special status. There is a bountiful fullness found in Holiness, Christ in you, and it is free to all!

Have an incredible Tuesday!

Gretchen

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9

You can argue many aspects of theology, but this one is pretty clear. Jesus, God’s Son, died on the cross, rose from the grave, reigns victorious over death.

Eternal LIFE doesn’t begin when you die, it begins when you are saved. So please, join me for a lifetime!

Love,

Gretchen

God made two great lights – the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. Genesis 1:16

God and God alone is infinite. He always was and always will be. All other things begin with His breath and continue by His will. Scientific study and ingenuity are unraveling some of the beautiful mystery of God’s wonder filled creation, but still, we can only grasp a minuscule fraction of all that was woven together at the beginning of linear time.

Creation didn’t happen as a passing whimsical thought. Earth is the exact distance from the sun, positioned perfectly from the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Any change in this distance would create toxic radiation making earth uninhabitable. The planet Jupiter is so big that its strong gravity actually shields earth from incoming meteors and comets. Jupiter pulls some of them into itself or throws them back into the outer solar system, thus protecting the planet we call home. If any space debris does get past our massive body guard it gets burned up by earth’s perfect atmosphere. Pretty amazing!

Everything about us and our world is a perfect design. God doesn’t do things any other way.

If God can bring the cosmic order into being, then He can certainly bring to order any struggles you are having with the chaos of your world.

Love,

Gretchen

Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Ephesians 5:11

Upon salvation God calls us to Holiness. This means that we put away our selfish attitudes and agendas and remold our patterns of thinking and behavior. In this passage of scripture, Paul does not waste time with generalities but points out that our behavior must mirror the likeness of our Savior.

The cultural background of Ephesus, the city to which this letter Ephesians is written, was a hub of the occult, black magic, spiritism….. These people understand the concept of darkness. Paul also wrote a letter to the people of Galatia that contains a familiar passage listing nine attributes of a Christian called, The Fruit of the Spirit. (5:22-23) They are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control and should permeate all relationships and actions of those who have experienced salvation.

Pursuing things of darkness is fruitless and leads to death. Your life is precious. Protect it against such things.

God and sin cannot….. will not coexist. You have to chose one or the other.

Chose joy, peace, love……

Gretchen

For Moses said, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people, you must listen to everything He tells you.” Acts 3:22

Peter, accompanied by John, had just healed a crippled man sitting by the temple gate called Beautiful. As soon as word got around, people came rushing to the three men as if they were rock stars. Peter responds by reminding the crowd of recent events. Jesus, God’s son dwelt among them only to be unjustly executed, but rose from the grave. By His power the crippled man was made strong.

Peter turns this moment of spotlight into an opportunity to spread the Gospel. He reminds those listening that Jesus fulfilled the Prophecies of their forefathers. This audience of Jews knows the ancient stories. Their traditions and daily actions are guided by the words of Moses. They must connect the promises of the past to the grace and mercy of the present.

God is constantly at work in the world today, from global issues to the most intimate details of our lives. Thousands of years before Jesus walked as a man, Moses walked by faith to deliver God’s people, a nation, from the bondage of man’s selfish ambition.

From a nation, to a nameless cripple, God sent His beloved Son. You are loved and miracles still happen.

Love,

Gretchen

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 1 Corinthians 12:26

The people of the church in Corinth just couldn’t get along with each other. They argued and debated everything! Paul couldn’t return there immediately, so he pens a letter and sends it with Timothy. Chapter 12 very clearly speaks to the need for unity of heart with respect to differentiation of function.

In kindergarten the learning process goes like this: See things, define things, , learn names of things, then sort things. The sorting is actually organizing and categorizing. It is a very efficient way to prepare and store knowledge for fluent, usable retrieval.

This process refines itself as we grow older, but sometimes it becomes perverted. For instance, a child would not say that a ‘b’ is better than a ‘d’. But, eventually sorting leads to qualifying. Students may say that athletics are better than the arts, math is more important that literacy, one gender is superior to the other. Learning has stopped, fighting has ensued and everybody loses.

Paul is very specifically teaching that assigning value to each other’s contribution is toxic! Through salvation we become One Body and we cannot survive this difficult journey without each other! Through our diversity God’s light shines brightest.

Glad my world has a ‘YOU’ in it.

Love,

Gretchen

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7 and Luke 11:9

You may have noticed two references for the same verse. It is not a mistake. These words are found in both gospels, however, the setting for each is slightly different. Two men, telling the words of Jesus with slightly different verses before and after, delivering a powerful message.

This very familiar verse is quoted, memorized and sometimes misused like a spiritual American Express. Just ask, and it’s on the way. In Matthew’s gospel the scripture is found in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and Jesus concludes His words on seeking with, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” (vs. 12 The Golden rule.) The accumulation of material goods is not the promise these words deliver. Rather, as children of God we can afford to be incredibly generous because we have a loving Father that will abundantly provide for all our needs…… Remember, where He dwells they use gold bars for paving stones.

Luke narrates Jesus teaching His followers to pray. His words conclude with “How much more will your Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.!” Again, God will provide our needs, but always pray because praying begets spiritual strength, brings power and accesses the Glories of Heaven so that the faithful can share.

Ask, seek……God doesn’t play petty games so of course you will find…….plenty to share.

Love,

Gretchen

For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city. Acts 18:10

The missionary Paul had been speaking regularly in the synagogue in Corinth. However, his teaching about the risen Jesus upset the traditional Jews. So Paul ‘shook his clothes’ and decided he was going to take the gospel to the Gentiles. The Jews were still not satisfied and wanted an end to the gospel telling period! They took Paul to court, they beat him….generally made his life miserable by normal standards. In the midst of this struggle Paul has a vision from the LORD. “Do not be afraid, keep going, do not be silent!”

The Gospel that we have didn’t come to us without tremendous sacrifice. From God that gave His only Son, to that Son Jesus, that died a horrendous death, to the many messengers that suffered and were martyred, our Holy Bible IS the greatest story ever told and IT should be our great treasure.

God provided for Paul as he boldly, without hesitation, took the story of salvation as far as his feet and voice would carry him. Someone that had as many personal encounters with God as Paul did seems invincible, yet he still needed a continuous, new touch from God. What did God do? He provided with great love!

Have an amazing week!

Gretchen

Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity. Joel 2:13

The Testament of Joel is a short book of prophesy that gave early Christian Disciples the basis for the events of Pentecost (the coming of the Holy Spirit). It also tells of salvation to all who call on the name of the LORD. The people of Israel constantly struggled with disobedience, consequence and then a return to God. God never turned away a sincerely repentant people.

The focus of my comments is “Rend your heart and not your garments.” Tearing one’s garments was an ancient sign of grief or remorse. The problem with this outward sign is that it may not reflect an inwardly humble and contrite heart. God knows the difference! He’s not impressed with dramatic acts of emotion, He is the author of Truth.

Since the fall of man, we have all struggled with the cycle of sin, repentance, renewal and obedience. The good news is, you can’t sin enough to make God give up, and you can’t ask for forgiveness so many times He will eventually say, “Sorry, you’re out of chances.” God is slow to anger, compassionate, abounding in love. He relents and forgives!

You are loved so keep your seams intact and rejoice!

Love,

Gretchen

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7

James the brother of Christ writes a very direct and straight forward letter to the Jews that did not live in Palestine, referred to as the twelve scattered tribes in chapter 1, vs. 1. He pulls no punches with his very direct instructions for Holy living.

Submitting yourself means to allow someone else to make decisions that directly effect you. You relinquish your power as an act of great faith. Easier said than done, I know……but, only God has the ‘know how,’ to do battle with satan. So, when we trade our insufficient power for God’s mighty strength, we are able to make the devil flee from us. What a fabulous word, ‘flee!’ It means to get away as fast and far as possible! The devil will put as much distance as he possibly can between himself and me if I simply allow God to lead and guide me. This sounds like a win/win opportunity!

No need for a lantern when the Son is shining!

Love,

Gretchen