What are the odds?

I’m sure everyone is aware there was a big Powerball lottery this last week that was a little over 2 billion dollars. The odds of winning it were 1 in 292.2 million. Not great odds, but still doable. I want to contrast this with the odds of 1 person (Jesus) fulfilling the prophecies that were written a thousand years or more before his birth. Below is a summarized excerpt from pastor Andy from this weeks lesson at church. Dr Peter Stoner wrote a book called Science Speaks. In his book he did the statistical calculation for one person to fulfill 8 of the prophecies that were written about the coming Messiah. That calculation came out to be 1 in one quadrillion. To put this into perspective, a quadrillion silver dollars would cover the entire state of Texas 2 feet deep. Imagine taking one silver dollar and painting it black, then placing somewhere in the 2 feet deep stack of silver dollars anywhere in the state of Texas. Now, take 1 person blindfold them, put them in Dallas, and say go, let them wander as long as they like. Then, at some point, have them reach into the stack and pick up 1 coin. The odds of 1 person fulfilling 8 of the prophecies is that guy picking up the 1 black silver dollar. Jesus not only fulfilled 8 prophecies, he fulfilled 48, this didn’t just happen by chance! Be confidante Jesus in the 1 and only messiah that was written about thousands of years before his birth!

Go out and spread the good news!

ZB

Abide

I encourage you to watch this, listen to the lyrics, they are so powerful. The verse that goes with this is John 15, read it as well!!

Have a great day

ZB

Do you love Him?

John 14:15 “If you love me, keep my commands.

This is such an profound verse in scripture. Jesus is making such a simple statement but so many of us, myself included struggle with this. Love changes things, it’s not just lip service. If we say we love the Lord and we don’t change our actions then do we really love Him?

I challenge all of us to show our love of the Lord by changing our actions, no matter where you are in life there is something that you can change to better keep his commands? What are you struggling with? Don’t struggle alone, get an accountability group or partner and let them help you and pray for you, if you don’t have that accountability person in your life reach out to me, I would love to pray for you and work to keep you accountable.

Seeing Him Work

It was a great week for me to personally see the Lord working. This last week I had a friend who I hadn’t spoken with in about a month ask if they could have a last minute reservation to stay at our house. He’s a preacher, and through our conversation found out he is going through a burn out phase.

Why he was coming was to pick up a trailer load of wood, what he didn’t know was the guy that was selling him the wood, lives a stones throw from my house. Also as part of staying with us, he and his family went to Church with us. The message had parts of it that felt as though they were tailored to what he was needing to hear.

I know I have not done this story justice as there is a lot of back story that I can’t add, but Jesus used a guy selling firewood 200+ miles away as a conduit to get him a message, and get the possibilities of Church resources they have been needed.

It was amazing to sit back and see Jesus working right before my eyes!

ZB

Take Action

“But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.”

‭‭Jude‬ ‭1:20-23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Have mercy” – in the Greek this an action verb, it is active. We don’t stand on the shore and yell to someone drowning “I understand how you feel! I almost drowned once, I’ll be praying for you!” NO, we act! We get in the water, we get in the muck and mess and snatch them out the fire. Prayer is our first line of offense but Christ is calling us to be His hands and feet. Who in your life today needs you to DO something? 

In HIm

Drew

Talk about or pray for

Psalm 34:13 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

Proverbs 21:23 Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble

The lesson this Sunday from church had some very good points about how we act. One of the points made was, “do we spend more time talking about a brother/sister, or more time praying for them?”

This point really hit home for me as I know I spend more time talking about people. Imagine how much good I could do if I took that time I used talking about someone, how the work, how they coach, how they play, you name it, and spent that same energy praying for them. How much would that change my attitude about the person or the situation. Next time you start talking/complaining about a person, try and pray for them instead. It won’t be easy, but the results will be better!

ZB

Forgiveness

Matthew 5:44 – But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you

I have a friend who was recently on a trip to Oregon. While on the trip, his truck was stolen. Not only was the truck stolen, but in the truck were multiple computers, with years of his work. After a little over a week the truck was found, but not the contents yet. He sends out periodic messages about what is going on with the truck and the search for his belongings. Every time he sends out an update, the overwhelming message is to continue to pray for the individual that did this, that through this they might find the Lord. Yes, his truck was stolen, yes, years or work might be gone, but that’s not his main concern, his main concern is that this individual is forgiven and through this will find the Lord.

I personally can struggle with forgiveness or hold a grudge, usually over much smaller circumstances. Hearing him give updates has been encouraging me to be better at forgiving others and praying for them.

ZB

Priorities and Idols

As football season descends on us, here’s something to think about

“Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”‭‭ Romans‬ ‭1:22-23‬ ‭ 

A quote from my sermon this weekend “Do we exchange the glory meant for God, for images of man,bird, and animals of the sides of helmets”

This is not saying football is bad, but it is when/if it takes priority of/over God. Keep Him number one!

Drew

Jesus Waited

In the book of John we read about a good friend of Jesus, Lazarus, falling sick, sick enough he was going to die. Mary and Martha were the ones that sent this message to Jesus. Here’s where the story takes an interesting turn, Jesus doesn’t stop what he is doing and rush to be with/help Lazarus. John 11:6 ⁶ So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was.

Jesus didn’t rush to go be with his good friend, in fact, he waited 2 additional days then began his journey to get to Lazarus.

How often do we get impatient with Gods timing? How often do we give up because our prayer wasn’t answered when we wanted it? Just because something doesn’t happen immediately doesn’t mean God hasn’t heard you, or isn’t working on it, but its going to be with his timing. In Lazarus’s case, he dies before Jesus gets there. The story doesn’t end, Jesus brings him back to life!

Men don’t give up on Jesus, he may be waiting!

ZB