Overflow

Overflow

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with
hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Roman 15:13

Visiting Atlantic City again after 39 years was interesting because so many changes had taken place. In 1969, when I was last there, the biggest building was two stories tall and the fanciest restaurant.....well, if they had any, we never found them. But now, many of the small shops that lined the boardwalk have been replace with gleaming, towering casinos with five-star restaurants, slots machines and gaming tables. But this devotion isn't about the problems associated with gambling but something that stood out to Nancy and I during our time there.

The verse quoted above talks about us "overflowing with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit". As the Lord touches and fills our lives, we are to overflow with hope, excitement, thanksgiving and joy so that others around us are enouraged and strengthened by what the Lord has done in our lives. The song "Dancing Generation" words it this way:

"It's the overflow of a forgiven soul
And now we've seen you God
And our hearts cannot stay silent"

Looking out the window of our 8th floor room in the Hilton Resort, we could not only see the beautiful beach and the ocean below but also the old, rundown buildings next door to the casino. And everywhere we walked, right next to the fanciest casinos you could imagine, there were old, dilapadated, abandoned buildings. With all the wealth and opulence of the casino resorts, there just wasn't any overflow to the surrounding community.

The kingdom of God has blessings and benefits beyond anything we could ever hope for. And most of us reading this devotion have experienced them to some degree. But do they overflow our lives and, by so doing, bless the lives of those around us as we share the good things the Lord has done in each of us and as our lives declare the goodness of God? Unlike the casinos of Atlantic City, let's make sure that our lives are in overflow status and that as we are blessed, we allow that blessing to flow out to others and reveal just how good our God really is.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
King's Gate Church

Hand Picked

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you
to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last." John 15:16

Driving along Route 18 in upstate New York this past summer, I passed a small sign "U Pick Cherries". Not being in a hurry this trip, I thought about it for a minute, decided it would be fun, and did a quick u-turn. When I finally got to the orchard, I had two choices, to go out and pick my own cherries, or buy some already picked, delicious looking dark red cherries. I chose the former, picking them myself. It meant more work, getting my shoes a little muddy but it would be worth it to get to pick the best looking cherries that I could find. It seems when you buy fruit already picked, you always get some that are less than perfect, maybe a soft spot on an apple, a squished blueberry, or the moldy berries at the bottom of the container. No, not this time, not for me, I was going after the best fruit in the orchard.

90 minutes and 6 1/2 pounds of cherries later, I was on my way home to Michigan, full from all the sampling I did while picking and feeling great about my harvest of cherries. (That lasted for 45 minutes until I arrived at the border and found out that transporting fruit between the US and Canada is illegal and frowned upon - I'll save that story for another time.)

In the midst of all this, the Lord began to speak to me about our being hand picked by the Father. Just as I was very careful which cherries I picked, God has chosen you and I, on purpose, with purpose and for a purpose. You were individually chosen by God the Father, with Him already knowing your strengths and weaknesses, your talents and abilities, your special needs and personal vulnerabilities (we all have them). His Word declares it, "you did not choose me but I chose you", telling us that God saw value in each of us, He saw us as worth saving, as worth investing in, as worth sending His Son to die on the cross for.

And knowing everything about us, He chose us for the purpose of bearing fruit, in many different ways, but all fruit bearers just the same. It strengthens me knowing that God wanted me to be a part of His kingdom, that despite my shortcomings, He wants to have a relationship with me and use me for His plans and purposes. Knowing that, we can each face today with a renewed confidence and a broader smile - God chose you!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Deepest Impression

The Deepest Impression

"Let your light shine before men, that they may see your
good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Mt.5:16

While doing some studying on the Book of Nehemiah, I came across a quote that has really caused me to think. It said this:

"A holy life will make the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns, they only shine."

For all the direction and guidance that lighthouses give to others, they sit silently, some for many centuries, doing their most effective work in times of greatest darkness. And the quote is right, they do it without making a single sound. It made me start to think about light and how it works. It's faster than sound and travels a lot farther. We've all been around campfires and heard the loud crackling of the wood.

But we've also seen fires from a distance, home fires and factories, where the light lit up the sky but we were so far away that we couldn't hear a sound. It is said that there are constant explosions on the face of the sun, but in all honesty, I've never heard a single one. I have, however, seen the light of the sun and enjoyed the warmth it provides.

The dictionary gives us some insightful definitions of an impression, such as "the first and immediate effect of an experience or perception upon the mind" and "an image in the mind caused by something external". In the natural,we can all relate to impressions made in the ground when it's wet and or in the carpet by furniture left in one spot for too long. And how many of us had impressions made by the dentist when we are having a crown put on, biting into that rubbery paste until it hardens enough so that the dentist can form a new tooth from the mold.

Our lives, much more that our words, also leave impressions, impressions that are deep and lasting, upon the minds of those whom we interact with. When the Bible talks about our light shining before others it is referring to the way we live being observable by our friends, family members, co-workers and others. And just like walking on wet soggy ground leaves an impression in the ground, our lives, our actions and reactions, the way we treat others, leave impressions that will shape the lives of others and that may have eternal implications.

Do me a favor. The next time you see an impression in the ground, let it remind you that you are leaving an impression wherever you go in the minds of others. And let's all make sure that those impressions are ones that honor the Lord and reflect the values that He has called us to live by.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Patterns

Patterns

In the years before she worked full-time, my wife Nancy did quite a bit of sewing, making everything from beautiful dresses for the girls to curtains for the house. And she did most of it using patterns she would find at the store. I still remember her laying out the patterns on the dining room table, cutting the material, and being impressed, time and time again, with the final product.

Using patterns isn't just for sewing though; it's found in the Bible, for example when Moses was given instructions about building the tabernacle:

"See that you make all things according to the pattern
shown to you on the mountain." Hebrews 8:5

What a blessing that Moses didn't have to try and figure out what God wanted him to do, with all the worrying and wonder that goes with not being sure if what we are doing is right. He just had to follow the pattern that God showed him. And in our everyday life, we have to do the same thing to be successful - follow the pattern that the Lord set for us. One part of the pattern (like the sleeves my wife used to cut out) says "When they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate." (I Peter 2:23). Another piece of the pattern, found in Philippians 2:7, say "......he took on himself the nature of a servant." If we took the time, we could put together a complete pattern of the
Christian life, of the life God blesses.

No doubt it would have been a lot harder for Nancy to sew those dresses for the girls if she didn't have a pattern to follow. And, in the same way, the Christian life would be much more difficult without the pattern that Jesus left us to follow. Our job is ".....to walk as He walked". The pattern is revealed in the Word, waiting for us to discover it and follow it.

But then there is one further step - becoming "a pattern believer", a person whose life others can imitate. Children already do it, following the pattern that their parents set for them. Newborn Christians do it, following the lifestyle of other believers in their local church. In fact, your life is probably a pattern that someone else is following.

Our lesson for today is simple, follow the pattern Christ left us and then be a pattern believer whose life others can safely follow.


God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Just Over the Hill

Just Over the Hill

"Since the beginning of the world, no ear has heard, no eye has seen what God has prepared for those who wait for Him." Isaiah 64:4

In one of the closing scenes from the movie A Far Off Place, the two teenagers have been trying to flee across the Kalahari Desert and are facing total exhaustion. Without water and blistered from the sun, they finally collapse while climbing a sand dune. The camera, showing they lying face down in the sand, zooms out to reveal that just over the crest of the hill is the town they had been trying to reach. Their goal was within reach if they could have pressed on a little farther and, no doubt, if they had known it was that close, they could have summoned up the strength to climb the last stretch of that sand dune.

The movie reminds me a story in I Samuel 13 where Saul was facing a very difficult time and was waiting for Samuel to show up and give him an answer from the Lord. When Samuel didn't show up on time, and with the situation getting more desperate by the minute, Saul took matters into his own hands and offered a burnt offering, a job reserved for the priests. And as so often happens when we give up before God shows up:

"And it came to pass, that as soon as Saul had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came...." I Samuel 13:10

So often we give up just before our breakthrough comes, probably because that is the time of greatest testing and stretching, that is the time when our strength and our faith are at their weakest. And then, to make matters worse, Samuel told Saul that if he had only waited, the Lord was going to establish his rule over Israel forever but now it would be given to a man after God's own heart (David).

Time and time again, I've seen people give up on God just as He is getting ready to bless them and do something incredible in their lives. We need to have reinforced the knowledge that the Lord is good to those who wait for Him, and that the Lord will never let you and I down. We cannot always understand His timing but we know it is perfect. Our faith will be rewarded!

And so it may well be that your breakthrough, your answer to prayer, the change you've been waiting for is just over the hill.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church