I prayed where Jesus prayed. The picture above is one that my wife took of me a few years ago, praying in the Garden of Gethsemane (which means “oil press” in Hebrew). This is where Jesus and his disciples prayed the night before he was crucified for my sins, all who put their faith in Him. The tree pictured is an olive tree. Some of the olive trees in Israel are over 3000 years old. Could Jesus have prayed at this very tree!?!? Well, not exactly, the olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane were all cut down by the Romans in AD 70.

BUT, when an olive tree is cut down, many times the roots left behind will produce shoots that resurface and produce a new tree, an ancestor to the one cut down. So the tree pictured could be an ancestor of a tree where Jesus prayed!! Pretty cool, hu? Want to hear something even cooler, you don’t have to go to Israel, or Jerusalem, or the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Prayer is just as effective wherever your reading this post. Prayer isn’t about a location. To pray, communicate with God, no matter where you are.

In one sense, prayer is a place all it’s own.  A place where pride is abandoned and hope is fostered.  Prayer is the place where we admit our needs, find humility, and show our dependence on God. Prayer is the great privilege of reaching out to the heart of our heavenly Father. And we can do that ANYWHERE, ANYTIME. So you can go to the Wailing Wall, or the Garden of Gethsemane, or to your favorite church building to pray if you’d like, but prayer is just as effective, no matter where you are.

I loved our time in Israel. I loved praying there! But I am so thankful that the privilege of prayer is not limited to a location. Have you prayed today? You can do that, right where you are!

The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:5-7)

“Find the things that stir your affections for Christ and saturate your life in them. Find the things that rob you of that affection and walk away from them. That’s the Christian life as easy as I can explain it for you.” – Matt Chandler

What a great quote, hu!? Simple, but so true!

This morning in our weekly staff meeting we discussed some things that stir our affections for and some that rob our affections for Him. Hope these encourage you as they did us!

Things that stir affections for Christ:

Looking at God’s wonders in creation, knowing that God made everything around us, sunsets, sunrises, mountains, waters and stars, so BEAUTIFUL! He created it, and saw that it was “good”, for us!

Seeing people grow in Christ – when God miraculously opens someone’s eyes to his worth and beauty and there’s no way to explain it but Him.

Learning something new about God – even down to the little details that God saw fit to be included in Scripture that teach us about his character and ways.

Worshiping God through singing with other believers, and sometimes, just driving down the road or at home with family.

Extended time of study of God’s Word and prayer. The aha moments that come from Scripture when God feels so close you’d think you could reach out and touch Him.

Looking back and seeing how God has answered prayer 

Being in community with other believers, learning God’s Word TOGETHER.

The feeling of love that you have for your child as a parent and realizing, that’s how God loves me, because I am HIS!

Things that rob us of our affections for Christ:

Anxiety, worry, becoming overwhelmed by circumstances, being critical of situations and other people.

These were just a few that we discussed. What about you? What stirs your affections for Christ? What robs you of your affections for Christ?

I love the theology and genuine love for Christ expressed in many of the old hymns of the Christian faith. You just can’t help but grow spiritually as you understand more of what God has done for you in Christ Jesus! Hymns like Charles Wesley’s ‘And Can It Be?’ help me to do that. Here’s an excerpt from this great hymn from the year 1738:

And can it be that I should gain
An int’rest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me?

Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me!

He left His Father’s throne above,
So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race;
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free;
For, O my God, it found out me.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me!

For a little more history on this hymn and some Bible references to go along with it. Click here.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” -Jesus (Matthew 6:19-21)

Jim Elliot embodied these words from Jesus. He lived with a reckless abandon for the sake of the gospel. Jim was speared to death by natives in Ecuador, January 8, 1956. He, and others, died at the hands of those they so deeply desired to reach with the hope of the gospel. His life was cut seemingly short on earth, but his reward is great in heaven. Also, his work was carried on by others including his widow, Elisabeth Elliot. You can read the inspiring story in her book ‘Through the Gates of Splendor’. Also, there was a movie made about these events entitled The End of the Spear. I own it if you’d like to borrow it. I recently watched it with a group of high school and college students, they agreed it was inspiring, encouraging, and sobering to the Christian heart.

I’ll leave you with 10 great quotes from Jim Elliot, a man who stored treasure in heaven. May they aid us in gaining an eternal perspective ourselves.

1. “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
2. “God always gives His best to those who leave the choice with him.”
3. “Wherever you are – be all there.”
4. “I many no longer depend on pleasant impulses to bring me before the Lord. I must rather response to principles I know to be right, whether I feel them to be enjoyable or not.”
5. “The will of God is always a bigger thing than we bargain for, but we must believe that whatever it involves, it is good, acceptable and perfect.”
6. “Lord, make my way prosperous not that I achieve high station, but that my life be an exhibit to the value of knowing God.”
7. “I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you Lord Jesus.”
8. “I couldn’t have asked for more than God in deliberate grace has surprised me with!”
9. “When it comes time to die, make sure that all you have to do is die.”
10. “Lord, give me firmness without hardness, steadfastness without dogmatism, love without weakness.”

Take advantage of this FREE audiobook from Christian Audio, Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening devotional. This would be great to listen to on your commute to and from work, or if you don’t enjoy reading, but still enjoy the blessing of devotional time with The Lord. The devotionals are short, but POWERFUL.

Christian Audio Description:
There have been many devotionals written in church history, but few are as strongly Biblical or shine as bright as Morning and Evening by renowned preacher and author C.H. Spurgeon. The penning of Morning and Evening more than 100 years ago became an instant classic and has led Christians worldwide to engage and reflect on faith. Free for the month of January.

Link below:

Morning and Evening By: Charles Spurgeon

Happy New Year Grace Bible Family!!! By faith in Christ we’re starting this year LOVED, REDEEMED, FORGIVEN, and filled with HOPE, JOY and ASSURANCE.
I look forward to another year of growing in God’s grace and truth with you all. In 2015 we get to be a part of God doing GOD-SIZED things in and through Grace Bible. Can’t wait!
It’s such an honor and a privilege to serve as your pastor. Love y’all.
Christ is all!
Roy

I was thinking and praying about the coming of the new year and this verse came to mind:

…let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2

May 2015 be a year that has the GOD, by way of the Gospel at it’s center. May we leave behind any sins of the mind, heart, and hands, hindrances that “cling so closely’. These things hold us back from being the God-glorifying vessel God has called and privileged us to be. But 2015 can’t chiefly be about what we leave behind, but what we fully embrace. We must be “looking to Jesus”, the founder, author, perfecter, finisher and the object of our faith. The greatest thing about 2015 will be the same as what was greatest about 2014, Christ “endured the cross”. We will receive no greater news in the coming year than message of our being reconciled unto God through the blood of Jesus Christ. He died the death that we deserved to die. He lives, that we may live. He’s given us His Spirit. By faith in Christ, we are made children of God. Christian, if God is for us, who can be against us? Think about it! It’s going to be a GREAT year!

Christians, we are in a race. It’s a marathon. As we run with our eyes fixed on Jesus, our view of Him keeps growing larger as we draw closer. May our view of Christ be BIGGER, this time next year!

As we all know, runners train. One way that we can train, and keep our focus on Christ is to read and meditate on His Word, daily. Why not start each day reading God’s Word before you do anything else? I promise you all time in the Word will be time well spent. Below are some links to a few reading plans that might aid you in making God’s Word a priority in your daily life in 2015.

10 Bible reading plans from Crossway

Bible app

Reading plans from Ligonier Ministries

A daily devotional

The wise (in his own way) Forrest Gump once said: “…you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes, where they go, where they’ve been.” Well, for the Christian, and really anyone, we can tell a lot about us by looking at Genesis, things like, where we go, and where we’ve been:)

Beginning January 11, Sunday evenings, at our house, from 6-8pm, for High School and college age, I’ll be teaching through Genesis ch’s 1-11. We’ll learn among other things, creation, the fall of man, God’s plan of redemption, The Flood and Noah’s Ark and how it points us toward Jesus. Also, form these 11 ch’s, students will learn how to biblically answer 4 major questions of life: Who am I? Why am I here? What’s wrong with the world? What can be done about it?

As an added bonus 🙂 we’ll open our time each week in Proverbs, learning and applying God’s practical wisdom to our lives.

Looking forward to it! Email me if you have any questions.

10 ways we can remember to be Christians this Christmas. By pastor and author, Kevin DeYoung

Christmas is almost here.

And that means many of us are tired, frazzled, stressed, and busy. The next two weeks will go by in a blur–from family, to church, to food, to family, to football, back to church, back to family, back to food, and then back to work.

We love Christmas. We can’t wait for the day to come, and many of us can’t wait for the season to be gone.

But whether you love every nook and cranny about the holidays–or consider most of it “noise, noise, noise!”–there is no excuse to be grinchy and scroogeish. Here are ten ways we can remember to be Christians this Christmas.

1. Sing like you mean it. Sure, there are a some Christmas carol clunkers, but there are some amazing hymns too (see Hark! the Herald Angels Sing, Of the Father’s Love Begotten, Let All Mortal Flesh, and many more). Belt them out with gusto. Smile and take delight in the familiar sounds of the season. You may not hear them for 11 more months.

2. Say thank you. Over the next week you’ll get gifts someone picked out for you and eat food someone prepared for you and enjoy hospitality someone laid out for you. We’re told to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thess. 5:18). Surely, this includes Christmas. Stop to offer a sincere “thank you” to your mom, your husband, your kids, your aunt, your grandma, whomever–it will be good for your soul and it may just make their day.

3. Put the phone down. Go ahead and take a few pictures and post a few updates, but let’s not turn our Christmas experience into another commodity to be bought and sold. Look people in the eye. Be present in the moment. Let the world’s tragedies and scandals and funny cut videos take a back seat for a day.

4. Enjoy some cookies. Oh, the dreadful holiday pounds. Sure, we need to be on guard against gluttony. But we need to be on guard against censorious asceticism too. God created food to be received with thanksgiving. Eat up, and don’t feel bad about it. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected that is made holy by the word of God and prayer (1 Tim. 4:3-5).

5. Talk to your family. Why not put in five minutes worth of thought on the way to your grandma’s house to think of five questions to ask of five different people? Maybe conversation flows easily with your family. But for many people, it takes some effort to engage our relatives, especially those we don’t see often and those with whom we have little in common. Give people the gift of your curiosity.

6. Find time to be quiet. At some point, get away and be still. Even if just for 10 minutes. Even if it’s in your bed after everyone else is asleep. Go on a walk. Take a long shower. Get up early. Sit in the dark. Stare at the tree. Just be quiet, ponder, and pray.

7. Pray for opportunities. What if we prayed for at least one opportunity in the next two weeks to share the gospel? I bet God would honor that prayer. Maybe we can talk to a friend or family member. Maybe we’ll find a surprisingly open door for conversation at the mall or out to eat or on the plane. Maybe we have not because we ask not.

8. Make a year-end gift. Your church is probably trying to make budget. So are rescue missions, crisis pregnancy centers, Christian schools, mission agencies, and dozens of other kingdom causes. Go ahead a be generous. We won’t out-give God.

9. Quit complaining. Something will go wrong this Christmas. Someone will hurt your feelings. Your parent’s house will be too hot. Your brothers house will be too cold. A meal will be barely edible. Your obnoxious friends will be extra obnoxious. Still, God is more pleased with gratitude than with grumbling. If we learn to overlook a few offenses we’ll be happier too.

10. Rejoice to hear the Story one more time. Matthew 1 and Luke 2 are coming at you. So are Isaiah 7 and 9, Micah 5, and many of the same passages you hear ever year. No bother: “To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you” (Phil. 3:1). Let us pray that God gives us ears to hear, again and again, with fresh wonder that God came down to be with us and that he is with us still.

Find more great resources from Kevin DeYoung here