Friday with Fred: November 2024

November 29, 2024

Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back

This sounds like my weight after Thanksgiving ….Except in my case, lose three, gain four.

However, I am thankful….for Marsha, my kids and their spouses, my grandson, my health, my life…I could go on, as I am sure you could as well. But fundamentally, I am thankful for Jesus, who gave me forgiveness of sin and eternal life.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 2 Cor 5:17-19

Notice the word “reconciled” is used 4 times. The law of repetition tells us that is an important concept. Paul puts it this way in Ephesians 2:1-10:

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Notice the three key words: Grace, Gift, and Salvation. These life-giving words are not a wage you earned. They are not a loan that you need to pay back. They are a gift given to you freely.

Now that is what I am thankful for every day.

You too I hope.

Serving Him with you

Until he comes for us.

Fred

November 22, 2024

Christoformity is Cruciformity

The gift of eternal life is free but the road to discipleship is not. In fact, it could cost you your life.

Jesus was very clear about that. What is free is free and what is costly is clearly costly. The gift of John 3:16, like all gifts, is free but that is not the same as the message in Luke 14:25-35.

The goal for the Christian is Christoformity, and that means Cruciformity. Hear the inspired words of scripture.

“For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” (Romans 8, verse 29).

“I have been crucified with Christ, and it's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)

“But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit.” (2 Cor. 3:18).

“Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Rom 12:2)

As Christians, we have been positionally crucified and conformed to Christ. But as Christians, our goal is to practice our position every day. That is not an easy task these days given the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. Not to mention the corruption of the culture. But the fact is, this is nothing new. The days have always been evil. The question is- how will you choose to live today? Remember: "God is more concerned with my character than my circumstances or my comfort."

Serving Him with you

Until He comes for us.

Fred

November 15, 2024

Things are neither right nor wrong but thinking makes them so.

~William Shakespeare~

How is that for a “Theory of Truth?"

My father thought I lived in “a reality distortion field.” He was nice about it, but he thought I was somewhat out of my mind. He had no time for Christianity. The worst day in his life was when I became a Christian, and the second worst day was when I went to seminary. He thought I was wasting my life. He felt I could have done anything. But to waste my life becoming a poor pastor... I am sure he wondered; “Where did I go wrong?”

That was many decades ago, and I have traveled many roads. On each of them I am very certain that the Lord Jesus Christ has been with me, providentially guided me, and strategically used me.

I think Woodrow Wilson was right when he said, “I would rather lose in a cause that will someday win than win in a cause that will someday lose.”

However, Jesus was more right; "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?"

Serving Him with you

Until He comes for us.

Fred

November 8, 2024

This is not the end nor the beginning of the end.

But it might be the end of the beginning.

-Winston Churchill-

This is not the end but a new beginning. No matter who you voted for, I hope all of us in the church can see this as a new opportunity to get beyond partisanship and move toward fellowship.

No matter what the political matrix reveals about voters, there are millions of people in our imploding spiritual society who need to hear the gospel.

The solution to their life is not a Republican victory. The solution to their life is not prosperity. The solution to all of our lives Is knowing Christ.

So the question for us as the church is, what will we do now? “How shall we now live?” What will we do now in order “to know Christ and make Him known?”

Serving Him with you

Until He comes for us.

Fred

November 1, 2024

“You destroy the family; you destroy the country.”

-Vladimir Lenin-

We are living in a world that appears to have never heard of James Dobson or Mister Rogers. Whether it be test scores or adolescent crime rates, everything has changed, and not for the good.

Thank the Lord that there are bubbles of brightness. Some are in the public sector, but mostly in the Christian private school arena. But most people cannot afford the cost of Christian school education and sometimes it is not always that good.

I know John Dewy and Horace Mann had some good and some nefarious motivations for their euphoric vision of a public school system. But the results have been disastrous with the creation of the Department of Education in the twentieth century and now the unhampered and unchallenged power of the teachers’ union in the twenty-first century.

If you are a parent or grandparent, let me remind you and me (for I am both) of the insight and command of the Lord given through Moses in Deuteronomy 6:4-9;

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Translated for today’s world: Be involved in conveying God’s eternal truth to your kids or grandkids. I know that is engaging in what is counter-cultural, but it is biblical.

If you are a parent or grandparent or neither, let me suggest volunteering to teach and train kids in your church’s children’s ministry. Not forever but for a season. You may be saying “I do not know how to do that.” I’m sure someone does who can show you. You just might discover that you are “making disciples.” And is that not what it is all about?

Serving Him with you

Until He comes for us.

Fred