Luke 9:57-62Notes From the Pastor's Desk #notesfromthepastorsdesk
📖Luke 9:57-62 (ESV) 57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” 📘Pastor's Note: Counting the cost of following Jesus - The call to follow Christ is a call to die, to die to self. It's a call to pick up our cross and follow Him, to pick up an instrument of torture and follow Him. All too often, the Gospel is watered down to cheap grace or easy-believism, where it's presented as "Jesus loves you and wants you to have your best life now." Isn't that what Joel Osteen says? He suggests that God wants you to be healthy, wealthy, and prosperous, to have a mansion and an overflowing bank account, just like him. But is that what the Scriptures say? Here in Luke 9, three men approach Jesus, and it's clear that they have superficial requests. The first man says he wants to follow Him, but Jesus quickly opens his eyes to the fact that it won't be easy or comfortable. Even the Son of Man has no place to lay His head. The second man seems to have a reasonable excuse. He claims that his father isn't dead, and he wants to wait for his inheritance before following Jesus. Essentially, he's saying, "I'll follow you when I have enough money." Then the last man says, "Let me go and say farewell to my family." Initially, it seems fair, but the problem is that his family takes precedence over his commitment to Christ. Each of these men had excuses and higher priorities than following Jesus. The call to follow comes at a cost, and the question is, "Is having a relationship with Him, following Him, the most important priority in our lives?" He doesn't want a partial commitment; He desires wholehearted, total commitment at all costs. Does this challenge you? It certainly challenges me. It makes me contemplate whether my priorities are in order. Is my faith in Christ my highest priority? Am I willing to give up everything, including my comfort, security, family, and even my life, if He asks me to? 🙏I'm praying for you always. ❤️ Pastor Jamie Read the Chapter: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%209&version=ESV Learn more about us: www.mygpchurch.com/whoweare Matthew 7:17Notes From the Pastor's Desk #notesfromthepastorsdesk
📖Matthew 7:17 (ESV) So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 📘Pastor's Note: Here, Jesus is teaching against false prophets. He’s teaching against ravenous wolves. Those who say they are believers but are not. He illustrates His point by using a good tree and a bad tree. His point is that something CANNOT produce fruit that violates their identity. A good tree will produce good fruit. A bad tree will produce bad fruit. I think where people get this wrong is that sometimes, people want to look at counterfeit fruit and claim it to be good. I’ve been looking closely at Andy Stanley, who claims to be a good tree. He thinks he is a good tree. He thinks he is producing good fruit. Unfortunately, many people are deceived in believing he is a good tree. Both he and many that follow him are deceived. Really sad. If you look closely, he is a very bad tree producing really bad fruit. He is a counterfeit, a child of Satan deceiving those that follow him. If he doesn’t repent and believe the Gospel, the Gospel that Paul preached, one day he will stand before God and be justly judged, cut off, and thrown into the lake of fire. That will happen because his true identity is that he is a bad tree. And let’s all be truthful. We were born with a sinful nature. Meaning we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We are bad trees by nature. Yet Jesus is willing and absolutely able to make us new! He can change us from a bad tree to a good tree. He does that at salvation. When we hear the Gospel, repent, and believe in Him alone, He changes a stone heart to a heart of flesh. He makes us a new creation in Christ, He gives us a new heart, and He transforms us from a bad tree to a good tree!! How glorious is our Savior? How deep, how wide, how vast are His ways!! Have you done this? How about those in your circle of influence? Here’s where I hope we are. That we, who were once bad trees but now are good trees, live to share the transforming, life giving, heart changing message of the Gospel with bad trees in hope that they too will have their identity forever changed in Christ Jesus our Lord! 🙏I'm praying for you always. ❤️ Pastor Jamie Read the Chapter: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%207&version=ESV Learn more about us: www.mygpchurch.com/whoweare 1 Corinthians 13:11Notes From the Pastor's Desk #notesfromthepastorsdesk
📖1 Corinthians 13:11 (ESV) When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 📘Pastor's Note: When I think back to a time when I was young, I can’t help but remember how naive, how dumb many of my thoughts and actions were. Nothing about my life honored the Lord. I was lost. But when I came to hear the Gospel and surrender my life to Jesus, He forever changed the trajectory of my life. My desires, my affections, were forever changed. As I grew in my faith, as I started taking seriously the word of God, I started thinking differently. Childish thinking and actions were replaced with the mirror of His divine standard. He started teaching me to put away those childish ways and to think as He thinks. As I look back, I’m grateful that I am no longer where I used to be but even more grateful that God’s not done with me yet. He’s still working on me, transforming me day by day to think and act more like Christ. 🙏I'm praying for you always. ❤️ Pastor Jamie Read the Chapter: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2013&version=ESV Learn more about us: www.mygpchurch.com/whoweare Ephesians 2:1-5Notes From the Pastor's Desk #notesfromthepastorsdesk
📖Ephesians 2:1-5 (ESV) 2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved-- 📘Pastor's Note: Maybe these are the most beautiful and encouraging words ever to be inspired by the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul. He begins chapter 2 of his epistle by telling us of the dire condition of man. A condition that all of us “once walked in.” Each of us, before the Lord invaded our hearts, followed the sinful ways of the world. We were children of “the prince of the power of the air.” We were spawns of Satan. We were “sons of disobedience.” We were those that lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and mind. We were by nature “children of wrath!” Then comes maybe my most favorite words within God’s holy scripture…”BUT GOD.” In His rich mercy because of His great love for us, raised us to new life. We were dead in our trespasses, yet He made us alive in Christ!!! Oh, the glorious reality of our God! Oh, the glorious reality of His grace!! He could have left us right where we were…DEAD! But He chose not to. He breathed new life into our spiritually dead corpse. If you think of nothing else today, think of this. Think of the glorious salvation that comes in and through Jesus Christ our Lord, who, while we were still sinners, died for us! Now, go and live like it! Proclaim from the mountain tops of this greatest of all news!Praying for you always. The world is in a mess. The world is in chaos. Satan is rubbing his hands together as if he is thwarting the plans of God. Yet he and the world are deceived. They are blind to the fact that our God is in complete and utter control. They are unaware of the coming Day of the Lord. And sadly, if they die in that condition, they will spend eternity separated from Him while experiencing His holy and just wrath. Be on guard. Be vigilant. Be faithful. Be bold! 🙏I'm praying for you always. ❤️ Pastor Jamie Read the Chapter: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%202&version=ESV Learn more about us: www.mygpchurch.com/whoweare Titus 3:10-11Notes From the Pastor's Desk #notesfromthepastorsdesk
📖Titus 3:10-11 (ESV) 10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, 11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. 📘Pastor's Note: Division and dissension can rip a flock apart. It can devastate the church. No wonder why one of the most important directives to Pastors in God’s word is for them to watch and warn the flock. Protect the flock! I’ve heard it said before that unity in the church is hard to achieve and even harder to keep. What makes it so hard? Let me give you three things that make it difficult.
Reading through the pastoral epistles this morning, this stood out to me. It’s a good reminder for us all how important it is to stay focused, to stay alert, to keep our hearts and minds bathed in the word of God. When we do that constantly, purposefully, prayerfully, we can all be of the same mindset. Pray for me as I pray for you. 🙏I'm praying for you always. ❤️ Pastor Jamie 📖Read the Chapter: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Titus%203&version=ESV Click here to learn more about The Grace Place Church John 5:2-6Notes From the Pastor's Desk #notesfromthepastorsdesk
📖John 5:2-6 (ESV) 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 📘Pastor's Note: Here in John 5, Jesus is in Jerusalem, and He goes to a pool called Bethesda, a pool of water where people with disabilities/infirmities would go and await for the waters to stir so they can get in in the hope of being healed. Jesus comes across this one man in particular who had been an invalid for 38 years. The man was too slow to get to the waters and had been there a long time. Jesus sees him and knows this. He approaches the man and asks him a simple question: “Do you want to be healed?” Here, you have God in the flesh personally engaging a man who obviously is in a dire condition. He can’t heal himself. He has no hope of reaching the stirred water. Yet Jesus comes to him and offers him a question filled with hope! What a beautiful picture of the Gospel. In our sin, we are without hope of being healed. We need divine intervention. We are incapable of healing ourselves. We have no hope of reaching the pool of salvation. But praise God! He sees us, He engages us, and He asks us, “Do you want to be healed?” A very important question. That’s the question of the Gospel. We are desperately sick and diseased with sin. But there is healing available. God offers that healing through His One and Only Son! The question is, “Do we WANT to be healed?” That’s a question for every single person. Do they recognize that they are lame and that Jesus can heal them? Oh, the glory of God in His Gospel! He engages man and freely offers healing from our desperate condition with sin. Pray for me as I pray for you. 🙏I'm praying for you always. ❤️ Pastor Jamie 📖Read the Chapter: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%205&version=ESV Click here to learn more about The Grace Place Church James 1:12Notes From the Pastor's Desk #notesfromthepastorsdesk
📖James 1:12 (ESV) Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 📘Pastor's Note: Trials in life will come. We should expect them, not be surprised by them. God sovereignly allows trials to perfect us in the faith. Understanding that, we can look at them as the gracious refinement of God. We are to remain steadfast in them knowing that the crown of life awaits the refined saint just as He promised. Are trials easy? No. Does that mean we endure it with a smile on our face? Not necessarily. But we are to approach it with a steadfast attitude knowing we are like gold heated by fire and being made more pure. In other words, God has a purpose for allowing us to experience trials and if He allows it, it is to our benefit. Be blessed. Endure. Be refined. Stay steadfast. And await the crown of life! 🙏I'm praying for you always. ❤️ Pastor Jamie 📖Read the Chapter: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%201&version=ESV Click here to learn more about The Grace Place Church Hebrews 13:20-21Notes From the Pastor's Desk #notesfromthepastorsdesk
📖Hebrews 13:20-21 (ESV)20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 📘Pastor's Note: Isn't this a beautiful benediction from the writer of Hebrews? The God of peace, who sacrificed His only Son, the Great Shepherd, whose blood has brought us into a redeemed relationship with Him, equips us with everything good to do His will. "Equip" here means to prepare, to complete, to restore. He provides all things necessary for us to carry out His divine purposes. He chooses to use and equip us as clay vessels to make known Christ, the only Hope of salvation, to lost, sinful man. What a privilege and honor we have to serve the Redeemer of man's souls. And that He doesn't leave us to figure it out on our own, that He personally prepares each of us to carry out His divine plan, speaks volumes of our purpose as Christians. Praise Him, honor Him, glorify Him with your life as He uses you to shine His greatness to the lost world. Praying that we are fulfilling our God-given purposes to further the Kingdom of God. 🙏I'm praying for you always. ❤️ Pastor Jamie 📖Read the Chapter: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%2013&version=ESV Click here to learn more about The Grace Place Church Psalm 143:5-6 (ESV)Notes From the Pastor's Desk #notesfromthepastorsdesk
📖Psalm 143:5-6 (ESV) 5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands. 6 I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah 📘Pastor's Note: How thirsty are we for God? Do we realize our souls are like drought-stricken lands yearning for life-giving water. That’s how King David longed for his life-giving Deliverer. That’s how his thirst was quenched. He meditated and pondered on all God had done. Do we do the same? Far too often, we attempt to quench our thirst through other means instead of drinking from the eternal spring that truly satisfies our greatest needs. That’s a good prayer, “Lord, teach us to recognize that the only thing that can satisfy the thirst of our souls is You!” 🙏I'm praying for you always. ❤️ Pastor Jamie 📖Read the Chapter: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20143&version=ESV Click here to learn more about The Grace Place Church James 1:2-4Notes From the Pastor's Desk
#notesfromthepastorsdesk 📖James 1:2-4 (ESV) 2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 📘Pastor's Note: We all encounter various trials/challenges in life. How do we respond to the difficult ones? Do we embrace them and grow, or do we wallow in self-pity? James, the half-brother of Jesus, says count it all joy. How are we to find joy in those difficulties? The answer: knowing the Lord is at work even in the darkest storms, perfecting us in the faith. Trials have a pruning effect. They humble us. They grow our roots stronger. Though we may not initially see it, it makes us healthier, more effective, more useful to the Lord in our walk to glorify Him. Difficulties have a wonderful way of showing us where our dependency lies. Christians turn to and are comforted in their Savior. And as those difficult storms pass, we find ourselves better equipped with a deeper understanding and a relationship with Christ. So, if you're going through a difficult time in your life, know that there is work going on within it. "I am no longer my own, but Yours. Put me to what You will, rank me with whom You will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for You or laid aside for You, exalted for You or brought low for You; let me be full, let me be empty; let me have all things, let me have nothing; I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal." John Wesley 🙏I'm praying for you always. ❤️ Pastor Jamie Read the Chapter: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%201&version=ESV Learn more about us www.mygpchurch.com |
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