BAH, BAH, GOD’S SHEEP
The part of God that we too often don’t want to acknowledge is His judgment. Who likes to be judged? Judging was a regular part of my life when I was a student at Oklahoma Baptist University. In the music department, I worked all semester in preparation for what was called a “jury”. It was at that time that I was held accountable for everything I learned vocally during the semester. Most of the time I was prepared; therefore, the judging by my professors went smoothly. There were other times in which the judging was harsh. Never did I enjoy the judging. There is a judgment acknowledged by Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46. It is here that we find a vivid picture of the Great White Throne Judgment. At this judgment the “shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (v. 32). He will separate those whose names are in the book of life and those whose names are not. For those who are His, He will say “Come, you who are blessed by my Father: take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (v. 34). For those who are not His, He will say “Depart from me, you are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (v. 41).
As you read this, you may be saying to yourself, “Aaron sure is in a gloomy mood today.” On the contrary, it is quite the opposite. I am writing this with a sense of joy, hope and urgency. The joy is in knowing that I have Jesus in my heart. He has given me a joy that the world cannot take away. The hope is in knowing that I need not fear the Great White Throne Judgment. Because I have Jesus in my heart, I am 100% sure that I am in the group that Jesus calls the sheep. At the Great White Throne Judgment, I do not have to fear the wrath of God. Instead, I get to enjoy eternal life with my heavenly Father. The urgency is in knowing that there are many today who would be considered goats. There are so many in our communities that do not have a personal relationship with God. If God’s eternal judgment were to come today, most of this world would be sent to eternal punishment. Knowing this fact should bother us. I feel that we don’t like to think about this fact, so we just ignore it and go on with our lives. Instead, this should spur us on to sharing our faith with everyone we come in contact with. How many people do you know that would be considered “goats’? “Many!” you say. Then what are you doing to share your faith with them? We at First Baptist Church have many opportunities in which to share Christ with a lost and dying world. Let me highlight two. First, on November 8th, we have an opportunity as a church to impact our city with the truth of God’s love. Plan to be a part of this incredible outreach opportunity. Second, there is a new ministry at First Baptist Church called Light Ministry that could use your help. This ministry reaches out to people in physical need while at the same time, trying to meet spiritual needs. Light Ministry is in desperate need of our help. In order to reach as many people as they can with the Gospel of Christ, it takes workers. This ministry goes right along with what Jesus said in Matt. 25 when He stated, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink…I needed clothes and you clothed me…”(vs. 35-36). Contact Ashley McCord to help with this new ministry opportunity.
What will you do to spread God’s light and give hope to the hopeless?
Aaron Hodges
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Do You Need A Reason To Praise?
Do You Need A Reason To Praise?
“Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits---who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel: the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, for the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear Him, and His righteousness with their children’s children—with those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts. The Lord has established His throne is heaven, and His kingdom rules over all. Praise the Lord, you His angels, you mighty ones who do His bidding, who obey His word. Praise the Lord, all you heavenly hosts, you His servants who do His will. Praise the Lord, all His works everywhere in His dominion. Praise the Lord, O my Soul.” Psalm 103
Have you been or are you now in a position or place in your life in which it is hard to think of a reason to praise the Lord? All you have to do is turn on the news and watch it for 5 minutes to let Satan convince you not to praise the Lord. The passage in Psalm is a great passage to meditate on when you get down. The psalmist went through a list of the many reasons he had to praise the Lord. These promises are still relevant today. Try sitting down sometime and making a list of personal reasons you have to praise the Lord. Then when you get down, pull it out and read it out loud to Jesus and watch the glory of Christ rise.
Praise the Lord!
Aaron Hodges
“Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits---who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel: the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, for the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear Him, and His righteousness with their children’s children—with those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts. The Lord has established His throne is heaven, and His kingdom rules over all. Praise the Lord, you His angels, you mighty ones who do His bidding, who obey His word. Praise the Lord, all you heavenly hosts, you His servants who do His will. Praise the Lord, all His works everywhere in His dominion. Praise the Lord, O my Soul.” Psalm 103
Have you been or are you now in a position or place in your life in which it is hard to think of a reason to praise the Lord? All you have to do is turn on the news and watch it for 5 minutes to let Satan convince you not to praise the Lord. The passage in Psalm is a great passage to meditate on when you get down. The psalmist went through a list of the many reasons he had to praise the Lord. These promises are still relevant today. Try sitting down sometime and making a list of personal reasons you have to praise the Lord. Then when you get down, pull it out and read it out loud to Jesus and watch the glory of Christ rise.
Praise the Lord!
Aaron Hodges
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
By What Authority...?
By What Authority…?
On Tuesday mornings, the staff here at FBC meets to do our regularly scheduled meetings. If you have been around me very much, you know that I am not a big fan of meetings. We have all been in meetings for meeting sake. But every once in a while you have a meeting that really covers a lot and is productive. Yesterday in our staff meeting, we were talking about the upcoming Global Impact Celebration which is going to be held on February 24-28, 2010. The Pastor was talking about our responsibility of telling the world about Christ. In that discussion, the topic of authority came up. We are given the responsibility and the authority to share the gospel. Jesus’ authority was questioned in Matthew 21: 23 when the chief priests and elders of the people came to Him and asked, “By what authority are you doing these things?” This question came because of the incident that happened in the temple which we looked at last week. The cleansing of the temple not only defied the authority of the Jewish leaders, but also cut into their pocket books. Jesus hit them where it hurt the most. They were also trying to discredit Jesus in order to raise suspicion of Him as a threat to the Roman authority.
I love this passage because it shows the Jewish, human side of Jesus. It was very common for the Jews to answer a question with another question. Jesus did not come right out and answer their question; instead, He asked them a very difficult question. “John’s baptism…from heaven, or from men (Matthew 21:25)?” By answering with a question, Jesus put the burden back on His opponents. The work of John the Baptist was either divinely-inspired or humanly-devised. This put His opponents in a very awkward position in which they could not answer safely. Jesus answers this question in Matthew 28:18 when He tells the disciples that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Jesus’ authority is not a humanly devised authority; instead, it is an authority given by God, and it encompasses the entire universe. So what does that have to do with us? Let me ask a question to answer that. Is responsibility anything without authority? Jesus has given us the responsibility to “go and make disciples of all nations (vs. 19).” With that responsibility, Jesus has given us all authority in which to get it done. We also need to be reminded that as we go and tell the world about Christ, we are never alone. “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (vs. 20).”
With Christ’s Authority,
Aaron
On Tuesday mornings, the staff here at FBC meets to do our regularly scheduled meetings. If you have been around me very much, you know that I am not a big fan of meetings. We have all been in meetings for meeting sake. But every once in a while you have a meeting that really covers a lot and is productive. Yesterday in our staff meeting, we were talking about the upcoming Global Impact Celebration which is going to be held on February 24-28, 2010. The Pastor was talking about our responsibility of telling the world about Christ. In that discussion, the topic of authority came up. We are given the responsibility and the authority to share the gospel. Jesus’ authority was questioned in Matthew 21: 23 when the chief priests and elders of the people came to Him and asked, “By what authority are you doing these things?” This question came because of the incident that happened in the temple which we looked at last week. The cleansing of the temple not only defied the authority of the Jewish leaders, but also cut into their pocket books. Jesus hit them where it hurt the most. They were also trying to discredit Jesus in order to raise suspicion of Him as a threat to the Roman authority.
I love this passage because it shows the Jewish, human side of Jesus. It was very common for the Jews to answer a question with another question. Jesus did not come right out and answer their question; instead, He asked them a very difficult question. “John’s baptism…from heaven, or from men (Matthew 21:25)?” By answering with a question, Jesus put the burden back on His opponents. The work of John the Baptist was either divinely-inspired or humanly-devised. This put His opponents in a very awkward position in which they could not answer safely. Jesus answers this question in Matthew 28:18 when He tells the disciples that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Jesus’ authority is not a humanly devised authority; instead, it is an authority given by God, and it encompasses the entire universe. So what does that have to do with us? Let me ask a question to answer that. Is responsibility anything without authority? Jesus has given us the responsibility to “go and make disciples of all nations (vs. 19).” With that responsibility, Jesus has given us all authority in which to get it done. We also need to be reminded that as we go and tell the world about Christ, we are never alone. “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (vs. 20).”
With Christ’s Authority,
Aaron
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
LITTLE FAITH
Little Faith
We so often think of Jesus as always being patient with us and never being frustrated. That is not always true. There were indeed times when Jesus got frustrated, one of those instances being the passage in Matthew 21:12-13, where Jesus “overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of those selling doves (vs.12b).” Here he was frustrated with what was going on in the temple. The temple was not to be a market place, but instead it was to be a “house of prayer (vs.13).” Even in His frustration, He did not sin. In Matthew 17:14-21, Jesus gets frustrated yet again. This time it was because of something that His disciples and the people lacked. This passage tells the story of when Jesus healed a boy with a demon. The boy’s father had already been to the disciples to see if they could heal his son without any success. He then went to the ultimate Healer with his request. Jesus expressed His frustration more with His disciples than the boy’s father when He said “O unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you (vs.17)?” After healing the boy, Jesus explained to the disciples what His true frustration was. It was their lack of faith. The timing of this miracle and Jesus’ response is very interesting to me. In the beginning of Matthew 17, we find the transfiguration of Jesus. The disciples had just seen Jesus transfigured. They saw Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah. They heard God’s voice proclaim “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased (vs. 5).” You would think after having experienced all of this that the disciples would have had more faith. Why am I amazed at their lack of faith? Aren’t we often in the same place in our walk with Christ?
As I sit here this morning, I am thinking about how much I want to see First Baptist Church grow. I want to see God do an incredible work here. I want the worship ministry of FBC Canton to be the best it can be so that God will be glorified. I want my children to grow up to be Godly men and women. I want my relationship with my wife to be one focused on the Lord Jesus Christ. But so many times when I think about these things, I wonder how in the world these things will be possible. I get in the same frame of mind as the disciples who asked, “Why couldn’t we… (Matt. 17:19)?” I start thinking about what I am able to do and not how much Christ is able to do. When we take our mind off what we are able to do and put our faith in what Christ can do through us, we start to believe what we cannot physically see. It is not as much the quantity of our faith but instead it is the quality of our faith. A person who prayerfully puts their faith in Jesus can say to the mountain of great difficulties facing them “Move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you (Matt. 17:21).” The strength of our faith lies in the strength of Jesus. Knowing this truth, let us lay aside our lack of faith, take up our shield of faith and follow Jesus.
Seeking to put my Faith daily in Christ,
Aaron Hodges
We so often think of Jesus as always being patient with us and never being frustrated. That is not always true. There were indeed times when Jesus got frustrated, one of those instances being the passage in Matthew 21:12-13, where Jesus “overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of those selling doves (vs.12b).” Here he was frustrated with what was going on in the temple. The temple was not to be a market place, but instead it was to be a “house of prayer (vs.13).” Even in His frustration, He did not sin. In Matthew 17:14-21, Jesus gets frustrated yet again. This time it was because of something that His disciples and the people lacked. This passage tells the story of when Jesus healed a boy with a demon. The boy’s father had already been to the disciples to see if they could heal his son without any success. He then went to the ultimate Healer with his request. Jesus expressed His frustration more with His disciples than the boy’s father when He said “O unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you (vs.17)?” After healing the boy, Jesus explained to the disciples what His true frustration was. It was their lack of faith. The timing of this miracle and Jesus’ response is very interesting to me. In the beginning of Matthew 17, we find the transfiguration of Jesus. The disciples had just seen Jesus transfigured. They saw Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah. They heard God’s voice proclaim “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased (vs. 5).” You would think after having experienced all of this that the disciples would have had more faith. Why am I amazed at their lack of faith? Aren’t we often in the same place in our walk with Christ?
As I sit here this morning, I am thinking about how much I want to see First Baptist Church grow. I want to see God do an incredible work here. I want the worship ministry of FBC Canton to be the best it can be so that God will be glorified. I want my children to grow up to be Godly men and women. I want my relationship with my wife to be one focused on the Lord Jesus Christ. But so many times when I think about these things, I wonder how in the world these things will be possible. I get in the same frame of mind as the disciples who asked, “Why couldn’t we… (Matt. 17:19)?” I start thinking about what I am able to do and not how much Christ is able to do. When we take our mind off what we are able to do and put our faith in what Christ can do through us, we start to believe what we cannot physically see. It is not as much the quantity of our faith but instead it is the quality of our faith. A person who prayerfully puts their faith in Jesus can say to the mountain of great difficulties facing them “Move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you (Matt. 17:21).” The strength of our faith lies in the strength of Jesus. Knowing this truth, let us lay aside our lack of faith, take up our shield of faith and follow Jesus.
Seeking to put my Faith daily in Christ,
Aaron Hodges
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