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October 4th - Serve One Another #7
2 Chron 7:19-20 - "If you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples."
How many lost souls reject Christ and view His church as an object of ridicule? How many have this opinion as a result of our lack of love and service toward one another? How many souls saved by grace have turned to "serve other gods" rather than remaining faithful to serve the living God and His people? There are multiple ways you can serve God by serving His children at Camden - joining a small group, joining the meal rotation, serving in the nursery or children's church, praying with one another, giving faithfully to the ministries, to name a few. Unfortunately, only a fraction of the people currently attending our Sunday worship services are actually serving in some capacity. That means the majority of the work is being accomplished by a minority of the people. When you serve through the body of Christ, as God has equipped you, God is glorified, your faith matures, and your brothers and sisters are blessed by your labors. When you say, "I'm too busy" or "I would like to serve, but . . ." you have committed yourself to "other gods." Examine yourselves this morning.
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September 20th - Love One Another #7
Gen 33:3-4 - Jacob went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.
Matt 5:23-24 - If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother;
then come and offer your gift.
Our love for one another will be revealed in the "grace" that abounds in our relationships. Esau had every right to be angry with his brother Jacob for stealing his father's blessing. But after years of separation, Esau did not seek retribution. He wanted nothing more than to love and enjoy his long-lost brother. Gospel love is hindered in the church when brothers and sisters in Christ allow old wounds, hurtful comments, and backbiting to go on unresolved. If your relationships with one another really matter, then you will do as our Lord commands and go, be reconciled, and then come and worship. Apart from having right relationships with those whom He has saved by His blood, Jesus finds your offering of worship unacceptable and worthless. Embrace the security and love that Christ gave you through the cross, and then, show your true love for one another by making right those relationships that have been broken and guarding those that are not.
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September 13th - Love God #7
Joshua 24:19-20 - Joshua said to the people, "You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you."
Loving God is more than going to church, reading your Bible, and praying periodically. The Lord our God calls us into a vibrant, moment-by-moment, passionate love relationship with His Son. True love is forever captivating and neither time, nor distance can squelch the radiant flames of a lover's heart. Is this your experience with Jesus Christ? Do you find yourself enthralled and overwhelmed and gushing over the ultimate lover of your soul, a lover who will be second to NONE in your life? If this is not your experience with Christianity, then you have embraced a religion, not The Christ! He is a jealous God and lovingly demands our full attention. Identify those "other lovers" in your life that are vying for the throne of your heart and submit them to your eternal Husband. Meditate on the great lengths Jesus took to claim you as one of His own. Today, find your joy, satisfaction, and complete identity in the one who is worthy. To Him be the glory, both now and forever. Amen.
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August 23th - Serve The World #6
1 John 4:9-10, John 3:17 - This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him . . . For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
2 John 7 - Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.
If God showed His love to us by sending His Son into the world, then what better way for God's people to show their love for Him then by going into the world as well? As a result of sin, humanity stands condemned. But God was not willing to let His prized creation simply perish. He offers us hope through the saving work of Jesus Christ. But the gospel must be taken out; it must be shared; the work of Christ at Calvary must be proclaimed. Many deceivers are already out, sharing gospels of death, not life. They offer robust 401ks. We offer eternal treasures. They prescribe medications. We prescribe a contrite heart. They fill our heads with knowledge. The gospel fills our hearts with love. They offer a ten step program to healthy living. We offer a man on a cross, dying for our sins. Every day approximately 153,000 people pass from this life to the next. They either experience an inexplicable horror or radical sense of love and community . . . pending on what they have done with the gospel. What part are you playing in sharing the gospel with a world that so desperately needs to hear the "good news" of Jesus Christ?
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August 23th - Serve One Another #6
Gal 5:13, John 15:13 - You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love . . . Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends
The boundaries of sacrificial love were set by Christ in the form of service - the giving of a man's life for friend or country. Christ not only taught this to His disciples but then He lived it out on the cross. The greatest servant of mankind rendered the greatest service to mankind by giving His life away to redeem the unredeemable. How much of your life are you willing to give away in order to serve one for whom Christ was willing to die? How much of your time, money, and energies will you sacrifice in order to serve a brother or sister in the Lord? This question must be answered by your actions. Good intentions fall woefully short in the arena of biblical service. How are you serving your fellow believers? Are you serving at all or simply being served? Do not gloss over this necessary step of the disciple-making process. In Christ, you are a servant to all. If you are never serving or serve with a bitter heart, go back to the cross, cast your eyes upon the suffering servant who gave His life out of His love for you and remember who you are in Him. Only the gospel of grace will give you the desire to "serve one another."
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August 9th - Love One Another #6
1 Peter 1:22 - Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
Thomas Edison - "I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world."
How many blessings do we deny ourselves and others by living such isolated, independent lives? How much glory is denied our God as a result of our radical dependence on electronic media and our diminishing need for one another? This need not be your destiny, dear saint of God. You have been given an eternal love in Christ that will drive your brotherly love for one another, if you exercise it well. You have been adopted into the family of God and given brothers and sisters to love and be loved by. Look around you . . . do you have a deep, abiding love for those in the body at Camden? Is there a longing in your heart to grow closer to those God ordained before the foundation of the world to be your immediate, spiritual family? Thomas Edison was blessed with simple friends who loved him. Not because of his genius, but because they simply loved him. There is no greater joy to be found between two people than a shared love bound only by the cross of Christ. This week, exercise your love for one another "sincerely and from the heart."
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August 2nd - Love God #6
James 4:8, Matt 6:21 - Draw near to God and He will draw near to you . . . for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Does your heart rejoice in the exalted glory of our God? The more you grow to love the exalted state of God, the less it will require discipline to remain in His throne room. Your love for who God is will keep you there. Standing in His radiant presence will become your treasure. Don't try to grow in this area through religious "abiding" or forced ritual. Grow in your love of Him and the discipline will come naturally. Increase your love for God by "hearing" your own voice praise the radiant-glory of His love, kindness, and power in your life. Meditate daily on the infinite sacrifice made on the cross to buy you back and love you completely. Do this, and your affections, not your willpower, will draw you near to Him. Remember, glory is the stuff we love in the natural realm. We love the glory of winning in sports, the glory of a sunset, the glory of beauty, the glory of having a close friend. It is by God's design that our love of glory, in an earthly sense, points us to the ultimate glory that has the power to satisfy the thirstiest of souls! "Day by day, dear Lord, of you three things I pray, to see you more clearly, to love you more dearly, to follow you more nearly, day by day."
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July 26th - Serve One Another #5
Lev 19:33-34 - The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
Ps 82:3-5 - Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. "They know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness."
Do you remember what it was like to be lost? Do you recall the lack of purpose, meaning, and direction in your life? The darkness of life apart from the gospel of grace is unbearable.
And yet, God graciously brought you out of the darkness, out of Egypt, so that you can be a blessing to those still mastered by their own sins. The lost and hurting turn to doctors, therapists, medications, and self-help books because they don't know the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must be messengers of the light. We must be ambassadors of love. As God's holy church, we must be His agents of restoration and reconciliation in our own backyard. Ask yourselves, individually and corporately, how can we bring healing to this broken community? How can we, the members of CABC, engage in the work of our Messiah by loving the least and last in our midst? As members of one body, commit these questions to faithful prayer so the CABC will become the sanctuary God has ordained us to be.
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July 19th - Serve One Another #5
Matt 20:25-28 - Jesus called his disciples together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
As you nurture your love for God and one another, you will desire to serve your brothers and sisters in Christ. Serving is a Christian discipline, a means of grace. But if the reigning mantra in the contemporary church is true, that ten percent of the people do ninety percent of the work, then our hearts have grown cold. As your pastor, it grieves me to see the same people, week after week, preparing the meals, setting up tables and chairs, washing the dishes, cleaning the church, serving in the nursery, leading children's church . . . this is not God's will. If you find yourself receiving, but not giving back, being served, but not faithfully serving, then you have not entered life in the upside-down Kingdom. If our Lord, Jesus Christ, who deserved to be waited on hand and foot, did not come to be served but to serve, how can we for a moment not see ourselves as kingdom servants? Slaves to the least and last amongst us? Examine your heart objectively, dear Saint, lest your find it has grown cold and then pick up a broom, chair, or spatula and start serving!
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July 12th - Love One Another #5
Rom 15:23-24 - I have been longing for many years to see you, 24 . . . I hope to visit you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while.
Paul had a deep desire to see and enjoy his brothers and sisters in Rome. Did he want them to grow in Christ? Absolutely. Was it his passion to see them mature into loving, compassionate, servants of the Lord? So much so that he was willing to pour out his life to this end. But let us not miss the deep desire Paul had to be with and simply enjoy his fellow sojourners. It literally says he will be "filled up, satisfied" in their company. Do you have this longing for those in this church or do you look upon one another with disdain or indifference? Thomas Merton wrote, "It is both dangerous and easy to hate man as he is because he is not 'what he ought to be.' If we do not first respect what he is we will never suffer him to become what he ought to be: in our impatience we will do away with him altogether." We are called to care for, not exploit . . . to cultivate, not dismiss . . . to enjoy, not use one another. Do you long to see one another throughout the week? Are you filled up in the presence of your brothers and sisters? If not, examine your heart, dear Saint of God, because something is awry.
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June 21st - Love God #5
The longer and more deeply David got to know God, the more he found himself raptured by God's love.
I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. - Psalm 63:2-6
Are you carefully and intentionally growing in your depth and understanding of God Almighty? To the degree that you meditate and enjoy his power and glory, you will grow in your love for Him as well. This comes through prayer and mediation on His Holy Word. It comes through corporate worship and prayer. It comes through music and fellowship and serving one another in love. There are many disciplines you can use to increase your knowledge of God and, in so doing, increase your love for Him. Can you say like David, that you think of God through the watches of the night because his love is better than life itself?
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June 14th - Love One Another #4
Ezek 16:49 - "Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy."
James 1:27 - Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
It is not uncommon for contemporary churches to become inwardly turned, neglecting our calling to serve the world through the love of Christ. But the Bible clearly teaches that we are to be His hands and feet. We are to bridge the gap between this fallen world and our Heavenly Father. We are to bring tidings of great joy to the least, and last, and lost amongst us. This requires our love for Christ to overflow into the lives of our neighbors, friends, and co-workers. We must intentionally and strategically work to meet the spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of those outside the church. The gospel of grace is a gospel of restoration. Making all things new is of the Lord and we have been commissioned by Christ to be His agents of change. Are you? Are we?
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