Song written and performed by John Henry Raskin in 2010.

THE POWER OF RESURRECTION IN YOU

Let’s Pray…

Father, as we turn now to Your anointed Word, the Holy Bible, what we know not please teach us. What we have not please give us. What we are not yet please make us. We ask this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I say… He is risen! And you respond… He is risen indeed!

After all… that is why we are here today.

Because we believe that Jesus Christ was delivered over to death as a substitute for our sins and that He was raised to life to justify all who believe in and have faith in Him.

But here is a “what if” for you…

“Imagine that some archaeologist finds positive proof that he has unearthed the bones of Jesus of Nazareth.

What would that do to your faith?”

I remember a teacher asking that question in a Bible Study I attended once. I recall that we had a long discussion, first of all trying to dispute his premise — How could we really know that these were Jesus’ bones…? etc. but then, accepting his premise under duress, we tried to answer the question.

“He’s still God, right? He still died for us. He still would have given the same teaching. I could still believe in him, couldn’t I?”

Many of us felt that somehow, we could hold onto our faith, even though it was proven that Jesus did not rise from the dead.

However, the Apostle Paul gives a very different answer to the question in 1 Corinthians 15.

He says…
And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
– 1 Corinthians 15:17

And in verse 19 he says…
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
– 1 Corinthians 15:19

Why does Paul say that? Wouldn’t our faith be just as valid if Jesus didn’t come back from the dead? Why is the fact of the resurrection central to true Christianity?

The answer to this most important question is found throughout the New Testament.

Let’s focus for a moment on the answer the Apostle Paul gives in his letter to the Philippians.

In Philippians 3, the Apostle Paul is reacting to false teachers who were saying that we must follow the Jewish law in order to be saved. In verses 4-9, Paul says this:

[4b] If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: [5] circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; [6] concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

[7] But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. [8] Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ [9] and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
– Philippians 3:4b-9

Now some may find that piece of scripture difficult to follow so let’s paraphrase what Paul is saying so that we can see the application to us…

—–
Paul says…

Look, I followed the Law as well as anyone, and better than any
of these false teachers. No one could have looked at any part
of my life and accused me of breaking the Law. I was, on those
terms, perfect.

But now I consider all that I did, all my accomplishments, all
that striving to prove to God that I was good – Now I say, “I
consider all of that garbage, compared to the greatest thing of
all: knowing Jesus Christ as Lord.

Indeed, I have given up everything else so I might know Him. I
am convinced that once I know Him, I will be in Him, and will
be declared good by God, not because of anything I have done,
but because I am identified with Christ Jesus.
—–

Paul then writes the verse on which I want you to concentrate this morning.

The Apostle gives the reason why he has given up all claims to his own righteousness based on his zeal and works:

that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection,
– Philippians 3:10a

Paul says…”I want to know Christ. I want to know the power of his resurrection.” This is Paul’s primary desire… this is what Paul wants more than anything else in this life; to know the living, resurrected Christ, and to know the power of living a life associated with and empowered by that resurrection.

You see, if Christ is not raised from the dead, if his bones are buried somewhere in Palestine, then we cannot know him. That man is dead. We might read about him, we might revere him as the founder of some religion called Christianity, but we cannot know Him.

Furthermore, if He was not raised from the dead, then He has no power today.

He is dead.

His words might have some influence, just like Confucius, Buddha, Lao Tsu, or Mohammed — but He himself has no power.

This is why the resurrection is so central to us as believers:

True Christianity is not a religion based on abstract principles, or traditions or teachings. True, living, Christianity is a relationship with a living Savior, a Savior we can know, a Savior God who infuses our life and empowers us, who transforms us into His likeness and Whom we can follow here and now.

But what does Paul mean when he says he wants to know Christ?

The Bible, time and again, Old Testament and New Testament, portrays the right relationship between man and God as personal.

In the Old Testament, for example, the Israelites’ are always seen in relationship to a living God; they were not simply followers of a legal code or believers in a Mosaic philosophy.

That is why they were set apart to worship I AM …not I WAS or I DID.

Hear the Word of the Lord…
[23] Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; [24] But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord.
– Jeremiah 9:23-24

Knowing God is more important than wisdom, or strength, or riches.

Think about the people who are most admired in this world. They are admired for these three qualities, aren’t they? The world admires those who are bright, intelligent, and knowledgeable… or those who are physically gifted in strength, talent, or beauty; or those who have amassed great wealth.

But the Lord says through Jeremiah that none of those are of great importance. What matters more than anything else, says Jeremiah, is understanding and knowing the Lord, the covenant God who delights in kindness, justice, and righteousness.

And this prominence of knowing God carries over into the gospels. Jesus himself, on the night prior to his death, prays to His Father for his followers, saying:

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and    Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
– John 17:3

Eternal life is… what? Knowing God, knowing Jesus! Without knowing Him and His resurrection, there is no true life.

Peter also emphasizes this point:
as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
– 2 Peter 1:3

Our knowledge of Him leads to His empowering us with everything we need for life and godliness.

John makes a similar point near the close of his first letter:
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.– 1 John 5:20

John says that Jesus came so that we might know God the Father. The purpose of His incarnation and the finished work of the Cross, His Resurrection, was our knowing Him.

This is central to the gospel.

So Old Testament, New Testament, gospels, letters, Paul, Peter, John – all agree that knowing God, which John tells us is knowing Jesus, the Lamb who was slain and now rules at the right Hand of the Throne of Grace, is central to our faith.

Jesus tells us Himself that if you know Him you know the Father.

But what does knowing God by knowing Jesus mean?

The first step is putting your faith in Him: believing that He is the Son of God, crucified for your sins, AND believing that the event we celebrate today (Easter), the resurrection, really did take place, and that He conquered the grave.

That is why the Apostle Paul proclaims to us:
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
– Romans 10:9

So now that we know about who Jesus is, and believe what He did, and we have accepted Him as Lord. But how do we get to really know Jesus? The same way we get to know a person. By spending time with Him. We get to know a person by being in their physical presence and interacting with them over a long period of time.

Although we cannot see Jesus physically in this place, we have been given the Holy Spirit as a comforter and as a guide to be able to follow Jesus as he commanded us to do.

One way to spend time with Him is by intentionally making time to pray. True prayer is not a one-sided conversation.

Because of the Resurrection life that is IN you and because of what He did FOR you, His Spirit will speak to your spirit, drawing you into specific prayers for specific needs of those around you.

The prayer begins with Him, goes through you in obedience and is completed in Him. You will hear His whisper if you truly desire to fully know Him. That level of intimacy requires a relationship that is nurtured by spending time intentionally every day inviting God to use you where He has placed you. Pray alone, and with others. Pray without ceasing.

In prayer, you can share all your joys, frustrations, and sorrows with the God of the universe, the God who cares. Try praying through Scripture, using Psalms, or Paul’s prayers, or the prayers of Daniel or Moses. Talking to God from your position in Christ builds your relationship with Him.

Another way to nurture that relationship is by studying and spending time in His Word. However, remember that the Bible is not a textbook. It is living and powerful.

While it is important to know about God, knowing God is more than knowing facts about God. We must go beyond learning facts. We must absorb the wisdom of the Word, allowing it to change us on the inside.

The third step is following. Listen as you pray and read the Bible. Be willing to walk out in faith, even when His commands don’t seem to make sense. Depend on God even when His requirements seem unreasonable to your human understanding. When you do this — when you step out in faith — He will be there to support you, and you will see Jesus as a living, risen Savior.

Let’s look at that last piece of Paul’s scripture that we saw in Philippians 3 again.

that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection,
– Philippians 3:10a

The second part of Paul’s desire is “to know . . . the power of His resurrection.”

Note that Paul does not ask God for more power. Instead, he asks God that he might know the resurrection power he already has.

Paul’s first prayer for the Ephesians parallels this idea. This is also my prayer for you.

[15] Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, [16] do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: [17] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, [18] the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, [19] and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power [20] which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, [21] far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
– Ephesians 1:15-21

All followers of Jesus have this power; all Christians have access to this incomparably great power, this resurrection power. Our task is to tap into it.

Let’s consider four aspects of this power.

01. The Power to be forgiven of sin
Paul puts it this way at the end of Romans 4:

He was delivered over to death because of our sins, and raised to life because of our justification
– Romans 4:25
Because of this power we do not have to walk around in shame and condemnation because of past sin.

02. The Power to Conquer Sin
Christ’s resurrection also empowers us to conquer sin in our lives. We only need to acknowledge the sin that the Holy Spirit reveals to us, repent and move on free and released.

As Paul says in Ephesians 4:

[23] and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, [24] and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
– Ephesians 4:23-24

The power that we have here is to put on the mind of Christ but first we must put down our carnal minds which will always want to take over wherever we will let them.

Use your free will for good not for evil and you will be strengthened to do all    the will of God.

03. The Power to Be God’s Agent for Good
Christianity is not just about forgiveness and overcoming sin.
Christianity is not simply a solution to our problems.

God has determined that we are to be His agents of change in the world. He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors.

We are also His agents to do His mighty work among those He has placed in our midst. This includes creating pathways of peace, bringers of healing and restoration as led by His Spirit.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
– Ephesians 2:10

Finally, resurrection power’s greatest accomplishment is

04. Conforming us into the likeness of Christ.
Not only are we forgiven for our sins, empowered not to sin, and appointed as ambassadors – we are perfected in His love.

Paul says:
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
– 2 Corinthians 3:18

Into his likeness! Can you imagine what that means? Think of everything about yourself that you don’t like, all the habits, all the negative characteristics — the things you have wanted to change, have tried to change.

God is dealing with every one of those. You are being made into a perfect creation — you are becoming like Jesus! That is your destiny; you are becoming spotless, blameless, loving, kind, strong — transformed into his likeness. That is the power of the resurrection!

As believers, we need, not just a decision, but a commitment — a commitment to depend on the power of God, a commitment to knowing Him better and better, so that we might be conformed to his likeness in all things pertaining to Godliness.

All this to say… Jesus is risen from the dead!

• Christ lives in you!
• Believe it!
• Know Him!
• Follow Him!
• Praise Him!

Hallelujah!

Anyone who has been to Church, and most importantly has read the Bible is familiar with the concept of the Trinity.

One God/Three Persons.
That is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In our opening blessing each week we invoke God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son. Today we are going to speak a bit about the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. First, we will discover a bit about this mysterious Person, and then we will tackle the mystery of how He lives in us as believers. In order to understand the nature and the power of the Holy Spirit we must start with His role in the existence and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When Jesus was on earth in his human body it was the Holy Spirit that bound him consistently with the Father both in mind and Will. The relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit is established from the very beginning of Jesus’ earthly life.

According to the Gospels, the Holy Spirit was instrumental in the conception of Jesus. In the gospel of Luke, the angel Gabriel tells Mary,

The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
– Luke 1:35

This divine act highlights the Holy Spirit’s role in bringing forth the incarnation of Christ, the Son of the Trinity made flesh, marking the beginning of the divine connection between Jesus and the Father through the Spirit. The baptism of Jesus is another significant moment where the Holy Spirit’s presence is vividly seen. As recorded in the book of Matthew.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’
– Matthew 3:16-17

This event underscores the triune nature of God, with the Father’s voice, the Son’s presence, and the Holy Spirit’s descent, symbolizing the divine approval and the Spirit’s empowering of Jesus’ mission on earth. Throughout His ministry, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit.The Spirit provided guidance, strength, and wisdom as Jesus taught, performed miracles, and fulfilled His mission.

For instance, immediately after His baptism, Luke records it…

Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
– Luke 4:1

This verse demonstrates the Spirit’s role in directing Jesus’ actions and decisions, ensuring alignment with the Father’s will. As we know, it was in the wilderness that Jesus was tested by the enemy, and when the test had been completed, and Jesus had prevail, Luke says this…

Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
– Luke 4:14-15

The implication in this verse is that not only did the Spirit give Jesus clear direction and timing but also provided Him with the supernatural wisdom to teach in the Synagogues with authority, illuminating the scriptures to the Scribes and Pharisees from God’s perspective.

I believe that it is the Holy Spirit that gives us the ability to rightly divide the Word (the Bible) today. We will speak more about that in a moment.

Furthermore, Jesus Himself acknowledged the Holy Spirit’s role in His works. In the Gospel of Matthew He states to the Pharisees who question His motives and from whence His power comes to drive out demonic forces…

But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
– Matthew 12:28

This acknowledgment serves to illustrate that the miracles performed by Jesus were carried out through the power of the Holy Spirit, reinforcing the connection between Jesus and the Father. This divine presence not only connected Jesus Christ to the Father during His earthly ministry but continues to work powerfully within believers today.

Understanding the role of the Holy Spirit in these contexts offers profound insights into the nature of God’s interaction with humanity and the transformative power available to the faithful. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the action by which God takes up permanent residence in the body of a believer in Jesus Christ.

Conversely, in the Old Testament, the Spirit would come and go from individuals, empowering them for service but not necessarily remaining with them. According to most theological interpretations, the Old Testament describes instances where the Holy Spirit came upon individuals who were not necessarily considered “believers” in the sense of a personal relationship with Yahweh, but rather came upon them for a specific task or purpose, like empowering a prophet or judge to carry out God’s will.

Consider Samson who was in no way a paragon of moral virtue… What seems certain is that in the Old Testament, a level of faith or obedience was not required to receive God’s Spirit but only God’s purpose of fulfilling His sovereign Will. Here’s a somewhat obscure piece of scripture from first chronicles that describes the Spirit filling an individual for a specific purpose…

Then some of the sons of Benjamin and Judah came to David at the stronghold. And David went out to meet them, and answered and said to them, “If you have come peaceably to me to help me, my heart will be united with you; but if to betray me to my enemies, since there is no wrong in my hands, may the God of our fathers look and bring judgment.” Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the captains, and he said:

We are yours, O David;
We are on your side, O son of Jesse!
Peace, peace to you,
And peace to your helpers!
For your God helps you.
– 1 Chronicles 12:16-18

What I find so fascinating about this scripture is that just like we must come humbly, seeking peace with God in order to receive the peace that he has already provided for us in Christ Jesus… so David said to the men of Judah and Benjamin, “if you come peaceably to me then my heart will be united with you but if you come to betray me then the God of our fathers will look upon you and bring judgment.”

And how are we drawn to desire peace with God? By His Spirit, just as it was with Amasai to David. The Holy Spirit draws us to desire a relationship with God and then reveals the Son to us when the time is right. God is always with those whose hearts are with His Son.

Now we come to the question how do we know that the Holy Spirit is indwelling in US? The Holy Spirit’s role did not end with Jesus’ ministry on earth; it extended to His resurrection.

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
– Romans 8:11

This passage highlights the Holy Spirit’s vital role in the resurrection, a cornerstone of our faith in Christ, and signifies the Spirit’s life-giving power that raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus revealed to His disciples the new role the Spirit of Truth would play in our lives when He says in the Gospel of John…

If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
– John 14:15-17

And the apostle Paul wrote,

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
– 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

These verses are telling us that the believer in Jesus Christ has the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, living in him. When an individual accepts Christ as hid/her personal Savior, the Holy Spirit gives that believer the life of God, eternal life, which is really His very nature and the Holy Spirit comes to live within him spiritually.

The fact that the believer’s body is likened to a temple where the Holy Spirit lives, helps us understand what the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is all about. The word ‘temple’ is used to describe the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctum in the Old Testament tabernacle structure. There, God’s presence would appear in a cloud and meet the high priest, who came once a year into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. On that Day, Yom Kippur, the high priest brought the blood of a slain animal and sprinkled it on the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant. On this special day, God granted forgiveness to the priest and His people.

Today, the believer in Christ has become the inner sanctum of God the Holy Spirit, as we have been sanctified and forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ. The believer in Christ becomes the habitation of the Holy Spirit of God. In fact, Scripture also says that the believer is indwelt spiritually by the full Trinity in One God.

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
– 1 John 4:15

As the Holy Spirit lives in the believer, He brings about some life-changing results that reveal His Presence:

1. The indwelling Spirit comes to a soul dead in sin and creates new life. Paul calls it the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. This is the new birth Jesus spoke of in John 3:1-8 when Jesus told Nicodemus that in order to see the Kingdom of God, a person must be born again of the Spirit.
2. The Apostle Paul tells us the indwelling Spirit confirms to believers that they belong to the Lord and are heirs of their Father God and fellow-heirs with Christ.

   For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
   – Romans 8:14

   The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
   – Romans 8:16

3. The indwelling Spirit installs the new believer as a member of Christ’s universal church. This is the baptism of the Spirit, according to Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.

   For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
   – 1 Corinthians 12:13

4. The indwelling Spirit gives spiritual gifts (God-given abilities for service) to the believer to edify the church and serve the Lord effectively for His glory.

   There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
   – 1 Corinthians 12:4

5. The indwelling Spirit helps the believer understand and apply the Scripture to his daily life. I want to camp out on this one for a minute…

Paul tells us…

Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
– 1 Corinthians 2:11-12

The Bible, while accessible, is a text of divine origin and eternal wisdom. Its truths are veiled to the natural mind, as Paul reminds us…

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
– 1 Corinthians 2:14

Without the Holy Spirit’s intervention, our understanding remains superficial and incomplete. The Holy Spirit’s role in illuminating the Word of God is multifaceted.

Firstly, He inspires a hunger and reverence for the Scriptures. As we read, He opens our hearts and minds to comprehend the depth of God’s message. This is not merely about intellectual understanding but a transformative experience. The Spirit brings conviction, encouragement, correction, and guidance through the Scriptures.

Secondly, the Holy Spirit helps us to “rightly divide” the Word of Truth, as Paul exhorts his disciple Timothy. This means interpreting the Scriptures accurately and applying them appropriately to our lives. The Spirit helps us discern the context, the intended message, and how it relates to the broader narrative of God’s redemption plan. The practical application of this divine illumination is seen in our daily walk with God.

When faced with life’s challenges, the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance the words of Scripture, providing comfort and direction. In moments of decision-making, He helps us discern God’s will through the principles laid out in His Word. As we share the gospel, the Spirit empowers us to speak with clarity and conviction, ensuring that our message aligns with biblical truth. One of the evidences of the Holy Spirit living in you is that you will have a hunger and a thirst and a desire to know God’s word

Even though we have gone through quite a bit of the evidence of God’s spirit indwelling in us and how it is supposed to come out in our daily lives there is much more and I will continue it next week, God willing. But for now, suffice it to say that when you receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior, you receive the character of God, the power of God, and the very person of God to live in you, with you, and through you. Truly a life lived in relationship with the Lord through His Spirit is the only life worth living. As Jesus said He is the way the truth and the life.

Let’s pray…
– John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I don’t know how many of you have ever held a managerial position, but even as a supervisor to a single person or a small group of people, let alone Director of a very large company, (and I have been both), the weight of responsibility is incredibly heavy. This is especially true if the person to whom you report has given you complete responsibility for the bottom line.

The pressures of running the day-to-day operations of a number of departments that report to you without having anyone to give you guidance is incredibly stressful. Well… I don’t know about you but my life before Jesus was a lot like that. I was running the world and doing a pretty poor job of it and I was under a lot of stress.

As anyone who’s ever worked for a corporation knows there is generally someone to whom even the CEO reports. Sometimes it’s an owner who founded the company or it could be a Board of Directors or shareholders.

Think of your life as a job that has been given to you and where you have responsibility for the bottom line and yet you report to a higher authority whom you’ve never met. What we are going to talk about today is the nature of free will and how it makes us the boss and how to be the best boss we can be.

If you think about it, God (who is three persons, one God), created man (you and me) in His own image. When He gave us dominion over the Earth, it was with the express understanding that we would be His managers and report to Him as our senior partner.

It was for this purpose that He gave us free will. He wanted us to make good decisions. Early in the game, however, we made a bad one and are still paying the price today as the human race. Free will is a gift from God that has been given to human beings for good and not for evil. However, there is no regulator put on our free will except God’s consistent desire that you use it for good, and His Word which has been given to you and consistently encourages you to use it well.

It is free will that makes you the boss of your own life. I’ve spoken before from this pulpit about how our free will is the greatest power on earth. It was given to us by God and He has never rescinded it. We have unhindered ability to make good choices or bad choices as we go about our lives. God won’t override the bad decisions we make, although there will always be consequences for our choices. The world itself will see to that.

Satan can’t take our free will away from us, but he can trick us into using it to our own detriment. This was proven in the garden of Eden. Even though Eve was given to Adam as a helper for his good, and they were both given Dominion over the Earth… (not only for their own benefit but also for the good of the Earth), because of their unhindered ability to choose, they were able to be tricked by the serpent into using their free will to harm themselves.

Our enemy is still using this trick today. The trick of course as we know, from the third Chapter of Genesis, is to get someone to take pride in the fact that they have the ability to choose, and then to believe that the choice that they have is not a gift from their Creator but a right that they deserve, and finally that their Creator (who is the real owner of the company in this analogy), is a meanie and just doesn’t want them to be the owner of the company (even though they are doing all the work).

It’s a small step then to make them believe that all their choices are good ones simply because they have made them. This trick works because of the same pride that caused them to choose poorly to begin with… In effect, then they (who is us) simply stage a hostile takeover and start our own company acting as if we were the owner and founder.

The Amazing Life company is now re-formed as Death, Inc. Adam and sons, Proprietors. Now I know that some of you will think that I played a little fast and loose with the whole idea of original sin, but it pretty much does work like this if you think about it.

Why would God do this?

I maintain that it is because He did not want to spend eternity with robotic puppets that He created to do exactly what He wanted them to do. He wanted to spend eternity with beloved creations who by their own free and unfettered will decided with all their heart, mind, soul and strength that they loved Him and that they wanted to be with Him forever.

A friend of mine who was homeless and whose homelessness was pretty much by his own hand because he was a drug abuser and had made many bad choices in his life, said to me one day after I gave a sermon about sin at a Homeless lunch…

If God wanted man not to sin, why did He give us free will?
I said to him, “Aha! That is an excellent question.
Here is the answer. It is because love requires free will and God is love.”

Here is the point. God is free to do whatever God wants and because He loved us so much that He wanted to give us dominion over His precious Creation, He gave us free will so that we could choose to honor Him and to continue the good work of Creation from which He rested on the seventh day. He wanted the seventh Day to be an eternal Sabbath with those who chose to love Him.

However, because God, the Creator, who gave us free will is omniscient, (which means He knows everything), He always understood that in giving human beings free will, they would mess up. He also knew that He was going to ultimately give them a way to use their free will for its true purpose, which was to choose Him as a Savior and work in co-operation with their Creator as they were originally intended.

We see throughout the Bible story, from the tower of Babel to the exile in Babylon, from the slavery in Egypt to the wilderness of Sin both literal and figurative, that God has always let us know what was good and what was bad from His perspective. This scripture sums up what is good from God’s perspective.

He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly, to love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
– Micah 6:8

He always said that IF we would choose His ways then our lives would be good.

On Mt. Gezaim and Mt. Ebal, God had the people of Israel proclaim that IF they obeyed God’s Word they would be blessed and IF they did not that they would be cursed. They agreed to the concept but could not follow through with the reality, and we know how that turned out. The Bible is full of these IFs but one of the greatest of them and simplest to understand is the one found in 2nd Chronicles.

if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
– 2 Chronicles 7:14

And yes… that IS a Quid Pro Quo. IF you do this THEN I will do that. Because God is gracious, merciful, and abounding in love, He allowed the people of Israel to fall into idolatry time and time again, but when they were suffering the consequences of their sin and they cried out to him, praying and seeking his face, once again… He delivered them. Until the next time… This cycle of sin and salvation continued over and over again until…

Ultimately, in the fullness of time, God Himself entered His own Creation, (in effect taking back the Company from our hostile takeover) as the New Human Being, the perfect Adam, the Son of Man Jesus, who was also fully God. He came to be a sacrifice for all those who would use their free will to humble themselves, receive the grace of God in Christ and return to peace in relationship with Him.

That is us. Death Inc. has now become in us Life Unlimited, Jesus Christ, Proprietor. Now I don’t know about you but when I gave my life to Jesus, it was an instantaneous and deliberate use of my free will even though I realized that He had been drawing me to Himself for a very long time by His Spirit.

The first thing I realized was that I no longer had that feeling of heaviness and stress that comes with the responsibility of running the whole world. I knew that now, while I still had a job to do, in Christ, I had the direction, the resources, and the power of the God of the universe behind me, within me and guiding my every step. I was still the boss of my life, but I had made Jesus the boss of me.

What I do know is that you have the same authority and power in Christ Jesus that I have and so I can tell you this. You are still the boss, but now you report to the once and always original owner of everything. Whether you will use it well or not, you now again have dominion over your life with the authority of the owner and CEO at your disposal.

So… now, every morning when we wake up, we have a choice to make about how we are going to start our day. What kind of a boss are we going to be? The first person of whom we are the boss is ourselves.

So… we wake up every morning and we get to decide what kind of a person we are going to be today. We can still choose to be like the old person who can do whatever we want that satisfies our creature comforts, focusing on our needs and our desires…

or we can choose to be the new kind of person that trusts God to fulfill all our needs and sets out to live a day that will bring honor and glory to God by seeking out opportunities to bless other people with the blessings that we ourselves enjoy.

I really like this quotation from the apostle Paul from his letter to the Ephesians…

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
– Ephesians 2:10

The reason I quote this passage from Paul all the time is because it shows us that although we do not control the circumstances under which we find ourselves, we do have the ability to trust in the God that provides them for us and who has a plan for us for every day.

That’s why it’s so important for us to seek him early in the day to ask him for sensitivity in our spirits to what his Holy Spirit is doing, because that way we have the opportunity to use our free will wisely in the best possible way, which is to recognize the good works that are prepared beforehand by God for us to walk in and then simply walk in them.

By doing so every day, we will bring glory to Jesus the CEO of Life Unlimited and we will be in all ways joyful because we are fulfilling His purpose for our lives on a moment-by-moment basis. His Glory is His bottom line and your obedience in joy is what brings the company profit.

Here’s another great scripture from Ephesians which we can use as our manual in moving through this now great eternal life that is coursing through our veins and our spirits…

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
– Ephesians 5:8-10

Paul tells us in this passage that not only were we in darkness but that we were darkness and not only are we now in the light but we ARE light and so we should walk as children of light.

So… if we want to be a good boss of the life we are blessed to be living under the authority of the One and only great CEO Jesus, and not only receive our promised paycheck which is the blessings of salvation, life and peace, but also receive bonuses that our CEO distributes liberally, we will also do our best to be a good steward of those blessings and do our job to bring light into the darkness where we have been placed.

That’s why having an early morning meeting with Jesus is the best way to start your day. After all, if you’re going to bring the owner of the company profit, you will need to understand the business, and since every day brings its own challenges, (Even though you are the boss of you), showing up early is the best way to head off in the right direction.

If you are like me, you want to be the best boss, the best employee, the best servant and the best child of God you can be every day. That’s the best way to use our free will and it’s what God intended for us from the beginning.

Let’s pray…
– John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

Grace to you and Peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Tomorrow is President’s Day. Though you might think President’s Day refers to all former U.S. presidents, it was actually created to celebrate the first president of the United States of America: George Washington.

It’s thought by many people that all the founding fathers were staunch Christians. This was not entirely true. While Washington, for example, frequently spoke of divine providence, and his Farewell Address emphasized the importance of morality in government, he attended church services but rarely took communion. This leads some historians to question whether he was a Deist rather than a Christian as were a number of the other Founding Fathers.

For context, Deism is the belief in a creator God who made an orderly universe governed by the law of physics and thereafter, left it to run on its own like a well-manufactured clock. Clearly this is a very different view than we hold as followers of Jesus, with Whom we have a personal relationship.

Nonetheless, Washington’s personal letters often referenced God’s guidance, and he regularly called the nation to prayer. After Washington’s death in 1799, Americans began to officially celebrate the former president’s birthday, which fell on February 22nd. This yearly celebration continued until 1971, when President Richard Nixon officially declared President’s Day a holiday honoring all U.S. presidents.

Today, President’s Day serves as a broader celebration of leadership, democracy, and national history. It is supposed to be a day when we reflect on the leaders who have shaped our nation. We honor their contributions and remember their legacies. But amidst our reflections, it is important to consider a deeper truth—one that transcends the transient nature of earthly leadership.

Throughout our history as a nation, we have seen a myriad of leaders, each with their own strengths and weaknesses both real and perceived. From the noble intentions of George Washington as first President and Founding Father, to the resolute determination of Abraham Lincoln, helping our nation to heal from a horrendous Civil War, …for the most part, our leaders have strived to guide our nation through times of prosperity and adversity. Yet, despite their best efforts, they were only human, and all human leadership is inherently flawed.

The Apostle Paul reminds us that…

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
– Romans 3:23

This includes our political leaders, who, despite their sometimes-noble intentions, are subject to human frailties. The quest for power, the temptation of corruption, and the influence of worldly desires often lead to decisions that may not align with God’s perfect will.

Consider the example of King Saul, the first king of Israel. Chosen by the people for his outward appearance and stature, Saul initially showed promise as a leader. However, his disobedience to God and reliance on his own judgment ultimately led to his downfall.

Saul’s story serves as a poignant reminder that human leadership, when not rooted in obedience to God, is destined for failure. Saul’s story also shows us that we shouldn’t make assumptions about what the will of God is just because something seems right to us. People can get very angry in support of, or in criticism of whoever is the current President. This has been true throughout our history as a Democracy, or a Republic, whichever you prefer…

Sadly, and to our shame as Christians, we often seem to associate our party or candidate with our belief in God and become entrenched in our conversations about politics. We should remember that unjust wars and horrible atrocities have been perpetrated by various religions, and even denominations, all claiming that “God is on our side”. The Nazi Storm Troopers wore Belt Buckles proclaiming “Gott Mit Uns”. God with us. Especially as followers of Jesus, we need to be careful NOT to confuse political alliances with God’s Will.

King David, Saul’s successor and the progenitor of the line of Jesus said this…

It is better to trust in the Lord
Than to put confidence in man.
It is better to trust in the Lord
Than to put confidence in princes.
– Psalm 118:8-9

God’s own Word shows us continually and consistently that no matter who is ruling our nation, Christ should always rule our lives as believers and is the ultimate authority. Jesus states in the Gospel of Matthew…

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
– Matthew 28:18

As we say in our house “whoever may be in the White House, God is still on the throne.” And yet, God does have His purposes for everyone He allows to be in authority. We don’t have to agree with their policies to bow to His Sovereign Will. It behooves us to remember that as God told the Israelites through the prophet Isaiah…

For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
– Isaiah 55:8-9

Paul admonishes the Churches in Rome and us as well when he writes…

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
– Romans 13:1

This said and understood, it is not always good and admirable leaders that God allows to rule. The Prophet Daniel understood that the God of Israel had allowed a wicked man to rule Babylon and to rule God’s people when they were taken there into exile. Daniel told the wicked King Nebuchadnezzar, who considered himself to be “a god,” that it was the one true God that had given him his power when he said this…

You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory;
– Daniel 2:37

Daniel had asked the God of Israel to reveal to him a prophesy about a dream that Nebuchadnezzar had, so that he might communicate it to this king who had the power of life and death over him. Daniel had asked the Lord to reveal to him a truth that only God Himself could know… The Lord revealed it. This is Daniel’s prayer of gratitude to God…

Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said:

“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His.
And He changes the times and the seasons;
He removes kings and raises up kings;
He gives wisdom to the wise
And knowledge to those who have understanding.
– Daniel 2:19-21

The Lord gave Daniel the wisdom he sought just as He will give it to us if WE ask. James advises us in this:

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
– James 1:5

As followers of Jesus, we should always be asking God for wisdom. That includes God’s wisdom about who we should vote for and why. As American citizens, we each have a right to our political opinions, but we should be acutely aware that the very nature of worldly politics is to get people to vote one way or the other by manipulating their hopes and fears. This is where the influences of the Powers and Principalities hold inordinate sway in our human minds.

We need to rest in the ultimate truth that God governs the affairs of men and agree that we want His will to be done. That is why we should always pray for God’s wisdom. God’s wisdom will always be consistent with His Word.

Jesus is the Living Word of God who will answer your prayer by His Spirit. We still won’t always understand why God allows certain people to rule in the world. This includes all political leaders, who, despite their weight of responsibility to govern well, are subject to human frailties. The quest for power, the temptation of corruption, and the influence of worldly desires often lead to decisions that may not align with God’s perfect will.

In our contemporary society, we witness the same challenges that plagued ancient leaders. Political divisions, power struggles, and moral compromises dominate the landscape. Leaders often prioritize personal gain or party loyalty over the common good. Politicians can be swayed by public opinion, special interests, and the desire for re-election. The pursuit of worldly success can cloud righteous judgment, leading to decisions that undermine justice and equity. This short-sightedness can result in policies that neglect the marginalized and the poor, perpetuate injustice, and fail to address the deeper spiritual needs of the people.

“It was ever thus”, as my dad used to say. God told the people of Israel in the shadow of Mount Sinai…

‘Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.’
– Deuteronomy 27:19

The error of worldly politics lies in its inherent focus on self-interest and temporal matters. In stark contrast to the flawed nature of human leadership stands Christ, the only wise King. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, embodies perfect wisdom, justice, and love. His reign is not limited by time or earthly boundaries. As believers, we recognize that Christ’s kingdom is not of this world, and His authority surpasses all earthly powers. The kingship of Christ is rooted in His divine nature and His sacrificial love.

Isaiah prophesied this declaration of His eternal reign:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of His government and peace there will be no end.”
– Isaiah 9:7-7a

Christ’s kingship is characterized by His unparalleled wisdom and His commitment to justice and peace. Unlike many worldly leaders, who seek to amass power, Christ exemplifies servant leadership.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus declares…

“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
– Matthew 20:28

His humility and selflessness set Him apart from any earthly ruler, any King, any President. As followers of Christ, we are called to live under His kingship, recognizing Him as our ultimate authority. This requires a shift in perspective, moving away from the transient nature of worldly politics and embracing the eternal truth of Christ’s reign.

In navigating the complexities of life and leadership, we must seek divine wisdom rather than relying solely on human understanding. Christ, our Wonderful Counselor, provides the guidance we need to make righteous decisions even as we live here in a world that is still fallen and foolish.

What we do know, and that upon which we can rely, is that one day Jesus Christ will return in glory and rule with righteousness. It was again the prophet Daniel who in his visions saw the coming Kingdom and the future reign of Jesus Christ…

I was watching in the night visions,
And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
And they brought Him near before Him.

Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed.
– Daniel 7:13-14

Until then, as believers and as citizens of the United States, we need to trust in His plan and show respect and honor to the office of President, praying for the person who God allows to rule for the times in which we live.

Paul told his disciple Timothy…

Therefore, I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.
– 1 Timothy 2:1-2

Our prayers can have a profound impact, inviting God’s wisdom and guidance into the hearts of those who govern us. As for us, whom He has placed here to usher in His Kingdom, under Christ’s kingship, we are called first and foremost to pursue justice and righteousness.

The Prophet Micah reminds us,

He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
– Micah 6:8

Our actions, both individually and collectively, should reflect the values of Christ’s kingdom, prioritizing the well-being of others and advocating for the oppressed. So, as we celebrate this President’s Day tomorrow, while we honor the contributions of our nation’s leaders, past and present, let’s remember that true wisdom and justice come from God alone. Christ’s kingship offers a model of servant leadership, rooted in love, humility, and righteousness.

Let us commit to living under Christ’s reign, seeking His guidance in all aspects of our lives. May we pursue justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. And let us pray for our leaders, that they may be convicted and endowed with the wisdom, courage, and righteousness that come from God alone.

Above all, let us glorify Christ, our eternal wise King, whose reign is unshakable and whose love is everlasting.

Let’s Pray…

• John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

Today is Superbowl Sunday. For those of you who are football fans, although you may not necessarily have a favorite team in this particular game, you will likely be thinking and talking about little else for the rest of the day. So, for that reason, let’s talk now about the other special day that’s coming up.

This Friday is the day we call Valentine’s Day. In our current day and age, it’s become a cute, funny kind of secular festival that we mark on February 14th as a celebration of romantic love. It’s a strange time of year to celebrate it to be honest.

In the Middle Ages in Europe, Spring came a bit earlier than it does now, and apparently, it was around this time of year that people started to hear the mating songs of birds.

And as the trees began to bud and the flowers started to bloom, they thought it would be a good time to come out of their winter hibernation and start writing love letters to each other. In most of this country in February, we’re still in the grip of winter but for some reason the springtime tradition persists.

We write love notes and send greeting cards, beginning as children in school, sharing little heart shaped candies with funny little phrases on them. As adults, we send flowers to our lovers and spouses. We go out for special dinners. We give gifts of chocolate and cute stuffed animals.

For many people, Valentine’s Day is a celebration of romantic love focusing on those with whom we are in a relationship, or oftentimes, those with whom we hope to be in a relationship. We might even say to perfect strangers at the store, “Happy Valentine’s Day”, just like we say “Merry Christmas”.

It’s easy to get cynical about Valentine’s Day. You’ve probably heard the critiques… Valentine’s Day is a holiday created by flower vendors, greeting-card companies and candy manufacturers. It’s a commercial enterprise and nothing more. Certainly, there may be some truth in that.

According to the National Retail Federation, Americans spent $23.9 billion on Valentine’s Day last year. So why are we talking about it today? It doesn’t really seem to have a place in Church, does it? As it happens, however, Valentine’s Day does have some historical and Christian roots.

History records that Charles the Fifth, the Duke of Orléans, on February 14th in 1415, wrote the first Valentine poem to his teenaged wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He wrote that he was lovesick for her and in a poem, he called her his “very gentle Valentine.”

Valentine’s Day is actually named, however, after Valentinus, a Christian priest who lived in Rome in the 3rd Century. There are many stories about St. Valentine, as he came to be known. At the time of Valentine’s life, many Romans were converting to Christianity, but the Emperor Claudius II was a pagan and created strict laws about what Christians were and were not allowed to do. Apparently, marrying people to each other was one of those things they were NOT allowed to do.

Claudius also believed that Roman soldiers should be completely devoted to military service to Rome and therefore passed a law preventing them from marrying at all. In defiance of Claudius edict, Valentine began to marry these soldiers in secret Christian ceremonies, and this was the beginning of his reputation for believing in the importance of love.

Eventually, Valentine was caught and jailed for his crimes. While imprisoned, Valentine cared for his fellow prisoners and also his jailor’s blind daughter. Legend has it that Valentine cured the girl’s blindness and that his final act before being executed was to write her a love message signed ‘from your Valentine’. Valentine was beheaded for his miraculous acts of healing and his powerful witness to Christ on February 14th of the year 270 AD. You won’t hear about that on a Valentine’s Day card. Can you imagine?

Roses are red,
violets are blue,
Valentine lost his head,
but I hope never you…?

No, for most of the world, Valentine’s Day has been all hearts and bunnies, chocolates and warm fuzzy feelings. And that’s why it feels out of place in church. Because church is supposed to be a place where we tell the whole truth about God and the world. Here, we don’t flinch from the hard realities of sin and death. Here, we proclaim God’s love and our freedom because of the empty tomb, but not without the pain of the cross.

We who follow Jesus know that love is much more than what is acknowledged on this one day by the world. Love is what we are called to acknowledge every day. Love is patience and kindness and gentleness. Love is also commitment and endurance, suffering and self-sacrifice.

The Apostle Paul gives us the ultimate depiction of God-like love in his first letter to the Corinthian Church.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Paul’s description of the action and behavior produced by love is distinctly counter-cultural. Love is the ultimate expression of the upside-down Kingdom of Heaven that we are supposed to be bringing to earth.

Paul was speaking against the envy, pride, and self-centeredness of the Corinthian culture to early Christians who were still struggling with those very things, and in doing he speaks clearly to our own geography and generation as well.

In a society where so much is presented in terms of “self”—self-awareness, self-esteem, self-acceptance, self-image, self-righteousness, self-realization— to present a way of existence in which a person lives for others in a life of loving self-sacrifice will always be counter cultural.

For each of us, following the One who gave His life as a sacrifice for sin will always be humbling and may be costly in terms of human recognition and progress in life as secular society defines it. For us, Christ must ever remain our true example of love.

The envy, boasting, rudeness, arrogance, and anger of normal life must be turned upside down intentionally. Instead, patience and humility and a rejoicing in the truth needs to be the Hallmark of God’s people.

Our lives are Christ’s Greeting Card. His message of love that He desires to give to the world around us. One of the ways we do that is to show love to those who have not shown love to us. As Jesus told us, we are to love even our enemies. In keeping with the way Christ forgave our sin and no longer holds it against us, so our love should hold no record of other people’s wrongs against us.

How forgiving is God towards us?

As far as the east is from the west, The distance between the east and the West is infinite.
– Psalm 103:12

That is how deep, how broad, how wide, and how high our forgiveness is meant to be for those who have wronged us. Let’s face it. This is one of the ways in which we Christians often fail to bring God Glory in our dealings with other people. We might say we forgive but then still allow the hurt or pain of something that was said or done to us to linger in the back of our minds.

Then, the next time we encounter the person we supposedly have forgiven…we might allow ourselves the indulgence of bringing that old resentment to the forefront of our minds, keeping score of their wrongs. Then, if something goes wrong again in the relationship, we may once again say “I forgive you,” but we might then add the word “BUT,” and then that one word will, as Pink Floyd once said… “put another brick in the wall”.

It is then that we need to be reminded of Peter’s question to Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew about how often to forgive our brother when he sins against us.

Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
– Matthew 18:21

The answer Jesus gives is, in essence, that the life of love for a disciple is best lived as a forgiving life. Disciples of Christ will go on and on forgiving not because that is what we are told to do but because it is who we are. More specifically, it is because of who we have become in Christ Jesus. Our love is supposed to be God’s love.

The Apostle Paul said this to the Church at Ephesus…

Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children.
– Ephesians 5:1

We are asked to imitate the steadfast love that God embodies throughout the Bible as a child models his parent character.

David describes the steadfast love of God this way…

The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy.
– Psalm 145:8

God’s love is a tender, compassionate love that is merciful but also fiercely truthful. Just and zealous for righteousness, yet never giving up on His beloved children no matter how many times they stray.

We see this balance of God’s love in mercy and righteousness over and over in the Bible. A great example is the Prophet Elijah.

It was love for God’s righteousness that brought him into confrontation with the ruling authorities of Israel when they fell into idolatry. It was love and the passion for truth and justice that gripped Elijah and would not let him go as He called Israel back to right relationship with God and brought down the fire from Heaven.

It was the compassionate love of God the Father that gave Elijah the miraculous power that enabled him to raise the son of the Widow of Zarephath from the dead.

And it was God’s love that sent Elijah ravens to carry him food in the desert, and was the still small voice that came to him when he was alone and afraid, calling him gently back to community and giving him purpose when he had given up on people. It was God’s love that endowed his life with purpose and took him alive to be with Him in a fiery chariot at the end.

It was the same love that compelled Saul of Tarsus to renounce his former ways of violence toward the early church to follow the crucified and risen One as the Apostle Paul. Paul had had a vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus and simply put, he fell in love.

For this love he was ready to abandon all and follow the Source of all Love who had revealed Himself to him. For the sake of this love, Paul proclaimed a gospel of grace to the nations of the known world, a gospel he was willing to suffer and die for.

It was Paul who said…

For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
– 2 Corinthians 4:6

The face of Jesus Christ is the face of love, as witnessed by Peter, James, and John on the mount of Transfiguration. In a dazzling vision of glory, they saw Moses and Elijah—representing the Law and the Prophets, the whole Word of God—pointing to Jesus. There, they heard the same Voice that had spoken at Jesus baptism naming him the Beloved One.

Jesus, in His words tells us the whole of the Law:

Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
– Matthew 22:37

And in his deeds, He shows us the message of the Prophets:

And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.
– Matthew 22:39

For God, it has always been, and is all and always and only about love. Now for us it is all and always and only about love. Not only the sweet and innocent teasing love of children on Valentine’s day… or the yearning romantic love of couples on a special date, but the mature love of the disciple that is willing to suffer and die for our beloved, for Jesus.

Ours is a passionate, powerful, sacrificial love that can move heaven and earth closer together. Jesus shows us God’s love that will not even stop at death to rescue and redeem a lost humanity. We are here to tell the story of that love and show the world what that love looks like.

Another note from the History books… Jerome of Stridon, the 4th Century Priest and translator of the New Testament scrolls, told this story about John the Beloved…

He wrote…

“The blessed John the Evangelist lived in Ephesus until extreme old age. His disciples could barely carry him to church and he could not muster the voice to speak many words. During individual gatherings he usually said nothing but, “Little children, love one another.”

“The disciples and brothers in attendance, annoyed because they always heard the same words, finally said, “Teacher, why do you always say this?” He replied with a line worthy of John : “Because it is the Lord’s commandment and if it alone is kept, it is sufficient.”

So the world is going to go on being the world and celebrate it’s own version of love this Valentine’s Day. Children will be giving each other furtive glances and passing around hard candy hearts with cute little phrases saying “Be my Valentine”. Grownups will be buying each other extravagant gifts and going out for overpriced Valentine’s Day themed dinners.

But for us, this one day that is focused on the word love should remind us that we are to be focused perpetually on the real love, God’s love, the love of Christ.

Let’s conclude this conversation with the Apostle Paul’s last word on the subject, picking up where we left off in his letter to the Corinthian Church, and to all believers, for all time.

Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
– 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Let’s pray…
– John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

Last week we began a series called “Is There a Kink In Your Faith Hose?”

Beginning with the supposition that as a new creation in Christ you are actually like a garden hose, plugged in to Jesus, the Source of all Life, Love and Blessing. Once in Christ, you become a conduit of Living Water which flows to you and through you to those God puts in your life.

The kinks in your faith hose to which this series refers, are any hardened bits of your own will that impede the flow of that grace that you received and the life, love and blessing that you are now intended to have and to be in Christ Jesus.

Even as Abraham was blessed to be a blessing to the nations, when you are in sync with what the Holy Spirit is doing and wants to do in you with you and through you, you will be a blessing to all who are around you.

In so doing, you will bless the Lord. Here is a Psalm of David that describes God’s blessings to us, and our appropriate response, which is to bless Him.

Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
– Psalm 103:1-5

The psalm ends with an exhortation to those who have received God’s blessings to bless God by blessing others.

Bless the Lord, you His angels,
Who excel in strength, who do His word,
Heeding the voice of His word.

Bless the Lord, all you His hosts,
You ministers of His, who do His pleasure.

Bless the Lord, all His works,
In all places of His dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
– Psalm 103:20-22

What do you suppose is God’s pleasure that he wants you and me, His ministers, to do? How can we bless the Lord for and most importantly WITH all of the blessings we’ve received?

Jesus said the first and greatest commandment is to Love the Lord your God with all your soul, all your mind and all your strength, and the second is equal to it and that is to love your neighbor as you love yourself (Matthew 22:37-39).

If you think about it, why would God not want to bless you, knowing that you are going to use those blessings to bless others?

Last week we talked about one kink in our faith hose as being the fear of not having enough money and likewise the love of money as really being just a preoccupation with self. If that is a kink in your hose, it means that instead of making God #1 in your life you have decided to make yourself number one and this has impeded the flow of blessing to you and through you.

Now let’s talk about another, although related potential kink in your faith hose…

What if you really are just satisfied with God’s Grace and blessing to you, and you really aren’t much interested in other people. Maybe you are clenching your hose of blessings so tightly it has become a kink.

In fact, maybe that kink is many kinks in the conduit of blessings that God sends to you from the Throne of grace. Or worse… Maybe the part of your hose that is supposed to extend blessing to others is completely unused.

I once knew a pastor who gave a sermon about how to make your vessel bigger to hold more blessings. As I recall him, he was a pretty self-absorbed guy. I suppose that what he ascribed to was part of the so-called prosperity gospel.

I have observed that when believers put themselves in the middle of the blessing equation, they do tend to become self-absorbed instead of God-directed. I think it’s a way of misunderstanding God’s incredible love for humanity which is completely undeserved.

I have often said that just because for God it’s all about you, doesn’t mean that for you it should be all about you. I do believe that it is God’s desire to bless those who have received Jesus as Lord. However, let’s be clear about this… God does not want to prosper you so that you can acquire a lot of stuff that you want just because you have faith in Jesus and you want to be rich in stuff.

He did after all, extend the offer of salvation to you. He gave you grace to forgive your sins. But receiving eternal salvation and hearing “well done, good and faithful servant” at the end of your days are likely two different things.

God desires His people to be willing to extend the same grace they’ve received to others and to be open to blessing others in the measure that they themselves are being blessed. That is why loving our neighbors as ourselves is part of the greatest commandment. It is how we show our faith is real.

It’s easy to say that you “love God with all your heart mind and strength,” but if you are not willing to give grace to others as grace has been given to you, then you’re using neither your heart, your mind, nor your strength for the Kingdom of God. Jesus talked about this often and He wasn’t kidding.

If we want to hear “well done, good and faithful servant” at the end of our days on Earth, then we will have to use those days on Earth well, redeeming the time for the glory of God, blessing our neighbors and finding joy in the giving and not just the taking of His blessings and grace.

Withholding Grace from other people takes many forms and all of them will kink up your faith hose. Here is a big one… unforgiveness. Now you may say there’s nobody with whom you are currently angry. …that there’s nobody that you’ve stayed angry at and after all, that person or those people who hurt you did it a long time ago and you’ve pretty much forgotten about it.

You may be thinking of someone right now… Maybe you are thinking that you aren’t sure if you have really forgiven them or not. You may be thinking, “well I just don’t deal with that person anymore, so I guess I’ve forgiven them.

But here is the thing… One of the most beautiful aspects of God’s Grace to us is that once we received His forgiveness by Grace through faith in Jesus, our fellowship with Him was completely restored. How else could it then be possible for us to enter His very Holy of Holies without fear…

The writer of Hebrews illuminates this…

Let us therefore come boldly before the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace in time of need.
– Hebrews 4:16

So my point is…, if you had something against someone with whom you had been close and you think you have forgiven them, but no longer have a relationship, is that even really forgiveness? Is that a kink in your faith hose and if so, what can you do about it?

Once again, the best solution in this case is for you to go to your Heavenly Father in prayer and ask Him to give you a heart of forgiveness and love for that person. This is one of those things that God will certainly grant you if you ask for it. Again… why would he not?

When you have received a heart of forgiveness in response to this request, pick up the phone and just tell your old friend, or relative or brother or sister or parent that you love them and want to know how they are doing. Then just stand back and be prepared to see what the Lord will do.

It has been my experience that everyone I know who has tried this has seen a relationship restored. That’s it. Communication and the love that only God supplies is the kink-buster here. Communicate honestly with God and then communicate openly and lovingly with your now forgiven friend.

What about your spouse? Is there a kink in your faith hose in regards to your spouse? Is it possible that you have withheld affection for weeks, months, perhaps years, because of some slight aggravation that got under your skin so deeply and so insidiously that you don’t even know it’s there?

You only know that for some reason you act cold and uncommunicative when you are together, like you’d rather be somewhere else or with someone else than the person that you took as your husband or wife to be your partner, your soul’s mate, the one who is supposed to be the closest friend you have in life.

Maybe in your marriage you’re just going through the motions and being nice, but you’re not laying down your life for your wife if you’re a husband or respecting your husband if you’re a wife.

If that’s the case… and please be honest, first you have to discover what and where that kink is. It could be so ingrained in your behavior by now that you don’t even know it exists. It could be something so small and so simple that formed that kink that you have not thought of it in years, but still it has affected and is still affecting your behavior towards that person that you’re supposed to give 100% to all the time. Maybe you feel your spouse deserves your neglect…

This form of unforgiveness, the withholding of affection, is particularly cruel and infects every area of your life. Now perhaps that isn’t you, but if you suspect that it is, then you desperately need to discover the source of your passive aggressive anger. You know something is seething down there. It may be something you don’t even know or remember, or it may be something you do know and are afraid to address with your spouse. You just know that you are resentful.

I’m not talking about what your marriage looks like on the outside, even to you. I’m talking about the real relationship that you have with your spouse. Maybe the blockage is some old pain from your childhood that keeps rearing it’s ugly head, or it’s something about your relationship with yourself that is so old and dark and deep that you are afraid to discuss it and never have discussed it no matter how many years you’ve been married.

Maybe it’s something from your past that you just can’t get up the courage to reveal or something in your present that you want, and are resentful that you don’t have, but you just have never asked your spouse and you’re resentful because you only know that you are not getting what you need or worse, feel that you deserve. But let’s be real, how would he or she even know what you want or feel you need if you never asked or if you never discussed it?

Is it even something that you should discuss with them or would that just be selfishness on your part? There’s only One that can answer that question for you.

The Holy Spirit.

• So, once again, get on your knees and just talk to your Heavenly Father.
• Ask Him to reveal the blockage.
• Ask Him to give you wisdom to know what the problem is, and how YOU can be the peacemaker.
• Ask for the courage and strength to do whatever it takes to straighten out that kink in your hose.

But be aware… The devil is going to try to drag your mind off into thinking that your unforgiveness and anger is justified. That it must be something that your spouse has done wrong, and that’s what started this whole thing to begin with. So, just ignore him, meaning the devil.

A scripture that I really can’t stress enough that is crucial to overcoming almost every dysfunctional problem that is caused by our carnal mind is found in James 4. It relates particularly to unforgiveness and especially in a marital relationship.

Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
– James 4:5-7

Let’s unravel this scripture. James says the scripture proclaims that the Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously. What do you suppose the Spirit of God is yearning jealously for?

I maintain that the Spirit who dwells in us, the Spirit of Christ, is yearning jealously to be given an active place in us, replacing our human nature which is basically pride. Here is our opportunity to use Grace in our own marriages.

If we humble ourselves and realize that it is not our spouse’s fault that we have fallen into this habitual coldness, even if it is something that he or she has done to us that we felt was undeserved, but take responsibility for the fact that we have allowed this to affect us to the point of no return (except in Christ), it is only when we accept this personal responsibility that we can truly ask Holy Spirit not only to reveal the source of the problem but to give us grace as we give grace to our spouses.

This is where we can effectively resist the devil because we have truly submitted to God and His Spirit that yearns in us to be shown to our spouses in grace. This will unkink that part of the hose that makes you feel uncomfortable or act distantly with your spouse.

As a man who loves his wife, I know that I have been guilty of this very thing. It is only when I realize that my job is to lay down my life for my wife as Christ did for the church (which means forgiving whatever I may feel has been done to me or not done for me),
and take that seriously, as my reasonable service, to accept my hurt feelings in love and return it to my wife with grace, that I find that my wife’s natural response (or should I say supernatural response) is to respect me and repent of whatever it is that has caused the initial slight that may exist on her part.

And on my part, whenever I have acted or re-acted in an unkind manner, I have found that it behooves me to realize that it is my responsibility to humble myself in sincere apology and that then my wife will be able to respond respectfully.

While we are at it, let’s talk a bit about other resentments that are kinking up our faith hose. Maybe there is resentment towards others in your life that you don’t even recognize as unforgiveness, for the way they’ve treated you or the way they’re treating you right now. Maybe it’s your Boss who seems unable or unwilling to understand the simple things that you need to find satisfaction in your job. Maybe you feel that you’re being under-compensated or given short shrift for the contribution that you’ve made for the company that you’ve worked at for a very long time.

It may be if you seek the Lord in prayer that He will give you the answer and maybe it’s one that you’ve known all along, that it’s just time to move on; or maybe it’s just time to humble yourself and realize that you could do your job better if you cared more. I would suggest that you simply ask God for the courage to ask your boss for what you feel you need. That puts the compassion ball in the other person’s court, but sometimes that’s just what it takes for you to know exactly what to do.

Once you’ve unkinked that hose that goes from the throne of grace to you by seeking the Lord in prayer, wisdom will come to you to know what to do, although sometimes acting or walking in that wisdom will still be difficult.

But asking your Father in Heaven for wisdom AND the courage and strength to walk it out is where faith comes in. It’s also where your faith grows to become just as you see the deliverance of the Lord is directly tied to your submission and obedience. After all, that’s where the rubber meets the road.

That’s where the kinks in your faith hose get unkinked and you will become ever more able to let the Living Water of Christ’s blessings flow freely through you.

Let’s Pray,
– John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

Today is the second Sunday of the new year. I would like us to begin today by praying for those who are experiencing the loss of their homes and neighborhoods in the current wildfires…

As I understand it many of the firefighters were frustrated as they were experiencing a lack of water pressure coming through their hoses because of an over demand from the sheer number of fires that they were fighting… Today, I’m going to talk about how to maintain the health of our faith hose in order to keep God’s blessing flowing through us.

In California we experience spring-like weather, for the most part, year-round, and so we are constantly watering our plants. Anyone who has ever watered a garden knows that in order for the water that our plants need to come through the hose we are using unrestrictedly and abundantly, the hose must be free of kinks. Kinks in a hose are places where the water is unable to flow freely because the hose itself is bent or knotted in some way. Those kinks must be worked out and eliminated before the water can flow freely.

Today I’m going to talk to us as believers about the kinds of spiritual dysfunction that can literally put a kink in the hose that connects you to the throne of grace and which goes through you so that living water can flow freely through you.

For I will pour water on him who is thirsty,
And floods on the dry ground;
I will pour My Spirit on your descendants,
And My blessing on your offspring;
– Isaiah 44:3

And Jesus said this …

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
– John 7:38

Here’s an analogy that the Spirit revealed to me years ago when I was shepherding the unhoused in the San Fernando Valley…

When we were first saved, it was like we were in a pit of our own making, and the Lord dropped a lifeline down to us, and grabbed ahold of it, and He pulled us up by His strength, because we could not fix our own “sin problem”; we call this the grace of God.

It is by His Grace alone that we are saved. For God to pull us up to safe ground, all we had to do was to take that line that was sent down.

Psalm 139:7-12 tells us that even if we make our own bed in Hell, He is there.

I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me,
And heard my cry.

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
– Psalm 40:1-2

If you think about it… that pit that we are talking about is really like quicksand because if we were to refuse the line of grace that God sent down to us, we would have continued to sink further and further, until our hands could no longer even reach out.

Unbelievers are still in that position today. There are reasons why they may not take that Hand of grace or that line that’s out to them. Those reasons include fear, pride and rebelliousness. These things can cause a person to rely only on their senses and physical desires and not even realize the awful state of their lives. They see no need for a savior.

So here is the analogy that Holy Spirit showed me.

That line that we took hold of was really a hose. Once we were pulled out of the miry clay of our former lives, we drank living water from that hose that was sent down to us from the Throne of Grace. Now that hose flows Living Water through us from that same Throne of Grace. That hose is a conduit that is firmly affixed to Jesus Himself and by faith is now attached to us and that flows Living Water into us and through us. Now that lifeline that was used to save us has become the conduit through which God will use us to help save others by being a testimony to the Living God.

But in order for living water to flow freely through the hose it must be free of kinks. In order for us to be a hose that is free of kinks through which living water can freely flow, we need to be sensitive in our spirit to what the Holy Spirit is communicating and wanting us to do in real time. In order to do that we have to turn our carnal minds over to the Mind of Christ.

The problem is that it takes a while after we have become born again for us to fully access the mind of Christ in all that we do. We’ve talked about that. It takes full submission and a willing heart to be sensitive to what your Father in Heaven is doing and a strong desire to do it with him so that you are doing God’s work, not John’s work or Mike’s work or Jenelle’s work or Kai’s work.

It’s very easy for our hose, that lifeline which is now a direct connection of communication with God our Father through the Holy Spirit, to get kinked up because of our own self-will which is still there in the human vessel that we are.

So what are the things that can kink up the hose between you and God? Let’s start with a big one. The source of most blockage…

If you’ve neglected him so completely that you can’t even remember the last time you prayed, then there’s a kink that is easily undone… You have turned a deaf ear towards the Lord. He’s been speaking to you all along, but perhaps you’ve tuned Him out. That is a major kink in the hose. Let’s fix that one first.

• Right there where you’re sitting and right now, take a moment to acknowledge God as the Source of all life, of all wisdom and of all power.
• Reaffirm your belief that Jesus is your Lord and Savior.
• Make the decision, right now, that you want to hear from Him and that you are going to make His will your will whatever it takes.
• Then starting tomorrow, first thing in the morning, take some time to have a conversation in prayer with your heavenly Father.
• Then sit down with your Bible or Bible App and read His Word.

That will straighten out the biggest kink in your hose that connects you to God. Now if you’ve just made that heartfelt decision, let’s look at some of the other kinks in the hose that may be blocking blessings or the ability for you to be a blessing.

Worry or anxiety is a big one. Especially worry about money. Worrying about finances is a big kink in your hose to God and also your hose to other people because it shows that you do not trust God even when you say you do.

Jesus told us this…

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
– Matthew 6:25

Later in the same chapter he says this as a solution…

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
– Matthew 6:33

And in his letter to the Philippian church, Paul puts a fine point on it when he says this…

Be anxious for nothing, 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 minds through Christ Jesus.
– Philippians 4:6-7

Trusting that God will supply all your needs is an important kink-buster for any true believer. Think about it.. if you truly believe that God will supply your needs and you’re still anxious about it, it’s one or more of several problems…

• That you don’t really believe God and his word
• That you are more interested in getting what you want than having what you need.
• That you’re really not grateful for all of God’s blessing in the past or for what you already have.
• That the Kingdom of God and his righteousness is not really something that you’re interested in but only the things of this world.

I know that these are hard words to hear. They are nonetheless true.

Remember it is the peace of God which is the anxiety breaker here that Paul references. God’s word says that he will supply all things that we need.

When Jesus says to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and that all these things will be added unto you, He is basically saying “think more about what God wants to do with your life than what you want to do with the life God gave you”. Decide right now to give Him the reins of your life. That will get a big kink out of your hose. It’s part of the submission we’re talking about.

That brings us to another kink… this one specifically in the part of the hose that comes out of you, that blocks the living water that is supposed to come out of every believer. It also has to do with money. In this case it is not the fear of not having money. This kink is the love of money.

The Apostle Paul had some notable things to say about this one…

This one is a big chunk of scripture but bear with me because it ties the worry of not having what you need to the desire of having more than you need…

Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
– 1 Timothy 6:6-10

The Love of money, therefore, is a BIG kink in your hose both vertically to the Throne of Grace and horizontally, to your ability to be a blessing to others. In fact, Jesus said this in Matthew’s Gospel…

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
– Matthew 6:24

These two scriptures reveal the relationship between

• contentment with what one has, which is a form of gratitude…

• trust in God to supply our needs, if not always our desires… and

• the ability to serve God with our whole heart, which can only happen when our faith is not being drowned out by the desire for wealth and power.

Strange as it seems, this kink can be found not only in the faith hose of wealthy believers, but also in the very poor. I have befriended many people who found themselves homeless and relatively destitute, who were generous in spirit and always shared the little that they had with those around them who had less.

Conversely, I have met wealthy people who no matter how much they have in the bank always considered it offensive that they should be “required” to give something to charity because enough is never enough for them and they’re thinking only of themselves.

Sadly quite a few of these called themselves Christians. Also sadly, even among the destitute and poor there were those who would rather take from others who are poorer than themselves. It was here, seeing people in those circumstances, that I came to realize that love of money is really just love of self.

You’ve all heard the phrase looking out for #1. Well… a big kink in the blessing hose of a believer is when number one is you. There are some who say that their number one is God but when it comes right down to it, their actions show that they themselves are really #1.

God appreciates it truly when you treat others as #1. It is God’s desire for believers to be a conduit of His blessing. It is a means of giving glory to the One whom you worship.

While it is true that the hose that we have been talking about is a conduit for the believer to disperse living water in terms of the Gospel message to the thirsty unbelievers all around us, our faith hose is also a transport system for the believer to distribute the resources that God pours into us that He desires for us to pour liberally around us, to others, in faith that He will continue to supply our own needs and the needs of those around us.

In fact, intentional generosity, especially when one’s natural tendency is to be parsimonious (stingy) is one of the best ways to straighten out the financial kink in your blessing hose.

Solomon sums this up nicely…

There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself.
– Proverbs 11:24-25

“He who waters will also be watered himself” is a great way of summing up what we’ve been talking about here. To conclude the finance part of what I think is going to be a series on removing the kinks from our faith and blessing hose…

We might as well talk about tithing. There are many Christians who tell me that tithing or giving 10% of your first fruits to the Lord is an Old Testament concept and has no relevance to the Christian. While it’s true that it was Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets before the arrival of Jesus who said this…

“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.”
– Malachi 3:10

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says this to the Pharisees who he called lovers of money…

Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.
– Luke 6:38

In these two scriptures we have the old meeting the new. God still desires generosity from his people both corporately in terms of tithing and specifically in terms of charity to those most in need. To think and behave otherwise is likely a kink in your hose.

So today, we’ve discovered that the lifeline that God sent to us in the Person of His son Jesus Christ has become the conduit of living water that flows to us from the Throne of Grace and through us to those that He has put in our lives.

If we want that conduit, or “hose” as we have called it this morning to be free flowing and without kinks that will keep God’s blessing from going to us and through us then we will identify and address the issues each of us has allowed in our own lives.

We are going to continue this series next week as we address more of those things which restrict God’s flow.

Love you saints,
John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

Today I’d like to start with a simple scripture that sums up our relationship with God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
          – 2 Corinthians 5:17

We’re going to come back to this scripture again a little later…

This time of year, we often hear people say, “New year, new me.” It’s a catchy phrase that reflects our inner desire to break bad habits and to make resolutions to become better people. But, for many people, becoming a “new me” is hard.

In the 21st Century, and especially in this country, we like to claim we are self-made and self-sufficient. Everything from online college degrees to bathroom renovations is DIY… do it yourself.

For most of us, when we say, “New year, new me,” we mean that we will pursue self-improvement via self-direction and self-help. Pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps is as American as apple pie. But when our New Year’s resolutions are rooted only in ourselves, we discover some tough truths about our human condition.

For one, we find that our human reserve tank is finite.

Humans are limited creatures. We don’t have endless motivation, energy, and resolve. Everyone who has ever made a resolution has hit a limit. In our own strength, we simply cannot go on forever. It takes more than sheer force of will to make a real change.

For another, we find we need constant affirmation.

When you determine your own identity, your own goals, your own purpose… when your values are self-made and not rooted in something outside of yourself, you must hold yourself up and convince yourself that you are enough.

When we insist on being self-made, the source and supply of our motivation must also be self-made. We depend on endless self-affirmation to know we are doing it right.

This self-help cycle of self-empowerment fueled by self-praise ultimately proves self-defeating. The primary reason people give for failing in their New Year’s resolutions is losing motivation.

To be self-dependent is just too much. We are finite and fallen and fragile. While it may feel like we have what it takes on January 1st, we all know from personal experience that our own determination runs out.

Self-help ultimately leads to self-defeat.

Breaking old habits and adopting new ones is, as one might expect, incredibly challenging and, at times, downright disheartening. What can we do then, when we feel like giving up on a goal that we’ve set for ourselves? What tools are there that will give us the wisdom, insight, and courage to stay the course?

Oh… there are lots of authors to turn to who have written self-help books. There are plenty of blogs available by social media stars, sports heroes, movie stars, television actors, and billionaires who write biographies for you to emulate; as well as gurus of every religion and pseudo religion promising sure-fire solutions to all your life problems, but there is only one book that was written as a blueprint for your life by the One who designed you specifically and knows you and loves you intimately.

God is the one who desires you most specifically to come to, Him not only for the wisdom and strength to stay the course, but invites you to come to Him for the Holy Spirit-led insight to know what the course is to begin with.

He is the One who deserves your closest attention. Jesus is the One through whom you are already made new and in Whom you are becoming complete.

looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
          – Hebrews 12:2

I love how God’s word tells us that Jesus is the author as well as finisher of our faith. Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, we see that we are God’s workmanship, His Opus Magnus, the great work that He is still writing.

The prophet Jeremiah told the people who were going into captivity what it would be like when Messiah had come.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
          – Jeremiah 31:33

Remembering that Jesus came to free the captives and to unite both Jew and gentile as one people in Christ Jesus, we are the new House of Israel… those who have circumcised their hearts to make Jesus Lord and follow Him.

• In Christ, God’s law is written in your mind and on your heart.
• Jesus is the author of your faith and has drawn you to Himself.
• Jesus is finishing and perfecting what is already new in Him.

I love this scripture that apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church…

You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
          – 2 Corinthians 3:2-3

As your pastor I deeply resonate with these words of Paul’s. As we do life together, seeking God’s word and God’s will in everything that we do, we are living out the novel that God is writing and He Himself is fleshing out the glorious character that he is fulfilling inside of us, His beloved children.

But back to the popular phrase “New Year, New Me”.

Desiring to become a new version of ourselves is not a twenty-first century idea but a timeless biblical reality. It’s precisely what happens when we embrace the gospel. When we become “born again”.

The apostle Paul says in Galatians…

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
          – Galatians 2:20

Jesus loved us and gave Himself for us so that we might become new creations, reconciled to our Father in heaven. We are not supposed to make ourselves better people, but allow ourselves to become completely new.

To become the new creatures created by God and for God, it is His Grace, kindness and mercy alone that make us new from the inside out. The process of being made new is initiated and completed by our Creator and Savior.

He is the Author. God. Not you or me. God is at work within us, and He is arranging the circumstances of our lives in such a way as to give us opportunities to become more like Him.

27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
            – Romans 8:27-29

The Lord is growing us and changing us.

By providing trials that challenge us and strengthening us as we go through them, He is making us more like Jesus every single day. Jesus is what the character that you are playing in this great novel that God is writing really looks like. Jesus was the first of many brethren and he is the template and the goal for what this new creation that we are supposed to be is all about.

If you remember last week, I referenced a scripture from Colossians wherein Paul exhorts us to put on the new person.

Here is that scripture again with the scripture that precedes it, for clarity…

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
          – Colossians 3:9-10

Paul is clearly alluding to Genesis 1:27, which says that the Triune God created man in His own image. Nevertheless, now, the first man, Adam, is regarded as the old man who should be put off and discarded, because now we are re-created after the image of the second Adam, Jesus Christ.

You might wonder why Paul specifically mentions for us not to lie to one another seeing as we have put off the old self. After all, there are many other characteristics of the old person that we must put off that he had mentioned previously.

I believe that the answer is interestingly simple. It is because the enemy to whom you were a slave before you became a new person and a slave of Christ, is called by Jesus the father of lies.

It stands to reason, therefore, that if you can avoid being a liar like your old slave master the Devil, then you can more easily become like Jesus whom you now serve.

Here is the scripture that follows, which is a masterclass in how to put on the new self…

12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even     as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called In one body; and be thankful.

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
          – Colossians 3:12-17

Note that Paul begins by calling us the elect of God. He is referring to those who are in Christ, new creations.

He then tells us to “put on” tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another. And specifically states that if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

Each of the qualities mentioned in this passage expresses themselves in relationships. The most significant measure of our “new” life in Christ is found simply in how we treat other people and the quality of our relationships with them.

Paul also brings to the forefront, the power and requirement of forgiveness as the premier Kingdom Characteristic of a new creation in Christ. He says to forgive and forgo any complaint against another even as Christ has forgiven you.

No one suffered more at the hands of human beings than Jesus. Think about that.

Yet God holds back His anger a very long time when we sin against Him. He bears with us a long time, even when we sorely provoke Him.

• The old person in us doesn’t think that bad people deserve forgiveness. But God reaches out to bad people to bring forgiveness to them.
  
  
• The old person will only agree to forgive if the other person makes the first move. But God makes the first move towards us in forgiveness.
  
  
• The old person is often unwilling to forgive because they think that this will give the other person license to hurt them again. But God forgives knowing that we will sin again, sometimes in the exact same way.
  
  
• Even if the old person that we were, forgives someone who has hurt us, it is very often not in our nature to restore the relationship with them. But God’s forgiveness is so complete and glorious that He grants redemption and adoption to those former offenders.

Paul continues by exhorting us to…

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
            – Colossians 3:16

I hope that all of you have started the Bible project Bible in one year app called “One Story That Leads to Jesus”. The only way to let the word of Christ dwell richly in you is to study and meditate upon His word.

When the Word of God truly dwells in all of us richly, then we will be able to teach and admonish one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord perpetually.

Our entire lives will become a glorious worship service to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And then we will realize that our purpose is not to become better people this new year, but to realize the new creatures that we already are in Him now.

And to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus to the glory of the Father through Him.

This New Year’s Day, let’s not settle for “New year, new me.” Let’s not settle for self-will and self-help and self-control. Let’s not settle for quick fixes and superficial changes because New Year’s resolutions will not satisfy or sustain us if they are rooted in ourselves .

New Year’s Day, and the number of this year, 2025, is really only a way of marking time for us. The first of January is just another day.

It is said that there is no time like the present. While that is a common secular phrase, coined first in the 17th Century, its implications are important to us today and carry much weight from a Biblical standpoint.

If we really reflect on it, there actually is and always will be only an eternal NOW.

Here we are in the NOW of 2025.

As Paul said to the Corinthian believers in their NOW 2000 years ago, and as we began today…

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
          – 2 Corinthians 5:17

In this NOW you are NEW.

So walk in it!

Let’s Pray,
– John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

Christmas… I want you to hear an important piece of Christmas scripture, but I don’t feel qualified to speak it as there is one who has spoken it so much more eloquently than I ever could…

Luke 2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

Luke 2:9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

Luke 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

Luke 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Luke 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Luke 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

My first awareness of the Lord Jesus came to me when I was 4 years old. To me, whose parents were non-observant Jews who wanted to indulge their only child, Christmas was about presents and this magical jolly fellow in a Red Suit with a white beard and a tree filled with shiny things and lights that stood right next to the Menorah, which represented Hannukah.

This, which to my child mind was far less interesting. But the Christmas Eve of the year that I turned 4, I suddenly became aware that Christmas was not just about me.

We lived in Manhattan, the very heart of New York City and that year, on Christmas eve, my mom and dad took me to see the displays in the Department Store windows, which were pretty fantastic. There were all kinds of mechanical wonders on display featuring Santa, elves, and every kind of whirligig and commercial bell and whistle that was available for purchase in the 1950s.

All of these displays, in stores like Macy’s, Gimbels, F.A.O. Schwartz, and Bloomingdale’s, were intended to draw bustling families into their stores to buy their wares for Christmas.

For this purpose, they all tried to outdo each other with their displays. But there was something else that day which was more impressive than the commercial extravaganza that was on display before my greedy eyes…

The thing I remembered the most was the crowds, and how FRIENDLY everyone was. It was not the usual “get out of my way” hustle and bustle on the streets of New York City. Suddenly people were smiling at each other and greeting each other with shouts of Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

We were passing by St. Patrick’s Cathedral on the way to Macy’s when I saw my first Nativity scene and suddenly, a thought came to me, seemingly out of nowhere, that a baby had been born a long, long time ago that had somehow changed the world.

That thought stayed with me every Christmas, long after I stopped believing in Santa Claus, and when I was 13, the year I was Bar Mitzvah’d, A Charlie Brown Christmas first went on the air. I will never forget the feeling I had when Linus spoke those words we just heard…

Let me read them again…

Luke 2:9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

Luke 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

Luke 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Luke 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Luke 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

So there were those two things… People greeting each other with Christmas joy and Linus reading scripture proclaiming Jesus as Messiah…

Those were the first two memories that the Holy Spirit brought to my mind when I finally give my life to Jesus thirty years later.

By the time I said yes to Jesus and asked Him to be Lord of my life, I realized that the Spirit of God had been preparing Him a room in my heart for a very long time. That lonely room was my desperate need for a Savior. It was only then that I began to read the word of God and understood that he had been speaking to me all my life.

When I read the Gospel of Luke for the first time with that Holy Spirit understanding I saw this scripture that preceded Linus’s speech.

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out, a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:1-7 KJV

There was no room for them in the Inn.

It is only because we know who this baby is that we romanticize this scene. After all, whenever we see the nativity scene, it’s bathed in this beautiful light, and we see it in a place that is clean and neat and tidy.

But if we really look at this scene that Luke is painting it is far different from how we celebrate the birth of Jesus today.

Luke shows us Joseph the carpenter and Mary, an unwed mother to be, traveling 75 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the privilege of paying unjust taxes. The dirt road is dusty and the travel is hard for anyone, let alone a pregnant girl.

When they arrive, Luke leads us beyond the village of Bethlehem to a field where animals are grazing and down a dark, lonely path to some secluded spot, a cave probably, that shepherds used to keep their lambs safe, where we see the young couple and it is here that she gives birth.

Imagine this young girl with bits of straw in her long, dark hair. She is wrapped in cloaks and a blanket, dusty from the long, hard road. It becomes clear to us how difficult this night has been for her.

She has traveled so far, and she is so young.

Even more distressing, we see beside her a small, crude, dirty feeding trough made of wood, or possibly stone, in which lays a sleeping newborn, wrapped tightly in unsanitary, blood-smeared cloths. Mary has just given birth to the King of Glory in a cave because there was no room for them at the Inn.

This scene, the real Christmas, has nothing of the feeling of the Christmas we know. It has all the feel of desperate homelessness — more like a scene we’d find under an overpass in East Oakland or a refugee camp in Southern Gaza than under our beautiful Christmas tree.

This was the reality. That Jesus came into the world and his own did not receive him.

There was no one to prepare him a room for his birth.

John the Beloved says this…

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
– John 1:10-11

So, who are Jesus’ own?

When John wrote this scripture he was speaking of Jesus’ mother’s people and His Father God’s Chosen people, the Jews.

Those to whom John refers specifically were those Jews who hardened their hearts against who Jesus WAS because he did not fit their image of the Messiah. Their Messiah was supposed to be a conquering warrior hero that would release them from the yoke of Rome.

But then there were the disciples… Also Jewish men and women who followed Jesus throughout his ministry in the Galilee and into Jerusalem, and who were desperate for a Savior because they recognized that they were sinners in need of one.

Of them John says…

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name
– John 1:12

These were Jesus own… many of these followers of Jesus had been disciples of John the Baptist before they became disciples of Jesus.

John’s baptism was for the repentance of sins. It was for the reason of announcing the coming Kingdom of Heaven that Matthew related this about John’s ministry using that which God spoke through the prophet Isaiah 500 years earlier …

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’ ”
– Matthew 3:1-3

John the Baptist’s message was that the Kingdom of Heaven is here and available to all, but repentance is required to make room for the Messiah. Without true repentance the need for a savior really does not arise naturally in the human heart.

Free will, operating on its own, will choose to manipulate the person through the mind and the emotions. That is where sin resides. We are all human. We are all sinners. We all need a savior.

But do not be afraid, Jesus’ tells us in John’s Gospel…

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
– John 16:33

You’ve heard me say that the world is the world, and that it is only darkness, and that it will not change. It was the world, the darkness, that did not recognize Jesus.

Yet just like the Spirit of God hovered over the waters that were dark and void in the Beginning, when He spoke light and life into them, the Spirit of God hovers over the lives of people and draws those who belong to Him to Himself.

The Apostle Paul tells us:

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
– Romans 8:14

This baby that was born in poverty, to two Jewish Palestinian refugees over 2000 years ago brought into this darkness, and out of this darkness, a great Light. But there was no room for them at the Inn…

So now, as then, the question is for each of us, “have we prepared Him room at the inn of our hearts?”

There are many people who sit in churches because that’s where they sat when they were children, and they say what they’re supposed to say, and they know who Jesus is supposed to be, but they do not know who He is.

In my travels, I often ask people if they know the Lord. There are certain answers that always give me pause. Sometimes they say “I am very religious” or, “I’ve read the Bible” or “I go to church”.

The Pharisees were very religious and knew the scriptures and they knew who the Messiah was supposed to be, but they didn’t know who He was.

Sadly, many people I’ve met who know who Jesus is supposed to be don’t really know Jesus because they haven’t prepared room in their hearts for Him. If that is you or someone you love today, ask yourself, how do we prepare room in our hearts for Jesus?

We repent.

Now I apologize to those of you who were expecting a light and easy message on Christmas eve, but what we are talking about here is the Light of the world and we really ought to make ourselves ready for Him every day.

• Repentance opens the door that is tightly shut.
• Repentance clears out the room that is filled with junk.
• Repentance brings about times of refreshing.

So… we should acknowledge any unrighteousness in our own hearts, and repent.

Sadly, there are some who, once they identify as Christians, see no need for further repentance, not for the good reason that they know that they are forgiven of their sins, but because they have never acknowledged their sins as sin, and so have never repented.

Acknowledging the evil of our own hearts when we think we’re pretty good people is what it takes to be able to be desperate enough to know you need a Savior and it is also what it takes to be grateful enough that you have One.

Pastor Paul spoke last week from 1 Peter about the Joy that is ours when we go through trials and allow Jesus to reveal the impurities in our hearts that we need to get rid of…

Those of us who have recognized our need for a Savior and have asked Him into the room of our hearts may still need to make that room a more hospitable place for His Spirit to dwell.

How do we do that?

• First, we ask Him, as David did, to search us and reveal to us anything that does not bring Him Glory.
            Search me, O God, and know my heart;
            Try me, and know my anxieties;
            And see if there is any wicked way in me,
            And lead me in the way everlasting.
            – Psalm 139:23-24
• Then, we allow His marvelous Light to reveal those places in us that need our immediate attention and acknowledge the weaknesses His Light reveals…
• Then we repent, which means agreeing with God that He has the right to change us, and allowing and embracing that change as David did when he said…
            Create in me a clean heart, O God,
            And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
            For those who live in the deep darkness,
            – Psalm 51:10

It is to all God’s children that Isaiah spoke:

          The people who walked in darkness
          have seen a great light.
          Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,
          upon them a light has shined.
          – Isaiah 9:2

          For unto us a Child is born,
          Unto us a Son is given;
          And the government will be upon His shoulder.
          And His name will be called
          Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
          Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
          – Isaiah 9:2,6

We celebrate tomorrow the birth of our Lord and King.

Let’s decorate the room in which He lives in our hearts this Christmas with the same passionate attention with which we decorate our houses.

…and also let us help prepare Him room in someone else’s heart today.

Let everyone you know and everyone you meet see how excited you are to be a beloved child of God because of His only begotten Son. Don’t be afraid to greet believers and unbelievers alike with a joyful shout of “Merry Christmas”, or even “Happy Holidays”.

And don’t be afraid to say “praise God” and “Thank you Jesus” all year round when they tell you about something good that has happened in their lives. After all, it is your joy and excitement about Jesus that will draw them to you and make them curious to know what all the fuss is about.

Then you can tell them about that baby that was born over two thousand years ago that changed the world and brought you out of the darkness and into His marvelous light.

Let’s Pray,
– John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi