Stop Doubting, Start Believing

 Exodus 3:11

“But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

Moses was a reluctant servant.  God had chosen him for a job for which he thought he was unqualified.  God insisted that Moses could do the job.  Moses argued that he could not.  

Moses was wrong.  God was right.

Moses, the insignificant keeper of sheep, the slow, ineloquent speaker, fugitive of the law, and brother of Aaron, was God’s perfect choice.  He freed almost a million Israelites from slavery in Egypt, he led all of them into a wilderness where one person could barely survive and gave them water and food every day.  How?  God was with Moses every step of the way.

Stop doubting.  Start believing.  God is with us.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier

Children of God

 John 1:12-13

“12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

A child of God is a person who is born into the faith; a person who belongs to the family of God.  God, through His Holy Spirit, creates in every child of faith a new creation, a person who lives and acts in faith.

All people of faith are children of God.  Our actions and our words should honor God and attest to the fact that we are God’s children.  As God’s children, we are led by the Holy Spirit in an ever deepening relationship with God. 

Because of our faith and love, we live lives of service, using the gifts God has given us to show others the way to God.  

We are children of God.  Let us honor God in our words and deeds.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier

Living Water

John 7:37-39

“37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”

When we are thirsty we want to quench our thirst.  I have heard that a severe thirst burns within the person like fire and it is all they can think about until their thirst is quenched.  People who thirst for Christ are like that.  Nothing will satisfy their thirst except Christ.  

Christ satisfies our thirst once we believe.  He satisfies our burning thirst with living water; rivers of water flowing within us.  And the living water is the Holy Spirit.  

Once we come to faith, we receive the Holy Spirit who dwells within us and begins the work of sanctification; the lifelong process of creating within us a new creation, shaped and molded by the master potter in the image of Christ.  

So Lord, let the rivers flow, let the blind see, let the crippled walk.  Let the lepers be healed.  Let the Holy Spirit dwell within us.  Let the potter turn His wheel.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier

Living in Faith

Galatians 2: 19b-20

“I have been crucified with Christ; 20 and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

What does it mean to live in faith?  It means that we live a crucified life, in which the crucified Christ lives in us through our faith.  

Through our faith, we become a reflection of the Christ who was crucified and we are no longer the people we were prior to our salvation.  As such, we give freely of ourselves for the salvation of others.  

Our lives become a living sacrifice.  

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier

Building One Another Up

Romans 14:15-21

“15 If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. 16 So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. 19 Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. 20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for you to make others fall by what you eat; 21 it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble.”

Some people in the Roman church thought it was spiritually harmless to eat all foods, even those foods that some people thought were unclean.  Paul thought it was harmless too.  He wrote that nothing a person ate or drank could affect their relationship with God.  After all, a person’s faith was not dependent on what a person ate or drank.   

But, there were those in the church whose faith was immature and could easily be damaged or sidetracked, so he advised those who were eating those foods not to eat them, if by eating them they were to cause another member to stumble in their faith; or if by eating them they were to cause controversy or unrest in the congregation.  Paul wrote that they should focus on building up the congregation, not dividing it.

This is good advice for any church.  Let us look out for one another and build one another up in the faith.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Pleasing God

Galatians 1: 10

“Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

Each and every day, we all have to answer the question, “Who is it that I am trying to please?”  We all want to answer, “It is God..”  But, most of the time the answer is that we please ourselves or other people.

How do we please God?  We please God by living each day in faith.  This means that we live a life marked by love.  If our lives are marked by love then we will put the needs of others before our needs.  We will live a life of servanthood in which we offer God’s mercy, grace and forgiveness in the course of our day.

If we live a life of faith, there will be no need to seek human approval for the way we have lived, because all of our actions and all of our words have been for the honor of God.  

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

You who pass Judgment

Romans 2:1

“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.”

Have you ever gotten angry at someone who cut you off in traffic?  Now, have you ever cut someone off in traffic?  Oh, yes, I know, the circumstances were totally different for you than the person who did it to you.  That’s your judgment and you are sticking to it.

But, you say, isn’t everyone entitled to an opinion?  Yes, they are.  But, in exercising your right to have an opinion, you should recognize that you are saying it is ok for people to exercise their right to disagree with you and that they are not stupid or an idiot for doing so.

We judge others when we condemn them in anger; when we want revenge or retribution; when we want to see them suffer.  We judge others when we take an attitude of pride or one-up-manship, when we think “I never would have done that”.  We judge others when we don’t seek to understand why they acted in a certain way.  We judge others when our attitude towards another person’s action is not Christ-like. We judge others when we think their opinions make them stupid or idiotic. 

When we stray from a motivation of love towards others, then we are judging them.  And when we judge others, writes Paul, we are really condemning ourselves….because, we have done or thought the same or similar things.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Waiting on the Lord

Titus 2: 11-14

“11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”

While we wait for the return of Christ, we are to live a different kind of life.  As Christians, we are to live a life that is set apart.  This means that we say “no” to the things that Paul calls “ungodliness and worldly passions.”

We are to be examples of  Christ’s life and His teachings.  We are to be known by our love.  We are to be eager to do good, eager to serve others, eager to seek peace and harmony in the world.

When people look at us, what do they see?  Do they see a reflection of the world, or do they see a reflection of Christ?

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Saved by Grace

Acts 15: 9-11

“9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

The Jews were not saved by the law.  In fact, the law became such a burden to them that they could not bear it.   It is not through our actions that we are saved, it is by grace through faith in Christ.  

Paul, in Romans 5:8 wrote “While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”  This is God’s grace; sending His son to live among us, to be rejected by us, to die for us and then to forgive us….while we were yet sinners.

Grace is the love of God given to the undeserving.  Salvation is the free gift of God offered to all of humanity.   All we have to do is believe.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Live by Faith

Live by Faith

Romans 1:17

“For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

God wants us to know Him.  The primary way God chooses to reveal Himself to us is through the Bible.  One of the qualities of God that we discover when we read the Bible is His righteousness.  This means that God is just, that he always does what is right.  And, unlike us, He acts without prejudice or favoritism.

God’s righteousness is linked to His love for the world and for us.  It is linked to His mercy and His grace and to His forgiveness.  It is linked to God sending Christ into the world and Christ’s sacrifice.  

If we live a life of faith we will be righteous.  If we are righteous, we will have love and we will show mercy, and we will practice forgiveness even if these things are not returned to us.

Live by faith.  Walk in righteousness.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Building in Vain

Psalm 127: 1

“Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain”.

What is it that we want?  Do we want material things?  There used to be a saying that the person who died with the most things won.  Some people think this is true, as if life is a race to be won with money, houses, cars, boats, trips, etc.  To these people, living in the right house, in the right neighborhood, going to the right places with the right people is what life is all about.  

But, God’s plan is for the redemption of humankind.  In order for us to be redeemed, we must know God.  To know God, we must know God’s son.  And if we know God’s son then we understand that life is not a competition, it is not about material things, it is about love, mercy, grace, faith, and forgiveness; things that cannot be purchased but are a result of our relationship with Christ.

Build a house, but build it with the Lord.  And build it in His neighborhood.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier

Repentance

2 Corinthians 3: 17-18

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.”

The freedom we receive from the Spirit is the freedom to walk in the will of God ; to choose Christ each day.  It is the freedom to break the bonds that hold us in slavery to sin and leave our old, sinful ways and bad habits behind.  It is the freedom to begin life as a new creation, a creation of Christ.  It is the freedom to start life anew.

All Christians who follow Christ and repent of their sins receive this freedom.  We are not always successful in our freedom.  And when we do not walk in God’s will, we must repent so that our relationship with God is restored.  Repentance is more than saying I am sorry.  It is a sincere, powerful effort to turn away from our sins and make a new start.  

Choose Christ each day and you will know the freedom of God.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier

Peace be Within You

Psalm 122: 6-9

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

    “May they prosper who love you.

7 Peace be within your walls,

    and security within your towers.”

8 For the sake of my relatives and friends

    I will say, “Peace be within you.”

9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

    I will seek your good.

Notice how the psalmist writes, “Peace be within you.”  He did not write “I hope you find peace”, or “I hope you are given peace”.  Peace that we search for or peace that can be given to us is contingent upon outside influences and can easily be taken away from us.  

Peace that is within us is a spiritual peace that dwells in us as a result of our relationship with God.  It is a peace that we have even when we are surrounded by chaos; a peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7); a peace that is grounded in our faith and our understanding that God is in control.  

Peace be within your walls and within your towers.  But best of all, peace be within you.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

The God of Hope

Romans 15:13

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

Our God is a God of hope. We have hope because Jesus was sent by God to be born into this world.  We have hope because Jesus lived on this earth and showed us how to live through his words and actions.  We have hope because he died for us on the cross, taking on our sins, paying the price.  

We have hope because he was resurrected from his grave and lives with God the Father as our Advocate. We have hope because we are given a path to eternal life.  We have hope because we know that at the end of all time, we will dwell with God and there will be no more suffering.

Because of our hope, we should be filled with a deep sense of joy and peace even in the midst of suffering in this world.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Corrupting Talk

Ephesians 4:29

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” 

One of my favorite things is sitting around the table with my family after we have finished eating and talking to my wife, and my children and their spouses.  More than talking, I like to listen to them.  I like to hear their funny stories and listen to them laugh.  After such a time my heart is full; full of joy, and love.

Have you ever come away from a conversation and felt pain, or hurt, or anger?  Or maybe you said some hurtful things to someone.  How about a gossip session?   We have all done these things.  

Paul’s advice to the Ephesians was to build people up in our conversations.  Such conversations with people will, according to Paul, deepen their relationship with God.   

Our motivation, then, for participating in conversations should be love, even if we have some hard truths to discuss.  The words we say in conversations are to have the presence and love of God in them.  

Speak as if God is present.  Because He is.  

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Joyful in Hope

Romans 12:12-18

“12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.  14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”

Paul describes the Christian life as a life of peace, harmony, and hospitality not just with each other but with strangers.  It is a life of prayer even in suffering.  It is a life of service to others; caring for those in need.  

The Christian life that Paul describes is a life that is blessed by the love and mercy of God.  It is a life that is empowered by the Holy Spirit.  It is a life that is founded on and anchored in the teachings of Christ.

It is a life in which no matter what happens in this world, we can still rejoice in hope.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

The Living Hope

1 Peter 1:3-4

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you”

Christians are people who have been reborn.  We have been reborn because our sins have been forgiven.  Our sins have been forgiven because we have confessed them and asked for forgiveness, and we have recognized Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior.  

When this happened, we were indwelled by the Holy Spirit who began to change us and mold us into the very image of God.  We became and are becoming a new creation in Christ.

Because of this, we are a people of a great and living hope, a hope that cannot be shaken.  It is the hope of eternal life.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

The Greater Gifts

1 Corinthians 12:30-31

“30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.”

People in the Corinthian church were boasting of their gifts, saying that some gifts were better than others. And if their gifts were better, then that made them better and more valuable to the church.

Paul told them that they were wrong.  First, he said, all gifts are from God, so there is nothing you should boast about.  Second, all gifts were needed equally by the church.  Third, he said strive for the greater gifts.  These are the gifts that every Christian should have or desire to have.  

Paul describes these gifts in 1Corinthians 13. They are faith, hope, and love.  These gifts are the keys to our lives as Christians.  They permeate any and all of the other gifts that we may have.  Of these three gifts, Paul says that the greatest is love and if we do not have love then we have nothing, everything else is empty.  Paul is not writing about romantic love, but he is writing about Christian love; love for God, love for your neighbor, love for people who are hard to love.

Accept and be thankful for the gifts that God has given you and use them for God’ glory.  But strive for the greater gifts of faith, hope and love while you serve and you will find a more excellent way.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Is Anything Too Wonderful for the Lord

 Genesis 18: 13-15

“13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”  But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

God had promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have descendents. God didn’t just promise them two or three descendents, God promised that they would have more descendents than the sky had stars.  Yet, in their old age, Sarah had never been pregnant.  They began to ask themselves how were they to have descendents if they never had a child?  Their doubts began to consume them.

Finally, three angels visited them and told Abraham that Sarah would have a child.  Sarah laughed to herself but her laugh was overheard.  And they asked Abraham why Sarah laughed?  

They also asked the rhetorical question, “Is anything too hard for God?”

The answer is, of course, no.  In Abraham and Sarah’s case, we know how things turned out.  They had a child.  They had descendents.  The descendents founded a nation.  And from that nation came the Son of God.  

Sometimes we doubt God.  We wonder why God lets us struggle and worry.  We wonder why there is so much chaos in the world; why there is so much violence; why the innocent suffer.  When this happens, we should remember our faith.  And remember Abraham and Sarah…..and Isaac.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

The Living Sacrifice

Romans 12:1-2

“12 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters,  by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

How do we present our bodies as a living sacrifice?  We do this by living a life that is acceptable to God.  Paul’s appeal to us is for us to live a life that is transformed; to live a life that is different from someone who is not a Christian; to live a life that is characterized by the greater gifts of love, faith, hope, mercy, grace, and forgiveness.  

Living such a life requires that we are not conformed to the world.   We will be different from the world in which we live.  We will live lives that are set apart.  Where there is hate, we will sow love.  Where there is violence and chaos, we will sow peace and order.  Where there is vengeance, we will sow forgiveness and mercy.

Finally, living such a life requires that we open ourselves daily to the power of the Holy Spirit and allow the process of transformation to renew our minds so that we will know the will of God.

This is the living sacrifice.  This is Christianity.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

The Eternal Life

 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

“16 So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 17 For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, 18 because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.”

As time goes by the person that we see in the mirror changes.  The image of the  person that we saw at age 20 does not resemble the person we now see at age 65, or 70, or 80.  Our body grows weaker.  Stairs become a challenge.  

But our inner nature, as Paul writes, grows stronger.  Each day is a new day in faith.  Each day we meet Christ.  Each day the spiritual image we see in the mirror is better than the day before.  Spiritual obstacles are less of a challenge now than ever before.

As we mature as Christians, as the Holy Spirit works in our lives, we grow stronger and stronger in our faith.  The physical image we see in the mirror is but a shadow of our spiritual, inner nature.

Practice the spiritual disciplines.  Allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life.  And don’t worry too much about the image in the mirror.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

The Glory of It All

 

Revelation 3: 14-17

“14 And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God’s creation. 15 “I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”

We may be poor by the world’s standard, but in God’s eyes we may be wealthy.  We may be rich by the world’s standard, but in God’s eyes we may be poor, blind and naked.

God’s wisdom is not our wisdom, our understanding is not God’s.  The church in Laodicea probably thought that things were going pretty well for them.  They were holding things together, keeping things going.  But they were not passionate about what they were doing.  They did not have a sense of wonder and joy in what they were doing.  They did not have a sense of being a part of something holy and sacred and greater than themselves.

Each time you worship or read scripture or pray, or participate in a meeting, whether it is at home or in the church building,  my hope for you is that you are filled with the glory of it all.  

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Finding the Narrow Gate

Matthew 7: 13-14

13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate, and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate, and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

As a child I was part of an Easter egg hunt where the Easter eggs were just placed upon the ground for all to see.  There was no effort or ingenuity involved to find an egg.  Soon, everyone had a basket full.

And then there was the egg hunt where I only found a half dozen eggs after an hour of searching.  Some of my friends didn’t find any.  I think I treasured those six eggs more than the basket full that I had collected the year before.

When something is easy to find, many do not treasure it.  When something is hard to find, many lack the fortitude to search.

When we come to faith, it may be the result of many years of searching and wandering. And then, finally, we are found.  And we are glad to enter the narrow gate and walk the narrow road.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

The Kingdom People

 Kingdom People

Colossians 3: 1-3, 12-15

“1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

12 As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. 13 Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body.”

As Christians,  we live physically in this world.  But, spiritually, we live in the Kingdom of God.  The values of this world often conflict with the values of the Kingdom of God.  The world often tells us to be angry but Paul says we are to offer the compassion and patience of Christ.   The world tells us to be proud and arrogant but Paul says we are to be humble as Christ was humble.  The world tells us to seek revenge but Paul says we are to forgive as we are forgiven by Christ.

Above all, citizens of the Kingdom of God are to offer love and peace in a world where hate and war abound.

We are called to be different; to be examples of the life and love of Christ to the world.

The Calm Assurance

Psalm 69:1-3

“1 Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.

2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.

3 I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched.

My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.”

My brother was once awakened in his home by water lapping at his bed.  The nearby river had overrun its banks and into his home.  He and his wife gathered their two small children and ran outside, leaving every material thing they owned behind.  In their arms they carried the only things in the world that mattered.

In the scripture above, David’s troubles made him feel as if he was drowning.  But at such a time, he remembered what was important; his faith; his God.  And no matter where he was, no matter what the circumstances, he carried his faith with him.

We may be weary, our eyes may have grown dim, and we may feel that the flood is sweeping over us.  But we can always rest in the calm assurance of God’s arms.