I encourage you to begin praying with everyone in your home. No matter who you live with, I suggest for you to pray with them.

Leading a home; raising children; managing roommates; understanding a spouse; or any other situation is no easy task. Praying together is a key benefit.

While praying together is definitely not the only thing to do, it is of God and it is good and it is useful.

So here are 3 Reasons to Pray with Your Household:

1. IT REINFORCES OUR DEPENDENCY UPON GOD

There is such a focus on being independent. Independence is desirable in many areas of life, but not with God. Independence is against faith and true religion. Truly knowing God is to be utterly and totally dependent upon Him.

When we pray together, we remind ourselves and those we pray with that we need God. Prayer fights against independence and re-calibrates us back to depending on God.

I purposefully use the word “reinforces” here because dependence on God is that critical. We need a big, strong word and idea to emphasize dependence. We need it reinforced!

May we all learn to live recognizing our constant need for God.

2) IT REMINDS THEM THAT WE ARE FOLLOWING JESUS

We can never allow ourselves to lose sight of the simplicity that Christians are followers of Jesus. He leads us. We look to Him. We listen to Him. We seek to obey Him. We love Him.

When we claim Christ or Christianity, and we are not following Jesus, then we become the realest of hypocrites.

And when it comes to our homes, we have to be honest – sometimes “growing up in a Christian home” is not the same thing as following Jesus. Quite honestly, I have seen many so-called “Christian homes” that do the opposite of following Jesus.

One of the ways to correct this error is to pray together. Praying together about sin and forgiveness and hope and peace will direct you back to the clarity of following Jesus.

3) IT RESTORES THE RELATIONSHIPS IN THE HOME

It is common for homes to be filled with tensions. Thats normal. People live there. But when those tensions are never repaired then relationships suffer and are lost. Praying together helps restore these relationships.

We may have taken them to church, but have we taken them to the cross of Christ?

At the cross, we see our sin. We see our brokenness. We confess our sins. At the cross, we repent and turn back to God asking Him to help us be what He wants us to be.

The splintered relationships in homes can be restored as we regularly/daily come together to pray.

I know that this will be a new and difficult step for some people. Thats ok. Its worth it. I encourage everyone to begin praying with their household.

With the start of 2022, our church is using Psalm 100 for the Call to Worship in the Sunday morning services. We plan to continue with Psalm 100 for several months. The hope is for this beautiful passage of Scripture to become familiar to all of us.

This means that each Sunday when we begin the worship service, we are reading the five verses of Psalm 100 together. As you arrive for church each Sunday morning, go ahead and have your Bible out and ready. You already know where we will be to start!

Along with that, We have challenged everyone to memorize the entire Psalm. It is not a very long Psalm. Again, only 5 verses. But it will be so good for each and every one of us to work on this. May God bring more and more health and unity to FBCF as we all share the same focus of memorizing Psalm 100.

This past Sunday, I preached on Psalm 100. You can check out that sermon here. “We are His.”

Please let us know how the memorization is going. We want to hear about it. Last night, already, we heard that some children in the E-kids were reciting it.

Our oldest child turned 13 last week. We now have a teenager. Ive been trying to process all that it means.

I wrote this poem for him.

——–

Son, I hope this year is the longest for you,
And I hope the next several drag on too.

I hope January lasts 90 days
And we keep growing in loving ways

I hope this spring never ends
And keeps making us the best of friends

I hope the summer sun never sets
While we make memories with few regrets

Walks and runs, battles with nerf guns.
Camping and hikes. Long rides on bikes.

Swimming & slides. Long car rides.
Legos and Xbox. At the creek skipping rocks.

Mowing grass and summer money.
Making laughs and being funny.

Memorizing Scripture. You and me.
In the Bible. Like a tree!

Time, slow down. Please slow down.
I’m trying my best to keep him around.

Son, I hope this year is the longest for you,
And I hope the next several drag on too.

For I am not ready to let you go,
With all my heart, I love you so.

We have finally reached the final month of the year! 2020 is coming to an end. The Christmas season is upon us.

One of the words you hear quite often this time of year is “Advent.”

What does “Advent” mean?

Advent is a simple word with a pretty simple meaning. It just means “Coming.”

When Christians use the word “advent” they are referring to the true Christmas story. Using Advent during Christmas time, they are referring to the Coming of Christ. The time when God took on flesh and became a man. The time when Jesus was born to the virgin Mary.

For God so loved the world that He came to us. Advent is pointing out that coming.

My family does an Advent family devotional each night in December. You can read more about it here.

And here is another write-up about one of those Advent devotionals. You can read about it here.

I have heard several times “I am just not in a good place right now.”

This feeling often comes with discouragement and discontentment.

It is not good for us to live with this feeling. Lets look at Judas’ betrayal of Jesus and the signs that we notice leading up to the event.

Here are 3 Signs that Your Heart is in a Bad Place:

1. BAD NEWS MAKES YOU HAPPY!
   Judas went to the chief priests to figure out a plan of how they can arrest and kill Jesus. When he did, Mark 14:11 says “they were glad.”
   How terrible!
   Men desiring to kill another man. Men desiring to kill an innocent man. That made them happy to hear that. Their hearts were so against God that Bad News made them glad. When they heard of another person joining them in their evil, it made them happy.
   May God own our hearts. May we run from bad news. May we avoid and ignore gossip and slander and lies and so on. I Corinthians 13:6 says “Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing.”
   If bad things make you happy, you need to check your heart.
   
2. MONEY OVER INTEGRITY
   When Judas went to them, they worked out the betrayal deal based off of money. It depended upon how much they would give Judas. Mark 14:11 says “they promised to give him money.”
   In other words, if the price was right then Judas would betray Jesus.
   At that moment, Money mattered more to him than his integrity. Betraying someone should never be determined by the amount of money you get for it. Integrity is about who you are no matter who is watching and no matter the consequences. Judas was more into money than his integrity, and that is a clear sign that his heart was in a bad place.
   When 1 John warns against loving the world (1 John 2:15-17), his third point is “pride in possessions.” Greed and pride and possessions and selfishness are all signs that you need to check your heart.
   
3. OPPORTUNITY DETERMINES CHARACTER
   After the deal was worked out, Mark 14:11 says “he sought an opportunity to betray him.” This is just awful. Terrible. Judas walked away from the deal with a promise of money and a heart that was opportunistic on how he could do God wrong. Thats scary.
   Far too often, the situation does determine our character. And that is not right. When the lights are off, who are we? When no one will know, who are we? When our kids are around, are we different? When we are in the church building, do we talk or act differently?
   The truth is that character is who you really are regardless of the situation. Regardless of the Opportunity.
   If the right opportunity presented itself, and you were ok in that moment to sin against God, then your heart is in a bad place.

Those are 3 examples of our hearts being in a bad place. But there is one good example of a heart being in a good spot. And that is the passage right before this one. That is Mark 14:3-9. Go read that short passage, and hear of one whose heart treasured Jesus over everything.

When our hearts are focused on Jesus, our hearts are in a good place!

These are the words we see Mark writing in his gospel when talking about the Apostle Peter at the transfiguration of Jesus.

In Mark 9:5, Peter says “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

In Mark 9:6, Mark writes “For he did not know what to say.” That’s funny!

Has that ever happened to you? You find yourself talking when you shouldn’t be. You find yourself talking when you don’t even know what you are saying.

I think all of us have done that before.

Here’s the thing: –> Some of us talk too much. Some of us talk too little. All of us need to listen well.

Hear some of God’s word:

Ecclesiastes 3:7 there is “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak”

Ecclesiastes 5:2 “Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.”

Proverbs 25:11 “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.”

God’s Truth is so good at teaching us how to use our mouths. We need grace for discernment on when to speak and when to not speak.

As we pray for that wisdom, lets hear what God said right after Peter spoke those words: “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” (Mark 9:7)

Lets work on being better listeners to Jesus.

To really understand the true meaning of Easter and the Holy Week, it is helpful to understand God’s Word and the use of a sacrificial lamb.

Here is a simple Bible study outline that can help you with this idea.

(I want to be honest and give credit where it is due – I originally got this idea from a tweet from Sam Allberry. I reached out to him about it, and he replied saying that he didn’t recall where he first heard it.) So here I am further developing the thought.

—– A LAMB FOR ONE PERSON – Genesis 22 (v.8 especially)
-Abraham to sacrifice Isaac
-God provides a lamb to die in the place of Isaac.

—– A LAMB FOR A HOUSEHOLD/FAMILY – Exodus 12 (v.3 especially)
-The Passover, Before the 10th Plague, Before the Exodus
-God provides a lamb to die in the place of each household

—– A LAMB FOR THE NATION – Leviticus 16 (v.17 especially)
– The Day of Atonement
– God provides a lamb to die in the place of the whole nation

—– A LAMB FOR THE WHOLE WORLD – John 1 (v.29 & v.36 especially)
-John the Baptist sees Jesus coming
-Jesus is calling his disciples
-Also, look up Isaiah 53:7 and 1 Peter 1:19
-God provides His Son, the lamb of God, to die in the place of the whole world

—– A LAMB FOR THE RANSOMED/REDEEMED FOR ALL ETERNITY, FOREVER – Revelation 5 (v.6 & v.9 especially)
-From every tribe, tongue, people and nation
-In Heaven, they sing “Worthy” to the Conquering Lion and the Slain Lamb
-God is worshiped by all who love the worthy lamb of God, Jesus, who died in their place

Hear this strong word from THE JESUS STORYBOOK BIBLE:

“My body is like this bread. It will break, Jesus told them. “This cup of wine is like my blood. It will pour out.” “But this is how God will rescue the whole world. My life will break and God’s broken world will mend. My heart will tear apart — and your hearts will heal. Just as the passover lamb died, so now I will die instead of you. My blood will wash away all of your sins. And you’ll be clean on the inside — in your hearts.”

Yesterday was Palm Sunday, and so there was a lot of mention of the Triumphal Entry of Jesus. You can hear or see our church’s Palm Sunday service here.

This is when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.

Let’s not be the people who talk about God and His truth without knowing what we are talking about. So, I want to help all of us know what the Bible says about Jesus and his Triumphal Entry.

It is found in all 4 Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

— Matthew 21:1-11

–Mark 11:1-11

–Luke 19:28-40

–John 12:12-15

Please take the time to read these passages. Palm Sunday begins Jesus’ Passion Week.

How do you know if someone is sincere? How do you know if they meant what they said?

Moreover, how do we know if they are sincere in what they say about God? Or even to God? How do we know if someone means what they said in regards to God and faith?

As I have been reading again in Exodus, I have been taking some time to look more deeply at Pharaoh’s responses to God’s message to him through Moses.

In the story of the 10 plagues (Exodus 7-12), Moses is asking Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go free. If he doesn’t, there will be consequences. This sequence continues on for several back-and-forths. By the time we get to the 7th plague (hail) the story has intensified.

As the worst hail storm ever falls on the Egyptians, in Exodus 9:27 we finally hear Pharaoh say this: “This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.”

This is outstanding. This is what Moses and Israel had been longing to hear Pharaoh say for 7 straight plagues now. This confession from Pharaoh is a good confession. This confession is what every human being should be saying before God. We have sinned. God is right. I am wrong.

Sounds great, right? But is it? Thats just it. He said the right thing, but did he mean the right thing? Was he sincere in what he said?

Just a few verses later, Moses says to Pharoah in 9:30 “But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.”

Moses somehow knew Pharaoh didn’t mean what he had said. He wasn’t sincerely turning to God.

So then a few verses later we read “But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants.” (9:34)

What Pharaoh is doing in 9:34 does not go along with what he said in 9:27. His actions of 9:34 do not go along with his words of 9:27. Which means that Moses’ observation in 9:30 is correct.

If Pharaoh had really been sorry for his sins in 9:27 then he would have been sorry to sin in 9:34. Even more, he would have been more reluctant to sin in 9:34.

He didn’t mean what he said. It sounded awesome and life-giving and freeing to hear him say that in 9:27. I imagine that Moses and the Israelites would have initially been so thrilled and excited to hear this after all the suffering they endured. But it wasn’t sincere, and so in time they saw that nothing had changed.

What about us? Do we mean what we say? Are we sincere with our words and our confessions and our repentance and our apologies? When we say we are wrong, do we really feel that? When we say we repent, do we really repent?

Let us be reminded of the very words of Jesus when he says “Not everyone who says to me “Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)

Saying that Jesus is Lord is nice. But it doesn’t tell us if you really mean it. Do you believe it?

Here is the latest video update from the pastors: