The Day After Christmas

By Ricky Chelette

“But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
Exodus. 17:3

Christmas is over. The packages have been opened. The eggnog and Christmas goodies have been consumed. We’ve attended the Christmas Eve service and heard about the coming of a Savior to redeem the world. It all went… relatively well.

So why the sad face? Could it be that once again our expectations outweighed our experience? Could it be that in the midst of the presents and Aunt June’s fruit ambrosia, we took our sights off the celebration of Christ’s coming and instead, fixated on our needs, our expectations, and ourselves?

If history serves us well, it seems that great moves of God are often followed by times of intense struggle and even doubt. The children of God have had this problem since their beginning.

The Exodus story is just one great example. The passage in Ex. 17 happens after God has delivered the children of Israel by the parting of the Red Sea (Ex. 14:27-30), provided water for them when there was none (Ex. 15:24-25), and allowed manna (a food created by God) to daily rain down from heaven to provide for all their nutritional needs (Ex. 16:4-5). God has been at work and the people have seen it and experience it, yet they complained. We are a lot like the Israelites. 

It is easy to lose sight of what God has or is doing in our lives when we shift our focus from eternal to temporal; when we stop thinking about Jesus and start thinking about ourselves.

On the other side of Christmas we need to be grateful: 

   • Grateful we have a Savior who entered our world

   • Grateful we have been spared the wrath of God

   • Grateful we have a Savior who came to rescue us

   • Grateful we have been given the opportunity for eternal life

   • Grateful we have momentary troubles that find their resolve in Him

   • Grateful we have a love that will never leave us nor forsake us – Jesus

   • Grateful we have The Message of hope and can share it with others

   • Grateful we have Jesus

The problem with the Israelites and the problem with you and me is we lack an attitude of gratitude and a hopeful perspective of His Sovereign rule in our lives. Like the Israelites, we want to manage every moment with little faith and even less vision. We want predictable outcomes and plausible plans. God wants to create faith-creating tension and miraculous plans. In doing so we can take no credit and He gets all the glory.

On the day after Christmas bask in the miracle and majesty of the Savior who became a man, in order that we might become saved. Contemplate the surrender of heaven for the surroundings of fallen earth. Wonder at the miracle of virgin birth and the faith of Mary and Joseph. Embrace the truth of His coming to do for sinful humanity, what sinful humanity could not do for itself. Be overwhelmed with Him and underwhelmed with you. But please don’t grumble; be grateful. Take a moment and write down things for which you are grateful and give God thanks.

The Christmas Word

By Ricky Chelette

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” 
Luke 1:14

At Christmas, those who have chosen the Jesus Way, celebrate the coming of the Son of God to earth for the redemption of humanity. We mark the appearing of the Son of God as a human being, to be for man, what man could not be for himself: Perfect. Holy. Savior. We know His earthly entry is true because the annals of history are filled with evidence. His appearance, life, death and resurrection has been the subject of more research than any other personality in history. Additionally, the entirety of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, gives evidence of His existence.

Yes Christmas is about Jesus, but it is also about the Word of God fulfilling the promises of God, in the person of God in flesh, so that we might know Him, love Him, and be redeemed.

In a world that wants to cut and paste the Bible to meet our feelings and needs, we have a Savior who came to personally show us the Word and demonstrate how it is lived out in a human’s life.

As the Word, Jesus was full of glory, grace and truth. When you saw him you saw the glory of the Father. When he interacted with people He demonstrated the grace and truth we see in the Word. He didn’t abuse grace by erasing expectations or watering down God’s standards for human behavior. He didn’t abuse truth by beating up people with rigid rules and unreasonable demands. He perfectly demonstrated the Word, because He was the Word full of grace and truth!

If you want to know Truth, read the Word. From its pages, feast on His revelations of God to His people. Digest His teachings and allow Him to empower your every

thought, motivation and action. Share Him with others and see His power transform the hearts and lives of men and woman. Believe His teachings and see transformation emerge from confusion. Claim His promises and watch hope be reborn in your life and the lives of others. Live His principles and watch your life and world changed around you for His glory and your joy.

If you want to know The Way, follow Jesus. Follow Him everyday in every way. He won’t lead you astray.

If you want to know The Life, make Him your treasure. Abandon the trivial for the Truth. Keep Him as your focus and your goal. He will not disappoint.

Indeed, the Word was made flesh, and His Name is Jesus! Merry Christmas. What a Savior!

The Trouble of Christmas

By Ricky Chelette

"And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Luke 1:28-33

The story of Christmas is familiar to most of us. The announcement of the coming of the Son of God to a rather ordinary young woman, the virgin birth, even the faithfulness of Joseph to stick with his soon-to-be-pregnant wife. These are amazing facts in themselves, but there is something in the midst of this phenomenal passage I have often overlooked. It is something I have seen repeated in the lives of people I know and something I have experienced on many occasions. Notice these words…

“But she was greatly troubled…”

Does that statement sound odd to you? How can the Angel of the Lord appear to you, speak words that are from God, and you be troubled? But that is exactly what Mary felt. We don’t know why Mary was troubled because the scripture doesn’t say. She has yet to hear she will be the mother of God’s son – that would cause most to be troubled. But she is troubled by a simple statement of grace, “O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

Mary’s humanity is showing. I imagine she is bewildered as to why the God of universe would choose her for anything. Though devoted in her faith, she is keenly aware of her shortcomings and her sin. She knows the darkness that lies in her own, very human soul. She can’t think of a thing she has done that would merit her the “favor” of the Lord. But she has it. She has been overwhelmed by grace.

Grace is one of the most frightening realities in the world. We can’t figure it out. We can’t manage it. We can’t even earn it. In fact, the every essence of its existence mandates our inability to achieve it on our own. Because it is radically uncontrollable, it is immeasurably frightening to us. We want it, but we want to run from it when we get it. Mary was troubled.

I am often troubled when God wants to extend grace to me. On the one hand I long for it and pray for it. On the other hand, I know I don’t deserve it and secretly often don’t expect to get it. I’m afraid to embrace it, because what if grace stops? What if it abandons me? What if fails in the moment of my greatest disobedience or momentary rebellions?

I believe Mary is troubled for the very reasons most of us are troubled when God blesses us for no apparent reason. We rarely see grace, God’s kind of magnanimous, ridiculous, overflowing, abundant grace lived out before us. When we do, it is packaged in a person, a sinful and fallen human, who is destined to disappoint us.

But herein lies the beauty of Christmas. When God sent Jesus He sent the one human who would personify all the grace and mercy of the Father in perfect humanity and deity. He would be the answer to the greatest human longings and the perfecter of those who have faith. He would demonstrate love as no other by giving His very life for us, and in so doing, make a way to never leave us or forsake us. What an overwhelming, lavish display of grace to you and me.

I believe this is why Mary was troubled and why we often are as well. The evidence of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection – The Gospel – calms our fears and answers all the questions. We don’t deserve Christmas, but He gave it – all of Himself to all who would believe.

Do not be troubled for the grace God wants to give you this day. Be overwhelmed by His goodness and love. You did not earn it and you can’t. But He has found you. He has given you favor! Join with Mary in declaring, “He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is for those who fear him…” (Luke 1:46-55)

To Kill or Not to Kill?

By Ricky Chelette

“If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
Romans 8:13-14

Ask media and advertising gurus how many ads you and I see in a day and you will get a plethora of answers ranging from a few hundred to a few thousands. Granted, much of that depends on how much you are on the internet, watch TV and even where you live. But the truth is, we see a ton of messaging insisting that if we use this product or have that experience, we will feel pleasure and find the true happiness we seek. Marketing experts have discovered what sometimes we Christians forget: We all want to feel good and think we are in control. However, if we are honest, we know real happiness is never found in the things around us. Hearses never pull U-hauls. Material things never bring lasting pleasures. Money never makes you happy. Houses never make you feel ultimately secure.

Paul knows that if we live for the pleasures of this world, we are assured destruction. Pleasures only last for a season and they never truly satisfy. Ask the addict or the rich man how much is enough and his answer will always be, “a little more!” The very nature of the flesh is that is has an insatiable appetite. It is never satisfied.

Paul understood that the soul’s real longing is for the eternal -- for that which passes understanding and transcends the temporal into the eternal. He believed the words of Jesus in Matt 6:19-21 about treasures, and fully embraced Jesus’ call in Mark 8:34 to “deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.”

Scripture is clear that to truly walk as a mature believer, we have to put to death the things of the flesh, “the body,” regardless of how strongly it may scream for satisfaction. I think it is one of the reasons Jesus encouraged fasting (Matt 6:16). Fasting is a discipline that helps us to see that we do not have to obey the things of our flesh, but instead, can purposefully choose to go against our fleshly desires for the purpose of God. We can live counter to our “natural” feelings. Resisting fleshly desires, going against the flow of culture, fixing our heart’s affections on something other the pursuit of the dollar or pleasure, gives indication of where our true treasures lie and who actually holds our deepest affections and ultimate allegiance. Does all this seem impossible? It is. Paul does not advise we simply shelve our feelings or desires. He doesn’t plea for a repression of current feelings and wants. He says we must kill them and we can only do that with the work of the Spirit in our lives. I don’t like that word “kill” and you probably don’t either, but we know that putting to death the longings for temporal pleasures is the only way to truly be free and dependent on Christ.

What pleasures, fantasies, dreams, or desires in your life is Christ calling you to kill? Remember you can’t do this on your own. It takes supernatural power that you don’t posses. It takes utter dependence on Christ. It takes a heart surrendered and consumed with a singular plea, “Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark14:36). Are you willing to kill the desires of the flesh in order to be consumed with your need for Jesus?

What is My Life?

By Ricky Chelette

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” 
John 14:6

We often use this passage in reference to talks about Jesus being the only way to heaven. It certainly means that and I believe the scripture is clear that there is but one way to heaven and that is through the work of Jesus – accepting and believing in what He has done on our behalf to make us right with God.

But I’m afraid that despite how wonderful this verse is, we can easily miss the more practical declaration of our Savior. You see, Jesus didn’t come just so you and I could have a better life. He didn’t come just to solve our problems or heal our sickness or help us feel better as we live in this world – though those things may happen in a relationship with Him.

Most of seem to view Jesus and the work of the Gospel as a big Santa or Grandpa in the sky with supernatural powers that allow us to live better lives now. But what if that “better life now” never happens?

What if instead of a promotion you get fired? What if you get diagnosed with cancer? What if you pray for a friends healing and instead, they die? What if life in this world is simply hard and burdensome and it doesn’t get easier? Will you still follow Jesus then?

What I believe Jesus is communicating to us in John 14 is not simply that He is the only way of salvation, but He is the only way, period. Jesus wants us to want Him more than we want anything else. He has no desire to simply be in our lives, He wants to be our life. When Jesus becomes our life, when spending time in His presence and simply being with Him becomes the priority of our hearts, our lives are transformed. We are filled with joy, not because things are working out for our pleasure (in fact we may be experiencing the most difficult times of our lives), but because we are with Him and He is our life.

We spend incredible amounts of time, energy, effort, money, and will chasing everything but the One who can give us what no one else can – a peace that passes all understanding (Phil. 4:7). It was the secret to every Patriarch’s success. It was the hallmark of every apostle. It was the very thing that drove Paul to write this almost incomprehensible statement “It is no longer I who live, but 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.” (Gal. 2:20) Paul had abandoned the idea of trying to make his life work because He had discovered it never would. By abandoning his pursuit of personal control and temporary pleasures, he surrendered Himself completely to the pursuit and presence of Jesus. This is why he could say while in prison, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” (Phil. 4:11) Could you be content in prison chained to wall, sitting on a stone floor? Paul was because his circumstances did not determine His life. Jesus did.

Are you pursuing Jesus for what He can do for you or because He has already done for you what you actually need if you would just treasure Him above all. May we take seriously His admonition to us. May Jesus truly be our LIFE!

Broken Cisterns

By D'Ann Davis

“For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”
Jeremiah 2:13

A cistern is a storage tank for water that can be cut into the ground or rock, or built out of other materials. In a Middle Eastern climate, cisterns were supremely important in Jeremiah’s day. These vessels held precious water that was necessary to sustain life. Jeremiah uses cisterns to paint a picture of the spiritual state of the Israelites at the time. They had chosen to serve idols over the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Their idolatry was grievous to the Lord. Not only had they rejected Him, but they had chosen idols that were impotent to save them. They were broken cisterns that could hold no water, and the Israelites had rejected the Living Water in their pursuit of these idols.

Many of us do that today. We commit idolatry and reject Christ the Living Water. We cut ourselves off from the very life source we need. We will never live life to the full or abide in His love when we reject Him. We will find ourselves spiritually thirsty and bereft of fulfillment.

Among other things, whether through relational idolatry in emotional dependency, addiction to pornography or masturbation, or acting out through same sex relationships, we can find ourselves building broken cisterns that can hold no water. All of our efforts to find life apart from Christ are broken, misguided efforts and will leave us empty, just like the cracked cistern that drains its water.

But there is another way. Jesus says in John 4:14, “Whoever drinks of the water I will give him will never be thirsty again.” We can allow Christ to fill our empty souls and stop building our own cisterns. We can rest in His love and trust His hand. He says of the one who drinks the water He gives in John 4:15, “The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” This is our hope, the Living Water of Jesus Christ. Our own ways will fail us, but He will never fail us. Let us cast aside our idols. Let us drink from the Lord and never be thirsty again.

Where Are You Running?

by Ricky Chelette

I love you, O Lord, my strength. 

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

    my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,

    my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 

I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,

    and I am saved from my enemies.
Psalms 18:1-3

Troubles come. If you are alive you can rest assured that difficulties will come. If you are a lover of the Jesus Way, you know your faith will be tested and your resolve to follow Him will be tried. It is only in those moments of testing that you will realize the nature of your true devotion. When you are squeezed, when the pressure is on, where you run for comfort and help may tell more about your heart than where you attend church or even how you spend our money.

In Ps. 18 the psalmist declares a deep dependence and confidence in God’s goodness. He uses words like “rock,” “fortress,” “deliverer,” “refuge,” “shield,” and “stronghold.” Each of these words is packed with meaning and rich with life-application. Each word communicates the immutability (the unchanging nature) of God. He is not like us. He NEVER changes.

When difficulties come in your life, where do you run? Do you seek to medicate the pain with food, busyness, drugs, porn, sex, or some other sin? Or do you run to Jesus, our rock and refuge?  Do you truly know that He is safe (our refuge) and will protect and provide for you (our deliverer)?

I often like to expand and personalize a Psalm. Here’s my expanded edition. I hope it will be encouraging to you.

“I love you, O Lord (the One Creator and Sustain of all that is), my strength (the One who supplies me with courage and stamina when I have none).

The Lord is my rock (my solid foundation of granite), and my fortress (my impenetrable barricade) and my deliverer (my rescuerer),

my God, my rock (the immovable One), in whom I take refuge (the One who is full of understanding, grace and well acquainted with my gief),

my shield (my first line of defense), and the horn of my salvation (the initiator, sustainer, and provider of my love relationship with Him), my stronghold (the One who holds on to me even when I am not holding on to Him),
I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.

In your moments of pain, hurt, confusion and difficulty may you run to Him and not from Him.He really is THE only option for He holds everything together.Take refuge in Him. Run to Jesus today!

The Impact of Images

by Ricky Chelette

“I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil.”
Psalms 101:3a, 4

We live in a very visual world. In the course of a day we are bombarded by thousands of images from every conceivable direction: our phones, TV, ads, cars, GPS, even our appliances now come equipped with images reminding us to buy more. 

Snapchat reports that its one app sends 700 million pictures and videos per day to their users. Marketing researchers say that we may see as many as15,000 advertisements in a single day. And Facebook receives uploads of 350 million photos per day. But how do those images impact our lives?

In a word, I think the answer is perception. The images we view change the perception we have of our lives, our families, our friends, our world, and ourselves.

The psalmist makes a commitment to God to not allow his eyes to be filled with things that are worthless and to keep his heart/mind from the knowledge of evil. The world of the psalmist is certainly not the world that you and I live in today. There are many things we see and know that we didn’t choose. But I am afraid there are far too many choices that you and I make to indulge in things that are worthless, and at its worst, even dangerous. Over time, those things that once were offensive now become common, acceptable, and “ordinary.”

Far too often we choose to engage in viewing things that degrade the very image of God in men/women by making them objects of our pleasure. God’s creation, His people, were not made to be leered at, objectified, or captured for our pleasures. People are created to reflect the glory of God on earth and designed to be treasured in real, personal, relationships. When we objectify people, we remove relationship, and make what is real, relative and meaningless.

Job 31:1 says that he “made a covenant with his eyes.” The psalmist seems to encourage you and I to do the same. Think about the things you see on a daily basis. Are those images moving you closer to God or farther away from Him?

Wait to Date?

By D'Ann Davis

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”  
Ecclesiastes 3:1

Why would one ever wait to date? Is that not the whole reason people come to Living Hope, to date someone of the opposite sex and get married? Well, not particularly. While opposite sex dating and marriage is a good goal to have and one often realized by people at Living Hope that is not the reason we exist. We seek to help people find healing and freedom through intimacy with Christ. Sometimes that results in healthy heterosexual relationships and marriage, and other times that results in healthy, fulfilling celibacy and service in the church body. Often, pre-mature dating can interfere with the healing and freedom purposes. Here are some reasons why a person seeking freedom in sexual and relational struggles might need to wait to date.

1. He/She is not ready. Most people who come to us have long-standing addictions or are just getting out of unhealthy relationships. Immediately jumping into another relationship with all the same baggage will not aid one’s cause. We encourage at least six months of sexual and unhealthy relationship sobriety along with significant steps toward healing before strugglers consider dating anyone.

2. It is a distraction. Any romantic relationship presents two new sets of issues: the issues of the other person and the issues of the relationship itself.  If one has not worked through his or her own baggage, then the presence of new problems to sort through will interfere with the primary goal of personal healing in Christ for the struggler. A struggler is wise not to jump into a relationship until she has a firm grasp on the wounds that drive her struggle, has made significant headway in those areas of brokenness, is walking in wholeness as an individual, and is ready to pour into another instead of cling to them for completion.

3. He/She does not know what healthy looks like. The nature of lesbian relationships is emotional enmeshment and intensity.  A woman who has not learned to relate in healthy ways will feel let down by the seemingly boring nature of a healthy relationship. She will likely attribute this letdown to the idea that she is immutably gay when in reality, she is simply unhealthy. She might be tempted to wrongly blame the failure of the relationship on the fact that the other is male and not on the fact that she has not learned what healthy relating means. She is sabotaging her own efforts in dating by pursuing it too soon. Men can face the same dilemma in not feeling the same intense physical pull to a woman that they do to another man, without realizing that the attraction to women will look different than the draw toward men.

Dating in pursuit of marriage is a good thing that honors God’s complementary design of one man and one woman. Timing is everything though and it behooves strugglers to seek wise counsel, the Scriptures, prayer, emotional healing, and sexual sobriety before considering moving forward in romantic relationship with the opposite sex. In the span of one’s life, six months is not a long time to wait if it increases one’s ability to have a healthy, God-honoring relationship with someone of the opposite sex.  The fruit is worth the wait.

Nebuchadnezzar's Repentance

By Samuel Parish

“...for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,

    and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
    and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
    and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
    or say to him, “What have you done?”

If you had to guess where to find these verses in the Bible, where do you think you would find them?

The Psalms?

One of the Old Testament Fathers?

A minor prophet?

Would it surprise you find out these words are the final confession of King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4 (verses 34b-35)?

When we think of Nebuchadnezzar, it’s easy to see him only as the wicked, pagan king who tried to kill three Hebrew men who would not bow to his giant golden statue when the music played. We find great comfort that God saves his people from those who would stand against God and his commands, and are stirred to endure great hardship because of it. But what about the man who saw God intervene for his people, and still shook his fist at him in rebellion? Is the Book of Daniel just that God saves those who faithfully follow after him? Or is there something more?

In Chapter 4, Daniel warns the king that if his arrogance continues, God will bring him low. It is a gentle but firm warning to turn away from pride and toward righteousness. The king refuses and is driven from his kingdom until he comes to the end of himself and repents. In his repentance, God restores this pagan king to his throne and gives him greater wealth than before. This king who attacked and destroyed Jerusalem is given the chance to repent and there at the end of his life, he does.

May this be a word of hope for those of us who have spent our lives in rebellion against God. You are not so far gone that the spirit of God cannot bring change in your life. As we turn from our pride, and turn to righteousness we will see our lives restored to the beauty that God intended for each of us. 

No Condemnation

by Ricky Chelette 

“There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” 
Romans 8:1

How many of us feel condemned for things we have done in our past or temptations and difficulties we have in our present? When we understand the Gospel, and what Christ has done for us on the cross, we realize that we are no longer condemned because Christ has taken on the penalty of our sin.

Isaiah prophesied about just such a Savior in Isa. 53:6 “…the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isa. 53:10 “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin.”

Or in Rom 5:18-19 we read, “Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”

When we believe and trust in the work of Christ we are freed from the condemnation of our sin. The devil would love to remind us of our past and condemn us in our sin, but Christ’s grace and mercy frees us.

The truth is, you are NOT your sin and your sin should never define you. When you are in Christ, you become the adopted son or daughter of God. You are a child of the King. You are freed from a life defined by brokenness, and empowered to live as an heir to the Kingdom of God! Whose voice are you listening to this day? Are you listening to the devil and his accusations and lies, or Christ and His call to you as a son or daughter?