SOAP Thursday 1/13 Matthew 11:1-30 (28-30)

S Matthew 11:28-30 ESV

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

O

Here are a few directions and then a couple of statement/promises made by Jesus.

1. We are to Come to Him; Take His Yoke and Learn from Him.
2. He will give rest; He is gentle; His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
3. Once we act (#1) then we will see His actions (#2). He has already done His, but we are somewhat blinded by life, until we bow before Him.
4. To do this one must die to self. One must allow Him to rule/reign in their life. He is key to life!

A

Coming to Him is not as hard as staying w/ Him. I must come and stay/remain there with Him. Once I stay there with Him I will see His actions and I will be able to learn from Him and take His yoke. I know He cares/LOVES me because of His coming and dying for me. The “ball” is in my court. I will come and take Your yoke and Your rest Oh Lord.

P

Lord please teach me as I come and remain with You today. God I NEED You and I desire for You to fill me with Yourself today. Lord I know You are faithful to complete all that You say. I believe You are in control of this life and that You will use me for Your glory today. I die to self and to sin! Please fill me with Your presence.

Amen.

S Matthew 10:1-42 (37-39)

[37] Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. [38] And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. [39] Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

O

Love - phileo - to have affection for. The one who has more affection for physical relationships (father, mother, sister, brother, son or daughter) more than for JESUS is not worthy of Him. The relationship bond between a person and their physical family is strong, but the bond between them and JESUS MUST be stronger. If not we are that relationship is not worthy, it doesn’t have weight or value.

Taking up “his cross” or your cross is HUGE. It was and still needs to be looked at as sign of death. Even though we wear them as jewelry the cross denotes death. JESUS is saying we must die to be able to follow Him. Death to sin; death to desires; death to self must come about to be worthy of Him. He is MORE than worthy, and when He has given Himself to you, you won’t be disappointed.

A

Love and Affection to JESUS is of utmost importance, as well as dying to self. LOVE is spelled - TIME. Time in His Word. Time on my knees. Time teaching, learning, growing, reading. Losing Life (the physical life and its desires) will find life (eternal, permanent, true life).

P

Lord I bow my head and cry out to You today for forgiveness. Lord I see where my LOVE has been. It has been on self and physical things. My love/affection has not been on You. I have given “lip service” and I desire to give You what You are WORTHY of. Father and Savior I give myself to You right now. I die! Please fill me with Your Spirit, and rule in me. I am Yours; I ask You to guide me today and send me out just as You sent out the 12. Oh Lord, I desire to be used and to magnify Your Holy Name to those around me today.

Amen.

SOAP Tuesday 1/11/11- Matthew 9:1-38 (9)

Remember my posts are not for your consumption so to speak. They are examples! The challenge is for YOU to get into God's Word and allow Him to speak to YOU. Remember-we are reading about Jesus so that we can be like Jesus.

S Matthew 9:1-38 (9)

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

O Matthew was doing his job. A very well paying job, collecting taxes. Leaving this job would probably mean that he would no longer have an income, and that he would be hated by both the Romans, his former employer and also the Jews those whom he collected taxes from.

Matthew would be a loner! This meant the stability of life was over and also that he could probably turn to no one in a crisis.

Yet Matthew dropped it all and followed Jesus.

A

I must be willing to drop whatever and follow Christ. He is ALL to me and therefore when He directs me I must follow. Will it always be easy, popular, quaint, “bed of roses”? No! But I must come to the place where I see Him as provider and protector of my life and if He is, then I must be willing to go where He desires me to go.

P

Lord please show me Your way for my life! God I am yours and I desire You to lead me. I will follow You!

Amen.

SOAP Matthew 4:1-25 (1-3, 10) 1/6/11

S Matthew 4:1-3, 10

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. 3 And the tempter came andsaid to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." 10 Then Jesus said to him,"Go, Satan ! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY."

O

1. The Spirit of God led Jesus into the Wilderness. The wilderness is a unique place spiritually speaking. It is a place of learning/wandering/discipline. Here it is a place of retreat from the world and a place of trials.

2. The Spirit led Christ to be tried by the devil. This was all in the plan of God. He has Christ go and be tempted like I am. Christ fights off temptation the ONLY way I can-with Scripture.

3. Satan comes at an opportune time. After 40 days of fasting from food. Jesus is hungry and at that time Satan comes.

4. Jesus is still in control of Himself. Satan could not make Him sin; all he can do (and does well I might add) is tempt.

A

There are two things I must apply from this passage if I want to learn from it. 1. I must determine why I am in the wilderness. Is it to learn? to be disciplined? a retreat? When I find myself there, I must know why I am there. 2. Satan has no POWER over me. I am not his! He can't make me do anything. Sure he bluffs a GREAT game, but I must remember that he is not in control. The way I combat him is by God's Word. Jesus could have "thumped" him across the universe, but you and I can't. So Jesus fought Satan off the only way you and I can. So I must remember that and put it into practice when I get tempted.

P

Lord my prayer is a simple one. Please show me why You have me in the wilderness when I am there. May I not be upset, angry, calloused to it, but may I seek You and be able to sense why You have me there. Lord I know that You don't allow Satan to tempt me more than I can withstand (with Your help), so please show me the way out of each temptation that Satan brings at me. Lord I love You; thank You for Jesus.

Soap Wednesday 1/5/11- Matthew 3:1-17 (11-12)

S Matthew 3:1-17 (11-12)

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

O

1. John knew his place and the place of the one coming after him.
2. His orders were to go out and tell that Messiah was coming; “the kingdom is at hand.” He did and a part of that was to baptize with water those who were seeking repentance/ coming back to the Father.
3. Jesus on the other hand was coming and when He comes He will “reap” the wheat. He will stand on the threshing floor and reap the harvest. Those not a part of the harvest will be burned with fire.
4. The harvest will come to an end, and Jesus will come and go to the threshing floor. I don't know when that will be, but it will come.

A

My actions today are to be similar of John the Baptist’s. He went out to tell of Jesus’ coming. I am to do the same. John went out before He came the 1st time; I am to go out before His 2nd coming. Jesus is coming! Therefore I must, I MUST, go.

P

Lord show me today who You would want me to speak with. God I am Yours! You direct my going out and my coming in. Use me today for Your Glory!

SOAP Tuesday 1/4/11- Matthew 2:1-23 (1-5)

S Matthew 2:1-23 (1-5)

Wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

O

1. The Wise men from the east were looking for the Christ. They came to capital of country where the star led them. They were looking for Christ!
2. Herod the king, was from Israel, and he did not even know where the Christ was to be born.
3. Scribes told them where He was to be born. Bethlehem- a small town outside of Jerusalem. Not where one would think the King of Kings would be born.

A

My thoughts are drawn to this part of the passage b/c there are three types of people in the passage. 1. Those from afar who want to know about Jesus and where they can find Him. 2. Those close by who don’t know about Him, nor care! 3. Those who know, but seem to be indifferent or don’t care about what they know.

I definitely don’t want to be like the last two, and the only way that will happen is to be in His Word and Grow.

P

Lord please show me Yourself today. God as I am in Your Word please allow it to come alive and reveal Yourself to me. I desperately desire to be Yours and to have You control my life. I know where You are and also how to be close to You. Please direct my path today!

Christmas Blues

The line at Walmart tonight was a long one. Not at the check-out counter but at the customer service station (returns). As I stood there, upset that I had to wait and wait and wait to return a gun for Nathan, I thought about the families in front of me and also the one behind me. I wondered if they had gotten over Christmas.

As I walked the store there was still a little bit of cheer in the aisles, but not as much as last week or the week before. To be honest, even I am down somewhat. This is not to be the case! You and I, those who know Jesus as Lord, are to be LIGHT. We are to shine on the hillside so that all can see Him. Christmas, the day where we exchange gifts, may be over, but we are called to give the good news away to those who have not heard. Take the time to tell someone about Jesus today; tell them about Riverbend too.

This Sunday is a new year at Riverbend! We are kicking off 2011 in the book of Jude. It is not a long book; it only has ONE chapter. Over the next 4-5 weeks we will walk through this great little letter. Please spend some time today and tomorrow reading over the book and also ask God to use me to proclaim His good news to us on Sunday.

Merry Christmas!

Brian