The One Thing - United Faith Church Podcast

Ecclesiastes 10:4 If a ruler’s anger rises against you,     do not leave your post;     calmness can lay great offenses to rest.Hello and welcome back to the One Thing podcast. The Word of the Lord for today is Ecclesiastes 10:4. And it's really the second half of the verse and I really love this it says, “...calmness can lay great offenses to rest.” "God can allow us to step into a place of mercy, we can come into a place of reconciling things that we may have messed up..." And this whole verse if you read it, it's saying you know, ‘If a ruler's anger rises against you you do not leave your post; calmness can lay great offenses to rest.’ So bottom line what the Scripture is saying today is that if you find yourself in some trouble - whether it's in trouble spiritually, whether it's in trouble physically with your boss at work or maybe just something happening in our life. And I'm not just talking about a trouble from the outside but a trouble that maybe even you have caused, because we know that that happens, there are times we make the wrong move we make the wrong decision - whatever it may be. But bottom line it's saying if you find yourself in such a predicament in such trouble, ‘Stop! Stop! Calmness can lay great offenses to rest.’ Even the worst of offenses, rather than finding ourselves in trouble rather than finding ourself in a bad situation and quickly looking for an excuse - letting our minds run and trying to figure out whose fault it is besides ourself - the Word of the Lord says, ‘Calm yourself stop! Because calmness can lay even great offenses to rest.’ "I pray today that we would be those who would never leave our post today and to continue in the calmness and the peace of God. " Now what does that mean does it say just be quiet? Does it say don't make any moves does it say just let the wrong and the offenses go? No, but it is saying this: ‘Stop for a moment. Seek the Lord! Seek the Lord and examine yourself!’ Examine the heart examine our minds. Why did we make the decision that we made? Why have we found ourself in this trouble, is it truly my fault - just stop for a moment, and allow God to speak and to bring clarity. That's why in our calmness - in our calmness of calming our mind stopping all of our excuses stopping all the things that we just kinda utter out so quickly - and we stop and we yield to God, everything changes. Even the offense that is caused, even the wrong that has been done - God can allow us to step into a place of mercy, we can come into a place of reconciling things that we may have messed up, whatever it may be - stop and allow God to speak. Allow a calmness of God to overtake our mind and our heart, to put the excuses aside to take responsibility, and to walk as God has called us to walk - in His peace and in His truth. I pray today that we would be those who would never leave our post today and to continue in the calmness and the peace of God. Even in our troubles, even in our circumstances that we might have brought upon ourselves, that today we would move and walk in God and not take a step further without Him. Praying that this Word would find each one of us and bless us, and that God would be glorified. Amen.

Psalm 46:10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”Hello and welcome back to the One Thing podcast. The Word of the Lord for today is Psalm 46:10 that says, “... ‘Be still and know that I am God…’” "God is saying, ‘Be still.’" These are such crucial words for the Christian - such crucial words for each one of us in this day and age. When we think about it, how hard is it to actually be still? Even when we’re physically sitting down what begins to happen many times? We pick up our phone, we can check our emails we can go on all sorts of apps - and it's almost like we're running in our minds even though we’re sitting still in our bodies. Now, it's not that there's anything wrong with our phones or apps or all those different things, but it's when it becomes so excessive - it becomes such a habit - that we never really stop to consider the voice of the Lord. We never really stop to just be still and know that God is God. "Will you be still and know that He is God?" Today, will we take the time? This week will we begin to stop and maybe not just alone but with our children with our family, take the time to practice being still and acknowledging God? Take the time to maybe put the television aside maybe take the time to put that thing that we're so concerned with - that bill, that app - whatever it may be, God is saying, ‘Be still.’ And as you are still, it brings us back into the focus of the Kingdom. It allows us to simply rest for a moment to simply rest from the things of the world - to rest from all the going and the going in our minds and in our hearts and allow ourselves to receive the Word of the Lord to get refocused. To remember that God is calling us to be still. And it's not that we're never gonna move we're never gonna physically be active but all the things that we do are to come from that intimacy that connection with God that comes as we still our minds still our hearts, to simply come into His presence. To hear from His Words to hear His voice and to be able to walk in the commands and the things that He's giving us for this day for this week - for our lives. Will you be still and know that He is God?

2 Kings 2:19-22 The people of the city said to Elisha, “Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductiveHello and welcome back to the One Thing podcast. I'm so excited to share a story that really touched my heart this week it's coming from the book of 2 Kings, chapter 2 verses 19 to 22. And we find Elisha, the prophet of God, who is approached by some men of the town of Jericho and they approach him about a situation about the water of the city. And it goes as this, “The people of the city said to Elisha, ‘Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive.’ ‘Bring me a new bowl,’ he said, ‘and put salt in it.’ So they brought it to him. Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.”’ And the water has remained pure to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.” "...apart from the Lord Jesus Christ it doesn't matter about what we do on the outside unless it's coming from Christ on the inside." What I found so interesting was that this town of Jericho - it says that it is “well situated.” The people are basically coming to Elisha saying, ‘Listen, you can see that we're in a great place. You can see that on the outside everything looks so well.’ And I can't help but to think for a moment, when we look at certain people when we may look at our own lives maybe we look okay on the outside. Seemingly we have all of the possessions that we may need we have all the things we may need a nice house a nice car money - whatever it may be. Yet on the inside, if we were to stop and to really think what was on the inside, we find as this is described it says, “‘...the water is bad and the land is unproductive.’” See apart from the Lord Jesus Christ it doesn't matter about what we do on the outside unless it's coming from Christ on the inside. See these waters - Proverbs says in chapter 20, the purposes of man's heart is described as deep waters. I can't help but to correlate the two and see that these waters are symbolic of our heart apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. It says that it caused death. See, sin in the heart of man causes death - maybe not a physical death but a spiritual death. And it causes us to be unproductive. Have you ever felt, ‘Wow! God I would love to be productive in Your Kingdom. I would love to produce fruit but Father there is something that is holding me back. These waters seem unproductive my heart just seems to be held back by some dark power by some sinfulness.’ Whatever it may be today, may God be able to come as He did through Elisha and to pour out His salt. "See, when the Lord touches you you can't help but to turn to Him." What is that salt - that salt was the salt of the power of God. That salt - when you look in the Scripture, salt is used for so many different things but one thing that catches my mind is how salt was used to purify. He says in the Word of God - Jesus says that all people will one day be salted with fire. When we think of the purifying qualities of fire and even of salt, that is what the power of God does. He purifies us He's able to take a heart that was maybe in fullness of wickedness, maybe distant from God. Maybe there was a part of us that just was so lost in the world so lost going our own way doing our own thing. Yet, when we come to the Lord Jesus Christ and we call upon His Name, we can be salted with purity we can be cleansed and washed of our sin. And what is the evidence of that? We see that this water was made pure - and it remains pure even to this day. See, when the Lord touches you you can't help but to turn to Him. You can't help but to begin to serve Him to now become productive in the Kingdom.

Proverbs 22:4Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and lifeHello and welcome back to the One Thing podcast. Think with me for a moment today. How many of us at some point, maybe currently or especially this past year, have had moments where we worried about our health because of COVID-19, that has spread so rapidly, or other diseases or just in general? Maybe some type of health concern that we've had for ourselves, wondering what kind of nutrients we can take in, or vitamins, or how we can protect ourselves with maybe certain face shields, whatever it may be? At some moment, we may be thinking about our health and wondering how we can keep up with it. All the things that we think about, whether it's vitamins and all the different medicines, I'm sure that they're very helpful but one thing I want to talk about today is not only our physical health but the health of our heart. The health of our soul. “See, much more important than the body is the soul.” See, much more important than the body is the soul. Much more important than the flesh is what is on the inside. Now, I'm not a doctor so I can't tell you what vitamins to be taking but what I can suggest today is something for the soul. I can suggest today the Word of the Lord. The fear of the Lord, which is as a medication. The Bible makes clear that those who fear the Lord find nourishment and good health within their bones, within their bodies, within their spirit. How can this be? Well, one of my favorite verses I’d like to share today is [Proverbs 22:4] and it says, “Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches, honor and life.” So, what is it to fear the Lord? It's a very healthy thing to do. See, the fear of the Lord is not spoken about much today but it's so crucial and so important for those who believe in the Lord. Now, what is the fear of the Lord? It says, “Humility is the fear of the Lord” and when we think of humility, it's not looking at ourselves and kind of looking down on ourselves or kind of beating ourselves up but true humility simply is this: it's a realistic estimation of who we truly are without the Lord. See, without the Lord I am not wise. Without the Lord Jesus, I am dead on the inside. Without Him, I am lost. I am a broken man but through His power, through His love and through His mighty Word, through His power through Christ alone, I am able to come into the fear of the Lord. I am able to get a good, realistic estimation of myself but also a good realistic estimation of the Lord Jesus Christ. That He is King. He is powerful and those who call upon His name find strength. That is the fear of the Lord, to be bowing before Him, to be humbling ourselves before Him. “What is life? It's a soul full of the health of the Lord Jesus Christ that is not lost in brokenness...” And what are their wages? What is the result? It says, “...riches, honor and life.” Now, riches can mean so many different things. Maybe yes, He will bless us with physical things but even deeper than that, the richness of love, the richness of His presence. We know honor, being able to honor Him and most of all, life. What is life? It's a soul full of the health of the Lord Jesus Christ that is not lost in brokenness. A soul not moving in darkness and in wickedness but a soul overtaken by the presence of God. “Humility is the fear of the Lord; and its wages are riches, honor and life.” May we not just be searching for vitamins for our physical health. May we not just be worried about the outside but I'm praying today that we would be looking on the inside. Do we fear the Lord? Are we humble before His presence? If not, today may we call upon the Lord Jesus. May we bow before Him that riches, honor, and life would arise and that His name would be exalted. Praying today that you would find good health and nourishment on the deep inside of you...

Leviticus 11:45 I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.Hello and welcome back to the One Thing podcast. What is holiness? What does it mean to be holy? Leviticus 11:45 in the Scripture says, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.” What a call God has for those who trust in Him! What a call that God has to be His! ”Holiness is a heart”He says that He brought us out of Egypt. Now for us, for many that may be listening right now, Egypt may be a lot of different things. Maybe God delivered you from some illness that you had; maybe God delivered your mind from a certain mindset; maybe God has even now begun something special that you know that He's doing in your life - either way, He is the God who brings us out of Egypt. He is the God who brings us out of the old, out of darkness and into the light, so that He can be our God - we can serve and love Him! ”I will live, God, as though I am set apart for the King; as though I am set apart for the Lover of my soul, for the Lord Jesus Christ.”What a wonderful, amazing God that we are called by - and He says that because He brought us out of Egypt, He requires us to also be Holy. And God wants us to understand what it means to be holy as He is holy. You see, it's not about our moral values - it's important to really think about our values, what we value what we don't; it is very important to make sure that our values reflect the Scripture, the Word of God, the teachings of God, which is definitely something special in our lives - but it's not our moral values that cause us to be holy. It's not our disciplines; maybe the discipline of not being excessive with things like television or food or whatever it may be. See, personal disciplines or even spiritual disciplines are important - and they also have a place in the life of a believer, in the life of a Christian - but our disciplines are not what make us holy. ”...As we live in true holiness and understand what He has called us to, we can walk as those who belong to God!”See, holiness is a heart. It's a heart that is settled saying, “God, You have purchased me with the precious blood of Your Son, and now I belong to You. Father, You delivered me from Egypt and I will never forget; and I will never forget all that You have done, and now I see that I owe my life to You.” What a wonderful way to live: in holiness, which really means to be set apart for God. It means to have the mindset and the heart, thinking that whether we're at work, whether we’re at school, whether we’re in the church or we’re in our car, just truly knowing that we belong to the Lord, and our lives will reflect it. I will live, God, as though I am set apart for the King; as though I am set apart for the Lover of my soul, for the Lord Jesus Christ. When we are told and instructed to live as Jesus lived - how did He truly live? He lived in holiness - He lived set apart for the Father. What a special call for each one of us! What a wonderful call knowing that as we live set apart for Him, as we live in true holiness and understand what He has called us to, we can walk as those who belong to God! Praying that we would be set apart today. Praying that we would understand the call to holiness. and that each one of us would step into it this day by God's strength and power. Amen!

Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.Hello and welcome back to the One Thing podcast. I have a very refreshing Scripture to share with you today. The reason I say it's refreshing is because every time I find myself reading this passage - every time I find myself reading these verses - it is refreshing to my mind. It's refreshing for my heart to be reminded of what the Kingdom of God is all about. "...there's something still yet bigger...and it is the kingdom of God." And so we look at Matthew chapter 6, verse 25 and we’ll read a few different verses, but just starting with verse 25 it says, “‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?’” And He goes on in verse 28, “‘And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.’” And we're looking at the idea of food all these necessities that in all reality - we have food, clothing, shelter - and these are things that are very important and God knows it but there's something still yet bigger...and it is the kingdom of God. And what God is saying is, “Don't be so worried, don't be so anxious about what you're gonna have.” You know this day and age, every time we turn on the news there seems to be a lacking of something different. We remember that - more than a year ago - there was a great lack of toilet paper something as simple as that and people were going nuts, storing up endless rolls of toilet tissue as much as they could, right? The other day I was just listening and they said there might be even a shortage of ketchup. Now, as simple as that is some people, you know, are probably buying as much ketchup as they can right now. But the idea is this: is that our anxiousness, our worry, and all those things that consume us are really things that God is saying, “I've got this. Don't worry about the shortages. Don't worry about what you're lacking. Don't worry about anything! Listen, if there's something to be concerned about, it’s this!” - verse 33, “‘But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.’” I'm not saying that we're gonna have a million dollars, I'm not saying that we're gonna have a bigger house but what I am saying is that God knows our needs. And He is no fool He is God that owns it all regardless of the shortages that really do happen - we know that our lives and our soul or so important to God. And He’s saying, “If you just look to My Kingdom, if you just focus on what matters - if you open your heart and incline your ear to be hearing My voice, to follow my commandments and to do the work that I've called you to do - listen, I have everything else. You're going to be okay.” "...what a life of a Christian to truly live in the Kingdom mindset, in the Kingdom hope that God has given us." Now furthermore, as I was really thinking about this verse and the Scripture, it began to be so refreshing for me. And I pray that it's refreshing to you to know that there is nothing to worry about, but to truly set our heart, our desire, and our goal and aim for the Kingdom of God - and everything else will be taken care of. And a matter of fact I love the song - it says, “And the things of this world will grow strangely dim.” Those things that you were worried about losing or not having, all of a sudden you're so focused on the Kingdom of God, they don't even seem to matter as much anymore. And what a life of a Christian to truly live in the Kingdom mindset, in the Kingdom hope that God has given us. And that is to be our lives. "...even if I weren’t to have the clothing and the food that I needed - Father,

Daniel 1:8-9 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel..." "The favor of God compares to nothing else." Hello, and welcome back to the One Thing podcast. Today I want to talk about the favor of God. The precious favor of God you see in life, whether we're in a good situation or bad, regardless of our circumstance - whatever may be happening - when the favor of God is upon us, we can be sure that God will see us through. We can be sure that He will give us all that we need and empower us to bring about His will and to walk and to stand in victory. The favor of God compares to nothing else. There are so many people throughout the Scriptures that we can find were receiving the favor of God and we can see great exploits that they have done and things that God had done through them because He had poured out His favor. But one man in particular I'd like to talk about is Daniel. Daniel was part of the exiled Jews who were exiled away from their home from their country, and now brought under King Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar was looking for young men who would be trained to serve in his royal palace, and Daniel was a part of that group of men who were selected to be prepared to see if they were going to meet the requirements in order to serve under this king, under Nebuchadnezzar. Part of this whole preparation, it would be, you know, a set amount of time - but part of this preparation required these young men to be studying, to be learning and to be doing all sorts of things to prepare them. And part of it also was to eat the very specific foods and wine that were given by the king. The king was serious about every aspect of those who would serve in his royal palace - he was concerned of their eating he was concerned of their learning and their wisdom and their skills. Now Daniel realized and knew that some of these foods were considered unclean for a Jewish man - maybe there was certain meats or maybe certain types of animals - that were presented that he knew would be a defilement according to his faith in the Lord. And so it says in Daniel chapter one, verse 8, “But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. He asked the chief of staff for permission not to eat these unacceptable foods. Now God had given the chief of staff both respect and affection for Daniel.” "...Daniel was unwilling to compromise...all that mattered to him was God and to honor the Lord." And what I really see and what I love about this is that Daniel was unwilling to compromise. He was unwilling to defile himself, regardless of what the king's reaction may be regardless of what people may say about him. Maybe he wasn't gonna make the position of serving in the royal palace but all that mattered to him was God and to honor the Lord. And because of that, we see that the chief of staff - the one who was really leading these men, really the one feeding them or providing everything - found great favor with Daniel. Now, what is that favor really rooted in? Who really prompted in this man's heart to give Daniel such favor and to allow him, as you read on, not to have to eat these certain foods? God - who but God? The Lord - who is faithful to those who are also faithful to Him. If we like Daniel, have a heart that looks to never compromise but to always serve the Lord full-heartedly - regardless of what culture may say regardless of what any other may say or prompt - if we honor Him with our hearts, if we honor Him with our lives you can be sure that the favor of God will be poured out. I encourage you to read the book of Daniel, because as you see, God's favor was so great upon him, that God protected him from the lions in the lion’s den. God protected him all throughout - made him a great inf...

Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.Hello and welcome to the One Thing podcast. I would like to share with you a verse from the book of Ephesians. It’s Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30 and it says, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” "What a wonderful gift God has given us - the Holy Spirit." As I read these words and this verse, my heart leaps to think of the Holy Spirit of God. The gift that God has given. The gift of God, the Spirit of God who draws us near to Him. The Spirit of God who creates a communion between us and the Father in Heaven. A communion with the Lord Jesus Christ as He brings Him into our spirit, into our soul. I think of the Holy Spirit who empowers us to do God's work and will. This Spirit of comfort, the Holy Spirit, which is the gift of God to allow us to do all that God has called us to do on this Earth. What a wonderful gift God has given us - the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, Paul says here that He is the Spirit of God who is our seal, who has sealed us for the day of redemption. Now what does that mean? In simple words, He is our seal. He is the proof in our lives that we belong to God. That's right, those who belong to God have the Spirit of God. When we carry His presence, when we walk in the Spirit’s power, it is proof, a seal that we belong to the Lord. It is a proof that we hold onto in faith knowing that one day, we will see our God face to face. "what have we withheld from the Spirit of God?" Furthermore, Paul now gives a command and he says, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.” Now we can talk a lot about how often we grieve Him by the things that we do but what I want to focus on just for a moment here is not only the things that we do that grieve the Holy Spirit but I ask, what are the things that we don't do that grieve the Spirit? That's right, what have we withheld from the Spirit of God? Is it our ears? Where our ears have not been attuned to His voice? Where we like to maybe hear certain things but then we don't want to hear other things that God wants to speak? Maybe we withhold our listening heart, our listening ear because we're a little too busy and we're listening to everything else that is happening. Have we grieved Him by withholding our eyes and looking at this world and looking at the things that we possess as more real than the Spirit's power, more real than God, more real than the Scriptures? Today, maybe if we find that our ears have not been open, that we have grieved the Spirit, then today may we turn to repent and ask the Lord that He would open our ears to the Spirit. No longer to grieve Him but now satisfy as those who are available, who are ready to hear and to listen and to respond. If we find that our eyes have grieved the Spirit by looking to everything else and keeping focus on everything else but His word and His truth and what He is calling us to do, then may we turn this day and fix our eyes, asking the Spirit to fix our eyes upon Jesus. To fix our eyes upon what matters in this life. To fix our eyes not on the temporal things that will one day pass away but to fix our eyes on the work of God, which is an eternal work that will last forever. "Do not withhold what God has called us to give, which is truly our lives to Him." Do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Do not withhold what God has called us to give, which is truly our lives to Him. I know some of you are hearing and listening right now and maybe your heart is leaping just as mine is and I pray that it is leaping to know that we can now turn to God in a deeper way. To turn to God to be used and to be filled with the Spirit, no longer to grieve Him but to truly satisfy Him. To satisfy Him through the power of the gospel through the power of Jesus in our lives. I'm praying today that we would no longer grieve the Spirit but we wou...

Mark 1:11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Hello and welcome to the One Thing podcast. A question for today, some thought for our hearts and our minds is: What pleases God? What can we do to make God happy? What can we do to truly please God and bring a smile to Him, to have something to truly delight in? What is it that we can do? What type of people should we be? I asked this question to a few different people, and there were a couple different answers that I began to get. One person said, “I truly believe that my effort of working really hard is pleasing to God when I just give it my all and I really do a great job”. Another person actually responded and said, “I think I have a really hard time pleasing God. You know, part of me really wants to do a good job at it. Another part of me just seems to fail miserably over and over and it's so difficult to please Him”. And lastly, another person said, “It’s a person who prays a lot and I find that I am praying a lot more and I feel like because I'm praying more and because I'm thinking a little bit more about God, that it's so pleasing to Him”. Now, I want to go to the Word of the Lord. And in the Word of the Lord, I'm so excited because it states clearly what is pleasing to the Father, what is truly pleasing, what type of person, what can we actually do to please the Father? And it'll truly answer every single one of the people that I've spoken to, even you today as you may be thinking, “What is pleasing to the Father? How can I please Him?” “The only thing that is pleasing to God...” If you look at Mark chapter 1 verse 11, this is where Jesus was baptized and the Spirit of God had come upon Him and all of a sudden, a voice from Heaven, the voice of the Father spoke to His Son and this is what God says about Jesus. It says, “And a voice came from heaven saying: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’” Think about that for a moment. The Son and the Father. The Father and the Son. God is looking down and He is saying, “You Jesus, are my Son whom I love.” See, the love between the Father and the Son is a perfect love. When Jesus looks to His Father, His Father looks directly back at Him and everything that He does is pleasing to Him. How do we know? He says, “...with you I am well pleased.” He is well pleased with Jesus. He is perfectly delighting and pleased in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus and the Father are one and they are one in love. They are one in mind, they are one in will and in purpose and this love is a powerful love. It is a pleasing love to the Father. And see, everything that Jesus did, everything that Jesus does, even this day, is pleasing to His Father. There's no mistakes about it. There's no left or right to it. There's no other ups and downs. It is truly Jesus and so what does that mean for us today? My friends, it is that the only thing that is pleasing to God is that we would be full of the Lord Jesus Christ. “...even when we fail at times, there is hope.” The Bible says it in so many different places. “Clothe yourself in Christ.” “Be filled with Christ.” Why is it such a direct thing that God is calling us to? Because listen, our efforts may be ok, our desires may be somewhat for God, our prayers may be going day and night and maybe we may fall at times as well but all those things don't matter in comparison to the power of the Lord Jesus in our lives. You see, the gospel of Jesus is this: that when we turn to Christ, when we truly put our faith and trust in Him, He enters into our lives. He enters into the depths and the soul of man and woman and He is now living through us. And why is this so incredible? Because when Jesus is in us, when we are filled with Christ, we cannot fail because He is pleasing to the Father. When Jesus speaks through us,

Ecclesiastes 9:11 The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong...Hello and welcome back to the One Thing podcast. If we were to take a step back for a moment and look at the world, and look at our nation and so many things happening. There are battles that people are fighting whether it be a political battle, whether it be battles amongst nations and national leaders. All across the world we know that there are constant battles, that there are constant stir-ups, in which there are faceoffs and in all reality, we can always wonder: Who's gonna win? What's gonna be the outcome, or what will happen, what kind of decision is going to be finalized? And this is a huge part of life. We know that this happens on a daily basis maybe in our spiritual lives where there are battles that are to be fought. It happens on a national level, it happens all throughout the world and we know that there are battles to be fought, and there will always be one winner. "...what is the hope for the Christian(?)...it's found in the Word of the Lord." And so, what is the hope for the Christian - what kind of mindset are we to be armed with? What kind of thought process are we to reflect on? Well, it's found in the Word of the Lord. In Ecclesiastes, chapter 9 verse 11 it says, “...The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong,…” This reminds me of David versus Goliath. David probably wasn't as swift as Goliath who was a giant. He was a trained warrior, who was over 6 foot tall! He was a giant! And I'm sure that David, in a physical sense, would be considered a lot slower - maybe not really the ideal one to fight this huge massive warrior. But what do we know? We know that because David had God's favor, he won. In the end because he was all about the Lord's Name because his heart was with God, and to bring Him glory, we know that God was with him, and that God had called who was going to win this battle, and it was His servant. "We know that the battle and the race is given to those who have God's favor." When we think about this when we reflect - when we realize that the race is not to the person who is fastest, whether physically or spiritually we can think about that - the battle isn't given to the strongest, the one with the most money, the one with the best physical stature, or the most popularity. We know that the battle and the race is given to those who have God's favor. The one who is blessed by God in our everyday battles - whether it be again on a personal level, whether it be a battle with amongst the nations whether it be a battle from good and evil - we know that the race is not to the swift, the battle is not to the strong. It's not to the one who does what they can do only in their flesh. It's not to the one who simply has enough intelligence to kinda get through and get by. We know that it is only in the hands of the Lord. What battles do you face today? What race are you in? What battles are we finding in our nation happening right now or all throughout the world? What kind of mindset should we have? What is our hope? We know that only God is the victor, and He is the only one that we can look to. I pray today that we would ask God for His favor - on our lives, on our families, on our church. That we would ask for God's favor over our nation, and that His favor would be moving all throughout the earth to those who are calling upon His Name. For we know that in this race toward God - this race, which is really about coming to Christ and coming out of darkness - is not to the swift but it's only given to those who are in Christ. We know that the battles that are raging every single day are truly - when we really look at it - battles of good and evil, the force of heaven, the force of Jesus against the force of darkness, the world, flesh, and satan. "May we find favor that is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ...knowing that with us with God, one is more than enough.

2 Corinthians 5:16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!Hello and welcome back to the One Thing podcast. A good question for today is: How do we evaluate our own lives? How do we evaluate others? In what ways do we think, in what ways do we perceive or decide and discern what is good or bad? More importantly, how do we see God - through what eyes through what mindset? And I love in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5 verse 16 and we’ll be reading from the NLT today, how it gives a description of exactly that: How we should evaluate things in our lives, including ourselves, including others, and more importantly, the Lord. "Do we look at things from a human point of view, or do we see and discover all things through God's point of view?" And so it says, “So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know Him now!” It's obvious that at some point, Paul is saying that he looked at everything from a human point of view. He probably looked at his own life others and especially the Lord, from his own mindset - from a fallen mindset prior to coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ. For we ourselves in our life, we ask ourselves: Do we look at things from a human point of view, or do we see and discover all things through God's point of view? And it's very important for us. Now you may be thinking and asking, ‘Why is the human point of view so bad? What is so terrible about it?’ Well, initially, when God first made man, His intention was that our view would be His view, that we would be one with Him. That we would always perceive and share and do all things according to His Word and according to His truth. But we know that because of sin - because of what sin has done - it's darkened our environment it’s darkened our world it's darkened our mindset it's darkened everything so that we have learned to evaluate from a human point of view that is a fallen point of view. A point of view that's been corrupted by sin. And we can understand and think about the many issues that this causes. Because we're not aligned with God, we're not aligned with His truth. Everything we think and everything that we do is according to a fallen thought process and a fallen mindset. In other words, completely the opposite of how God would do something completely opposite of how God would go about. The problem is that apart from the Lord and apart from thinking and going about His ways and evaluating according to His Word leads us to death, it leads us to perishing. The Bible says unless we believe in Him unless we follow Him - we perish we do not receive life and light which is really truth. But at the same time I love this - at one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. We evaluated from a human point of view but Paul says how differently now we know Him. Now we've come to know the Lord. There is hope today, that we can come into Christ we can call upon His Name, and receive His truth, and walk in His truth - no longer thinking and perceiving things from our own human fallen point of view but now thinking and seeing as God would. Why is this incredible? Because even if we are in the worst of circumstances, even if this day - when we look at this world and we look at what's happening between viruses between the economy, between political uprise and violence and all sorts of terrible things in the world - those who are in Christ - "Regardless of what the outside may look like, God is moving, and He will never cease for He is the King." See, on the outside we can see a lot of bad. But when we begin to evaluate, and we see it through God's point of view, we see that there is yet hope. That although the world is in turmoil,

Matthew 18:3 "And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."Hello and welcome to the One Thing podcast. We're coming close to the new year. And everyone's thinking: How do I want to enter this new year? Do I want to enter this new year in shape? Do I want to enter this new year with the goal of becoming more fit? Do I want to change my style of eating? Do I want to enter this new year with a sense of being better with my money, or being more motivated in my life? And we're all thinking of how are we gonna to enter into this new year - how will we begin, and how will we continue, and what is our goal? What are our thoughts fixed on? What are our minds set to do? "God is saying today, ‘I'm calling for a change that goes deeper than the flesh’..." See the real question today isn't just, ‘How am I going to enter the new year?’ But it's, ‘How will I enter the kingdom of God?’ You see, we can enter so many new years over and over but still never change - still be far from God. We can work on changing our body, our lifestyle and so many other things that only affect the flesh but God is saying today, ‘I'm calling for a change that goes deeper than the flesh,’ - it goes into your soul. It goes into your spirit. "And so the question today...are you going to enter into the kingdom of heaven?" And so the question today as we come into a new year - we're coming close - not just how will you enter the new year, but are you going to enter into the kingdom of heaven? I'm not just referring of “heaven” - the day that we die - but I'm saying even now, as we come into a new year into a new time, will you be in the kingdom power of God? Will you be walking according to His Word? Will you be walking in the power of the Holy Spirit as a person who has been changed, touched and transformed by God? Matthew chapter 18 verse 3, Jesus says, “‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom...’” Today, brothers and sisters, we are not looking to just change our bodies or to change or be motivated to be better with certain things in our lives. But today God is calling us to enter the kingdom of heaven. And He says that we must change. What is it that needs to change? See our mindset and our hearts need a transformation. He says, “Unless you become like little children…” What are little children like? I love when I speak to my little nephew and some of the kids that I see in church, and I love their simplicity. I love that you can speak to them - you can talk to them - and there’s such an innocence in all of their responses. You can say, ‘How are you doing?’ and they're just like, ‘Great, of course I'm doing great!’ You know, I love the fact that not only do they have such an innocence, but there is a simplicity. You can tell them to go into the corner and to grab a certain toy and to share it with you and they’ll move! You can ask them how to do a certain game or to play with a certain toy and they’ll tell you, so simply, because in their heart there is a simplicity that is pure, and it is a purity and a humbleness that God is looking for also in His people. "...as we come close to this new year we wouldn't just be looking on the outside for things of the flesh…[but] That the Spirit of Jesus would touch our hearts." Will we become like children? Will you become like a child? I pray today, that as we come close to this new year we wouldn't just be looking on the outside for things of the flesh to maybe shift or change, but that there would be something truly incredible that happens on the inside. That the Spirit of Jesus would touch our hearts. That we would again come, and enter into the kingdom with a childlike mindset - with a childlike heart - submitting to God saying, ‘Father whatever You do, I'm gonna follow. Whatever You say I'll do it.

Matthew 6:33  "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."Hello and welcome back to the One Thing podcast. Today the Lord had placed a verse on my heart, and it's a very familiar verse probably to many of you listening. And what I love about it is its simplicity. And I'm praying today that, even as we share this verse, that God would shed a new light in each one of our hearts to give us a new understanding, and to really further His Kingdom in our lives. "‘Beyond everything, make your aim - make your focus - My Kingdom, and everything else will fall into place - everything else will be okay.’" And so it’s Matthew chapter 6, verse 33. It says, “But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness…” The rest of the verse speaks about everything else being added unto us - which is all important. But the one part that I wanted to focus on is to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness. And when we look at this, what is it that God is trying to speak? He’s saying, ‘Beyond everything, make your aim - make your focus - My Kingdom, and everything else will fall into place - everything else will be okay.’ So what does it mean to seek? Now think about this: In life, some of us have played a sport - maybe soccer, maybe basketball. And what do you do when you want to get really good as a team player, or even as an individual player? You - as a basketball player - you aim for that hoop. You aim to be the best that you can at shooting a three-pointer. Even if you're not so good at it you practice and you practice and your aim - what you're striving for - is to make that goal, to make that ball get into the net. No matter what you need to do - spend hours training spend hours working and sweating - and all the things that it takes to get better, you're willing to do it because it's your aim. It's what you're focused on. It could be soccer it could be, like I said, any type of sport. Or even within the job, or in the school, there's something that we can aim and strive for. You may be a student. And not only do you want to just pass but you want to excel. You want to excel your peers, excel those that are all around you and you want to be the best that you can in that classroom. So you aim. You strive you put forward every effort. You exert yourself to study harder to go beyond just the books but to, you know, read extra books or to look for an experience in any level of job opportunity that can help you to become the better worker or the better student, whatever it may be. Seek first the Kingdom "When you seek God in such a way...He's willing to help us and to give us everything that we need...we're set simply on the Kingdom." It's no different for the Kingdom, but what's powerful is that when you seek first the Kingdom - in other words you aim. You strive. You make it your aim. You look at it as any sport or any other goal that you have - but the greatest goal that you can have. And you say, ‘You know what Father? I'm out for Your Kingdom. I'm gonna aim for whatever it takes whether it be me praying whether it be me seeking You. Whether it be me putting a few other things aside, Your Kingdom is what I aim for - what I strive for.’ And the beautiful thing is this: When you seek God in such a way you're not on your own. See the Holy Spirit is able to empower us to lead us in the right direction. He's willing to help us and to give us everything that we need. Why? Because we're not set on ourselves, we're not set on the world we're not set on making more money or this and that, but we're set simply on the Kingdom. "...He calls us to turn from the world and to seek His Kingdom..." So I encourage you today to come back to the roots of Christianity - the Kingdom of God. Jesus said, “Repent for the Kingdom is near!” And He spoke so much about the Kingdom and He calls us to come back He calls us to turn from the world and to seek His Kingdom - “Seek firs...

2 Thessalonians 3:5 "May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance."Hello and welcome back to the One Thing podcast. I couldn't help but to think today as I look at the news - I see different platforms in the media - of a lot of people expressing themselves. When we see our nation and we even look at the world as a whole, there are different gatherings there are all sorts of protest and - not that every single one is terrible and not that every single person is a terrible person - not saying that. But what I am finding is that there is a huge mass of expression coming from anger or disagreement, and a lot of those expressions - the way that man has been expressing themselves - has been through violence. Violent acts, maybe rioting or, you know as we look at the news we see people breaking stores open and all sorts of things that are just terrible. "When man is in darkness he expresses himself in darkness." But when we really look at the world and we look at what the world has with the core and what the root of it all is we know that there is darkness. When man is in darkness he expresses himself in darkness. We look at everything as I said, through the media and all the different platforms, and we just see terrible things happening. But here is the hope: As Christians we can ask ourselves: What are we expressing? What has God called our lives to be showing? What is supposed to be seen in our lives - and I love this Scripture in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 3 verse 5. It says, “May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.” You see, this is such a hopeful verse. It's a simple prayer of Paul and he’s saying, “May the Lord lead our hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God” - and it's beautiful! "...not only is he saying that we would have a full understanding of God's love toward us, but that there would also be an expression of the love of God." When I think of an understanding, I see the understanding of God's great love for us in our lives. We know that the Lord's love is everlasting we know that the Lord's love is powerful. His love is what brought us life - even when we were dead in our sins and transgressions, even when we didn't recognize who God was and we were on the outside. And so Paul is saying, “I hope and I pray that you would fully understand God's powerful love” - His love that has given us mercy! Mercy to call us from our evilness from our wicked downward past, to come into the light of Christ - to be able to serve Him, to be able to love Him. And - this is a beautiful part - not only is he saying that we would have a full understanding of God's love toward us, but that there would also be an expression of the love of God. I'm just seeing that the Christian - the man or woman of God the child of God - is the one who has received His powerful love, and understood how gracious and how great that it is that an expression of that same love is also brought about. You see, we don't riot, we don't rise up in hatred or in bitterness or, you know, raging disagreement, but we rise up in the love of God. How does that look what does that mean? It means that we are patient through every circumstance. It means that we do not react according to our flesh, but we react according to God. It means that we do not speak out of line and we do not speak without self-control, but we speak and we express - even with our words - the love, the peace and the goodness of God. "...God is so powerful that His love for us is a love that transforms us to also love Him and to love one another." Hallelujah! It goes on and on and on. Think of the thousands of ways that God can express His love through us - through friendship, through our spouses through the way that we speak to one another and we help one another.

Psalm 130:5 "I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope." "What do you do in the waiting?" Hello and welcome back to the One Thing Podcast. Today I'd like to ask you the question: What do you do in the waiting? That's right - when there's something that you're waiting for, what are you doing - when there's something maybe you're waiting for from God, something big maybe something small - what do you do in the waiting? We live in a world where waiting has become a foreign word. We live in a world where waiting has been the last thing really on our list to do. We can order things on our cellphones in a matter of moments, we don't really even have to wait to get home to get on our laptops or on our computer, right? We don't have to wait for much even when we order things we have all sorts of shipping options that we can pay extra money to maybe get something overnight rather than waiting for two days, rather than waiting for five days - even if it's something that we don't need in an emergency sense. Many people tend to just say, ‘You know what? I want the two day shipping I want the one day shipping so I can hurry up and get it. I just can't wait to get it at the door.’ And we can go on and on about so many different ways that the world we live in has become a fast paced race without stopping without ever really having to wait. Whether it's food we're getting, whatever it may be - it's all at our fingertips literally. And the art - and I say the art of waiting - has been really a lost art which for Christians for those who are after the Lord, waiting is such a powerful thing. It's in the waiting where character is formed it's in the waiting where our hearts are formed, where we learn some of the greatest lessons and the deepest things that God has desired for our lives. I have a Scripture today, and it's Psalms 130, verse 5. It says, “I will wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in His Word I put my hope.” I love the heart of the psalmist here saying, ‘I will wait for the Lord - everything in me is gonna wait for what God has.’ Now listen, maybe today you're waiting on a deliverance to come through. Maybe you're waiting for God to deliver you from a mindset that has just been warped or caught up in depravity. Maybe you're waiting for God to touch you, maybe you're waiting for the presence of the Lord to come - whatever it may be, what do you do in the waiting? When we’re waiting, there's some very important things to think about, there are some very important things to be doing as we’re waiting upon something from God - we're waiting on something for God to bring through that maybe He promised, maybe something that we heard in His Word - whatever it may be, what do we do in the waiting? "When we’re waiting on God for something, the greatest thing that we could do is worship Him." You see, when we are waiting for the Lord - the psalmist says, “I will wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,” - he's saying, ‘I'm gonna wait upon the Lord and trust in Him.’ You see that's a type of worship. When we’re waiting on God for something, the greatest thing that we could do is worship Him. I find myself all the time maybe waiting on His presence, maybe waiting on a deliverance, maybe going through a trial at times, waiting upon the Lord. And the greatest thing that we can do is worship. ‘Father I worship You. Lord, whether I'm waiting and it's gonna take a year or whether it's gonna take a week, Father I just want to worship You, I just wanna thank You, and say that You are God regardless.’ You see when you worship, it tends to take the mind, it tends to take the heart, and no longer do you find yourself even thinking about the waiting, but it brings you to God - it takes your heart and causes it to be pouring out to Jesus. It takes your mind and it causes it to be focused on the one and only God. Worship. ‘Father, I worship You - even as I'm waiting,