The One Thing - United Faith Church Podcast

Matthew 17:5 (1-12) While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” Pleasing to God "‘This is my Son whom I love’" Welcome back to the One Thing Podcast! I would like to share with you today from the book of Matthew chapter 17. I'm taking from the story of the first 12 verses, but focusing on verse 5. We're very familiar, many of us, with the story that's taking place- it's called the 'Transfiguration of Jesus'. We know that only a few of the disciples were with Jesus at this time, one including Peter. Now in verse 5, Peter was beginning to speak with Jesus and it says in verse 5 that “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!’” This is God speaking with a loud voice saying about the Lord Jesus Christ - ‘This is my Son whom I love’. "Come to Him! Obey His following! Let Him be the one that leads your life!" See, it is the Lord Jesus that the Father loves so deeply and so dearly and He is pleased with his Son and He gives us this command; He says ‘Listen to Him! Listen to my Son!’ In other words, ‘Come to Him! Obey His following! Let Him be the one that leads your life! Let Him be the one that connects you to me, for He is the only one that can truly please the Father!’ "Free to please the Father because it is the Lord Jesus who lives within us!" You see, according to the Word of the Lord - by nature humankind is sinful, by nature we do not please the Father. We are faithless and wicked and evil to the core of our hearts. But praise God today that those who look to the Lord Jesus, who believe in Him and walk according to His ways and walk according to His Spirit, Jesus comes and He lives and dwells on the inside. And because He is pleasing to the Father, we too are able to please Him by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ! You see, as long as we struggle under the law or another way to say it, live according to our own effort, trying to please God, sin will always have a dominion over us and hold us back. But when we step into the Lord Jesus Christ we are free! Not free to do as we please, but simply free to please the Father because it is the Lord Jesus who lives within us! Pleasing to God As Paul said, ‘For me to live is Christ and to die is gain’. To live in Christ, to live is Christ, He is everything! He is our hope of pleasing the Father. He is the only one that can please God. So may we look to Him today. May we not look to our own effort. May we not be trying to function as Christians by just trying to keep the law within ourselves or trying to please God by our own way. Jesus is the way! The Lord Jesus is the only way! May we look to Him then faith. May we look to Jesus and His promise that He himself would come and dwell within us. Not only forgiving us of our sins, but truly imparting His very nature, the divine nature of Jesus. Causing us to rise up and to live in the glory and the goodness of our God. He said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” May we beckon to the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ that calls us into faith, into Himself. And may we, together be one with the Son, pleasing the Father, living in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 91:1-2 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Hello welcome back to the One Thing Podcast, I'm excited to share with you a scripture from the book of Psalms chapter 91, verses 1 and 2. Its says that whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress my God in whom I trust. This is a wonderful scripture speaking about dwelling in God's shelter, in the secret place of God where we find stability where we are fixed and kept safe. "What is the secret place of the Most High?"But what is it that we are kept safe from, how is God a refuge, what does it mean that God is our  fortress?  There are a number of ways, first off we know that apart form God we are perishing in our sin. You know, the true shelter of God is found in faith of the lord Jesus Christ. He is the one that brings us to the Father and covers us in his goodness and in his love. But apart from Christ we are left open.  You see, sin is chaotic, this world is chaotic and unless we are dwelling with the lord Jesus Christ that chaos enters our life. We are not stable.  Sin causes our mind to just be restless, sin causes everything within us too be shaken and to tremble because that's what sin is is. It's not stable it is lost it is broken because sin is simply with out God. "Where do we want to be found when God judges our lives?"Secondly we know that God judges sin and where do we want to be found when God judges our lives, when He judges this world? Do we want to be found in the refuge of the Lord Jesus Christ as He is our fortress or do we want to be found in our own strength which is really no strength at all? So it says that whoever dwells in the shelter of the most high God... really it is those who put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We come into the secret place of God. We can find stability, we can find hope, we can find protection. "He makes His shelter within us..."And as we come to Christ our great hope is this...is that He comes in and He makes His shelter within us.  That's right Jesus alive in me, Christ in me the hope of glory.  You see, when we turn to the Lord Jesus there is hope because God shines His favor down upon us.   His favor is protection, His favor is hope, His favor is renewal...that we no longer live a life of sin apart from God but we come into the new life found in Christ. Where we go from glory to glory we overcome those things that look to hold us back, we overcome this world! "Will you rest in the shadow of the Almighty?"We are now able to no longer have to live in obligation to our flesh, to our sin, but we can now live in the kingdom of our God over coming in deliverance. And deliverance not only for ourselves but delivering others into the kingdom of light out of the darkness into the light. So will you find shelter in the most high?  Will you rest in the shadow of the Almighty?   Will you today begin to say He is my refuge and my strength, my God in whom I trust. May we look to the Lord Jesus Christ today, may we not look on our own shelter our weak shelters that fall under the judgment of God. May we be found in the everlasting shelter of the lord Jesus Christ. Thank you God that you are the shelter of the most high in which we find refuge.

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing." Stay Connected To The Vine Hello, and welcome back to the One Thing Podcast. Today I would like to share with you a verse coming from a sermon that was preached this past week. It's in the book of John chapter 15 verse 5 and it says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” And this last section of the verse “apart for Me you could do nothing” is something I was really reflecting on today. "May we not settle to have a little bit of time with God and call it a day." And so this is Jesus speaking to his disciples and He's saying, ‘Listen if you remain in Me, if I am your everything if you are seeking Me with all of your heart to be close with me, to feed from me literally in your soul, you know you're going to bear fruit. But if you decide to live apart from me you can do nothing.’ So as I thought about this: What does it mean that we can do nothing? Does it mean that if we're not in communion with Christ or close to Him that we literally can do nothing? We can't get out of bed? We can't drive our car? No, we know that we can still function, you know, on a worldly level per se. We can still do our jobs, we could still get our education, but we know that this is not what God is speaking about. "...without the Lord Jesus Christ, none of it means a thing... it is nothing." But He's saying that, 'Apart from Me you can live your life, you can go about, you can work and look to build up all your possessions and your accomplishments. But you know what, without the Lord Jesus Christ, none of it means a thing... it is nothing.' Simply because one day we will all stand before God and He's gonna look at us and say: ‘Have you borne fruit not for yourself, but fruit of My Kingdom?' You see, when we remain in Christ, we're walking with Him, we make a difference for God, we make a difference for His kingdom. Although we're in our classroom, in the classroom we’re bringing light, we're bringing others to Christ, we are praying, we're conquering and taking literally land and overcoming and doing something for His kingdom! "...He's [God] going to simply see and look and measure what we have done in His kingdom." So, you know, we either are doing nothing or we are doing something for the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so to remain with Him makes a tremendous difference and one day again, as I said, we will stand before God and He's not going to say, ‘Your education was great so everything is well.’ He's not going to say, ‘Well you saved up a lot of money and you were really good at your job.’ No, He's going to simply see and look and measure what we have done in His kingdom. Did we submit to Him? Did we love Him with all of our hearts? Did we not allow other gods: sports, money, things, to be before Him, people? Did we seek Him with all of our heart? Do we seek to remain with Him so that we would bear much fruit for the sake of His glory? Hallelujah! Today, if you realize that you've done maybe...nothing. Hallelujah! Today, if you realize thinking, ‘You know what, there has not been much fruit, you know I've lived for myself, I have not lived with Christ in communion.’ Then praise God we can turn from our sin, we can turn from our empty lives and now begin to do something and that something flows from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That those who turn to Him shall be saved and not just saved and set apart for heaven,

1 John 5:11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Welcome to the One Thing podcast! Today, I’m reading from the scripture in 1 John 5:11. It says, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” It’s funny when we think, as Christians, we speak a lot about life. We read a lot about life, and this scripture talks about eternal life. It speaks of the life that is found only in the Son of God, in The Lord Jesus. We read about the abundant life, and so many different aspects of life. "He says 'eternal life', a life that is found in the Lord Jesus." Normally, when we think of the world’s description of life— to be alive— what does it mean? The world will simply say, “We’re alive. We’re breathing. We’re walking around. We’re born. We go through school. We get a job. We have a house. We do the best that we can. We raise a family the best that we can.” This is the simple idea or definition that we find as “life” with the world. It means that we’re breathing, we’re living, we’re here. "...a life of excitement, not a normal life, but an extraordinary life!" But, is it the same thing with God? You see, when we read about the life that God speaks about, He says “eternal life,” a life that is found in the Lord Jesus. He speaks about abundant life. But, is it only the life that we receive when we, as Christians, live faithfully to God? When we receive His salvation and we go to Heaven, is that the only aspect of life that God is speaking about? No. We know that it is so much more. You see, what would it be worth if we just simply consider being alive just walking around like everyone else, just having jobs, and breathing and living like the rest of the world? That is not what being alive in Christ means. It means that we have the life of God in us and we are alive to God. What’s the difference with being alive simply in the world or alive with God? - The difference is what moves us. You see, when we’re just alive to the world, we can still yet be dead to God. We could be dead to the things of God— dead to His voice, dead to His Word, dead to the hope that He brings, dead to the will of God being done in our lives. What a miserable way to live! But, see, to be alive in God is when our heart beats for His voice, when our ears are so open and attentive to hear His will and to walk, and to live a life of excitement, not a normal life, but an extraordinary life. This is the life that God offers us today! Will we turn to Him? Again, the scripture says that God has given us eternal life. It is a life that comes from the Lord Jesus. "Are you alive to God?"You see, Jesus is eternal. He lives forever. His life is a life that is everlasting. It is a life that causes a man or woman or a child to move at the call of God. It is a life that cannot be conquered. It is a life that cannot be destroyed, but a life that lives in the glory of God, not just in Heaven, but even now, walking and living in His power— where we go to the store, where we may be in our job, we may be at school, but we are living not the life of those around us, but the life being drawn from the Son of God Himself. Where crazy things may happen, even in the midst of trials, we draw from that life. Even in the midst all craziness, even in the midst of of celebration, we are celebrating and drawing from the very life of the Son of God Himself. Are you alive today? Are you alive to the things of God? Are you alive to the scriptures? Are you alive to the voice,

Matthew 5 "Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.'" "What are we mourning for? That is the real question"Hello, and welcome back to the One Thing podcast. Today, I'm inviting you to read with me from the book of Matthew, chapter five. This is known as the Sermon on the Mount, the first chunk of verses here. I encourage you— we're gonna read one verse today, but I'm encouraging you to read the entire chapter if you can. It’s just such a blessing. We know that all of Jesus' words are life; all of his words are such a blessing, but the Sermon on the Mount is an incredible place to begin. So, I'm reading verse four, and verse four is very simple. It says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted,” and this truly gives a description of the life of a true Christian. Now, what does mourn mean? Does it mean that Christians are going about mourning all day long, that we’re a sad people that are always crying and in tears? No, that's not necessarily what it means, but it says, “blessed are those who mourn...” What are we mourning for? That’s the real question. For the life of a Christian, you see, we are brought into the Lord Jesus by the fact that God has opened our eyes. He opens our eyes to see the injustices done against Him, to see that man has completely sinned against the Lord, that we have chosen our own way. "He opens our eyes to see the injustices done against Him..."Today, many people, even so called Christians, go about without recognizing the will of God for their lives, without ever recognizing that it is God that has given us everything, and He is worthy of our full devotion and nothing less. He is worthy of excellence and everything above. But, how many, including maybe ourselves today, have never stopped to recognize God for the true gift that He’s given us? His Son. How many of us have stopped to literally mourn for maybe the sins that we've done against Him, for the simple ways that we have chosen against Him? We can go on, and on, and on. But, if we read this full verse as well, “blessed are those who mourn,” who come to God in repentance for their sins, recognizing our wickedness against Him, for they will be comforted. Praise God for the comfort that He gives us. Yes, we may mourn over our darkness toward the Lord, we may mourn for the things that we've done against a holy God, but in that mourning, hallelujah! The mourning shall be turned to dancing. Our hearts will leap as He reveals the Son, as Jesus comes and the one who comforts, the one who cleanses us from our sin and brings restoration back to God. Hallelujah! "Be comforted today, and may we continue to pursue the Almighty God." The book of Ecclesiastes even says, furthermore, that I'd rather sit in the house of mourning than at the table of fools. It simply means I’d rather walk in humility before the Lord. I’d rather recognize God as the holy God, as the one who rules and reigns over all — and may I mourn and repent and turn — than to live with the rest of the world in foolishness, to go on and on as though things are okay without ever recognizing the holiness and the goodness of God.  For they will be comforted. I pray that you would find comfort in the name of the Lord Jesus today. I pray that as you turn to God, as I turn to God, as we as one join together in seeking the King, that we will find comfort— a comfort that cannot be robbed, a comfort that goes on and on, a peace that comes only through the blood and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be comforted today,

James 4:13-14 "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." Hello, and welcome to the One Thing podcast! Happy New Year to everyone who is listening. Today is January 2 of the year 2019, so now we're going to have to get used to writing that “9” at the end of our dating rather than an “8.” Praise God for a new time, a new year, and a new season. One of the scriptures that I was reading this morning that had really touched my heart to share with all of you today is coming from the book of James, chapter 4, verses 13-15, and it says, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” As we’re coming into the new year, what normally happens is everybody begins to make their new year's resolutions. It’s where people all throughout our nation are making promises to themselves, saying, “This year I'm going to lose weight. Starting tomorrow I'm going to change the way that I eat. This year I'm going to be better with money. I'm going to set myself this goal and I'm going to make sure I accomplish that goal.” "He is the Lord, we simply come before him..." Now, there's nothing wrong with goal setting. There’s nothing wrong with kind of planning things out, but it is truly the heart of the matter, and the scripture very clearly says here, “What is our life?” We don't even know if we will be here tomorrow. We know that in a moment we could be called back home to the Lord. In a moment, our life may be required from us. So, what is the attitude of the Christian? What attitude has the Lord Jesus called us to? Not to have an attitude of assumption, where everyone is just assuming we're going to carry out our own plans, or maybe our own resolutions, whatever it may be. But, for those who know, who are in the Lord Jesus Christ, we know that there are no assumptions, only truth. What is the truth? That the Lord Jesus Christ is the King. He is the Lord, and we simply come before Him going, “God, we begin this new year, this new day, ready to move with You, ready to walk as You are calling us to walk. And Lord, we don't know what tomorrow may bring. I don't know what this year may bring, but I know that You are God and You alone. So, my prayer, my plan, is simply that Your will will be done in my life. Whatever Your will may be, God, today we don't assume. We don't plan without You, but we plan with You, Father. We plan that Your will will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” "what a wonderful, joyful life knowing that it is the King we follow" Hallelujah! We’re beginning a new year, but may we begin this new year knowing that it is the Lord Jesus Christ who is the King, declaring Him as such, ready to move in His will, and simply walk in the direction that He’s calling us to walk. What else shall we do as those in Christ? And what a wonderful, joyful life knowing that it is the King we follow, the King that will take care of us, that as we seek first His kingdom all other things will fall into place. So, may of our prayer and our attitude simply be, “We will move as the Lord may allow in our lives.” We thank You, God, for Your mercy and for Your graciousness in our life. May your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven!

John 3:19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Welcome to the One Thing Podcast! I speak with excitement today, knowing that Christmas is just a couple weeks away. That’s right— we're in the month of December, and I know that we all get so excited about the season of Christmas, not just because of the food and the family and the gifts, which are all wonderful; but, I believe, truly, that when we recognize what the real message of Christmas is, it really brings an excitement and a joy. "Christmas has come early today. For today is the day of salvation." The message of Christmas truly is that God had looked down upon this world— He had seen men and women in darkness, the darkness of their understanding of God, the darkness of their sin, where man goes about their own way, where we all have just done our own thing without recognizing that God is the king, that the Lord Jesus is the Lord of all. And, as God looked down and saw the darkness, He decided in His great mercy that He would send the light: the Light of the World, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, Christmas has come early! Even today, we can come to God and receive the wonderful gift of the Lord Jesus when we recognize that we are in darkness, when we see, and we look at our lives and see that we are desperate without Him, that we are desolate without the light of the world, in unending darkness. But, God today says, “Turn. Turn from your sin. Turn from the darkness, and come into the light.” The Word of God says in John 3:19, “This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” "May you cry out to God and allow His light to shine." That is man without the lord Jesus: walking in darkness, loving it, and never wanting to come into His goodness and His light for fear that they would be exposed, exposed of the fact that their lives aren't about the Kingdom, exposed that our lives are covered in sin and separate from God. I love this one part because it says, “Everyone who does evil hates the light...” What does it mean, “everyone who does evil?” It really means everyone who continues to do evil. If you find yourself today constantly in the same rut, constantly going through the same motion of darkness or sinfulness, maybe you can't get your mind clear of impurity, maybe you can't stop lying, maybe it seems as though you keep going back to the same old way of walking away from God and getting caught up in the things of the world. Whatever it may be, may you come out of the darkness today. May you cry out to God and allow His light to shine. Jesus is the light of the world. In that same chapter, John chapter 3, we can go back just a little bit to verse 16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” "What a wonderful gift in God that I don't have to continue in darkness..." That eternal life is the light of the Lord Jesus that comes into the darkness of our minds and our hearts, but it is to those who believe. What does it mean to believe? We believe that, yes, we are wicked and dark and desolate without God. But when we believe in Him, we believe that He is the Lord of all, that he is the King of Kings, and we believe that if we turn to Him— if we turn from our darkness, if we turn to his light— we shall be saved and we shall find eternal life in Him. What a wonderful gift in God that I don't have to continue in darkness,

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

2 Chronicles 16:9 - For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

Romans 12:1-2 A Living Sacrifice - Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Jude 24 - To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy