East Ridge Pres

Luke 14: 25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Jesus is followed by great crowds of people but he is not impressed by there coming out to hear him. He is not delighted by their numbers and his own popularity. Unlike preachers and politicians and business people he does not try to please them. He does not do what he can to draw more and more. Rise in the polls. The evangelical church today is often more about customers and keeping the customer satisfied and increasing our sales. Or our attendance. People change brands if they don’t find the brand pleasing. Like we change shoes or laptops. We are customers. Jesus wants disciples. Disciples follow and say “yes sir” to every order no matter how rough it gets. They don’t complain about the food or the temperature or the hardship. Or the music or youth ministries.

Romans 3:25 Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood. Propitiation means Christ spilled his blood to placate or satisfy the wrath of God. Most people don’t like this idea. Many churches have cut it right out of their doctrine and thrown it away. Though it is the teaching of the Apostles. “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound doctrine, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,” 2 Timothy 4 Tertullian, said in the second century, there were teachers who said that “a better god has been discovered, one who is neither offended nor angry nor inflicts punishment… he is merely kind.”  H. Richard Niebuhr (neeboor) said many churches taught “A God without wrath brought man without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.” People love a religion where God does not judge. Where they are treated as good people and offered only wisdom on how to do even better. Everyw

Luke 6:20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” Jesus looks at his disciples. He is speaking to disciples. Those who believe in and obey Jesus. Not speaking to outsiders. Blessed are you who are poor. They are poor because they left so much to follow Jesus. Some were poor when they came to Jesus and Jesus did not deliver them from poverty. Their hands are empty, but in their hands is the kingdom of God. Though no one sees. On the day of Jesus Christ they will receive ALL the blessings of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Now they are deprived. They lack what they need, but they look to God alone for his salvation. Today they may lack many things they need. Their obedience has even added to their hunger, because they gave up so much for others. On the day of Jesus Christ they will be satisfied, given everything they need. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Now they have sorro

Luke 10:30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” Which one proved to be a neighbor to the ma

Luke 5:4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” They had toiled all night and caught nothing. at dawn they beach their boats and begin to wash, mend and dry their nets. Jesus makes an absurd request. Put the nets back in the boat. Go back to work in the blazing sun. Not the right time for catching fish. “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” What Jesus commands does not always look good to us. It does not always make sense to us. May look painful and risky and insignificant and bound to fail, even absurd. But we must obey Jesus, because he is Lord and he has given us his word. At his word, obey. Because you know who he is. Jesus asks us to give up things we want. To keep doing things when we want to quit. To do new things that scare us. We must say: “but at your word, I

Luke 14:12-14 [Jesus] said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” Is Jesus concerned about wedding feasts? Or once a year festivals? Is he concerned about in modern language: dinner parties. Or inviting someone over for supper? What he says certainly applies to hospitality, but many other activities as well. He says give to those who will give nothing back in return. Give without desiring any return payment. The crippled, the lame, and the blind were the poorest of the poor. Those who would be unable to feed anyone else or have anyone over to their house for dinner. They are the example of a person who will not be able to return the favor. Or give s

Luke 14:7-11 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.” “Sit in the lowest place.” Jesus is not concerned simply about wedding feasts and symbolic seating arrangements. He is interested in much more than that. He is addressing all of our lives. Everywhere we go, every corner, every occasion, every situation. “Sit in the lowest place.” Jesus teaches. Always take the lowest place. What does this mean? Let me give one example. Are you a par

Luke 4[1] And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” We put our desires for what we think we need ahead of the word of God We are dissatisfied with God. Impatient with God. Frustrated. He sent us out into the desert and he has not fed us! Where is his provision? We don’t have enough money, health, the right job, our spouse is grieving us, our children grieving us. What is the bread that you are not getting today? We must have believer and continue to obey. Perhaps, we should fast and spend those meal times in prayer and meditation on the word. Fasting teaches us that “Man does not live on bread alone.” “but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Mo

Isaiah 2:17 The arrogance of man will be brought low and human pride humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. American culture admires pride. Most of our famous and admired people are proud. We have received the message: pride is good. Lift yourself up. Put yourself forward. admire yourself. Follow your own heart. Practice self-esteem. Compete and push yourself ahead. Win! God says the proud will be cut down. Isaiah 10 [33] Behold, the Lord GOD of hosts will lop the boughs with terrifying power; the great in height will be hewn down, and the lofty will be brought low. On the day Jesus returns the proud will be cut down. Only God will be exalted on that day. Many of us think too much of ourselves. We think we are better than we are. We place ourselves above people who are actually higher than us. We think little of our own sins. We are honored by others and we actually believe what they say about us. We believe our own press and propaganda. And they are lies. We look at our neighbor’s sin ev

Matthew 5:44  I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you… Jesus commands that we love our enemies. This means love the people that are the hardest to love. The people you hate to love. Love the one you do not like, you find unlovable. Love those who never love you, but only hurt you. Love those on the other side of every difference and barrier, those who are completely unlike you, think differently than you, look differently, act differently. Love no matter what they are, what they do, or how they treat us. Love means both a desire for the good of the person and an action of doing good to the person. Some have right attitude but they don’t act. Some have right action but resentment in the heart. Pray from the heart for the good of the person. Love does not mean you like a person, you are attracted to a person, or admire a person. In fact, if you someone to be treacherous and a liar, you are not bound to trust him. If he is evil in his actions, you are not bound to live in community

Matthew 6 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Hallowed be your name. What does that mean? The thought is this: May your name be treated as holy. May your name be treated with reverence and honor. By me today. and others today. Many Christians are not reverent. Think little of God. By this prayer God will become greater and greater in our minds and hearts. You must think of him always as holy, with great reverence and adoration and awe. This pray can change the very moment in which you pray it. Pray this simple prayer. Hallowed be your name. Pray it with each task you take up. Pray that this TASK may be done in reverence for God’s holiness. As adoration. As worship. When you dress your child. Pray:May your name be hallowed by me in this task. When you take out the garbage. pray: Hallowed be your name now. When you drop off the kids at school. Hallowed be your name. When you are cooking supper. Washing dishes. Writing reports. Attending meetings. Hallowed be your name. May I h

Luke 14 One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” And they could not reply to these things. Will you not respond immediately when your own family is in need? your own child? Or your own possessions threatened? Why then do we hesitate when we meet a person in need? Why then do we make excuses? The Pharisees said Jesus should not help because the Sabbath was a day of rest. But Jesus said this was hypocrisy. They would have worked to help their own child if he was in trouble. We do the same. We justify our refusals to help with various Biblical arguments. They sound good a

Luke 11 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. In prayer you ask for what you already have. Prayer is something like eating. As long as food is outside your body it does you no good. You may possess the food, but it is not nourishing you. prayer is like eating. In Jesus Christ you already have everything you need. It is all yours in Christ. You only must ask. Then in the moment you are nourished by all you have in Christ. We are not asking for what God does not want to give. We are asking for what God has already given us. If we ask, we receive. When we don’t ask, we are no longer nourished by the blessing of all we have. Christ is with us already but until we pray we can’t find him. Then when we seek him in prayer, we find the one who was already there with us. Like the man sleeping next to his wife in bed, who dreams his wif

2 Chronicles 20 After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea… Then Jehoshaphat was afraid. Are you afraid today? There may be something that overwhelms you. Something that is crushing you. When you rise up and when you lie down to sleep there is a great weight on your heart. You are thinking, planning, working, pushing, trying to fix it, busy, running around, sweating. What does Jehoshaphat do? He set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord. [He says to God in prayer] “we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” They fast. they pray. They admit their powerlessness. They put their eyes on God. This is what we must do. Fast. pray. admit our powerlessness. and put our eyes on God. G

Luke 13:12-13 And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And Jesus laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The woman was bent and disabled. Unable to walk. Jesus calls her to him and lays his hands on her and makes her straight. He heals her infirmity. Then she glorifies God. In the same way We are disabled by sin. Called by Jesus to himself and made straight, made able to walk in obedience to him. Then we glorify God and live to his glory. This is a picture of the first day of the Christian life. The day Christ calls you. But I have learned it is also a picture of later days in the Christian life. Years after salvation. Because I return to sin, I return to my disability. I let myself be bound again by sinful desires. They rise in

Matthew 25:31-32 When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Are you ready for that day? The day when Jesus looks at each one of us and separates us one from another? The day he chooses those that are his. This is the only judgment that matters. And how does Jesus weigh a human life? vv35-36 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ v 40 ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ I reject the modern scholarly opinion that the “least of these my brothers” means only Christian missionaries or disciples. This is not the church’s classic interpretation. Jesus is calling us to love ALL h

Luke 5:27-28 After this Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, Levi rose and followed him. Jesus calls a tax collector to be his disciple. Not because he is worthy. Jesus calls him because he is unworthy. Jesus calls those who are unqualified to be his disciples. He does not review your resume, your professional history, your career, your references. Jesus said: “Those who are healthy have no need of a physician, but only those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Jesus calls a tax collector. A terrible sinner. Jesus will call anyone. Anyone. Are you an angry person? Are you lazy? Are you going nowhere because you won’t work hard? Are you a glutton? over eating, Are you greedy? spending your money on luxury? Do you neglect the poor? Do you give nothing to the church? Are you envious? Resenting the people around you. Are you an adulterer? Have you failed your spouse? Hav

Isaiah 58:7 “Is not this the fast that I choose… Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him…” Fasting is about repentance. Repentance from sin. Repentance is turning away from sin, leaving sin behind, to live a new way. To fast is to begin a new way of life, to enter and walk a new path. Fasting and prayer and confession of sin are dead if they do not result in life change. The only real repentance is the one that can be seen in the way we live after we repent. The only real repentance is the one that can be seen in how we love people. The only real repentance can be seen in how we love the poor and suffering people. “share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him…” Giving up food for a day or even several days is not a true fast, a fast of repentance, unless it is joined with a lifestyle that turns away from self-indulgence, luxury, greed, and turns towar

Luke 9 “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Every time that Jesus predicts his own death on the cross he follows that with another teaching. Every time he says “I have a cross to bear” he follows that by saying “Every one of my disciples has a cross to bear as well.” As Jesus’ cross is the center of the Christian faith. The disciple’s cross is the center of the Christian life. You have a cross that you must bear. A cross means pain. A cross means suffering. A cross means self-sacrifice and self-denial. A cross means rejection and hatred. A cross means being shamed and humbled before the world. A cross means obedience. Suffering for Jesus. Jesus is telling us that obedience means suffering and sacrifice and rejection. Do you have such crosses in your life? Or are you running from your cross? Are you re

Joel 2:12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Do you ever weep for your sins? The reason we have so little joy in God and so little joy in obedience to God is that we have so few tears. The more we weep and mourn over our rebellion and disobedience, the more joy we will have in forgiveness, salvation, grace, and a new day with a new opportunity to obey God with the sins of yesterday washed away. Do you ever mourn and weep as you reflect on your sins? Do you ever fast from food and seek the grace of God by prayer to kill a sin in your heart? If we feed ourselves every desire of our heart. And give our desires all they want. Including food. If we feed ourselves indulgently all day long we will find it impossible to obey God when it hurts. We must fast and humbly seek God for rescue from a sin in our heart. Repent means to turn away from or leave our sin behind. Repentance is not the n