Hill Thread

Galatians 3:25-26
“But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ’s life, the fulfillment of God’s original promise.”

Not enough time in your day? Join the club. Time has become our most precious commodity and it usually goes to the highest bidder.

Did you know that in 1965 experts predicted that withing 20 years we would be working 22-hour weeks and retire by the age of 40? They predicted this believing that computers would make everything so much easier and streamlined. Well, it’s the 21-st century – computers are doing their thing, we’re constantly connected to work by email, smartphones, and home offices. Since 1965, our leisure time has actually decreased by 37% and the average work week has increased to 47 hours. (And some of us wish our week was as short as 47 hours)

What did the experts overlook in 1965? Our appetite! The more we have, the more we want; and the more we want, the more we will sacrifice to get it. Family time,God time, church time, vacation time, prayer time, relaxing time. We’ve become machines with one goal – get more.

To build a relationship with God, we must “add on a small room upstairs.” (2 Kings 4:10) – “Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.” Then, we can have a place to meet God every day. But we can’t make unrealistic expectations like “I’m going to start getting up at 4:30 and pray for an hour.” More than likely, by the third day we’re exhausted.

Carve out tome time that will allow you to continue meeting with God. A relationship must be worked on every day. Start each day with a prayer, then punctuate it with a praise. Find something you are thankful for and let God know.

If we have time for coffee breaks, there is surely time for a prayer break. We just need to want God as much as we want a caffeine boost!

Psalm 119:164
“Seven times each day I stop and shout praises
for the way you keep everything running right.”

Proverbs 11:30
“The seeds of good deeds become a tree of life;
a wise person wins souls.”

God’s Word tells us to be prepared to Share Christ (1 Peter 3:15).  Witnessing to others about Jesus Christ requires wisdom, especially in three areas:

1.  Don’t assume that people understand the Gospel because you were raised in a church, and don’t think that they will catch your faith through osmosis just because you are around them.  Romans 10:14 says, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”  Share your testimony – the short version.  Forget the good advice and focus on sharing the Good News of God’s love.

2.  Be patient – sometimes you have to sow the seed and leave the rest to the Lord of the harvest.  Don’t try to corner them into a decision.  Don’t become frustrated and angry because there is no instant belief.  Share the Word, leave the door open, and trust in the One who said, “I am watching over My word to perform it.”  (Jeremiah 1:12)

3.  Be alert to opportunities that God places before you – and don’t be afraid of them.  Some people call them divine appointments, God meetings, or holy coincidences.  Whatever term you have heard most often, the fact remains that, as Christians, God uses us in the lives of others.  God’s strength and power and joy should enable us to meet the opportunities head on and do the will of our Heavenly Father.  If we cower away, we will never know how God wanted to use us.  R.A. Torrey tells of an experience that totally changed his attitude toward witnessing.  While he was eating at a restaurant with some friends, he felt that he should talk to the waiter who seemed to look very depressed.  But he shrugged the feeling off, and never said a word.  At the end of the meal, when the waiter didn’t return, he asked another employee about his whereabouts.  The manager came to their table and said, “We just found him dead in the back of the restaurant.  He has hanged himself.”

When God leads you to speak to someone about His Son, get on the ball and do it!

Related Text:
James 1:5-8

Proverbs 8:12
“I, Wisdom, live together with good judgment.
I know where to discover knowledge and discernment.”

No matter how great our cause, when we push ourselves beyond the limits designed for us by God, we suffer the same results as those who burn out in any other pursuit.  Those of us who are classic work-a-holics must learn how to make stress work for us instead of against us.

Here are a few insights learned from experience:

1.  Many people don’t know how to handle life any other way than being under a constant blanket of stress.  (When our only tool is a hammer, we tend to see every problem as a nail.)  You need to acknowledge that stress is like emotional adrenaline to you – which is why you keep creating it and even craving it (as crazy as that sounds).

2.  When you sit in a chair and you hear the legs begin to crack, common sense tells you that if you don’t take your weight off of the chair, you’re going to be on the floor pretty quickly with a big thud.  Use your common sense to heed the telltale signs of your health cracking and the stress taking over so you don’t begin to crack yourself.  When we crack under the pressure, we greatly diminish what we can do for God or anyone else.

3.  Learn prudence.  The word prudence means “careful management”.  A prudent person becomes a better manager of their time, their energy, and their God-given gifts.

4.  Identify your stressors.  I know a lot of mine, have you identified yours?  Change the ones you can, and start accepting the ones you can’t – such as other people.  Learn to adapt to any stressor that can’t be changed so that the stress they create motivates you instead of burying you.

5.  Most importantly, spend more time with Jesus, who said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

Related Text:
Proverbs 8:1-14

Ezekiel 22:30
“I looked for someone to stand up for me against all this, to repair the defenses of the city, to take a stand for me and stand in the gap to protect this land so I wouldn’t have to destroy it. I couldn’t find anyone. Not one.”

Mr. Kimball, a Boston Sunday school teacher, began visiting one of his students at the shoe shop where he worked as a clerk. Eventually, Mr. Kimball led his student to Christ. The year was 1898 and that student’s name was Dwight L. Moody.

Twenty-one years later, D.L. Moody, now an evangelist, visited London and a great spiritual awakening took place. F.B. Meyer, a local pastor, went to hear Dwight L. Moody preach and his life was transformed. Later, F.B. Meyer went to America to preach, and in one of his meetings, a student named J. Wilbur Chapman came to Christ. J.W. Chapman became active in the YMCA, where he met and discipled a former baseball player named Billy Sunday.

Billy Sunday became a great revivalist, and in one of his crusades in Charlotte, a group of businessmen came to Christ. A year later, they decided that their city needed another crusade, so they invited Mordecai Hamm to be their speaker. After 3 weeks, Mordecai Hamm left town discouraged because his crusade only yielded one convert to Jesus Christ – a 12-year-old boy named Billy Graham.

One Sunday school teacher just trying to be a good teacher of the Word started the chain reaction that eventually brought Billy Graham to the loving grace of Jesus Christ! One person – just one – can make all the difference in the world.

Romans 7:5-6
“For as long as we lived that old way of life, doing whatever we felt we could get away with, sin was calling most of the shots as the old law code hemmed us in. And this made us all the more rebellious. In the end, all we had to show for it was miscarriages and stillbirths. But now that we’re no longer shackled to that domineering mate of sin, and out from under all those oppressive regulations and fine print, we’re free to live a new life in the freedom of God.”

Living a “new life on the freedom of God” is an antidote to stress.  although obeying God usually has it’s own reward, obeying the “still, small voice of God” is especially rewarding.  You see, when God speaks to us, it is usually more like a gentle prompting than like a hammer pounding us on the noggin.  We can ignore His prompting, disobey it, argue with it, even try to postpone it.  Bu when we decide to take any of those options, we always finish up under stress.  After all, what is more stressful than knowing that things are not right between you and God?

The word obedience is a turn-off to many people.  Right away, they think of God as asking them for huge sums of money, or sending them to a mission field of horrors, or telling them to do something they really don’t want to do.  Get Real!  If we don’t listen to Him when He wants us to turn off the tv and spend 10 minutes with Him in prayer and some Bible reading, why would He send us on a mission??

Obeying God in little things – not big ones – is what lowers our stress level.  For example, when He prompts us not to say another word and we keep right on talking, that’s when arguments seem to erupt and, or course, our stress sky-rockets.

God’s word says, “If you will listen diligently to the voice of the Lord your god . . . you shall be above only and you shall not be beneath.” _Deuteronomy 28:1,13)  the difference between being under the situation or on top of the situation is usually found in one word – obedience.

Do what god wants you to do, and you will see your life transform before your eyes!

Related Text:
Romans 6:6
Ephesians 4 (entire chapter)
John 14:15 (you just gotta read this today)
John 15:10 (this one too!!, it’s super short, just take 10 seconds and read it)

Matthew 25:25
“I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.”

Jesus’ parable to His disciples about the talents (the money given for investment purposes from a master to his servants) teaches us that the one who risks will be rewarded; but the one who plays it safe will lose. Jesus was not just talking about “the sweet by and by” here. He wasn’t just giving a story for story’s sake. He was pinpointing our lives. This principle applies to our lives here and now. Many failures usually precede any success. If we let the fear of failure keep us from taking risks, we will never do anything significant. Walking by faith involves taking risks and making mistakes, and learning along the way.

One day, a ceramics teacher divided her class into 2 groups. The first group was graded on the number of pieces they produced during the class (50 for an A, 40 for a B, 30 for a C, and so on) but the second group was graded on quality and only had to produce one piece. It had to be perfect to get an A. The results weren’t what you would imagine. The group that was graded on quantity began working at breakneck speed. At first the pieces were sloppy and ugly, but by the end of the class, they first group was producing excellent artwork. They were getting practice, turning out so many pieces. But the second group sat around trying to think about how to start and wondering where the inspiration would come from. The second group failed to finish their piece and had nothing to show for their effort, while the first group not only got an A, but were producing amazing peces by the end of the class. UNLESS we overcome our fear of making mistakes, we will never make a difference.

Faith means following God to the very edge, trusting Him that when we do, He will either put a solid foundation underneath our feat, or He will teach us to fly!

Related Text:
Matthew 25:14-30 (entire talent parable)

John 15:4-6
“4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”

To remain in Jesus . . .

what does that look like to you? What does that phrase mean? Jump down to the last part of the sentence in verse 5. We cannot live a christian life apart from Christ. We can try, we can put on a Christian mask, we can try to keep up our Godly facade, but without Jesus, we will fail.

Where do you find your strength, your peace, your joy, your love, your energy to get out of bed and face the day? Where does your life get it’s momentum?

Jesus is our source for all things. But so often we look everywhere else but our savior for help and guidance and wisdom. Begin turning your eyes to Jesus daily by reading your Bible, studying the scriptures, and spending quality, meaningful time with God in prayer.

Related Text:
John 15:1-17

Hebrews 12:1-3
“1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

We talked a few days ago about the race worth running.  All of our lives will at some point be hindered by sin.  It will entangle us, slow us down, and make it hard for us to achieve the things that God has planned for us.

I encourage you to take some time today and take a personal inventory at the beginning of this new year/new decade.  Identify those things in your life that hinder your relationship with Jesus, those things that stop you from achieving all that God has for you because you can’t get past your sin.  Identify those things and find ways to remove them.  Ask God for ideas and plans of action to get those hinderances out of your life so that you can live strong for God.

Focus on Jesus, focus on His word, meditate and study your Bible.  When things get tough and dark in your life and you feel like there’s no hope, remember what Jesus went through to offer you salvation.

Luke 5:17-26
17One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. 18Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
20When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
21The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
22Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” He said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 25Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Related Text:
Psalm 25:1-11
Micah 7:18
Matthew 9:1-8
Mark 2:1-12

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In Other Words

The teachers of the Jewish Law believed that only God could forgive sin and they didn’t accept Jesus’ claim that He was God’s son. Because of their limited view of Jesus, the Jewish leaders saw Jesus’ words and actions as something that had to be stopped.

Although the teachers didn’t believe, they witnessed Jesus heal a man they knew to be paralyzed. It’s likely this experience left them confused and frustrated and it probably fueled their hatred for Jesus even more.

These leaders wouldn’t admit they were wrong, and their pride lead to a lack of forgiveness

Praise God that Jesus paid the price for our sins and that He offers forgiveness to all who believe and follow Jesus. But let’s not just thank God and go on about our lives. Is pride keeping us from admitting an area of sin to God? We cannot hide anything from Him, but sometimes we feel like if we don’t confront our sin as we spend time with God, that it will just work itself out and go away. But it doesn’t work like that. We have to bring our sin before God, admit where we are struggling, and ask for his strength to put that sin to death.

Don’t let your pride get in the way of your relationship with God.

1 John 3:11-24
11This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. 13Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. 14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

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This is some very meaty scripture!

It’s filled with wisdom and truth and guidance from God. Everyone has people in their lives that they don’t like, even hate. No one likes to admit it, but everyone at some point comes across a person that just makes their skin crawl.

Love them. Pray for them. When you see that person you can’t stand, or when you think of them or are reminded of them, pray for them. Pray that God will take away your hateful thoughts towards them. Ask God to use you in their lives if He needs to.

No matter how bad or mean or conceited or rude you think this person is, remember this: Jesus died for you even though you were a sinner. He did, and He did for the person you can’t stand as well. In fact think of this. Think of the very worst sin you ever committed. Think of the worst, most evil, horrible thing you have ever done. Got it?? Jesus died for you even though you did whatever you are think of right now. And He died for the person that you butt heads with too.

Share Jesus with them and ask God to take away your anger.