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Matthew 22:37, Mark 13:10, Romans 10:9
My son, WolfTamerPlayz, and my daughter, ItzRaptorGirl, are Christian You Tubers. They are glad when viewers like, share, and subscribe.
My kids, husband, and I like Jesus. We share Jesus. And we subscribe to Jesus (We’re saved).
In summary:
Like Jesus. (Matthew 22:37 says, “37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a]“)
Share Jesus. (Mark 13:10 says, “10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.”)
Subscribe to Jesus. (Romans 10:9 says, “9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”)
It’s on my heart to share what I’ve read and heard lately on bearing good fruit. First, my family’s pastor gave a sermon, and he mentioned Christians needing good fruit in their lives. He said that we can know the “root of the fruit.” Second, we decided to listen to an online sermon on bearing good fruit. We found Brandon Nealy who said that Christians should not be seeking maximum comfort, but maximum fruit. Specifically, he declared that Christians should be advancing God’s Kingdom. He referred to Galatians 5:22-23 that says, “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
Third, I was searching for some Scripture, but my eyes fell on John 15 instead. John 15:1-5 says, “15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also 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.
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.”
Finally, I was shopping in a clothing store, and was surprised to see actual fruit, mulberries (organic soft dried white)! The description on the bag called the mulberries a “super food” on the front of the bag. On the back of the bag, they said, “Today, they are still grown on the Mediterranean fields that grew them in ancient times in modern day Turkey.” Are you ready to get chills? According to https://biblicaltourguide.com/missionaryjourneysofstpaul.html, “During one of his missionary journeys St. Paul visited Ephesus in Turkey. He stays in the city about three years (Acts 19:1-20).” Why is this significant? Paul was the one who wrote Galatians where we learn about the “fruit of the Spirit!”
I saw a boy, maybe 10 years old, dancing and skipping down a sidewalk with his phone (playing music?). Minutes later, another boy, heading in the opposite direction without a visible phone was skipping and dancing too! It appeared that the first boy’s exuberance was contagious. :)
The boy joy I saw represents the joy we Christians should have. Psalm 5:11 says, “11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.”
Hebrews 13:1-2a, Matthew 22:34-40
At a church meeting last week, the leader of our welcome team must have been reading from Hebrews. He told us to basically, “show hospitality to strangers”. My daughter and I went to our assigned doors to greet. There was a wind chill advisory in effect, and a man clutched a Bible to his chest as he hurried to the church doors. Hugging his Bible like that made it look like he loved God with all of his heart. We opened the doors, and greeted him.
Children of God know that love is a big deal to God. Matthew 22:34-40 says, “34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
The kids and I were doing a lap at a beautiful park near our home, and I saw a woman, possibly from India, going out to a vehicle. She was carrying a big bag that said, “Let the sea set you free.” I shared the lady’s bag quote with the kids, and asked them if that reminded them of anything in Scripture. My daughter said it reminded her of God setting the Israelites free through the Red Sea. Joshua 4:23 says, “23 For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea[a] when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over.” My son said the quote reminded him of letting the Son set you free. Galatians 5:1 reads, “5 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Being near a sea can make us feel free, but true freedom was shown in Scripture when God fought for the Istraelites, miraculously freeing them. And another example in Scripture of true freedom was the result of what Jesus did for us. I love my kids.
Last week, I was out on a couple of errands, and heard Dan and Michelle on Air1. As I listened to their DJ bit, I really wanted them to say something interesting. Michelle delivered. She shared that she found out she’s been hearing the “Sunrise” lyrics wrong. The words are, “…Your goodness lasts a lifetime…”, but she heard something that wasn’t even a word-lol. She connected with me, because I don’t always get lyrics right either. Unfortunately/fortunately, I have a recent example. In the song, “I Can’t Get Away” by Bethel Music, the words are, “You love me when I’m up…”. Here’s what I heard (and sang in the car): “You love me when I’m old…”. Yeah, I thought it was weird the youthful singer would sing that, but that didn’t deter me from singing on.
I was thinking/singing the wrong lyrics to that song, but what I sang wasn’t actually wrong. Isaiah has my back. Today’s verse of the day in biblegateway.com is Isaiah 46:4:
“4 even to your old age I am he,
and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.”
That sounds like God’s love to me.
Doesn’t Dr. David Jeremiah have interesting sermons? I heard him preach on jealousy. He let those listening know that jealousy is a sin. He let it be known that he is never jealous of professional wrestlers or plumbers. He also got serious, and pointed out that those jealous of Daniel ended up in the den on lions. More memorable than all of these things though, was the story he told about jealousy. I hope I never forget it. It went something like this: Two men were very ill in a hospital. Only one of them, the one by the window, could sit up during the day, but only for an hour. The other man that was away from the window remained on his back. The man that was able to sit up, and briefly look out the window encouraged the other one by telling him about a park and all of the activities there. He told the other man about the joyful things there each day. But one day, the man away from the window became jealous that the man by the window could enjoy such a view. After that, whenever the man by the window happily described the park scene in detail, the man away from the window didn’t respond. He kept quiet as he harbored angry thoughts. As he kept quiet, the man by the window got sicker, and died. The man away from the window then asked for the bed by the window, and couldn’t wait for the view of the park. Now in that vacated bed, he propped himself up with great difficulty. What? All he could see was a wall. There was no park.
As Dr. David Jeremiah said, jealousy is a sin. Here’s some of what Scripture says about jealousy:
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Love is very patient and kind, never jealous or envious, never boastful or proud, 5 never haughty or selfish or rude. Love does not demand its own way. It is not irritable or touchy. It does not hold grudges and will hardly even notice when others do it wrong. 6 It is never glad about injustice, but rejoices whenever truth wins out. 7 If you love someone, you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost. You will always believe in him, always expect the best of him, and always stand your ground in defending him.
1 Corinthians 3:3
3 For you are still only baby Christians, controlled by your own desires, not God’s. When you are jealous of one another and divide up into quarreling groups, doesn’t that prove you are still babies, wanting your own way? In fact, you are acting like people who don’t belong to the Lord at all.
A lot of mornings when I wake up early, I have Christian music in my mind. One of those mornings, the quiet song was “Starry Night” by Chris August. I don’t know all of the words to the song, but the calming phrase of “…giving my life to the only One who makes the moon reflect the sun” replayed softly in my mind.
When a Christian song plays in my mind, I feel that God is close, and I feel peace like the following psalmist surely felt. In Psalm 42:8, a psalmist said, “8 By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.”
For at least three mornings, I’ve heard someone playing the same upbeat song. Maybe it was a radio station loop, maybe that song is their caffeine, or maybe they just really love that song. Whatever the reason, hearing that song made me feel like they were happy to start their day, and that’s good.
Proverbs 17:22 says, 22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” Happy hearts are important!
Let’s take our happy hearts to God, and praise Him! Psalm 95:2 says, “Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.”
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