Jesus, Friend of Sinners

Jesus, Jesus Friend of sinners, Jesus Christ, Friend of all who bow at His feet, and call on His Name, and trust His blood, and live because He loved and loves.

Grace and Glory

I get angry when things don't go my way. I'm a sinful man. I lose it when somone breaks something but won't fess up and I keep having to fix it. I grow impatient with slow growing souls but stay stunted in quasi-spirituality and make-believe righteousness. I'm good at pretending. I'm a class A actor on stage, when I live self-righteous on the outside and I'm harboring sin and insecurity on the inside. Hypocrisy wears a double mask. It only shows so much. It won't reveal the plain truth. I'm begging Jesus to free me. In my fog I cannot see that He already does. Where does my pride come from? What sinkhole did it crawl out from underneath? Under what rock was it hiding so Gollum-like, searching after my precious reputation? I will admit it: I want comfort. I want hope. I want everything to go the way I want. Sinful, selfish, too often preoccupied with myself. Grandeur and glory for me is on my menu, Babel-like towers to my own memory. But, this is not reality. This is where I must start my trek. Where Truth prevails. Truth wins. Love reigns supreme. God's grace and glory tower over human greed and grandeur. Therefore, I have hope, and forgiveness in Christ.

The Meek are not Weak

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:5 ESV) The world will tell you the meek are weak. They need a crutch. They can't go it alone. They need help. The world is right for the wrong reasons. The meek will tell you the same thing for the right reasons. They know they can do nothing apart from Jesus (John 15:5) and also that they can overcome any circumstance because Christ strengthens them (Phil. 4:13). Meekness isn't weakness, it's strength under control. It's strength under the rulership of Christ, governed by the Holy Spirit. The meek are truthful. They don't arrogantly bend the rules to suit themselves. They stick to God's Word and allow it to chart their course. God blesses the humble meek who may be bold as a lion but know where their true power comes from. Their strength, their adequacy, their full sufficiency, is the crucified, risen and soon to return Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus, Prince of Peace

Jesus, Prince of Peace A Christmas Poem for All Seasons Mild, He arrives, surveying the scene, With glory, not grandeur or even a shout, It isn't pretty what His watching eye sees, Conflicts multiplied within and without. People playing God without any shame, From West to North to South to East, Fingers pointing while people proclaim, 'Peace, peace' when there is no peace. Slaughtering innocents without a care, Unrest preceding from bad to worse, Weeping while knowing that life isnt fair, Expected from those still under the Curse. The floodgates of heaven open once more, We must remember who tend to forget, He gave a blessing to counteract sin, He died to pay another man's debt. Peace so elusive and hard to attain, Fully floods the souls of all who recieve, The Truth that sets all captives free, The Way of Life that you must believe. The only Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Most awesome Father of Eternity, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Fully functioning Prince of Peace. Written by Michael W. Sciarra, 12/18/2012. Note: This peace from God through our Lord Jesus Christ isn't automatic. It is very rare. It is a gift from God. It only comes to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; those who are only saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for God's glory alone. "Believe in The Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). We who believe can say we confident assurance that He Himself is our Peace.

Clothed with Power

God clothes with power those He calls to Himself. It's what He does, for His glory and other's good. He promised Mary that she would experience His power (Luke 1:35). Jesus promised His disciples that they would receive power (Acts 1:8). Paul often spoke of God's power at work in believers (Eph. 3:16; Col. 1:29; Phil. 2:13). We need power to live. We who believe acknowledge and experience God's power. And we also see humans taking power for granted. Not until we do not have it do we realize how important it is. I experienced three notable power outages in the past few months. The first was in Washington, D.C. Brought on by a storm, it affected millions throughout the area and across the state of Virginia. The second was in the Knoxville, Tennessee area. My in-laws' home had the power knocked out for three long days. We were refugees in a familiar place. The third was a few days after Thanksgiving while traveling in central California. Our hotel had a power outage and no backup generator. Needless to say, in all three instances we lacked power and could do little to help ourselves. Powerlessness is an unsettling proposition. One we want to get out of. No sane person wants to be without power. We might experience it relationally, economically, or socially; but no matter the realm it is a weak position to be in. In the spiritual realm probably more than any other we feel our lack of power keenly. We need another. We need Almigty God. Which is why Jesus being called Mighty God is such a comforting thing. He is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or think. And He is at work in believers to will and do His good pleasure. He will clothe you who come to Him by grace alone, through fsith alone, in Christ alone, with power from on high. I encourage you to not shrink back in powerless defeat, but move forward in triumphant resurrection power, knowing the Powerful One is with you. He brings order out of chaos.

Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor

Jesus is the answer to all our problems. One of our number one problems? Confusion (ie not knowing what to do, a lack of wisdom). In addition to the general chaos/conundrums brought on by sin, the complexities/conspiracies real and imagined, and the various conflicts we engage in, we are generally confused people. Many live in a state of constant confusion. Not knowing what they should do, how they should respond, like a deer in the headlights, like a mouse in a maze, like guys with instruction manuals written only in French and German, they think they know what to do, but eventually realize, they just don't know what to do. Enter Jesus, the Savior. Who's been there all a long if we would just open our eyes. Like clouds parting, fog lifting to reveal a majestic mountain peak. Like a clear, cool spring of water to a parched soul, Jesus answers our need. Jesus the Wonderful Counselor reveals truth we need. We are often confused, but Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor, who tells us not what we want to hear, but what we need to hear, so that we might follow Him fully.

A Word of Encouragement

Everyone loves encouragement. Everyone needs it too. I want to commend the people of Grace Orange for the many things I see them doing right, the things the Holy Spirit is doing in and through us. I get to serve such an Awesome God and pastor such an awesome group of people. So, Grace Orange, this is for you. You care for each other. You willingly sacrifice. You go out of your way to help others. You give your time, talents and treasure to serve the Lord and bless those you know and don't know. You welcome strangers. You refresh the saints. You forgive. You give stuff away. You cook. You clean. You build. You watch people's kids. You love. You preach the gospel to yourself and others. You weep with the weeping and rejoice with the rejoicing. You empathize. You trust Jesus. You love God's Word. It is such a joy and blessing to see Christ's Church "walking in the truth" (3 John 4).  That is what you are doing. I've seen real life examples of all these and more. Praise God. All praise to the Lord Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as revealed in Scripture alone, for God's glory alone. Jesus loves you!