Our text today is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”

These verses seem very clear, but there is that little phrase in the midst that has been debated. “Pray continually,” or as the King James says, “Pray with0ut ceasing.” What does that mean and how often is continually?

Some have told me this means that we must be praying all day long. I love pious folks who are trying to do the right and righteous thing, but my wife had a phase she often used that is applicable here. “Sometimes we make things harder than God ever meant them to be.”

So, what is the meaning of this phrase “Pray without ceasing”? Here is the short answer. It means to make a habit of praying often in your life. However, even that answer is subject to confusion because one might ask, “What is the meaning of ‘often?’”

For a better understanding on this, consider the life of Jesus. There are very few instances of his prayers which share the actual words of his prayer, but there is much in the Bible about his prayer life.

Notice, for example:

·      He prayed often at regular times of withdrawal from the crowds. Luke records, “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” (5:16).

·      He prayed after days of long work with helping people. Mark tells us 

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” (1:35).

·      And most of all, the last words of Jesus on the cross were words of prayer. In Luke 23:46 we read, “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’ And having said this he breathed his last.”

Jesus’ example to us is that we ought to pray often, every day!

Lonnie Davis

Today our text turns to the first uttered prayer of Jesus. It happens in John 11, just before he raised his dead friend from a four day old grave. (John 11:41-42)

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

Certainly this is not the first time Jesus ever prayed, but this is the first prayer of Jesus for which we have the actual words.

We know for that Jesus prayed at his baptism, as the Holy Spirit was coming upon him. (Luke 3:21).  He prayed after he withdrew from the crowds (Luke 5:16). Mark tells us that He prayed in the evening after he healed people (Mark 1:35). 

Jesus was a man of prayer, but with this text we finally have the actual words that Jesus uttered in his prayer.

As we look closely at this text, we see three wonderful lessons.

First, we notice the intimacy between Jesus and the Father. 

He does not call him God or Wise One or any other term. His first prayer shows how he views God. God is his father.

This is a term that signifies a close, family relationship. This intimacy is a part of Jesus’ identity and mission, and it’s crucial to understanding his role as the mediator between God and humanity. Jesus’ intimate relationship with God is on full display in this first prayer.

Second, Jesus declares for all to hear that he believes in the father.

He  prays out loud and very loudly for the sake of the onlookers. He wanted others to see God as one who can be leaned upon and trusted. Certainly some prayer should be private, but public prayer is a wonderful time to model prayer for those you love.

Third, Jesus completely trust God’s will.

Jesus thanks God for hearing his prayers. In fact, He thanks the father for answering his prayer, even before the prayer is answered. This implies a deep trust in God, no matter the circumstances. It shows unwavering trust and gratitude in God’s plan, even when faced with challenging situations.

Lonnie Davis

Our text for today is 1 Corinthians 9:22

“To the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”

Of course Paul isn’t saying I AM weak, or I become a dunkard, or a liar. Paul is saying that he does not let the change of the culture around him prevent him from reaching out to other with the Gospel of Christ. He make that clear with verse 23, “I do this for the Gospel’s sake.”

I wish I could say that I am the same way. I admit I struggle with seeing cultures different than mine and accepting them. If I see someone who has pieced their eyebrow or a man wearing a bun I immediately have an impression that I have to overcome.

I come by this naturally. My old grandaddy used to say that women should not piece their ears. He said, “If God wanted you to have a hole in your ear, he would have put one there.” I love my grandad, but he was wrong. That was his culture. I should not hold that against his memory. 

If I cannot move with the change around me, I will not help people find Christ.

Of course I resist cultural change. We all do, but it is hurtful to us and those around us,

The other day I read one extreme example of how silly it is to resist change.

In the earliest and best-known critique of writing, Socrates warns his companion that writing will only make human memory weaker:

Plato said, “This invention [writing] will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them.” (Plato 1925, 274e–275a)

We remember this, of course, because Plato wrote it down.

Do not change for change’s sake. Do not give up God’s teaching. 

But beyond this, be ready to become all things to all so that you can reach out to them.

Lonnie Davis

How to Handle Hard Times

Our text today is John 12:27-28

“Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.”

May God bless the reading of his word.

This verse shows a side of Jesus that we sometimes overlook. It shows how he handled hard days. Jesus had a human side, an emotional side. Jesus hurt when faced with hard, hard days.

Look at it again. Isn’t that what Jesus says when he says, “Now my soul is troubled?” Jesus knows what lies before him and it troubles his heart. 

I would never compare my troubles to the troubles of Jesus, but I too have laid my head on my pillow and felt that troubled heart. I’m sure you have too, So what do you do when you feel that way? Read this verse and notice four great steps for troubled hearts.

1. Acknowledge your pain. 

Jesus was not some stoic who held it all in, Remember “Jesus wept.” Here he says, “My heart is troubled.” Jesus is not whispering these words to his own heart. He tells this to his disciples. Do not be afraid to show your heart.

2. Ask yourself what you should do.

Learning how to ask the right question is half of the answer. You do have choices. So did Jesus! 

3. Decide

He could have escaped the pain of tomorrow, but he knew what he needed to do. When Jesus asked the question, he had a firm answer, “No.” I have to a do the right thing. 

4.  Let God help you. 

Jesus had a heart troubling day before him. He leaned on God for help. He says, “Father, glorify your name.” Here is a powerful but short prayer of Jesus. To be powerful, a prayer does not have to be long. Just pray it. He will help you.

Lonnie Davis

Our Scripture today is Psalms 14:1-2a

“The fool has said in his heart,“There is no God…The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men,To see if there are any who understand…”

I use this verse to lead us into a most wonderful story that I want each of you to have for your own wisdom to share with those whom you love. It is called, 

The Parable of Birth

Once upon a time, twin boys were conceived in the same womb. Weeks passed, and the twins developed. As their awareness grew, they laughed for joy, “Isn’t it great to be alive?”

Together the twins explored their world. When they found their mother’s cord that gave them life they sang for joy, “How great is our mother’s love that she shares her own life with us.”

As the weeks stretched into months the twins noticed how much each was changing. “What does this mean?” asked one. “It means that our stay in this world is drawing to an end,” said the other one.

“But I don’t want to go,” said the one, I want to stay here always.”

 “We have no choice,” said the other, “but maybe there is life after birth!”

“But how can it be?” responded the one. “We will shed our life cord, and how is life possible without it? Besides, we have seen evidence that others were here before us and none of them have returned to tell us that there is life after birth.”

And so the one fell into deep despair saying, “If conception ends with birth, what is the purpose of life in the womb? It’s meaningless! Maybe there is no mother at all.”

“But there has to be”, protested the other. “How else did we get here? How do we remain alive?”

“Have you ever seen our mother?” said the one. “Maybe she lives in our minds. Maybe we made her up because the idea made us feel good.”

And so the last days in the womb were filled with deep questioning and fear and finally the moment of birth arrived. When the twins had passed from their world, they opened their eyes and cried, for what they saw exceeded their fondest dreams.

Folks usually say that John 11:35 is the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept.” They are right, but our reading today is one of the other short in the Bible.

It is 1 Thessalonians 5:16, “Rejoice always.” 

Why would we choose such a short verse for commentary? Because the tenor of your life is affected by how you follow this verse. Let me explain.

At the end of your life there will be many things you have loved to do, or have, or see, or experience. Things that you will remember fondly. If you could only go back in time and do those things just for an hour, they would bring you great joy. But you can’t. 

In fact, those great, everyday experiences of your life, are remembered only in the cloud of all the times you had, but you do not remember the last day you sat in the high school class. You do not remember the last time you got to make home-made ice-cream. You do not remember the last time you ate at your favorite restaurant.

Mostly, when it was happening, you didn’t feel the real joy you would now.  We only have one defense against wasted opportunities for every joy. That defense is to simply “rejoice always.”

 I remember the last time I picked up Jeremy in my arms and carried him to bed. He was probably 5 feet tall and weighted around 100 pounds. He fell asleep on the couch. I reached down to pick him up. Liz told me to wake him and he will walk to bed. I told her no that this was the last time I would get to do this. It was a struggle, but I still remember the joy of that moment.

I don’t remember that time with my girls because I was not as old or as wise. I just let that moment fly by.

So far all those ordinary experiences you will have today. “Rejoice always.” It may be the last time you get to have that experience. Time goes by fast.

Lonnie Davis

Our scripture reading for today is one that was revered by people so much in the long ago that the record of it was kept in a special place near the temple of God. Today it is not revered. When people read the Bible and come to this text, they often skim over it and go to whatever is next. Nevertheless, today I want to challenge you to hear it.

Matthew 1:1-6

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: 

Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, 

Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 

Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 

Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, 

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

Reading of genealogies are uninteresting to people today. We skip over them and go to the next text. That’s too bad. Often beautiful lessons and people are found in those reading of who begat who.

Let me point out one of these today. It is act of love that God included some of the names that are in this reading. There are names we expect, like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and King David. There are also some names that might surprise us.

The names are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and the woman who had been Uriah’s wife. Later in the reading we find another woman mentioned, Mary, the mother of Jesus.

It is unusual for women to be named in genealogies. The naming of these women teach us about God. These were women whose history was flawed.

Tamar was a Cannannite women who posed as a prostitute to seduce Judah (Ge 38:13-30). 

Rahab (v. 5) was a Gentile and a prostitute (Jos 2:1). 

Ruth (v. 5) was a Moabite woman (Ru 1:3) and thus her offspring were forbidden to enter the assembly of the Lord for 10 generations (Dt 23:3).

Bathsheba (“Uriah’s wife,” v. 6) committed adultery with David (2Sa 11). 

Mary   (v. 16) who bore the stigma of pregnancy outside of wedlock. 

Each of these women show us that God loves us, no matter what we have done. What we do from now on is what matters to God. It was true with theses women and it is with you and me.

This genealogies show us God’s grace.

Our text for today is:Proverbs 3:13-15

Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. 

Give me the choice between wisdom and  knowledge and I will choose wisdom. The following story will illustrate the need for wisdom.

I once read the story of a man from the department of the interior who was sent out to inspect the water resources for all the ranches in his territory. He stopped at a Texas ranch and talked to an old rancher. “I need to inspect your ranch for your water allocation.” The rancher told him, “Well, that will be fine, but just don’t go into that field over there.”

The government man said, “Mister, I have the authority of the government with me.” He took out his wallet and flashed a badge at him. “See this badge,” he said. “This badge means I can go wherever I want to go! No questions asked or answered.” He paused and then said, “Have I made myself clear? Do you understand?”

The old rancher nodded politely and went about his chores. Later the old rancher heard loud screams and saw the government man running for his life. Close behind him was the rancher’s bull. The bull was gaining ground with every step.

The government man was clearly terrified so the old rancher threw down his tools, ran to the fence and yelled at the top of his lungs, “Your badge! Show him your badge.”

The moral to this story is “just because you can do something does not mean that it is the right thing to do.”

Make your own list. There are lots of things you can do, but it will not always be wise to do so. It was not wise for the government agent to go out into that field, but he could. There is a difference between the ability to do something and the wisdom not to do it. 

~Lonnie Davis

There is a old joke that says, “I can resist anything but temptation.” Today’s scripture reading tells us that is not true.

1 Corinthians 10:13

“God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond 
what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also 
provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 

In other words, you can handle It

It is sad that so many believe that the temptation can be too much. The world loves the idea of temptation being beyond our control and thus has created the idea of addiction. One cannot deny the stranglehold that bad habits can have on us, but most things are not addictions, but rather compulsions. 

You may decide that you do not want to resist the temptation, but it is never greater than you can resist. Too often we just give in and then fell back on the excuse of the temptation was too great. How can we know that we can resist any temptation? If you read 1 Corinthians 10:13 you will see that God promises us that He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can handle. 

How can we know that this is always true? The text answers that question – because “God is faithful.” When I claim there was no escape from the temptation then I am accusing God of being unfaithful. He says He will not allow the temptation to be too great for us. We should believe that He is faithful.

In the book of Job, Satan wanted to lash out against Job, but first had to get God’s permission. God told him that he could, but told him how far he could go. 

As hard as things were for Job, God sat boundaries to protect him. After Job passed the first test Satan came back to God to ask for permission to hit Job even harder. Each step of the way God was deciding how much Job could be tempted.

According to our text, He does that for you and me. All of this is implied in the often used phrase, “God will not give us more than we can handle.” Whatever your trial might be, you can handle it. I know this because God is faithful!

Lonnie Davis

Our text is Proverbs 16:22.

“Understanding is a fountain of life to one who has it.”

Let me paraphrase, “If you understand why you do what you do, you will have a better life.”

Did you ever do things and not understand why you did them? 

If your answer is that you do what you do just because you have always done things that way, then maybe you need to reevaluate things.

An experiment was done to cause us to consider ways. Here was the experiment. You start with a cage containing five monkeys. In the cage, hang a banana on a string and put stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the monkeys with cold water. I know that sounds mean, but stay with me.

After a while, another monkey will make an attempt but will be met with the same response – all of the monkeys are sprayed with cold water. 

Keep this up for several days and then stop spraying the water. Never use the water again. If, later, another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it even though no water sprays them.

Now, remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his horror, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new monkey. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer who has never experienced the water takes part in the attack.

Do this until all the original monkey have been replaced. Finally there are no monkeys in the cage who have ever been sprayed with water. However, they still attack any monkey who goes for the banana. Finally no monkey ever again approaches the stairs.

Why not? “Because that’s the way it’s always been done around here.”

Hmmm?

Those are truly words worth thinking.

Lonnie Davis