Author: Greg Teats

1 Corinthians 13

The first thing I thought of after reading 1 Corinthians 13……who stood up and read this at my wedding??  I can’t be the only one that thought about weddings!  Second thing I thought of and went straight to spotify to play for some inspiration…..Alan Jackson – Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?  Heck, I just listened to it again.  That song in itself can be the summary of this chapter!

Paul reminds us all that without LOVE, nothing else matters.  Love is patient, love is kind.  I was told to be patient and kind as young as I can remember.  My wife still tells me that today.  We tell our kids that.  Love doesn’t envy or boast meaning don’t show off or resent other people.  Again, things and principles we were told growing up and what we continue to tell our children.  I feel like from now on I should say to my kids each day on the way out the door, “First Corinthians, chapter 13!”, but it doesn’t quite have that ring to it.

I think the word love can be abused, overused, taken advantage of.  We need that reminder of what the bible says it means and Paul does that here.  Many things like knowledge, prophecy, and spiritual gifts are temporary.  But LOVE is eternal.  Someday, when we fully understand everything and see God face-to-face, we’ll realize love was the most important thing all along.

We all certainly know what love is and what it means when it comes to our loved ones or special events like the birth of a newborn or the day we get married.  But what Paul does here is go a little deeper and reminds us about that Alan Jackson type of love that we need to show towards everyone.  It is not just about the love on the good days and people that are close to you but also the love on the not so good days and everyone else in the world.

Country music fan or not, I urge everyone to listen to that song at least once today and reflect on where and how you show your love to those around you and those far away.

Faith, Hope and Love will always matter, but LOVE is the greatest.  It is the foundation of real relationships, real growth, and real faith.

After reading Psalm 26, I have a few questions I asked myself…..

1. Have I led a blameless life?

2. Have I trusted in the Lord without wavering?

3. Do I associate with hypocrites?

4. Do I always refuse to sit with the wicked?

Here are my answers in that order.  No.  No.  Yes.  No.   Just another reminder that I am so far from perfect, not that I had forgotten.

These aren’t written as questions in this Psalm but that is the way I read it back to myself.  I already know my answers before I can finish the question.

Blameless Life – If it isn’t my fault then whose is it?  Where do I point the finger?  In reality, I do often find myself pointing that finger in the mirror.  I find myself saying, “I could have handled that better”, or “I didn’t need it to escalate it that high”.

Trust the Lord without Wavering – I do trust the Lord.  This one I definitely tend to be more self-conscious of.  I know there are times that I certainly waver, but I am quick to take a step back, talk to God for a moment, and understand when I must give up the controls to Him.  That makes it a lot easier than ever thinking I have all the answers when we know that isn’t true!

Associating with Hypocrites – GUILTY!  I probably do it every day. Shoot, I can be that hypocrite.  It makes me feel even worse when I type it out load.  This one is difficult.  My good Christian credibility takes a hit here.

Refusing to Sitting with the Wicked – This one is interesting and the way I view it isn’t the right way.  I never sit with the wicked(figuratively or literally) because I also want to become wicked.  Instead, I am probably trying to gain something from them.  Maybe it is to learn what not to do or how not to be.  Maybe selfishly it is to use it against them someday. I know, I know,  that isn’t the right answer…..

The point of all this remains the same.  None of us are perfect.  Yes, we already know this.  The point is to think about it more, think about these questions.  Try and get through a day while asking yourself these.  How did you do?  Isn’t it impossible to go 24 hours with a passing grade.  If you can, good on you.  I am not sure I could, but it certainly makes me want to try a little harder each day.  Just like no sin is greater than another in God’s eyes, neither are these questions.  When in doubt take a moment, acknowledge whatever the situation and put your faith and trust in Jesus.  I promise you will feel better!

Romans 7

There are chapters in the bible sometimes that make me feel like I don’t know how to read good.  Romans chapter 7 did that to me today.  It is one of those that requires multiple re-reads and some dissecting for me to follow the teaching that is inside of it.  Sure, we can all get the point once over, but it feels like in this chapter the point is made several times over in different ways.  Maybe that IS the point?!

Paul is writing here in Romans that the law is holy and good because it reveals to us just how sinful we really are.  Everyone struggles with sin every day, sometimes many times throughout the day, and those that say they don’t are fooling themselves.

Verse 20, “Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”  It is remarkable how often I catch myself committing a sin and soon after thinking, “You know that wasn’t the right thing to say/do”.  And if it was a ‘small’ sin we kind of forget about it and move on with our day.  Maybe if it was a ‘bigger’ sin we take a few extra seconds to think about it and try to tell ourselves to not do that one again.  Paul is saying that sin is in all of us.  Sometimes we sin not because we want to or mean to, but because it lives in us and it is our own responsibility to understand that and be able to ask for God’s help to stay on the right path.  Also remember that we are never ‘annoying’ Him if we need to repeatedly keep asking for said help.  He is way more disappointed in us when we don’t ask than how many times we do.

This chapter also reminded me of a show I binged over this past weekend.  ‘The Bondsman’ starring Kevin Bacon.  It is at best 4/5 stars where Bacon is a bondsman that is given a second chance but must send back demons who are trying to escape hell.  It is vulgar and gory at times, BUT here is how it reminds me of sin and what I mentioned above.  Every time a demon(sin) was present, it showed its face in the mirror.  Just like sin, sometimes you can see it plain as day and a lot of times you can’t, but it is always lingering around.  It is on us to keep it at bay and we can easily do this by praying to God for a little help…..as often as we need to.

Verse 24-25, “What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Psalm 21

Does anyone else ever read some of the Psalms written by David and easily slip back into that mindset of, “You’re right David, God is so good!”?  I know it isn’t just me. Psalm 21 I feel does just that.

Verse 4, “He asked you for life, and you gave it to him – length of days, for ever and ever.”  When I lay my head down tonight, I am going to pray as usual.  And as I usually do, I am going to start off by thanking Him for today and for all the others that come after.  But after reading this, I am going to go a little further.  I am going to thank the Lord for those “forever days”, for that eternal life with Him.

I already know I don’t thank God enough for everything He has given me.  I mean, I think I do a “good job”, but I know I can easily do better at prayer, carving out at the least a little more time from my day to put the brakes on life and talk to Him or talk WITH Him.  This makes me realize that next time I pray I WANT to thank Him for those eternal days when this life is all said and done.  As I reflect on it, I feel like it is easily assumed and/or taken for granted when in fact we know it is the greatest gift He gives us!

Then in the second part of this Psalm David addresses those who don’t seek God’s love or forgiveness.  Verse 8 says, “Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies; your right hand will seize your foes.”  Mr. T. says it best, “I pity the fool”.

We have all had tremendous UPs in life and tremendous DOWNs.  I know I am not the only one, but I love knowing that God has been by my side and by the side of so many others.  So, I pity the fool that ever tells me they don’t need faith in God in their lives when they think they have it all.  Surely, we wouldn’t mind having the all the riches from our first day until our last, or just being able to glide through life without any trials thrown our way, but we also understand material things are no comparison to the love, forgiveness and eternal life that God offers us.  And if there was no turbulence in our lives then where do we learn that we can’t do this thing without His help along the way?!

So….Thank you David for the words you wrote in Psalm 21.  With your words and Easter in a few days, I will challenge myself and others to put down the phone, take one less unnecessary call/text/email and spend that time to be thankful not for just today but for so much more.  And pray for someone that might put on a really good show but is actually struggling with something that they don’t want anyone else to know.

Psalm 21:1 O Lord, the king rejoices in your strength.  How great is his joy in the victories you give!

Acts 23

In chapter 23, we pick up where Paul was brought to the Jewish council to find out why a Jewish mob was trying to kill him.  He stood in front of the council declaring that he was living his life in the way that God had set out for him.  Because of what Paul said, the high priest ordered someone to punch him right in the kisser.

Paul knew that the Jewish council was divided up between Pharisees and Sadducees.  Verse 8 highlights the main difference between the two.  The Sadducees believed that there was no resurrection and that there are no angels or spirits while the Pharisees acknowledge them all.  A big uproar began amongst all of them and started getting violent when finally the commander told his troops to get Paul out of there before he was ripped to shreds.

Later that night the Lord appeared to Paul in verse 11 to let him know he was going to get through this, get out of Jerusalem and make his way to Rome.  The Lord didn’t say HOW, but just reassured him there was a promise in place.

The next morning a group of 40 Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.  They all went to the Jewish council from the day before and asked if they could “have a word” with Paul.  In reality, they had a plan to ambush him while he would have been on the way to the council and kill him before he ever got there. BUT, crazy enough, Paul’s nephew overheard the Jews talking about their killing plot and he went and reported it to the commander.

After hearing this, the commander prepared a bunch of armed men to escort Pual in the cover of the night to Caesarea and sent with them a letter to the Governor explaining how a group of Jews want to kill him and that he deserved a fair hearing in front of his accusers instead of dying for no reason.

What I keep going back to in this chapter is Paul’s nephew and the Lord’s promise.  What are the odds his nephew overhears the group of Jews who were plotting out loud their plan to kill Paul??  We all know, have heard, what God’s miracles look like when they happen but what about the way God works in unseen ways that don’t APPEAR as miracles at first glance.

God promised Paul that he would have the chance to preach in Rome that night he was taken from the violent uproar.  I can only imagine the relief that Paul felt knowing that that wasn’t the last night he would ever have again.  It is sometimes easy to forget, but we need to remember…..everything, everyday, all of us are a part of God’s plan.  It was not dumb luck Paul’s nephew overheard that plot for murder.  God providentially arranged the time, place, and volume of the voices of the those would-be-killers and placed Paul’s nephew exactly when and where he needed to be to hear them.  Let us all rest assured, God works His will through the mundane and ordinary events of a busy world and our busy lives.

In Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas were sent by God to some places to spread the word of Christ.

First, they made a pit stop in Cyprus.  There, they met a Jewish sorcerer who Paul confronted and called him a child of the devil.  Because of the sorcerer’s deceit and trickery, Paul explained to him that the hand of the Lord was against him, and that he is going to go blind, and so he did.  The proconsul (governor of the area) watched all of this take place and he became a believer in Christ right then and there.  They made quick, BUT good work of Cyprus!

After another stop or two they made their way to Pisidian Antioch.  Whilst there on the Sabbath, they went into the synagogue to worship and were invited to do some teaching and preaching.  Paul states very clearly that forgiveness of sin is found in Jesus when someone truly believes in Him. Paul also uses a bunch of the Old Testament to prove to everyone listening that Jesus is Christ.  Now, this message that he delivers starts to create great enthusiasm and excitement amongst the Gentiles that are there.  So much so that they invite him to come back the following Sabbath to speak again.

Fast forward a week and the turnout is greater than it was prior.  The Jewish leaders of the synagogue weren’t used to the presence that Paul was getting and appeared rather jealous of him and even started to contradict some of the message that Paul was giving.  The Gentiles, on the other hand, were eager to hear more from Paul.  Verse 46, Paul and Barnabas said boldly, “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.”  Then in verse 48 and 49, “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believe.  The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.” In other words, a lot of people were saved.

One of the pastors that my family watches online has been teaching about a few of the chapters in Acts recently which has helped my understanding of much of these passages.  I realize that when the leaders of the synagogue began arguing with Paul and Barnabas about what they were teaching, instead of the 2 of them being intimidated, they boldly doubled down and people were saved because of it.  If I learned anything from this, it is that NOONE is saved when we are silent.  People hear about Christ and some of them choose to believe and become followers when we are bold enough to speak His name and do it clearly, then God does the rest.

A prayer that I have heard and worth sharing, “Father forgive me for the times I have been silent, and fear has won in my life.  Give me boldness to speak Jesus’ name and help me do it with clarity”.

Acts 3

Every person, let alone Christians, have heard at least one of the miracles that Jesus had performed while he walked on this Earth.  Albeit there are no miracles without faith in Christ.  Just because he wasn’t physically present didn’t mean there weren’t more instances.

In Acts 3 Peter and John are walking up to the temple for mid-afternoon prayer.  A man crippled from birth was also being carried to the temple gate where he was put every day to beg of those going into the temple.  Right before Peter and John entered, the beggar did what beggars do and asked them for some money.  Peter and John acknowledged him.  Surely, he thought, they were going to throw some change his way.   That isn’t what happened here, instead, something much more.  “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you.  In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk”, said Peter.

He helped the crippled man up to his feet, he was crippled no more.  He went into the temple with them, jumping and walking around and praising God.  Everyone turned to look and recognized that this was the crippled beggar that sat at the gate every day.  They couldn’t believe what they were witnessing.

In verse 12, Peter in a way calls the people out.  “Why does this surprise you?  Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?”  That’s the key! That’s it!  Everyone looks at Peter as if HE did this?!  NO! Peter reminds everyone of their ignorance and self-righteousness that it is because of his faith and in the name of Jesus that this man walks.

It’s easy to forget.  It’s easy to get busy.  It’s easy not to believe.  These onlookers not that long ago heard of Jesus’ crucifixion.  They had heard of the miracles and healings that He performed.  So now what?  Since he is dead miracles can’t take place?  Peter says quite the opposite! Repent. Turn to God.  The crippled man is proof.  Peter didn’t heal this man just because his name is Peter, his faith in Jesus did.  Acts 3 is a reminder that just because Jesus isn’t with us in the flesh, he is and will always be with us in the Holy Spirit!

Psalms 3-4

When you look back on the stories of King David you can see how he was known for his courage, military strategy and leadership.  I mean, he did take down a giant in Goliath.  He was a shepherd who became the King of Israel and led them through “The Golden Age” of prosperity.  Like any man, though, he had his flaws, but was one of the best at asking God for forgiveness and seeking His guidance throughout all of his life.

I personally could read Psalm 3 over and over again.  In Psalm 3:2 he says, ‘Men are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.”’  This makes me think of when people say, “Stop worrying about what other people think about you.”  It is something I say way to often to my immediate family and friends.  And so often I catch myself ‘worrying about what someone else says about me’ when I should be asking God to bestow glory on me and simply lift up my head like David did.

Then in Psalm 4, David references how those against him see the glory in his life and shame him for it.  They all seek false gods and ask who will show them any good.  But instead of David shaming them, he prays for them.  He prays to the Lord that they will all seek out righteousness in Him and make the right sacrifices to Him.   If only I could be as conscious of this as much as David was.

The two Psalms are reminders to us.  When we get caught up in the day to day and we hear others comment about personal, professional, and spiritual lives in a negative way for no good reason……our first reaction is not reciprocating in the same manner back.  It gives us a reason right then and there to give thanks to God.  It is a reminder that ALL of our good comes from Him, and we reciprocate by asking God to love and watch over our neighbors so that one day they start doing the same.

What would you do when you come to the realization that your time in this world is coming to an end?  You probably grab your loved ones and spend as much time left with them as you could.  You hug them, love them, smile and cry with them and long to never let those moments go.  Jesus grabbed a bowl, put water in it and started washing the feet of those around him.  After he was finished doing this he said to his disciples, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” John 13:14-15

Does Jesus just mean to love thy neighbor and to treat those as you wish to be treated, or does it go deeper than that?  He is telling the disciples that HE is the example, the one and only example, and that through him, they should live their lives in the same manner with the same contrition and demeanor.  I know, just like the disciples knew, His sandals are impossible to fill….but we all have to do our best each and every day.

Later that night, after everyone has filled their stomachs and gotten their feet washed by the Son of God…..Jesus says in John 13:21, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.”  Then picture this, the disciple Peter, as if he is sitting in class and whispers over to his classmate, “Pssshh…..ask him who it is.” Then in verse 26, Jesus says, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.”  He then handed it to Judas, and Satan entered into him.

What was Judas feeling right before he was handed the bread?  What were the other disciples thinking?  I imagine some of them questioning themselves, rationalizing in their minds that they were never thinking of turning on Jesus, so if not me, then who??  Then I picture this image of a ghost-like Satan floating from the back of the room and entering Judas’ body, with a mischievous grin on his face that says ‘I got this one’.

As if that wasn’t enough drama for the night, there was a little more for one disciple in particular.  In John 13:33 Jesus says, “My children, I will be with you only a little longer.  You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.”  Peter asked Jesus where he was going and in John 13:37-38, “Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now?  I will lay down my life for you.”  Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me?  I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”

Peter denying Jesus has to be one of the most recognized stories from the Bible ever told.  If you remember from earlier it was Peter who was asking a fellow disciple who Jesus was talking about betraying him.  There wasn’t a thought in Peter’s mind that he would EVER deny Jesus.  That had to have crushed Peter to tears.  What was the mood of the room after that?  Was everyone waiting for a 3^rd shoe to drop?

In John, chapter 13, these are the three things that happen. In my readings of the Bible I often catch myself imagining how I would feel or what I would do in these situations.  Surely Jesus would never tell me I would deny him 3 times or I would ever betray him….Right?! I have no idea, none of us can be certain.  What we need to make certain is that we are doing the best we can to live our lives in the ways Christ did.  Jesus says, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” I pray that when we are given those opportunities to share and show our faith in God by the way we carry ourselves through everyday life, the Lord is pleased.

Today’s Reading: John 1:35-51

These days it is easier for many of us to google any verse out of the Bible and have it at our fingertips in milliseconds as opposed to grabbing the nearest bible at home or maybe at the office.  I haven’t personally opened the bible I got when I went through confirmation in, unfortunately, and admittedly, a few years.  Why?  Because the internet is always in my pocket.  But for this reading, I dusted that bible off.

Here is why I love this bible.  Like many other bibles, when Jesus speaks the words are in red.  That instantly makes reading the scripture change for the better in my eyes.  He is speaking and I know it without question.  I feel it differently than just black and white.  Verse 39, “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”  At the end of verse 43, “Follow me.”

This is Jesus making commands.  When I read it, I don’t believe He is saying them sternly or with a temper of course, but rather calm, collective, and confidently.  He has said these things to me in my walk and very recently for that matter.  Personally, and professionally lately I have found myself in some difficult situations with several different answers with all different types of results.  I am an overthinker a lot of the time.  Usually, the best answer has been staring me in the face from the beginning, but I wrap around in circles.  Then I pray and His voice reaches out, “Follow me”.

My favorite poem that I carry in my wallet is Footprints in the Sand.  I feel like so many times it starts between Him and I, “Follow me” and ends with “It was then that I carried you”.  Isn’t that just it?  Isn’t it that ‘simple’?  It isn’t……but we should try to make it that way everyday.  Pray, listen, follow and if you see one set of footprints remember, they aren’t yours, they are His.