Author: Rick Henderson

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 7:13-14 (day seven)

For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Every day we are presented with an opportunity to help guide people down the narrow path to eternity. Yet, there are pinnacle moments that help us become intentional this endeavor. One such moment for our Youth Family is Freedom Weekend. This next week over 100 students will gather together to worship King Jesus. They will be immersed in the Word of God though Bible Study and teaching. They will find Holy Fellowship spending the entire weekend together as they retreat from their normal pattern of life. This retreat is an opportunity for us to show them the narrow path that leads to life.

Will you pray for our students who will be attending? Will you pray for students who haven’t signed up that need to find the right path? Will you pray for the homes and hosts where the students will be retreating? Will you pray for the speakers and leaders who will show the path to these students?

Lord, let us see revival. Let us see hearts be made new. Let us see students turn from the wide path and commit their life to walk the narrow one that leads to you! Amen!

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 7:7-11 (day seven)

Knock, and it will be opened to you.

God has not provided a salvation which can only be understood by learned men […] it is intended for the ignorant, the short-witted, and the dying, as well as for others, and hence it must be as plain as knocking at a door. – Spurgeon

Just Knock! Anyone can do it. You don’t have to have it all figured out. You don’t have to be a minister or have a degree from a seminary. You don’t even have to know what you are going to say. God just wants you to come as you are and knock at His door. Your willingness to seek His company is enough for Him to bring you in and give you a seat at His table. At the table, you will find what you need was already plated in front of you before you sat down, for He knows what you need before you ask (Matt 6:8). No matter how beat up or how unworthy you feel, He will always come to let you in. So Just Knock!

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 7:1-6, 12 (day seven) 

Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. vs 6

What an odd verse to follow an iconic illustration. So much so, that this verse gets lost. Who else felt like you had never really studied this part of the passage? Same here! So, who are the dogs? Who are the pigs, and what are the pearls?  Because this verse is not as cut and dry as the speck and log, there are lots of interpretations, but I would say we can make an educated guess here in light of some context.

Pearls are valuable. What is the most valuable thing we can give to others? The Gospel! Yes, we are not supposed to judge others (speck and log), but God has given us the Holy Spirit to know when it is time to move along. When our attempts to help change the lives of others are met with continual dismissal, sometimes the best thing to do is to move on to the next person. If your pearls are not appreciated, it is okay to find the place where God will put them on display for others to truly see!

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 6:25-34 (day seven)

Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Matt 6:26

The birds are fed, but do they just sit there and wait for their food to come to them? Maybe just after they are born when they are dependent on their mother, but as they mature, they must work and search for their food. Similarly, you cannot just sit back and wait for God to provide for your every need. He expects you to work. He expects you to search.

Worry and anxiety are heightened by idleness.

The more you sit and wait, the more opportunity you have to doubt and second guess. If you want to be fed (physically and spiritually), you need to get up and get to work. The search will make the feeding more rewarding.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 6:19-24 (day seven)

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal. vs 20

Let’s take a little different spin on this. If our earthly possessions can be stolen or destroyed, what is it that is stored that can’t be stolen? Maybe John 10:10 gives us a clue:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

Life. Life is the treasure that can’t be stolen. The promise that Jesus offers in both of these passages is not that if we do everything correctly here on earth we will be blessed today, rather that through Him and Him alone can we find purpose, belonging, and identity. The promise is that even if things get stolen from us on earth, we will always belong to Him, and there is nothing (no one) that can take that away. Our life is His for eternity!

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 6:9-15 (day seven)

Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.

 This week has been a roller coaster of emotions for me. On Wednesday, I officiated the funeral of a 23 year old who passed away unexpectedly. On Saturday, I officiated the wedding of a former student to a former intern. In the words of the Preacher from Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4, “There is an appointed time for everything […] a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” The difficulty in this correlation is that both of the aforementioned events were appointed. Both were a part of God’s will on earth. It’s easy to see how the joyous marriage of two young Christ followers fits into this plan, but how can we fit an unexpected death into this? Surely this isn’t what He meant by His “will be done” right? The prayer that Jesus asks us to pray is not for us to change the will of God. Rather, it is an invitation for us to  participate with Him to see the goodness in His will. Whether it be dancing or mourning, God is good, all the time!

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18 (day seven)

But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father. Vs 6

Go pray. There is intentionality in the “Go.” Jesus both taught and demonstrated the importance going off to pray. By going and getting away, it removes the temptation of it becoming a showcase of our righteousness, but it also removes the distractions that might interrupt our connection with the Father.

When you were a teenager, do you remember taking a phone call from a friend and going as far away as possible so others couldn’t hear? In today’s age, that is a little easier with cellular phones, but some of y’all reading this had to get really creative with those calls. You didn’t want to showcase your call for the whole house to hear, nor did you want anyone interrupting that call. When was the last time you made that type of effort to connect with the Father in prayer? How often are there distractions around us that interrupt our time with Him? If Jesus, who is One with the Father, made intentional effort to connect with Him, how much more effort should we be putting forth?

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 5:33-48 (day seven)

Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Vs 48

If Christians were to live exactly as Jesus lined out in this sermon, we would be perfect. Why then are we not? Why are there unhealthy churches? Why are “Christians” often the hinderance for non-Christians finding Christ? The reason lies in the midst of the sermon. We do not love others as much as we love ourselves. Self absorption is at the root of all sins. It invades our heart and impacts how we interact with the world. It becomes “What’s in it for me?” instead of “How does this bring glory to God?” The truth is we can’t be perfect on our own. This self absorption always finds a way to rear its ugly head at the worst time.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us […] made us alive together with Christ […] it is the gift of God.  Ephesians 2.

The gifts we receive in the coming days pales in comparison to the Gift God sent us. With that Gift, we can be perfect. Only with the love of God can we overcome the love of self to show the world true love.

Merry Christmas!

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 5:17-32 (day seven) 

The Greek word hamartia, that we translate as sin, actually comes from an archery concept meaning to “miss the mark.” It referred to arrows that didn’t hit their target. Sin is when we miss the mark that was set for us by God. Much like the Pharisees whom Jesus is speaking to in this passage, we often pride ourselves in simply landing our arrow in the vicinity of the target, comparing ourselves to our neighbor who shanked his arrow into the woods. Yet, if we are true to the archery analogy, anything short of a bullseye is miss. Even if it was just a little bit offline, it still missed the mark.

Adultery and murder have a wider effect and bigger complications on the community around us than lust and anger respectively, but what Jesus is concerned about is when we get comfortable with the near misses. The heart is where the sin begins, and if our heart is not headed for the bullseye, we may easily find our own arrows headed for the woods.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 5:13-16 (day seven)  

 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket. vs 15

In this advent season, we celebrate the incarnation. John tells us that God became flesh and dwelt among us. Hillsong, inspired by John 1, wrote, “Light of the world, you stepped down into darkness.” The Light came to us and purposely surrounded Himself in  darkness in order that we could have Light in all of us and the darkness would be exposed and expelled. That is Love!

What is expected of us in return? We are sent out into the world to let our Light shine in the darkness. Which means we need to purposely surround ourself in darkness. Though it is true that  if more lights gather together, their cumulative light shines brighter, but how can darkness be exposed if the  lights are stagnant? In an attempt to make our lights brighter, we end up  hiding them under a basket of comfortability. In this advent season, how might you be able to bring Light to the darkness? What do you need to do to get out of your comfort zone and expose and expel darkness?