Word to the Wise - Jeremiah's Vow

Word to the Wise | “God is Crazy About Us”

There are many reasons God saves us. He does it for His own glory. God takes pleasure in loving the highest order of His creation. He also saves us to satisfy His justice. God cannot declare the guilty innocent. That would violate the integrity of His character. The guilty must pay the penalty. Since God loves us, He sent His Son to pay the penalty. When Jesus volunteered to pay our penalty, God’s love found full expression—He was free to save us. And His justice is satisfied—the penalty was paid in full.

But, do you know the sweetest reason of all? God loves us unconditionally. He likes having us around. He wants to visit and fellowship with us. God is simply crazy about us. If we need to talk, He will listen. If we are hurt, He will comfort us. He can live anywhere in the universe, and yet, He chose to live in our hearts.

Pastor Luis Scott
Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship
(03/12/09)

Word to the Wise | “Fellowship with God”

Most of us are familiar with Moses and his extraordinary faith. This is the man that confronted the most powerful ruler of his time without a single soldier or even a personal weapon for self-defense. All he had was a shepherd’s staff. And with it he beat Pharaoh’s pride.

The story, however, includes a very short statement that is often overlooked. God said to Moses, “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle’s wings, and brought you to Myself” (Exodus 19:4-6). Wow! God’s primary purpose was to establish an intimate relationship with the people of Israel–He brought them to Himself. Over the following decades and centuries God’s desire to fellowship with the people was rejected. But, in spite of the rejection God sent His own Son, Jesus, to reconcile us back unto Himself.

John quoted Jesus’ words in the book of revelation, “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). From Genesis, when God had an intimate relationship with Adam and Eve, to the exodus when God called the people of Israel unto Himself, to the book of the Revelation, God continues to call men and women to open the door of fellowship to Him. Have you opened the door of your heart to Him? If you have, enjoy your invitation to dinner in God’s Kingdom.

Pastor Luis Scott
Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship
(03/11/09)

Word to the Wise | “The Work of the Holy Spirit”

The Apostle Paul tells us through his letter to the Roman church that, “the true children of God are those who let God’s Spirit lead them” (Romans 8:14, NCV). We have no problem talking about God the Father or studying God the Son. But when it comes to the indwelling Holy Spirit we have two basic responses: (1) we are confused on how to listen to Him and follow His direction, or (2) we are frightened because we have been taught to be afraid of addressing Him for fear of committing the unpardonable sin. The horror!

Allow me to simplify this situation. The Holy Spirit helps in three major ways. (1) He leads us inwardly—by making the fruit of the Spirit our lives’ goals (Galatians 5:22). (2) He keeps us focused upwardly—by interceding (praying) for us (Romans 8:26). (3) He keeps us in touch with the world around us—by depositing God’s love into our hearts to love God and our neighbor (Romans 5:5). Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to guide, to encourage, and to counsel. All we need to do is figure out how to listen to Him and follow His lead–it will lead us back to Jesus.

Pastor Luis Scott
Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship
(03/10/09)

Word to the Wise | “Carpe Diem”

In the movie Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams played a literature teacher in an all boys’ school. Mr. Williams wanted the students to learn from the lessons of history the dead poets wrote about. His message? Carpe Diem—Live the Present.

Mr. Williams’ point was that TODAY is the only day we have. The dead poets had their day and their say. Dwelling on the errors of the past, or fretting about the unknown future is a hindrance to our enjoyment of God’s gift for today. We can live with an eternal purpose (Seek God’s Kingdom), or we can live for a temporary purpose (self aggrandizement). When we seek God’s kingdom, God will work for us. When we seek our own aggrandizement, we are on our own. I suggest that we:

Learn from the past. Plan for the future. But, for goodness sakes, live today for God as if it was your last one on this earth.

Carpe Diem.

Pastor Luis Scott
Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship
(03/05/09)

Word to the Wise | “Words Reveal Our Beliefs”

Have you ever noticed how careless we are with our words? Sometimes, I think that we do not even know what we are saying. But, do you know what is the biggest problem with our words? We do not realize that our words should be an expression of what we really believe. Too often they are spoken without considering the impact they will have in our souls.

Allow me an example. Most people in the United States have, at one time or another, said these words: “Our Father who art in heaven, hollowed be your name, your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Let me ask you a question. Do you know what you’ve just said? You have said that you want for God to rule in your life in the same way He rules in heaven. We say it, but we don’t really mean it, because if we meant it we could not wait to hear from God and follow Him. The next time you recite the Lord’s Prayer, ask yourself, “How willing am I to actually act upon the words I am about to declare?”

Pastor Luis Scott
Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship
(03/04/09)

Word to the Wise | “The Need for Single Mindedness”

In the movie The Last Samurai we find a scene in which Tom Cruise is fighting an expert samurai with a wood sword. He is getting beaten by the expert even though he had demonstrated progress. The son of the hero in the movies tells Tom Cruise: “You have too many minds.” He meant to say that Cruise was not focused. He was thinking about the opponent, the crowd, himself, etc., but that he was not focusing on the task at hand—to win.

The Bible says that a “double minded man is inconsistent in ALL his way” (James 1:8). In this passage James is specifically making reference to the person who prays with doubt. That is, they are not sure that their prayers will be answered. He is double minded.

We can have double-mindedness in many areas of our lives. A person, for example, may believe that he should attend church on Sunday, but they also enjoy sleeping until noon on Sundays, or they prefer to watch a movie, or just relax looking at the lake. Regardless of their purpose, as long as we prefer more than one thing at a time, we will have the tendency to choose the least beneficial.

The solution to double mindedness is singleness of purpose. To finish the previous example: In our house there is no debate whatsoever regarding Sunday morning. On Sunday morning we will go to church because that is what the Scott family does. It is the most beneficial and connects us with God.

Pastor Luis Scott
Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship
(03/02/09)

Word to the Wise | “God’s Goodness”

How would you feel if God responded to us according to the measurement of our faithfulness? How could He do this? Well, let’s assume that God has a “Human Motives Meter” that was able to measure our faithfulness. For every sincere and heartfelt prayer, you get a half-day’s supply of oxygen. For every two prayers, you will get a day of oxygen. If attended church on Sunday, that’s a week’s supply of oxygen. If you miss Sunday worship, you will get only three days of oxygen and if you wanted to finish the week, you had to pray twice a day for the rest of the week.

Imagine God actually having this “Human Motives Meter” and on Wednesday morning you received an e-mail that says: “You only have 24 hours of oxygen. Unless you make two sincere and heartfelt prayers today, you will be out of luck tomorrow morning at this hour.” This is kind of scary.

We have no idea how good God is. He provides the oxygen regardless of our faithfulness. He is faithful even when we are unfaithful. You see, God’s goodness is not something God does. It is what He is. He is good. I pray that each one of us would learn to recognize, and appreciate, God’s goodness in our lives. We should consider living as if God actually had the “Human Motives Meter” because even though God does use it, He really knows how to measure our faithfulness.

Pastor Luis Scott
Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship
(02/26/09)