Celebrating Jesus Daily

Hey there,
Welcome to the New Year. Yeh, I know January is almost over and I have been silent for quite a while but I am back and have many things to share with you in the days to come. Hopefully things that will bless and encourage you.

A couple of weeks ago I taught on the subject "Making Sense of the Tsunami," a reponse to the awful tragedy that took place at the end of December. My message focuses on answering the clerics - of most faiths - who came out adding insult to injury by telling people their loved ones had died as a result of God's wrath and punishment. I do not believe this and attempted to bring a more Biblical and reassuring viewpoint across in my message.

You can download the entire message as an MP3 at:
http://celebratingjesus.org/audio/audio.htm

God bless you,
Ray

Real Love

Many people claim to love Jesus. What's not to love about Jesus? Every major religion in the world
reveres Him as a great teacher, a prophet or a "supreme avatar."

But lip service love is not what He is looking for. The scriptures characterize real love for God as
the keeping of His word.

(Joh 14:15) If ye love me, keep my commandments.

"Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." I always mist up and let drop a tear or two when I sing that song. Anyone at all can sing it with conviction because it is true for all the world, but it has a special ring of reality for those who keep the word of God.

Jesus said that not only would both He and the Father love the one keeping the word but that they would
manifest themselves (Greek, emphanizo: to show one’s self, come to view, appear, be manifest make known) to that one.

God will make Himself known to the one who keeps
His word. He will visit him with His presence.

(Joh 14:21) He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that
loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

The one who keeps the word of God shall remain in the love of Christ eternally even as Jesus remains in the love of the Father.

(Joh 15:10) If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

Real love for the people of God is a result of keeping the word of God.

(1Jo 5:2) By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

Not only is the keeping of the word a manifestion of real love for God, it is not an onerous task

(1Jo 5:3) For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not
grievous.

The first and greatest commandment is love. We can't love God and not love people made in His image. We
can't really love people unless we love God and keep His word.

(2Jo 1:5) And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.

(2Jo 1:6) And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

Giving Thanks

Pastor Ray Stark

1Th 5:16 Rejoice evermore.

1Th 5:17 Pray without ceasing.

1Th 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.


Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. This is because I feel that it is the least tainted of the supposedly spiritually meaningful winter holidays. Christmas is a wonderful time of sharing with family and loved ones but let's face it, for most of people Jesus is not the reason for the season.

Shopping may be the reason for the season, partying may be the reason for the season, using up the last of this year's paid sick days at work may be the reason for the season, but Jesus? Come on, with all the paranoia about separation of church and state and the fear that some non Christian might be offended by a manger scene in a public place, don't tell me He is the reason. It is both hilarious and pathetic to see the lengths merchants and businesses go to in their attempts to wipe the Christ out of Christmas. It is especially ludicrous when you recollect that holiday is synonymous in meaning with holy-day.

Frankly, I don't have a problem with the de-Christing of the secular spending spree called Christmas. Christmas as an alleged spiritual remembrance of the birth of Jesus is a bogus holy-day the Catholic Church brought into Christianity hundreds of years ago in one of their attempts to incorporate pagan rites and ceremonies within the life of the Church. Worked pretty well, come to think of it. Christmas reverts further back into its' pagan roots every year.

Thanksgiving on the other hand carries a great weight of meaning in the minds of many people in this country. As families gather around the table for the expressed purpose of giving thanks there must by default be the acknowledgment that someone is the recipient of their thanks.

People who may take no conscious thought of God the rest of the year are almost palpably forced to admit the existence of the heavenly Father even if they know Him only as an impersonal higher power.

For those of us who know Him as our Father in truth through the new birth it can serve as a very special time of contemplation and anticipation. Giving thanks both for the things that have gone before, and for the things which lie ahead.

Faith looks back and sees the hand of grace and mercy which has upheld us to this point in time. Faith looks forward in the expectancy of God's help in the days to come.

Make thanksgiving a way of life. If not for the heavenly Father you wouldn't be drawing breath right now. If not for Jesus Christ you would have no place good to go once you stop drawing breath.

1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

1Co 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.


Give thanksgiving a shot this week. Every day, whenever the thought of me nagging you about it intrudes, simply give thanks to God for your continued ability to breathe in and out. You couldn't do it without the spirit (breath) of life he has imparted to you.


I thank God for you.

Pastor Ray Stark

website: http://www.celebratingjesus.org/

email: ray@celebratingjesus.org

blog: http://www.celebratingjesus.blogspot.com

Will I Stay or Will I Go?

Ray Stark

My thoughts can get a little edgy at night. Possibly even deep. Reflecting on almost a half century of life. Some of it better than I would have imagined in my youth. Some not.

All in all I am glad that this present life is not all I have been given from the hand of God. At night I tend to wonder what it will be like to be on the other side of death's door.

According to the Reverend Gary Davis "Death don't have no mercy in this land." Thank God, Jesus does. Two or three mild strokes and a minor heart attack over the last 6 years could well have something to do with the way the stream of my consciousness flows.

Not melancholy thoughts. Thoughts of a hope and future God has prepared for me beyond the valley of the shadow of death. Makes me want to do right and be appreciative of what He has given me on this side of the valley and yet not to pin all my hopes and dreams on family and friends and the things that make life enjoyable in the present.

There is a day of reckoning and a day of rewards coming which will fit all of us out for eternal life. James, the brother of Jesus says it much better than I could hope to.

James 4:13-15 Weymouth NT


Jam 4:13 Come, you who say, "To-day or to-morrow we will go to this or that city, and spend a year there and carry on a successful business,"

Jam 4:14 when, all the while, you do not even know what will happen to-morrow. For what is the nature of your life? Why, it is but a mist, which appears for a short time and then is seen no more.

Jam 4:15 Instead of that you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we shall live and do this or that."


I need to learn humility. I wrote "we need" first but decided that was a cop out. This isn't a lecture, it's me sitting here in a nice warm quiet room, comfortably reflecting on the nature of human life.

What is that nature? Nothing substantial, whether it's you, me or Michael Jackson. We live our lives from day to day and at any moment our breath could be terminated and our next conscious thought would occur before the presence of almighty God.

This life which seems so concrete to us is no more solid than a mist or vapor, a fog we walk through while heading towards God's light. That doesn't mean it is unimportant but it is impermanent and insubstantial compared to the life awaiting beyond the confines of incorporation.

Instead of steadfastly setting our faces towards our own plans and purposes, there I go with that "we" business again. You have to figure this out for yourself, you can't ride on my revelation of impermance.

Anyhow, here's my thought:

I have some things I want to do and accomplish while still in the body, but I need to learn to temper my desires with the the fact that, "If it is the Lord's will, I shall live and do this or that." If it is not His will then I will be moving on to bigger and better things in the presence of the Lord.

Of course the kicker is that you and I are in the same boat. That's why they call it fellow-ship.

Peace.

Forgetting What is Past

Pastor Ray

Phillipians 3:10 - 15 Weymouth New Testament

Phi 3:10 I long to know Christ and the power which is in His resurrection, and to share in His sufferings and die even as He died;

Phi 3:11 in the hope that I may attain to the resurrection from among the dead.

Phi 3:12 I do not say that I have already won the race or have already reached perfection. But I am pressing on, striving to lay hold of the prize for which also Christ has laid hold of me.

Phi 3:13 Brethren, I do not imagine that I have yet laid hold of it. But this one thing I do--forgetting everything which is past and stretching forward to what lies in front of me,

Phi 3:14 with my eyes fixed on the goal I push on to secure the prize of God's heavenward call in Christ Jesus.

Phi 3:15 Therefore let all of us who are mature believers cherish these thoughts; and if in any respect you think differently, that also God will make clear to you.

We are called to a total identification with Christ. To a close personal, experiential knowledge of Him. To a life which embraces both the spiritual power flowing out from His resurrection and a partnership in His sufferings and death. Our hope in identification is that we also shall attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Paul makes it patently clear that he does not consider himself to be some great avatar or guru who has arrived at a place of spiritual knowledge and experience beyond that which is common to man but states that his his goal is to keep pressing into the things of God until he does attain the prize Christ has offered. It should be sobering to realize that a man of Paul's spiritual stature and experience, the one who heard and saw things in the third heaven which were unlawful to utter, should say, "Brethren, I am not there yet."

The humility of the apostle is tempered by his exuberance. He has put aside all else to to attain his goal of god-knowledge. Some look at verse 13 "forgetting everything which is past..." and think this means forgetting all the baggage of the past. Laying aside the broken dreams, unfulfilled desires, and failures of life. Nothing could be farther from Paul's thought.

Earlier in the chapter he delineates these things he has left behind. They include his spotless heritage as a Jew, his devotion to the law and his zeal for it, his righteousness under it, all things he had held as being positive, things he was proud of. When he met Christ he saw all of his past pride of life and personal success as garbage and laid it aside. None of that was worthy of notice or thought compared to the Risen Savior he met on the road to Damascus.

He became totally focused on His relationship with the living Christ and states flatly in verse 15 that every mature believer will feel the same way and that if we do not yet have that revelation our continued fellowship with Christ will draw our mind to the same conclusion as Paul. Namely, that the single most important thing on this earth is our personal and experiential relationship with Jesus Christ the Lord of Heaven. It carries rewards both in this life and in the one to come when we do become partakers of the resurrection of the dead .

God bless you, have a great day.

Beautiful Feet

Pastor Ray

Taught out of Romans the 10th chapter at this morning's service. As I sit at the computer editing the audio from the message I taught so I can upload it tonight or tomorrow (Sermon Audio) I am freshly impressed with the graciousness and kindness of the nature of God. I also needed a break from editing my own voice and decided to get this down before the feeling passed.

Rom 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.


There is no prejudice with God, no favoritism due to race, social standing, or gender. WHOSOEVER shall call on His name SHALL be saved.



Rom 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?


God doesn't want to leave anyone groping in spiritual darkness trying to make their way to the glorious light of His presence, he has ordained preachers of His word to give people the word of faith.



Rom 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!


This part is kind of dicey. Not everyone who goes forth preaching has been sent by God. How do you tell? The message they preach. It is a gospel of peace, do they bring glad tidings of good things? Then they are of God and oh, how beautiful the feet that brought them your way.


Have a great evening.

That's the Power of Love

Pastor Ray Stark

It was 2:30 Sunday morning when I came fully awake without warning. I hadn't planned to. When I had gone to bed 4 hours previously it had been with the intention of sleeping straight through until 6am. So much for my plans.

As I lay there staring at the ceiling the thought occurred to me that I might as well make use of my sleeplessness as an opportunity to pray for the meeting Sharon and I would be holding that evening. I did indeed begin to pray and it was not long at all before the word of the Lord came to me in a very distinctive fashion. I had been asking the Lord what He wanted me to tell the people that night and He answered unequivocally: "Tell them that My love is enough."

Doesn't seem all that earth shattering does it? Other people pray and ask God questions and get reams of KJV-ese text cascading down from heaven written in fiery letters of gold. I ask a question of the Most High and He gives me a one-liner which any first time Sunday School visitor ought to know. It figures.

The delivery method the Holy Spirit employed was not overly spectacular nor did the statement itself seem particularly profound until I began to meditate on the content on the message rather than its' packaging or length. Precious gifts can indeed come in the smallest of packages and this proved to be the case with the simple phrase, "Tell them that My love is enough."

Do you remember Paul's prayer for the church in Ephesians 3?

Eph 3:14 " For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."


I am convinced that the apostle Paul is telling all of us the same thing that the Lord told me at 2:30 that Sunday morning: "My love is enough." Before we go any further along those lines let us explore the question, "Enough for what?"

Enough to meet your need. Enough to heal your body. Enough to supply the rent . Enough to put your shattered life back together. Enough to forgive and forget your sins and trespasses. Old fashioned language I know - but that's the Bible for you!

What the Lord was telling me to tell the people that night was, "don't separate the power of God from the person and personality of God."

1 John tells us that God is light, He is life, and He is love. Think of the most well known Scripture on the face of the planet:

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.



God cares about you. Reach out to Him in faith. Trust in His love. You will not be disappointed.

Pastor Ray Stark
Celebration Christian Center
http://www.CelebratingJesus.org