"Love Your Neighbor"

“Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13: 8-10)

This coming Friday we will celebrate July 4th, Independence Day and all the freedoms, opportunities, and blessings this country makes available to each one of us. One of those rights, freedoms, and choices made available to us is we have is the choice to love our neighbors. As citizens of the USA we also have the freedom and choice not to love our neighbor. However, Jesus, as our Lord of Lord’s and King of Kings You did not give us this freedom or choice. We all, as citizens of the kingdom of heaven are not given the option but the command to love our neighbors.

Yet most of us spend more time avoiding our neighbors than loving them.  We get in the car in our garage in the morning, hit a garage door opener and pull out and head to work or whatever is on our agenda for this trip.  We drive past our neighbors.  We drive past the poor and the homeless and we pretend not to see them.  On the way back home later in the day we repeat the same drive, ignoring and avoiding our neighbors.  We push the garage door opener and pull into our garage and close the garage door behind us “successfully” avoiding our any contact with our neighbors, and never even stepping foot in our neighborhood. And if we go outside that evening it is on our back deck of our fenced back yard away from our neighbors.

We know the commandment to love our neighbor.  We know that in the final judgment Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats, those who loved their neighbors from those who did not: “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world….‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me… “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.” (Matthew 25:34, 40, 41, 45)  

We know this, Yet we fence in our yards, build back decks, do not open our homes and host Bible studies or other gatherings, and structure most of our lives to avoid our neighbors.  We even call where we worship on Sunday’s “Sanctuaries” from the world.  Loving your neighbor does nor “just happen.” Loving your neighbor takes intentionality.  You have to intentionally set aside and prioritize margins of time in your day and week to love your neighbor.  Again, on July 4th we celebrate Independence Day and all the freedoms, opportunities, and blessings this country makes available to each one of us. One of greatest blessings this country has provided each one of us is with houses and apartments to live in. Each one of our homes comes equipped with front doors. Doors that can used to be generous and opened up to welcome and love our neighbors. Or doors that can be used to shut off neighbors and keep them from entering.

Let us recommit to Jesus’ command to love our neighbors! Christians hang on their walls pictures and paintings containing the words from Josua 24:15, “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” When in reality they use their homes to only serve themselves and are not using their homes at all to serve the Lord and to obey His command to love their neighbor.  You can commit to prayer walking your neighborhood and start a Bible study, prayer group, or other gathering in your home. Invite a different neighbor every other week over for dinner. And join in with other ministries who :love their neighbors” by volunteering at the Manna House, Downtown Rescue Mission, First Stop, House of Harvest or other ministries in your community. “Love is the fulfillment of the law.”

Just like planning a dinner party with friends takes intentionality: setting a date, setting a time, making a guest list and inviting, and planning a menu, loving your neighbors takes the same intentionality. If you do not prioritize dates and times in your calendar, if you do not pray over your guest list and unite, it will never happen.

Take 3 minutes to watch this short video.

My family, watching this video breaks my heart and brings tears to my eyes. I pray it touches your heart as well. I pray today in remembrance of celebrating Independence Day, in all the freedom provided to you by the country, and out of love for God and your neighbor, you intentionally pray on how and where you can add margins of time to your life to love your neighbor. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!

Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.

 

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website:https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC

 

Help Us Help Them!

My wife Nancy and I are in a new season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this season in my life and that of my family. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.  Thank You Thank You!  

TO GIVE CLICK HERE 

"Love Without Hypocrisy"

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the center of my heart and every moment of my day. ...

As I wait for Your leading, this Scripture comes to mind:

“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. 

“Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. Therefore

‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

If he is thirsty, give him a drink;

For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.’

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:9-21).

As I read this passageI think, Why isn’t this love more present in our world, and even our church? It is because this kind of “love without hypocrisy” requires our obedience to Your Word to be an expression of Your Heart in our world. Yes, it is hard. In fact, it’s impossible -- impossible in our own power or wisdom, even with our best determination and religious effort.

But it’s not impossible for You Jesus. And with Your Holy Spirit abiding in us, it’s no longer impossible for us. “Christ in (us), the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). “(We) are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in (us).... If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in (us), He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to (our) mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in (us)” (Romans 8:9-11). “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). In fact, just as You said, “all things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23).

 So even living like a Christian is possible for us. Even when we’re mad at the evil around us, even as we “abhor what is evil” and fight against it with our prayers and our voices and our votes. But we are desperately dependent on You, You Word, Your Holy Spirit. Apart from You, we can do nothing but just be overwhelmed and overcome by this broken and fallen world in hopeless despair (John 15:5).

But we are not apart from You! You are in us! And Your Word and Your Spirit and Your Faith and Your Hope and Your Love abide in us. So by the power of Your Grace at work within us, we can overcome as we choose to obey and express the power of Your Love in our world.

Prioritizing time daily reading your Word, in prayer, and connecting deeper to Your presence in us is the only way we can have joy in the face of the evil we abhor. It is the only way we can be part of what You’re doing in our world and truly make a difference -- not listening to voices of hate on the internet, shouting and screaming, rioting and raging; not getting sucked into overcoming evil with evil -- but overcoming evil with good while both being diligent in action and fervent in spirit, continually steadfast in prayer and abiding in the power of Your love that conquers all, for Your “Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8). In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

My family,  I pray you may be empowered with the Love that never fails, abiding in you and overcoming the evil you abhor in this world, in Jesus' name. God bless you my friends!

Please share with my your thoughts or prayers with us in the comment box below.

Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!

Help Me Share The Gospel!

I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around.  Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.   Thank You!!  

TO GIVE CLICK HERE!

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website:https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC

Subscribe to ODC Daily Devotions 

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"Remnant Chosen By Grace"

Good morning, Lord Jesus. King of kings and Lord of lords, come rule and regain in my heart and life today. ...

So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!” But what was the divine response to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand people who have not bent the knee to Baal. So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. (Romans 11:1-6)

As I hear these words “Remnant Chosen By Grace” in my heart Your Word comes to mind:

So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. As I listen for the leading of Your Spirit and ponder Your Word in my heart, I hear a cry in my heart rising up in my prayer: Lord, I want to be found faithful to You. I want to walk in Your Light, even as the darkness of this world closes in. I want to be filled with faith and hope and love, despite the challenges we face and the testing we endure on our journey through this broken and fallen world, where You are making us more like You each day. (Romans 8:29). I want to be part of Your remnant chosen by grace, who don’t give in, who don’t back off, but who press in for the fullness of all You say we are and all You’ve created us to be, with our eyes fixed on You and our hope resting in You.

Lord, You don’t back off of Your calling to me. Give me grace to not back off of my commitment to You. “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). Give me grace to keep trusting and believing, with a sure and confident hope in You and all that You say I am and have for me to honor You with my life (Romans 11:20).

According to the warnings of Your Word, there will come a day when “many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:10-13). “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will renounce the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:1-2). “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

Your Word warns us, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end” (Hebrews 3:12-14). “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability” (2 Peter 3:17).

Lord, give me Your grace that my love will not grow cold, but will burn with increasing passion for You, with unwavering commitment to You. Give me grace that I would never surrender and never retreat before the enemies of the cross or the lawless darkness of this world. Give me grace to “be found faithful” to the end (1 Corinthians 4:2), to “fight the good fight of the faith (and) take hold of the eternal life to which (I have been) called” (1 Timothy 6:12).

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12). By the power of Your grace at work in every heart turned to You, pressing in to You, “we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls” (Hebrews 10:39).

Yes, Lord. Give me grace to be a part of Your “remnant chosen by grace.” In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

My family,, may you be found faithful in the Lord, part of His "relentless remnant" in the earth by the power of His grace at work within you and shining through you in the midst of the darkness and lawlessness of our world, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!

Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.

 

Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!

Help Me Share The Gospel!

I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around.  Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.   Thank You!!

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website:https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC

TO GIVE CLICK HERE

How are they to call on one they have not believed in?

Here’s my heart Lord, speak what is true..

“because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation. For the scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9-13)

 To this I say amen! And Praise God!  “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Salvation is in Jesus and available to all who confess Jesus as Lord is the message of the cross.  

Then Paul, after stating these powerful truths about and salvation in Jesus, turns his conversation towards us, the church. Those of us who are saved In Christ, who have confessed Jesus as Lord, who have “tasted and seen that the Lord is Good” (Psalm 34:8). He looks at us, and he looks at those in our community who do not know Jesus. Then Paul has us in the church to look at those who are lost Paul and he asks us,

 “How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timely is the arrival of those who proclaim the good news.” (Romans 10:14-15)

Paul asks the church, he turns and looks you and I in the eye and asks us, How our the lost to call on and confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord, unless you have a conversation with them about Jesus?  How are they to believe in their heart that Jesus is raised from the dead if they have not heard that spoken in love to them by you? How are they to accept the Gospel, the “Good News” of salvation unless you take the time and in a timely manner without delay share the Gospel with them?

Paul is directing his words to you and I and he tells us to look at our family, friends, co-workers, classmates, neighbors and those in our community we will cross paths with today who do not know Christ and need someone to share the good news about Jesus with them.  And he asks us who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, “If not you, then who?  If not today, then when?” 

My family, I pray this morning after reading Paul’s words you will hear the Holy Spirit say to you, “If not you then who, if not today, then when?” And you will be the person who arrives in timely manner and shares the good news of Jesus today with someone who will perish without you taking time to speak to them about Jesus in love and let them hear it from you. You may have to confess that is has been weeks, or regretfully months or years since you stepped out and had a conversation with someone who does not know Jesus about Jesus It may have been weeks, regretfully months or years since your church had a baptism. Please do not let this week be added to that time of regret. You have your car, your feet, your phone, your email, the internet; so you are without excuse, In Jesus’ name.  Please pray the same for me.  God bless you my friends!

Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.

 

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website: https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC

 Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!

Help Me Share The Gospel!

I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around.  Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.   Thank You!!

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website:https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC 

" I Wish That I Myself Were Accursed"

Lord take me back, back to the beginning, when I was young, running through the fields with you…

“I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.” (Romans 9:1-5)

I read Paul’s lament and heart breaking for his fellow Israelites who do not believe in Jesus as their Lord and have not received the salvation of His grace.  Paul says he has, “great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart” (v.2) over his friends, neighbors, and the people in his community both that he knows personally and does not know who have not heard the Gospel, do not love Jesus, and will enter into an eternity absent from Christ.  His heart breaking for, and love of the lost is what drives his ministry, orders his day, and is the motivation for his mission journeys to the Gentiles, the people who do not know Jesus.  He is a missionary, and the definition I use for a missionary is a “A person who is willing to sacrifice everything except the Gospel, for the sake of the Gospel.”

When you and I accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross and entered into salvation through and in His death and resurrection, we also were made missionaries. You and I were called to be a person who is willing to sacrifice everything except the Gospel for the sake of the Gospel.  The word “missionary” is not even in the Bible. That is because all the authors who wrote all the books and letter contained in the New Testament assumed and intended “missionary” and “disciple” to be one and the same. Jesus said, “Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.” (John 17:18). Christians are to be “sent ones” and “church” was designed to be a movement, not a location.

To claim you are a Christian is to claim you are a missionary. So when was the last time you grieved over your friends and co-workers that do not know Jesus?   Can you remember the last time your heart ached over those in your community, those you know and those you do not know who are absent from Christ? Can you think of the last time you woke up unable to sleep, feeling accursed with your heart breaking for the lost so that the next morning you planned your day and walked out of your door with reaching the lost with the Gospel as your main agenda for that day?  You calendar for the upcoming month of July is filled with reminders of holidays, important meetings, appointments and events for the month. When you open your calendar for July, August, September….How many days of the month do you have written in”Go share the Gospel” as the main event for that day?  When was the last time you lived into your call to be a person who is willing to sacrifice everything except the Gospel for the sake of the Gospel?  This is what we are called to do!  This is what we were saved for! This is at the heart of calling ourselves a Christian. This is why Jesus birthed The Church.

Lord have mercy, Christ hove mercy, Lord have mercy.  

We are challenged with re-launching our ministries and the ministries of our churches into being relevant outposts of the Kingdom of God in our communities.. We are called to drawing people back into the church, not so we can count them in our pewes, but so we can disciple them and send them back out as disciples, missionaries into thier communities, places of work, and schools. We will not succeed in this challenge unless we are prepared ourselves to recommit our purpose as Christians and conform our lives to imitate The Greatest Missionary, Jesus the Christ. 

My family, I pray you will pray and ask the Holy Spirit to instill in you a heart that grieves and breaks for the lost, which is a heart after Jesus.’  I pray you will accept your call and responsibility, as one who was lost and saved by the grace of Jesus, to share the saving grace of Jesus with those who are lost.  In Jesus’ name.  Please pray the same for me.  God bless you my friends!

Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.

 

Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!

Help Me Share The Gospel!

I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around.  Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.   Thank You!!

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website:https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC

TO GIVE CLICK HERE

"Who Can Stand Against Us?"

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the center of my heart and every moment of my day. ...

This morning I’m reflecting on the goodness of God and the closeness of His amazing love for me as Paul describes in Romans Chapter 8. Listen to The Message Version:

“So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing Himself to the worst by sending His own Son, is there anything else He wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us--who was raised to life for us!--is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one. None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing--nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable--absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us” (Romans 8:31-39 MSG).

Yes, Lord. With God on our side, how can we lose! “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us!” (Romans 8:37).

And that gives me courage. That gives me confidence. That fills my heart with joy, fills my eyes with tears, fills my heart with love, and fills my mouth with praise! In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

My Family,, I pray you may be filled with love in your heart, tears of joy in your eyes, and the praises of God in your mouth, as you know God’s powerful, unending, unimagiginable love for you, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!

Please share your thoughts and reflections in the Comments Box below..

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website: https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC

Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!

Help Me Share The Gospel!

I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around.  Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.   Thank You!!

TO GIVE , CLICK HERE 

Romans 7: "CAT Scan of Cancer"

Good morning Lord Jesus, kindle in me this morning the fire of your love…

 “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires.” (Romans 7:7-8)

 Suppose you were having trouble breathing and pain in your chest so you go to a doctor.  After examining you the doctor say’s he wants to test you for cancer.  So he sends you to have a CAT Scan and other tests.  The images of your lungs show you do have cancer tumors in your lungs.  They do a biopsy of them and the tests come back it is cancer.  The doctor calls you into his office to share with you the findings.  He takes time to show you the images from the CAT scan and biopsy results.   When he finishes he asks if you have Any questions.  You tell him, I do not believe it.  I do not the cancer, the machine that took the images is defective and is wrong and not reliable. 

 So you go to another doctor for a second opinion.  They do the same imaging and tests that again show you have cancer.  At the consultation, you again deny you have cancer, and claim the machine is wrong and un-reliable.  So you go to doctor after doctor until you finally find some so called “doctor” who tells you, you do not have cancer.  You listen to that doctor, and instead of getting treatment, the cancer is slowly killing you.

 Romans 7 speaks into this.  Except the “cancer” in your is sin, the doctor is a faithful man or woman of God,  and the CAT scan machine is The Word of God in your Bible.  A person knows in their heart they are “sick.”  Their heart is not right, their life is a struggle, they are depressed, have anxiety, and suffering from symptoms of the consequences of their sin.  So they seek out consultation and advice from a Christian friend or pastor.  That person sits them down and speak the truth of God found in scripture into their life and reveal their sin.  The instead of admitting their sin, confessing, repenting, and beginning to heal, tells their friend, they do not believe they are sinning.  That the Word of God in The Bible is wrong, unreliable, inaccurate, and outdated.  So they seek out another Christian friend/pastor who again speaks the same truth of God over the sin in their life, and they again deny they are sinning, and claim it is the Bible that is wrong and inaccurate.  So they keep seeking consultation and advice  from others until he finds a “Christian” friend or pasture that tells them their actions, life style and choices, attitudes, or beliefs are not a sin, and they listen to them.  And they continue on sick in their sin, living in the consequences of their sin.

 Before you say “amen” and let your mind think of the spec in the eyes of others, remember the plank that is in yours. We Christians do this to different extents as well.  We tell ourselves when we are dishonest filling out our taxes, when we are cohabitating with a member of the opposite sex outside of marriage, when we enter into gossip about someone, when we refrain from gathering with others in the body of Christ regularly, when we are hurtful in our political stances, when we approve of deviant lifestyles, when are attitudes towards our spouses or children is not one of humility.  We claim that the truth of the Word of God does is inaccurate or does not really apply to “our sin.”

 My family, before the Holy Spirit can be the Holy Comforter to you, He is always the Holy Confronter of your sin.  I pray you will allow the Holy Spirit scan your life today with the truth of God’s Word to reveal areas in which sin is making you sick and preventing you to live a full healthy life, then honestly claim it, repent from it, and let God heal and restore you to health, by and in Jesus’ name.  Please pray the same for me.  God bless you my friends!

Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.

 

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website:https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC

Givs A Gift!

I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around.  Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.

Thank You!  

TO GIVE CLICK HERE

"No Longer Slaves"

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I surrender to Your name and Your nature. Come have Your way in me this day -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.  ...

"What then? Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves to sin have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness" (Romans 6:15-18).

I'm no longer a slave to sin. You've broken those chains and opened those bars to set me free. "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36). It's not that I no longer sin anymore -- sadly, I still may miss the mark -- but it's that I no longer have to be in bondage to it, enslaved by it, bound up, locked up and left for dead in the dark of it. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set (me) free from the law of sin and death!" (Romans 8:2)

The word “odeience” is found 3 times in the passage above. That is because my freedom comes out of my obedience to Jesus and His teachings, those that are found in our Bibles. James 1:22 tell’s us, ‘But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves..” So Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, set me free to be obedient to You "from the heart" because You've changed my heart. It' not "from my head" or "from my will-power" or "from my trying so hard with all my might not to do the things I really wish I could do and get away with it if You weren't always with me." No, it's "from the heart." You've created in me a clean heart and renewed a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10). And every day I keep opening my heart to You, You keep creating in me a clean heart and renewing a right spirit within me (Philippians 1:6).

Now every day, I'm free to live in obedience for righteousness instead of sinfulness -- not because You're making me do it but because I want to do it -- "from the heart." Your Spirit at work within me is giving me Your right desires to live in the might of Your power "from the heart" You've given me.

Jesus You know my heart. I know I have a long way to go. But I know I'm on the journey, as You keep changing my heart and my desires.  As it turns out, the freedom You've given me to join with You on this journey of obedience is a very joyful journey. As You said long ago:  "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. I have said these things to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete" (John 15:10-11). This is my joyful journey of obedience in You "from the heart" You've given me and keep giving me every step along the way. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

My family, as you walk out your door and begin the journey of another day and head into the weekend, I pray you're filled with joy on your journey of obedience with Jesus, living from the clean heart and right spirit the Lord has created I you and is renewing in you every step along the way, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!

 

Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.

 

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website:https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC

Givs A Gift!

I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around.  Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.

Thank You!  

 

 

 

"You Have Been Made Right"

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Release the authority of Your name on my lips and grow the authenticity of Your character in my heart. Make me more like You today.

"Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory.... We know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.... So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God" (Romans 5:1-11).

I'm made right in Your sight! I'm set free to be more like You! I'm a friend of the God who's a friend of sinners like me!  I'm filled with the Spirit of the God who fills me with His love!  I'm privileged to stand in the place of underserved privilege that I could never earn and that can never be taken away. And every day, I'm joyfully looking forward to embracing all You have for me because of all You are to me and all You've done for me.

My family, I pray you wil take a few minutes and spend time to reflecting on, fully embrace, and then live into the fullness of your inheritance as a child of God. Joyfully embracing all the Lord has planned for you in your life and become deeply confident of the truth that you've been made right in God's sight, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!

Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.

 

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website:https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC

Givs A Gift!

I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around.  Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.

Thank You!  

 

 

"Faith"

Good morning Jesus, I begin my day resting in my faith of the hope and grace you have in place for me today.

“In hope against hope he believed… with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.  Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness. Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.” (Romans 4:18-25)

Scriptures tell us, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrew 11:1).  Faith in God and in our salvation from God through Jesus Christ is in itself a gift of God to us by His grace that flows from the throne room of God and covers us in the blood of Jesus.  The righteousness, justification, sanctification and salvation made available to us when we received Christ initially into our lives and every day of our life since then including today', is a complete gift from God we receive through faith in Jesus Christ. 

So stop worrying yourself to DEATH if you are following or doing the right religious things, following the right church laws, customs, preferences or traditions made by man.  Stop KILLING yourself by trying to “be good enough”, jump through the right “hoops”, gain or prove your salvation or righteousness through striving and working to earn these yourself. In Jesus, The Death, the Killing, the dying has already been done!   “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” (Romans 5:8-10) 

By faith I know Jesus, God’s  Son, was made flesh and He lived, and died for our salvation, rose again, ascended into heaven, and now sits at the right hand of the Father. By faith I know that the Holy Spirit is the giver of all spiritual life; of righteousness, peace, and joy to all of us. And in the Holy Spirit we receive holiness and happiness, by being restored into the image of God in which we are created. And for all of these things, faith is the evidence, the sole evidence to all the children of God.

If our salvation and entering into eternal life with God was based on doing the most simplest work, like lifting the lightest feather of a hummingbird over your head.  Or If our righteousness before God was decided on being able to complete the simplest task like adding zero plus zero successfully, that would mean some of people would not be saved.  Praise God that salvation is by faith, so that the child next door here in Huntsville Alabama, and the child in the middle of the devastation in the Ukraine are on equal ground before God, and when they fall their knees and call out the name of Jesus, they will be saved.

My family, I pray today you will simply sit quietly and as a child affirm your faith in Jesus as your Lord, and rest like a child in the arms of your Father, and receive as a child the love and joy of the Holy Spirit.  That is why Paul wrote this chapter and what he would want you to do, In Jesus’ name.  Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!

Please share your reflections of Romans chapter 3 with us in the comment box below. 

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website:https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC

Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!

Help Me Share The Gospel!

I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around.  Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.   Thank You!!

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"Dog Crap Brownies"

Good morning Lord Jesus, I set aside this time this morning to listen to the plans you set for me today.

“For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.…Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded! By what principle? Of works? No, but by the principle of faith! For we consider that a person is declared righteous by faith apart from the works of the law.”  (Romans 3: 22,23,27)

When Paul states that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”  what does he mean?  Wait for it…Wait for it…..he means ALL, every last human being on earth that ever existed, exists now, or will ever exist, including you and I!  None of us in our flesh apart from the faith we receive from and in Christ is “higher up” or “better” than anyone else.  We all have sinned and fallen.  Those who call themselves Christians and live a “good” life in themselves are no better than an addict, prostitute, gang member, Craigs List scammer, child or wife abuser or fill the the blank with any other term we have for sinner.

There are 365 days in a year.  Say you are a “good” person who for this sake of argument only sins the almost impossible small amount of 2-3 times a day.  ( I say almost impossible as sin, is disobeying God, or missing the mark.  Missing the mark by active sin; doing something you know you are not to do; or the omission sin; not doing what you know you should do. Like knowing a co-worker needs Jesus and you should share Jesus with them but you walk by him in the office and remain silent.  You missed the mark.)  By only sinning 2-3 time a day that would add up to approximately 1,000 times a year. Say then you live to be 80 years and you die. Standing before Jesus and all the saints are you going to raise your hands and being proudful shout “80,000 Baby!  That’s right! In your face! I only sinned 80,000 times! What do you think about that Jesus! No, you would fall on your knees before Him and boast only in Him and for his grace and mercy in your salvation.  Whether your number of sins is 80K,  500K, or a million or more, all have fallen short and have no place to boast.

All of us have sin tainting us.  Say you were making two pans of brownies.  You have on your counter two bowls of brownies batter for the two pans of brownies.  You walk outside along your side walk and find an average piece of dog crap and you put it in one of the bowls of batter and blend it in.  You then go back outside again, walk along the side walk and find a larger pile of fresh, warm dog crap. You bring it into the house, put it in the second bowl of batter and blend it in.  You then pour the batters into the two pans and bake them.  When the brownies are done, do you eat, share and enjoy the first pan because it only has an average amount of dog crap in it? No!  Dog crap tainted brownies is dog crap tainted brownies no matter the size, texture, or freshness of the dog crap you put in them.  All have fallen short.

And also whether you made $20k, $50k, $100k, $250k or more a year; the title of your job; the size and number of houses you own; cars you drive; the toys, cloths and other items you own will mean absolutely nothing and be worthless to boast about when you  stand before Jesus.  He will simply ask how generous were you with whatever wealth you had. (Read Mark 12:41-44). All have fallen short.

This also means that all are on level ground before the cross and all have equal access to the love and grace of Jesus.    The house wife in Madison, Al and a prostitute in New York city; or the child raised in a “good” Christian home in Huntsville Al  and the child born to a mother in ISIS in Damascus, Syria, when they fall on their knees and cry out for Jesus they will be received equally and with the same amount of rejoicing in heaven.

My family, I pray today you will reflect on the fact that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, including you.  I pray that you will reflect with extreme gratitude on the undeserved gift of grace, mercy, and forgiveness you have received through the cross.  I pray then you walk out your door into today that is also a gift with complete gratitude in your heart and be generous and share with other this gift you have received, in Jesus’ name.  Please pray the same for me.  God bless you my friends!

 Please share your reflections of Romans chapter 3 with us in the comment box below. 

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website:https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC

Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!

Help Me Share The Gospel!

I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around.  Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.   Thank You!!

PLEASE GIVE TO GIVE CLICK HERE

"Accurate and Honest Assessment"

Good morning Jesus, Lord I need you, I simply and complete need you.

“on the day when God will judge the secrets of human hearts, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.” (Romans 2:16)

The most important first step in trying to improve, grow, and move forward in the future is an accurate assessment of the present. Romans 2 is a tool to use to help you accurately assess you walk as a Christian and obedience as a disciple of Jesus. It opens a mirror to the actual level of your faith and obedience, that you know to be true and God knows to be true as well.

Read through Romans Chapter 2.. Then read through it again slowly internalizing every word. From verse 17 unit the end of the chapter replace the word “Jew” with the word “Christian” as you read it. Read it through as many times as needed.

My family, I pray today’s reading will lead you to honest assessment of you walk with Christ; where you are being honest and where you are being fake; where you are being true-full to your self and others and where you are outright lying to yourself and others. Then in the Holy Spirit and before God openly and honestly confess where you are being fake and lying, and ask for real forgiveness and grace from our God who never lies. I pray you will ask the Holy Spirit to give you the strength to ask for forgiveness of others where needed, and the strength to turn from things you are doing that others do not see yet you know are not right in the sight of God and begin walking in honest obedience with Jesus, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website: https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC

Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!

Help Me Share The Gospel!

I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around.  Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.   Thank You!!

PLEASE GIVE

"To Whom Much Light Has Been Given"

Good morning Lord Jesus, speak to me in the silence of my morning.

 “because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” (Romans 1:19-22)

Paul declares that the general revelation of God through creation has been made available to all people.  How many people? All, including you and me.

 What Paul says is the reality of God is evident in every country, city, town, and neighborhood in the world. The reality of God and the power of God have been made evident to all. The problem is not people have not heard the gospel, it is what they have done with what they do know about God. Here is how Paul puts it. That though they knew about God, they exchanged the truth about God for a lie.  You can’t exchange X for Y unless you have X. There is no person born who does not have some knowledge of God. The problem is they do not have knowledge of God but acknowledge God. They Exchanged the truth for a lie.  They did not change true religion for no religion, but for Idolatry. We are living in a country full of idolaters.  They are not secular people, they are idolaters. The truth may have dawned on them in small measures, but they do not like it.  They have exchanged truth for a lie. The reason missions and evangelism is necessary is because the world has truly chosen darkness over light. John 1 says it.  The light shines in the darkness, but the cockroaches in the basement preferred that darkness. They know about the light, to run from it.

What I would say about people in remote places who have not heard or heard little of the Gospel? Or on the other side those of us here in the USA who’s currency says on it “In God we trust”, have churches on almost every corner, have been born into Christian families, attended church all our lives or for years, have publically accepted Christ, attended Bible studies and been mentored in our faith?  Each person will be judged according to the light they have received and what they have done with that light. They are judged on what they have received ”To whom much has been given much is required”….and judged on what they have done in their life with the light they have received.

Have they acknowledged it and accepted it with joy? Have they begged God for more light and prioritized prayer and Bible reading in their life.  Have they consistently shared the light of the Gospel with others?  Have they with urgency sought out those in their communities in darkness and witnessed to the light and lead people to Christ? Have they mentored, discipled, and given people access to their lives and light to learn about it?  Have they served and loved their neighbors as themselves?  All people will one day stand in the throne room before Christ and their life opened up and examined. Each person will be judged according to the light they have received and what they have done with that light.  Those of us who have frequently and consistently heard and received light will be judged more than those in a remote region on the earth who little light has be revealed to them.  To those much has been given much is required. 

My family, This world in this season of greater darkness we find ourselves in today is desperate for the light you have received. I pray this morning you will reflect on the light you have received, what you have done that light and more importantly, what you are doing with that light, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me.  God bless you my friends!

 Please post and share your thoughts, reflections, questions, or prayers with us in the comment box below.

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website: https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC

Please support and partner with my self and my family as we serve those God crosses our path with in our community with your one-time or monthly financial gift by clicking link below.Become our partner and support us in our ministries by becoming supporting us monthly or with a one-time gift. Thank you!

"Acts 28" The End Is Where We Start"

Good morning Jesus, I need you to place in me a need to reach out to others….

Two passages Spoke to me in my prayer time this morning reading and reflecting over Acts chapter 28. 

First was Paul quoting from Isaiah 6:9-10;

"Go to this people and say,

“You will keep on hearing, but will never understand,

and you will keep on looking, but will never perceive.

For the heart of this people has become dull,

and their ears are hard of hearing,

and they have closed their eyes,

so that they would not see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their heart

and turn, and I would heal them". v 26-27

I prayed repentance over my life and our church where ours hearts have become "dull" and complacent. Any ways my ears have been hardened and I fail to take time to hear you in prayer.  Where I have become lax in seeking your voice in areas over my life.  How I have isolated myself from hearing the voice of my spouse, those in my church, and others who care about my character and faith. Days I neglect to open my Bible and hear your words of truth.  I prayed for areas I have closed my eyes and put blinders on to areas of sin, complacency, apathy, and laziness in my life.  How I have closed my eyes to the suffering of people and those victims of injustice.  Closed my eyes to those around me without Christ in their lives.   I prayed for a rekindling of zeal, passion and love in my heart.  I prayed for a heart that yearns and seeks after God and understands that you are worthy of everything.  I prayed for a heart that falls deeper and more madly in love with God.

The other passage was;

"Paul lived there two whole years in his own rented quarters and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with complete boldness and without restriction."   v 31

Acts ends with this note: Despite all the attempts to stop the growing of the church and spreading of the Gospel, the message goes forth.  Despite all attempts of social media, fear, wars, civil and political unrest, “wokeness,”and acts of the enemy to stop the church; the spreading of the Gospel through us must go forth! I prayed that if we honestly seek and remain in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, we will go forth as well boldly proclaiming the Gospel of grace  and the gates of hell will not prevail against it!  (Matt. 16:18.)  I prayed we would all finally see our homes as Paul did. That our homes are a gift from God to be used for the glory of God and not built with doors to keep our neighbors out but to welcome them in. I prayed we would all see our homes as outpost of the kingdom of God in our neighborhoods where God has placed us for a season. Places to welcome people into and proclaim the gospel, read the Bible, and train disciples.  That we would see our diner tables as “church”, a simple yet Holy and the preferred place to share our Christian faith as both Jesus and Paul did.

May it be so!!

My family, as we close our time together in Acts today I pray the stories we have read of the birth and growth of the church through the everyday lives of people will encourage you to use your everyday life to reach others with the love and grace of Jesus as well. I pray you will sit down and intentionally plan and put in your calendar how and when you will begin sharing the gospel in the neighborhood God has placed you, in Jesus’ name. Please share you thoughts and reflection not only on Chapter 28, but also on our past 28 days together going through Acts and what it has meant to you and/or what are you major take aways. We read though the Book of Acts, as with any book of the Bible, not simply as something we think we should religiously do, but as something we earnestly desire to become, true followers of Jesus and to apply to our lives and lives of others.

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website:https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC

Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!

Help Me Share The Gospel!

I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around.  Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.   Thank You

TO GIVE CLICK HERE

"Acts 27" "The Journey Of Your Calling"

Good morning Lord Jesus, here and now let my deep encounter your deep.

“When it was decided we would sail to Italy, they handed over Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort named Julius.” (Acts 27:1)  

The story of Paul’s journey to Rome is told in great detail in this chapter. This literary effect of slowing down the passage of time by narrating with many details serves to add a sense of drama to the events described.  The story illustrates the difficulty, dangers and hazards of travel by ship and the journey Paul had to take to follow God’s will for his life.  From the perspective of someone reading this story in Palestine in the time this chapter was written, this may well picture a journey to "the end of the earth" quite literally. 

This reflects back to Jesus’ words, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.”( Acts 1:8)  However, this voyage even with all its difficulty serves to show how God protected Paul on his long journey to Rome. 

Throughout the story it states how Paul advised the crew and his guards. Though Paul is under arrest and is simply a prisoner, he will be the one to guide them all through the dangers of the storm and shipwreck, showing clearly God's presence and protection of him.

Following God’s call on his life was not an easy journey for Paul.  Many times throughout the Book of Acts of the Apostles we are reading, we have read how he endured dangers, trials, arrests, beatings, imprisonment, being stoned, attacked by mobs, insults, abuse, persecution, misunderstandings, hardships, and other difficulties.  It would be easy to understand if during any one of these times Paul said to himself, “this is just to hard!” and quit.  Following God’s call on our lives today is also not an easy journey.  Though we try to surround ourselves with as much comforts as possible, when we step out of these and truly follow God’s leading for our lives today we will also experience challenges, difficulties, misunderstandings, persecution, and insults.  John Wesley, our founder of the Methodist movement said that if after preaching the Gospel in a town he was not driven out of it and had produce and other objects thrown at him, he feared he did not share the Gospel clearly and completely enough to them.

My family, I pray this morning you will ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you a clear understanding of your calling and the journey your faith in Jesus Christ demands of you. Why are you here? Where is Jesus calling to to go?  We all have a journey based on obedience  to our radical calling as a disciple of Jesus, in Jesus name.  Please pray the same for me.  God bless you my friends!

Please share your reflections of Acts 27 with us in the comment box below. 

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website:https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC/

Give A Gift!

I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around.  Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.

Thank You!  

Acts 26: " The Deep Roots Of Jesus"

Acts 26

 

“King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.” vs. 27-29

Agrippa's question was an attempt to sidestep Paul's question to him. The king neatly avoided denying his belief in the prophets and accepting Paul's presentation of them, that Jesus is the Christ. Paul replied that whether it took a short time or long, he did indeed hope to make everyone as he was, a disciple of Christ.  Those in attendance could not have failed to have been impressed with the bravery and wit of Paul in engaging a king in such lively conversation! 

Aggripa's question and his attempt to avoid denying his belief in the prophets and accepting Christ I believe powerfully illustrates the the totality, depth, and all encompassing truth that comprises faith in Christ. We modern "Genitles" I believe fail to realize and embrace this.  The Scriptures that Paul claimed were fulfilled and used to argue that Jesus is Lord and Christ were all Old Testament (OT) Scriptures.  There was not yet John 3:16, or a "Roman Road" to use to lead someone to Christ.

 The use of the OT to argue that Jesus is the Christ was a powerful argument for Paul because those who he was speaking to had the Torah, if not the whole OT memorized and knew it well.  Those we witness to today do not know the OT well, and I believe most people in our pews really do not know and understand the over-all mega narrative and prophesy of the OT as it relates to Christ.  This may actually have made it more difficult for Jews to believe in Jesus as the Christ.  For if a Jew came to believe in Christ, it would effect everything they knew as a Jew.  It affected their laws, culture, religion and understanding of God.  The “great I am” would would now have a face and a name.  And they would have to surrender and place everything they know and understand of Scriptures in the truth that Jesus is Lord.

And we, those in church today, believers, and those souljourners seeking Christ do not grasp this. The lyrics to the song, "What if God was one of us" states,  "If God had a face, what would it look like? And would you want to see it, if seeing meant believing in things like heaven and in hell, and the apostles, and in Jesus and the saints, and all the prophets."  If God has a face, and you come to believe and see the truth that His face is the face of Jesus,  then you must accept all the other truths in all of Scripture: the prophets, saints, apostles, the new earth to come, hell, the patriarchs and the cross. 

The Jews who came to belief in Jesus as the Christ were in awe and wonder of him because they understood the depth of who he is:  He is the Son of man spoken of in Daniel;  He is the suffering servant and the root of David spoken of in Isaiah; he is the desperate soul who cries out in Psalm 22; and the list goes on.  Unfortunately, most Christians today are Biblically illiterate of these understandings. Most could not remember when they, or have ever read through the Old Testament to seek and understand the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus they contain. Christians today are grafted into a tree by faith and most have little or no understanding of the tree they are grafted into and its deep roots.  In this age of materialistic, entitlement, and prosperity gospel, Christians really do not understand the tree they are grafting themselves into is a tree that is in the shape of a cross.

Prayers:  

Reflect on, Who is Jesus to you? Everything written in the OT was fulfilled in Jesus. How deep do your roots and understanding, and awe if him go?

Pray that the Holy Spirit will instill in you a desire to go deeper in you understanding of Jesus. 

Pray that the Holy Spirit instills in your church to go deeper in understanding Jesus and how you can help encourage them.

Pray that the Holy Spirit will instill in us a community of faith who claims Jesus as our Lord a desire to go deeper in our understanding of Jesus and the totality of his Lordship.

Please share your reflections of Acts 26 with us in the comment box below. 

 

  

Acts 25: "Resurrection of the Dead"

Holy Spirit help me die to my selfishness and embrace your generosity

“When the accusers stood up, they brought no charge in his case of such evils as I supposed. Rather they had certain points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive.” ( Acts 25:.18)

The Jewish Sanhedrin charged Paul with various charges.  He violated the purity of the temple, he went against the law of Moses, and he was inciting the people to riot against Roman authorities.  However, as Festus soon realized, their main hatred of Paul and charges against him centered on, “a certain Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive.” The real point at issue was the resurrection of Jesus.  It always boils down to that. 

We saw this earlier in Acts, “While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests and the commander of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, angry because they were teaching the people and announcing in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.” v. 4:2.  Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:23, “…but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.” 

The resurrection of Jesus is at the core of all attacks on our faith, because if the resurrection of Jesus, is proved a lie, then Christianity crumbles.  As Paul states,

“And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty. Also, we are found to be false witnesses about God…For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone.” 1 Cor 15:12, 19

Paul says, “My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Phil. 3:10  This needs to be our aim as well if we want to have any hope at all of our individual lives and the life of our church to bear any meaningful fruit.   However, as Paul says, to experience the power of Christ’s resurrection in ourselves, we must first completely die to ourselves.  To enterter into the resurrection of Jesus, we first must enter into the death of Jesus.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him to come an die.”

The context of his quote is this. “The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death—we give over ourlives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time—death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call. (The Cost of Discipleship)

Take time to read 1Corinthians chapter 15 today. It is a chapter devoted completed to the resurrection of Jesus.

My family, I pray you reflect today, “about a certain Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive.” (v.18). Do you truly believe this?  Then claim this belief again over your life and the life of our church. Claim you are willing to answer Christ’s call to come and die so you can experience the power of his resurrection. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same over me. God bless you my friends!

Say out loud and claim this prayer over your life and your domain:

“Jesus, I also sincerely receive you as my Life, and I receive all the work and triumph in your resurrection, through which you have conquered sin, death, judgment, and the evil one. Death has no power over you, nor does any foul thing. And I have been raised with you to a new life, to live your life—dead to sin and alive to God. I take my place now in your resurrection and in your life, and I give my life to you to live your life. I am saved by your life. I reign in life through your life. I receive your hope, love, faith, joy, your goodness, trueness, wisdom, power, and strength. Apply to me all the work and triumph in your resurrection; I receive it with thanks and I give it total claim to my spirit, soul, and body, my heart, mind, and will.

 I bring the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ over my life today, over my home, my family, my household, my vehicles, finances, over all my kingdom and domain. I bring the resurrection and the empty tomb of Jesus Christ against Satan, against his kingdom, against every foul and unclean spirit, every foul power and black art, against every witch, and against every human being and their spirit, their warfare, and household. I bring the resurrection and the empty tomb of the Lord Jesus Christ to the borders of my kingdom and domain, and I stake it there in Jesus’ name.” (portion of John Eldridge’s “Daily Prayer Of Freedom”)

 Please share your reflections with us on the resurrection of Christ in the comment box below.

 Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website:https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC

Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!

Help Me Share The Gospel!

I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around.  Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.   Thank You!

 

 

Acts 24: "A resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous"

Jesus, I want my heart to beat in complete rhythm with yours..

"I have a hope in God (a hope that these men themselves accept too) that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. This is the reason I do my best to always have a clear conscience toward God and toward people....While Paul was discussing righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became frightened and said, “Go away for now, and when I have an opportunity, I will send for you.” (Acts 24:15-16 ,25)

I am not a "hell and damnation" preacher.  I don’t pretend to know anything concrete about the referent to that word “hell” so carelessly tossed around by some Christians. But I do know that it has a referent. And there is enough description surrounding it to indicate that whatever hell is, it is a big problem. I also know that I am not God, so how I may handle this problem is irrelevant. God handled it by sending his Son to be killed by and for the world. He only requires the gratitude due, which, if genuine, will produce a commitment to the truth and a commitment to the way. Only to the grateful will the resurrection of life be granted.

 I cringe inside when some uses manipulation like, "If you get hit by a bus tonight, do you know where you will go?" Jesus, Paul, never used shame to coerce people into belief.  Yet Paul reminds us that when we die, none of us will just be “dead as dirt.”  We all, both righteous and unrighteous, will be resurrected to a coming judgement.  Jesus said, “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28-29). Paul knows that everything he does will be revealed to God.  He understands that he is an eternal being. He also understands that all people he has contact with throughout his life: his neighbors, co-workers, and friends, are eternal beings.  So that all his actions and interactions with people have eternal consequences.

This understanding dictated every decision Paul made in his life. 

“While Paul was discussing this as the bases of his daily quest for righteousness, self-control, and a clear conscience before God, The Governor Felix became convicted, frightened, and sent Paul away. “ 

How often do thoughts of resurrection enter into and mold the the basis of my interaction with people?  How often do I remind myself that all people I also contact everyday are eternal beings and that all my actions and interactions with people have eternal consequences?  Unfortunately, not often enough .  If Paul was having that same discussion he had with Felix on resurrection, righteousness, self-control, and having a clear conscience before God with me, I would probably become uneasy and send him away as well as Felix did. Paul’s reminding me that everything I do, and do not do is known to God, and that some day I will stand before Jesus and everyone I have ever met, and all those I have never met, and how I had shared or failed to share the resurrection of Jesus with those around me in my daily life will be openly revealed to all. This truth would bring me anxiety and I would tell Paul like Felix we will talk about this again when the time is better.  When the Holy Spirit starts the same revelation in my heart, I usually do not follow him, or I use rationalization, or comparison of myself to others to justify myself, my not sharing of the Resurrection of Jesus with others, and then go in another direction.  Yet I am a person of the Creed.  We are a church of the Creed.  We believe in the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.  I need to let this sink in and affect the way I live today, not just as a way to hopefully get me out of hell after I die.

Our existence, our church’s existence, all Christianity rests completely on the hope of the resurrection.  We need to be living in that hope today and sharing with others that hope today as resurrected people, and the future hope with those who are in Christ Jesus.

Take time in silence to ponder the resurrection of Christ.

Take time to ponder your resurrection in Christ.

As your knees get weak as you try to take in the enormity of it all, be thankful.

Be thankful to the Father who's unbelievable love conceived it.

Be thankful to the Son who's unbelievable love achieved it.

Be thankful to the Holy Spirit who's unbelievable love empowered it.

Pray that you will begin sharing this resurrection through jesus you are so grateful to have received with others.

Pray that you and that your church full of thanksgiving, can be a visible and living testimony to the resurrection hope in Christ to the world. 

Pray that the Holy Spirit will remind you and give you an eternal perspective with every person you encounter in your day. In Jesus’ name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!

Please share your thoughts and comments on chapter 24 with others and myself in the comments box in this post below.

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website:https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC

Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!

Help Me Share The Gospel!

I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around.  Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.   Thank You!

 

 

Acts 23: "Pray Over Your Family"

Acts 23

"Now the son of Paul's sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul." v.16

In Acts 23 we read about the son of Paul's sister, or Paul's nephew.  His nephew, not named, heard about the plot against his uncle, and ran to his uncle and told him.  When we read Acts and the stories about Paul, we may tend to forget that like all of us, he had a family.  Brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, cousins, grandparents, and a mom and dad.  They were around him, he visited them, and they were part of his day to day life while he was in Jerusalem. They also were not Christians, they were devout Jews.  They knew Paul, (their son/brother/uncle) that he was also a devout Jew, passionate for his God, passionately hunting down arresting, throwing in prison, and causing the death of the Christians that were speaking blasphemy about God.  He was in the center and leader of this “purification” movement.  No, doubt, he had spoken of this to his family and he had encouraged their support in condemning and persecuting The Way.

  Imagine their shock and surprise when they heard that Paul, their defender of the Jewish faith and persecutor of Christians, the family member whom they looked up to, was now a Christian himself!  And not only that, but he was now a leader of and in the center of the Christian movement he was trying to destroy!!  Paul was the talk of the town that everyone was gossiping about.   And now those in power, who once were his strong allies, are now plotting to kill him!  As devout Jews, did his family members also want to stone him?  Did some want to join him?  His nephew it appears was a family member who Paul's conversion did not lead to rejection, but an acceptance of him, and perhaps an acceptance of Christ. 

I believe for ODC, or any church to press deeper into our calling, grow stronger together and grow our ministries together as a church family in Christ, we must strengthen and grow our personal families in Christ.  We are all part of and lead ministries, volunteer and serve, are part houses churches, Bands, and other small groups. However, the most important small group we are part of and are called to lead is our family.  Let’s focus our prayers and reflections today on our family.

Reflect for a moment how your faith has affected you family: spouse, sons and daughters, parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, cousins.  

Have you shared your faith with your family? Are you sharing your faith with them now? How do you share your faith with your family? Do you pray with them? Do you set aside time to read the Bible with them? Do you serve in your community with them? Pray that you may witness to those in your family more bolder.  Pray for the faith of your family. Spend your time at lunch praying over your family.  Plan to spend a day fasting in prayer over your family. 

Are there family members who want to stone you because of your faith?  Pray that peace and reconciliation between you may occur, and the presence and Spirit of Christ may one day be something that bonds you, instead of divides you.

Pray a prayer of thanks over family members, who like Paul's nephew, went out of their way on your behalf, and ministered to you and allowed you to be where you are in Christ today.     

Pray for the forming of a sturdy covering of prayer over your family, your home and relationship with them.  Pray your home can be encouraging to each of you individually, and your home can be an outpost of the kingdom of God. 

Pray that your church will become an even stronger family bound together by prayer that stands up for and supports each other, serves Christ together, and proclaims the gospel together.

Action: Share this message and pray with your family today.  Call at least one family member today, share your faith and let them know you are praying over them. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me, God bless you my friends!

Please share your reflections and comments with your family in Christ below.

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website: https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC

 

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Acts 22: "Surrender Your Past"

Jesus, lover of my soul, Jesus I will never let you go…

“And I said, 'Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison andbeat those who believed in You.  And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him.'  And He said to me, 'Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'"(Acts 22:19-21)

In Chapter 22 Paul gives his testimony.  Paul tells how he came face to face with Jesus and heard his condemnation, ““I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” (v 9:5)  He also heard Jesus' calling upon his life, to get up and go where I tell you.  He then he went to Annais, and he was baptized and confirmed the calling on his life. (9:18)  Later he went to church (the Temple)  and he was praying to Jesus, and Jesus again called to him.  And what was Paul’s response to Jesus’ call?  He looked back into his past, and focused on his past, the things he had done in his past, and tried to back out of his calling.  Jesus however, looked forward to his future and the things he would do.  Paul saw his past.  Jesus saw his future. Paul lived in the shame of his past failed, and misguided plans. Jesus lives in the grace of his future great plans for him.   Paul remembered and retained. Jesus forgot and forgave.   Paul saw himself through eyes of condemnation. Jesus saw Paul through the eyes of grace. 

When Paul accepted Jesus' grace and forgiveness. When he surrendered his past to Christ, Jesus anointed his past, covered it with his blood, broke any chains it held on Paul, and sanctified his past as an instrument to be used to His glory and the spreading of the Gospel of grace and forgiveness. Paul accepted Jesus as his Lord and surrendered everything to Christ including his past, and the result was these amazing stories and testimonies of his we are now reading about now in Acts.

Insert your name into these three versus and read them slowly out loud to yourself for a few minutes.  And embrace the truth Jesus is speaking over you.

2 Corinthians 5:17-18 

17Therefore if _________ is in Christ, he/she is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.   

Revelation 21:5 

5And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making _________ new "

Romans 8:1-2 

Therefore there is now no condemnation for ________ who is in Christ Jesus.  

You accepted Jesus as you Lord, and you need to surrendered everything to Christ including your past. The result of your surrender will be an amazing testimony of how Christ used you to spread his gospel of free grace and forgiveness.  We are in a time of praying together and reading through The Book Of The Acts Of The Apostlest as a church to be guided by the Holy Spirit into new areas of ministry for us.  This is only possible if we step out of the old areas.

Next, insert the names of at least one friend, co worker, family member, or someone you know who needs to hear these words into the verses above and pray these versus out loud over them.  If so led call/text and share these versus with them.

My family, I pray today you completely surrender your life to your Lord Jesus Christ, including your past. I pray you will see yourself through Jesus’ eyes of love and grace and allow Him to lead you into new and wonderful areas of ministry He hal planned for you. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!

As we begin these last chapters, please share your reflections from this chapter or our time together in Acts, I would love to hear any revelations or calling The Holy Spirit has given you.  Post them in the comments box below to encourage others as well..  I would love to hear from you.

Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!

Help Me Share The Gospel!

I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around.  Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.   Thank You! Thank You!   

Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website:https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC