Good morning Lord Jesus, cleanse me by Your Spirit of all that is not of You in me this morning so I can walk out and completely in your presence.,=
“But no human being can subdue the tongue; it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people made in Godʼs image. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters. A spring does not pour out fresh water and bitter water from the same opening, does it?” (James 3:8-11)
There seems to be so much, hurt, anger, belittling, cursing, and disrespect in conversations today whether in person, on-line, or TV or other social media. Social media has given people platforms to post opinions and say anything about anything or anyone. And it’s easy to get sucked into it. It’s easy to fire back. Our keyboards on our cell phones and computers are extensions of our “Tongues” by which can be typed out both blessings and curses. God reminds us of this this morning through the writings of James. And it is a timely reminder.
“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. For human anger does not accomplish Godʼs righteousness.” (James 1:19)
Lord Jesus, help me today to control my tongue. I want to use it to bless and encourage others today. Help me to bridle it and not be sucked in to responding and fueling conversations that hurt. Loosen my tongue to speak out and defend or encourage when I am part of a conversation or given gossip that is wrong to put a stop to it. As the Psalmist sings, help me to acknowledge that you are Lord of me and anyone I speak to today in person on on-line. Help me remember the person I am speaking to belongs to you, and to speak to them accordingly.
“Shout out praises to the LORD, all the earth!
Worship the LORD with joy!
Enter his presence with joyful singing!
Acknowledge that the LORD is God!
He made us and we belong to him;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give him thanks!
Praise his name!
For the LORD is good.
His loyal love endures,
and he is faithful through all generations.” (Psalm 100)
My family, I pray your tongue will produce a voice that shouts praise and joy into your day. I pray it will speak out of a heart of thanksgiving and love, blessing and encouraging, defending against injustice, and a sweet, refreshing sound to those that may be experiencing a sour, dry day, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God Bless you my friends!
Please share your comments, reflections, and prayers from today’s reading with us 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 Us Help Them!
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!
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“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James 2:14-17)
My day began at 5:30am as I awaken made coffee and spent time in prayer. I left and drove to the Waffle House and arrived at 6:30am. I was to meet with a person I am meeting with to mentor him and for accountability. The person texted after I arrived that he could not make it. The water pump went on his car so He could not make it. So I sat at the bar talking to the cook and waitresses. One of the waitresseswas a 22 year old woman who worked the night shift and was getting off at 7:00am. She is from a broken home, and lives with her partner, brother and 2 year old child. As we talked she told me how she was planning on going to college to better herself. She was afraid though, had started the application for Calhoun Community College but was having problems. I had my lap top in the car and went and got it. When she got off at 7:00am I spent an hour of so with her spiritually praying into her fears, and physically helping her complete her application to Calhoun, and then beginning her FASFA application for federal student aid.
Around 8:30am my phone rang and it was the man I was supposed to meet at the WH that morning. Of all things, his girlfriend who lives with him, while driving to work, was in a car accident on 565 near Decatur. A car stopped suddenly in front of her and she stopped, but car behind her did not and plowed into the back of her car. Since his car was un-drivable with a bad water pump, he asked me if I would please come pick him up and take him to the accident scene. So I left the Waffle House, drove to his house and picked him up and went to Decatur. We got to the scene and his girl friend was shaken up and in some pain. Her car and the one that hit her were both totaled. The impact to her car had pushed trunk up into the back seat and back car doors would not open. I helped them take all items out of the car and carry them into mine as police left and tow truck came to tow away car.
Her right leg, back, and neck were hurting so I drove them to the emergency room at Madison Hospital.
I talked and prayed over them in the car as we drove then dropped them off. Before I did I asked the man for his house and car keys. My mind went forward in time and I knew to 3-4 hours when they got out of the emergency room. They would need a ride home and be stuck without a vehicle. So I went home and walked across the street and talked with one of my neighbors. He is 24 years old. He moved here from California and is looking for a job. Both Nancy and I have been mentoring him. I take him to Waffle House on Saturday mornings for coffee and guidance. I told him to get dressed and come over I needed his help and he was about to earn an “Alabama red-neck” merit badge. We jumped in my truck and drove to my friends house who was in the emergency room with his girlfriend and had the car with bad water pump. We got the car into the street and I hooked one end of a tow strap to the car (2000 Buick Sable) and the other to my truck. I told him we were going to pull the car to my house so I could work on it. I was going to drive the truck, he was going to drive the sable, steer it around corners and use brakes to stop it from hitting the back of my truck. His eyes got big and he was nervous, but he did it. 7 miles later we arrived at my house with the car. My neighbor said his arms were sore from turning wheel without power steering. I told him he received a “red-neck towing” merit badge.
I then began the process of replacing the water pump. The car engine sits sideways in engine compartment and the water pump was almost impossible to get to. I had to jack up the car and put it on jack stands, loosen the motor mounts and jack up the engine, and work from up top and underneath car to replace water pump. About 5 hours later, around 4:30pm I finished the work. I then had Nancy follow me as I drove the car to the person’s house and dropped it off. They both were so thankful. We Nancy and I checked in on his girlfriend, prayed with them, and left around 6:00pm.
It was a 12 hour “work day” for me. Not the normal day most pastors put in. My “office” that day was my home, the Waffle House, my car, road side of 565, the emergency room, my neighborhood, truck-in-tow, under a car, and in a person’s home. At times when I was under car on my back with hands covered in grease, and my clothes soaked from laying in anti-freeze, I thought how nice it would be to be a “normal” pastor in a normal church. With a church office, staff, and a steady paycheck. But at the end of the day I would not trade where God had me right now. Doing ministry with “boots on the ground” and making disciples by connecting with people in the real everyday events of their lives. No one tithed, and no wages were received from this day of service, but I know somehow God will provide.
“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” James 2:14-19. In Jesus name.
My family, I pray you reflect this morning on your faith. In what areas is it alive? It what areas is it dead? With the holidays coming, and the government shut down, how and who can you help in faith? Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please post your thoughts in the comment box below.
You always have the opportunity to partner with me financially in my everyday ministering and discipleship in the community.
Help Us Help Them!
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 I cto 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!
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Lead me in the way that leads to life today. ...
"But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act -- they will be blessed in their doing" (James 1:22-25).
Holy Spirit, empower me to put into practice the words You put into my spirit. What I hear from Your heart in the morning, empower me to live out from my heart throughout the moments of my day.
As best as I can and all by Your grace, I want to be a doer of the word, not merely a hearer. So remind me all I've seen and heard and empower me to go and do what honors You and expresses Your nature through my life today. "For it is God who is at work in (me), enabling (me) both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray the Holy Spirit will remind you of all you heard and empower you of all He has shown you and called you to be a doer today by the power of the grace of God. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your comments, reflections, and prayers from today’s reading with us 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 Us Help Them!
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!
“Let brotherly love continue. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.” (Hebrews 13:1)
I love the passage above. There is a whole world of blessings, experiences, and new ways God wants to bless each of us if we just step out of our safe circle of familiarity and structured life and step into something strange, foreign and unfamiliar. Taking time to say “hello” to a stranger, someone new, and invite them into a conversation opens the door to God’s grace. Jesus was “strange”, “foreign” and way outside the life structure and comfort circle of the people he lived with. However, those who dared to step “just outside the bubble they lived in” experienced amazing love and grace. And stepping “Just outside the bubble we live in” does not take going on a mission trip, it just takes taking your blinders off and entering into the mission field God has placed you in; your neighborhood, classroom, and work place. Tomorrow is Halloween and a great opportunity love and entertain the strangers that God leads to your door.
Watch this beautiful 2 minute video below in Oxford, Al. This real encounter in life reveals that loving and entertaining strangers is as simple as sitting down in a booth in a restaurant.
My family,
I pray as we all plan to spend a day with family and friends in our circles, you also remove your blinders and see ways to encounter Jesus just outside the bubble you live in, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
As The Year Draws To An End, PLEASE Help Us Help Them!
My wife Nancy and I are in a 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 us and that of my family. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation now for next year, 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
.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC.
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Your name be lifted up, Your Spirit come fill me up, as You lead me in the way of life and truth today. ...
“Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we aree in. Jesus did this because he never lost sight of where He was headed--that exhilarating finish in and with God--He could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God” (Hebrews 12:2 The Message).
As I begin another day Jesus, help me keep my eyes on You, Lord. Both by Your Word and by Your Spirit, help me keep my eyes on You. Concerning every Word of the Scriptures of the Bible, You said “it is They that testify on My behalf” (John 5:39). Concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us, You said, “He will glorify Me” (John 16:14).
With my eyes on You, I can “run with perseverance the race that is set before (me), looking to Jesus (for You are) the Pioneer and Perfecter of (my) faith” (Hebrews 12:1). Even through there are challenges every day, hurdles to overcome every step of the way, You give me grace to keep looking to You, to keep following You, even to keep becoming more like You (1 John 4:17). For that’s the very purpose of my race, that I would be conformed into the image of the Son of God (Romans 8:29). And You’re causing everything I go through and overcome on my race to work together for the good that ultimate goal (Romans 8:28).
Today, I don’t yet see everything in my world or in my soul as it will be one day at the end of my race, but I do believe the Promise and Truth of Your Word at work in me by Your Spirit:
“Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when He is revealed, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. And all who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).
So by Your Word and by Your Spirit, I press on to run my race so as to win the prize every day (1 Corinthians 9:24). Embracing Your Word, being filled up and formed by Your Spirit to make me more like You every day is the course of my race; and becoming more like You is the prize. As Your Holy Spirit expressed through the heart and words of the Apostle Paul so powerfully:
My family, I pray as you begin a new dY that you may be consumed by the Word and filled with the Spirit, running your race with your eyes on Jesus, allowing Him to make you more like Him each day, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!!
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below.
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Help Me Share The Gospel and Make Disciples!
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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Let me help you!
One of my passions is helping churches or small groups understand and embrace their call to be disciples of Jesus in their community.. I offer and lead discipleship trainings in person and on-line. If you are interested I would love to talk to you bout it. Email me at garyl@onedirection.community.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
“About that time King Herod laid hands on some from the church to harm them. He had James, the brother of John, executed with a sword. When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too.” (Acts 12:1-3)
Having the faith in God to serve him, can be scary and intimidating. In fact, it is supposed to be. If your plans, if your faith are not intimidating to you, they are insulting to God. Because is you can do it in your own competency and comfort, then there is no faith involved. You can do it, you don’t need God. It is in those plans that if God does not show up we are screwed that you need faith, you need God. We cannot afford to be of smaller faith.
You do have those who’s great faith ended happily in this world, on this side of glory:
o Daniel's deliverance from the lion's den in Dan. 6,
o Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace Dan. 3.
o Those are found in Hebrews 11:17-35a
“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead.
By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.
And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection.” You have in this chapter of Acts 12 the story of Peter being miraculously free. These stories all ended in a “Happy ending” as these persons names were entered into heaven’s hall of fame.
But you also have Hebrews 11:35b-40. It does not always end in a happy ending in this world, on this side of glory.
“Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.”
You have as we read in Acts 7, Stephen, who was stoned and in this chapter James who was behead.
How the story turns out on earth has nothing to do with whether you enter the Hall of Faith or not. How the story turns out on earth has nothing to do with whether God is glorified or not. It may not have a happy ending on this side, but on the other side God is glorified. But whether it turns out happy or sad by earthly standards, cannot take away or hinder the glory that comes from big faith.
God delights and honors that big faith. Like Caleb and Joshua in Canna, Numbers chapter 13, who said, “Let us go up and occupy it, for we are well able to conquer it.” They are not looking at the problems, they are looking at their God.
My family, As I stated above, if your plans are not intimidating to you, they are insulting to God. What are your plans for serving God and living out your faith? Do they really even require faith? Or are you simply “following Jesus” and “carrying your cross” in a routine way that you can handle and that fits your schedule? Do you have plans you are stepping out in big faith and trying to achieve that you are on your knees fasting and praying for God’s help and provisions because if He does not show up you are screwed? I pray as we read through the New Testament together and hear the amazing big faith of those that birthed The Church, you will reflect and pray on your level of faith, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections from reading Hebrews 11. As we read through these chapters, though certain verses in each chapter stood out to me that I comment and pray on, other verses probably stood out to you. Please share this with us.
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!
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! .
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Good morning, Lord Jesus. Thank You for the invitation to abide in You as You abide in me, beginning my day seeking Your face and listening for Your voice. ...
“And after the second curtain there was a tent called the holy of holies….For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands - the representation of the true sanctuary - but into heaven itself, and he appears now in Godʼs presence for us.” (Hebrews 9:3, 24)
Unite my heart with Your heart, my thoughts with Your thoughts, my desires with Your desires. I abide in You, as You abide in me (John 15:4). In the holy of holies of my heart, reveal and remove everything in me that is a hindrance to my communion with You, that You can replace it with the Presence of Your Spirit (Exodus 26:34). Make me one spirit with You--more and more every day, in Jesus name, amen!
My family, I pray you become one spirit with the Lord, more and more every day, abiding in Him as He abides in you in the holy of holies of your heart, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your comments, reflections, and prayers from today’s reading with us 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 Us Help Them!
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!
Good morning Lord Jesus, I begin my day aligning my heart with yours.
“And the others who became priests were numerous, because death prevented them from continuing in office, but he (Jesus) holds his priesthood permanently since he lives forever. So he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them….He has no need to do every day what those priests do, to offer sacrifices first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people, since he did this in offering himself once for all. “ (Hebrews 6:24-25,27)
The author of Hebrews reminds the readers of his day that Israel had allot of priests that served and led in the Temple. If we fast forward to today there have been thousands of different priests that have served and continue to serve in all the Holy temple, churches, and holy sites in Israel. Here in our Madison/Huntsville area alone there are over 500 churches and led by hundreds of priests and pastors. You can’t count the tens of thousands of pastors and priests that have served in these churches from their formation up to today. As Holy and called all these priests and pastors were or are, none of them held their priesthood permanently as all of them died or will die.
There is only one priest, one pastor, one person, who has eternally continued in his office. Who made the ultimate sacrifice and offering of himself on the cross. Who rose from the dead. Who lives, serves and leads in The Church forever as he will never die. Who then is able to forgive us from our sins and save completely all who call upon His name. And that person is Jesus the Christ.
This morning the words of the old hymn come to my mind,
“What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
My family, I pray this morning you take a moment to stop and praise our Lord Jesus. I pray in complete gratitude you thank the one who completely saved you by his grace. I pray you fall into the arms of your savior who will never abandon you or forsake you, In Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your comments, reflections, and prayers from today’s reading with us 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 Us Help Them!
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
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I look to You and listen for Your leading -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. ...
"When God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of His purpose, He guaranteed it by an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us. We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek" (Hebrews 6:17-20).
Lord, You've "strongly encouraged" me to "seize the hope set before (me)" as "a sure and steadfast anchor of (my) soul." What do You mean by this "hope" and how do I seize it? ...
It seems I hear You speaking to my heart, "I Am your Hope. To hope in Me is to trust in Me, to believe in Me and My nature. Know that I Am a good God with a good heart for My children, and I have a good plan in My purposes for your life. Seize this hope by seeking Me, pursuing Me, choosing to trust Me with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength."
Yes, Lord. Your Word comes to mind: "For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon Me and come and pray to Me, I will hear you. When you search for Me, you will find Me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find Me, says the Lord..." (Jeremiah 29:11-14).
So as best as I can and all by Your grace, I choose to seize the hope. I consciously, deliberately choose to seek You, to pursue You, to trust You will all my heart, all my mind, all my soul, and all my strength (Mark 12:30). And by the power of the grace of God, I will not be tossed two and fro in wavering doubt no matter what supposed ”truth” or “realties” are declared on TV and social media. No matter what I go through on my journey through this broken and fallen world wether Covid or cancer, public policy or politics. I will trust and know that You are with me and You are at work within me to work out Your good purposes according to Your good plan for my life. That's my future with hope in You and found only in You. And that hope is "sure and steadfast anchor of (my) soul." In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray the One who is your Hope will be a sure and steadfast Anchor to your soul in the storms of life as you trust in Him with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your comments, reflections, and prayers from today’s reading with us 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 Us Help Them!
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!
“On this topic we have much to say and it is difficult to explain, since you have become sluggish in hearing. For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of Godʼs utterances. You have gone back to needing milk, not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced in the message of righteousness, because he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, whose perceptions are trained by practice to discern both good and evil. Therefore we must progress beyond the elementary instructions about Christ and move on to maturity….teaching about baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this is what we intend to do, if God permits.” (Hebrews 5:11-6:4)
For a new born baby to survive it is completely reliant on their mother. They are too young to feed themselves. To be fed they need to be embraced and coddled and the mother needs to place her infants mouth to her breast to receive milk. A mother breast feeds her child for a season out of necessity however, her child’s continued relying on her to breast feed it is not her goal. A mother’s goal is to ween and encourage her child into eating solid food and to grow into being self-sufficient. The season a mother breast feeds her child is around a year to 18 months. These days some mothers have extended this season to two years or so. However breast feeding a child for 4-5 years would be very questionable, weird and not in the child’s best interest. A mother breast feeding her child for 9-10 years would not be damaging to the health of the now grown child and discouraged. If a mother breast feeds her child when they are 15-18 years of age or older, they are both going to jail! Can you imagine a mother still breast feeding her 20, 25 or 30 year old child?
The author of Hebrews in these verses above applies this illustration of breast feeding to the Christian congregation in the church. When a person falls in loves with Jesus and accepts Him as their Lord, they become a new child in Christ. For the first year or so they need to be “breast fed” by the church. They rely on the church to teach them what their baptism entails and the Gospel; how to pray and seek out the Holy Spirit; how to read their Bible and search Scriptures, how to live out their Christian faith by tithing, serving others, sharing their faith and loving their neighbor as themselves; the need for repentance and being accountable to each other. However, just like a mother, the goal of the church is not to continue to breast feed its members, it is to disciple them, train them up to be able to self-feed themselves in the Word and prayer, to train them up to release them to share their faith and the Gospel with others, to grow them out of being a consumer in the church who asks, “What does the church and programs offer for me? Into a contributor who ask how can I offer and lead now in the church like leading small groups, leads and participates in ministries, gets in solved in community outreaches, mission trips, and begins to function as an adult, mature in their faith. This season of breastfeeding a new Christian varies from a few months to a year or so. However, Christians who after 2-3 years have not been weened by the church from consumer into contributor, those Christian are not healthy in their faith. And if a Christian who has been in the church for 5 years or more, and is not self- sufficient and mature in their faith, leading small groups and ministries, publicly sharing their faith, sharing the Gospel, baptizing others, Laying hands and praying, and functioning as an adult in practicing their fatih,, then both the church and that Christian needs to be held accountable for this.
Yet unfortunately, I see way too many in the church today who have been members for 3, 5, 10, 20, 30 years of more who still have to be breast fed by the church and have not matured from consumers to contributors in their faith. They still think, “Why has the pastor not called me to check on me” instead of “I need to call the pastor and check in on how I can help.” Or like a needy child they attend a church for what programs or ministries it has to offer them, instead of offering to lead a program or ministry. Or expect to be fed the Gospel from someone from a pulpit on Sunday’s, but fail themselves to share the Gospel and feed others Monday-Saturday.
My family, I pray over this week you will reflect on this. If you have been a Christian for 5 or more and attend a church family, I pray you read and meditate on these verses this morning. “For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, yet you still need someone to teach you the beginning elements of Godʼs utterances! You have gone back to needing milk, not solid food! Therefore we must progress beyond the elementary instructions about Christ and move on to maturity….teaching about baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment! In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your comments, reflections, and prayers from today’s reading with us 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 Us Help Them!
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.
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Good morning Lord Jesus, mold me, make me, fill me, use me..
“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.” (Hebrews 4:12-13)
The Message Bible paraphrases these two verses this way. “God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one can resist God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what.”
You are never hidden from God. Whether in public, inside a church building, inside your home, sitting in front your computer screen or away on vacation; All your thoughts, desires, intentions, actions, attitudes, true character, honesty, and conversations are known to God. You can’t close the door to Him or step into the shadows where He can’t see you.
“He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the motives of hearts. Then each will receive recognition from God.” (1 Cor. 4:5)
“Where can I go to escape your spirit?
Where can I flee to escape your presence?
If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there.
If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be.
If I were to fly away on the wings of the dawn,
and settle down on the other side of the sea,
even there your hand would guide me,
your right hand would grab hold of me.
If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me,
and the light will turn to night all around me,”
even the darkness is not too dark for you to see,
and the night is as bright as day;
darkness and light are the same to you.” (Psalm 139:7-12)
For God to be our “ever present help in time of need” (Psalm 46:1), he has to be present with us at all times.
“for nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing is secret that will not be made known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light, and what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops.” (Matthew 10:26-27)
A day is coming for all of us in the future, where in the presence of everybody we’ve ever met, and everybody we’ve never met, we will stand before them in the throne room of God, with Jesus sitting on the throne. And our whole life, with every second and detail of it will be shown and revealed. Every second and every secret revealed. Before our spouse, parents, our children, our co-workers, friends, and neighbors … all will be revealed. All of God’s promises are true, including: “He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the motives of hearts.” “And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must render an account.” Does this scare you? Does this makes you think? It makes me think. Some Bible passages are warm and fuzzy. Some like this mornings are “sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey.”
My family, today God is your ever present help in time of need, and he is also ever present throughout every second of your day including any fakeness, things you do for show, or things you don’t do as your ignore them or pretend you don’t see. God Knows. I pray you will meditate on this and walk in the light in all you do today and everyday, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below with us from todays reading.
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!
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!
Good morning Lord Jesus, fill me completely so I can love today deeply….
“Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, partners in a heavenly calling, take note of Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess,….See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes the living God. But exhort one another each day, as long as it is called “Today,” that none of you may become hardened by sinʼs deception. For we have become partners with Christ, if in fact we hold our initial confidence firm until the end.” (Hebrews 3:1,12-15)
You and I in the moment we fell in love with Jesus, surrendered our lives to Him, and exchanged our lives from for His we were in that split second justified, made whole, and initially sanctified with the power and presence of Christ and set aside into the family of God for His use and His glory. However, though this gift of grace came in a split second, we are not in Christ for a second. We are in Christ for the long haul. For how long, for how many days? This passage tells us as long as “today” is called “today.”
Every day we wake up and it is “today” we are to live out our “heavenly calling.” And we are not to do it alone, nor can we do it alone. This passage says we are to “Exhort one another each day.” Everyday we are called to encourage each other, pray for each other, lift up each other, warn each other, have each other’s back, keep each other vigilant and on our toes. We are in this for the long haul and we need each other to encourage one another along every step of the journey. Jesus sent out the 12 and the 70 two by two, side by side. He knew we could not do it alone. He knew we needed a church.
ODC Daily Message Devotion number 3,000.
In March of 2013, we started One Direction Community in my living room. The following day, I sent an email with a devotion to our core group to encourage them. I sent another the next day, and the next, and never sttopped. The began sharing them with others so after about a year I starting posting them on Facebook. Then I created the “ODC Daily Message” google email group in which I have been posting weekday devotion for over 8 years. Yesterday, as the photo above shows, It was hard to believe I posted my 3,000th devotion! The time I have spent daily reflecting on God’s Word has encouraged and changed me. I pray they have encouraged and changed you. Thank you for walking besides me as we journey together.
My family, If you are reading this then God gave you the gift and you woke up in “today.” Today you are to live out your heavenly calling. Today you are to exhort, lift up, pray for, and encourage others in their journey. Today I pray as you begin another day of your journey, you will pick up the phone and call someone or text them, or better yet invite them to have coffee or a beer face to face and encourage them to “hold to our initial confidence in Christ firm until the end,” in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
If you send your email address to to me at garyl@onedirection.community I will add you to the ODC Daily message subscription list.
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below with us from todays reading.
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!
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!
Good morning Lord Jesus, I am lost without you, please guide me through my day...
“For when he put all things under his control, he left nothing outside of his control. At present we do not yet see all things under his control, but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by Godʼs grace he would experience death on behalf of everyone. For it was fitting for him, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For indeed he who makes holy and those being made holy all have the same origin, and so he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.” Again he says, “I will be confident in him,” and again, “Here I am, with the children God has given me.” Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in their humanity, so that through death he could destroy the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil), and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death. For surely his concern is not for angels, but he is concerned for Abrahamʼs descendants. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For since he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.” (Hebrews 2:8-18)
Here is the reflection on these passages from The Message Bible.
“It makes good sense that the God who got everything started and keeps everything going now completes the work by making the Salvation Pioneer perfect through suffering as he leads all these people to glory. Since the One who saves and those who are saved have a common origin, Jesus doesn’t hesitate to treat them as family, saying, “I’ll tell my good friends, my brothers and sisters, all I know about you; I’ll join them in worship and praise to you…
Since the children are made of flesh and blood, it’s logical that the Savior took on flesh and blood in order to rescue them by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death.
It’s obvious, of course, that he didn’t go to all this trouble for angels. It was for people like us, children of Abraham. That’s why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people’s sins, he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed.” (The Message Bible)
When I read these verses, there is nothing I can add except Amen! Amen! And Thank you! Thank you!
My family, I pray you will read and let these timely words of God speak into the current situations of Covid, fear, and uncertainty we find ourselves in today and allow them to soak into your hearts and minds. If you are “cowering through life now “scared to death of death.” If you are experiencing pain, trials, testing you have a Lord and savior who is “not ashamed to call you his brother or sister.” And who has experienced everything you are going through, and is there beside you going through it with you, please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
What A Friend We Have In Jesus
What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can We find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus know are every weakness; take it to the Lord and prayer.
Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below with us from todays reading.
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!
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!
Good morning Lord Jesus, I rest in your love so I can give out your love.
Halloween is coming upon us. This past weekend I got my Halloween decorations out of my attic and back storage building and I am decorating my yard for our 12th annual Halloween yard party. It’s interesting to me that for many Christians this is a “hot button” topic to discuss. A neighborhood kid who lives down our street came by on his bike as I was setting up the yard. He asked if I was having the Halloween party this year. I told him yes we are. He said I love your yard, but my parents hate it. They drive the other way out of the neighborhood so they don’t have to drive past it and see it. By I love it! I posted an event for our Halloween Gathering to invite our neighbors on our Nextdoor App. A lady who claimed she was a Christian posted a comment that was really long and really antagonistic and un-Christian that basically said that I am a devil worshipper and all who celebrate Halloween worship Satan and are going to hell!
So as I did last year, I want to address the question: “Should we as Christians engage in Halloween or should we abstain?” In actuality if you start reading about Halloween’s roots, it’s hard to find an answer of where it came from. But, regardless of where it comes from, the question at hand should be: Why is Halloween celebrated today? For most of us, Halloween isn’t a time where we celebrate the dead, go and skin a goat and sacrifice it to Satan. For most of us, it’s a time to dress up our kids as a super hero and send them to strangers’ houses to get free candy.
It has become just part of our culture in the West and has very little to do with the “darkness”…it’s not good, it’s not evil…it’s just something we celebrate, like the 4th of July. I know we might have stories of darkness, but there are also many stories of overdrinking and evil happening on our other holidays as well.
The whole of the Bible talks of God bringing reconciliation and redemption to all things back to himself. That Jesus is Lord of everything and everyday. He bring peace to all things. Not only that but Paul speaks (1 Cor 8) to us about pagan festivals and says that there is nothing in them that is powerful, because there is only one God and everything and everyone comes through Him and have their being because of him.
Paul then talks about eating food sacrificed to idols…saying…it’s no big deal, unless you have a brother who would be deeply hurt by it because they struggle with the idol and eating of that meat because they actually used to worship that idol and eat those things.
Here’s how to contextualize Halloween: If you have a brother who used to worship Satan and they used to sacrifice goats and drink its blood, then it might be a good idea to walk through Halloween with them, guiding them so it would make that brother stumble. This does NOT mean, if you have a brother who merely thinks as his opinion it is wrong to celebrate Halloween that you should put it to the side. That’s never the intent with any of the passages of making a brother stumble…if that was the case, many of us would be in sin because of all the things we do that make other Christians merely uncomfortable. Jesus was not about making people comfortable.
And Jesus would have been in sin and made many people stumble with the life that he led around sinners as he ate and drank (yep wine) with them. Again…making a brother stumble and making a brother uncomfortable are completely separate issues.
With all that said, what are we to do with Halloween? If we are to look to redeem Halloween, what does that mean? If we are to do all things to the glory of God, what does that look for Halloween?
First, a few things you should probably STOP doing:
1. Dressing your kid up as St. Paul or Moses to try to prove a point.
2. Calling the Halloween Party at your church building a “Harvest Festival.” It is like an atheist calling a “Christmas Party” a “Holiday Party” and instead of saying “Merry Christmas saying “Happy Holidays” which seams to upset so many Christians. It’s just calling the elephant in the room a squirrel and it’s weird and disconnects The Church from the society around it.
3. Taking all your people away from being out in their neighborhoods and putting them into your building.
4. Wrapping a tract around an apple and handing it out to the kids who are trick or treating and calling it “evangelizing”
None of these things redeem anything, but just add to the notion that Christians want to be apart from the world and create their own subculture. Instead, let’s be like Jesus and celebrate it like he would have.
When we look at the life of Jesus and our God, we see that they always pursued the sinner and the world. They loved us right where we were and engaged us in the ways that we’d understand who God is and what He has done.
Not only that, but Jesus used the everyday celebrations as a way to build relationships so he could speak into the lives of those around him. He was continually at parties. So much so, that when Matthew was called to follow Jesus, it seemed normal to Matthew to invite Jesus and all the apostles back to his house to party with all his “sinner” friends. (Matthew 9:9,10; Mark 2:14-17) People knew that Jesus was about celebrating, he was about truth, he was also about pursuing and about building relationships with people. With that in mind, how can we then show people THAT Jesus to our communities during Halloween?
1. Be THAT House
You know “that” house. When you were a kid and you went to a house and said “trick or treat” and the person came to the door in a costume and smiled at you, complemented your costume, and they handed you a full size candy bar; it was like winning the lottery. You’d walk away from the house telling your friends, “They were really nice.” It was such good news, you’d tell strangers dressed up like a clown zombie where to find the goods. Everyone knew that house in the neighborhood and if you didn’t have one in your neighborhood, you’d travel what seemed to be miles to get to that house. Be THAT house. We have been blessed by God to be a blessing to others. Think about how this shows people the Father. Everyone is expecting to get a small fun size bar. It’s what they’ve earned by dressing up and having the courage to knock on your door and say “trick or treat.” What they know they haven’t earned is a full size candy bar…it speaks to this idea of grace and blessing.
You don’t need to tell the kids this, but it starts to tell the story of what your house is about to the neighborhood. Like the neighborhood kid ridding his bike past our house that stopped. It tells a different story than what they expect or are used to and this is exactly the story of the gospel. Spend the extra cash to make that happen. If you can’t afford it, get your neighbors or small group to all pitch in. Ask your church to put it in the budget for next year. As weird as that sounds your churches goal should be to reach it’s neighbors. Do whatever you gotta do…be that house! You’ll be amazed at what doors that opens with your neighbors to share The Gospel.
2. Be a Welcoming Presence
If our God is about pursuit, blessing and welcoming then what would it look like to be about pursuit on Halloween? How about instead of staying inside your house, be in the driveway or front porch. I know this isn’t available for everyone because of weather, but what would it look like in your neighborhood for people to feel welcomed to come to your house and feel blessed by it?
For The Liederbach's, we are have our 12th annual neighborhood Halloween gathering. We are going to have fire pit in our front yard where our neighbors will be cooking hot dogs over the fire and making s’mores. We have coolers of drinks, bags of chips and snake cakes; and of course, LOTS of candy! For our 12th annual party I even rented a mechanical bull for trick or treaters to ride. In the weeks leading up to Halloween, we will prayer walk our neighborhoods and personally invite or put invitations in 450 of our neighbor’s mailboxes. Last year it poured rain, and our Halloween was wet. Every year though we have 400 kids trick or treat our house plus I don’t know how many adults that accompanied them come and hang out and cook a hot dog or s’more. It’s a way for us to come together and hang out and bless our neighborhood. It shows that we are more than about handing out candy, but we are here to bless their entire family and in a sense, welcome you into our lives.
Again, it shows something quite different than every other house. Last year a father with three young kids came up with them to our front porch to get candy. The father said, “The kids all discussed before we headed out they wanted to go to this house last. Save the best for last! Plus once we come here we always hang out awhile.” I put candy in his kids bags then they headed towards the fire pit and fun. We have been doing this for 10 years and the neighborhood now expects it and people come and hang out and have a great time meeting their neighbors.
If you can’t be outside, how can you bless the families that are walking around your neighborhood? Maybe offer coffee, tea, hot chocolate, etc. to the parents and trick or treaters that come to your door. Again…think, “How can I be a blessing and show that we are a welcoming and pursuing people like our Dad?”
And this is a fact: Every year we have reached more non-Christians and have baptized more people we connected with who attended our neighbor Halloween Party than who attended any other of our other gatherings throughout the year including our Easter and Christmas gatherings!
3. Celebrate
It is not secret that Jesus loved to party. So much so, that people kept inviting him to parties. Pretty amazing to think about. If we have a Dad in heaven that loves us and accepts us, not for what we do or have done, but because of what his Son has done for us and now we are heirs to the throne of heaven…don’t we have the most to celebrate?
We should be defined as Jesus was defined: a glutton and drunkard. He was celebrating so much that the religious saw him as a glutton and drunkard but the sinners and the world saw him as a dude that they’d like to hang with. Where have we gone wrong here? Christians shouldn’t be the ones avoided for parties, but should be the ones that people are most excited to have come around because they bring the “better wine.”
We made it almost a rule in our house that if we are invited to a party…we are going and we are going to think through how we can bless that party as much as possible. We are always invited to parties because of this. People know what Nancy and I are about, they know we love Jesus. But they also know that when we enter a party we won’t make it weird, but we hopefully make the party more enjoyable by us being there. We have literally had people say, “if Jesus is like this…he was a lot different than we’ve ever been told.”
If you aren’t invited to parties…this Halloween is a great time to throw one. Throw a costume party, a pumpkin carving party, a cookie decorating party, have a photo booth at the party, have a party with games for kids. You can do all kinds of things for Halloween…it’s a party holiday. By doing this, meaning throwing an awesome party, you start to show off something different about you as a follower of Jesus and showing off who Jesus was and what he was about. And do this at your home in your neighborhood, don’t simply rely on your church to do this for you.
He was about parties because that’s where people were and that’s where people connect and share stories and start and continue relationships. Halloween is a really funny holiday when we think about it. But, it’s a holiday that is so easy to build relationships and bless the community and start (or continue) to show off what our Dad is like.
If instead, to “protest” against Halloween we turn off our front porch lights, lock our front doors, go to our church buildings and we have a “harvest festival” on Halloween, we show the world exactly what they’ve always seen about our God. He is closed off, judgmental, disconnected and waits for us to come to him. This isn’t our Dad…he is quite different. He is welcoming, he is gracious and merciful and he pursues us and can’t wait to celebrate with us. Don’t use this holiday to make a point. Use this holiday to point to the true reason we all get to celebrate and bless…Jesus.
If Jesus was still walking the earth in the flesh this Halloween evening he would not be attending a “Harvest Festival” in a church. He would be out in the neighborhood streets interacting with his neighbors and looking for the lost sheep. .This is what we read of about Jesus in the Gospels. Deep inside we know as His followers and His church this is true, so why do we behave the opposite? My guess is that if Jesus lived in our neighborhood, everyone couldn’t wait to go to his house to see what he was going to hand out this year. Everyone would be excited to go to Jesus’ Halloween party and couldn’t wait to invite him over to their party. My only question I wonder is “Who would Jesus dress up as for Halloween?” Who knows…but you know it’d be a killer costume.
My daily prayer is, “Lord send us the ones no one else wants.”
I would love for you to please share your reflections with myself or others using the comment box below.
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Help Me Share The Gospel and Make Disciples!
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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Let me help you!
One of my passions is helping churches or small groups understand and embrace their call to be disciples of Jesus in their community.. I offer and lead discipleship trainings in person and on-line. If you are interested I would love to talk to you bout it. Email me at garyl@onedirection.community.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Good morning Lord Jesus, as I awake physically I seek Your Spirit to awaken me spiritualy so I can live out this day in Your Spirit.
“If he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to me. I Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it. And I won’t mention that you 0we me your very soul! Yes, my brother, please do me this favor for the Lord’s sake. Give me this encouragement in Christ. 1 I am confident as I write this letter that you will do what I ask and even more! (Philemon 1:19-21)
Paul began his letter telling his friend “I am praying you to put into action the generosity that comes for your faith…” and in these verses of his letter he’s challenging Philemon to not just know about submission, but to put it into practice.
In other words: show me, don’t tell me.
At the end of the letter, we get Paul doing the same. A runaway slave would have cost Philemon a lot, but Paul finishes with Christ-like words when he says, “If he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to me… I will repay it.”
This entire letter is Paul using his authority in love to challenge Philemon to rethink what it means to be a servant of Christ. And he does this by redefining Philemon’s relationship to his slave Onesimus. The goal of the gospel is to redefine our relationship to God, to others, and even to ourselves. If the first half of the gospel is John 3:16, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life”.
… and the second half of the gospel is 1 John 3:16, “We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.”
… then the whole gospel can be summed up in: show me, don’t tell me.
You can tell Jesus all day that you love Him, however if you do not demonstrate your love for Jesus to others, it is a fruitless love. Your personal knowledge that you are forgiven, redeemed, saved ,and have eternal life in Jesus Christ has absolutely no impact at all on your family, neighbors, and the world unless you share it and show it.
In his introduction to Philemon, Eugene Peterson says, “Every movement we make in response to God has a ripple effect, touching family, neighbors, friends, community. Belief in God alters our language. Love of God affects daily relationships… it all gets worked into local history, eventually into world history.”
Lord Jesus, as I read these words of Paul which are inspired by you I hear you also say to me, “I am confident as I write this letter that you will do what I ask and even more!” In other words you are saying to me as well, “Submit to me and show me, don’t tell me.” Show me in my relationship with you Jesus where I need to redefine and restore some of my personal relationships as you asked Philemon to do with Onesimus. Reveal to me where and how in my day to day life I can tell people Jesus loves them, and then show it. Challenge me as well to rethink what it means to be a servant of Christ.
My family, I pray this morning the heavenly Father stirs up the gift of His Holy Spirit in your lives and challenges you to rethink as well what is means to submit to and to be a servant of Christ. I pray today you will not only tell people Jesus loves them, you will show it too. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below with us from todays reading.
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!
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!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. In these first moments of my morning, I lift up my eyes and open up my heart to deliberately, intentionally begin my day in the deep Presence of God. ...
"But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:4-7).
Father God, pour out Your Spirit upon me today through Jesus Christ my Savior. Let me live into the fullness of my inheritance as a son of God, now and forever. Let the understanding and the experience of the fullness of my salvation by true in the thoughts of my mind also in the nature of my heart.
I've been reborn and I'm being renewed -- all by Your mercy and grace, all by Your goodness and loving kindness. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, You've done a deep work in me; and "I am confident of this, that the One who began a good work (in me) will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). In Jesus' name pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you may desire, seek, and be renewed by the Holy Spirit as you begin your day, and every moment of every day, as the One who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below with us from todays reading.
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!
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!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me hear Your voice and listen for Your leading, as I begin this day in the communion of prayer with You, my God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. ...
"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is He who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for Himself a people of His own who are zealous for good deeds" (Titus 2:11-14).
Lord Jesus -- "our great God and Savior" -- manifest Your glory today. I know one day You will return in a spectacular, indescribable, world-wide manifestation of Your glory for all to see (1 Thessalonians 4:16). But at the same time, I know You also desire there to be a manifestation of Your glory here in my heart and in here through my life every day. "Christ in (me), the hope of glory" (Colossian 1:27).
You forgive my sins and purify my soul. You fill me with Your Spirit and anoint me with Your presence and power and purpose (1 John 2:17). And You send me out into my world, zealous for You with a passion for my Father's kingdom to come and will to be done, here on earth and here through my life, "to display (Your) glory" as one of those "called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord" (Isaiah 61:3).
When You walked this earth to show us the way to honor God with our lives, You said, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become My disciples" (John 15:7-8). So Father God, in Jesus' name, I embrace Your Holy Spirit to manifest the glory of Christ through my life in my world today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you will be continually filled with the Holy Spirit of the Living God, abiding in Jesus and His word, that your life may be a manifestation of the glory of Christ in your world every day, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below with us from todays reading.
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!
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!
Good morning Jesus, I come before you and your spirit desiring to be healed, restored, and refreshed as I begin a new week that is a gift to me..
“From Paul, a slave of God and apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith of Godʼs chosen ones and the knowledge of the truth that is in keeping with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the ages began.” (Titus 1:1)
Jesus, the background for the concept of being the Lord's slave or servant is found in the Old Testament scriptures. For a Jew the concept of being a “slave to God” did not connote drudgery, but honor and privilege. It was used of national Israel at times, “You are my witnesses,” says the Lord, “my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider and believe in me and understand that I am he” (Isa 43:10). But being "servants (or slaves) of the Lord" was title of honor that was especially associated with famous OT personalities, including such great men as Moses, who Joshua honored by saying of him, “I was forty years old when Moses, the Lordʼs servant sent me from Kadesh..” (Josh 14:7), God declares this title of David, the man with a heart after Him, “The Lord said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have made a promise on oath to David, my servant (Ps 89:3I; as well as in 2 Sam 7:5, 8). And God spoke the same title over Elijah, “The Lord had done what he announced through his servant Elijah” (2 Kgs 10:10). All these great men were honored to claim the title of "servants (or slaves) of the Lord."
Lord Jesus, today in this world and the kingdom of man the word “slavery” has a negative connotation, and for many good reasons. However in Your Kingdom, being called your slave or servant is a title of honor and privilege. You Yourself set the example of the honor of being a slave to the Father. “But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:43-45).
By Your Spirit Lord, humble me to surrender all that I am and all my rights to you as my Lord and master. My wife and my children do not need a man who leads by control or dominance, but out of servanthood, sacrifice and love. Those I encounter today do not need to encounter a person who looks down on them, but stoops down below them and washes their feet. I don’t want the people who’s path I cross to encounter a prideful self made man, but a man formed by surrender to your cross of love. And myself being a man who’s heart lives for the applause of men, all this is only possible in and through starting my day in the washing presence of Your Spirit in me.
My family, I pray today you reflect on something you probably would not imagine as you start your day, of becoming a slave, a servant of our Lord Jesus Christ and savior. As only in total surrender to Him, will you achieve complete freedom in your life, In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends
Please share your reflections and prayers on this passage 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 Us Help Them!
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!
