Freedom

There are sins Satan loves to remind us of, times we have lied, times we have stolen, people we hurt with our words, people we hurt with our hands. Satan loves to remind the children of God of their guilt. It is true we are all sinners in need of a savior, it is also true that those who have been forgiven through the cross are forgiven through and through.
John 8:36
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
NIV
So many people are trapped in their prison of sin. There seems to be no escape.
For the child of God, Christ has opened those bars and set us free. Satan wants us to stay in the cell, Christ invites us to leave.
I think it breaks Christs' heart when He sees us remaining in and returning to that prison He destroyed. We are free. We are free from that guilt because He paid the price.
God give me the courage to walk away from my cell and live in your freedom.
In Him
J. Tom Washburn

Father"s Day

As a father, you would think, father’s day should be one of those days I have circled on my calendar. I’m not crazy, I do like gifts, who wouldn’t want another tie or another pair of socks, but those are not the gifts I cherish most. As a father, the gifts I cherish most are those times when I see the men my boys are becoming. The gifts they give me are gifts that are stored up in my heart. I swell with pride when they go to church because it is what they want to do. I well up with tears when I hear of them teaching a friend. You cannot wipe the grin from my face when I learn of them standing up for what is right. Those are the gifts I cherish, gifts of character and faith.
Don’t misunderstand, there have been times when I have just stood and shook my head at what they have done, but those things are rubbish compared to the gifts.
If I feel this way about my boys, how do you think God feels about us? I know God doesn’t need our gifts of ties or socks, He doesn’t even need our gold or silver. What God wants from His children is their lives, lived for His glory. He takes great pride in that. I love how Zephaniah describes God in Zeph. 3:17 when it says:
“The Lord your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with his love,
He will rejoice over you with singing."
Since this is who God is, shouldn’t we listen to Paul when he urges us to (Eph 4:1-3)
“… live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
This Sunday is “Fathers Day” and I pray that your life honors your Heavenly Father.
In Him
J. Tom Washburn

Preaching

Preaching is an odd thing. When I was growing up I never imagined that a preacher would ever be less than perfect. Now that I am a preacher I know that preachers are anything but perfect. The real struggle in preaching is being real while not loosing credibility with those you talk to. If you come across as somebody who never sins, no one can relate to you and they soon stop listening. If you come across as a reprobate, there is no reason to listen to you.
Trying to share Christ with a world that is lost is hard work. I think the big challenge is to share Christ and let Him transform the life. Too often I want to transform the life and then share Christ or make sharing Christ contingent of showing me the transformation. I just need to trust Christ. He will do what He said He will do.
So many hurting people, so many people carrying around guilt long forgiven.
The body of Christ was never designed to inflict guilt or pain, we were meant to point people to Christ. We were made to share a message of hope and life and forgiveness. It isn't wrong to point out sin, but we need to also point towards the promise of forgiveness.
The friends of the paralytic didn't just tell their friend about a place of healing, they carried him to the healer and lowered him at the feet of Jesus. Lets learn that lesson.
Just some thoughts I was having today
In Him
J. Tom Washburn

When you Share what Is real To you.

Last night (Wednesday Night) I shared in class a little of my true heart. It is a scary thing to share what is real and precious to you because it means that if they don't like or approve of that, they don't approve of you, at least that is how it feels.
Last night I shared that we need to reach out beyond our circle. I shared that at times the church can believe itself to be warm and welcoming while they are really just polite. I shared that if we are really going to be a people that believe the Bible is enough we shouldn't be afraid of just giving Bibles to people without making sure we teach them all of our stuff. I shared that it matters how we live and how we present ourselves and our church to the world. I shared that it may even matter where we sit, because visitors make judgments about us according to their points of reference.
And so today I sit and wounder if they understood what was said and I wounder if they will reject me.
I did share one other thing, I am interested in converting people to Jesus Christ, not to the church. People are added to the church but they are saved by Christ alone.

Move

Moving is one of those four letter words (that has six letters) in our home. Nobody likes to move. Moving is a lot of work. There is all of that boxing up, lifting and toting and then there is the unloading and unpacking. Nobody likes to move.
Recently I have discovered some benefits in moving. Moving has given me the opportunity to throw away some things in my life that were broken and useless (who really needs an old inner tube from a bike they no longer own?). As I get rid of the broken and unusable “stuff” my load gets lighter and lighter. As I get rid of the broken and unusable “stuff” I feel freer and freer.
I have also discovered that every time I rearrange my garage or shed or even my room, I discover new stuff I don’t need, and as I discard those items I discover more and more freedom.
I think in my life, God wants me to move. God does not want me to stay where I am; He calls me to come to Him and in order to do that I need to move. This move requires me to get rid of some “stuff”. The secret about getting rid of that stuff is this, the more of the stuff I let go of the greater the freedom.
The Hebrew author says this
Heb 12:1
“…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
What is the stuff you need to throw off in order to move closer to God?
In Him
J. Tom Washburn