Christ Gave Thanks

Song: To God Be The Glory

Scripture: Colossians 2:6-7

Thanksgiving is the expression of gratitude. Thankful people express gratefulness to GOD, the source of all blessings. Christ gave thanks.

To GOD the Father for the revelation of His will. “At that time Jesus answered and said, ‘I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes’” (Matthew 11:25; Luke 10:21; NKJV). Jesus expressed gratitude for the revelation of GOD’S will.

To GOD the Father for food. “And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks…” (John 6:11). When Jesus fed the 5,000 He gave thanks for the food. He also expressed thanks for the food that fed the 4,000 (Matthew 15:36).

To GOD the Father for hearing His prayer. “Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me…’” (John 11:41-42; NKJV). Jesus expressed thanks to the Father for listening to His prayers.

To GOD the Father for the unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine. “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, ‘Take eat; this is My body.’ Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they drank from it” (Mark 14:22-23; NKJV). Jesus gave thanks for the emblems that symbolized the sacrifice He was about to make for all mankind.

Jesus came to do GOD’S will (John 8:28-29). It is GOD’S will for His people to give thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). To be this man’s disciple one must deny self, take up His cross, and follow Him (Luke 9:23). Follow His lead. Give thanks for the revealed word of God (Ephesians 3:3-5). Give thanks for the food you eat (Romans 14:6). Give thanks for the hearing of prayer (1 John 5:14-15). Give thanks for the body and blood of Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:26). And above all else, give thanks to the Father for “His indescribable gift,” the one who will deliver us: “I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25).

Jason Cicero

The Two Surprises of Prayer

Song: Did You Think To Pray?

Scripture: Psalm 65

My study of prayer was met with two surprises.

1. God listens to me. “O You who hear prayer, To You all flesh will come” (Psalm 65:2; NKJV). The Creator hears my prayers. He listens. He cares. He responds.

2. I don’t pray more. I think about it. I worry about it. I talk about. Knowing He listens, cares, and responds when I pray, why don’t I pray more?

Note to self: “…pray without ceasing…” (1 Thessalonians 5:17; NKJV).

Jason Cicero

Know Him, Follow Him, Share Him

Song: Jesus Let Us Come To Know You

Scripture: Luke 9:23

I've written these three points on the last page of my Bible. They help me stay focused. I hope they will help you.

Know Him. Paul sacrificed everything "for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:8; NKJV). To "know Him and the power of His resurrection" was the emphasis of the Apostle's life (Philippians 3:10; NKJV). My Father will reward me if I "diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6; NKJV).

Follow Him. Christ has called me to deny myself, to take up my cross, and to follow Him on a daily basis (Luke 9:23). I am to follow His thinking, His speech, His behavior. I am to follow Him in everything - "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" (Colossians 3:17; NKJV).

Share Him. When I come to Him He calls me to "go" for Him - "God therefore and make disciples of all the nations" (Matthew 28:19, NKJV). Go tell everyone who will listen who I am, what I did, what I am doing, and what I am going to do. Sharing Christ with others is the primary purpose of the disciple of Christ.

Know Him. Follow Him. Share Him.

Jason Cicero

Sunday Morning Starters

"But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:23-24; NKJV)

The Father is "seeking such to worship Him."

Will he find you?

Jason Cicero

A Rest for the People of God

Song:  The Way of the Cross

Scripture:  Hebrews 4:9

“There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.” (Hebrews 4:9; NKJV)

The book of Hebrews contains a number of warning signs.  One is found in Hebrews 3:12.  The Israelites of old failed to enter the promised land of Canaan because of their “unbelief” (Hebrews 3:19).  Hebrew Christians are warned about the possibility of being “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13).  “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12; NKJV).  It is possible to believe in God and to obey.  It is also possible to hear His voice and to harden one’s heart in rebellion (Hebrews 3:7-8).  According to the Hebrew writer, the choice is ours.           

Life “under the sun” consists of lies, deception, temptation, sin, suffering, and death.  We all suffer.  Good people suffer.  Bad people suffer.  Everyone suffers.  Suffering did not exist in Eden.  It is a consequence of the fall.  We live in a sin-cursed world.  It was never God’s will for His people to suffer deception.  It was never God’s will for His people to sorrow, to endure pain, to die.  Sorrow, pain and suffering, swear or tears, and physical death remind us that things are amiss in this world (see Genesis 3:16-19).           

Because of our suffering we are tired.  Tired of the deception.  Tired of the lies.  Tired of our own sin and the sin of others.  Tired of suffering.  Life in a sin-cursed world is wearisome.  We are tired.           

The Hebrew writer speaks of rest in Hebrews chapters three and four.  Rest communicates a ceasing from activity.  By Hebraism, the word the Spirit uses in Hebrews has to do with an “abode” (Strong’s).  In Hebrews 4:9 another word for “rest” is used by the Sprit.  This word is sabbatismos.  The Sabbath of the Old Covenant was a day of rest the people of God enjoyed once a week.  The sabbatismos of Hebrews 4:9 “is the perpetual Sabbath ‘rest’ to be enjoyed uninterruptedly by believers in their fellowship with the Father and the Son, in contrast to the weekly Sabbath under the Law” (Vine’s).  God knows our frame.  He knows we are tired.  He has provided something better for us.           

Beloved, hang in there!  Hold on to your faith!  Like Joshua and Caleb, be strong and courageous in the Lord!  “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:11; NKJV). 

Jason Cicero

Take His Cross

Song: Jesus Calls Us

Scripture: Matthew 10:38

“And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:38; NKJV).

What did the word “cross” mean to this first-century audience?

The Symbol. In Matthew 10:38, Jesus is not speaking of the “cross” of a difficult situation, a chronic disease or a nagging spouse. I have heard devotional sermons spiritualizing the “cross” to mean everything from a cranky mother-in-law to a leaky roof to a 1989 Honda Civic (Hatchback). But this is not what the word “cross” communicated to Jesus’ first century audience. It did not call to their minds the idea of long-term difficulties or troublesome burdens. It did not even evoke thoughts of Calvary because the Lord had not gone to the cross yet, and they did not understand that He would.

The Instrument. Christ’s first-century audience thought of a cruel instrument of torture and death. They thought of dying in the most agonizing method known to man. They thought of the poor, condemned criminals hanging on crosses by the roadside. Doubtless they had seen men executed in that fashion. The Hasmonean ruler Alexander Jannaeus crucified 800 Pharisees (103-76 B.C.) and the Roman general Varus broke up a Jewish revolt by crucifying 2000 Jews on a single day in Jerusalem (6 A.D.). It was customary for the condemned to carry their cross to the place of execution. And it was a one-way journey.

The Call of Christ. Jesus’ listeners knew He was asking them to die for Him. They knew He was asking them to make the ultimate sacrifice, to surrender to Him as Lord in every sense.

A Life of Daily Self-Denial. Jesus is not teaching salvation by martyrdom. The Lord was not advising the disciples to try and get themselves killed for Him. He was referring to a pattern, a direction, a lifestyle. “I affirm, by the boasting in which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31; NKJV). Genuine disciples do not shrink back, even in the face of death. When confronted with a decision between serving self and serving the Lord, the true disciple is the one who chooses to serve the Lord, even at great personal expense.

Conclusion. Take up your instrument of death. Crucify yourself. Allow Christ to live in you. Live your life by faith in the Son of God, who loved you and gave Himself for you (Galatians 2:20).

Jason Cicero

Imitate What Is Good

Song:  O To Be Like Thee

Scripture:  3 John 11

“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.  He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God” (3 John 11; NKJV).            

We are to do good, to imitate good, because God is good.  Evil is not of God.  Evil is of the Devil.  As the children of God we are to imitate our Father by doing good.

Diotrephes was not of God.  He was concerned with things that are not of God:  preeminence among brethren, not receiving brethren, prating against brethren with malicious words, forbidding others to receive brethren (3 John 9-10).  Diotrephes was of his father the Devil:  “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.  He was a murderer and a liar from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44; NKJV).

Demetrius had “a good testimony from all, and from the truth itself” (3 John 12).  Demetrius had a good testimony because he imitated God.

What about me?  Do I imitate my good God or do I imitate the evil one?  Let us see God and imitate what we see for “he who does evil has not seen God” (3 John 11).

Jason Cicero