Matt Shamblin

Freeing Love

2012-02-14T16:47:00.001-05:00

A relationship can be a funny thing. Relationships are a cultural thing, formed by different cultural variables, through good times and bad relationships are formed. Good marital relationships are formed in love. Genuine, true love is freeing. True love frees because God is its sources. True, freeing love is God’s love. This freeing love is not based on the recipient but the unchanging Character of God. It is God’s love that endures. Although relationships are molded in life, it is those relationships that are shaped by the unchanging love from God that reveal Him. Relationships that are nurtured by God’s love are relationships the free. A relationship that frees is rooted in the unchanging nature of God not the ever changing nature of another. If your relationship is rooted, truly rooted in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, you have a relationship that reveals God’s Character. You have a relationship freed by His Grace. No relationship is ever perfect but a relationship that has as its foundation the love of God is free to grow despite those imperfections as it rests in His Grace. A relationship that is rooted in the love of God is a relationship that is freed by God’s Grace.

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” (1 Cor. 13:4-7 NLT).

Eternity in the Heart

2011-03-16T11:12:00.000-04:00

“…He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11b).

With every death comes a sense of tragedy. There is something that seems unjust, out of place about death. It’s amazing how life can be filled with such joy but in a moment be taken by death. I guess one of the many reasons that death seems so unjust is that it brings a sense of incompleteness. Solomon reminds his reader of the injustice, the incompleteness of death. Man was made for eternity. From the very beginning, before the entrance of sin, there was no death. Man was made for eternity. But, what would life without end be if it were spent seeking personal fulfillment. Solomon addresses this as well, the things that people do to bring fulfillment only cause us to long for it more. In all of the incompleteness brought by life it does us well to remember that Jesus died to take one Himself the injustice of death, to take on Himself the disease of sin and give everlasting life freely. We do well to remember that is in Christ that we find our life complete. The eternity written on the hearts of men finds its rest in Jesus.

As Instruments of Blessing

2011-03-15T10:42:00.001-04:00

“…a time to keep silence and a time to speak.” (Ecclesiastes 3:7b).

The issue of speech has been a reoccurring theme to which the Lord has led me as of late. Speech is a reoccurring theme throughout Scripture. We all speak when we should be silent. James wrote, “If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body.” (James 3:2b). As small as the tongue is that it has amazing potential, it can be as instrument of cursing or an instrument of praise. An evidence of the Holy Spirit’s leading in the life of those who follow Christ is their speech. As we submit our tongues as instruments of the Holy Spirit we will speak truth which at times may be difficult but is always right when done in love ( Ephesians 4:15). Remember with speech we can either curse others which diseases our own soul or speak truth which can bring encouragement and freedom.
Finally, as pointed out by Solomon in Ecclesiastes, there is a time for silence. Not everything that could be said should be said. As God’s Word goes forth, God the Holy Spirit works change in hearts. Yes, you may motivate change by guilt but true lasting change comes by the Holy Spirit.
Today, many opportunities will be presented, choose today to use your speech as an instrument of blessing and not cursing. Try today to exercise the discipline of restraint and practice silence and rest in the changing power of God.

The Story of Significance

2011-03-14T08:02:00.000-04:00

“As it happened to the fool, it also happened to me… How does a wise man die? As the fool!” (Ecclesiastes 2:15a & 16b).

Value, worth, significance in life doesn’t come from what men do or accomplish. Those who are perceived in this life to be of great worth have the same end as the perceived worthless, the grave, death. In this all, mere men have no ability to add significance to life but that significance comes from being created by God in His image. Again, like so many times before the story returns to Him. The story of men isn’t the story of men at all but the story of God. From creation men are made by God in His image, man’s significance comes from God. Sin enters and again the story is of God’s redemption not recompense. The story of man is not of what man does but what has been done for him. The story of man again leads to man’s insignificance apart from the significance given to him by God. In all of Solomon’s gladness and joy, and all of Solomon’s achieved wisdom his conclusion was the same on its own, the grave. And that is why the story of man centered on himself is a story of frivolity, and insignificance a story that ends in the grave. But the story of man centered on God, centered on Jesus Christ is the story of great worth it is a story that never ends.

Like Grasping at Wind

2011-03-12T08:54:00.000-05:00

“And I said my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. A perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.” – Ecclesiastes 1:17

Solomon wrote what could be a deeply depressing book if the reader doesn’t understand his point. Getting straight at it Solomon wrote, “Vanity of vanities all is vanity” (vs. 2b). Mincing no words, Solomon reminds his readers that all things of the world without a higher point or purpose are futile, pointless. Life does appear to be a pointless circle of comings and goings of generation after generation with each generation perceiving itself to be more clever than the previous. Solomon soberly reminds the reader, “Is there anything of which it may be said, “see, this is new?” It is already been an ancient times before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who come after.” (vs. 10-11). Each generation is fooled by the deceptiveness of his own devices, by his own cleverness. But, Solomon even addresses the perceived cleverness of man. Writing with an uncommon grit, not in such a way as to protect his own reputation but using it using his personal experience is evidence for his conclusions. Even in being the cleverest, most wise of his day he finds futility, “… like grasping at wind.” (vs. 17). He is not concluding that ignorance is bliss. Neither is he concluding that wisdom, was meant for bless. He makes it clear that the things of this world were not meant for our abiding bliss, for lasting joy but to lead to only One who can give us real joy. The things of this world, the endeavors of this world and even to perceive the joys of this world were meant to be fleeting, they were never meant to give us the everlasting joy for which we long. The emptiness of this world directs our hearts to the only One who can give us everlasting joy, a joy that only Jesus Christ can bring.

The Reminder of Focused Praise

2011-03-11T23:09:00.003-05:00

“Praise the LORD! Praise God to his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament! Praise him for his mighty acts; praise him according to his excellent greatness!” - Psalm 150:1-2

The psalmist opens the final praise of the Psalter with instructions, “Praise the LORD!” (150:1a). The reader has been instructed to praise the God of all creation but then the psalmist concludes this capstone of the Psalms with a reminder of man’s created calling “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD .” (vs. 6a). Man has been created with instinct to praise. Most often man’s instinct of praise is focused on the wrong things, because of the abiding grip of sin in our life. We love to praise ourselves, our praise does not have to come in words but in thoughts, and deed. All of mankind requires the admonishment not only to praise the LORD but also the reminder that the One he praises is the LORD, the One who’s created all things. It is fitting then how the psalmist ends with a reminder that as created beings it is our highest calling and created purpose to exalt our Creator. Praise the LORD!

This Ain’t All Folks

2011-03-10T09:52:00.001-05:00

“For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation.” (Psalm 149:4).

This is a Psalm of praise from God’s people toward Him for salvation and justice. The Hebrew people suffered for many years under various kinds of oppressors but they remembered the promise of God to “… He will beautify the humble with salvation.,” or as one translation puts it, “deliver the oppressed.”
This is the point that many missed in Jesus. He did come to deliver His people; first from their sin and only a later time from the injustice of this world. This brings us to two very important keys: First, we become His people, not by lineage but by faith. Are you His? We become His when we receive the forgiveness of our sins as a gift because of the payment that Jesus made on Calvary’s cross. Second, every injustice, every sick or hungry child, every evil dictator reminds us that the Lord will deliver the oppressed, that Jesus is coming again. Face every injustice with the assurance that Jesus is coming again!

All of Creation was Made to Praise the Lord

2011-03-09T08:38:00.000-05:00

All of creation was made to praise the LORD!
“Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and they were created. 6He also established them forever and ever; He made a decree which shall not pass away.” (Psalm 148:5-6).

These verses explain why creation has the singular purpose to exalt or praise the LORD. Simply put, all of creation was made to praise the one who created. “… For He commanded and they were created.” (vs. 5b). This is not belittling, it’s just the facts God created all things by His command.

Not only were all things brought into being to exalt Him, “He made a decree which shall not pass away.” (vs. 6b). His decree remains in the face of corrupt creation. Though creation has been deeply marred by sin the decree of God remains, exalt Him!

God has created us and we were made for His glory, for His exaltation. This almost sounds as if God were egotistical but, He would only be egotistical if there is something more glorious and a more worthy of our attention and praise than Him. But, if God is the highest most glorious being then He is worthy of the praise of all things. Not only of God is the highest the most glory as being is He worthy of the praise of all things but He is the highest calling of all things to praise Him if this is His being. There is also a tremendous amount of encouragement here, that not only have all created things been called to their highest calling of exulting Him but, it also demonstrates that the decree of God is greater the scares of sin.

How are you carrying out your highest calling by exulting him today?

The Discipline of Joy

2011-01-11T21:29:00.000-05:00

If you are like me it is easy to get lost in the Old Testament. It is easy to spend some time reading the OT and before you know it, you are lost, sure you are reading because you should be reading but you are not sure what you are reading. The Bible is filled with great stuff, yes even the OT. The Prophet Jeremiah was called by God to warn the Southern Kingdom of Judah to turn from their sinfulness or be destroyed. Tucked away in chapter 17 are some important principles that each of us should remember when we think reading God’s Word might not be the best way to spend your time, or when we stick with the easy stuff. Jeremiah wrote, “The LORD says, “I will put a curse on people who trust in mere human beings, who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength, and whose hearts have turned away from the LORD. They will be like a shrub in the desert. They will not experience good things even when they happen. It will be as though they were growing in the desert, in a salt land where no one can live. My blessing is on those people who trust in me, who put their confidence in me. They will be like a tree planted near a stream whose roots spread out toward the water. It has nothing to fear when the heat comes. Its leaves are always green. It has no need to be concerned in a year of drought. It does not stop bearing fruit. The human mind is more deceitful than anything else. It is incurably bad. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:5-9). First, notice that trusting in others leads to an unfulfilled, miserable life. The way to a fulfilling, enjoyable life is not by trusting in yourself or even in others but by trusting in God alone. This could mean that as you fatten our bank account and spend all of your time doing what you want to do, you actually make yourself more miserable even as you seek for joy. When you are confident in you, your confidence is misplaced. The second thing that Jeremiah points out is that a fulfilling, enjoyable life comes by placing your confidence in God alone. As you place your confidence in Him, whatever you face you can handle. You will not just handle or survive but prosper. Your prosperity in bad times does not come from your ability to “tough it out” but actually it is the opposite, your prosperity comes through His strength and blessings. To get through the bad times you have to constantly prepare for the bad times even when times are good. You have to train yourself to doubt yourself and trust God. Jeremiah concludes with a sobering reminder; our minds must be disciplined to trust in God. Your mind will deceive you into misplacing your trust, that’s right; an undisciplined mind leads to an, unfulfilling, joyless, even miserable life. So, how do you discipline your mind? Just like any other exercise, you have to do what may make you uncomfortable and get into the meat of God’s Word. You may gravitate toward the easy stuff, but it’s the hard stuff that will get you through the hard times.

Why Marriages Succeed or Fail

2009-04-16T14:01:00.000-04:00

The Following is from the book Why Marriages Succeed or Fail by John Gottman. This is essentially the result of a study of more than 2,000 married couples over two decades. What he discovered about how wives and husbands relate to one another is so remarkably revealing that he can predict with 94 % accuracy which marriages will succeed and which will fail.

“The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”

A. Criticism “…it is hard to respond positively to a criticism, since it is an attack on your personality: if you agree, you are joining in the attack on your self; if you disagree, you appear defensive. It is very hard to respond constructively to a criticism” (p. 166).

Remedy: “The antidote to being too critical is learning to state your grievances and complaints in a manner that your spouse will not take as a personal attack. You need to learn to make your criticisms more specific, and to state them as complaints” (see p. 181).

B. Contempt “If your partner is contemptuous of you, it can make you feel somewhere between furious and worthless. It is very difficult to live with someone who insults you; contempt is a form of psychological abuse” (p. 167).

Remedy: “Whichever partner is prone to speaking with contempt needs to replace that habit with the expression of genuine validation and admiration (see p. 195). And, beyond that, your marriage needs to be nurtured by the intentional enhancement of the positive-to-negative ratio.”

C. Defensiveness “If you said that you are not defensive but your spouse is, you may not have been completely honest with yourself. Defensiveness is almost always a two-way street” (p. 167).

Remedy: “Calming down is the first order of business. If you are defensive, then you are probably starting (or well on your way to) feeling emotionally flooded by your partner’s expressions of negativity. In this case you need to be able to soothe yourself” (see methods for calming down on p. 176).

D. Stonewalling “When someone is stonewalling you, you are likely to feel judged, or that your partner is disapproving, detached, cold, smug, or superior. The stonewaller wants to disengage, calm down, maybe even run away. The stonewaller is overwhelmed by all this negative emotion and wants to withdraw without making things worse. The stonewaller may be trying to calm down and may even be thinking positive thoughts about the partner” (p. 168).

Remedy: “Like people who are defensive, you need to master ways to calm down (see page 176), to listen and speak nondefensively (p. 181), and to change your distress-maintaining thoughts to more helpful ones” (p. 179).

God my Focus?

2009-04-06T16:46:00.000-04:00

If I focus on pleasing others, on meeting their standard of what will satisfy them I will most often fail. Pleasing people is like trying to hit a moving target. Individuals, have individual opinions, and individual standards that are rarely based on God’s standards. Attempting to please people is attempting to measure up to a moving, subject standard that I cannot meet. If I consume myself with pleasing God I will become increasingly dependent on His grace. God has made each of us different. He has made us unique individuals in order for us to be a mosaic for His glory. When we live our life according to God’s principles not only does His standard never change, but His satisfaction is not dependent on our work but His grace. Because of His grace we can live lives of contentment and peace, as we grow to become like Jesus Christ. It is not that we want others to think poorly of us, but that God being pleased with us is eternally more important. If I am consumed with what others think then I cannot be consumed with what God thinks.

Really Changing the World

2009-03-26T10:24:00.000-04:00

There is a new article posted on USATODAY.com, concerning Southern Baptists and evangelism. Here are a couple quotes that I found enlightening: “The survey found only two ways most people said they were somewhat or very willing to "receive information" about Jesus: 63% would hear it in a "personal conversation with a family member," or with a friend or neighbor from the church (56%).” The people closest to us are “somewhat or very willing” to hear the gospel, so are we telling them? The second quote, "Baptists like to talk more about evangelism than to actually do it." We must no longer complain about the condition of the world, we must remember the hope of the world does not come through legislation, but through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Across the United States same-sex marriage is becoming more common. Christians are trying to combat same-sex marriage through legislation. Let me make this clear, I am not against this legislation, but remember even if laws are passes that make same-sex marriage illegal, if we are able to legislate morality all we have accomplished is the forcing of morals on people, people who are still headed for Hell. Do you want to really stop abortion? Do you really want to put an end to same-sex relationships? Then reach the lost with the hope found only in Jesus Christ.

That Time of Year

2009-03-19T12:02:00.001-04:00

It is that time of year in many churches, it’s time for spring revival. What is Revival? By definition, revival is a return to life. What does a healthy Christian life look like? I think that we could summarize a healthy Christian life as: Worship; Evangelism; Discipleship; Ministry; Fellowship. Each of these characteristics are but labels or categories of much broader areas of the Christian life. For revival to take place there must be a balance of fervency in all of these areas. When we are equally fervent in Worship, Evangelism, Discipleship, Ministry, and Fellowship we are healthy Christians. Balance is not enough, because the spiritually dead are equally balanced in all of these areas. There must be a balance of fervency, not just meritocracy, but a burning desire to exalt Christ above all. This desire will be displayed not just in feelings but in obedience. Revival is not a influx of euphoric feelings but Spirit empowered obedience to the Lord’s commands. Because the Christian life is not natural but supernatural, this comes at the supernatural workings of God. Luke wrote, “…you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me (Acts 1:8)…” The Holy Spirit came upon the early church to empower them to obedience to the Lord’s commands in carrying out His mission.
Revival cannot come apart from prayer. Revival is marked by an influx of God’s grace in Christian’s dealings with others. Jonathan Edwards wrote, “Hypocrites never had the spirit of prayer given them. They may have been stirred up to the external performance of this duty, and that with a great deal of earnestness and affection, and yet always have been destitute of the true spirit of prayer. The spirit of prayer is a holy spirit, a gracious spirit. We read of the spirit of grace and supplication, Zech. 3:10. ‘I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications.’ Wherever there is a true spirit of prayer it is no other than God’s own Spirit dwelling in the hearts of the saints.” When revival it comes it causes us to see who we really are, which makes us more desirous of grace and more gracious. In a conversation about the study of scripture manuscripts Daniel Wallace explained that one of the criteria used in differentiating between faithful and unfaithful textual manuscripts is that unfaithful manuscripts become less grace based and more works based. The more works based a text became the more unfaithful it was to the teachings of the New Testament. Man has a desire to do it himself, to make things happen but no man can make revival happen. A man can only in a greater way expose himself to more of God’s Word through which the Holy Spirit can use to drive him to prayer and greater obedience. It is God alone who can revive. Revival is a balanced fervency to personal and corporate Christ exalting spiritual health which graciously, depends on Christ alone.!
Here is a 40 minute video that was passed on to me by a dear brother in Christ. Here is the instructions Go to this page comes up go to the bottom left corner and click on revival fire it should come up on your windows media player turn up the volume and read along.

Why God?

2008-11-21T11:02:00.000-05:00

I read this story in the News & Advance which is Lynchburg, Va.'s newspaper. It's really easy to credit God with the things that we understand and what we with our limited perception view as good. It is also easy to excuse away those things that we do not understand by saying, 'God allowed _____ but it was not in His "perfect will."' Could it be that God more in store for us than what we understand as good? Moses wrote, "So the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD?" -Ex. 4:11 God has a purpose and is totally in control of all things, even of the things that we cannot explain. Our role as followers of Christ is not to understand but to follow. I am not saying that we have to follow blindly, but that we may never understand why. We must be obedient to Him and follow Him with all of our hearts, and give Him all of the glory. Is this fair, no, all of us deserve God's wrath. It is out of His Grace that we have what we have. It is out of His Grace that we receive mercy. May God richly bless the guy in this story, it looks as if He is already!

Quote

2008-01-15T15:30:00.000-05:00

"If two angels were to recieve at the same moment a commission from God, one to go down and rule earth's grandest empire, the other to go and sweep the streets of its meanest village, it would be a matter of entire indifference to each which service fell to his lot, the post of ruler of the post of scavenger; for the joy of the angels lies only in obedience to God's will."
- John Newton