Matthew 5 – The Jesus Chick

Posted in joy

Where’s my Joy?

Written by talk2shari Published December 11, 2022December 11, 2022 Discussion Leave a Comment

If you’ve noticed an absence of the Jesus Chick on Social Media, and the Jesus Chick site, I can’t say that there is an excuse good enough for what the Lord has done in my life. That would be impossible. But I can say that there has been a reason … although it will have to wait until he end of this post as I work my way through that reason before it is clear to even me.

So let’s you and I begin as I journey through my conversation with the Lord this Sunday morning.

Things have changed in my life over the past few years. A few heart attacks, open heart surgery and starting an online newspaper will do that. But more than anything, my spiritual journey has not been one I’m proud of. While much of my focus this year has been on worldly news, the good news of the Gospel took a back seat. That’s so wrong it makes me want to puke just to see the words in print. But God knows my heart, and I want you to know it too. Because I figure if I’m struggling…. You know… the Jesus Chick… maybe there’s others who are struggling too.

A friend recently mentioned to me that their “joy” was missing. My first thought was, “yep… that’s a piece my puzzle too. I’m overall a generally happy go lucky gal. But there’s a difference between happy and joyous. I’m happy with life. Husband, kids, grandkids, home, career… all good. Health? Well, I’m my own worst enemy. But when it comes to joy, that’s a much deeper level of happiness.

In Deuteronomy 28:1-6 God tell Israel – And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth; ² and all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God: ³ “Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. ⁴ Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy herds, the increase of thy cattle, and the flocks of thy sheep. ⁵ Blessed shall be thy basket and thy stores. ⁶ Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

Obedience equals a good life. I love in verse seven when God tells them Deuteronomy 28:7 – The LORD shall cause thine enemies who rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face; they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.

That’s my God!

But then in verse 14, God begins to a warning to His people, and not just a little warning, a list of curses a mile long; and in the midst of those curses He tells them the reason for the curses which is also the very first place we find the word “Joy” in scripture

Deuteronomy 28:47 KJ21
“Because thou served not the LORD thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things,

I have just one thing to say… Thank God for grace! When God spoke this to His children it was life under the law. And it was words that God spoke with good reason, because He knew of the future rebellion of His children. He also knew the power of the flesh to cause His people to fall. It still exists. That is why, as we scroll forward, God sent the ultimate joy maker, Jesus Christ. Who told us in Matthew 5:17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.”

The law still exists; but those penalties, the many, many curses mentioned in Deuteronomy for our failure to obey are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. Glory!

It is not coincidence that the first place joy is mentioned in the New Testament is in Matthew 2:10 – When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

God takes no word in scripture lightly. When He told Israel that their curse came from their failure to serve God with joy, it was serious business. He’s still the same God. He still takes the service of His children every bit as serious. So much so that He gave His Son to pay the ultimate price that our joy could be there come Hell or High Water. No matter what came against us, the powers of Hell, or the power of earth, our joy would still be there.

So where did my joy go?

I love the Lord! Jiminy Cricket I love Him! So where on this map of life did I lay my joy down and fail to pick it back up? I’ve shared with three friends my loss of joy. And only because I trust those three friends and felt the Lord’s guidance in discussing it with them. We have to have a place to vent our life’s frustrations. Believe me… That much I learned when they literally opened my chest and let all the crap out of my heart that I had kept in and failed to tell anyone.

I was raised differently, I was raised to put my burdens upon no one else. God created us to share the load, I still have trouble with that one.

But back to the question, Where did my joy go?

It’s laying on the church seat. That’s what I determined. I left it there when I began to apply spiritually what I was taught as a child. Don’t put your burdens on anyone else. And in so doing I began to carry all my spiritual struggles on my own, and left the joy on the seat beside me in church, because the burden took up too much room in my life. It was not only my lack of joy, but the lack of joy from others around me. You see… as a child I also picked up another trick, I would not share my burdens with you because it would make you sad. Apostle Paul said the same in 2 Corinthians 2:1-2 when he said “But I determined this within myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness. For if I make you sorrowful, who is he then who maketh me glad, but the same who is made sorrowful by me?” But I would gladly take on your burdens. Even if you didn’t ask me too. It is why, when people accuse me of not caring about other people’s feelings when I print the news, it hurts so bad. They have no idea how many of those stories make my heart ache. But I long to tell the world the truth, both in the gospel and in modern life. We need it. It is the only way we can make good decisions. That is why I continued typing this… even though it hurt. The church has failed to heed God’s warning in Deuteronomy 28:47. We’re no longer serving joyfully… as a matter of fact few are serving at all and we have been given the abundance of things…

Ephesians 3:20 KJ21
Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

Where is the power? Did I leave it on the seat too? No, it’s within me. Nobody can take anything way from me that the Lord has given. I can willingly give it up… which I have basically done. Or I can acknowledge the Lord’s warning, tell Him I’m sorry for failing to have joy in His service and pick it back up refusing to give into the notion that my joy and my voice is offensive to God.

This is still a journey. I’m still looking at that map. But his morning I have a better grasp on my joy. I’m going back to church to pick it up.

Posted in Faith, Heaven, Leadership, Life Inspiration, Political, Uncategorized

Are You Ignoring the Jots and Tittles

Written by talk2shari Published March 3, 2021March 5, 2021 Discussion Leave a Comment

There are days when I pay great attention to detail, to the point that I am one step shy of being psychotic about it. It’s usually when I’m tired and everything in life has gotten on my last nerve. It happens more than it use to the older I get. It also causes me to wonder how God, who is ageless, doesn’t grow so weary of us that He looks down from on high, and just wipes us out. Because if I were God, and I seen the nonsense going on in the world like it is today, that’s what I would do. ZAP! But praise God, He’s God and I am not, and HIs attention to detail doesn’t error on any side like mine does, but His is a perfect attention to detail. Not one jot it tittle, does’t matter.

Matthew 5:18-20 KJVS
[18] For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Have you ever thought about the Bible from the fact that it is a book, unlike any other on the planet, that has been read again and again, generation after generation, and is never considered antiquated by a believer because every day it’s fresh and new and every single word, jot and tittle, the smallest of punctuations, is an important factor in the lives of man and God. And yet mankind ignores it, rewrites it, takes it out of context to fit their own agenda and uses it with their own words to manipulate people.

Being a teacher of the word of God is not something that I take lightly. I know that I will stand before Almighty God one day and answer for the way I’ve taught it. All of us will stand before God and give answer for our attention to the details. It’s why He sent us His word. And changing it doesn’t change God. He will never get with man’s program which is what the world would have us believe. Any government official who says they’re a Christian and does not consider the Bible the inerrant word of God, and understand it’s meaning as much as Senate bill 179 doesn’t understand how very, very much God pays attention to the details.

Our own West Virginia Senators Joe Manchin and Shelly Capito profess Christianity, and yet neither have stood on the side of it in their office unless it benefited them personally to do so. At least that’s how I see it. This is not a political statement, this is a statement of accountability to everyone. We will be held accountable for the positions we hold in life, every jot and tittle of it. So that means we are without excuse for the bits and pieces of our lives that we considered not our responsibility or accountability. If God cares so much that even the punctuations marks matter, for certain the words and actions of our life matter.

So for a moment, let’s unpack Matthew 5:18-20 and apply it to today.

When Christ said “For verily I say unto you,” He was letting the recipients of the word know that this was an oath. If He said it, it’s happening without debate. The problem with man kind is few are any good on their word, so “verily,” is not a concept they (meaning us) are familiar with. But God’s letting us know, we better take heed to His words. Everyone one of them.

When He says “when Heaven and earth pass,” it’s means they’re going too. When? We will know when we know, and not until then. But for certain it’s going to happen, and yet the world, even those who profess, just keeping moving along as if it’s not, unconcerned that time or the jots and tittles in their lives that don’t match up with God. You know… the details.

[19] Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Who hasn’t broken a commandment. 🙋🏻‍♀️Every single one of us, there is no doubt. But what about teaching the breaking of commandments? Unless you’re a flat out heathen, you’re not going to teach people to steal, lie, cheat, kill, etc. And yet, the laws of our land right now do that very thing. I’m using the Covid bill as an example because it’s a life application that makes sense to do so. The so called “Covid-19 Bill” has far less to do with the virus than it does politics. It’s certainly not about helping the American people and yet they’re deceiving the people to believe so. They’re teaching deception and we’re ignoring the jots and tittles because we want our 1400.00 in relief money.

Hey! I can use that $1400.00. But what about the 10 trillion dollars of debt that they’re using to finance railroads and other projects unrelated to Covid-19? Actually, it has more to do with the fact that when Biden shut down the pipelines he moved the plan of transportation of oil and gas to the railways which his buddy, financier Warren Buffett, just happens to own. Hmmm. Might there be something fishy there? Of course! But it’s a jot and tittle that get left out because we don’t pay attention to our government and our government is happy as clams because they’re not going to have to answer for it.

Oh…. but they will.

So what does that have to do with scripture?

We all have jots and tittles in our lives that go overlooked intentionally or not. Some more serious than others. It happens. But when we turn a blind eye to elected, appointed or hired people in our lives who approve things such as the killing of babies through abortion, up to the birth age… and don’t call that murder, and when we fail to call out the politicians that voted for it, we’ve got our jots and tittles indeed and we’re teaching our youth the same. When we allow the powers that be to bankrupt our Nation both financially and morally without so much as a raised brow, I think that is details that God’s going to call some people on.

Christ continues on to say:
[20] For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The scribes and Pharisees were notorious for playing politics in the church house, adding jots and tittles of their own that the people couldn’t possibly keep, to the tune of 613 laws; they in truth couldn’t keep Ten Commandments! So how does that differ from modern day? The hypocrisy of our national (and not so national) leaders, who are God ordained positions is ridiculous.

This is why “religion” leaves such a bad taste in my mouth and makes me want to get very vocal and make people I love uncomfortable. Churches have used this pandemic as a reason not to share the gospel. Christianity and every part of it is a curse word in Washington DC and our church leaders are watering the gospel down to suit them. Oh that makes my blood boil. We have heretics and abominations on our American payrolls. More jots and tittles against our nation. If God held His beloved Israel accountable for their politics, do you think He’ll not do the same for a nation that has claimed His name and profited for decades from it.

If Americans don’t get their heads in Heavenly places, there’s going to be some mansions used for vacation home because the intended tenants didn’t catch the plain to Glory…. just saying.

Posted in Christian Service, Evangelism, Leadership, Life Inspiration, Uncategorized

If Jesus Coached Little League

Written by talk2shari Published February 29, 2016 Discussion Leave a Comment

Let me begin this blog by saying I’m a musician, not an athlete; so my view of sports is from the sideline as an encourager. But that doesn’t prevent me from having an opinion on the matter and being that what I’m writing about isn’t really about sports at all, I do consider myself somewhat of an authority. Little league sports is a season of beginnings for both the little ones playing and their parents. It’s a whole new set of emotions for parents who are almost for certain their little Johnny or Jenny have the potential to be a national star. And that’s as it should be. Parents should instill in their children at the earliest of possible ages that they can do or be anything they want… provided God approves. That’s the part most parents skip. And mainly because many little league activities are held on Wednesday evenings and now Sunday’s when kids should be in church, but that’s another blog.

If Jesus were a little league Coach, this is how I believe He’d go about it. The same manner for which He built the church.

He knew the game

Matthew 4:1-2

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

Jesus was every bit God and every bit man. He experienced and faced temptation the same way we do and yet He overcame sin, so we are without excuse. If Jesus hadn’t experienced that for Himself we’d been given the opportunity to say, “But Lord, You don’t understand.” But He does. And for certain a Coach, even of little league, should have at some point experienced the game.

He knew He was dealing with Amateurs

Matthew 4:18-20

And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

They weren’t preachers, they were fishermen, and Christ used that same analogy to convince them that they could play ball… or win souls as the case may be.

The one thing that most children love to do is play ball. Of any kind! And they’re pretty sure they’re the best at it, until somebody tells them they’re not. Now before any die hard athletes go on a rampage here, I understand the concept of winning and losing. You have to have both, not everyone can win every time. But winning and losing was not supposed to be the precept of little league ball. It was to train children to play.

Now let’s put that in a church perspective. I was blessed to begin my Christian walk in a church of really messed up people, (you know… sinners) with a leader who believed that we could be trained to be leaders. We weren’t expected to be perfect, but we were expected to try. When we broke the rules, we weren’t taken out of the game… we were brought to the sideline, instructed of righteousness and told to try again. That’s good teaching.

He knew they needed time

Most little league players don’t come out of the womb with a team jersey. There are the gifted, but most are just average kids, just like the church. A very small percentage of the church become paid servants, most of us are just average joes, or jills as the case may be; but you better believe there wouldn’t be a game if we didn’t show up.

Matthew 5:1-2

And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

Jesus taught not only the disciples but the multitude as well. Little league sports is a community event. It should be a time of learning and fun for everyone. It’s not the making of professionals, it’s the teaching of a team. Jesus wanted the disciples to understand that the game wasn’t about them, it was about those they served. And teaching kids to have a team spirit is the most valuable lesson you could teach as a coach. Because they’ll always be winners if they learn to treat one another with respect.

Teaching church members that lesson goes a long way too! The team’s attitude is usually a direct reflection of the coach. Bad or good the team is usually a mirror image. Jesus’ first lesson was an attitude check.

Matthew 5:3-9

³Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

⁵Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

⁶Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

⁷Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

⁸Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

⁹Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

He knew sometimes they’d lose

Matthew 5:10-11

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Jesus understood and taught how to take a loss. No matter what… treat people right.