A member recently shared this encouraging testimony that I want to share with you too. 

 

“My husband is not working...he is high risk according to the doctors. People have left bank envelopes of cash in the mailbox. For three weeks supplies and food from the grocery store have been left at the front door and back door...”

The power of our testimony is how it connects and points to God’s Word, reminding us of the Truth of who Christ really is. Here is what we can be reminded of, from this testimony:

• We have concerns but only God can give true, peace

• Trust the Lord for every provision that you need

• God provides and details like names only distract us from the fact that...God provides

• “People” still care about their neighbors

• We all need to be in a community

• God knows what we need at our front door and our back door

• God shows Himself in time of trial

 

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

How about you, what is your testimony of the Lord in time’s of trial? 

 

If this post is a blessing, share it with others via social media or personal connection!

________________

LongView Bible Church is a non-denominational church in Owings Mills, Maryland seeking to see life like God sees life. 

Members and Friends of LongView, you can support our continuing ministry work to those in need of groceries and support during the COVID-19 crisis, on line at longviewbible.org or via mail: LongView Bible Church, PO Box 86, Owings Mills, MD 21117

For many, we are locked away in our homes, away from harms way. At the same time, a recent text from a church member reminded me, there are many, within our church family, Owings Mills community and around the globe, that we may not even realize are on the frontlines of the coronavirus fight. So today, I encourage us all to pick up the phone, send a text or email or record a short video on your phone to encourage a doctor, nurse, medical service employee, realtor, delivery worker, restaurant staff employee, convenience store employee etc...around the world and within our church family. 

 

Here’s How

1. Pray to the Lord first, for who He wants you to reach out to

2. Reach out, “I was thinking of you, can I pray with you?”

3. Pray for what concerns them. Pray for their protection. Pray for their peace. Pray that God will glorified in and through their life. 

 

That’s it that’s all, now let’s make a call. Let’s use this “lockdown” time to bless the Lord, to strengthen those in the faith and reach out to those on the frontlines. Let’s make sure no one walks through this crisis alone. 

  

If this post is a blessing, share it with others via social media or personal connection!

 

________________

Members and Friends of LongView, you can support the continued ministry work of LongView Bible Church on line at longviewbible.org or via mail: LongView Bible Church, PO Box 86, Owings Mills, MD 21117

We awake to another day of “lockdown” or “self-quarantine” and I pray we all are finding joy in the moment! God really is good and there is a God sized purpose to where we are, right now. My personal determination is to come out of this stronger, I have been in prayer for what I can take on now, while locked in the house. So, let me ask you a question, what is God giving you the opportunity to take on or knock out? What will you accomplish during this time that will make your life better, when this is all over? Here is my list:

1. Paint our first floor. Home Depot is still open & it is relatively inexpensive. This includes teaching my son to paint.

2. Home workout. I am getting the hang of this, I may be able to ditch my gym membership for good.

3. Creating some personal space in my basement. Been putting this off longer than I can remember.

4. Family devotions. We have always had prayer time, but devotions as a family have been a little tricky, with everyone going in different directions. We have time now. 

5. Write 2 hours a day. This has been a daily goal for years, but I only hit it about twice a week. Now is a good time to get in the habit. 

How about you, what is God giving you time to do? How are you and your family going to come out of this stringer?

____________________

Please share this post with others. And, remember, that during this time of not meeting in-person, LongView continues to support the many needs of our church community, you can give on-line through our church app or online at: https://www.longviewbible.org/give or PO Box 86, Owings Mills, MD 21117

How do we connect our life today, with the life of Christ in the Bible? That has been the underlying premise of our current Bible Study, Connected. Every “Christian” is susceptible to living a life under the banner of “Christian” without ever really living aligned with Christ. I recently heard the confession of a believer that came to the realization, “I have been a Christian for over 40 years, but I have just realized, I have never surrendered my life to Christ”. What a remarkable and sadly common sentiment. Once we accept Christ as our savior, we must then also surrender “our life” to Christ!

As our weekly Bible Study through the book of Colossians continues, Paul keeps reinforcing to the church at Colosse, that has been giving in to cultural pressures and customs of those around them, that their life is intimately “connected” to Christ. I guess it is somewhat subjective, but to me the high water mark of Paul’s teaching of how our life is connected to Christ’s, comes in Col. 3:3-4:

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.  (read the whole book - it will bless you).

Here are the highlights: You have died, your life is hidden with Christ, who is hidden in God the Father. Oh, and then in v.4, Christ is your life!

What incredibly tough and ultimately freeing insight! And, as you let all of that soak in, you have to turn Paul’s statement into a personal question as we ask God, “Lord, have I truly died to you? Is my life now hidden in You [Christ]?”. The power of these questions is that they can only be answered by God, Himself. To us, our ways are clean and right. But God has the ability to know our true motives more than we do [Prov 16:1-3].

The idea, “For you have died”, is death to our old sin-filled nature and coming alive to a true newness of life in Christ with a new divine nature [Rom 6:1-6, Col 2:20-3:17, Eph 2:1-10; 4:17-32, 2 Peter 1:3-4]! According to Col 3:9, we are to put off the old nature as well as the practices attached to our old nature. Paul wants us to know, a new life in Christ is such a radical change, that reaches all the way down to our soul.

Rehab or New?: When I bought my current house, I happily called my dad to tell him the good news. My dad, who is an old educator and school principal, poured cold water on my excitement by correcting me about my “new” house. He did so by having me read the date on the deed. Well, in truth, the year on the house deed was 1920. The point, my dad was making is that to determine “new” or “old”, you have have to go to when the foundation was laid. He went on to remind me, that a house with new fixtures, appliances and new paint is a rehabbed house, not a new house. In much the same way, many embrace their walk with Christ as if they have been rehabbed and now because of it, they curse less and try harder to live better. But the language of Paul’s teaching is far greater than just a few changes, instead there is now a new foundation.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him...[2:6]; If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations...[2:20]; If then you have been raised with Christ...[3:1]

We are not just a little fixed up, but we are new all the way down to the soul, with a new nature! So in the context, when Paul tells us in Col 3:3, that we have died [to the old us], he also helps us know that now our life is “hidden with Christ in God”. It is this intimate, connection with Christ that is our great purpose and excitement about living for Christ! For every goal sheet item and self made purpose we have chased throughout our life, Christ, our Savior - is now our life.

Lord, hide my life: my priorities, my agenda, my goals, my behavior, my attitude, my thoughts..., in You, so that what is seen is Christ - only.

I love God’s Word! Nothing is richer, more exciting or more enriching than God’s Word. Right now, one of the places God is feeding my soul from is Acts 20:24!

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

It is always dangerous to just study one verse of Scripture or form an understanding from one passage of the Bible. Instead, whatever we know out Scripture should be woven throughout. So while I am sharing Acts 20:24, this one verse is woven into Paul’s life as captured in the book of Acts and the 13 letters that Paul wrote. This verse is Paul’s perspective on his entire walk with Christ and I can’t help but lay my own perspective of my life against Paul’s perspective of his own life. Which leads to 5 introspective questions this verse brings to mind:

•    Do I account my life as valuable or precious to me, in a way that prevents me from living for Christ totally?

•    Conversely, do I account for my life as a gift to God?

•    Is my life “only” about finishing my course and ministry? Or are there rivals to finishing the course?

•    Has my course and ministry been received by Christ? Or, am I running on some other course of someone else’s race and/or of my own imagination?

•    Is the point of my course to testify to the gospel of the grace of God?

The point of Paul’s statement is that he sees his life as belonging to God. Years ago I would hear people say that a guy {not me of course - lol} thinks he is God’s gift to women, or something to that effect. It was always a reflection of the person’s obvious arrogance and their misplaced sense of self-worth. Paul here sees himself, his life, as a gift to God. Not in an arrogant way, but in a way that has Christ as the center of his life. Can I encourage you to pray/ask God those five questions about your own life. My prayer, is that as you ask those questions God will shape and/or reshape your perspective about Him in your heart and relationship with Him.

May God Bless You! Have a great day in Christ.

Edward

Philippians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 

 

The resurrection of Christ from the dead is the foundation of our faith in Christ [Read Philippians 3:1-11]. It is the resurrection of Christ that literally makes Christ our living Savior and therefore our living Hope. Perhaps, you have heard that before. For many we know that Christ rose from the dead to save our souls and apply His righteousness to our lives. However, until we can really embrace the resurrection and it’s work in our lives in the face of life’s trials, it is just something we have heard but it struggles to have meaning. 

This is what makes Paul’s statement so powerful. He is in prison, probably chained to guards and a wall. And, in this harsh reality. Paul is striving to deeply and personally embrace the resurrection of Christ as the major shaping tool of his life. It is in Christ’s resurrection that Paul finds his great purpose and drive to be like Christ. 

It really is an amazing pursuit and perspective . Often when tough stuff is raging in my life, my concerns are for me. But, Paul’s goal is to be Christ-like. 

 

But I Press On

So, fueled by the resurrection of Christ, he presses on. He doesn’t see the reality of his chains of imprisonment as a reason to stop or even waver in his pursuit of Christ. Nothing in his prison experience, not the cold cell or the heavy chains or just the slight of even being detained, gives Paul a reason to stop striving to be Christ like. Instead, realizing that God still has purpose for his life, the truth and power of the resurrection of Christ become even greater reason to press on toward personal ownership of the resurrection.

 

Because Christ Jesus Has...

Here is what Paul understands: 

Christ has died for me. 

Christ has risen from the dead, for me. 

God hasn’t cancelled my purpose. 

I am determined to pursue Christ, so as to know Him, share in His suffering, become like Him in death and likewise attain resurrection from the dead [v10].

Because Christ Jesus has made me His own.

 

As it is true for Paul, so it is for all who pursue Christ, to know the power of His resurrection. The death, burial and resurrection of Christ is the foundation of your strength. It is the resurrection that makes Christ the Shepherd and Guardian of your soul. It is the resurrection of Christ from the dead that gives you access to become a child of God. 

The words and truth of this passage can be so encouraging and humbling to us all in a time of crisis. Because, we like Paul face times where our present reality wants to and by many measures should suck the desire to keep moving forward out of us. Yet, in the most trying times of life we are reminded to press on to take hold and own all of Christ as Christ owns all of us. 

Press on...because Christ Jesus has made you His own. 

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, Philippians 4:13

 

I absolutely love our LongView family. This morning a member of the church called as I began writing today’s blog post. He was sharing three points in his “Junior High” experience where he was misunderstood, mislabeled and mistreated. Each resulting in his being sent to another school. Whether polite or forceful, being “asked” to leave three schools could have shaped his life negatively - forever. It was a point in his life where his experience could have created and then cemented a negative story about who he was. Instead, he credits those three tough times, for a successful career in management where he often had to treat and show compassion to those that he managed. Because of the way he was hurt by three principals at three schools, it became more important for him as a manager to develop a plan to help and better understand those that reported to him, rather than to fire them. 

 

Choose Christ

All of us have these life shaping events in our past. Those moments we can point to that have left their mark, some positive and some negative. But we also get to choose how we allow past experiences to share our present and dictate our future. See, we can either choose to believe the report of our experience(s), even if that report is backed be of 3 Junior High principals, or we can choose to believe the report told by our faith in Christ. 

That is the choice Paul had to make in Philippians 4:13. He had been arrested and he was currently in prison, but he chose to keep on pursuing Christ to know Him in deeper, more meaningful ways. 

 

I Keep Forgetting

What Paul shares with the Philippian Christians is that in order to let go of what sought to shape him, he had to do one thing. He had to continually forget his past to be able to fight forward: “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead”. 

Please don’t miss that “forgetting” is a continual fight that is different than a one time “forget”. But also catch that by constantly forgetting he is now committed to “straining” forward for what is next. 

I can hear your questions, lol, “But how can I forget?”. Paul’s forgetting is not denial of what he has been through. Instead, the particular Greek word used for forgetting means to escape, loosen up or lose thought of. By forgetting, Paul is not denying what happen, he is allowing God to loose him from it, so that he can move forward.

I pray this is encouraging to you. Life happens - continuously and often without apology. If we allow, we can become stuck in what has already happened or we can choose to fight forward, straining with all of our soul toward Christ and HIs resurrection power. Keep fighting, keep straining, keep seeking by letting loose the past and escaping it’s power to shape your life. 

I am praying with and for you today. 

 

Ask God to reveal the points in your life that have given shape to who you are now. Is it time to start forgetting...

It was to be the most humiliating and excruciating way to extinguish a life. Whips designed to dig into the flesh, and a body, nailed to an intentionally splintered wooden beam were only the start of the cruelty. From that point they would hang in the air by their flesh for hours as gravity caused the body to sag. As the body would continue to sag, the lungs would fill with blood and fluid, eventually suffocating the life out of the person. This was Roman crucifixion. 

It was not created specifically for Christ. Rather, it was a commonly used Roman way of sending a message of their authority. 

So, with all of this being true, why, and/or, how can we then celebrate the day that Christ was crucified on a cross as a, “Good Friday”? Well, what makes Good Friday, good, is not what Romans carried out and Jewish crowds initiated and cheered on. Instead, what makes that Friday good, is that Christ’s crucifixion was/is, in a very real sense where He substituted Himself for us! It was good that Christ hung on the cross for you, instead of you. Because, only Christ could be a “good enough” sacrifice for the sins of us all:

 

 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:14

We each owed a debt for our sins that we could not repay! At the cross, Christ cancelled that debt! It is because of Christ that this heinous place of intended shame is now the Christ followers place of victory and strength. 

So today, in this period of social distance, I pray and encourage each of us to remain passionately determined to connect with all that is good about Good Friday! As a church we will not be able to gather this year as we have in the past. Instead, this year we are encouraging a day of solemn reflection and meditation on the “Good of Good Friday, Now”.Lets reflect on how Christ’s work on the cross is still powerfully at work in our lives. Plan now, to make Friday a day to get quiet to really hear from the Lord by praying, reading the crucifixion passages of the Bible and hearing from the Lord. 

Good!

This Good Friday, our ministers and elders will be helping to lead us, through three 15 minute messages focusing our attention on the crucifixion of Christ. A new message will be released on our website & app coinciding with the hours Christ hung on the cross, at 9am, Noon and 3pm. 

As much as we pray that this Good Friday will be a time of each of us individually connecting with the Cross of Christ, deeply. There is also a great opportunity to invite your family, friends and co-workers to tune in, log on and connect with this day long celebration of Christ’s great work in our soul. 

 

If this post is a blessing, share it with others via social media or personal connection!

________________

Members and Friends of LongView, you can support our continuing ministry work to those in need of groceries and support during the COVID-19 crisis, on line at longviewbible.org or via mail: LongView Bible Church, PO Box 86, Owings Mills, MD 21117

The vision of LongView Bible Church is and has been, “Building a community of Christ followers seeking to see and live life within the LongView of God”. It has always been God’s reminder that we need each other. Well, nothing underscores the need to be part of a healthy community like a crisis. 

In fact, that point was underscored during our recent Men’s Small group ZOOM call. One after another we shared our common feelings during this time of crisis. It was a real time of blessing to listen and encourage one another, while walking in a common challenge. Without community, we are on our own individual islands. On individual islands, we are separated from people, and left to think we are the only one’s going though what we are going through. But when we connect in community, we are reminded that we are not alone. In community we realize that not only are others going through it, but we also realize positive ways others are drawing closer to Christ. 

So let me ask, are you feeling alone right now? Are you in a place that seems like no one else would understand or relate to? Well, we don’t want anyone to walk through this crisis alone, so I invite you to connect to our LongView Bible Church community:

• Men’s Group Videoconference Call, email

• Women’s Group Videoconference Call

• RisingView Youth Bible Study Videoconference Call

• Monday & Friday 7:15p-7:30pm Prayer & Devotions Call

• Send Prayer Requests to prayer@longviewbible.org

• Request for Groceries

• Want to talk about salvation or questions of faith, or anything, email edward@longviewbible.org

For information on any of our videoconference calls, email: info@longviewbible.org or call the church (410)356-3301. 

 

If this post is a blessing, share it with others via social media or personal connection!

 

Members and Friends of LongView, you can support the continued ministry work of LongView Bible Church on line at longviewbible.org or via mail: LongView Bible Church, PO Box 86, Owings Mills, MD 21117

Amos the prophet ministered to the king’s of Israel and Judah at the same time. In both, Israel & Judah, the people of God were being consumed by idolatry, materialism and corruption. These behaviors were the result of their continued turning of their hearts from God. But I find it interesting that as they turned from God, they continued to carry out religious “rituals”, symbolic of their faith in God. They still gave offerings, sang worship songs, made sacrifices, held feasts, and gathered together for services, but, none of this religious activity equated to actual relationship with God. They simply were doing what they always did, except their hearts were no longer connected to what they were not directed toward God while they were doing it. Perhaps among themselves they looked and even believed they were being holy, but God knew He was not the true object of their affection. In fact, this is how God viewed their religious activities: 

 

I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offering and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. Amos 5:21-23 

 

Those are pretty extraordinarily strong statements of God’s displeasure for Israel. Here is what they mean: God wants our heart aligned with His. See, they had begun replacing their relationship with God with their relationship with their “stuff”. Hence, they were being identified by their idolatry, materialism and corruption instead of as people belonging to God. 

In Amos’ sharp correction to Israel he asks a question in Amos 3:3 that I want to leave us to meditate on today: Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?

 

Here is what the question is asking, can two (you and God) be going in the same direction without agreeing to go in the same direction. If God wants one thing and we want or do another, isn’t that a problem? Think about your relationship with any person that you know or interact with. Perhaps you have been in situations where you have had to just get along with people, like a spouse or a boss, but you really didn’t agree with them? Or, maybe you have been in situations where you don’t get along with someone because you don’t agree. 

Well, of course, neither of those are how we want to relate to God. And even greater, that is not how God wants us to be in relationship with Him. 

The point Amos is sharing is that we can’t walk with God and not be living yielded to the direction He is going in. If God is going one way and we are moving another, or not moving at all, we are not in agreement with God. We, like Israel, hear from God, He speaks of His plans for us, He gives us our direction in life and He expresses His desire for our heart to be yielded to Him, yet, if we choose to walk our own way we then are left to bear our own burdens. 

 

So, here is just a quick self-check. See how many of the following things that God says about you do you agree with: 

• The Lord is my Shepherd - Psalms 23

• I am fearfully and wonderfully made - Psalms 139:14

• The Lord renews strength to the weary and the faint - Isaiah 40:31

• He won’t leave me nor forsake me - Deuteronomy 31:6

• I am not condemned - Romans 8:1

• I am God’s temple - 1 Corinthians 3:16

• I am dead to sin and alive to righteousness - Romans 6:5-11

• I have escaped the corruption of this world - 2 Peter 1:3-4

 

This list can go on for quite some time, these are just a few of my own personal favorites. The point is that in scary times like these agree with God. He has a plan and a direction for your life. Regardless of how long you have been in church, or knowing God, determine today, not to allow fear or anger or anything to cause you to substitute your relationship with God for religious looking activity that has no meaning.

 

Members and Friends of LongView, you can support the continued ministry work of LongView Bible Church on line at longviewbible.org or via mail: LongView Bible Church, PO Box 86, Owings Mills, MD 21117

Yesterday I shared a post of some reflections from Jeremiah 29:4-9. During exile, God still has a plan for His people to Build - Plant - Live - And, Seek Him. After God has Jeremiah to write and share that word of encouragement, He then writes something that has always been a core verse of LongView Bible Church. While there are several verses that convey the understanding that God has a plan for our future, Jeremiah 29:11 is the one we share most frequently. So, in this time of “unease” let God’s Word remind us that with God there IS a future hope:

10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. Jeremiah 29:10-14

God Knows:

• In our harsh reality, God knows the plans - we don’t.

• God’s point is our well-being, not our setback.

• God’s plans have a purpose resulting in a future and a hope!

• Our responsibility is to call on the Lord, pray to Him, He is listening.

• Our responsibility is to continue to seek the Lord. He will take care of the restoring and setting things straight.

In the middle of the crisis, life can feel overwhelming. Right now there is so much uncertainty about - everything. So, let’s refocus our prayers on God’s plan in our current reality and where God is taking us.

Lord, we thank you that we belong to you! You, God, have always had a plan for our lives. You alone, have carried us through so many challenges of life and we have full confidence in you. You know what COVID-19 is really all about. You know what plans you have for each of us. You know our future and in you alone, give us strength to continually find our HOPE. God you know...

LongView, I pray this blog is encouraging to you today. Please, pass it along to friends and family members today.

______________

Also remember, that during this time of not meeting in-person, LongView continues to support the many needs of our church community, you can give on-line through our church app or online at: https://www.longviewbible.org/give or PO Box 86, Owings Mills, MD 21117

I guess everyone’s count is a little different. For me this is day 3 of being “mainly” in the house. It is not hard to find reasons to complain about the fallout or the lock in, related to COVID-19, but today, share what has been positive about it. What have been the positives from being locked in, this week? What have you learned, what changes will stick after this is all “over”?

I will get us started with my own list:

1. We have solved a long standing logistical problem of my wife and I both being able to work from home at the same time.

2. Typically by Thanksgiving we start talking about spring break plans and by the start of the year the deposits have been made and the plans are set. But, this is the first year that we did not make Spring Break travel plans. Now knowing that we would not have been able to go anywhere anyway, has led us into a good discussion about the sovereignty of God. Thankfully, we did not waste time, energy or money on something that would not have happened.

3. Proper perspective on disappointment. We have seen the erasing of two Spring sports seasons and a much muted Birthday celebration in our household. Yet, we have come to see the positive in what we still have to look forward to.

4. House Cleaning! Lot’s of cleanliness going on.

5. Working out as a family. Tennis, pushups, Basketball, walks in the park - it’s been fun.

6. God has a plan for our good. I have been able to have great devotional time with the Lord and discussion time with my family about God’s great plans for our well-being.

So that is just the start, how about you, share one positive thing God has done and/or you have learned during your “home bound” experience.

Please share this post with others. And, remember, that during this time of not meeting in-person, LongView continues to support the many needs of our church community, you can give on-line through our church app or online at: https://www.longviewbible.org/give or PO Box 86, Owings Mills, MD 21117