New Year's Thoughts - 2007

      Happy New Year! On this occasion we have to start things anew, I want to challenge you in two separate ways. First, have you ever considered the importance of having a new year? God has been so gracious to give us 2,008 years since anno domine or "the Year of the Lord." Think of the number of people who have come to know Christ in the past year. The Gospel is spreading daily and it is fully out of grace that He allows us another year to spread the good news of His Son, Jesus Christ and His atoning death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. How did you use this past year? Did you glorify God with the spreading of the Gospel? This year, I would challenge you to devote it to Christ and fulfill the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 by sharing the Good News of Christ's sacrifice with friends, family, acquaintances, and everyone that God brings in your path.

      Secondly, I want to challenge you in your Scripture reading. We are a people of the Book and we need to be devoted to reading God's Word. So often, we try to treat God as a great genie in the sky that grants us our wishes. We NEED a relationship with our heavenly Father more desparately than we need anything else in this entire world; health and money are nothing compared to not having a relationship with Him. God's very words have been given to us in Scripture. They tell us who we are as well as who He is. They are a mirror set before us to look at and see our sinfulness, God's perfection, and the redemption that we have in Jesus. Without spending daily time reading His Word, meditating, and praying it is impossible to maintain a relationship with our living Lord. I would imagine that very few of us have friends to whom we never talk, never read their letters or emails, and never think about that we would honestly be able to call friends, so why do we try to do that to God? Devote this next year to being a student of His Word, learn it and focus on it so that you can understand both yourself and God in order to deepen your relationship with Him and grow in the riches of Christ Jesus our Lord.

Grace and Peace,
Jeff Scroggs

Christmas Thoughts - 2007

      As we come upon this Christmas season, it’s so easy to get caught up in the activities, festivities, and shopping and forget the real reason behind Christmas, the birth of Jesus the Christ. Why is it so easy for us to gloss over the fact that the Supreme Lord and Creator of the universe humbled Himself and became a man like us? If not for His incarnation, we would have no hope of salvation. Scripture tells us that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23) and that “the wages of sin is death.” Praise God that “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). There is great importance in the fact that “in Him the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily.” Jesus did not just appear to be human, but was fully human and was tempted in the same way that we are, yet He remained sinless.

      In mankind’s depravity (complete sinfulness), we needed someone to pay the debt that we built up and someone to represent us before God. Job himself cried out for an arbiter (Job 9), someone who could stand and plead to God on our behalf. If Jesus were not fully man, it would be impossible for us to attempt to imitate Him, to be made into His image. God made man in His image during Creation and since the fall (Gen. 3) we are being remade by the Holy Spirit conforming us to be like Christ (Eph. 1:3-14). Praise God for the wonderful gift that He has given us through the birth of His Son in that tiny manger in Bethlehem, where the Sovereign Lord showed His compassion and love by sending His Son, very God of very God, to be born of a woman in order to redeem humanity from their sin. Enjoy the beautiful decorations and festivities, but don’t let anything distract you from your worship of God for the wonderful gift that He has given us through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Grace and Peace,
Jeff Scroggs

Psalm 23 - Rest

      Do you ever have days where you are just so frustrated you can barely think? Those are the days when you really just need to take a time out and refocus. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed in our fast-paced lives with a million things to do and some many priorities fighting against one another. If you’re having one of those days, I’d recommend taking a deep breath, relaxing, and reading the 23rd Psalm. We often get frustrated because we rely too much on our own strength and not enough on His. We seek to make things right under our own power and don’t rely on God’s. But hear these words from David:

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
For you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

      Cast your cares and burdens on the LORD and allow Him to give you the rest that you so need. God did not rest on the 7th day because He got tired, He did it to set an example for us, that we might rest. Focus on God and what He has done for us through His Son, Jesus Christ, and allow Him to give you rest today.

Grace and Peace,
Jeff

For I know the plans I have for you...

One of my favorite verses of Scripture is Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for peace (shalom) and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and hope.” But when we look at the verses around it, it should give us even more comfort. The people of Judah had just been sacked by king Nebuchadnezzar and most had been carried away to Babylon (a journey of about 800 miles on foot). They had been taken away from the land that God had promised them, away from the dwelling place of God (the temple), as well as had their own king removed from the throne of David. All the promises of God seemed to be falling down around them. But God’s message through Jeremiah is this, even when the world is falling apart around you, do not despair. God is working for our good even though we can not see it at times. This is when we need to turn to Him and seek Him with repentance and prayer with all of our hearts.

I’ve had times in my life where I can’t see God doing anything in my life, but that is when we must trust His Word that He is still actively planning our lives and working things for our benefit (Romans 8:28). How much more should we seek God when things are not difficult and we are seeing His plans laid out before us? God has blessed us enormously here at EBC this past month and it is tremendous seeing His plans come to pass. It is a great benefit to us and duty that we serve such a wonderful living God. I encourage you not to take God for granted in the good times and make sure that you fall upon Him and call to Him when the world is falling apart. He has plans to benefit us throughout them all.
Grace and Peace,
Jeff Scroggs

Upcoming New Material

Alright, I've been struggling with deciding what to do with this blog, so I'm going to try putting some of my existing writings on here for people to read. I've got about 3 years worth of church newsletter articles that I want to put up as well as wanting to review and recommend some books for those that may be interested. Let me know what you think as I start putting up some new material!
Grace and Peace,
Jeff

When God speaks, do you listen? Part 2

    First a slightly off topic video that you should really watch. Words can not describe it. Jesus will zap you is a video I found on Sola5Guy's blog. DJ's a great guy and I've got to give him credit for that one.

    Now, back to the study at hand... How else does God speak to us that we may often not hear the way we should other than directly through His Son? Well, looking back at Hebrews 1:1, according to Scripture He has spoken through the prophets at many times and in many ways. Notice the "in the past" portion at the first of that verse, this is not a continuing trend to be followed. Be VERY wary of anyone that claims to be a prophet and has a new word from God. Why is it important to know that God spoke through the prophets, you may ask. Quite simply because God has not changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament. The 400 years of silence between them was not where God changed His mind from doing things the "old" way and decide to send Jesus. Jesus was the plan from the very beginning. When we look at Ephesians 1:4-5, God planned for this way to be saved before the foundation of the world. That means that God knew that Jesus would have to come give His life up on the cross before God ever created Adam and Eve.

    So it is VERY important that we don't rule out the Old Testament as an out-of-date book that just has stories for kids in it. God is unraveling the story of Jesus Christ and is showing us His character, grace, and love on every page. How familiar are you with the Old Testament? Done any good readings in Leviticus or Ezekiel recently? Sadly, we often just read the OT as a story book rather than searching deeply for the plan of God for the salvation of His people. Is it harder to read than the NT? Very much so in places. But that should drive us to ask questions so that we better hear what God is saying to us through His Holy Word. Then we will come to know Him better and learn to know and love His voice like the sheep know the voice of the shepherd.

When God speaks, do you listen? Part 1

    When God speaks, do you listen? Can you honestly answer that question as yes? If so, then it is easy to answer the question, how does God speak. When we look at Scripture, we see some very important things about how God speaks. Firstly, Scripture is God speaking to us. There is a reason that it used to be referred to out of reverence as the Holy Bible and is still referred to as God's Word. We'll get more into that in the next couple of days, but let's take a look at Hebrews 1:1-2. "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son..." One of the most important ways that God speaks to us is through the life of His Son, Jesus Christ. Are you listening? Do you know the life of Christ and the things that He has said and done? Or are you just vaguely hearing God and have read through it sometime in the past. We need to listen to God and what He says to us and that involves reading about the life of Christ and knowing the story intimately. If God is speaking as Scripture has said, don't you think you should be listening?