God, Our Rescuer

A Knight in

Shining Armor

Who doesn’t love a good story of rescue and redemption?  Happily-ever-afters are the best.  We long for them, don’t we? Too often our real-life story is filled with lots of missteps, mistakes and missed opportunities.  Often, we find ourselves a long way from a picture-perfect finish.  We are flawed, sinful people and we live in a world broken by sin with other flawed and sinful people.  That means lots of messy, problem filled lives.  How can we possibly make it thru? 



Many folks do a lot of pretending.  Pretending they are perfect.  “Everything is fine.  No problems in my life…my family…my marriage.”   Sounds great, but not a pain free way to live because all that pretend perfection is exhausting and pretty hard to keep up.  Sooner or later, that house of cards will fall, no matter how good you are at balancing.  Humans just are not perfect and pretend perfection is not satisfying.



Some people try to go thru the mess of life by numbing themselves with drugs, alcohol, excessive shopping, sex, destructive relationships or a host of other distractions, trying everything in an attempt to get some peace or relief. Most of us do a combination.  We vacillate between pretending we are living perfect, pain-free lives or we cave to the pressures of life and seek solace in the world’s bandaids.  None will ever lead to a happily ever after.  All you get is bigger problems on top of the problems you are trying to escape. Neither option is a real solution. 



The only solution is a real relationship with God; a genuine, honest relationship with the one who knows everything about you and loves you anyway.  God, who loves messy, flawed, sinful humans so much He died for us.  God doesn’t want a bunch of pretenders. Instead, He wants us to be willing to share our insufficiency with the world so He can be our sufficiency.  When we are honest about our need for Him, He shows himself faithful to us in every way.  A world full of hurting pretenders needs to see the real you: warts, scars and all with Jesus shining in and thru you, despite your imperfections and problems.  When we pretend and hide, we show our lack of faith in Him. 



We need to accept who we are in Christ.  He made us.  He defines who we are.  When we accept Jesus as Lord of our lives, we become part of God’s family.  We are daughters and sons of the Almighty God.  We aren’t perfect but He accepts us and loves us despite our flaws because of what Jesus did for us on the cross.  We need to believe what God says about us and be brave enough to show the world our real selves so we can share the love of Jesus with a world full of flawed people who need to know Him too. We need to accept that our identity comes from God and He really does love us.  That’s how we get a happy ending that’s really a happy beginning. 



From: Follow the Cloud by John Stickl:



In Jesus:

·         You are already loved—which means you have nothing to fear.

·         You are already forgiven—which means you have no debt to pay.

·         You are already his masterpiece—which means you are valuable.

·         You are already free—which means nothing can hold you back.

·         You are already accepted—which means you have nothing to prove.

·         You are already his beloved son or daughter—which means you are alive!

The roar from heaven says, “You’re mine.  You belong to me. And only I get to say who you are.”

Mighty warrior, it’s time to become who you already are.





Karen Long-Moore, Senior Leader

CBS Rutherfordton Day Class



Originally Presented to the Leadership 9/18/19

Return to Me

Karen Long-Moore

Core Group Leader

Return to me. 

God calls to us just as he called the Israelites home to Him from Babylon. We, like them, have turned to idols of our own making. We have let other things get in the way of our relationship with God. We have misplaced priorities and have lapsed into sin. 

God has given us so much, and we have loved it all so much, that we have let it come first. Good gifts that have good purposes have

 James 4:8

been elevated to idols in our lives. Left to ourselves, we can easily become consumed with selfishness and forget to put Him first. We spin in circles, going nowhere.

God knows us and knows we need His guidance and help. We need Him! He pursues us. He never forgets us even when we forget Him. He is always faithful to forgive. He calls us to come to Him. When we take that first step toward Him, He runs to meet us. 

How sweet it is to be back in our familiar routine at CBS; to open the scriptures next to our workbook and dig in to the Word of God. As we draw near to Him, He draws near to us. We were made for Him. 

We are home.

Originally presented to Leadership Counsel

Rutherfordton CBS – Day Class  9/20/17

Come Let us Adore Him

        

  The hymn, "O Come All Ye Faithful" is sung at most Christmas celebrations.  It is so popular that we often sing it by rote without even thinking about what we are singing.  Do we really take the time to think about adoring our Savior,  Jesus Christ?  That's what I want to talk about: Adoring Jesus.

          According to the Oxford dictionary, to adore means to love and respect someone deeply;  to be devoted to or hold dear.  Psalm 95:6 says, "Come let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our maker."

           If we adore someone, we want to spend time with them as much as possible.  We want to know everything about them.  We treat them and everything related to them with respect.  We want to tell everyone we meet about them.  They permeate every aspect of our thinking, speaking and acting and even our dreams at times.   How can we truly adore Jesus?

    First, we have to get our priorities straight.  We have to recognize Jesus for who He really is and for what he has done for us.   Kyle Idleman, in his book: gods at war, says "I know that there is the Lord God, the master of all creation.  I also know there's the god of me, the pretender to the throne."  We, still, like our ancestors before us,  choose to pay homage to idols instead of God and often that idol is our self.  How crazy is that?  Jesus is so much more than anything we can create or be.  We have to get off the throne of our lives and make sure we acknowledge Jesus as our Lord.  It is only when we truly see Jesus for who He is,  that we can get serious about our adoration. 

          Colossians 1:16 says "For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.  All things have been created through Him and for Him.  We wouldn't even exist without Him.   Philippians 2:10-11 tells us that "it is at the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father.  The day will come when all will recognize Him.  We who know Him should live now like we do.  Because of his great love for us, Jesus, the living son of God died to pay the price for our sins, to bring us into a relationship with Him and to ultimately give us eternal life with Him.  No idol of our own making can now or ever do that. 

          Secondly, we have to put Christ first.  Start the day with Him, in His word and in prayer. Seek His will for our lives and make decisions according to His will.  Seek His counsel.  He promises if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us.  God wants our hearts aligned with His.  He wants our whole hearted devotion not our leftovers. 

          What do we get from Jesus?  He gives us peace.  In Isaiah 26:3, we are promised that God keeps him in perfect peace,  whose mind is stayed on Him because he trusts in Him.

          Jesus gives us joy and hope now and in the future. Romans 15:13 states, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."  Isaiah 35:10 tells us, "and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.  Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. "

          There's more, He gives power and strength.  "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."( Philippians 4:13)

          He is our comfort and refuge.   "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of all compassion and the God of all comfort." 2 Corinthians 1:3

          Jesus is the source of everything.  He made us, chose us, called us, adopted us, redeemed and saved us. He is transforming us, advocating and providing for us and He is coming back for us. 

          It is true, He is the reason we celebrate this season, but on this day and every other, we need to fix our eyes upon Him, bow down and adore Him.  Jesus Christ is Lord of all.

Karen Long-Moore

Originally Presented to the Leadership Team

CBS- Rutherfordton Day Class

December, 2015

Footprints of God

        It's funny how we can miss God's presence in our lives by simply not looking. He is always there, whether we notice him or not. A few years ago, I participated in Beth Moore's Believing God Bible study. As a part of it, we made a timeline of our lives and divided it into fifths. We then added in details of our life during each period including our family situation as well as significant milestones. As I reflected back thru each period, I could see the footprints of God all over my life. He was there.  I often wasn't looking.   

I could see God's work in my early life as I remembered being surrounded by a loving Christian family, being raised in church and accepting Christ as my Savior at age seven. I still remember His clear voice from that day. Later on, I could see God's presence even when I was paying Him no attention at all as I exercised my

independence in college and young adulthood. I made circles in a wilderness of my own choice for 20 years, making lots of mistakes doing it my way. God was there.  I just wasn't very interested. God remained faithful to our relationship even while I did not. 

When I chose to return to Him in 2000, I began to see God everywhere. He wasn't hiding. He wants to be seen. He has always wanted to be seen and remembered. He has been posting signs in the heavens, performing miracles, burning bushes, sending prophets and He even sent His own son so that we can see Him for who He really is and love Him back.   

Today I choose to look for Him every day. He is up to something and I don't want to miss it. He's even got His own series on primetime television! I can't wait to see what He does next. I challenge you to make a timeline of your life. Like me, I’ll bet you find God's footprints all over your life, too.  

Hebrews 11:6 says, “God promises that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." And in Jeremiah 29:13, God says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." 

 

   God has been faithful to me in keeping these promises. I see Him today in the smiles and love from each of you and in your dedication to the women who come here every week looking for God. 

Karen Long-Moore, Core Leader

Originally presented to the CBS Leadership Team