Pastor Jason Anderson - Daily Loaf of Wisdom

Well you’re reading this, so that’s like manna, and today I’m talking about prayer.  When Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, one of the things he told them to say was "Give us this day our daily bread."  Well you might be thinking, hey, bread is carbs, that's to many carbs.  But when Jesus talks about bread he's talking about God's word.  He tells the devil that "man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."  You see daily bread is like the manna the Israelites got every day.  And Jesus said, “I am the bread of life”, and of course Jesus is the Word of God.  So it wasn't about carbs, it was about God's word, the Bible, Jesus.  

Do you need a little Jesus every day?  Well, we want a lot of Jesus.  In fact, we want all of Him.  Including in our prayer life the prayer for daily bread reminds us to that we need to be in the word searching for the wisdom of God.  We need not only some oatmeal and brown sugar, we also need A bible buffet.  A scripture soufflé.  He was telling us to pray, “Lord teach me something new today.”  When we pray we ask for all sorts of stuff, and God is our father, so we can.  But one of the greatest things we can ask for is Wisdom.  And where are we going to get some wisdom?  Well, God's word of course.  And God also put in to place a system where both faith and the wisdom of God is heard when we go to church.  Seriously.  I’m not just saying this because I’m a preacher, but check this out:  Eph 3:10 "His intent was that through the church the manifold wisdom of God is made known"  Remember from Malachi 3 – “that there might be food in my house….”  You see, the food is at church.  Uh huh.  Daily bread.  Bible.  Church.  Eat up.

The Living Word Bible Church - Jason Anderson

Pastor Jason Anderson - Pray to the FATHER

When Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray in Luke 11, he starts out by saying "Our father."  This was the Lord's prayer he spoke.  When Jesus prayed in public, he didn't recite the Lord's prayer, but He did address the Lord as Father.  And I like how He uses the term “Our father”.  We know that God is His father, but here he includes us, saying hey, we're brothers, He's our Father.  And this was new information.  Before Christ when men and women of the Lord prayed, they didn't address God as "Father."  Abraham, or Moses, or Jacob, or Joshua, or Nehemiah, and so on.  They prayed lots of times, but never saying “Father.”  So when Jesus uses the term father, it is new information.  This was Jesus making a point to make a huge change in approaching God.  We should really meditate on this.

A father is not some far away God that is unapproachable, but instead, we can ask our father to do things that we would not just ask anyone.  It's a much closer relationship, it's family, and He's totally approachable.  And whether you had the worst dad in the world or the best, Father God is infinitely more loving than an earthly dad, He is perfect, and He has wonderful gifts in mind for you.  Jesus points this out when He says “what father, even though he is evil, gives his child a bad gift when he asks?  How much more then will Father God give us good gifts.”  Yeah, your daddy has got you.  So approach God Jesus style, as “Father”.  Or like Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsamane, “Abba Father”.  I think when we say it out loud it does something on the inside of us.

The Living Word Bible Church - Jason Anderson

Pastor Jason Anderson - A New Arrow in Your Quiver

In Luke 11 Jesus disciples ask him to teach them how to pray.  This makes sense, since when Jesus prayed they had noticed two things.  First, when Jesus prayed, it sounded different than everyone else.  Second, when Jesus prayed, stuff happened.  Is it any different now?  Should we also be taught how to pray?  I would say the answer is yes.  Jesus, teach us how to pray.  

Prayer is a new arrow in our quiver, it's something we didn't have when we didn't know the Lord.  When we were lost, if wanted something to change, well, all we could do was try harder, using our mind and our own strength.  And when something seemed impossible, well, then it was, and you would just have to give up.  But now that you know Jesus, when things are impossible, you can pray.  It's when God works best, since nothing is impossible with God.  And when Jesus teaches us to pray, he's reminding us that there is a right way to do it; a more effective way of praying. In the sermon on the mount Jesus tells us how not to pray, like telling us to NOT pray like a show off - that we are oh so spiritual.  And James points out that we have not because we ask not, or we ask with wrong intentions.  So there is something to work on here.  We can work on our praying.  Not only should we pray, we should look to the word of God to find out how to be more effective in praying.  

So get out your bible today, and say to the Lord, Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray.  then get ready.

The Living Word Bible Church - Jason Anderson

Pastor Jason Anderson - Don't Stay Angry....

Anger is a normal part of our life, both culturally, and individually.  Anger untamed can bite us.  We can end up bitter, or spiteful, or vindictive and full of revenge if we leave anger unattended.  So how long should we stay angry?  Say you’re in a battle with your spouse, and then they apologize; well it’s hard just to turn off the hurt feelings, and the words.  So how long can I stay angry? Or what if someone never apologizes?  Or maybe I just hit my thumb with a hammer.  What is the statute of limitations on anger, at least, according to God?

The answers are of course, in the Bible.  Like in Matthew chapter 5 when Jesus tells us not to be angry with our brothers.  The key word here is the word "be".  Don't "be" angry.  You see, it's an on going anger. You may get angry sometimes, but do you stay angry?  Jesus got angry sometimes.  Like when they turned the temple into a swap meet, yeah he was angry.  And he gave it to Peter once calling him Satan.  Sure, Jesus got angry.  But he didn't stay angry.  He wasn't still mad a Peter a few weeks later, telling Thomas, "Remember what Peter did a couple of weeks ago? Ugh! He just makes me so mad."  Jesus addressed the situations in a healthy manner, and then He let it go.

So don't stay angry.  Anger itself is not a sin, it's an emotion.  But what you do with it, well that part can mess you up.  So here Jesus says don't stay angry.  Don't let the sun go down on your anger.  Imagine how different life would be if everyone let go of their anger.  Violence would cease, married couples would always wake up in love, and wars would disappear.  Sure we get mad, and we might express that, but do we stay mad. And if you aren't mad, well then there is just more room for you to be happy.  Nice.

The Living Word Bible Church - Jason Anderson