All posts by David Ude

Daily Devotions

Turning the Tables

Isaiah 3 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/…

As God had foretold (Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28), if Israel broke it’s side of the old covenant, then He would discipline them. Chapter 3 prophecies the judgment that God would bring on them when He finally allowed the Babylonians to overrun the city. There would be no more food or water (verse 1), they would lose all the people they trusted in, some filling good offices provided by God (like government officials, and prophets) and others idolatrous (like magicians and charmers) (verses 2-3). God would turn the people over to foolish and inept leaders whom they would choose for incredibly foolish reasons, like who has the best cloak (verse 4-6), but even he won’t want to be leader because of how messed up it was (kind of how you might not want to be coach of the Cleveland Browns!).

God will allow them to be oppressed, to be mistreated, to be shamed. Why? Because they were proud (verse 9) of their sins and refused to repent. They turned away from the glorious, gracious presence of the LORD in the temple (verse 8) and chose to live their lives their own way – oppressing those beneath them. Isaiah gives examples of this oppression in verses 14-23 – they live in unnecessary luxury at the expense of the poor and the needy. He will replace their pride with shame, the oppressors will become the oppressed, the rich would become poor. God was going to turn the tables on them and “remove all support.”

Why? The same reason loving parents might remove an allowance from a child using it for foolish and sinful things – He wanted them to repent. He wanted them to turn to Him and His New Covenant of grace in Jesus Christ for mercy from all their sins, He wanted to give it! He wanted to make them His children by faith and wanted to bring forth in them fruits of righteousness.

It’s what he wants for you too. He wants you to repent of the times that you have oppressed those who were less able or poorer than you in sinful pride. Maybe you think you never have. Think again. He wants you to know that your sins deserve His judgment. And He wants you to know that when the tables are turned on you, when your sins should come upon you and eternal oppression should be your lot, there is mercy and grace in Him. Repent, believe, and live a life of thankfulness to Him! Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.

In Christ
Pastor Ude

Daily Devotions

Now or Later?

Isaiah 2:6-22 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+2%3A6-22

Procrastinating usually isn’t a good idea. If you make a habit of it, you’ll undoubtedly suffer for it eventually. Not all things can be put off. And sometimes, the longer they are, the worse it gets. The dentist is like that. If you have a small cavity, don’t procrastinate about it, it’s only going to get worse, it’s only going to hurt more – both in your mouth and in your wallet.

Don’t procrastinate about God either. Don’t be fooled into thinking, “It doesn’t matter how I live, there’s no God and if there is he doesn’t care, my life is pretty good after all.” Don’t be fooled into making things created by people or people themselves into your gods – the things you love and trust above all others. Don’t procrastinate. When you hear God’s voice calling to you in His Word, listen. When you hear Him expose your sin in His law, repent. When you see Him point you to the cross of Christ, believe. This is not something you can afford to procrastinate about. Because even if it is painful, it’s only the pain of now, it’s only the pain of your sinful flesh screaming at it’s own death. And this pain of the law is replaced with the sweet comfort of the good news of forgiveness in Jesus. If God humbles you in this way, He will also raise you up.

But if you refuse, then a day will come (verses 12-20) when you will be struck down, all that you loved, all that you trusted in will be useless to you, then there will be no hiding, no comfort from the storm of God’s wrath. Don’t procrastinate. Be humbled now by His law and rise in faith through His Good News or be humbled later and you will never rise again.

In Christ
Pastor Ude

Daily Devotions

World Peace

Isaiah 2:1-5, “The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. 5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.”
 
The hope is often expressed, especially at Christmastime, that there should be world peace. I suppose there are even many who view this as the real hope of Christmas. The Savior’s birth does bring peace, a peace brought about through teaching. This is what Isaiah is prophesying, that the world will have peace because it will hear the Word of the Lord. And that Word is only found in one place – Mt Zion, Jerusalem. Have you been to Jerusalem lately? It’s not exactly a place of peace. Seldom has it ever been. God is not talking about the earthly Jerusalem, the earthly Mt Zion. He is talking about His Church. The Church to which He gave birth through the birth of His Son. This is where His Word is found.
 
And that Word is a word of peace. For the teaching of God’s Church is always this – that Christ is born to bring peace for the whole world. And this peace is found in His life, death, and resurrection. It’s a peace in the forgiveness of sins. It’s a peace that is still peace midst the horrors of war in this world. A peace that spreads from one heart to another simply with a Word: a Word of peace: Your sins are forgiven.
 
In Christ
Pastor Ude
Daily Devotions, Uncategorized

The Seventh Commandment

The Seventh Commandment

“You Shall Not Steal”

What Does This Mean?

We should fear and love God that we do not steal our neighbors money or possessions, nor get them in a dishonest way, but we should help him to improve and protect his property and way of making a living.

Do you treat something differently if it doesn’t belong to you? Are you more careful when you are driving your parents’ care than you would be if it was your own? Are you more careful to be clean when eating at a friend’s house than you are at your own?

In this commandment, we are really taught to do two things. First, to respect our neighbor’s possessions and Second, to properly understand how to treat our own. Even if you’ve never stolen something, you can probably think of a time where you didn’t do everything you could to improve and protect his property and way of making a living. It’s pretty easy for us to justify ourselves in this kind of behavior because we naturally think that we should do everything we can to improve and protect our property and way of making a living first and only help our neighbor afterward. Picture yourself with two friends watching the football game. You’ve ordered a pizza which has 8 slices. Each of you is currently eating a second slice, there are only two left. You want one. So what do you do? You probably start eating faster! That’s our natural way isn’t it! Instead, we should be going out of our way, even putting our own property and way of making a living at risk in order to help others. Anything less is, really, stealing!

The second thing we are taught here is how to treat our own money. Remember how you tend to treat stuff differently if it belongs to someone else? Truthfully, we should treat all that belongs to us that way because none of it really belongs to us. Everything is God’s! He made it all. And what we have, we only have because He has given it to us. We are stewards left to take care of what the Master has given until He returns. And He has left us in no doubt about what we should do with it. 1. We should use it to take care of our family. 2. We should use it, generously to help the poor, especially the poor in our own congregations. 3. We should set aside the first fruits as a gift to God’s Church so that the message of forgiveness and salvation might be proclaimed to the world! We should do all this out of love for all the many gifts He has given us – especially the best gift: His Son, our Savior who delivers us from the death our sins of greed and selfishness deserve. 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”

In Christ
Pastor Ude

Uncategorized

Remember Who You’re Talking To

Job 38 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+38

Have you ever found yourself saying something to someone and then realized that they already know it? Like a patient telling a doctor about some “medical fact” they read on the internet or when an atheist tries to lecture a Christian on what the bible really says. That’s what has just happened to Job. After Elihu gets done berating Job for going too far and reminding him of the God’s justice, God decides it’s His turn.

“Where were you?” Is the basic question God asks Job. With scathing sarcasm He humbles Job. It’s as if to say, “Remember Who you’re talking to!” There is nothing that you know as well as God knows. And what you do know is as nothing compared to God. His power, wisdom, and might are obvious in creation in so many ways. You should remember that when you are talking to or about God. Remember it and fear. Also, remember it and rejoice. Because this God, the one in the heavens who has done whatsoever He has pleased is also the God who has become your Father by giving His Son for you. Remember that when you’re talking to God or about God too.

In Christ
Pastor Ude

Uncategorized

The Sixth Commandment

“You Shall Not Commit Adultery.” What does this mean? “We should fear and love God that we live a pure and decent life in words and actions and that husband and wife love and honor one another.”

I’m sitting on my couch as I write this midst the calming, cheerful glow of Christmas lights. It’s one thing I’ve always loved about this time of year. I remember when I was little, my brothers and I would get up early on a winter morning and lie next to the baseboard heater in the living room soaking in the heat and basking in the glorious Christmas glow of the tree. But there’s such a thing as a time and place isn’t there? I mean if it were a hot August morning, I wouldn’t want to be cozy up next to a heater! And if the lights were on all year long, they wouldn’t be so special. That’s a little bit like sex and marriage.

Some people accuse Christians of being prudes about sex. I heard one character on a show once say something to this effect – “There are only two kinds of people in this world: people who like sex and people who are utterly creeped out by it.” She was referring to Christians with that last part. It’s a common idea: anyone that wants to impose any limitations on sex must be creeped out by sex. Satan has very successfully peddled the lie that using sex with anyone you want in any way you want is “freedom.”

When we follow what God says in His Word about sex, we don’t do so because we are creeped out by sex but because we value it as something special. We understand rightly how good it can be in the proper context and how bad it can be otherwise. God created sex for marriage. He blessed it when He gave man and woman to each other (Genesis 2). In fact, God did not render His final perfect “it is good” until He had created sex and marriage. In that context, it is a very special thing. Because marriage is a very special thing! In it, besides for sex, God provides companionship and comfort, the joy of children and grandchildren and so many other wonderful and unexpected blessings. I believe it is the most wonderful of all God’s physical gifts.

And that is why He protects it. For this great good can be used for great harm. Look around you at the results of the sexual revolution. Look at the broken families, the broken relationships, the pain and heartache which are a direct result of the ungodly way that the world (and our own sinful natures) treats sex. Can there really be any doubt that God got it right when He said it should be this way: “A man shall leave his Father and Mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

God demands that we treat his gifts of sex and marriage as He intended. He demands purity from us in thought, word, and action. Yes that means that He wants you to wait for marriage to have sex. Yes, that means homosexuality is a sin (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Yes, that means you shouldn’t watch porn or dirty movies or masturbate, it even means you shouldn’t have a lustful thought for someone you aren’t married to (Matthew 5:27-28). Does that seem like a lot to demand? Certainly it’s far more than you can are capable of keeping, and the same goes for me. It’s good then that we can pray confidently with David in Psalm 51, “Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with Your free spirit.”

In the peace of the forgiveness of sins won for us at the blood-soaked cross of Calvary, may we be set free from slavery to worldly desires and serve the Lord with pure thoughts, words, and actions. Keep sex and marriage where they belong – keep them special.

In Christ
Pastor Udeyou shall not commit adultery