Cheddar Cheese & God’s Unchanging Grace

Posted on by kevinjandt

I like sharp cheddar cheese.  I also like mild cheddar, but I like sharp better and I can’t remember when this changed because it wasn’t always that way.  I grew up as a young boy in the state of Wisconsin where it’s required by law to like cheese and the Green Bay Packers.  I’m a follower of the law and I like cheese and the Packers.  (It’s not really law in Wisconsin)

I was thinking the other night as I sliced some cheese off a wedge of sharp cheddar how much I’ve changed over the years.  I used to play with G.I. Joe’s, but I don’t anymore (admittedly it’s been a few years).  I used to like Stephen King novels but couldn’t imagine ever picking one up again.  I really liked my sin but God has caused change in me.

Why do we change?

God’s word calls us to change.  We should be growing in knowledge of God (2 Peter 3:18).  We should be growing in holiness and love; a natural outpouring of God’s grace in our lives.  Paul consistently prays for the Believers in the early church for sanctification and change.

Philippians 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

God expects and demands that we change.  Granted I’m not sure He cares whether I prefer sharp cheddar to mild cheddar unless it’s a holiness issue but then again since He concerns Himself with every detail of my life, maybe He has a reason for this.

Does your life continue to change?

Are you growing in holiness and sanctification?  Are you being conformed to the image of the Son?  Has He begun a good work in you and you look more like Christ today than you did yesterday?  These are some serious questions that should force us to examine our lives.

There is only One that never changes.

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. 

He never changes, I must change… to change in Christ I must be diligent.

2 Peter 1:5-11 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love.  For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.  Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

If your life is not being characterized by a change to the glory of God, I pray you will meditate on these words and seek Him today while He can be found.  Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and He will lift you up.

Kevin

Tuesday’s with Madeline…

Posted on by kevinjandt
Madeline’s 11th Birthday

Romans 5:1-2 and an ink pen are very similar.

“What?”  Yeah that’s right. “How?” you are probably wondering.

Every other Tuesday I take my daughter Madeline to breakfast; it’s time spent with my girls that I absolutely cherish.  One week is Madeline and one week is Grace.  When Lydia is old enough she will be added to the rotation, although we are a few years away.

Madeline is my loud daughter.  She has a sign in her room “live life out loud” and it fits her personality well.  She is very funny and can always get the family laughing at her antics.

My primary responsibility is to share the gospel with Madeline and attempt to show her the need for a Savior.  I’m hopeful in the time we spend together and I trust in the Lord as I faithfully deliver His message as often as I have opportunity.

Tuesday breakfast gives me a wonderful occasion to search Madeline’s heart, to get to know her, to shepherd her, and to be the loving father God has called me to be.  Grace’s conversion this year has had a big impact on Madeline’s life and she can see the difference in her sister.  I continue to hope that these vital years God will use to draw her to Himself.

Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

If you just read this verse I’d like to ask you to read it again, slowly…  I really want you to marinade in these words.  Can we begin to grasp the magnitude of this statement?  If you are a born again follower of Jesus Christ you have “peace with God”.  This is no small deal.  What if you don’t have peace with God?  You are condemned.  You only have punishment to look forward to.  I don’t write this to shock anyone.  This is reality and this is the truth.

You have been justified by faith.  You are “just” in the eyes of God, no longer guilty for your sins, because you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ.  This is also an incredible truth.

Here’s where the ink pen comes in.  As Madeline and I discussed these verses I held up my pen and asked her if she had faith this was a pen?  She said “Yes Dad.”  I said “what if this pen doesn’t write would it still be a pen?”  “Well yes, it’s still a pen but it’s worthless.”

Exactly right, and a pen that won’t write should be thrown out; kind of like faith without works is dead (James 2:17).

If I say I have faith in Christ but my life doesn’t reflect my profession, I don’t really have faith and I’ll be thrown into the fire and burned ( Matthew 13:42).  Our lives must be a living sacrifice to God, holy and pleasing to Him or they are built on a false faith.

To perfection you might ask?  No, not to perfection but recognition of your sin does something completely different to you than it ever did before.

It’s an analogy that resonated with Madeline and it resonated with me as I consider it this week.  Jesus also used analogies.  He called them parables.

Kevin

The morning after…

Posted on by kevinjandt

Well it’s finally over…  I’m sure you are relieved as I am.  I wanted to share a couple brief thoughts.  I normally post on Tuesday and Friday but today thought it was worth wrapping up the election season with a brief note.

God has appointed Barack Obama as our 44th President

Romans 13:1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities.  For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

Man is still sinful

Romans 3:10-12 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.  They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”

Christ is on His Throne

Revelation 4:2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.  And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.

Pray for those in authority – not just your party of choice

1 Timothy 2:1-2 Therefore I exhort first of all that those supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

Today is a new day

Today if you are follower of Jesus Christ you have an opportunity to tell someone what Christ as done in your life.  If the topic of politics comes up ask them if they know Christ as Lord and why did He come to earth?  That will get the conversation going.

Kevin

Birthday’s & God’s Sovereignty

Posted on by kevinjandt
Lydia below the St. Louis Gateway Arch. There is NOT a spike sticking out of her head

November 3rd is my birthday and I will turn 47 years old.  Unless God has ordained something different I’m probably half way through my life.  I don’t think I’d want to live hundreds of years like Noah or Methuselah (ever wonder how their teeth held up for all those years…) and I believe God has planned my life perfectly so I feel nothing is special about getting older but for the simple fact I am hopefully growing in wisdom.

Every other Wednesday I meet a friend for breakfast and this week a man I know was also meeting in the same place.  I’ve known this gentleman in a roundabout way for quite some time although not very well.  We had a brief conversation and I shared with him some convictions we came under a couple years ago about allowing God to be sovereign in the area of children, i.e. no birth control.  The result of this was our beautiful Lydia Faith a year ago.  I expected we were like minded in this area.  He has five daughters and I believe we were both blessed by our conversation.

At 47 for me, and with Jen being 40 something, haha, I don’t know how many children the Lord will bless us with but I’m all in either way.  I enjoy seeing my brothers and sisters that have big families.  There is something so incredible about the faith they place in God to provide for them.  God promises to provide for His children, but do we really embrace this theology?  Do we really trust that God will provide if He gave us lots of kids?  Or do we think we need to be in charge?

This post is for Believers.  I don’t expect non-believer’s to buy into what I’m saying, nor should they.  I also expect many Believers will “push back” at what I’m writing.  But I’d like for you to consider the reason for push back, if that is welling up inside of you right now.  At the root of this whole issue is trust.  Do we trust the promises of God or do we trust that we have better ideas.

Psalm 127 Unless the LORD builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain; unless the LORD watches over a city, the watchman stays alert in vain.  In vain you get up early and stay up late, working hard to have enough food – yes, He gives sleep to the one He loves.  Sons are indeed a heritage from the LORD, children a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons born in one’s youth.  Happy is the man who has filled his quiver with them.  Such men will never be put to shame when they speak with their enemies at the city gate. – Holman Christian Standard Bible

I chose the Holman version of this chapter for a very specific reason.  I read out of the New King James Version but I love the way this captures my role as a man of God.  I am happy when I fill my quiver…This requires an action on my part.

There is so much depth in this very short chapter that I can only scratch the surface of what is being said but let’s notice four things.

The LORD builds His house

If your house is not being built on the foundation of Christ it is in vain, no matter how few or how many children you have.  Could this possibly be anymore clear?  Solomon writes a whole book on the subject and concludes with this in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 Let us hear the conclusion of the matter:  Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.  For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Children are a reward

I don’t think most people believe this.  I believe they love their children as we loved our children before we were converted.  But I couldn’t wait till….  (You name it) we could sleep through the night, they were out of diapers, they could move into a booster seat, they were out of a booster seat.  Two kids were plenty; I never considered children a reward, more as a duty.  Take a quick moment and think about which child you wouldn’t want once you’ve had them.  If you had two would you only want one?  So why wouldn’t this apply to ten?

They are warriors

I have a wonderful opportunity to affect God’s kingdom through the raising and training of my children.  I am responsible for teaching and preaching the gospel to them.  I must set an example of what a Godly man looks like for my daughter’s so they will know what to expect in their future husbands.  In Voddie Baucham’s book “What he must be, if he wants to marry my daughter” he lays out the plan for a multigenerational vision for the family.  I need to be thinking three and four generations down the road.  Just imagine how the kingdom can be impacted by these little warriors.

I will be happy

eh’-sher happiness; only in masculine plural construction as interjection, how happy!: – blessed, happy.  I can only attest to this happiness in my own life.  I think often what it would be like to have more kids and I look forward to that opportunity if God decides to bless our efforts.  This is the kind of blessing that the Lord Jesus speaks of in the Beatitudes.  Makarios – supremely blest; by extension fortunate, well off: – blessed, happy (X -ier).

Brothers and Sisters I hope you will be encouraged to be fruitful and multiply.

Kevin

Trick or Treat!

Posted on by kevinjandt

1 Peter 1:13-16 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

What does it mean to be holy?  The word in Greek is hagios – sacred, physically pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially consecrated: – (most) holy (one, thing), saint.  Saints have been set aside for service, praise and worship to God.

If you have been saved by the grace and mercy of God you are set apart for His service.  You are to look different from this world. You should not talk like this world.  You should not act like this world, and I’d like to ask you today; should you participate in the things of this world?  Look again at 1 Peter 1:13-16 as obedient children, NOT (emphasis mine) conforming yourselves….

Believers should set ourselves apart.

Our family was confronted with this reality several years ago as we came under conviction that we should start looking at everything through the spiritual filter of God’s word.  I’m sure some of you are now thinking, “okay, c’mon, Halloween, trick or treating and the KIDS…”  “Is this that big of a deal?”  I’ve heard the arguments because I’ve made them myself.

Grace & Madeline 2008

I can tell you our family enjoyed Halloween.  We’d do up our house and Jen loved to go online and search for the coolest homemade costumes she could find.  Since we were religious in those days, we didn’t want them to be outright evil, just creative so we could win the costume contest.  And she was good at it and won some pretty nice cash prizes; which usually just about covered the cost of the costumes.    When we first started discussing our participation in this “tradition” it was very challenging for Jen.  I remember her being very upset with me as we discussed this on the phone.

Is God okay with us blending the things of this world?  After all it’s a great time to spend together as a family right?  Let’s allow God’s word to challenge our thinking today.  If you want to hold onto the patterns of this world I hope this will have you consider making a change or affirming your current position.

Deuteronomy 18:9-13 “When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations, There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his sons or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.  For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you.  You shall be blameless before the LORD your God.

God was warning the children of Israel not to be like the Canaanites.  God is warning us not to be like this cultural and the unbelieving.  This scripture is still relevant to us today.  Halloween is a big deal in this country, According to an article in Forbes Magazine; Americans are expected to spend $8 Billion.  Have you walked into one of these shops in the mall lately or looked at some of the houses in your neighborhood?  Evil is being promoted no matter how they try to disguise it.

Will our lack of participation really affect the world for the kingdom of God?  If we don’t allow our kids to dress up and we don’t give out candy in the neighborhood does this make us better or worse witnesses to who Jesus Christ is in our lives?  Yes and no.  Yes it will, “if” when asked we are prepared with an answer.  No if we are not.  This is a great opportunity for you to share your convictions when asked what your kids are going to be for Halloween.  It’s the perfect conversation starter a wonderful opportunity to tell them what Christ has done in your life.

Witches Walk 2009

Can Believer’s disagree on this issue?  Yes, I believe they can.  As the head of my family, I’ve decided we are not going to observe or participate in Halloween.  I believe scripture calls me to set my family apart and I hope it will challenge you to think biblically in everything you do.

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 Test all things, hold fast what is good.  Abstain from every form of evil.

2 Corinthians 6:14-17 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.  For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?  And what communion has light with darkness?  And what accord has Christ with Belial?  Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?  And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?  For you are the temple of the living God.  As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them, I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”  Therefore “come out from among them and be separate says the Lord, do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you,”

Colossians 1:9-10 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God?  Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”

Kevin