Happy New Year my family!
Tomorrow we begin our year of reading through the New Testament together, so I wanted to pray a blessing over you this morning! I love you all and I was so blessed by your friendship, love, and the life and moments we shared together in 2025. However, I am EXCITED at the sense I have of what God has in store for us this coming year. I also sense it may be the most trying season of our life, but I know it will be one we will never forget and we will proclaim and recount to all 2026 as a time God made himself known to us.
Lord Jesus, tomorrow I will begin the first of many mornings in 2026, let my soul awaken as I speak out Your name and lift up my heart in the communion of prayer with You, Lord God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
… Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. “Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:18-19)
"When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.' So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Child lying in a manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about the Child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them" (Luke 2:15-18).
The shepherds couldn't wait to go and see what God had done! They "went with haste" to see what was said to them by the angels. The word of the Lord, spoken through the angel of the Lord, who broke into their loneliness of life, "living in the fields," changed their fear to faith and they said, "Let's go now" and see! (v. 8) And when they had seen the Child who brought such "good news of great joy for all the people," they couldn't wait to go spread the the great news that had recieved! (v. 10). "The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen" (v. 20).
Holy Spirit, as I read through the words of the Christmas story this morning again; my prayer, my desire, my "New Year's Resolution" for the coming year is that you awaken my soul again with the excitement of faith! Return to me a longing for my first love! (Rev.2:4) Stir up in my spirit the desire, like that of the shepherds, to go, see, and encounter you by reading the Bible and time in prayer! Stir up my spirit to go share all You've done for me! Empower me and compel me to not withhold from sharing in every opportunity of 2026 the good news of great joy that turns fear to faith and loneness to praise! Let me truly be amazed at all You have done in and around me and be excited to go and see this God at work in my Community. This God who longs to bring that same good news and great joy into the lives of my neighbors through me! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My brother and sisters, I pray the Holy Spirit will awaken your soul 2026 with an excitement of faith and a passion to “go and see” and then to ”go and tell” all what the God of good news and great joy has done for you, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below.
End 2025 by resolving to partner in 2026!
I want to ask you to resolve this year in partnering with my wife, myself, and One Direction Community by supporting our ministries! We begin a new season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this. If you click on the link below you can easily set up a weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly auto donations in the amount you desire. . We would be so grateful for your help. You can also give a one-time donation on the same link. Thank you!
CLICK HERE TO GIVE
You can mail your donation to One Direction Community P.O. Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758
Would you like to receive my morning devotion blog in 2024?
Email your name and email address to garyl@onedirection.community and I will add you to my ODC Daily Message distribution list to receive an email of these reflection every weekday morning.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Good morning! Lord Jesus. I welcome You here in my heart and every moment of my day -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...
“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done” (Revelation 22:12).
Time and days keep slipping by and “soon” we will be at the end of another year. Jesus, you tell us that you will come back to earth “Soon”. One day soon, You’ll come again. One day soon, You’ll set things right again. And at the same time, as we yearn for Your coming, we also can’t help but wonder just what You mean by “soon.” It has been over 2,000 years since You spoke those words to the Apostle John and through John to us.
The Apostle Peter wrestled with the same question. And it seems You gave him this revelation, which he recorded by Your Holy Spirit in the Word of God, to help guide our hearts as we ponder Your sense of timing. He wrote to Your disciples in that first generation of the promise of Your coming, and continues to speak to Your disciples in every generation who are longing for Your coming. Let’s read his timely word this morning.
“This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity!” (2 Peter 3:1-18).
That’s the key -- “be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish, and at peace.... Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
I hear all around me people saying, “Look at the sings, Jesus is coming back soon” Yet every generation of Your disciples has had that same discernment and same sense of urgency in their spirit -- that You are coming “soon.” Your sense of days and our sense of days are not the same. Neither is our sense of “soon” and the timing of “the day of the Lord.”
But every day is “the day of the Lord” between today and the day You come again. Every day is the day to be growing in grace, growing in our knowledge of You, growing in the surrender of our heart and sanctification of our souls, seeking to live out each day forgiven and free, with Your peace in our hearts, as we pray for and even hasten the coming of the day of God.
So give me grace, Lord, to be found faithful in You -- as best as I can and all by Your grace. Come soon, Lord Jesus! “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come!’” (Revelation 22:17) In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
My family, no matter is we our hours, days, or years away from Jesus coming “soon,” I pray you may keep growing in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to be found faithful in Him by His Holy Spirit at work with you until the day of His coming, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
I would love for you to please share your reflections with myself or others using the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them!
My wife Nancy and I are in a new season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this season in my life and that of my family. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You Thank You!
TO GIVE CLICK HERE
“And I saw the holy city - the new Jerusalem - descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Look! The residence of God is among human beings. He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them…“Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb!” (Revelation 21: 2,3,9)
Marriage is the main mega narrative throughout scripture: It begins in Genesis, “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife, and they become a new family.” and runs through Revelation 21, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb!” Next to the cross, marriage is God's closest example of what his love. and our relationship with him should look like. Love, sacrifice, grace, forgiveness, acceptance, faithfulness, and hope.
Besides their initial saving covenant with God in Jesus Christ, the covenant of marriage is the holiest and most important promise a man or woman will make in their life. Marriage is the most holiest of services as in it a person will make a promise in a church before witnesses gathered there and before God. And it is not to be entered into lightly.
Marriages is Holy
In marriage, children, who are eternal beings with eternal life and have eternal significance are created. They need to be created, formed, and nurtured in the holiest place
Marriages is one of the most Holiest service because in it, you actually see prayers answered by God before your eyes. Before we met Nancy and I both have prayed for and over situations in our lives. We had gone to church and prayed over things in life, seeking God's answer, a tangible sign He knows and hears us..
We have asked friends and family to pray over for areas of our life.
I prayed at times for God to help me. Cried out to God, “I need your help!”
God heard my prayers, and he sent me Nancy.
God heard Nancy’s prayers, and He sent her me.
We as a couple are a tangible example of a prayer answered by God!
I may say, “Jesus, if you are real, let me see you, reveal yourself to me.” There will never be a more visible sign of this than the woman I am blessed to look at everyday. This woman who has pledged to sacrifice everything, and place my needs above hers and all else, and to love and cherish me forever. That is amazing love!
That is marriage. That was what marriage was meant to be when you who are married were joined by God. That is what marriage means and it represents and I am reminded today of this as we celebrate our wedding anniversary and I want to remind you all of this as well.
At many weddings the questions is asked, “ Is there any reason why these two should not be married.” And there is an awkward silence….However, this is a question we who are married need to daily ask ourselves and and honestly personally reflect on daily.
“Do I know of any reason today that is keeping me from living into my marriage?”
Is there a; person, situation, attitude, thought, emotion, desire; Anything that is perverting or weakening your marriage, the vows you took, and is keeping you from fully experiencing and being fully present in your marriage, which is a holy gift of God and his grace. And if there is, immediately deal with it with God.
Marriage is not easy, Why? because it is the closest, most holiest relationship and example of Christ to the world. However, my marriage to Nancy is also the closest, most holiest, tangible, amazing example of the love and grace of God in my life. And your marriage is as well.
My family, I pray those of you who are married will take a moment to thank God for the gift of love and grace of your spouse. I pray you will reflect on your marriage and ask yourself the question, “Do I know of any reason today that is keeping me from living into my marriage?” And if there is, deal with it immediately. Those of you considering getting married, I pray you will reflect on the most holy covenant you about to enter into of love, sacrifice, grace, forgiveness, acceptance, faithfulness, and hope, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please post and share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below.
As the year draws to an end, PLEASE give and help Nancy and I Help Them!
My wife Nancy and I in our ministries are pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this season in our lives and that of our family and ODC. Please partner and support us and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation now for next year, or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You Thank You!
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC.
This morning I went to the Waffle House around 6:20am, sat at the low bar, and talked with the waitresses, cooks, and customers as they started their day. I was greeted by a waitress I know well and I admire that will call Sheri. Sheri is a good person and a good mom. Sheri is a single mom who lives in a trailer, and has 3 kids she is raising. One of her children is a special needs child and requires home schooling and extra care. She is also raising her brother’s 2 children. Her brother is a meth addict and the mother of the children is not in the picture. Sheri told me his brother’s children can’t help it their dad is an addict, and they deserve to be loved and taken care of, so she does it. And Sheri takes care of her brother. Like I said her brother is an addict, so she can’t and does not let him stay inside the trailer with them. Her trailer has a back wooden covered porch. So Sheri fixed a pallet for her brother and he stays and sleeps the night/days he is not out somewhere on her back porch. So Sheri is taken care of and raising 5 children and her brother. She works and and is a good waitress.
We said good morning to each other and then I asked her how her Christmas was yesterday. Sheri works at the Waffle House from 6:00am-2:00pm. However, she said yesterday other waitresses called out, they were super busy, so she had to work on Christmas a 14 hour shift from 6:00am-8:00pm. Sheri said by the time she got home and showered, it was 9:00pm before she sat down with her children to have Christmas with them and open their gifts. She said she stayed up last night until 12:30am playing and enjoying Christmas with them. Then she laid down and slept for 4 hours until 4:30am this morning as she had to be at the Waffle House at 6:00am for her shift.
This Is why I so admire Sheri. She is in a hard spot in life, however she works hard, grinds it out living from paycheck to paycheck, and is a good mom. I take her a box of food every Saturday from the House of Harvest for her family. When her clothes washer and dryer went out I worked with Lowes to get new ones to replace them and I installed them. I have been at her trailer several times fixing things or working on her car. And I know of several single mom’s who waitress at the WH who have similar stories they have shared with me as I sat and listened to them sipping my coffee. They all have a wonderful, warm smile and greet me when I walk in the door with the familiar, “Welcome to Waffle House!” Though as I reflect on that greeting it resonates with a deeper meaning like the lyrics “Welcome to the Hotel California.” It is an admittance of and into the reality of life that that allot of its employees, and customers like the lawn care crews who come in the morning before their 12 hours days begin, all belong too. It is a blue collar welcome that most of the after church, Sunday morning crowd coming in miss and do not want to enter into.
However, if Jesus were to come back to earth on a Christmas Evening or day and go out to an establishment, while walking through the door of it he would not hear church bells and greetings of “Oh Come All Ye Faithfull” from people dressed in robes or vestments, but the ding of an opening door and “Welcome to The Waffle House” by those meek wearing a servers apron. It would be something to his ears he could relate to, and would smile at as he walked in the restaurant’s door. And I think a seat at the low or high bar is where you’d find him sitting, eating, sipping his coffee, and listening and speaking into the stories of life being shared around him.
My family, I pray this Christmas you seek out the mangers of this world like Jesus did, and experience and be blessed by entering into the “Welcome To Waffle House” places in your community, in Jesus’ name. God bless you my friends!
I want to encourage you to join me by alsosharing with us your thoughts, comments, reflections, and prayers you received from today’s reading in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
TO GIVE CLICK HERE
Good Christmas Morning!
I went through and the narratives of the birth of Jesus found in the Bible in the Gospels ofMatthew and Luke and combined them iogether to create a story line of events of Jesus’ birth. My Christmas morning reflections follow.
“In the sixth month of Elizabethʼs pregnancy, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of David, and the virginʼs name was Mary. The angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled by his words and began to wonder about the meaning of this greeting. So the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God! Listen: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.”
Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?” The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God.” “And look, your relative Elizabeth has also become pregnant with a son in her old age - although she was called barren, she is now in her sixth month! For nothing will be impossible with God.” So Mary said, “Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26-38)
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her privately. When he had contemplated this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: “Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep he did what the angel of the Lord told him. He took his wife, but did not have marital relations with her until she gave birth to a son, whom he named Jesus.” (Matthew 1:18-25)
Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus to register all the empire for taxes. This was the first registration, taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone went to his own town to be registered. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David. He went to be registered with Mary, who was promised in marriage to him, and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Now there were shepherds nearby living out in the field, keeping guard over their flock at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were absolutely terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! Listen carefully, for I proclaim to you good news that brings great joy to all the people: Today your Savior is born in the city of David. He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a vast, heavenly army appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people with whom he is pleased!”
“When the angels left them and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, that the Lord has made known to us.” So they hurried off and located Mary and Joseph, and found the baby lying in a manger. When they saw him, they related what they had been told about this child, and all who heard it were astonished at what the shepherds said. But Mary treasured up all these words, pondering in her heart what they might mean. So the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; everything was just as they had been told.” Luke 2:1-20)
“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, in the time of King Herod, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying, “Where is the one who is born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they said, “for it is written this way by the prophet:
ʻAnd you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are in no way least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.ʼ”
“Then Herod privately summoned the wise men and determined from them when the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, inform me so that I can go and worship him as well.” After listening to the king they left, and once again the star they saw when it rose led them until it stopped above the place where the child was. When they saw the star they shouted joyfully. As they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, they bowed down and worshiped him. They opened their treasure boxes and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. After being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back by another route to their own country.” Matthew 2:1-12)
My Christmas Thoughts: We see in Luke chapter 1 that the angel Gabriel comes and tells Mary she will bear God’s son. Gabriel tells her she is highly favored. And Mary, a 15 or 16 year old common pheasant girl thinks, “Highly favored! That’s Impossible!” Gabriel tells her she will have a son and be impregnated by the Holy Spirit and name him Jesus,. He will be the Son of the most high God. Mary answered, “How will this happen since I am a virgin?” It is impossible!!! The Angel told her, “Nothing is impossible with God.” And Mary Believed, and said “Here I am your servant, Let it be as you said.”
Joseph, had met the girl of his dreams. He had hopes and plans of settling down in the nice, quiet suburbs and starting a family with Mary. And look what happened! The Angel tells him in his dream his wife is pregnant, and with the child of God! What?!? Joseph thought, “That is impossible!!!! All of his friends were like, “Ya right!” But Joseph did the hard thing, the impossible thing, and he believed.
The Bible is a story of hardship and suffering and difficulty and trying of people’s faith.
Mary and Joseph were having the child of God and look how hard it was for them. If any couple should have had it easy having and raising a child, it would have been them. However, for Mary and Joseph having and raising the child of God was hard, And if raising their child and their life was full of impossibilities, difficulties and challenges, why do you think raising your children or your life should be easy?
The Bible, the story of God, is full of people who continued to believe in the possibilities of God in the face of impossible things. And what we need to remind and encourage each other as well as we read the passage above this Christmas morning is that God is able to overcome the situations, circumstances, challenges, or whatever it may be in your life right now that you are facing.
That God is still a God of impossible things. He still makes the impossible possible. And Christmas is the morning to awake from your sleep, and open up your life to Jesus Christ, and come to grips with the fact that our ways have come up short, and that they are not working. And despite our best efforts and plans, just like those of Joseph, things are not turning out at all Iike we planned.
And just like Mary who at first said, “How can this be?” We need to yield to the sovereignty of God, let his Spirit and love overshadow us, and say over our lives, “Here I am Lord, let it be so in my life.” We need to invite Jesus Christ to be our savior and our Lord. And allow him to bring us into the life he came to earth to give us. The Bible tells us It won’t be easy, but it will be gloriously good!
I pray you will let this new year be an awakening of your life.
My family, Maybe you have believed before, maybe you have been baptized, maybe in some way you had an association with Jesus, through friends, your parents, family members, or a spouse. Or maybe you have an association or relationship with a church. Maybe you have had a relationship with Christianity, but not so a deep intimate relationship with God. I pray this is the year, this is the time for Jesus to be reborn in the manger of your heart. For you to trust in God in a way like you’ve never trusted in God before. I pray this year will be a time for Jesus to make new wine in you! You do not even have to bring him old wine, all you have to do is bring water, or even sour grapes, and he will turn it into wine! And not just any wine, but the best wine! And not just a little wine but barrels full of it. And turn your dry life into a fountain of life in which living waters flow out of it, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you and Merry Christmas my friends!
Please share your reflections with us in the comment box below as swe pend time in this devotion.
As The Year Draws To An End, Please Give and Help Us Help Them!
My wife Nancy and I are in a season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over us and that of my family. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation now for next year, or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
TO GIVE CLICK HERE
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1-14)
This morning instead of reading from the stories of Jesus’ birth found in Matthew and Luke, I wade into the deep depths of the Gospel of John. “Christmas is for children,” or, “Christmas brings out the child in us all.” Those are nice sentimental thoughts on one level, but might they hold a more serious truth? Could Christmas be for adults too? On more than one occasion while teaching about his kingdom, Jesus lifted up a child and said things like, “Whoever wants to enter into the kingdom of heaven must become like a child” (e.g., Ma . 18:3; Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17). This has most often been interpreted in a sentimental fashion, lifting out the whimsical, wondrous, carefree nature of children as the prerequisite mentality for entering into God’s kingdom. While these are commendable qualities, and perhaps have a tiny bit of relevance to what Jesus was saying, the biblical evidence points to a different meaning. In the first century, children held no status or value in the community. Children were more like slaves in the sense of being the property of another with no status or social value of their own.
While this is far from the case for most children in our North American context, it remains the situation for millions of children around the world. Many of them find themselves as both status-less children and slaves. Jesus’ point was not to become carefree and whimsical, which would have been somewhat foreign concepts to a first-century child. He lifted up a child to reference his utter humility. In the eyes of the society, they brought nothing to the table of value; not even themselves. Here’s a rough translation: “Unless you become humble, like this child,ubderstanding the fact that you in yourself are worthless, no claim of entitlement, no rights (birthrights or otherwise), privileges, status or anything else; unless you humble yourself in this fashion, just like this child I hold up before you, and enter into a relationship with me and my kingdom on the very same level as anyone else, you can’t come in. It’s not because I am barring the door to hold you out. It’s because you are disqualifying yourselves from even the possibility of perceiving the reality of my kingdom to begin with.”
With this backdrop, hear the Christmas text again:
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
It begins with believing, yet believing can be a deceptive word. We can believe in all we have read through and considered these past days of Advent and still be no closer to the real miracle of Christmas. We can believe Jesus is the Son of God and even the Savior of the world in the same way we believe the sky is blue and gravity is real. The birth of Jesus on Christmas Day, his resurrection on Easter, and his certain return on an unknown future date can be eternal events and signals we run up the flagpole and salute and yet remain unaffected in our lives by their truth. Examine the text closer:
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God . . .
Believing must lead to becoming, lest believing be emptied of its power. The whole point of Advent—indeed, of the gospel—is that seeds of faith be sown in our minds and hearts such that something genuinely and stunningly new could break through the belief and burst into life.
Track further with the text:
Though the language has become cliché and caricatured through the years, the Bible is clear about being “born again.” Jesus said it plainly, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3 NIV).
The anonymous hymn writer may have said it best:
“Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born,
if He’s not born in thee, Thy soul is still forlorn.”
This is the invitation of Christmas: not passive belief but active becoming. It’s taking the risk of new birth. As gifts are given and received and the wrapping paper gathered up, the excitement of the day will recede. As the sentimentality of the day fades, the serious possibility remains: Will you humble yourself like a child? Will you receive, believe, and be born again and become humble before the God of heaven and earth, the Lord over all creation, Jesus Christ? What could be a better story than to say you were born again on Christmas Day?
My family, I pray you will say and believe the words of this prayer this morning. Our Father in heaven, nearer than my breath, thank you for these days of Advent and this new year in Christ. I want to be born again. I want to believe in Jesus in a deeper way than before. I want to receive him into the depths of my being. Lord, Jesus, I want for you to be born in me in a new and deeper way. I don’t discount what has happened prior to this day in my walk with you. I only know it has led to this present moment where I want to say yes to you like never before. I want to become one of the children of God afresh. Come, Holy Spirit, and let the life of Jesus Christ be born anew and afresh in me today and lead forward in a way of growing up in him and into the life I was made for. In the name of Jesus Messiah—the one who came, is here, and is coming again— for his glory and our good, in Jesus’ name, amen. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections with us in the comment box below as swe pend time in this devotion.
As The Year Draws To An End, Please Give and Help Us Help Them!
My wife Nancy and I are in a season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over us and that of my family. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation now for next year, or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
TO GIVE CLICK HERE
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Along with reading through Revelations together, I have been reading through the Gospel accounts in Luke and Matthew of the birth of Jesus. “And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11
For God to take on flesh and the birth of Jesus to take place, it required everything that was impossible to be made possible. And with and in the birth of Jesus, everything that was and is impossible in your life is now possible! It took an impossible amount of love of God for you. such as will never be matched ever again in the sending of Jesus to save you. In the birth of Christ, all that humanity hoped for became a reality. Today all that you may have settled for as the reality in your life can now be changed by the hope of Christ. In the Christmas story, we see a few small things, done by a few small people, in a few small places that launched the kingdom of God. In Christ’s story today as we look forward to Christmas morning, He still has a few small people, doing a few small things, in a few small places that continue His movement of God.
It is the intimidating plans, purposes, dreams and visions of God entereing into by the meek and broken that insult the visions of mankind and the proud. If you are not entering into dreams and plans that are intimidating to you, you very well may be insulting to God.
My family, I pray this morning as you remember and celebrate Christ coming into the world, you will be reminded that at the core of Christmas is the love that God has for you. I pray you realize and seek with reckless abandon all of the hope joy, the unlimited possibilities and change in your life that is possible with the presence of Christ in you. In Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Please support and partner with myself and my family with your end-of-year financial gift as we serve those in our community Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You!
Good morning Jesus, speak to me this morning as I long to her and be filled with your words of life..
“Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, and he had an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth - to every nation, tribe, language, and people. He declared in a loud voice: “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has arrived, and worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water!” (Revelation 14:6-7)
My heart is saddened and in mourning this morning. I saw on the news of the Amti- Semitic hate shooting at Bondi Beach and the shooting at Brown University. I ask myself the obvious questions: How and why could they do something like that?
They were influenced and discipled by evil in our culture and the world through peers, TV, the internet, social media videos on Tik Tok, violent games and other means. College campuses are becoming places that promote ideologies of violence and hate. Our youth’s moral and value of life are being formed, and they are being disciple 24/7 by the word around them. We as a followers of Jesus and members of His church are called to more than sitting in our living rooms shaking are heads and asking why, We are called to proclaim the gospel, to all the earth - “to every nation, tribe, language, and people,” and this includes those who live in our neighborhoods workplaces, colleges and our youth. if we do not share the message of the gospel of hope and love with them, then the only message they will hear will be of fear and hate. It we do not speak the truth of who their identity is in Christ they wi;; believe the lies told them by society. We can shake our heads and ask why, but none of us have clean hands. If you are not sharing the gospel with someone every day, you are surrendering and silencing the gospel, the “Good News” in a persons life them you are an accomplice to them hearing only the “Bad News” from the world. Our silence in sharing words of love leaves a vacuums to be filled with words of hate.
Dr. Martin Luther King wrote, “…Time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation…”
My family, I pray today you will meditate on how none of us have clean hands and that these violent acts taking place in the absent presence of the church that is not sharing the gospel daily. I pray, especially during this season of announcement of the birth of Christ, the Holy Spirit will convict and motivate you to speak words of love and truth to those you come in contact with today and every day, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
I want to encourage you to join me by alsosharing with us your thoughts, comments, reflections, and prayers you received from today’s reading in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
“He also caused everyone (small and great, rich and poor, free and slave) to obtain a mark on their right hand or on their forehead. Thus no one was allowed to buy or sell things unless he bore the mark of the beast - that is, his name or his number. This calls for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the beastʼs number, for it is manʼs number, and his number is 666.” (Revelation 13:16-18)
I was at the Waffle House sitting at the low bar when the person sitting next to me got his check. He looked at it and said, "Woe!" I asked him if there was something wrong with his check? And he showed it to me and the amount was $16.66. He said 666! That's not good.
We are reading through the New Testament in a year together, and we find ourselves at the end of the year and now reading in Revelation. As always happens when in a study of Revelation, the Number of the Beast" the dreaded 666 always comes up.
Hollywood and dispensational books, video and other so called “teachers” who also take the number 666 out of it’s original context have formed a meaning of this number in the minds of people, unfortunately even Christians, that is not biblical at all. ( Any passage of scripture that is taken out of it’s original context, is just a pre-text, to make it mean anything a person wants it to mean). The number 666 is another thing that most people, even Christians belief about is based more on Hollywood and The Left Behind series, than Scripture.
The number of the beast (Greek: Ἀριθμὸς τοῦ θηρίου, Arithmos tou Thēriou) is the number ascribed to the beast from the sea, of the beasts described in the Book of Revelation's chapter 13. In most New Testament manuscripts, the number is rendered as 666. However, the variant 616 is found in critical editions of the Greek text, such as the Novum Testamentum Graece. This is because the number as apposed to Hollywood’s rendering as a birthmark on the beast as in "The Omen," or some number on our credit cards we will be required to use some day, is simply having symbolic correlation to the Emperor Nero. His Greek name when transliterated into Hebrew has the numeric value of 666. But his name in Latin, (which most scholars now believe is correct), written into Hebrew is 616. In Revelation's narrative, the "mark of the beast" states, "And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." (13:17). And during Nero's rule, his image and name was on all Roman coins, Rome ruled the world, so this was in a sense true.
I overhear people all the time like the customer in the WH when their check at a restaurant, lotto ticket, or something else shows 666, they freak out because it is "evil" or something. There is power in the name of Jesus! There is no power in the name of Nero. There is no power in the number 666. And the only thing "evil" or of the "devil" in 666, is the fear that a person allows to overcome them, a fear not from God. It is the granting of power, a form of idolatry given to a number.
My family, I pray the authority, rule, and dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ and the fullness of the work of Christ against every foul power and black art—every hex, vex, and incantation, every spell, weave, web, veil, shroud, charm, and snare; against every ritual, sacrifice, and device; against every vow, dedication, and sacrifice, every word, judgment, and curse—written, spoken, unspoken, or transferred to you. I command them disarmed and broken by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Paul speaks against this in Ephesians 4:14, “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.“ But if you are so inclined to superstition and idolatry, here is a list of other numbers you better watch out for! LOL!
666 Number of the beast
668 Neighbor of the beast
660 Approximate number of the beast
DCLXVI Roman numeral of the beast
666.0000 Number of the high-precision beast
0.666 Number of the millibeast
1/666 Common denominator of the beast
666[-/(-1)] Imaginary number of the beast
1010011010 Binary number of the beast
29A Hexidecimal number of the beast
-666 Negative number of the beast
00666 Zip code of the beast
$665.95 Retail price of the beast
$699.25 Price of the beast plus 5% state sales tax
$769.95 Price of the beast with all accessories and replacements
$656.66 Wal-Mart price of the beast
$646.66 Next week's Wal-Mart price of the beast
$333.00 After-Christmas sale price of the beast
$222.00 Going-out of business liquidation price of the beast
Phillips 666 Gasoline of the beast
Route 666 Way of the beast
665 Older brother of the beast
667 Younger brother of the beast
666 UP Soft drink of the beast
666lb cap Weight limit of the beast
666 F Oven temperature for cooking roast "beast"
666k Retirement plan of the beast
666 mg Recommended minimum daily requirement of the beast
6.66% 5-year CD rate at First Beast of Hell, $666 minimum deposit
20/666 Vision of the beast
1-800-666-6666 Toll-free number of the beast
999 Australian number of the beast
6"X 6"X 6" Lumber of the beast
66.6 GHZ Computer processor of the beast
666i BMW of the beast
666-66-6666 Social security number of the beast
6/6/66 Birth date of the beast
666.AC.com URL of the beast
IAM 666 License plate number of the beast
Formula 666 All-purpose cleaner of the beast
666 calories Diet of the beast
969 Dyslexic number of the beast
WD-666 Spray lubricant of the beast
66.6 MHz FM radio station of the beast
666 KHz AM radio station of the beast
Chanel No. 666 The beast's favorite perfume
666% What the beast gives in his game
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
TO GIVE CLICK HERE
Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…” (Revelation 12:10)"
I have shared my testimony many times as part of message in churches and Celebrate Recovery ministries and face to face with people in homes, Waffles Houses, bars and other places. I told them of the demons of my past that controlled my flesh. The addictions, attitudes, lies, and behaviors that had me living a death like existence “among the tombs like the demon possessed man in Mark 5. “Martha said of her dead brother Lazarus, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead for 4 days.” (John 11:39) For a time in my life I had been spiritually dead for years, and there was a stench coming from my life and I was a rotten person. But like Lazarus, I heard the voice of Jesus calling me in my darkness, and he raised me back to life. And in those times I share my testimony, like the demon possessed man in Mark’s Gospel, I opened up my life to them and I showed them my scars, and I told them how much the Lord has done for me, and how he has had mercy on me. I told them what difference it makes in my life today that I am in Christ Jesus.
All of us who have been saved in Christ Jesus have a testimony to share. To be “saved” means you have had to be saved from something to something else: death to life, darkness to light, pain to comfort, sadness to joy, bondage to freedom, selfishness to giver...ect. All of you have a testimony of all that the Lord has done for you and the mercy he has shown you. You were “saved” for the mission of sharing your testimony with others. All of us, no matter what your proficiency in Scriptures or gifting of evangelism, are called to simply go home, to work, to our friends and tell them what Jesus has done for you.
My family, I pray starting today, you tell at least one person each day until Christmas what is the difference in your life today that you are in Christ Jesus. What a better gift can you give and what better way is there you can give honor and thanks for the bath of Jesus? In Jesus’ name, amen. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are the Good Shepherd, and Your sheep hear Your voice. Speak to my spirit, my Shepherd, as I begin my day centered in You, embraced by my Father, listening for the leading of Your Holy Spirit.
"Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!' And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: "We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned!" (Revelation 11:15-17 NKJV)
There will come a day when You set all things right -- a day of "restoration of all things" (Acts 3:21). "We, according to (Your) promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells" (2 Peter 3:13). On that day, with all the "loud voices in heaven" we will proclaim with hearts full of joy and praise the ultimate fulfillment of what You have promised -- "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ!"
But every day between this day and that day to come, let Your kingdom come into my world as Your kingdom comes into my heart. Change my world today as You change my heart today. Advent is a season of changes we prepare to receive and celebrate the the inbreaking of God into our world and lives in the birth of Jesus Christ.
Holy Spirit of God, fill me afresh today. Fill me with Your "righteousness and peace and joy" -- right with God, right with others, right within myself; at peace with God, at peace with others, at peace within myself; and full of joy! "Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation" as You renew a right spirit within me and change my world around me because Your Spirit arises and shines through me! (Psalm 51:12; Isaiah 60:1) Let the kingdoms of my world become the kingdoms of my God and my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, today! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family,I pray the kingdoms of your world will become the kingdoms of God, as the King of kings and Lord of lords rules and reigns in your heart by His Spirit with His righteousness and peace and joy today, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friends!
I want to encourage you to join me by alsosharing with us your thoughts, comments, reflections, and prayers you received from today’s reading in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
“Then I saw another powerful angel descending from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun and his legs were like pillars of fire. He held in his hand a little scroll that was open, and he put his right foot on the sea and his left on the land. Then he shouted in a loud voice like a lion roaring, and when he shouted, the seven thunders sounded their voice…But in the days when the seventh angel is about to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God is completed, just as he has proclaimed to his servants the prophets....So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take the scroll and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.” So I took the little scroll from the angelʼs hand and ate it, and it did taste as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter.” (Revelation 10:1-3; 7; 9-10)
The “powerful angel” is Jesus. “His face like the sun and legs like pillars of fire” are the description of Jesus in chapter vs. 1:14-15. “Wrapped in a cloud” comes from Daniel 7. “Rainbow above his head” illustration in v. 4:3. “Voice like a roaring Lion” references “The Lion of the tribe of Judah” in v. 5:5.
The mystery that is being fulfilled is the restoration of the kingdom, that is what was revealed to the prophets. The righteous dead will be resurrected, the Davidic king will be restored as king of kings and lord of lords, and it will be a completion of the old testament covenant that Israel will be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. But God can’t restore the kingdom until sin is taken care of in the covenant people. That is the mystery announced to the Prophets. Paul tells us in Colossians this is the mystery that has been hidden for ages has now been revealed., Christ in You, the hope of Glory! We being restored into the image of Christ.
The open scroll: because it is opened it means what it contains has already been revealed. It is the Old Testament, and the covenant of the promise to be delivered from sin and to restore people to live in covenant with God, be who they were created to be. So the old covenant was “as sweet as honey” in the mouth. It promises the resolution of the 5th and the 6th trumpet, the end of sin and its destructiveness. But, the Old Testament never fulfilled the promise, so it is bitter to the stomach. The promise is sweet, but the fact that the OT and the Law could not actuate the promise is bitter.
“Then they told me: “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.” V. 10:11. The “they” are God and Jesus. They are the only two mentioned in this portion of John’s vision. We, like John who now have this knowledge, are to share this truth to the fallen Babylon, those who are without knowledge of Jesus, outside of his covenant, and outside of His salvation. Prophets in the Old Testament were mainly not about describing a future vision, but calling people to repent to the known truths about God and from the way they were living their lives outside of those known truths. They stood in the gap and mourned over their neighbors and community that were living ”lost lives” and intentionally and desperately loved them enough to speak the truth to them.
My family, We are about half way through the season of Advent. The “New Year” season of the church where we have a clean slate, new commitments of faith we can make, and new hopes for the coming year. I pray today you will break out of and repent to the silence of your faith, and “prophesy to many people.” I pray you will ask the Holy Spirit for a heart that mourns and weeps for those who do not know Jesus. I pray you will actually share with those around you the truths your know of Jesus; intentionally, out of desperate love, as if their lives depended on it, because they do. In Jesus’ name. Please ray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
I want to encourage you to please join me by also sharing with us your thoughts, comments, reflections, and prayers you received from today’s reading in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community/Toney UMC
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning Lord Jesus, just as the rain is failing on the outside of my window, let your Spirit rain down on my heart and mind this morning.
“While they were eating, he took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it. This is my body.” And after taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many. I tell you the truth, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” (Mark 14:22-26)
This morning my reflection is a little more personal. Instead of reflecting on this morning’s Bible reading, Revelation chapter 10, my mind was drawn to remember and reflect onmy Facebook Memory that popped up from 3 years ago.
Every Thursday evening, I lead a men’s group called Bibles, Brothers, and Beer, B3 for short. We meet in a local craft brewery. We share our weeks joys and struggles, read and reflect on a passage of Scripture and it’s application on our life, and pray. I love our time together. We will meet again this evening. Today, my Facebook Memory reminded me of the special Thursday night it was 3 years ago today. Three years ago, on the small table in the corner of the brewery, with the small group of men sitting around it, I consecrated and shared the Lord’s Supper for the last time as an Ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church (UMC). The UMC had departed from what I understand to be Biblical Orthodoxy and God’s intention of creation, marriage, and human sexuality. So the following Friday morning at a Special Session Conference of the North Alabama Conference of the UMC convened at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Myself and all the other pastors I have served alongside of in ministry for years, who are disassociating with the UMC, lined up and walked up to the UMC Board of Ordained Ministry, which includes the Bishop that ordained me. I handed over my certificate of credentials as an Ordained Elder in the UMC, and had them stamped with some sort of “void” stamp, signed by the board, and returned to me. I then turned and walked out into whatever God’s will was for myself and my family. It was a sad day, full of many emotions, as was the night before celebrating The Lord’s Supper for the last time in the brewery.
A lot of sacrifice by myself, but more importantly my wife, and two daughters went into following my calling into Ordination in the UMC. Shutting down my construction company and going from making six figures a year to my family qualifying for free lunches, food stamps, and social services. Laying all the “things” my wife and I purchased over the years on a table at our yard sale and selling them for 50 cents, and packing and moving away from family and friends to a city where we knew no one. Moving from a 2,500 SF home to an 1,100 SF home, all so I could attend seminary for 4 years. After seminary, packing up again, same yard sale process, saying good bye to dear friends, pulling my daughters out of school and away from their friends, and moving to another city where we knew no one, to plant a church from scratch out of the living room in our home. In pastoring new, different congregations over the years. Jesus has successfully lowered my salary every year since I turned my life over to Him. All the other men in my B3 group are retired or planning to do so in the next few months. There is no retirement in the future for me, and I will probably be the old man saying “Welcome to Walmart.” LOL! Jeus has led my family into unknown and difficult places and situations, that challenged my family financially, my relationship with my wife and daughters, and brought us to our knees in prayer. However, Jesus has also blessed my family over and over, never forsaken us, and we have lacked for nothing.
It was a 10 year journey to becoming an Elder. Two years of the discernment process in both the Episcopal and UMC churches, four years of seminary, a year of CPE training in hospitals and difficult situations, and three years of serving and study as a Provisional Elder. All this leading to when I kneeled down in a church before God; with two bishops, several Elders, and my wife laying hands on me; surrounded by a congregation affirming me, I surrendered and vowed to faithfully obey and serve my Lord Jesus. I am a loyal person, and walking away from this was so hard.
Ecclesiastes chapter 3 states, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven… a time to plant, and a time to pluck up… a time to seek, and a time to lose;.. a time to weep, and a time to laugh…”
So this morning I remember the sad, emotional day 3 years ago was for me, and my family. However, I am also reminded this morning that I am called to follow, imitate, and be obedient to Jesus Christ, not any religious denomination, church, person or other organization. And any sacrifices my family and I endure for following Jesus, pail in comparison to the sacrifices He endured for me. And I am thankful for my membership now in The Forged Network of churches in Alabama.
My family, I pray over any changes, challenges, directions, uncertainties, you find yourself in in this season of your life. I pray you are also reminded this morning that you are called to follow, imitate, and be obedient to Jesus Christ, not any religious denomination, church, person or other organization. And I pray that you also remember that Jesus has never abandoned of forsaken you, and he never will. You are not alone. I also lift you up all those reading this post in prayer this morning. If you have read my reflection blog posts in the past, you know I always end with the request, “Please pray the same for me as well.” I thank all of you who have prayed over myself and my family and journeyed with us over this past season of our lives, and I look forward to and I am gratefull for the season that lays ahead for all of us together, in Jesus’ name. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below.
Can You Be Generous?
As we close out the year, if you have the ability to be generous, I invite you tp partner with me and One Direction Community to support our ministries. My wife Nancy and I are still in a new season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this season in my life and that of my family. We would be so grateful for your one time gift or monthly support. Thank you!
CLICK BELOWTO GIVE!
GIVE
You can mail a donation to One Direction Community P.O. Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Open the eyes of my heart this morning Lord Jesus to see only you..
In those days people will seek death, but will not be able to find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.” Revelations 9:6
If we could see in advance the consequences of our sin, no one would do it. However, sin allures us, we feel it empowers us and that we will benefit from the sin in some way. And so we embrace it. The first time you succumb to a a sin usually nothing happens. The sky does not fall, you get away with it, you benefit from it, it pleases you, and so you do it again. For a certain way on that trajectory you are in control. You hear people say, “I can stop at any time.” Yes you can, up to a point. Yet at some point in time you pass an invisible barrier that the sin has taken control over you. You cant say no. It is at that point you begin to experience the torment of sin. At that point you begin to sense the destructive dynamic of your sin, of what it is doing in your life, and you wish you could be free of it. You stop for a day or week, but then you fall back into it, The sin has got it’s hooks in you.
I have had people in my time in ministry come to me and talk about their sin. Wishing they could end it, wishing they could get rid of it, but they can’t. They are living in the present a foretaste of hell. They are experiencing the torment and suffering of their sin that has become their master and God. The now have an evil king ruling over their lives that desires to destroy them. “They have as king over them the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.” (Rev 9:11) Both the words Abaddon and Apollyon mean “Destroyer”. And because of the weight and torment of their sin and being a slave to the destroyer king, verse 9:6 is not a future prophesy, it is a reality to them today. “In those days people will seek death, but will not be able to find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.” Revelations 9:6
The essential act of Satan is destruction. In these passages we see the torment of sin. What can free you from the bondage of Satan? What can free you from the torment of sin? The answer is in that old hymn, “What can wash away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again, nothing but the blood of Jesus… No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
My family, I pray today you admit any sin that is controlling your life. I pray you claim it, confess it, repent of it, claim the blood of Jesus over it, and release, and seek the help that may be needed to come out of the rule of the destroyer. Who the son sets free, is free indeed! In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
I want to encourage you to join me by also sharing with us your thoughts, comments, reflections, and prayers you received from today’s reading in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
TO GIVE CLICK HERE!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the center of all I am and all I do this day. ...
"Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, 'Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?' I said to him, 'Sir, you are the one that knows.' Then he said to me, 'These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship Him day and night within His temple, and the One who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their Shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" (Revelation 7:13-17).
The world seems chaotic. I don't know the depths of the ordeals I will endure or the trials of tribulation I will face, as I run my race and walk out my journey in faith through this broken and fallen world. But I know I want my robe to be washed in white by the blood of the Lamb. I know I want Christ to be at the center of the throne of my heart, with my heart full worship day and night in the temple of his Presence. I know I want to trust Jesus to be my Shelter and my Shepherd, to lead me and to guide me into his living waters and flowing fountains.
My time today on this earth is just the point where my present touches Christ’s eternity. And my eternity is secure in Christ. Therefore, so is my present, my past, and my future secure in Christ. So give me the grace to embrace every day, every challenge, every encounter as it comes. With You at the center of my heart and my life, I desire to launch out with all of heaven into what I can experience here on earth every day in my salvation of grace. "Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb! ... Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever!" (Revelation 7:10-12) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you live out today and every day centered in Christ, filled with worship, knowing the fullness of your salvation and assured in the joy of your eternity in Christ, in Jesus' name I pray! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share you thoughts and comments below.
“Then I looked when the Lamb opened the sixth seal, and a huge earthquake took place; the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the full moon became blood red; and the stars in the sky fell to the earth like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when shaken by a fierce wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the very important people, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?”” (Revelation 6:12-17)
There was a great earthquake. The foundations of churches and states would be terribly shaken. Such bold figurative descriptions of great changes abound in the prophecies of Scripture; for these events are signs and declare the end of the world and the day of judgment. Dread and terror would seize on all sorts of men and women. Because on that day neither political office positions, job titles, amount on funds in bank accounts or retirement funds, assets accumulated, house square footages, or personal competency and strength, can help men or women at that time. They would be glad to be like the poor and no more stand out or be seen in the world. Though Christ holds the title of The Lamb, he can be angry, and the wrath of the Lamb is exceedingly dreadful; for if the Redeemer himself, who appeases the wrath of God, is now our accuser, where shall we find a friend to plead for us? As people live and have their days of opportunity and seasons of grace in life, so God has his day of righteous wrath. It seems that the overthrow of the paganism of the Roman empire is meant here. The idolaters are described as hiding themselves in their dens and secret caves, and vainly seeking to escape ruin. In such a day, when the signs of the times show those who believe in God’s word, that the King of kings is approaching, Christians are called to hold to their faith and to a bold confession of Christ and his truth before their neighbors, family and co-workers. Whatever they may have to endure, the persecution and attacks of people in short run is our call rather than that shame of denying our faith which is everlasting.
My family, I pray as we begin a new week in the middle of the holiday season which is one that can be of excess, indulgence and opportunity as we remember the amazing grace of God displayed in the manger in the birth of Christ, we also remember to hold true to our faith, calling, confession and living out our life all conformed to that of Christ, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share you prayer requests in the comment box below.
As the year draws to an end, PLEASE give and help Nancy and I help them!
CLICK HERE TO GIVE
My wife Nancy and I in our ministries are pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this season in our lives and that of our family and ODC. Please partner and support us and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation now for next year, or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You Thank You!
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC.
Good morning Jesus, Lord of my life, Light of my life, Lover of my soul.
This past Sunday November 30 we began the season of Advent in the church. A time of anticipation and hope as we await Christmas and the birth of Jesus, Emanuel, “Christ with us.” Advent is also the beginning of the church year. It is “New Year’s Day” in the church calendar. And just as we will make resolutions and commitments of on January 1st, the beginning of the secular New Year, I asked for us to make resolutions and commitments to The Church and our faith as we begin the new church year.
I ask us in the upcoming year, as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ in the world, if you are willing to be discipled by, and help disciple others in our church to imitate Jesus, so we in turn can disciple others to imitate Jesus. That for the next year to be obedient to a life of prayer and fasting that is extraordinary. To resolve to spend time in the Bible reading God’s word beyond the ordinary. That you will commit to join a Band group, an accountability group, and be willingly to become completely open, honest, and vulnerable to each other. Be willing to become both accountable to, and accountable over each other and to speak love and truth into each other. To be willingly to go deeply" inward," so we can be a church that leads others deeply "inward", a church that is not superficial.
I asked this coming year if you would be willing to make The Church the main thing you support with your tithing; tithes of money, time, prayer, and opening of your homes.
I ask in the coming year as part of The Church "outwardly," to agree to help be formed and form each other into missionaly focused lives. Who's heart weeps for their neighbors and the lost. Who's focus is not on themselves, but on others, on serving, on the cross. To be willingly to be stretched "outwardly," so we can be a church that stretches others "outwardly," and is not complacent in its view of the pain and injustice around them
I ask in the coming year if you are willing to make a covenant with each other in our faith, in The Church and with God, that to the best of your abilities and with the help of the Spirit, you are "all in" to the re-birthing and renewing of The Church. And if It sounds intense and serious to you, that is because it is. That is because there is an enemy, and adversary, Satan and his minions who are serious and intense in seeing that The Church does not revive and grow, or what does grow is worldly and self-serving church. The enemy wants nothing more than to see us: good, sincere, talented, gifted, and gracious people get destroyed or wounded, or help in the destruction or wounding of others, because they are trying to do a job they are not in covenant with God and committed to undertake. Trying to achieve this Holy objective without a covenant relationship and support of others, without prayer coverage or founded in God’s Word..
This is why I am encouraging you to start Band groups as they are so vital. My wife Nancy and I have discussed what blessing it is to help lead the gatherings in our and others homes, and out in our community in bars, the Waffle House, and others to have these become beacons of light in the darkness. We desire that you start up and help lead in these gatherings of light. To do so you need to be grounded in Word and prayer. For these beacons of light are also seen by the enemy, who rages against the light, and so he has placed a bullseye over churches, our community gatherings and over our house. When I pull out of my drive everyday and start to drive off, I always stop, and look back over at my house before I leave, and pray over my wife Nancy, daughters Paris, and Milan, and myself for protection and power. Satan rages against the light and the Jesus he sees in us. And as you commit to grow God’s kingdom, Satan will place a bullseye over you, as he also rages against the light in you, the love, the Jesus in you for our church and others, and, your participation in the birth of more light.
Yet we have nothing to fear if we covenant with God and put on the full armor of God. Because if Christ is for us, who can be against? Whom shall we fear? Nothing and no one, IF WE GO “All IN." "All in" in Christ, "All in" in prayer, "All in" reading the Word, "All in" Band Groups in supporting each other. It is when we think that we can play around and go "half in," "most of the time in, "some of the time in," against an enemy that is always "all in," that we are in danger.
You all have wonderful and amazing gifts and hearts open to God that can and will be used to building Gods kingdom and his church. I see it in each one of you. God see’s it in you. He created these gifts in you! The question you need you honestly answer this New Year, this Advent, is if it is The Church, at this season in your life, that God called you and created you into, that you are willing to go “All in” and help build for His kingdom. I pray it is so. If so, you do so knowing that you will experience both the immense joys and immense pain that is required both in giving birth and in re-birth. You need to know for certain you will experience both. They are as certain to happen, yet unknown as the joys and pains parents know they will experience from birthing a child. Yet they also know and understand the covenant it requires of them in giving birth.
Why am I asking for your commitment, why I am asking for these things to be your focus? Your souls and hence the soul of The Church, since it is made up of us, people with souls, will be affected.
Everything is coming together to confirm this in me.
And here’s the thing: God is going to grow his kingdom, regardless of what I or we in the church decide. Plain and simple: He is going to use those things, those people that are all in, and remove those things that are not.
God will use this same answering machine message towards his churches as He used in Revelations chapter 2 & 3.
“ʻI know your works as well as your labor and steadfast endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil. You have even put to the test those who refer to themselves as apostles (but are not), and have discovered that they are false. I am also aware that you have persisted steadfastly, endured much for the sake of my name, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you: You have departed from your first love! Therefore, remember from what high state you have fallen and repent! Do the deeds you did at the first; if not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place - that is, if you do not repent.” Revelation (2:2-5)
Repent: turn, change, what you are focusing on, magnifying, submersing yourself in.
First Love: relationship with Jesus: prayer, Bible, Accountability.
Question: Where is the mighty church of Ephesus that Jesus spoke those words to above today? Answer: It is gone, erased in the sands of time. It did not repent, it did not change, it did not return to its first love..it was shaken. It received a message from God asking it to go “all in”. It did not. So God removed from Ephesus its lampstand, its light, its influence…turned out the lights..
And if this can happen to mighty Ephesus, a church God once used mightily, if God removed its lampstand, its light, its influence, it can happen to any church, including yours.
Ephesus’s lampstand was removed by God, but He did was not destroy it immediately, like He did with Sodom and Gomora with fire and brim stone or something. Ephesus simply slowly died over time. There are many examples of a church or ministry continuing on after the initial anointing of God, that birthed that church of ministry departed from it. Ephesus is an example. The Temple is another.
My family, As we move into the season of Advent and “New Years Day” of The Church. I ask you again, “What are we going to commit to, to go “all-in” with, and what are we going to magnify this year? I pray you seriously discern this, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share you prayer requests in the comment box below.
As the year draws to an end, PLEASE give and help Nancy and I help them!
CLICK HERE TO GIVE
My wife Nancy and I in our ministries are pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this season in our lives and that of our family and ODC. Please partner and support us and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation now for next year, or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You Thank You!
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC.
There are more people in prison in the USA than any other country.
· 2.4 Million people, 6.8%,
· China, 1.6 million, 1.1%
· 1,719 state prisons, 109 federal prisons, 1,772 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,163 local jails, and 80 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals,
· Every year 600,000 people enter prison gates, 10.6 million people go to jail
23% of people illiterate
· 32 million adults can’t read in the US, 14% of our population
· 22% read below 5th grade level
· 19% of high school graduates can’t read
· 85% of juveniles who interact with the juvenile court system are considered functionaly illiterate
· 70% of inmates in US prisons can not read above the 4th grade level.
Gun deaths from mass shootings, suicides and murders in the US
· suicides account for 60% of gun deaths in US
· murders 37%
· other 7%
· Mass shootings 165
· Other countries higher because of war, military, Government
· Not number of Guns, Switzerland, all have guns.
· We are not the only country that has guns, but we are the country that people are using them to kill each other.
· Almost 18,000 murders last year
· Nearly 45,000 suicides
Opioids addiction, prescription, heroin,
· 40% of OD prescription
· 2007 doubled
· 2017 tripled
· more than 72,000 people were killed by drug overdose in US in 2018
Church attendance falling
· in 1948 only 2% of population considered themselves to be non religious
· it did not hit double digits, 10% until 2002, 54 years went up only 7%
· from 2002-2018, 16 years it has doubled to 20%
Love of God is diminishing
But there is always Hope in darkness
In the 18th century there was Hope in darkness
1/4 women were prostitutes
Slavery was legal and the norm. Not only slaves imported from Africa, also People who could not pay debts.
· Meal consisted of bread and potatoes
· For every 1,000 children born in early-18th-century London, almost 500 died before they were 2, generally due to malnutrition, bad water, dirty food, and poor hygiene.
· Orphans roamed the streets; because they didn’t attend school, they had little chance of improving their situation.
· England suffered from gin drinking. It was cheap and it was sold everywhere as you did not need a license to sell it. Many people ruined their health by drinking gin. Sadly for many poor people drinking gin was their only comfort.
· Smallpox was a plague.. Even if it did not kill you it would leave you scarred with pox marks.
· Cruel Sports like cockfighting and Bull baiting
The early 18th century was noted for its lack of religious enthusiasm and vigor.
· The churches in England were declining, loosing their influences on society, attendance was dropping
· The love of God was diminishing.
Where was the hope in this darkness?
The great evangelist George Whitfield began preaching andmtwo brothers, John and Charles Wesley, were called them out by God
· John Wesley traveled all over the country, often preaching in open spaces, markets, in bars, in work places.
· Charles Wesley, who wrote hymns, took the melody of Tavern songs and put them to Christian lyrics.
· People jeered at John’s meetings and threw stones at him.
· John Wesley said that after preaching in a town if he was not driven out of the town, spat upon and had items thrown at him, He wondered if he had preached the Gospel
· Wesley persevered. He never intended to form another religion (The Methodist Churxh) or separate from the Church of England. He died and Anglican Priest.
· He wanted hope in the darkness, He wanted to stop the diminishing love of God in the church and stir people’s hearts to increase their love of God.! He wanted a revival! To see a movement of God. And that is what he started with his desire for social holiness and montra of Sola Scriptura, only Scripture, one book for all people.
The revival and movement of God then swept into Wales and Scotland
Then, a New Era, the Victorian Era was ushered in.
The revival then swept across the Atlantic to America.
· Where Most people in North America lived by back breaking work and usually lasted from dawn to dusk.
· Rum drinking became an epidemic as well as beer.
· Church was declining. Love of God was diminishing.
A great religious revival began in the North American colonies.
· Later it was given the name 'The Great Awakening'.
· It was aided by William Tennant, a Presbyterian preacher
· Jonathan Edwards, and Francis Asbury, who trained under Wesley started circuit riders sent out them out into towns.
· They started holding Camp Meetings, where people from surrounding towns would gather in a field or open space to hear the Gospel, sing hymns, hear testimonies.
· They started a Revival!
We now stand on the precipas of a new era. We are now “the hope in the darkness”
· We stand in the same place, in a land where the Love of God is diminishing
· We live in a same time where people are looking for hope in darkness.
· We serve the same Lord Jesus, as we read in Revelations 4 of the Lamb who conquers.
· The same Lord who sits in the throne room of God that Wesley, Whitclif, Asbury and the others served.
· We have the same presence, power and fire of the Holy Spirit in each of us that rested on the original disciples at Pentecost, was the source of the earlier revivals that brought to life the preaching of the Gospel with power, put boldness in hearts to share it, convicted those who heard it, and transformed communities.
· We have in us the DNA of a revival. The DNA of revival is in each one of you. Do you realize that? In you is the DNA of a revival!
· The DNA of a revival is in each one of you.
o Not just to be saved
o Not just to serve at House Of The Harvest or Manna House.
o Not just to start or be part of a Band or accountability group.
o Not just to open your home to others to start a house church or other gathering
o Not just to be a light of Christ in your workplace
o But to set fire to your community and begin a revival of God.
Read, The Revelation of Jesus Christ (found in The Book Of Revelation). If you want to summarize John’s vision in 25 words or less, it is:
A call to radical discipleship as a faithful citizen of God’s new Jerusalem in the midst of a fallen Babylon world.
Jesus speaks to the seven churches, Where in each of them in some way their love of God is diminishing, and he ends his message to all of them the same way. “To the one who conquers”
Ephesus: To the one who conquers, I will permit him to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.ʼ
Smyrna: The one who conquers will in no way be harmed by the second death.ʼ
Pergamum: To the one who conquers, I will give him some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on that stone will be written a new name that no one can understand except the one who receives it.ʼ
Thyatira: to the one who conquers and who continues in my deeds until the end, I will give him authority over the nations –
Sardis: The one who conquers will be dressed like them in white clothing, and I will never erase his name from the book of life, but will declare his name before my Father and before his angels.
Philadelphia: The one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never depart from it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God .. and my new name as well.
Laodicea: I will grant the one who conquers permission to sit with me on my throne, just as I too conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
“Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy aloud, and blessed are those who hear and obey the things written in it,” (Rev. 1:3)
What does it mean to Conquer? The above “Conquer” is in the Aortist tense in Greek, which translated means not just has conquered but is conquering. Like being Potty trained. Once you are potty trained, you do not stop, but continue daily in that training.
The tense is single, “the one” who has conquered. So it is addressing not only the church collectively, but each one of us individually. Each of us with the DNA for revival.
Who is the one who conquers? The one who lives out radical discipleship as a faithful citizen of God’s new Jerusalem in the midst of a fallen Babylon world. You receive all the promises today!
We stand on the edge of a new era.
We stand on the edge of a new era with a powder keg, a powder keg of love!
We sing the song, “It may look like I’m surrounded but I’m surrounded by you. This is how I fight my battles! This is how I become one that conquers!
This is how we stand on the edge, become hope in darkness and usher in a new era of revival!
My family, I pray this morning as you walk out your door you understand and embrace the reality that you are the hope in the darkness to the current world you are walking out into. And you are the one who conquers, in Jesus’ name Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
