Ordinary With No Special Training – Sounds Familiar!

While reading in Acts today, there was a line that really stuck out in the story of when Peter and John were arrested and jailed. Look at Acts 4:13:

 

“The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men who had had no special training.”

Remind you of anybody? I’ve grown up wondering why God chose me to lead anyone or anything. I am ordinary. I have no special training. Yet, I continue to find myself talking about God or leading worship.

I wonder how many more feel the way I do.

Look at how many were converted as a result of Peter’s ability (willingness?) to be used by God to heal the beggar at the gate. Five thousand were added that day, not including women and children!

This could be happening today. This SHOULD be happening today. But the cost is great. I wonder how many would be willing to be unfairly jailed for boldly teaching about Jesus.

I find myself wondering what could be done if I would be willing to risk it all – mocking, back-biting, prison, death? I wonder what could happen if more would be willing to be bold for Christ and speak openly about what God has done for us!

Help us, Lord.

Help me, Lord.

e

Standing on Holy Ground

Recently, I was blessed to be able to attend WTBN‘s Pastor Appreciation Luncheon with my Sr. Minister and Youth Minister from First Christian Church of Seminole. I was double blessed to hear the keynote speaker, Dr. R. C. Sproul. This was my first time hearing Dr. Sproul in person and I was not disappointed.

One of the things that caught my attention early on in Dr. Sproul’s message was his conversation with Bill Hybels 35 years ago, before Willow Creek Church in Northwest-suburban Chicago was started. Dr. Sproul recalled Bill telling about how they took a survey among locals who admitted to being unchurched. When asked why, people responded: (1) they didn’t like being bugged for money; (2) they found church boring, predictable, and routine; (3) they didn’t think that the church was relevant to their lives; and (4) they always left church feeling guilty (the Christian message too negative with ‘sin,’ etc.).”

Dr. Sproul recounted how his response to Mr. Hybels was, “make sure people are overwhelmed by the presence of God. Otherwise, everything is a huge waste of time.”

That’s why I love about my local church, First Christian Church of Seminole. There is definitely something uncommon and special from the moment you walk in. People are friendly and caring – it’s more of a family atmosphere. It’s certainly not boring or predictable. You never know what to expect! And, Andy’s messages are always relevant and engaging, but with a positive message that inspires and challenges rather than beats down.

My spirit concurred as Dr. Sproul went on to explain that what we do on Sunday mornings is not supposed to simply entertain people, but to usher them into the presence of God Himself. And, this is something that only God Himself can accomplish. How God uses the hearts of those on the platform, including the musicians and the ministers, to touch people with a message of hope and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is nothing short of miraculous. But, without this supernatural transformation, without God’s prompting and filling and drawing others to Himself, church would be boring and irrelevant.

I am reminded of a familiar passage in Hebrews chapter 10: “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:23-25 NLT).

I pray you have a similar church family where you can belong and be engaged. I encourage you to be thankful for what God has given you as a fellowship of believers. I encourage you to cherish and support your time spent at your local church as precious and holy-ground. Look for opportunities to serve and to invite others to join us as we meet and grow in our faith together. Life can quickly get busy with irrelevant activities, but meeting together as followers of Christ is most certainly not irrelevant. Time is short. Christ’s return is soon.

Worship Him!

e

Back again…

After several months, I’ve decided to get back into the blogging. So much has happened since November and I have so much to tell you, including (but not limited to):

1. Got laid off from corporate America (one of the best things that has happened to me so far)
2. Going into full-time ministry
3. Started reading the One Year Chronological Bible with a friend (accountability is the only way!)
4. I’m a grandpa now!
5. Much, much more! (sorry, left over from my marketing years)

Can’t wait to get caught up. Stay tuned.

peace,

e

1 Peter 2 – Living Godly Lives in a Pagan Society

The subtitle in the NIV version says: Living Godly Lives in a Pagan Society.

Sounds like Peter had to deal with a society a lot like ours today. Here’s what stuck out for me today:

11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

After reading in James about faith without works being dead, Peter follows up today with advice for us to be seen doing good deeds, even though we are accused of doing wrong.

And – here’s the real perk about doing good – you can put the ignorant talk of foolish people to silence:

15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.

Needed that today.

peace,
e

Romans 16 – Hold Out Faith and Patience

I’ve been reading through the book of Romans again with some friends. Haven’t posted, but thanks for the emails asking if I was still reading daily!

I felt today’s reading was of interest, so here goes:

20The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. – Romans 16:20 (NIV)
20The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. – Romans 16:20 (NAS)
20The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. – Romans 16:20 (NLT)
20And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. – Romans 16:20 (KJV)

Something I noticed today is the word “your” in the sentence in verse 20. I checked it out in several translations. They all use the word “your”.

I noticed Peter writes: “God” will crush satan under “your” feet. Not “we” would crush satan under “our” feet, or even “God” would crush satan under “His” feet. Do you see the difference?

God will crush satan with OUR feet! That has a certain special meaning for me!

Check out Matthew Henry’s commentary on this verse:
“The blessing the apostle expects from God, is victory over Satan. This includes all designs and devices of Satan against souls, to defile, disturb, and destroy them; all his attempts to keep us from the peace of heaven here, and the possession of heaven hereafter. When Satan seems to prevail, and we are ready to give up all as lost, then will the God of peace interpose in our behalf. Hold out therefore, faith and patience, yet a little while. If the grace of Christ be with us, who can prevail against us?”

Love that last sentence: Hold out faith and patience, yet a little while.

peace,
e

Matthew 22 – The Greatest Commandment

Maybe it’s just me, but I love to read where Jesus shuts down the Pharisees. It’s just because of how their only goal is to silence or embarrass Jesus. It always backfires on them.

Here’s how it went in chapter 22:

34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:

36″Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Makes it pretty simple, no?

If we’re loving our heavenly Father with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, then the rest comes naturally. We’ll be motivated to obey, inspired to share and honored to follow Him anywhere He may lead.

I will meditate on this today.

peace,

e

Matthew 21 – “It was out of season”

I thought I’d retell how much I love the story of the fig tree found in today’s chapter for those of you who don’t know me.

Here’s Matthew’s version:

¹⁸Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

²⁰When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.

²¹Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. ²²If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Matthew’s account is not my favorite, however, because it leaves out my five life-changing words, “It was out of season.” See Mark 11. Why are these words life changing for me?

Well, as I see it, the fig tree was doing exactly what it was supposed to be doing – what God had created it to do. It was not the season for it to have figs. It was “resting”.

At first, I thought about how unfair that was for Jesus to curse a tree for doing exactly what God had created it to do – or, to be more exact, not do what it was not supposed to be doing.

But then, I felt God teaching me through this internal debate. You see, I’ve grown up being taught to pray “God’s will”. I had come to understand that everything had to be preceded or followed up with “if it be Your will.” Yet, it was not “God’s will” for this tree to have fruit at this time of the year. Still, Jesus prayed that the tree would wither and die and that no one would eat fruit from it again. And it did.

Then, the next day when the DUHciples acted so astounded that the tree was dead (particularly my favorite, Peter), Jesus laughed and told them that if they told a nearby mountain to get up and throw itself into the sea, and DID NOT DOUBT, that it would be done for them.

Hardly God’s will for a centuries old mountain to suddenly vanish into the ocean, huh?

So – I took all this to mean that my watered-down, powerless prayers were due to my lack of faith – how I believed that a prayer I muttered would be answered only if God willed it to happen. If He didn’t will it to happen it wouldn’t. So, why be concerned about faith? I was told to pray, so I did. That was the end of it. And, as a result, I seldom saw answers to my petitions to God.

Yet, with these five words God rekindled my understanding of the power of belief. Doubt is just as powerful, and I started to finally understand that. I began to practice praying and not doubting. I prayed confidently, less concerned with this internal debate about God’s will. Amazingly, I started seeing answers to my prayers – some small but some rather big. This increased my faith even more.

I should include a disclaimer about how you shouldn’t test God with selfish motives and inappropriate requests, but I think we all understand that.

Something to think about …

peace,
e

Matthew 19 – Camels and Needle Eyes

Another chapter rich with Jesus’ teachings…

It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t comment on verse 10:

10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”

However, for some reason, I never noticed before that it was the DUHciples saying this, not Jesus.  Hmmmm, that’s a game changer for me. I see Jesus response to their comment in verse 12b:

“The one who can accept this should accept it.”

One passage that I find myself continuously meditating on is the story of the rich, young ruler, found in this chapter in verses 16 – 24:

16Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

17″Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”

18″Which ones?” the man inquired.

Jesus replied, ” ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

20″All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

21Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

22When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

23Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

I can’t get my brain around Jesus last comment about a rich man and the eye of a needle. I’ve had some people since tell me that “the eye of a needle” is a treacherous pass in the mountains somewhere in the Middle East, but I’m not buying that. I think Jesus is making a strong point – and from the rich people I’ve met, I think it might be true. Really rich people generally don’t realize their need for God because they can buy whatever it is they need. And, when you have too much to let go, like the man in our story here, it’s extremely difficult to recognize the need for God.

Of course, I don’t have this problem! My financial situation requires daily help from my Heavenly Father. The good news for all of us, rich or poor, is the hope that comes next out of Jesus mouth:

26Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

God be praised.

peace,
e

Matthew 12 – Now or Never!

It must have been amazing to walk around and see Jesus perform miracles, teach and deal with the Pharisees so “delicately”. I love to read the gospel accounts of Jesus’ time on Earth.

However, the one passage that jumped out at me each time I read this morning (because I really wanted to focus on something else because I don’t understand this passage):

43″When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

I was intrigued, however, so I checked into Matthew Henry’s commentary. Here’s what he had to say:

The unclean spirit leaves for a time, but when he returns, he finds Christ is not there to shut him out; the heart is swept by outward reformation, but garnished by preparation to comply with evil suggestions, and the man becomes a more decided enemy of the truth. Every heart is the residence of unclean spirits, except those which are temples of the Holy Ghost, by faith in Christ. (see http://mhc.biblecommenter.com/matthew/12.htm)

Did you catch that last line? “Every heart is the residence of unclean spirits, except those which are temples of the Holy Ghost, by faith in Christ.”

Wow – it’s no wonder the battle seems to be getting harder and harder! The fewer Christians there are in the world, the more enemies of the truth! It’s automatic – if a man is not a Christian, he is the residence of unclean spirits!

This has shown me how important it is for us to reach others for Christ – to build up the army.

The time is now (or never).

e

Matthew 11 – Trust and Rest (I needed that!)

Today, I took great pleasure reading the following from Matthew 11:

25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

Most of the time, I feel like a child when it comes to understanding the Christian walk. I believe there is something significant in having the faith of a child – trusting for no good reason, not over-thinking, not judging – just trusting God. I want to be more like that.

And, of course, this well-known passage came at a good time today:

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

The encouragement for you today:

Trust!  Rest!

peace,

e