Square in the Eye
Father, I ask that You calm my mind and my spirit. I am struggling with components for Sunday’s service. I know You have the answer and trust You to guide me. Amen.
Luke 9:18-20 (<<click to read the passage)
As I read through these couple of verses, a saying, about the Church, came to mind and when I Googled it, I discovered the saying in a different context, but it was still very powerful.
On January 5th, 1967 the newly elected governor of California gave his inaugural address. Actor-turned-politician Ronald Reagan stated, “Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation…”
I have heard it said that the Church is never more than one generation away for extinction. Now while I do not believe that will ever happen – for the Church is the body of Christ and it is eternal! – it is still unnerving to see the Church’s ebb and flow over time.
The second sentence in that quote is very applicable to the body of Christ, as well. [The Church] is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation
Jesus pressed his disciples, when they finally had a moment alone together, who they thought He was. He asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
And without the slightest hesitation, Peter replied, “The Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed) of God!”
All of us who believe Jesus to be the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed of God have had to come to that point where we own that belief for ourselves. Our parents might have pointed us in the right direction…but that belief was not ours by inheritance.
And as the old song goes, It’s Not an Easy Road. Following Jesus is the most fulfilling, most satisfying, most comforting thing we could ever do with our lives but is far from easy…it must be fought for and defended constantly.
And I’m not even hinting at taking a stand for our faith against forces from without… I truly believe, if we are honest with ourselves, that the fight is most fierce against the forces from within.
The devil and his followers have so warped and distorted this world and have done everything they can to twist the Truth to fit their degenerate mindsets. And we…and every generation that follows…are in the thick of it.
Is it not a challenge to keep ourselves pure as we sludge through the depravity all about us? I tell you from experience…it is not possible! Only as we allow ourselves to be enfolded into Jesus and His power, His love, His strength, can we have hope to be victorious
So, the question remains. Jesus looks us square in the eye and asks, “Who do you say I am?”
Apr 9th, 2020, Thurs, 9:23 pm
A Bag of Prawn Cocktail Crisps
Father, I humbly come before You pleading for Your mercy upon us. So many are either fighting this virus or being called to the front lines as we take a stand against it. Give us the strength to stand and fortitude to stay the course. Amen.
Luke 9:12-17 (<<click to read the passage)
This week I watched a video of a pastor from Ireland who is recovering from COVID-19. He was very close to death’s door and pleaded with God to answer his prayers by sending someone to encourage and bring him through. Now, of course, he was in an isolation ward where no family, no pastor – no one really from the outside – could get to him. But have you ever known God to be stopped by those kinds of things?
That very next day God sent a humble “cleaner” (a hospital janitor) by his room. This cleaner just “happened” to have spent fourteen years as a faithful missionary in Nigeria and though he couldn’t enter his room, they spoke for a time and then the cleaner prayed for God’s healing touch upon this pastor…and God touched him!
Shortly thereafter he was well enough that he was hungry and prayed once more. This time he humbly asked for something a little out of the ordinary – a can of coke and a bag of prawn cocktail crisps (a favorite snack in Great Britain, I’m told). That very next morning the cleaner returned and when he did, he slipped a bag through the doorway and what should be in the bag but a can of coke and a bag of prawn cocktail crisps! As he left, he said, “It’s a gift from the Lord.”
(God Sent a Cleaner <<click to watch his full testimony, it is well worth your time!)
I felt I needed to touch upon this passage from Luke 9 one more time. Jesus could easily have dismissed the huge crowd of people – 5,000 was just the number of men present…who knows how many women and children were there!
A friend of mine posed this question in response to my post from earlier today, “Ever wonder how long it took Jesus to break up that meal which wasn’t enough to start with into enough pieces to feed over five thousand?!” My hands would have been getting tired way before I was done!
But that didn’t stop Jesus. He knows our need. He is concerned about every aspect of our lives – spiritual and physical. He most assuredly has great compassion regarding us…even down to the smallest of requests, a bag of prawn cocktail crisps!
During this time of pandemic, we all seem to be more sensitive to God’s presence in our lives. I pray that we, as followers of Jesus, are more open to touching others – for Him! – than ever before. May that be the case, but…may we not stop with the here and now! As we live our lives may we always be about bringing wholeness to the lives of His children, just as He did and still does for us! Amen!
Apr 8th, 2020, Wed, 8:31 pm
Loaves, Fish, and Giants!
As I come before You tonight, Father, I would ask that I would put all else out of mind but You and Your word. May the reality of both fill my being. Amen.
Luke 9:12-17 (<<click to read the passage)
One of my favorite Bible stories is the tale of David and Goliath. It is one of those stories that we first hear in Sunday School as a child. Of course, I grew up with the high-tech medium of flannelgraph! One-dimensional characters of felt were cut out and placed on a felt background appropriate for the story being told. I tell you; it was highly entertaining! And we learned and remembered important lessons from God’s word! But back to David and Goliath…
Put side by side, there was no comparison. He was a worthy adversary for lions and bears (oh my!) but he, unlike Goliath, was not a battle-hardened warrior. David was probably of average stature but just a youth. Goliath, on the other hand, was a giant – the Bible says he was over nine feet tall!
The Bible says Goliath was wearing a bronze helmet, a bronze coat of mail (125 pounds!), bronze leg armor, a bronze javelin, a spear (the shaft as heavy and thick as a weaver’s beam) tipped with an iron spearhead (another 15 pounds!). (1 Samuel 17:5-7 AMP)
And David’s entire defense apparatus? A shepherd’s staff, five smooth stones, and a sling!
Many thought him crazy, but David’s defense was more than staff, some stones, and sling
“You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I will strike you down…so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that this entire assembly may know that the Lord does not save with the sword or with the spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will hand you over to us.” 1 Samuel 17:45-47 (AMP)
So, in the Lord’s strength and power that’s exactly what David did! With a single stone strategically thrown from his sling, he took down the mighty warrior as the stone embedded itself deep within Goliath’s forehead. And he fell dead, to rise no more!
At this point, you are probably wondering, “What in the world does this have to do with Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000?” Well, let me tell you!
David may have been Israel’s lone “warrior”, but he was by no means alone. He proclaimed for all to hear, “I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel”! (NIV)
When asked by His disciples to send the crowds away so they might find food and shelter, Jesus’ reply was, “You feed them.”
Many may have thought (for a moment at least) that Jesus was crazy, but just like David’s mind was not focused on his staff, stones, and sling, Jesus’ mind was not focused on food or money. He was the Lord Almighty! And He plus anything – or anybody – is more than enough!
There may be all kinds of giants around us – especially where we find ourselves today – and yes, we in ourselves are helpless. All we have – maybe! – is a staff, some stones, and a sling…or perhaps “five loaves of bread and two fish”. A paltry defense against the onslaught of this world but, my friend, if we come against those overwhelming circumstances “in the name of the Lord Almighty” nothing – absolutely nothing – can stand against us, “for the battle is the Lord’s”! Take courage, cling to the Lord, for therein is the victory! Amen and amen!
Apr 7th, 2020, Tue, 6:52 pm
Interruptions
A day of getting a few things done, Father. Thank You for friends that could help out in a pinch. They may have thought it was no big deal but they sure were a blessing to us! I would ask for Your blessing upon them. Amen.
Luke 9:10-11 (<<click to read the passage)
One of the things that needed to get done today was trying to get our lawn tractor back to working order again. I had to make a run to pick up a replacement drive belt and dropped a few things off at my in-laws (all with social distancing in place).
When I got back home, I took care of a couple of other things and though I had intended to try my limited mechanical skills in putting the belt on the mower, I got sidetracked. As I sat down to get busy at the laptop, getting ready for next week’s service, Karen walked by and asked about the mower.
The first thing that went through my mind was that I was busy doing something important…and she interrupted me! But thankfully, my brain moved more quickly than usual, and I quickly processed that, yes, that was what needed to be done first and it was what I had intended on doing first. It was a really nice day today and the rest of the week we are supposed to get a fair amount of rain, so without much to-do, I shifted gears and headed out to the mower.
I could’ve gotten all defensive. I could have lashed out. But the good Lord helped me to respond in a manner worthy of the question Karen asked me. There was no reason to treat her badly. It was an innocent question. There was no malice and it was not asked derisively.
The feeding of the 5,000 is on the downhill side of Jesus’ ministry here on earth. It wasn’t at the end, but we are heading in that direction. He was at it constantly – healing those in need, teaching the crowds, teaching his disciples. He couldn’t catch a break it seems. He was fully God, but He was also fully man and our bodies require rest. Our minds need to slow down – and shut down on occasion, too.
When the Bible says, “He took [His disciples] with Him and He privately withdrew [across the Jordan] to a city called Bethsaida” it wasn’t just for kicks and giggles. It was intentional, they needed a break.
That was His intent but…that is not what happened. He was interrupted! He was doing important stuff! …but humanity was why He had come to be amongst us. We are important to Him, too.
So, he stopped…everything he was doing…and “instead of showing impatience…Jesus welcomed the people and ministered to their needs.” *
As I have matured in my faith (and I still have a long way to go!) this is one area on which I have conscientiously worked. People – the people with whom I work, the people I love, the people that are part of my congregations – are more important to me than anything of “importance” on my agenda.
There are no coincidences. Nothing occurs by happenstance. God directs all of our lives. Now we can choose to cooperate or not, but I wholeheartedly believe that God’s hand is at work in our lives every day!
That person that just so happens to cross our path? They are there for a reason. And may we not slough it off as an inconvenience. May we be God’s ambassadors of hope to the world!
*Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation
Apr 6th, 2020, Mon, 7:21 pm
Unexplainable!
Father, I need that connection with You tonight as I sit to write. Clear out the refuse of my heart and brain and fill it to overflowing with You. Amen.
Luke 9:7-9 (<<click to read the passage)
I have to admit that one thing I am drawn to, is the unexplainable. Articles pop up while I am poking around on the web and I regularly check them out – unidentifiable things washing up on beaches, satellite pictures of weird things in weird places, etc. Most of them are explained in a matter of time and other things turn out to be of an iffy nature anyway.
Interestingly enough, in today’s passage “Herod [Antipas] the tetrarch [who governed a portion of Palestine including Galilee and Perea]” came across his own unexplainables. He heard about all that was going on and was “thoroughly perplexed” as to who was behind it all.
Though reality was right before their eyes, imaginations were running wild. The truth that Jesus was the Son of God was so beyond their comprehension that it was easier to come up with all kinds of other crazy ideas.
Many thought that Jesus must be someone who had come back to life, perhaps John the Baptist or another prophet. Some suggested that he was Elijah, the great prophet who had not died but had been taken to heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:1-11). Very few found the correct answer, as Peter did (Luke 9:20). *
But don’t people today struggle to accept Jesus for who He is, as well?
How many times have we heard Him referred to as a good teacher? For some, it is just easier to believe that He didn’t exist at all.
Not too awful long ago, Karen and I enjoyed watching the movie The Case for Christ. It is based on the life of atheist-turned-Christian Lee Strobel…former award-winning legal editor of The Chicago Tribune. As a journalist, he was bound and determined to prove, once and for all that there was no resurrection. Well, he proved something alright! He proved to himself that there was absolutely no way that there wasn’t a resurrection – and his life was changed forever!
All that the Bible has to tell us about Jesus Christ of Nazareth is true. Many throughout the millennia have tried to silence the truth. People like Strobel have attempted to disprove its authenticity…but to no avail! For He is risen! He is risen indeed!
*Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation
Apr 5th, 2020, Sun, 7:45 pm