It is once again the weekend. I am currently with a friend in Birmingham, Alabama attending the Gridiron Men’s Conference. Last night we heard Pastor Fred Luter talk about the need for men who are compassionate workers in the Kingdom, reaching the lost. NFL QB Drew Brees gave his personal testimony of following Jesus to impact his sphere of influence, and challenging the thousands of men in attendance to identify their own sphere and bring transformation to it. Rev. David Jeremiah then talked about how important it is for God’s men to be servants in the Kingdom, just as our Master was/is. Today we will hear from Dr. Ben Carson. And others about the value of men in ministry. It has been very good inspiration on a Father’s Day weekend, and I expect it will continue to be today. It is intense. But at the same time it is restorative. And restoring is what the Gospel is all about, isn’t it? Webster says that to ‘restore’ is ‘to bring back to or put back into a former or original state’. It is appropriate that this is happening on a weekend, as God blessed us with time once a week to rest. And while I can find no technical correlation between the words ‘rest’ and ‘restore’, it is impossible to miss the fact that the first four letters in ‘restore’ spell ‘rest’. Spiritually God is moving us toward rest. Not sleep, or vacation. But a true place of rest where there is less spiritual war raging within us. There was work in the Garden of Eden. There were interpersonal relationship issues to deal with. There were serious decisions to make. The first couple was not walking around in a daydream on clouds. But there was not a constant battle in their lives bringing angst, sickness, pain, death, destruction, and separation. They weren’t fighting an uphill battle. They weren’t losing things on a regular basis. But when they sinned, they lost the most important things they had. They lost perfect fellowship with God, peace with each other, paradise in the world. Ever since then, God has been reaching out to us trying to restore humanity to our rightful place of holiness and right standing with Him, and restoring to us those physical things we lost. It is a restoration project to bring us into a place of rest. The word ‘rest’ is found in the Bible over 600 times. The word ‘restore’ is used in the Bible over 100 times. In one such case the writer calls upon God in this way, “Restore us, God of Hosts; look on us with favor, and we will be saved.” (Psalm 80:7) In fact, that phrase is used three times just in that one short chapter. “Restore us, God; look on us with favor, and we will be saved.” (Psalm 80:3) And again, “Restore us, Yahweh, the God of Hosts; look on us with favor, and we will be saved.” (Psalm 80:19) Weekends are good times to be restored through and to rest. Conferences are also good ways to be restored through and to rest. I have traveled several hours to get away from my daily routine and hear some Godly men say some refreshing, recharging, and restorative things. Here are a few quotes… “Change won’t come through the courthouse, the White House, or the school house. It will only come through the church house.” – Pastor Fred Luter “I won’t always be able to play football. But I will always have Jesus.” – Drew Brees “God isn’t looking for more ushers, Sunday School teachers, deacons, musicians… He is looking for more laborers.” – Rev. David Jeremiah Today, rest, and be restored. Be restored, and find rest. [Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.] Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry. 1 If I speak human or angelic languages
but do not have love, I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not conceited, 5 does not act improperly, is not selfish, is not provoked, and does not keep a record of wrongs. 6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. (1 Corinthians 13:1-8) I needed this today, and maybe you do too. HCSB I woke up this morning to hear that 9 people were shot and killed during a prayer meeting in a predominantly black church in Charleston, SC overnight. Social media is filled with posts and pictures mentioning that people are praying for Charleston. This has become a trend. When a disaster happens, many people emote online about the situation and mention that they are praying. But this causes me to ask a couple of questions. 1 - Are we? Are we actually praying for Charleston? Or are we just posting that we are praying? Are we thinking that the thought of prayer is the same as praying? There is a difference between praying and posting. Thoughts aren't prayers. Sadness isn't a prayer. 'Sending good vibes' isn't praying. Posting a picture of the crime scene isn't prayer. Adding a #PrayingForCharleston to your post doesn't make it a prayer. It may be a collective exercise of mourning. But it isn't prayer. Adding a 'praying for _______' post seems to be like the perfunctory, "If you need anything let me know," or "How are you doing?" greetings at the funeral home. Saying, "God help them" is not necessarily a prayer. 2 - Are we praying to God... Or are we just praying to the sky? Prayer is a very specific act, regarding a very specific thing, offered to a very specific God. The God of the Bible is the only one who has all ability to answer all prayers. If we aren't praying to the Christian God in the name of Jesus Christ, we aren't praying.. we are just wishing. I'm not suggesting it is bad to think about those in need, or talk about a situation, or post about a tragedy. I'm just saying that we need to be praying as well as we talk about the need for prayer. God will hear and answer a praying people. Perhaps we aren't seeing things turn in the right direction because we have a facade of prayer and aren't really praying. God promises to respond to Godly people who pray. He does not promise to respond to our shock and panic. The apostle James said this about prayer, "The urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect." (James 5:16) You see, prayer is not just a thought, or vibe. or feeling. It is a heart to heart conversation with the Creator and King of the universe. God places concerns on our hearts so that we will talk with Him, and when we see Him work, we will have greater faith. That doesn't happen just because I add a #prayer to my Facebook. In fact, if I am saying that I am praying, but I don't actually pray, I am lying. Today we need to pray for the families of the victims in South Carolina. It is okay to post that to Twitter... but if you have to choose between praying and posting... pray. [Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.] Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry. You want to be a good friend, right? So you tell your friends about the great restaurant you found, the best painter you’ve ever used, the type of shampoo that finally got your hair right, and the latest music that is the coolest. Sometimes you go above and beyond by actually taking them to that restaurant or giving them a bottle of the shampoo. We like to share our finds with our friends. That is one thing that enhances our friendship. This is especially true if our friends have a very specific need and have not successfully found a solution. If you have a friend who has a skin condition and you hear about or find a product that has the desired effect, you really try to get it to your friend, or your friend to it. We like it when we are able to help our friends find solutions for their issues. Some of that may be a prideful pursuit, but I think mostly we just feel more significant in a good way because we helped our friend. We need to be the same way with getting our friends to Jesus Christ. One story in Scripture illustrates this perfectly. Jesus was traveling around teaching and performing miracles, then this happened, When He entered Capernaum again after some days, it was reported that He was at home. So many people gathered together that there was no more room, not even in the doorway, and He was speaking the message to them. Then they came to Him bringing a paralytic, carried by four men. Since they were not able to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above where He was. And when they had broken through, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” But some of the scribes were sitting there, thinking to themselves: “Why does He speak like this? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Right away Jesus understood in His spirit that they were thinking like this within themselves and said to them, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’? But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” He told the paralytic, “I tell you: get up, pick up your mat, and go home.” Immediately he got up, picked up the mat, and went out in front of everyone. As a result, they were all astounded and gave glory to God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” (Mark 2:1-12) As Christians we like to raise the roof with anointed worship. We enjoy those services where we experience God in a special way because our praise is ascending uninhibited to the throne of God. But we should understand that most of the world will not experience that because they are not in the presence of Christ. We must do everything within our power to get people to Jesus, the One who can cure them of their problems, both body and soul. What if we were as excited about razing the roof to get needy people to Jesus as we are raising the roof to get ourselves to God? The men in the story were willing to carry their friend to the top of a house, tear off a section of the roof, and lower him down into the room where Jesus was teaching. This effort put the man in a place where his life could be changed forever. Do we have the same determination to get our friends to Jesus? Are we more excited about sharing our favorite vacation spot, car, or coffee shop with those around us? Are we as eager to remove the obstacles keeping people from Jesus as we are to show them an opportunity that could change their financial future. Today you will spend some time and energy being a good friend. Be the best friend and help your friend in need get to the source of their healing. And if you have to rip off a few shingles in the process, that’s okay. It will make for a great story. [Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.] Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry. Early this morning I got up to take one of my daughters to the airport. Tabitha was leaving on a 10-day mission trip with her church to serve in multiple locations in the nation of Haiti. It is her second foreign mission trip. A couple of years ago she spent a couple of months in Papua New Guinea. She has been involved in various missions since she was a young teenager, including homeless and inner-city ministries. Now that she is an adult, that call to serve is taking her around the world. Obviously it makes me very glad as a father to see her serving the Lord. We are familiar with the stories of Christian missionaries throughout the last couple of thousand years, especially those women who have followed the leading of Christ into the mysterious sovereign hand of God. It is part of the DNA of our family. And she is continuing the heritage of service in difficult locations. We expect great things and wonderful stories of the move of Christ in and through her when she returns. But this is not just a physical trip. It is also a spiritual journey in a broken world. There is a spiritual battle raging. She isn’t going to Haiti just to deliver shoes to children who need shoes. That is commendable. But it isn’t the whole story. There is another part of the truth. Living on this planet is dangerous business. Serving God carries no exemption from the dangers of this life. Yesterday I read that Elisabeth Elliot passed on to glory. Elisabeth is best known as the missionary spouse of missionary martyr Jim Elliot. Jim, along with several of his team mission team members was killed by natives as they tried to take the Gospel into the jungles of Ecuador for the first time. Elisabeth went on to become an author and continued in ministry for decades after the death of her husband. She had a powerful testimony that included her forgiveness of the men who murdered her husband on a riverbed in South America, one of whom gave his life to Christ and joined Jim Elliot’s son in crusades to share the love of Jesus around the world. Yesterday I also read the news of Lee Rickman, a Wesleyan school teacher from High Point, NC. Who lost his life in an accident while leading a short term mission team of young people in Jamaica. His parents have a perspective that is more than inspiring. “It was clearly a moment that God put in motion to call him home. That’s what it was,” said Tim, Lee’s father (and principal of Wesleyan Christian Academy). “As a Christian, there aren’t accidents. There are times when God speaks to us, and at that moment God called Lee home.” No one is promised their next breath, regardless of their relationship with Christ. We who are in Christ may like to think that we are immune from actions by the enemy or the sometimes less than agreeable sovereign hand of God, but we don’t get a pass on attack or accident. But those in a right standing with Jesus Christ, forgiven, regenerated, and transformed, have a hope that is beyond this life. Our hope is not that we will escape in a glorious rapture. But that glory has already entered us and will rescue us in God’s way at God’s time. The apostle Paul, a missionary who faced many adversities on this travels, wrote this to some Christian friends, “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of our affliction that took place in Asia; we were completely overwhelmed – beyond our strength – so that we even despaired of life. Indeed, we personally had a death sentence within ourselves, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a terrible death, and He will deliver us. We have put our hope in Him that He will deliver us again while you join in helping us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gift that came to us through the prayers of many.” (1 Corinthians 1:8-11) As I write this sentence, the girl that I prayed would serve God all of her days is boarding an airplane as God answers that prayer. I don’t know what God has for her life. I don’t know if she will go on dozens of such trips, or if this will be her last. All I know is God is in her and will accomplish His work in her life. That’s the most reassuring thing I can know. I think Tabitha knows that the only thing more dangerous than following Jesus is not following Jesus. And there is nothing more fulfilling. Today you are stepping into your missionfield. There are no guarantees for you today, except that life is dangerous, and if you follow Jesus He will walk with you. Live today like it may be your last. Better yet, live today like it may be someone else’s last day. [Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.] Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry. |
AuthorMy name is David, and I want to know God more, and help other people find Him. Archives
March 2019
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