Pastortimteague's Blog

What if it was you?

There is a passage of scripture in 2 Timothy 1.16-17 that never ceases to amaze me.  It was written by Paul the Apostle to a young pastor named Timothy.  Paul writes from prison and is extremely thankful for a man named Onesiphorus.  Onesiphorus was the kind of friend that you can only hope to find in life – especially when you find yourself in prison for being a follower of Christ.

Something that bugs me anymore is how easy we speak about one another in the body of Christ.  We have such sharp words of criticism sometimes.  We are quick to speak, criticize and judge others who’s only guilt is that they may disagree with us or they have an opinion that differs from ours on subject matter that really doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.   I have seen this spirit grow and increase tremendously in the kingdom over the last several years.  It seems to me that instead of getting better at keeping our tongue we are getting worse.

I have no provocation for this blog tonight except that I read this passage tonight after I got home from church.   It just resonated with the kind of kindness and friendship we should have for one another instead of being so quick to pass judgment.  There is a difference in recognizing someone disagree’s with you but when you go from critical of someone to judging them we have crossed a dangerous line.

Onesiphorus was willing to forsake his own interest, his own reputation and work at forging a relationship that would last through even the toughest of times.  Onesiphorus “sought out” Paul.  He was one of about thirty people Paul names in his writings as having a special relationship with him.  Friends.  I wonder how many times some of these thirty people disagreed with Paul?  I wonder how many of them criticized him behind his back?  i wonder how many abandoned him when things got tough?  Paul the apostle?  Someone turn their back on him?  Yes!  In the passage mentioned above there are two people who abandon Paul. Phygelus and Hermogene’s turned against him in Asia.  I am confident Paul was still hurting from the sting of this rejection.  It hurt.  It was emotionally painful. When you are down, in prison and in need of friends the last thing you want is abandonment.  No wonder Paul prayed that the house of Onesiphorus be blessed with mercy.  I guess tonight for some reason God wants someone to know a couple of things.

First, we are living in what I am going to call the worst generation for criticism.  Paul knew what it was.  Criticism is the seed to judgmentalism.  We normally cannot stop at just offering constructive criticism.  It leads to our judging another person.  I am confident that Paul had been on the inside of this boxing arena.  I guess the question to ask is are you an “Onesiphorus” to others or are you a “Phygelus or Hermogene’s?”

Second, real friends go out of their way to care one for another.  I want to ask you how often you think the body of Christ considers others better than themselves.  When we don’t we welcome a passive sense of pride about ourselves and wonder why others act, think and speak differently then we do.  Onesiphorus was committed to going the distance.  I have discovered in years of pastoring that we tend to “hang” out with those that we seem to get along with.  We don’t normally push ourselves beyond our “liking” point with others.  Problem with this is that we ignore the needs, desires, shortcomings, weaknesses and oddities of others who don’t fit our pattern of “friendship.”  We have a responsibility to not judge one another.  Be careful how you speak about another.  I always want to ask what if that person who is different were your son or daughter?  How would you like one of your family members treated the way you treat those who don’t fit your mold?  It can and probably will happen.  The way you treat others will come home to roost.  You will reap what you sow so be careful how you speak about others.  Even when Paul was abandoned and treated wrong (Alexander the Coppersmith) he kept his tongue from judging them.

Third, Onesiphorus didn’t hesitate going out of his way to prove his love for his friend.  Paul said that Onesiphorus refreshed him “often”.  This was a norm for Onesiphorus.  He sought out ways he could minister and refresh Paul.  He sought out ways. Let me repeat that one more time…”he sought out ways to refresh Paul.”  How many times have you made an effort, put forth energy, exerted tiring effort to minister to someone?  When was the last time you went out of your way to minister to someone who didn’t necessarily fit your pattern of “like”?

I am refreshed when I meet with those who prove a genuine love for my well being.  I am refreshed when I sit with a group of pastors who allow me to be myself.  I am refreshed when iron sharpens iron.  I am refreshed when I get an email that encourages me.  I am refreshed when an “Onesiphorus” steps up to the plate and really affirms me.  All of us need those folks like Onesiphorus in our life.

I want to ask you a question.  Have you been an Phygelus or Hermogenes lately?  Have you “abandoned” someone because they were a little different then you?  Didn’t agree with you?  Didn’t understand you or better yet you didn’t understand them?  You see in over thirty years of ministry I know Phygelus and Hermogenes by just sensing them around me.  You know what I’m talking about.  You have been there.  So have I.  I hope not to be there again but I know I probably will.  Somewhere in this faith journey of mine I will discover another Phygelus and Hermogenes.  I’m not looking forward to it but I’m a realist.  What I really look forward to discovering is a “Onesiphorus”.   They are absolutely awesome to have around.  Paul had thirty such people he named in his writings.  I pray that I can be just one “Onesiphorus” in your life or the life of another.  I want to refresh those people God has placed in my life.  I pray I can.  I really do.  There are enough character assassins out there as it is and the last place we need them is inside the kingdom.  What about you?  I challenge you to watch what you say, how you act and how you manifest your attitude toward others.  Be a true Onesiphorus.  Let’s work on it.

Nexus Defined

Some things are just hard to put into words.  Especially spiritual things.  Take Nexus for instance.  Nexus is the title to a missional effort we are creating to reach the millennial people group.  Sounds so cold to identify these 18 -30 years olds but it is what it is.  They are the millennia’s and they represent the largest people group of our history.

In September of 2010 the Lord gave me a prophetic dream about reaching this age group.  It was a challenge that has been difficult to put into words.  To this day I can barely speak about this challenge without sensing tears.  I am spiritually driven.  I say that to say the following.

In my vision I was involved with a woman in a cafe discussing faith and complications of faith in our lives.  I will save you the time for details.  I have introduced to our pastoral staff, our elders council and a team of young adults the concept I saw in the dream – a coffee cafe where we could create the what I am calling the atmosphere of faith.  Faith conversation.  Simple.  Not complicated.  Easy to arrive at.  Now then – we can make it complicated but we don’t have to.  We keep it simple – very simple.

Now then this is a radical shift from normal everyday traditional evangelism.  Everyday evangelism pushes for a “decision” to accept Christ.  Now don’t misunderstand what I am about to say here.  Dialogue of faith leads to an eventual decision for or against Christ.  But you travel the venue of dialogue first.  Nexus will have a goal of creating dialogue or an atmosphere of faith that produces life change and challenge.  This change could manifest as a born again commitment to Christ, a provocative challenge, spiritual and or emotional encouragement and a host of other non-tangible, non-measurable results.  In other words the results and or the “success” of Nexus may not be measurable as one would another venue of evangelistic effort.   You may dialogue faith with the same person for months before you could ever measure results.  You may or may not lead them to Christ.  Not every faith conversation allows us to bring someone to a decision point of salvation.  Our ultimate, long-term goal is to bring them into the kingdom by accepting Christ as their Savior – but with Nexus our intentional effort is the venue of dialogue.

Nexus will not be a church – although the “ecclesia” will gather there.  It will not be youth center – although young people will crowd its floorspace. It will not be a discipleship center – although passive discipleship will more than likely occur in this atmosphere of faith.  Nexus by clear definition of the word means “connection.”  We will connect people with and through faith conversation.  This faith conversation will lead to a variety of results.  Some we can measure but most we will not be able to.  We can measure how many we lead to Christ and write a number down.  We can measure how many we have successfully brought to a faith decision of some kind or another and we can write it down to show our efforts are bearing fruit.  But we will never measure all our results.  It just isn’t possible.

This is where we engage our raw faith in God.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.  Nexus will be more of a faith venue for us than just about anything else in our life.  Why? Because when it comes to measurable results we may not be able to “see” them, i.e.: evidence of things not seen.  At the end of the year we may only be able to measure success by what we know in our hearts we have hoped for but yet not seen.  Hebrews declares that a portion of God’s people never were able to “see the promise” of God – yet they were above all – faithful.  I think you get the point.  Nexus will not be about a business that produces measurable results all the time.  It, in simple terms, will be about creating a venue of faith where life challenges and changes can be made.  We may never see the physical and or tangible results of our labor and then again, we may.

When I began looking at this I realized the challenge and charge of this venue of target evangelism wasn’t going to be easy.  It’s different from the get go.  Most of us push for a “decision” based effort in evangelism.  This venue will create dialogue that can lead to a decision but first and foremost our efforts will be “faith dialogue.”  Pure and simple.

Let me give you three simple examples found in scripture.  Zacchaeus found in Luke 19:1-10; the woman at the well found in John 4 and the rich young ruler who came to Christ found in Luke 18.  There is something significant about these three incidents.  There is a common thread to each one of them.  The “results” vary but there is one significant similarity to all of them.  It took a venue of faith conversation to get any sense or measurable results from the conversation Jesus had with them.  We can deduce that the goal of Christ was to bring these individuals into His Father’s kingdom.  That was His goal.  But the intentional method of doing that was to create dialogue.  Pure and simple. In one case He was “unsuccessful” in getting a young ruler to come into the kingdom of God.  The young millennial walked away from the “decision”.  Was Jesus successful?  It all depends on what you’re trying to measure.  if you’re measuring salvation commitments then He was unsuccessful.  If you’re measuring faith conversation then He was very successful.  He was so successful in creating dialogue that His “failed attempt” at leading this young millennial to a decision is one we still use today.  He gave us a template for target evangelism – create faith dialogue.  Sometimes you can’t just hit someone between the eyes and expect them to lovingly respond to your efforts to get their attention.

Nexus is not church.  Nexus is a coffee cafe where faith is core subject of conversation.  We will “win” some and will “gain” some.  We will attempt to converse with all.  Let me remind you this is a prophetically driven project.  Results may be difficult to measure.  More later.  Be blessed and be careful out there during the ice storm and bad weather we are experiencing here in Lancaster, Ohio.

Nexus Affirmation

Unbelievable!  Kim and I went out tonight to do some shopping.  Understand I can’t remember the last time we went out on a Monday night.  Literally years!  I was assisted by a young man who without a shadow of doubt was meant to enter into my faith journey.  He was in his early twenties, an OSU graduate, trendy, sharp-looking young man and after we entered into conversation with him, revealed he was a believer.  I heard the door open wide on this one!

I asked him if he had a faith preference.  He said yes and went to share with me his commitment to Christ.  He was a guitar player and had been a progressive church that was targeting his age group.  He was a millennial.  He was on my radar big time.  I couldn’t help but discuss more.

I shared with him my desire to reach his age group.  I went on to share some insights to my vision. He was genuinely interested.  I asked him what he was looking for in a venue to express his faith.  He was honest, real and deeply serious about his conversation.  He shared with me that he was looking for something simple.  “No bells and whistles” was how he put it.  He went on to say that it wasn’t about the building, the atmosphere, etc.  He was looking for a place to worship in simple fashion, play his guitar, love Jesus and get involved in a specific area of voluntary service.  Yep! Everything we have researched and read came to surface in this fifteen minute conversation.  He was kind, helpful and absolutely affirmed my burden.  I believe our evening was ordered by the Lord!  I believe our going out tonight was out of the ordinary and ordained of God.  This young man affirmed my burden and vision in an awesome way!  I am so elated!

I can’t explain it.  I can’t discuss my burden without weeping.  It runs pretty deep.  Understand something here.  This is what I call “targeted evangelism.”  We have a target people group.  This doesn’t mean that we are going to avoid others who come to Victory Hill Church.  It just means we are going after a succeeding generation with a passion.  This is going to be a group effort.  Not me alone. It will be an entire congregation in forward motion faith.

I spoke yesterday about Uzza and his untimely death recorded in 1 Chronicles 13.1-10.  While there are lots of dynamics to the story that one could speak on for months – the kicker to this passage is found in verse 10 where it is recorded “and he died before God.” The implication here is that the moment he touched the Ark of the Covenant and broke the law of God – he was struck dead.  Dying “before God” was to say he died in the shadow of the Ark itself.  The Ark represented the manifest glory of God – thus he died before God. 

Understand I see Uzza as a young man who had been raised with the Ark in his home.  The glory of God became resident in Abinadab’s home.  Every day for twenty years Uzza got up, walked by “God”, ate breakfast in front of “God”, did everything in front of God.  God was there.  Uzza learned about God and even how to handle the presence of God because of his father’s heritage – of the tribe of Levi which was charged with the care and movement of all tabernacle furnishings, including the Ark.  But somewhere the line of communication and or care about his learning broke down.   Scripture declares he touched the Ark out of irreverence.  However he got to where he was at – he was on the losing end of this whole ordeal.  He died literally at the “front door” of the Ark.  Right in the face of God!

How many young people will be stacked up right in the face of God because of our lack of passion, energy, burden and labor to reach them?  How many “bodies” will we step over on our journey with the “presence of God” due to our lack of initiative to stop their actions of irreverence?  How many will sit under our responsibility, our efforts to reach them, our burden to go out of our way to touch their lives with the gospel of Christ.  I will be sharing my burden and vision for Victory Hill this coming Sunday, February 6.   I believe the best is just ahead for our congregation as we move in forward motion faith.  We have no choice.  Nexus is our theme for this effort.  Nexus means “connection”.  To be honest, it’s just a progressive term for target evangelism.  Let’s connect in forward motion faith and do what God has ordained for us to do.  We can. We will.  With unity, harmony and shear obedience to God’s call on our church we will reach this group of young adults and their families.  I’m in…how about you?

I hesitated at first.  Going to the pulpit this morning with a chaotic outline for a message was not going to be easy.  But I had to.  I had a word from the Lord burning in my spirit that I had to get out.  It wasn’t a simple A, B, C outline.  Not that there’s anything wrong with such an outline.  I use them on a weekly basis.  This one came out of my prayer closet.  It was a tough and sober word.  Sobering words are sometimes difficult to take.

I spoke on the Abiding Presence of God – Rules of Engagement.  The scriptural base of my message was 1 Chronicles 13.1-10.  You know the story.  It’s about David chasing the Ark of the Covenant.  He wanted it back in Jerusalem.  The Ark was at the house of Abinadab.  After the Philistines captured the Ark during civil war – they surrendered it because it so troublesome to them.  It wound up at Abinadab’s house.  It had been there for twenty years.  David pulled 30,000 people together to consult going after the Ark.  He gathered tribal leaders, Levites, captains and civil leaders.  They decided it was a good idea.  Badda-boom.  Badda-bing!  They were on their way! 

When they got there they loaded up the cart with the Ark and headed out.  Things seemed to be going fine until the ox cart hit a chuck hole. It wobbled and shook and Uzza reached up to stabilize it and that’s when it happened.  Boom!  He was struck by God and died next to the Ark.  Uzza broke the law.  He touched the Ark. I know it sounds so silly but God had established guidelines, rules for His abiding presence.  He knew the rules and yet in an instance broke the law.  Wow!  This story has been evaluated by men who are much more intellectual than I.  It has been under the microscope frame by countless numbers of theologians.  Who would I be to attack it again?  Go figure.

I think for my congregation today Uzza represented the church.  Here are my deductions for today. 

• The Ark had been in Abinadab’s house for twenty years.  The Abinadab family had become comfortable with the manifest presence of God.  They had become familiar with the Ark – the presence of God.
• Abinadab was from the tribe of the Kohathites of the tribe of Levi.  He was schooled in what it took to move the Ark.  Did he fail to teach his two sons the rules for the abiding presence of God?
• Uzza and Ahio were born into the tribe of Levi. They were stewards by inheritance to the abiding presence of God.  They had a responsibility to manage the Ark.  Somehow along the way they failed in doing so.  Uzza changed the rules.  God struck him dead.  Matter of fact it really ticked God off that he did what he did.  Like a parent who gives rules to their kids and the kids blatantly break the rules.  It’s a parental anger.
• Then there’s the cart.  Out of the 30,000 people who were around and possibly had some small part in even loading the Ark on the new cart – who attempted to stop the action?  Were they so far removed from the presence of God they forgot the rules for His presence?  Someone should have yelled, “Stop!”   But they didn’t.

Familiarity.  Taking God’s presence for granted.  People with religion minus relationship.  Uzza breaking the rules.  A new idea for managing the presence of God (new cart) as opposed to the holiness of God as the Ancient of Days.  The bottom line to this story is that Uzza represents a succeeding generation that died right in front of the Ark – the presence of God.  How many lost lives will we add up in our churches – right in the presence of God – because we are entertaining changing the rules in far too many churches.  God’s rules do not change. They remain for every people group, tongue and color.  His word is timeless.  Succeeding generations do not have to die on the front porch of the church.  We can and we should be burdened to not this happen.

Uzza didn’t have to die.  Yes, he made a decision and had to be accountable for his decision to break all the rules (Romans 1).   But somewhere along the line – Uzza slipped away from reverencing God’s presence.   2 Samuel 6.7 says that Uzza did what he did out of irreverence.  The word implies eluding, to diminish.  Over time Uzza lost his zeal for the presence of God.  He lost his desire to obey the rules.  The new cart was….new.  It was faster than God’s way of managing the Ark in movement.  But the new way broke the rules and someone died.  God in His inherent mercy and grace must be a God of justice. 

I can only pray that the New Testament church understand we can’t change the rules of God’s abiding presence.   Just as Uzza was brought into the lineage of the priesthood by birth so are we.  We are brought in by new birth and in this born again experience we become New Testament priests.  We have a stewardship of the presence of God that abides in us as a living temple.   I ask that you consider yourself.  Ask God if there are any rules you’re breaking.  I am confident He will show you.  That’s His job and He does it well as long as we want to know.  I do – what about you?

This Thing Called Temptation

We have all been there.  We have all had this “thing” stare us in the face at one time or another.  No matter how righteous we may seem or how long we have gone to church – we have dealt with it.  It’s called temptation.  It is a monster on the loose and it feeds off of believers. 

James wrote this about temptation:

James 1:13-16    Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.  14  But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.  15   Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.  16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

I have seen a lot in the thirty plus years we have spent in ministry.  Trust me – the church is not exempt from failure to deal with temptation.  From sexual temptation to financial fraud, from perversion of the flesh to perversion of the scriptures – we have been embarrassed one too many times due to our failure to deal with temptation.

The Psalmist David knew what this monster was like.  He had a fling with Bathsheba if you remember. This man who started experiencing God at a young age allowed the monster of temptation to just about get the best of him.  It wasn’t pretty.  He tried to hide it as a secret sin.  Didn’t work then and it will not work now.  No such thing as “hidden sin.”

David’s Secret Sin with Bathsheba is found in 2 Samuel 11:1-15.  You can read the horrid story there but let me bullet point some things here real quick.  James says we are tempted by being carried away by our own lusts (ungodly desires).

A.        David was where he shouldn’t have been (verse 1).

He should have been on the battle field leading his army – but he stayed in Jerusalem.   Had he not been derelict in his responsibilities and duties he may not have fallen to adultery.

Are you in the wrong place?  Have you allowed yourself to be at a place you should not be?

B.        Fed the temptation (verse 2).  David could have turned his head when he got a glimpse of Bathsheba bathing on her balcony.  He didn’t and it cost him dearly.  What is it that you are not turning away from?  To justify our sin regardless of what it is – is self-deception.  Sin is sin no matter how you look at it and when we play to close to it temptation comes home to roost.

 In getting too close it became harder to say no to the actual substance of sin staring him in the face.  When we allow ourselves to run with the wrong crowd or be influenced by carnal appetites – we are one step away from a decision that could be extremely bad for us.

Paul addressed this with the church at Corinth: 1 Corinthians 15:33  Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”

C.    He chased temptation down (verse 3).  He actually made a willful decision to engage in sexual misconduct – adultery.  When he sent for her it wasn’t to have an innocent Pepsi and play Bingo!  He let temptation lead to the conception of sin – no pun intended!

D.   He surrendered to the flesh man (verse 4).  He committed adultery.  He gave in to the desires of the flesh.  He couldn’t get the idea out of his head. Paul said that when he would go to do right – sin was staring him in the face.   In giving in to sin he denied the Holy Spirit an opportunity to do His job.

E.    He hid future sins because of this one sin (verse 15).  He went on to have Bathsheba’s husband killed in battle.  One sin, un-confessed, easily led to another sin.  David was on a roll.  When we try to lie and cover up our sin God has a way of revealing it.

F.    His surrender to temptation affected others (16 – 27).  David started his own Peyton Place, his own soap opera drama, all because of hidden sin.  His sin affected Bathsheba’s family and ultimately affected the nation of Israel.  Who does your hidden sin effect?  Does your sin affect your wife, husband, children, coworkers, faith family and your dearest friends?  Sad to say but you will be held accountable for the impact your sin has on others.

I pray that in this season of fasting you will have no hidden sin.  I hope the Holy Spirit reveals areas of your heart that need some inspection.  After all – hidden sin ain’t hidden sin to God the Father!  Yep!  He knows about it because He watched you engage in the sin.  He’s waiting on you to deal with it.  He’s waiting on you…just little ol’ you!

God Intervenes for a Widow

Scripture was clear on His birth.  Many in His day overlooked it.  They missed it completely.  His name would be called Immanuel which is interpreted, “God with us!” (Matthew 1.23).  He was man yet He was God.  He was “with us” and He is still with us.  All of us.  But every day there are millions of people on this planet who miss Him completely.  For too many reasons to list they just miss His being with us.  What will it take for us to know He is with us?  For one widow woman and her family and friends, realizing God was with them would be result of her son being resurrected.  It would be one day she would never forget.  Her story is told in Luke 12.12-17.  Just a handful of scriptures but they leave the finger print of God with one family in particular.

Luke 7:16  Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited His people!”

In a nutshell here is what happened.  Jesus is walking to a city called Nain.  On His way He comes up on a funeral procession with a large crowd following.  A widow woman is marching behind the coffin of her only son.  The coffin was not a covered casket like we’re used to seeing.  It was more of a stretcher with the covered body of the deceased on it.  Several things to note here right off the get-go!  First, Jewish law forbade anyone except the immediate family from touching the body or the coffin or else they would be unclean.   Jesus broke this law!  Second, the woman had been acquainted with grief because she was a widow.  She had already lost her husband and following this coffin more than likely brought out of her a lot of emotions, pain and grief.  Third, the boy or his mother must have been somehow influential in the city of Nain because scripture informs us there was a large crowd following the coffin.  Fourth, when Jesus saw this woman, compassion overwhelmed His heart.  He spoke to her and told her not to weep.  Fifth, He returns life to this deceased boy and presents him to his mother.  Sixth, and not recorded in holy writ is the fact that this boy would face death again. 

What does this say to us?  How does this impact us?  I think the point here for us is that Jesus knows our heart.  He knew this woman’s heart.  She had been down this road before and He really didn’t want her to deal with death like this again.  So He stepped in and resurrected her son. 

How many of us have had to face the same critical, if not fatal issues of life not once, but again and again.  How many of us have had to walk behind our “coffin” which carried a promise given?  How many of us have walked with “the crowd” not toward victory but to the tragic end of a life experience we didn’t want to end?  How many of us have heard Jesus whisper in our hearing, “Don’t weep!” but wrestled with His words, not knowing the next few steps He would take to give us reason not to weep? 

This widow had already lost her husband.  She now was going to bury her son.  Jesus for a sovereign reason did not want this to happen to her.  Can’t tell you why He didn’t stop all funeral processions – but this one I can.  Compassion wouldn’t let Him watch this opportunity go by!

I was coming home from visiting family in Tennessee several years ago when I was caught in a speed trap.  Go figure!  Me?  Speeding?  Unbelievable!  Yep, I was guilty as home sin on pop sickle stick!  Got a blistering ticket I wasn’t happy about.  The conversation went something like this:

            Officer: “Did you know you were speeding?”

            Pastor: “I was driving with traffic.”

            Officer: “Do you know how fast you were going?”

            Pastor: “I was traveling with traffic!”

At this point the officer returned to his car and wrote me a nice expensive award for passing through “his state.”  I then proceeded to make this smart-mouth remark to the officer.

            Pastor: “Since I was riding with traffic why did I get a ticket?”

            Officer: “I couldn’t catch everybody but I did catch you.”

End of not so pleasant conversation with a Kentucky State Highway Patrol Officer.

Here’s my point.  Jesus couldn’t stop all funerals but this one He did.  He stopped it and administered His duty just like the officer did for me (although the widow woman’s experience was much more joy-filled than mine).  I got a ticket but she got her son back.

Jesus cares for us.  He steps into our life to minister to us – because He can.   Does He stop our life experiences all time from tragic results or devastating effects or discouraging moments?  No, He doesn’t.  But at His will and by His omnipotence He just knows when to step in and stop the parade of sorrow, confusion, disillusionment, grief or pain.  He just knows when to move.  How does He know?  I have to rest assured it has something to do with His ability to take compassion to action.  It’s His call.  He knows when to move.  He knows when to tell us not to weep.  He knows when to stop the crowd from moving in the direction of sadness.

My starting point?  This widow woman – this mother and her crowd of followers would have a life experience that would leave them never to ask the question, “Is God really among us?”  They concluded, “God has visited His people!” 

I have seen many times when people have gathered as a crowd.  We have followed into our sanctuary’s those who have been broken hearted, broken spirited, disillusioned, confused, grieved, lonely, in bondage, etc.  I have seen many times when the Lord has “interrupted” the service only to speak loud and clear, “Stop weeping.”  I have seen Him in supernatural ways change the direction of the “parade”.   He has presented life back to us in a variety of ways.  You see the widow woman’s son would be given the gift of life only to have to face death again at some time in his future.  But that was yet to come.  The important thing to himself and his mother was that he was alive.  Life today is more important than any circumstance presented tomorrow.

Sometimes we experience a move of the Lord in our life only to realize that we may have to deal with this life circumstance again in the future.  But the future isn’t as important as this very moment – right now.  And right now God is speaking to someone and saying, “Stop crying.”  Why does He speak this to us?  To you? To me?  Because He is about to break every law, stop the crowd, interrupt our life experience to turn things around for us.  He may not catch every situation in our life but the one’s He does – He sure makes a difference in.  We too can say to those around us, “God has not just visited His people!”   He has visited us!  He has visited you!  He has visited me!  Praise be to His name!

Grace As A Teacher

I had a great time teaching tonight!  I sure hope our folk get as much out of class as I do!  I absolutely love what I do in shepherding the church.  I am home after a late appointment.  I was just sitting here in the quiet of our family room thinking about the subject of grace.  Grace is the favor or the blessings of God on all of us as believers.  Underserved favor!   As a pastor my mind wandered to the place where I know so many want to abuse grace.  They trample grace under their feet by engaging in repetitious sin and taking advantage of God’s grace to forgive.  Romans chapter one points to this type of person who engages in repetitious sin and finds pleasure in doing as “depraved”.  The KJV refers to them as “reprobates.”   They simply ignore the righteousness of character and engage in sin.  They know its sin but ignore conviction and do it anyway.  This is rejecting grace – not accepting grace.

Titus has something to say about grace that I think we overlook.  Everyone wants the blessing of grace but not the discipline of it.  Let me point something out to you.

Titus 2:11-14  

11   For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,

12  instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,

13  looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,

14  who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

1. Grace brings salvation to men.  Unmerited favor introduces men to Christ.  We are saved by grace and not by works – because God knew if we “did” something to get saved we would brag about it and we would become the initiator of salvation.  We enter into the kingdom by grace.

Ephesians  2:8-9   For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;   9  not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

2. All men can be saved.  Grace or unmerited favor is an equal opportunity salvation!  All men can be saved.  Grace reaches to the wealthy and the poor, the educated and the ignorant.  Grace brings salvation to all men…everywhere.  Black, white, red, Russian, Romanian, Indian, Anglo-Saxon, American, South American, British.  It doesn’t matter what religion a man professes – if he is not a believer in Jesus Christ he can be converted! Salvation is free to all men.  There is only one way to be saved – through Jesus Christ the Son of God!

Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

3. Grace becomes a teacher that opposes ungodliness.  Grace is found as a teacher within our heart.  Grace has a job description as a teacher – teach us inwardly to deny ungodliness and worldly desires.  Wow!  Think about that for a moment!

Grace screams at us to “reject” ungodliness (destitute of reverential awe toward God) and worldly desires (corrupt lusts).  Grace has her hands full!  Ungodliness is the absence of fear towards God and worldly desires are the attractions toward our innate desires in a perverted sense. 

For those “faith perverts” out there who assume they can pervert the gospel (Galatians 1.7) and live like they want to because of grace – you’re kidding yourself…actually, deceiving yourselves.  You can’t sin and consistently trample on grace.  Grace teaches against it.  If you have real grace in your heart you won’t want to sin –period.

4. Grace motivates hope in the rapture.   The denial of ungodliness and worldly desires is in preparation for the rapture.  We deny these two antichrist and anti-scripture dynamics in our life because we are looking for the Lord’s return.  Two things here: a) looking for a blessed hope and 2) appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Paul said he was after two things – looking with forward motion faith for the rapture and second the actual appearing of the Lord.  The coming of the Lord ought to make all of us walk a little more balanced, righteous and honest with God the Father. 

Grace is a teacher that teaches us to trust in the unmerited favor of God – not trample it under foot.  Grace teaches us not sin – in light of the coming of the Lord.  Now we can better understand where sin abound grace does much more abound.  You get the picture don’t you?

Sorry this didn’t get posted last night (1.25.2011) for some reason.

Fallen Birds – Who Cares?

A few weeks ago there were simultaneous incidents where hundreds of birds were falling out of the sky – dead.  It was eerie to watch the news reports.  They were hanging in trees, lying on the roads, in people’s yards, on vehicles – they were literally everywhere.  Scientists are trying to figure out what happened.  The brightest of scientific intelligentsia have gathered to figure it out.  I don’t know if our intellectuals can figure it out or not – but I have an idea of Who already knows what happened, how many to the number fell to the ground and just what caused their untimely death. 

• Matthew 10:29    “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.

The idea here is that our heavenly Father is well aware who we are, where we are, what we are doing, where we are going, how we are provided for and protected.  God knows us better than anyone else.  He created us.  He breathed life into us.  He set us in motion.  He gave us life.  If the Father knows when a sparrow falls to the ground – He is a master at knowing us!

What scientists are chasing to discover God already has figured out!  He is Sovereign in His knowledge of us.  But yet there is another part of being human that the birds don’t have.  Self-soul discovery…because they do not have a soul!   Allow me a moment here.

I read a story the other day about a bird who kept flying into the outside rear view mirror of a car.  He was in effect attacking himself.  Eventually the bird hit the mirror with such force that he broke his own neck and died.  One of two things happened here with this bird: 1) he didn’t like himself or 2) he was attacking someone who looked a lot like he did!  We will never know of course because obviously birds don’t have souls!

You see a bird cannot know himself like we can.  No one knows us like we do ourselves.  Paul wrote to the church at Corinth and said, “…who knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of a man which is in him?” (1 Corinthians 2.11).  Yep!  No one knows you like you know you! 

If God in heaven knows when a bird falls to the ground and that bird has no soul how much more important are you to the Father?  If a bird has enough sense to build a nest and provide for its own then how much more should we, as humans, take care of ourselves?   The other day the Lord counted the birds as they fell.  He knew they had fallen to the earth.  He KNEW! 

During this time of fasting I want to challenge you to know that God knows you.  He has also given you the unique ability to know yourself.  He has given you the ability to examine yourself spiritually. 

• 1 Corinthians 11.28   “Let a man examine himself.”
• 2 Corinthians 13:5  “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you–unless indeed you fail the test?

I like the fact that Paul tells us to examine ourselves.  Spend time looking inwardly at yourself.  Now then, here is the safe guard.  Because we are all selfish creatures by nature, we may be prone to give ourselves a little break on our self-examination.  We may want to fudge the exam here and there in an attempt to justify the results of our inspection.  Fear not my friend!  Paul also addresses this.  God is concerned about you.  Yep!  He knows when the smallest of birds fall the ground and He knows when we are keeping something from Him – good or bad.

• 1 Corinthians 4:3-4  But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself.   4       For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. 

At first it seems as though Paul is contradicting other areas of his own writing.  He is not.  He is saying that at the moment of his writing he is unaware of any evil thing in his life.  He is not moved by any attempt of someone else to examine him.  He then says something you need to hear and understand.  He tells the Corinthians that he is not acquitted by his own self-examination but rather the Lord Himself who examines him.

Oh my Lord Jesus!  If only we, through our season of fasting, can find a place where we are acquitted of any evil doing in our heart by the Lord Himself!  Not our self-acquittal!  Not the acquittal of a court or justice system…but by the Lord Himself.  Too many times we look in the mirror like the bird and we don’t like what we see.  Sometimes we may go into a passive / aggressive attack on ourselves.  We may, like the bird, attack someone else who resembles our “sin nature.”  We don’t like what we see in someone else because it reminds too much of what is imaged in the mirror so we keep attacking the image – not knowing we are about to knock ourselves unconscious! 

I ask you to understand this tonight.  If the Lord knows when a sparrow falls to the ground and it has no intrinsic value – it is worth a half a penny – then how much more does He know us?  If the Lord knows about a bird with no soul how much more does He care for you and I with the innate ability to examine ourselves?  He loves us so much He gave us the ability to look inside our own heart and settle spiritual issues.  The safe-guard?  His ultimate examination!  I leave you tonight with this thought: the Holy Spirit was sent to assist us in the process. He came to convict us of sin, righteousness and judgment.  Did you get that last word?   Judgment!  The Holy Spirit will assist you in the judgment arena!  Others will judge you because they always do.  We are a society possessed with uncovering each other’s weaknesses and failures.  We delight in an “evil” way pointing fingers at others.  But wait a minute!  How long has it been since you sat back, withdrew your criticism of others, your judgment of others and asked the Holy Spirit to examine your heart?  Oh we say we are in the faith but we sometimes don’t act like it.  Paul said two things to us in his writing.  First, examine yourself and two, let Him examine you. 

I have a feeling that during this fast the Holy Spirit will purify your thoughts and your actions.  Let Him help you.   We don’t have to be like the soulless bird which kept flying into the rear view mirror.  We have the knowledge of the One who will help us with what we don’t like about ourselves.

Agitated About the City

Acts 17:16

16  Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols.

Jesus wept over a city that had not shepherd.  Paul would become agitated over city given to idolatry.  What will we do as we stand on the rock of Rising Park and overlook our city – what will go through our mind?  I wonder, that’s all, I just wonder.

When Paul looked at the city of Athens he saw idols on every street corner, he saw a city given to a liberal social elite, a city shamed by its outrageous religious temples built just about on every block.  Historians teach that for the most part you would walk down the street of Athens and find gods easier than men.   The city was given to over 3000 public idols, not counting the images hidden behind the walls of private residences.  The city was “given” to idolatry.  Paul’s spirit was stirred, agitated, moved deeply.  Again, what happens to our spirit when we see what we are currently seeing in our city.

In Lancaster, Ohio, there is an epidemic of substance abuse.  We have seen the video’s and heard the testimonies.  We have gathered together, worshiped and prayed.  We have petitioned God to avenge our city, send us a revival, protect our law enforcement personnel, guide our judicial administrators, lead our educators, speak through our media channels – but has our spirit, our heart actually been stirred?  How we know when it has been directly affected by what we have seen?

I think we know our heart has been stirred when we model Paul’s behavior in relationship to what he saw in Athens.  In a nutshell Paul confronted the idolaters.  He engaged them in debate and he dialogued with them the things concerning the kingdom.  Some laughed and made fun of him.  They scorned his message.  The result is clear – when we become stirred over our city we too will find those who laugh and scorn our efforts.  They will question the Christ we preach, teach and testify about.  But the end result is awesome.  People got saved. They turned their life over to the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Our city issue is the god of drug addiction.  Our city has been given to drug usage.  We can one of two things with what we have seen.  We can be stirred and do absolutely nothing or we can be stirred to the point we take the message to the city.  We engage dialogue and debate. What we won’t do is give up.  We refuse to wave a white flag.  We pray for the salvation of the dealer and user alike.  We ask God to avenge of our enemies and cause to flee those who refuse our message.  Again, the greatest aspect of our being stirred to action is this verse:

Acts 17:34

34  But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

Bottom line?  Men and women getting saved.  Finding Christ as their Savior.  Of course this is only the result of our being stirred leading us to proactive action.  Saddle up, let ride off into the sunset and reach these city idolaters!

Community Prayer

We gathered together at United Brethren Church tonight for our first substance abuse prayer initiative tonight.  It was an awesome time of prayer, testimony and combined faith.  I am so righteously proud of our pastors!  Hats off to the guys that helped pull this initiative off! I have grown to love these pastors as dear friends in Christ.  They are leaders who have a burden to take our city from this scourge that has overtaken it. 

• Greg Voight – Thank you for allowing us to gather in your beautiful sanctuary to call on the Lord tonight.  Your leadership in the faith community is valued my friend!                 Thanks for your praise team and your refreshment team for a job well done!  Thanks for your prayer for our law enforcement officers – they put their life on the line every day for our safety.  They are truly agents of God.
• Tom Alexander – Thanks for your commitment and time in preparing the agenda.  Your office team does an outstanding job!  Thank you for your transparency tonight.  You have handled the pressure well and yes, the faith community is behind you without question.  I know you and your lovely wife have faced life challenges you never dreamed you would face.  We love you both!
• Barb McKittrick – Your transparent testimony in relationship to your experience with an addict was stirring.  Thank you for being honest about your feelings.  Thank you for being with us tonight and yes – Jesus is the answer!
• Lindsay Bishop – What can I say? Once again your dance team hit a grand slam!  I have never seen your team without the anointing on to worship in dance.  Thank you for your commitment to the expressive arts for kingdom work.
• Joel Seymour – Your pastoral leadership is a model for us all.  Thank your comments on the public school system.  At a time when it gets rocked for its decisions etc., you made us proud of the availability of a public school system that teaches our student.  Yes we can and we should pray for righteousness in the system and for Godly teachers to influence our students.
• Dennis Coll – Your wisdom and choice of words always leaves me with a smile.  Thank you for your comments on the family.  So much said in such few words. You’re the best at speaking wisdom without sharing the library.  I appreciate your friendship and for mentoring us in our Thursday morning pastors gathering.
• Steve Rauch – You da man!  There is only one of you! There is only one golden radio voice in Lancaster and it belongs to you my friend!  Your comments on the media and how God has used them and will continue to use them was refreshing.  Thanks big guy!
• Jason Cordle –  You brighten up my day no matter when I see you.  Your passion for Christ is evident in your life, your words and your prayer.  Thanks for your comments tonight on this being not just a large town problem.  Sin knows no social or geographical boundaries.
• Ron Grubb – Grubby!  You have mastered the ability to speak with well-intentioned words.  Only you my friend!  Thank you for leading us to trust the Holy Spirit to lead us into this prayer initiative.  His guidance will be perfect and we need to trust Him every day to lead our prayer efforts for our city.   Asking God to invade our court system buildings and for wisdom and knowledge for the court personnel was great.  We know the Holy Spirit is the executive agent of the Godhead.  Our court judges, magistrates and administrative personnel will be influenced by righteousness!

Finally, a special “thank you” the faithful members of our churches.  Without you being present tonight it would not have been success.  You are the folk who bring your families to our churches every week.  You are the ones who are fighting, along with us pastors, a daily battle for those in our families who have addictive behavior issues.  Few families are exempt from being affected by the drug abuse epidemic.  But I honestly believe that when we stand together – God will answer our prayers and avenge the body of Christ from our oppressor.  We are praying for grace and mercy to invade the streets of Lancaster, Ohio.

May the drug dealers find righteousness and come to Christ!  May their customers find deliverance!  May the families of victims and users find healing!  May our city be avenged from this oppressive scourge.

I close with the prayer found in 2 Chronicles 20.12 where Jehoshaphat called on God and pleaded ignorance before the Lord.  He prayed “we do not know what to do but our eyes are on You!”  Yes, we may not know what to do or how to do it when it comes to seeing this epidemic eliminated from our city – but isn’t that why we gathered tonight?  Not knowing led us to the One who does!