Declare to the world what you have heard
We all hear things, we all want to share our wisdom and experience, and we all want to give meaning to others that will make a difference.
It’s what makes us interesting, an important part of our social network of approval and friendship that enables to live healthy lives.
Some of us are comfortable with small talk, general conversation, with a smattering of philosophy and advice. Maybe too many of us go deep to quickly, offer insight and opinion too quickly – maybe too quick to talk and not enough time given to listening.
What is the most important words I am learning to declare to the world?
God says that when His Word goes out, it does not come back to Him empty, but it goes and accomplishes what its intent was to do. So when I spend time in His Word this morning and He shares with me how important it is for me to take seriously the thoughts He has shared with me, I am changed.
When I share those same words with others, the words I heard this morning, I see other peoples lives changed too.
My words really do not matter very much – they are just words, same as every one else. God’s Word makes a difference, not only in mine but with everyone else I share them with. So I continue to learn how to share those words each day enabling His Word to make a difference in my world.
The Temptation of Teaching
I have been watching a lot of black and white westerns these past few weeks. Not sure why, maybe its just getting in touch with something I used to do with my family growing up.
The story is always the same..if you are the fastest gun then there will be a lot of other guys wanting to go against you just to prove they are faster.
Solomon was the wisest man during his time and there were a lot of people checking him out to see if he was all of that or not.
Then there is Jesus, walks into the temple first thing in the morning. People all gather around Him as He teaches until some guys try to trick Him by questions or case studies or His relation to the law of Moses.
Therein lies the temptation of those of us who love following Jesus. We usually enjoy teaching, and have an impact on people’s lives because of our joy and passion in serving Christ. However, we rarely consider the slippery slope that comes with teaching.
What happens is that there are wise guys who are designed to ask the unanswerable questions, the ones that take you one way when you really want to go the other, and the ones that want to take away the joy and passion.
How do they do this?
They pump you up as the teacher that knows and then set you up as the one that judges between right and wrong. In our enthusiasm to serve, we fall at the first temptation to prove we know…when maybe we should be slowing down a bit and wondering why we have been put in the judgement seat in the first place.
Pride does funny things to people and if not caught, we become the experts on law and not on a relationship with Jesus. Taken further, we lose the joy of the Holy Spirit and we lose relationships with those we were called to serve and teach and mentor and lead.
Teachers who are called are incredible people – full of good news and full of passion. Take time to pray when questions are asked that put you in a position of knowing right from wrong, law vs grace and takes you out of your element of leading people to Jesus.
Should the Holy Spirit give you incredible insight into the hearts of those who are putting you into a position of judge, then move forward in confidence, because God has a lesson for them in your giftedness of teaching and watch how He is glorified in front of others as you serve Him in your answers.
No honour
Yes, following Jesus does not always mean that you will liked, favoured or honoured by others.
I cannot count on the number of times I have given and given and given and received nothing back in terms of immediate gain.
Of course, I know that God notices and I count on Him to bless me, but seriously, no honour at all?
It happen again today.
Put an entire package together, taught an incredible session, delivered an amazing sermon and yet, just not enough.
I was called a youth pastor … and I am 51 years old .. rather I just be called a missionary and that is not saying there is anything wrong with being called a youth pastor, just that I am not.
Maybe tomorrow…probably not.
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Getting the Invitation
You all know the story too well – Jesus turning the water into wine at the wedding.
I think what we miss the small fact that Jesus was invited to come. He did not come accompanying His mother – He was invited.
How is our relationship with others? Have we been having invitations to come and celebrate with others? Does it matter that we are there where others are looking for a statement of blessing from your attendance?
This is an important matter because getting an invitation into someone’s space means that you are an accepted and trusted friend with a message that holds some sort of authenticity.
It is how I judge open doors to share the gospel. If my walk with Jesus puts me in a position to be invited into someone’s space, then I take Jesus with me. If I take Him with me, I wait for the opportunity or the open door to which I can take someone into His presence with me.
Sometimes that means me just being me. Other times it is given the opportunity to say grace before a meal or giving a toast to the guest of honour or sharing a memory that really mattered.
Then there are times where I meet people who want to invite me into their home so that they and their whole family may hear the gospel and ask questions. These times are most precious. This is where Church begins and I always pray that the Church will grow and stay strong at this important moment.
But none of this happens without the invitation – today, get the invitation, the rest of what happens depends on the move of the Holy Spirit – just be ready to be when He calls you to be.
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In the beginning…
You know that most of us have nothing to say either about the beginning or ending of our lives and as we get older we think we have more of a say and then older we realize we have had little to say and then older and we realize that we said very little and should have said more and finally at old age, we are told to stop because we really do not have anything to say to a generation that is now out of touch to where we were and are.
There are some of us who desperately need to know the beginning from the end of life. If God was present in the beginning, than He will be waiting for us at death’s door. If that is true, then there needs to be a settling of accounts and some of us are trying to figure out how to do just that.
It seems that most of us still try to buy our way into heaven or out of hell.
Those who try to eliminate God from the equation are left with no purpose other than to make sure they tell as many people as possible that there is no purpose in life. I am not sure how that gets them up each day and enables them to live life with a sense of calling.
I try to start the beginning of each day acknowledging that this day is the beginning of a special walk with God. I do not know what will come of the day or how it will end, but I place myself in His hands, trusting that whatever the walk is, He will be walking with me. Some people like spending time with God at night or possibly some other points in the day…but I find nothing beats the beginning of a day – in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God.
Interpreting the Scriptures
Four months have passed and I have enjoyed my new devotional walk with God.
I have pretty much stayed on the relational side of that walk with a few strands here and there.
Jesus makes it quite clear that our walk cannot only be relational with Him and not be relational with others. We will meet other followers who you might call foolish for they have such a hard time believing, and others that are so slow in believing that it becomes frustrating.
However, that is not because of who they are, it is because we have not done enough study ourselves to clearly provide a path of direction to allow them to see Jesus. Study enables us to see the truth and clearly share it with others and possibly take a multitude of paths to get to the same truth because each person needs to hear it in a way that is understandable to them.
For instance, could we take someone through the Old Testament and show where Jesus is revealed throughout the ages by the prophets? Could we show where the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus is illustrated in the OT? Could we see all the New Testament moves of the Holy Spirit in the OT and explain to those who think the Holy Spirit ceased working at the death of the last apostle?
That comes through study. I just finished a study on the move of missions among young people. From the late 1700 to the beginning of the 1900′s there was power in missions because of an incredible focus on prayer. Somehow, after the 1900′s you never read of prayer and missions combined again. One wonders why and how that happens and I am now responsible to address it in my own mission.
We need to know in order to tell.
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“into Your hands”
I try to be brave as often and as long as I possibly can.
Being almost too optimistic I can get away with it pretty much most of the time.
But there are times when you feel like Satan is sifting you like wheat and you feel like the truth hits you. Waking up you realize that without God you are nothing.
The Job’s, David‘s, Paul’s, and John’s were like that. The Judas‘ were hit with the truth, only they never woke up to the truth – that God could take them through their pain and suffering.
A member of my youth group, at the very end of the night, brought up suicide. Talking about a lady that went to Switzerland so that the doctor there could end her life because it was filled with so much pain. The word for that particular form of suicide/murder is euthanasia. We talked about babies being born after abortion, breathing, and then the doctors killing them, we talked about pre-scanning your baby for birth defects and if you found one, you could end the pregnancy and we talked about their moms and dads being a painful burden to them as they got older and how easy it would be to just pull the plug and give the release to ease the burden on society and yourselves.
I rarely wait for the pain and suffering before I jump into His hands. I can sit in my living room, gazing out the window, and in an instance Satan can bring up my past and all my sins and in an instance, I can silently pray, Lord Jesus have mercy on my soul, and every power of darkness is so far removed from me. I snuggle in, resting in Him and enjoy my quiet time of simple worship and prayer.
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