Worth Repeating - August 31, 2017

Acts 17: 11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. (NIV)

Trust but verify.*

We might wonder if Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, thought that Paul was never going to read these words. He is bragging on a group of people who are eagerly checking up on the veracity of Paul’s preaching. Didn’t they trust him? Shouldn’t they trust him?

I believe there are two important lessons we can learn from the Bereans. In the church, we have preachers, teachers and leaders that we trust and who would never purposely lead us astray. But they are humans and prone to human error. If the Bereans were to be commended for not relying on every word out of Paul’s mouth, certainly we should verify the words of our beloved leaders as well.

The second lesson is this: No matter how many sermons or lessons you hear from the Bible, there is no substitute for digging into the Word for yourself. When you read the Bible, do you do it out of duty? Do you find it boring and difficult to understand? Or do you approach it with the enthusiasm of a treasure hunter? Do you ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you as you indulge in the Word of God?

I urge you to follow the example of the Berean Christians and receive the message with great eagerness while examining the Scriptures daily to find the truth.

Five minutes with God each day will never accomplish a deep spiritual examination.*

Worth Repeating - August 30, 2017

I Chronicles 29: 14 “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.” (NIV)

Who ever gave any thing to God that he did not first receive from him?*

This verse follows the prayer offered by David at the beginning of the construction of the temple. He and the people of Israel had given generously of their treasure to finance the house of worship. Christians who have learned the joy of giving can relate to the deep satisfaction David and his people were experiencing.

But David’s reminder in verse 16 is as timely now as it was then: “O Lord our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you.” Yes, the people had been lavish in their gifts towards the building of the temple but had they forgotten who had given them their wealth in the first place? We see how much they gave away, but do we know how much they kept for themselves?

In an offering meditation, a friend told about buying some French fries for his son. When he asked the boy if he could have a couple of the fries, the son was reluctant. “They’re mine,” he said. “Really?” the dad asked. “Where did you get them?” The boy would have had no French fries at all if not for his father’s benevolence.

When you find yourself hesitating to give generously to the Lord’s work, ask yourself who provided your wealth in the first place. When God provides an order of fries, how stingy are we to refuse to give some of them back to him!

Acknowledge that you have nothing that wasn’t God’s in the first place and lose that possessive and selfish barrier to blessed giving.

Worship is when you’re aware that what you’ve been given is far greater than what you can give.*

Worth Repeating - August 29, 2017

Ruth 2: 3 So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech. (NIV)

We weren’t created to pursue the lives we want.*

When I was a single mom, my boys went off to their dad’s every other weekend. On those childless weekends, my friend and I took advantage of my freedom to go out and have fun. Both of us were interested in remarrying some day, but in the meantime, we just went our merry way. I joked that Prince Charming wasn’t going to come knocking on my door and that even if he did, I wouldn’t be home anyway.

The truth is, whatever you think it is that’s missing from your life - whether it’s love, friends, career advancement, purpose – you probably won’t find it by looking for it. Ruth was a young widow with very few resources, but instead of launching a campaign to find a man to fulfill her needs, she just lived her life. She went out in the fields to glean behind the harvesters – hardly glamorous – because that was her current opportunity - and she just happened to find herself in the field of her Prince Charming. If she had been frantically searching for love in all the wrong places, she might have missed her chance to meet Boaz - and to become an ancestor of the Messiah.

My advice for you, if you have a void in your life, is to walk with God. Ask him to fill that vacancy. Live your life, take advantage of opportunities, and wait for God to make arrangements. He will either fulfill your desires or you will find yourself no longer desiring the same things.

By the way – my happy ending: part of “living my life” included being involved in the singles group at my church. It was at a group Christmas party at the home of my minister and his wife that I met my Prince Charming. And we lived happily ever after!

He knows precisely when we are spiritually ready to receive blessings for our gain and His glory.*

Worth Repeating - August 28, 2017

John 10: 4 “When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” (NIV)

There’s a reason Jesus is called the “good shepherd” and not the “good cowboy.”*

The only first-hand knowledge I have of sheep comes from the one my cousins had as a pet when we were kids. His name was Baa and he butted like a goat, so we weren’t inclined to spend a lot of time getting to know his other character traits. My internet research into sheep behavior was a little more informative than my personal experience.

According to Wikipedia, “sheep have a strong tendency to follow and a leader may simply be the first individual to move.” If the first individual to move is another sheep, you can see how easily sheep could be led astray. In this verse, Jesus is referring to the shepherd’s programming of the sheep so that they will follow him. The one who has spoken to them since birth, the one who has fed them and cared for them, is the one they learn to follow. If a particular shepherd’s flock gets mixed in with another’s, his well-trained sheep will recognize his voice and separate themselves from the others to follow their shepherd.

Now that I have such vast knowledge of sheep behavior (!), I understand that this verse is not about the sheep but about the shepherd. I have always tried to read into it that the sheep have some responsibility to know the shepherd’s voice, but Jesus called himself the “good shepherd” and he demonstrated good shepherding techniques. We know his voice because of his efforts to train his flock to follow him: care, feeding, protection. We may choose to ignore his voice, stupid sheep that we are, but he has done all that he can to make us want to choose to follow him.

Don’t be one of those sheep who follows the first individual to move. The Good Shepherd has taught you his voice – follow him to safe pasture and abundant provision.

There is a difference between getting sheep into a pen and teaching them to respond to the voice of the Good Shepherd! . . . Sheep that are simply conditioned to inhabit a pen are easily lost. Sheep that have learned to hear and obey the voice of the shepherd never lack sustenance and direction.*

Worth Repeating - August 27, 2017

Acts 8: 6, 8, 26-35 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. . . . So there was great joy in that city. . . . Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road – the desert road – that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch . . . Then Philip . . . told him the good news about Jesus. (NIV)

Christ doesn’t just save sinners generally, he saves specific sinners individually.*

It’s thrilling to hear reports and see videos of large numbers of people being baptized. We rejoice when more souls are saved. But most often, the lost are won to the Lord one soul at a time. Case in point: Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.

Philip was holding a successful revival meeting in Samaria when an angel appeared with orders: go south! As far as we know, Philip wasn’t told why he was being relocated and there is no indication that he even asked. He just went. As another writer expressed it: “He left a place where he was able to tell hundreds of people about Christ to walk along a road where he would encounter hardly anyone.”* But he did encounter someone - someone who was seeking. So God sent Philip to preach to him.

God cares about individuals. One lost sheep is as precious as the hundred safely tucked away in the barn. Be willing, as Philip was, to be God’s messenger to the lost. Don’t be discouraged when the audience is small. We might ask ourselves, was Philip more productive when he was baptizing crowds or when he converted the “lone Ethiopian on the desert road?”* One soul at a time can soon become a multitude.

Does someone you love need Jesus? Pray that God will send a messenger like Philip to preach to them. And pray that their hearts will be receptive to the good news.

Someone may suggest that those we may save are only like a drop in the ocean. But every drop is a soul.*

Worth Repeating - August 26, 2017

I Samuel 31: 11-13 When the people of Jabesh Gilead heard of what the Philistines had done to Saul, all their valiant men journeyed through the night to Beth Shan. They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall . . . and went to Jabesh, where they burned them. Then they took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree . . ., and they fasted seven days. (NIV)

You can easily become obsessed with other people’s wrongs against you.*

We know we’re supposed to forgive people when they have done us wrong so we work at it. Lots of prayer and attitude adjustments can get us there. But forgetting is another thing. The damage is done; the consequences may last a lifetime; there is always something there to remind you . . . Why is it, though, that we can recall a person’s bad behavior in such vivid detail that it completely obliterates any good they may have done?

The people of Jabesh Gilead weren’t clueless. They knew the kind of man that Saul had become. But they also remembered and honored the good that he had done for them in his first military action as king* (see I Samuel 11). Because Saul had come to their rescue many years earlier, these brave men of Jabesh Gilead risked their lives to provide Saul and his sons with a proper burial. 

Are you working through the stages of forgiving and forgetting? Perhaps you could accelerate the process if you worked on forgiving and remembering. Ask God to help you find forgiveness in your heart and to help you remember something good about your offender. Replace that painful memory with a positive thought. Does he love his family? Is he generous to others? Is she nice to other people – even if she wasn’t to you? Maybe you used to be friends. Do you have any happy memories of that time? Is this person really all bad? 

Would you like to be remembered for the time you were rude to the cashier at Publix? Do you want to go down in history for making someone cry – even if it was unintentional? Do the mean and hateful things you say define you more than the good and loving ones? Remember the good that other people do and perhaps they will do the same for you.

What if God limited his forgiveness of us based on our forgiveness of others?*

Worth Repeating - August 25, 2017

Mark 8: 27-29 . . .  he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” (NIV)

Jesus’ disciples called him “Lord,” but he didn’t hesitate to call them “friends.”*

If someone asked me, “Who is Mark Durbin?” I would say, “He is my husband.” His mother would say, “He is my son.” Someone at church might say, “He is my Sunday School teacher.” When identifying someone, we usually begin with who they are to us. But underneath the basic question is another implied question: “Do you believe there really is a Mark Durbin?” If you don’t believe he exists, you won’t care what he means to me.

Jesus’ disciples believed in God. They believed in Jesus the person. But they didn’t understand Jesus’ relationship to God and they certainly struggled with grasping what he might mean to them. Can you relate to them? You believe in God. You even believe in Jesus. Probably most of you believe he is the Son of God. You know who other people say he is. But who is he to you? Can you claim a relationship with him? Is he your Savior? Lord? Friend?

Stop and listen to Jesus as he asks you, “What about you? Who do you say I am?” Does your answer involve what you have heard others say about him, or do you have a defining relationship with him?

We need to know Jesus the person, not just the plan.*

Worth Repeating - August 24, 2017

I Peter 4: 13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. (NIV)

My faith is founded on a sufferer.*

Remember when Jesus “began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things” (Matthew 16: 21)? Remember what Peter said? “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” Could this possibly be the same Peter who tells us now to rejoice in the sufferings of Christ? What happened to change Peter’s outlook? 

Have you ever taken a bite of something you were sure you wouldn’t like – only to find out you did? When my daughter-in-law tried a new dessert recipe, I was certain I wouldn’t like it but I tried it because I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.  Since then, I have asked her never to prepare that dish again when I am around because I couldn’t stop eating it. No willpower whatsoever!

I think something similar happened to Peter. The “sufferings of Christ” sounded like something distasteful – even dreadful – until he tried it. Like Peter, if you participate in Christ’s suffering, you will discover that there is joy to be experienced when his glory is revealed.

So go ahead. Take a little taste. Step out in faith and rejoice in how delicious it is to suffer with Christ.

The way in which suffering is faced, namely as something to be rejoiced in, determines whether Christians will rejoice at the last day and share in the glory of Christ.*

Worth Repeating - August 23, 2017

John 17: 1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed. (NIV)

Prayer is relevant in every situation.*

If you knew you had only one year left to live, what would you do? How would you fill your time if you were down to only one day? I have no idea what I would do – just pondering the question causes me to feel anxious so I’m thinking that if I really had to face the decision I would succumb to a full-blown panic attack.

Perhaps, after I took a deep breath, I might consider what Jesus did. He knew all along that his days were numbered so it’s certain that he used every moment wisely. But when the clock ticked down to the final twelve hours, what did Jesus do? I like what John Maxwell says about Jesus’ last moments of freedom: “He didn’t start big campaigns. He didn’t try to change laws. He didn’t even do any more public ministry. He spent the time praying.”*

Admit it. You secretly think that there had to be something more dramatic that he could have been doing. Admit it. You say you believe in the power of prayer but you still think of it as a last resort. It’s what you do when you can’t think of anything else to do. How did this happen? When did we start thinking that we are smarter than God? How can we believe that we can face troubles or make decisions without seeking God’s face?

We often hear that we should live every day as if it’s our last one. I suggest we live every day as Jesus lived his last one: make prayer our priority.

We may speak about the importance of prayer, but it seldom becomes our actual practice.*

Worth Repeating - August 22, 2017

John 4: 24 “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (NIV)

We all have two choices in life: to be surprised by the absurdity of the universe or to be surprised by the meaningfulness of the universe.*

Part of my job as a mom was to help my children understand the difference between fantasy and reality. There is no such thing as ghosts, Santa Claus, or animals that chat with humans. Did I confuse them, then, when I also taught them about God who is invisible, who is everywhere and actually is a ghost?

It defies logic. We don’t believe in magic so why believe in the supernatural? And yet . . . when we trace nature back to its very beginning, we are left with two choices for how we got here – and both of them are unbelievable. So I choose to believe that God is spirit and that all things were created by him.

Once we have acknowledged God as creator, we find ourselves again at the crossroads of choice. Ignoring him is an option that many have chosen. I choose to worship him in spirit and in truth. What will your choice be?

Atheists are the greatest fools in nature; for they see there is a world that could not make itself, and yet they will not own there is a God that made it.*