Worth Repeating - March 21, 2017

James 5: 20 Remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. (NIV)

Do heroes know when they are heroic? Rarely.*

I have never saved another person’s life, but I am sure that it is an exhilarating experience. Those who do it on a daily basis – firefighters, EMTs, medical professionals – truly are heroes. But behind each one of these lifesavers we find support personnel without whom they could not perform their valiant deeds. File clerks, dispatchers, janitors, mechanics – all provide an invaluable contribution back-stage.

Never won anyone to the Lord? Never turned a sinner from the error of his ways? Are you sure about that? If you are a parent of adults who are faithfully serving the Lord, you are a successful soul-winner. If you have ever prayed for someone until she finally gave her life to the Lord, you have made an invaluable contribution to the salvation of that soul. Do you have some “little” task that you perform at your church, enabling your preacher to concentrate on his job? Have you ever encouraged someone who was out there in the trenches with the lost souls? Do you regularly provide financial support to a missionary family?

According to Paul in I Corinthians chapter 3, we are only servants through whom others come to believe. God has assigned to each of us our tasks, he says. Paul uses himself and his friend Apollos as an example of the teamwork required to fulfill our mission. Paul says he planted, Apollos watered, but God made the garden grow. We may not all do the same job but we have the same purpose.

Whether we perform our soul-saving in public or behind the scenes, “we are God’s fellow workers” (I Corinthians 3: 9), and we are instrumental in turning sinners from the error of their ways. 

When the church pulls together in God’s intended direction, great things are accomplished.*

Worth Repeating - March 20, 2017

Nehemiah 4: 9 But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat. (NIV)

[Do not] pray about . . . strategies, but . . . make prayer the strategy.*

It had been nearly 100 years since the Jews had returned to Jerusalem from exile and still the city had no walls.  While a walled city is a foreign concept to us, it had cultural and political significance in the Middle East of the Old Testament. There was resistance from some local officials but the biggest obstacle to rebuilding the walls was lack of leadership. And along comes Nehemiah – a man on a mission from God.

The project was coming along nicely when their progress came to the attention of some of their most avid adversaries who began to plot a strategy to fight and “stir up trouble” (verse 8). How did the Jews respond to this threat? Nehemiah says they prayed and then posted a guard. 

There are a couple of ways to misinterpret Nehemiah’s actions. We could think that this is an example of the adage that many people mistakenly think is found in the Bible: God helps those who help themselves. But that would be wrong. God helps those who seek him.

We could also see it as a sign that they didn’t trust God. They prayed, after all, so why did they need to post a guard? When they had finished their prayer, they did not have the luxury of time to weigh their options. Prayer plus responsible action is not a sign of lack of trust – it is a step of faith. Posting a guard would have been useless if God hadn’t been consulted first. As it says in Psalm 127: 1, “Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.” And without action, their prayers would have been faith-less.

We must be careful to ask for God’s direction before taking action. Pray and be led by his Spirit into action.

The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. . . . He does not anoint plans, but men – men of prayer.*

Worth Repeating, - March 19, 2017

Proverbs 14: 12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. (NIV)

Nobody can be truly better off from believing and advocating a lie.*

In the movie, Quigley Down Under, Matthew Quigley and Crazy Cora, after being left for dead in the Australian Outback, have acquired a horse upon whose back they hope to ride to civilization. When Crazy Cora points out that they are making good time, Quigley laconically responds, “Don’t know where we’re going but there’s no point in being late.”

Quigley’s words could be the motto for the man who pursues a way that seems right to him. A man who is sincere while on the wrong path is just as lost as the one who deliberately, rebelliously takes the highway to hell. Case in point: Saul/Paul. Read Acts 8: 1-3, and 9: 1 and 2 for a look at someone who wasn’t just sincerely wrong – he was zealous and bloodthirsty. When Saul was blinded by the light on the road to Damascus, Jesus didn’t tell him that being a terrorist was okay since he thought that persecuting Christians was pleasing to God. Jesus told him the truth and Saul had to decide what to do with his new knowledge.

I sometimes think that Paul had an unfair advantage. I mean, who wouldn’t turn to the truth if Jesus appeared to you in a flash of light and gave you an attitude adjustment? Paul might say that our advantages far surpass his: we have the truth in a handy reference book called the New Testament. He didn’t. He had to write most of it. Ignorance of the truth is no excuse when it is so readily available to us, and we are faced with the same choice as Paul: continue to pursue the way that seems right or pursue truth.

Don’t make good time on the road to hell. Seek the truth in God’s word. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you in your search for the path to righteousness - for sincerely wrong leads to death.

God created man with the ability to think, to acquire knowledge and to discern truth. God wants us to use our minds.*

Worth Repeating - March 18, 2017

Judges 7: 13-15 Gideon arrived just as a man was telling . . . about his dream. . . . “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that . . . [it] overturned and collapsed.” His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon. . . . God has given the Midianites . . . into his hands.”  When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he . . . returned to the camp and called out, “Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.” (NIV)

True leadership relies on God’s attributes, not one’s own.*

All day, God has been working with Gideon to build the perfect army for defeating the Midianites. He accomplished this by reducing the number of Israelite soldiers from 32,000 to 300. This was probably not what Gideon expected, but God continues to assure him that he knows what he is doing. Finally, that night, God tells him (in so many words), “Okay. If you don’t believe me, then go down to the camp and hear what they are saying.” Gideon, while still in doubt, has been obedient so far, so he makes his way down to the camp and overhears the conversation recorded in the verses above. After all God’s assurances and personal attention, why does Gideon not believe in his victory until he overhears the guy telling about his dream? Who are these men and why would Gideon accept the one’s interpretation of the dream?

Take a look at Gideon as he went about his day, doing what God told him to do. Can we guess at Gideon’s attitude? Have you ever gone through the motions when your heart wasn’t in it? Could it be better to submit with a heart full of resentment than not to submit at all? But wouldn’t it be far better to submit as cheerfully and sincerely as we possibly can?*

Now let’s observe God’s day. He spent it arranging things so that 1) Gideon’s army would win; and 2) there would be no doubt that the victory came from him, not from the army’s strength. Throughout the day, he provided assurance that the Midianites are losers. This is our mighty God in action:  arranging affairs for our good (Romans 8: 28); assuring us that his power is at our disposal (Luke 10: 19); remaining patient in the face of our obstinacy (I Timothy 1: 16); and doing whatever it takes to make us finally realize what he’s been telling us – whether gently in Gideon’s case or not so gently as was often the case with the Israelites (and with us).

When we doubt that God is on our side, we need to remember Gideon. We need to “Get up!” and go into battle, knowing that it’s not about what we can do!

We are not sent to battle for God, but to be used by God in His battlings.*

Worth Repeating - March 17, 2017

Acts 4: 29 “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.” (NIV)

“Hurray . . . for adversity.”*

If you had just been in front of a judge (for the second time) and were ordered to stop what you were doing; and if you knew that as soon as you left the court, the officials would be plotting against you, what would you pray for? Honestly? I would pray for the Lord’s protection. I would (nobly) ask that the Lord touch the hearts of my enemies, but I would be looking for deliverance. 

Peter and John and their merry band were remarkable. They asked for “more boldness, more power, and (essentially) more trouble!”* It’s not as if they hadn’t already spoken boldly – that’s why they were in trouble in the first place.

In Mark chapter 13, Jesus predicted their persecution and promised that the Holy Spirit would speak through them. He did not offer them deliverance from the trials ahead and they were fully aware that their persecution could end if their preaching ended.

I wouldn’t say that it is wrong to pray for deliverance from persecution. But how many times have you prayed to speak with boldness – even though you have never faced persecution? Could you ask for boldness even in the face of mere inconvenience?

American Christians often let our cultural environment dictate how openly we will publicly share our faith.*

Worth Repeating - March 16, 2017

Hebrews 11: 6 Without faith it is impossible to please God. (NIV)

Faith is indispensable to a good relationship with God.*

This whole chapter in Hebrews is a tribute to God’s faithful people. Read about them. What does it say about how, in their hearts, they believed in God? Nothing, actually. What Hebrews chapter 11 tells us is what these heroes did. Does it tell us that they were saved by their works? No, it doesn’t. It tells us that by faith they demonstrated their faith through their actions. And God was pleased with them.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Not just because of the missing element of faith, but because without faith, there are no fruits of faith. Conversely, you could work yourself to death for the cause of Christ and it would be wasted effort if you don’t have faith. Without faith, nothing you do is good enough. And, as we read in James 2: 17: “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

Faith is more than conviction of the reality of the facts that God has unveiled. Faith also exists as response to those facts.*

Worth Repeating - March 15, 2017

I Peter 4: 10, 11 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. (NIV)

God doesn’t call us to “good enough.” He calls us to “best.”*

I have a friend who was not blessed with superior intelligence, good looks, or outstanding skills, but right out of high school he started working for an agency who rewarded his hard work and plodding faithfulness with promotions and bonuses. He had been in a supervisory position for several years by the time he retired. He did not always get the respect he deserved from his colleagues but he continued to do his best and give his employer what they paid him for.

I think my friend is a shining example of what God expects from us. Not many of us are blessed with the flashy gifts that place us on ministry’s stage. Most of us are behind-the-scenes people without whom God’s work on earth would be relegated to mere entertainment. At times our service to the kingdom seems less like giftedness and more like drudgery. Often, I jokingly say that you have to do something you hate now and then or you can’t go to Heaven. That may not be sound theology but if you are waiting for God to provide you with a glamorous gift, you will miss the opportunities to serve him in the unsung but effective ways that bless others and glorify him.

Follow the life of Jesus. Did he sing on the stage with the spotlights glaring on him while the audience stood with upraised arms? Did he play a musical instrument or preach in a megachurch? Jesus’ ministry consisted of brief moments of glory and weeks of obscurity, misery and rejection. Still he did his Father’s will.

If you don’t know what your “gift” is, I suggest that you just do what you are called on to do today, asking God to provide you with the strength to do it well so that in all things he will be praised through Jesus Christ.

In opportunity, in privilege, in the endowment of youth, strength, intelligence, or other of life's benefits, every Christian in some specific sense is better than any other.