Posted on

Scatter your people abroad

Lord God of love for the world, in times past your people launched out across the earth to proclaim salvation in Christ. They planted themselves in other cultures, among peoples strange to them, in order to learn their language and their unique perspectives. They did this in order to better communicate the gospel of redemption.

Why, O Lord, are so few doing this today? Why do people consider themselves missionaries after spending a week or two abroad?

Raise up servants who will identify with another culture, learn their language, understand their needs, and bring the gospel to their hearers in a powerfully appropriate way.

Yes, Lord, scatter your people abroad, however it must be done.

Posted on

In peace with your provisions

Lord, let us be in peace with your provisions. Thank for your blessings. We are content.

Keep us from putting our trust in things. Let us not seek security in accumulation of material goods.

Help us to live simply. Keep us from spending on accessories that add nothing to our quality of life, but that take away from the good that we might do for others and from the support that we might give to your work.

As we see your free generosity in Christ, create in us the desire to bless others.

Posted on

What You Have Seen & Heard

Pastafarians, worshipers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, created their religion to mock Christians, declaring that there’s as much evidence for faith in the FLM as there is for our faith in God.  But that simply is not true.  There’s much evidence just in creation to prove our faith (Romans 1:18-20).

I. Luke 7:20-23.  John, who was so sure of who Jesus was (Matthew 3:13-14, John 1:29-34), must have begun to have doubts while he languished in Herod’s prison.  When his followers came and told him all that they had seen and heard Jesus doing, he sent them to ask Jesus if indeed He was the expected Messiah.  Jesus pointed to the evidence of what John had seen and heard to not lose faith.

II. Philippians 3:7-16.  We’ve not had John’s calling as a prophet or seen the Holy Spirit come upon Jesus, so how much more do we struggle to overcome doubts in the midst of trials?  God gives us strategies to do so:

a. Realize that with so much evidence, it is not a blind faith that we have.

b. Value struggles as a way that God is disciplining and growing us (Hebrews 12:4-13).

c. Rest in the faith of the great cloud of witnesses of the past and present (Hebrews 11:1–12:3).

d. Remind yourself of what you have seen and heard.  Keep an answered-prayer journal or, as the songs tells us, “Count your many blessings, See what God has done.”

III.  Matthew 28:18-20.  It’s not enough to just encourage ourselves by what we have seen and heard.  Jesus wants us to “go and make disciples” with it, becoming part of the great cloud of witnesses for others to see and hear!

 

Posted on

We trust in you

Lord of lords and God above all gods, your name deserves praise from every heart and tongue. You are worthy, O heavenly Father, to receive worship and fear and blessing from every person, for you created us and all that the universe contains.

Look down upon us in mercy. Have pity on our struggles. Pour upon us your grace. Make us powerful in our work of sharing the message of salvation. We are few in number, but make us strong in faith. Cause the Word to multiply in this city.

Strength the hearts of those who are weak here. Enliven the slow to act. Break out among us the inexpressible joy of your salvation.

Start all this with and in me. Let the brethren grow beyond what I am able to provide. Keep the gospel from being limited by my limitations.

May the Lord Jesus fill our vision. Let the Holy Spirit empower our service. May his revelation to us be constantly on our tongues. Help us to trust in your eternal purpose.

Father, we trust in you. We believe you hear and answer our prayers.

I have confidence in your promise. I will work till Jesus comes, even if I see no fruit from my labors, for in your time you will produce the good results of the Word. Let many be saved. Save me according to your mercy.

Posted on

April Fools! He is Risen!

Of course the Bible tells us to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on every first day of the week, but many are looking for a particular emphasis on this topic on the cultural (and religious) holiday many call ‘Easter.’  It doesn’t happen very often, but this year that day falls on April 1.  So, just who were made fools because Jesus was raised from the dead?

  1. Hebrews 2:14-18.  Perhaps Satan was the biggest fool.  Because of our sin, he held the power of death and reveled in our fear of death.  On that Friday Passover so long ago, it certainly appeared that Satan and the grave had won.  All of mankind were sinners and had earned death by our sins.  Jesus denied any power that God in the flesh could have wielded and in weakness died a criminal’s death.

2.  Romans 1:18-32.  Sinners are next.  These are people who do not retain the knowledge of God although God’s eternal power (the resurrection) and divine nature are clearly seen from what has been made.  Without excuse, these unrepentant sinners plunge willingly into their various sins, while believing themselves wise, enlightened “Christians.”  God gives these “fools” over to their sins.

3.  Psalm 14:1.  God calls atheists fools.  In their book, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, Geisler and Turek argue that in the face of such overwhelming evidence for the existence of God, great faith is needed to hold to the untenable position of disbelief.  Beyond that, how sad that atheists let go of any hope for eternity that comes through Jesus’ resurrection overcoming sin and death.

We should not be fooled by Jesus’ resurrection.  Rather, that He was risen ought to help us prepare.

 

Posted on

Bible.03: By What Authority

“Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him.  ‘By what authority are you doing these things?’ they asked.  ‘And who gave you this authority?’” Matthew 21:23.  One of my students at a secular college once tried to argue in a paper with the question, “What gives God the right …?”  I told her that if she was going to refute God, she needed to prove that He wasn’t the sovereign Creator who did not have the right to establish His creation how He wanted to.  She chose a different argument.  God has all authority.  After the cross and His resurrection, Jesus said that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him.  With His authority, we who are baptized into Him, are to “go and make disciples … teaching them everything [He has] commanded.”  To know what to teach, the Holy Spirit brought men into all truth and carried them along to record His inspired Word.  For a while, that authority entrusted to us was in spoken and written forms and confirmed by various gifts, but by the end of the 1st Century, we had His completed Word that thoroughly equips us written.  Does His Word have authority over you?

I.  Matthew 21:23-27.  The chief priests and elders believed they were in authority and so demanded from the Son of God in the flesh “by what authority” He was teaching and who gave it to Him.  They knew of course that God, as the sovereign Creator, had all authority but were unwilling to accept that Jesus had authority (Luke 5:20-24).  But, God now speaks to us through His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2).

II.  Hebrews 2:3-4.  What a confusing time the 1st Century must have been before the completed Word of God was written.  Before the cross, Jesus had promised that the Holy Spirit would lead them into all truth (John 14:26), and so through various gifts, God’s Word was spoken (1 Corinthians 14:1-5) and written down (2 Peter 1:19-21) until His authority was revealed (1 Corinthians 13:8-13).

III.  Matthew 28:18-20.  Because of mankind’s sin, the devil claimed to have authority to give Jesus if only He would worship him (Luke 4:5-8), but Jesus took the more difficult road to gaining all authority through the cross.  By His authority, now revealed to us through the completed Word of God that thoroughly equips us (2 Timothy 3:16-17), we are to go and make disciples of all nations.

Our reaction to the question “By what authority?” posed to Jesus should be “By what authority!”