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I Am Your Portion

Is fairness everyone getting an equal portion or what he or she needs?  Was it fair that Uzzah died trying to steady the ark (1 Chronicles 13-15) or should the priests have stepped up to do what was only their job?

I. Numbers 18:20-23.  God made the Levites priests and said that He would be their portion and inheritance in this life, and so as they served Him–which included carrying the ark of the Lord, He would care for them.  A treasured possession the whole nation were priests (Exodus 19:5-6, Lamentations 3:21-26), and thus in the New Testament so are Christians (1 Peter 2:4-5).  Thus, God is our portion too.

II. Joshua 21:41-42.  God scattered his priests of the Old Testament and New Testament (Acts 8:1-4) so they could capture souls and keep others connected to Him.  So, seeking and saving the lost (Luke 19:10) is our work (1 Corinthians 15:58).  When we bury the talent with which we were entrusted (Matthew 25:24-29), then the Uzzahs around us touch the ark we should be carrying and die.

III. Jonah 4:9-11.  When we don’t invest what God has entrusted us with to yield interest for Him, He tells us that even what we do have He’ll take away.  Many times we justify not investing because we’ve judged others as unworthy of salvation.  That’s what Jonah did.  Rather, we must help others (Galatians 6:1-2) out of sincere love for them (1 John 4:20).  Then we can run our race with perseverance (Hebrews 12:1).

We’ve been entrusted with the gospel message.  How many Uzzahs are steadying arks on carts around us while we remain silent?  Is the Lord your portion?

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Should Not Trouble

We want the community to obey the gospel and come into the church, but we don’t want the church to compromise truth and become the culture.  U.S. church attendance has fallen from over 70% around WWII to less than 47% today.  This means that the aging baby boomers (ages 60s through early 80s), who have lived through very challenging societal changes in their decades of life, are the ones filling our pews.  How can the church today hope to grow?

I. Acts 11:19-21.  Antioch saw changes in the church.  Exclusively Jewish in its traditions and knowledge until God opened the door to the gentiles, Jesus’ church was suddenly overwhelmed with believers who had obeyed the gospel but came from a denominational (pagan) and unchurched backgrounds.  Today’s faithful don’t fear opening our buildings to our communities without reason.  During the turbulent ’60s, divisive ’80s, and combative 2000s, the culture deviated from truth while the church held fast but became unrecognizable to each generation.  Sadly, a church that no longer looks like the community it is in soon dies.

II. Acts 15:6-20.  Leaders in Jerusalem told the Antioch church to extend the same grace to those from the outside coming in as God had already given to those who had been in the church.  It was God’s church, not theirs, and He was restoring His fallen tent.  Giving grace means WORK for us as we convert the fallen away, the denominationalists, and the unchurched, who are all products of the current culture we live in.  The easier ways of growth closed off to us, the church must return to the method that worked when it last looked like its communities.

III.  John 15:16-18.  While doing the difficult work of going into our communities and making disciples, we “should not trouble” those escaping the corruption of the world by keeping them from returning to it.  We can extend grace and love as Jesus loves without compromising truth.  If we do this, His church will be forever changed, yes, but it will thrive into the future.

 

 

 

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In No One Else

God made a way for sins to be forgiven through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.  Seeking opportunities to proclaim that gospel should be what is on every Christian’s mind every day.  For Peter this was true–even when he was hauled before the very group that had condemned Jesus.

I.  Acts 3:6-26.  For Peter, every encounter was an opportunity to serve in Jesus’ name.  So, when he saw a lame beggar, he healed him.  And, every interaction was an opportunity to tell the good news.  So, when an astonished crowd gathered, Peter proclaimed Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, telling the crowd to repent!

Is this us?  Or, do we allow the petty power the world wields to stop us from serving in Jesus’ name and proclaiming that which might offend?

II.  Acts 4:1-18.  This didn’t set too well with those in worldly power, who seized him and made it sound like he had done something wrong.  Not to be shaken by how the world framed what he had done, Peter rightly describes their actions as calling him to account for showing compassion.  Then, he tells them the gospel!

Shrinking back, we even say things like “we’re not allowed …” or justify to ourselves that our audience wouldn’t be receptive to the gospel anyway.

III.  Acts 4:19-21.  Peter wasn’t motivated by the worlds threats, tactics, or persecutions.  He never reasoned that the Council couldn’t act because the people were all praising God!  Because he knew Godly power, he didn’t care what the world might do to him–only about lost souls who needed to hear the good news!

For us to adopt this perspective, we need to be transformed (Ephesians 4:20-24) and to die to sin and self (Romans 6:5-8) to know our salvation.

How frustrating it must have been to be the world in the 1st century and discover that threats and persecutions no longer worked on Christians who used everything the world had the power to do as an opportunity for the gospel and continued to serve in Jesus’ name (Acts 5:40-42)!  How can we similarly frustrate the world around us today?

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I Want to Be a Soul Winner

In the movie version, based on the WWII story of conscientious objector Desmond Doss who saved 75 men on Hacksaw Ridge, the combat medic, exhausted and abandoned by his infantry company for dead, powerfully cries out, “Just one more, Lord,” as he lowers the wounded one by one down the cliff edge.  This should be our attitude towards evangelism, not just one aspect of church life that we’ll get to if we can or have time but the vehicle through which we conduct our Christian walk (1 Corinthians 9:16-27).

I.  Do you want to be a soul winner for Jesus every day?  Paul describes his preaching of the gospel that “necessity is laid upon me,” that “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel,” and that he has been “entrusted with a stewardship.” Are you similarly compelled?  What return are you making on the investment that has been entrusted to you (Matthew 25:14-30)?  How often we sing, “I want to be a soul winner for Jesus every day …,” but do we mean it?

I want to be a soul winner for Jesus ev’ry day, He does so much for me; I want to aid the lost sinner to leave his erring way, And be from bondage free.

II.  Do you want to be a soul winner and bring the lost to Christ?  Paul’s compulsion made it so that everything he did “in word or deed” was done “in the name of the Lord Jesus” Colossians 3:17.  Is what Christ has done for us through the gospel also convict us to “become all things to all people that by all means [we] might save some”?  Do you view your life as not your own because you were bought at a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) and so must persuade others (2 Corinthians 5:11-21)?

I want to be a soul winner and bring the lost to Christ, That they His grace may know; I want to live for Christ ever, and do His blessed will, Because He loves me so.

III.  Do you want to be a soul winner till Jesus calls for you?  It’s evident that Paul understood that his very eternal reward was at stake, and so being a soul winner was the operating system through which he lived his life (Romans 6:4-11) in Christ.  He wanted to run his race in such a way as to win the prize and the only choices were to be disciplined or to be disqualified.

I want to be a soul winner till Jesus calls for me, To lay my burdens down; I want to hear Him say, “Servant, you’ve gathered many sheaves, Receive a shining crown.”

Do you truly want to be a soul winner for Jesus?

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He Presented Himself Alive

In the 50 days from Passover to Pentecost, Jesus was busy!  The first 40 was spent the work of the gospel (Titus 3:5) and in convincing proofs that He indeed had overcome death (Acts 1:3).  In the last 10, He came into His Kingdom while His followers waited for His promise of power and mission to be given (Acts 1:4-8), a promise and mission that would include all those whom He would call to Himself (Acts 36-39).

I.  Acts 1:3.  After His suffering, which would include the events of Passover, Jesus “presented himself alive … by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.”  His purpose was two-fold and can be seen in these two examples: Luke 24:13-27 and John 20:19-28.  Jesus’ work during this period is included in the 1 Corinthians 15:1-7 description of the gospel.

II.  Acts 1:9-11.  Jesus ascending alive into heaven (Luke 24:50-51) answers two questions: where did He go and why did He go?  The first is important for believers to know and explain to others where the One who has conquered death is today and to know that He will return (Hebrews 9:28).  The second shows His work as Priest, Savior, and Intercessor (Hebrews 7:23-25) and His role as He comes into His Kingdom with authority over all, even the church (Ephesians 1:19-23).

III.  Acts 1:4-8.  While Jesus came into His Kingdom, His followers waited in Jerusalem for the fulfillment of His promise to them of power and mission (Luke 24:52-53).  It was fulfilled by the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon them (Acts 2:1-4) and the first gospel message that instructed so many from all over the known world that Jesus was indeed alive and had conquered death for all those who obey the gospel (Acts 2:36-41), which includes us if we indeed die with Christ to live with Him (Romans 6:8-11).

Given the gift of the Holy Spirit when we believe, confess ‘Jesus as Lord’ (cut to the heart), repent, and are baptized into Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, we too accept the mission to spread the message that Jesus is alive to the ends of the earth.  How are you doing with it?

 

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How Long Will You Go Limping …?

Elijah describes those who should have been God’s people in his day as “limping between two opinions.”  That is a good way to describe those in the church that have grown complacent and compromised in their faith and the lost but searching that we’d like to reach with the gospel.  In the contest he forces between the impotent false gods the people were worshiping and God Himself, Elijah shows God to be GOD! with tremendous power.

I.  1 Kings 18:11-39.  Just how difficult those in power had made it for God’s people who were truly seeking to worship God in spirit and in truth is evident when Elijah tries to send Obadiah, one of the Lord’s prophets, to force the contest with Ahab and Jezebel.  Obadiah relates how the faithful are being persecuted and how prevalent enforced idolatry is in the culture.  In the contest on Mount Carmel, true power is displayed from God, the people see this, and their decision to choose God cancels out the power those in power believed they had over the people as the false prophets are put to death.

II.  Acts 2:22-39.  In Jesus’ time on earth, those in power feared the opinion of the people as well (John 11:45-48), and when it began to turn towards hailing Jesus, they sought to put Him to death (Luke 22:1-2).  With a “hard saying” Jesus, like Elijah, sought to make the spiritually limping among those who should have been God’s people choose between opinions (John 6:25-69).  Most left Him then but not “the twelve” at that time, Peter wisely answering, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”  After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the gospel confronts us with the same choice.

III.  Romans 10:9-15.  The only way that the lost will be reached with that choice (call on His Name) is if those who have already obeyed the gospel (Romans 6:3-5) go (are sent) … so the power of the gospel is presented as a choice (is preached and they hear it) … because they believe it.  First, we must truly believe it ourselves (John 8:24).  Far too often, Christians fear the opinion of the people controlled by those in power and our love grows cold (Matthew 24:9-13).  Instead, we must love through obedience (John 14:15) and sacrificial living (Romans 12:1-2) to love the limping as Jesus did (John 13:34-35).

Are you limping between two opinions?  See the power of God in dying on the cross for your sins and being raised from death for your eternal life.

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Arms of love

Our Father in Heaven,

You sent your only Son to earth,
to stretch out arms of love on the cross
and receive the sins of the whole world.
He took upon himself our suffering.

Now anyone who wills can come
within reach of your saving embrace.
Hope and faith and life
can now be had by all.

So clothe us in your Holy Spirit,
so that we your humble servants,
reaching forth our hands in love
and sharing words of compassion and truth,
may bring those who do not know you
into your Kingdom of light and love.

Be glorified in us
as you glorify your name
in Christ. Amen.

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Let Not a Single Detail Escape Me

Let not a single detail escape me,
Of Calvary’s darkest day,
When Jesus saved from sins that trapped me,
And took my guilt away.

May every word and gesture mark me,
And his forgiving prayer;
Let thoughts about his suffering make me
Of my need more aware.

Dear God, to life in Jesus raise me,
For all eternity;
In mission to save, please baptize me,
With love that sets one free.

Let not a single soul pass by me,
Without an inviting word;
For this, to Calvary daily fly me,
My heart with zeal to be stirred.

Please share this prayer with a friend.

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For Whom Did I Forget to Pray?

O Savior of all mankind, of those
Who believe — for whom did I forget
To pray? What grace no longer flows,
What soul with sin is still beset

For lack of time upon my knees?
You called to faith, from far and near,
To heaven’s door with Kingdom keys,
With prayer we seek to make the Way clear.

Send me, O Lord, for here am I!
And send more workers to fertile fields!
Fling out the seed both low and high —
Alone you know what sowing yields.

Our Father in heaven, on you we call,
Requesting hearts both calm and brave,
To speak to the lost — one and all —
The searching soul to find and save.

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For We Cannot But Speak

People have done all kinds of things while sleepwalking–cooking, driving … even killing–to wake up without a recollection of their actions.  That’s how some believe the Holy Spirit works in our lives, that it takes us over and we have no choice but to do what it forces us to do.  Usually assemblies of these folks will have multiple people at once babbling in tongues, dancing, jumping, fainting, or rolling around.  But, is that how we see God’s Spirit working in the lives of first century Christians?  Rather, like a boy who has just caught a big fish and can’t help but tell others about it, we see the Spirit giving them boldness to edify and evangelize.

I.  Acts 4:17-31.  It must have seemed overwhelming to Jesus’ followers who didn’t yet have the Counselor to be told to go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that Jesus had commanded.  What a difference there was between the group in Acts 1 of about 120 huddled within the walls of the upper room with the gospel message hidden within them to the same group accused in Acts 5:28 of filling Jerusalem with their teaching.  That difference was the gift of the Holy Spirit given to them at baptism (Acts 2:36-39).

II.  1 Corinthians 14:26-33.  Without the complete Word of God written that thoroughly equips us today (2 Timothy 3:16-17), God used the lesser gifts of tongues, prophecy, and knowledge early in the first century to impart and attest to His Word, but these would end (1 Corinthians 13:8-13) and had largely ended by the time the gospels and epistles were written and circulated (Hebrews 2:3-4).  But, God was never about chaos.  Even when He chose to use lesser gifts to impart His Word, the spirits of prophets were subject to the control of the prophets.  Those through whom God used to speak in languages they hadn’t studied, prophesy, or present knowledge were to take turns and choose to remain silent at times.  God did not take them over but equipped them through His Spirit.

III.  Romans 8:9-11.  Though we were given the gift of God’s Spirit dwelling within us at baptism, we (probably in reaction to the misuse of how He works in us by groups around us) act like we don’t have the Spirit within us and largely ignore this gift.  Though we know the great commission that Jesus has given to us, we huddle within the walls of our upper rooms with the gospel message that a lost world so desperately needs to hear hidden within us.  Like Acts 1 followers, we pray that God will change the world to make it more receptive and tremble in fear of politically-correct persecution.  But, after the Acts 2 Christians had been beaten and threatened not to speak in the Name of Jesus anymore, they prayed instead for boldness to edify and evangelize … and the Holy Spirit equipped them to do so.

Understood within the proper context, we have an incredible gift–God’s Spirit living within us to guide, equip, strengthen, and embolden us to live as Acts 2 Christians.  Are you ignoring it or guarding it (2 Timothy 1:13-14) to use for God’s Kingdom?