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O Lord, I’d Win a World for You

O Lord, I’d win a world for you,
Make millions hear the message of truth,
Throw mountains into the midst of the sea,
Grow churches where hearts are changed forever!

But where’s the path to greater things?
I’ve toiled with sweat and tears and blood.
I’ve fought in battle with Satan himself.
So few have faith! Where have I failed?

O Lord, keep me from looking for fruit,
But watch the sowing in every soil.
Give patience to walk the path of service,
O Savior who brings the season of harvest!

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He Went About Doing Good

When someone says ‘good enough,’ he’s referring to a minimum standard he hopes he has met.  Many around us often express that they hope the good they have done will be ‘good enough’ to get them into heaven–as if God is weighing deeds with some great cosmic scale.

In addition to believing that God has a minimum standard for entrance into heaven, another problem with this view is that it eliminates Jesus and His work on the cross and in the tomb entirely from the solution for sin.

I.  Acts 10:1-48.  If there was such a cosmic scale, Cornelius had tipped it heavily towards the good.  He had good deeds as well as having a good character … but God said that all that was not ‘good enough’ and sent Peter to preach the gospel to him.  It was after Cornelius obeyed the gospel that he had salvation.

II.  Hebrews 5:7-9.  Once God had taken on flesh in the person of Jesus and went about doing good works as Peter described Him to Cornelius (Acts 10:38), wasn’t that ‘good enough’ to get Him into heaven?  After all, Jesus was sinless (2 Corinthians 5:21).  No, He needed to learn obedience from what He suffered and with loud tears cry out to God who was able to save Him.

III.  Ephesians 2:8-9.  Having been saved through Jesus’ obedience, we must not think that we can ever be ‘good enough’ to somehow work our way to heaven.  Rather, we, who are in Christ, do good works out of obedience to the One who saved us through His obedience.  We walk as Jesus did (1 John 2:1-6).

We must examine why we do good things.  Are we doing them to earn our way to heaven (working) or are we doing them as acts of obedience (walking)?  ‘Good enough’ is never ‘good enough’ with God.  He holds us to the maximum standard that His Son has met, so that in Him we can meet it too.  This is why the gospel truly is good news!

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She Gave Him Milk

To ‘fight like a man’ is to overtly confront a problem with brute strength.  Somehow to ‘fight like a woman’ has come to mean that the fighting is weaker–but only if compared to how men physically fight.  Women fight in subtler ways–we often call them ‘wiles’–that are just as strong or perhaps stronger than a man’s way–and they learn young!

My wife likes to tell the story of how our youngest at two years of age came to me with her blond pigtails and big, pleading eyes upset because her favorite pink nightgown was in the dirty clothes hamper.  I reassured her that when it was washed she could have it back.  She replied with a cute smile, “That would make me happy!”  A minute later I had to explain to my wife why I was doing laundry in the middle of the week.

I. Judges 4:17-22.  Sisera failed to understand this.  After Barak did not have the courage to ‘fight like a man’ and do what God had told him to do in defeating Sisera, Israel’s judge, Deborah, told him that a woman would claim credit for the victory over the Canaanites.  Although the Kenites were part of Israel, Sisera had no doubt found hospitality in Heber and Jael’s tent before.  Running from Barak, Sisera begs Jael for water, but she gave him milk and a place to sleep.  Then she put a tent peg through his head!  That was not what he expected, but Jael was praised for fighting like this (Judges 5:24-30).

II. 2 Corinthians 2:10-11. Satan, the father of lies (John 8:44) fights through deception.  Failing to ensnare God-in-the-flesh in the normal way he trapped men (Luke 4:1-13) and losing Jesus’ followers to the gospel, he really tries to outwit us with his schemes.  A lion seeking to devour at any opening (1 Peter 5:8), Christians must truly take up the armor of God against Satan’s ‘wiles’ (Ephesians 6:10-11).

III. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5.  Jesus, however, fights like God–through obedience, truth, and sacrifice found in the gospel.  Through these ways and because He was made like us in every way, He has defeated the devil and death (Hebrews 2:12-14).  Now we, in Him and through Him, are able to fight like Him–if we can clearly see through Satan’s deceptions that would keep us blind to how powerful we truly are when restored to the image of God that we were created in through the gospel.

How do you fight:  Like a man?  Like a woman?  Or like God?

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The Lord Has Indeed Risen

A resurrection lesson just before Christmas?  It makes sense if we realize that Jesus was the baby born to die.  The angel declared to Joseph in Matthew 1:21 as Mary was with child that Jesus would save their people from their sins.  The second person of the Godhead took on flesh in Bethlehem so that He could die on the cross for our sins and be raised for our redemption.  Good news indeed!

I.  Luke 24:13-27.  Not all get this–even those who would call upon His name.  Like the two who were in Jerusalem and heard that Jesus was alive, we too trudge on to Emmaus, not realizing the implication of what His resurrection means for us.  We need to spend time with the risen Savior and let Him speak to us of how His sufferings were necessary for Him to overcome death for us.

II.  Luke 24:28-32.  Just like their eyes were opened with the breaking of bread, so must we be cut to the heart (Acts 2:36-41) like those at Pentecost.  We have to have a moment of awakening to what God has done for us through the gospel.  And no wonder the reenactment of the Lord’s Supper hit them.  No doubt that Jesus spoke of the Passover from their history in escaping slavery in Egypt and how the Christ was the Lamb of God, whose blood saved them from death (1 Peter 1:17-21).

III.  Luke 24:33-35.  Tired from their seven-mile journey no more, the disciples, hearts burning from the Scriptures made alive in them, returned to Jerusalem that same day, bursting in on the remaining Eleven with the good news that Jesus had indeed risen.  It was the same information that they had left Jerusalem with earlier that day, but this time they were convinced and could not contain the joy of that message.

Awakened to the good news of great joy, these two followers didn’t need to be told to tell others; they couldn’t wait to proclaim the gospel!  God’s plan has been there all along: He would be born a baby to grow up without sin to die on the cross and then be raised from the dead.  Do you truly know this?  Or are you trudging on your way to Emmaus?

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If You Are …

Who are you at the cross?  One who scoffs? Challenges God to prove who He is? Like a soldier just there out of obligation hoping to collect a paycheck?  A follower who deserted at the garden who has slunk back to the edges of the cross hoping not to be recognized?  One who weeps for the terrible way they treated Jesus?  Like the first criminal hanging beside him who doubts but turns to Him in desperation?  Or, are you like the second one who took accountability for his sins and turned to the One you know to be the Son of God to save you?

I.  Luke 23:32-39.  Jesus is the I Am whether we acknowledge Him or not.  In Psalm 22:12-18, those surrounding the cross are described as lions, dogs, and bulls.  If Jesus would have given in to earthly taunts, He would have saved only Himself, but He followed His Father’s heavenly plan and died to save us all.  Just because man couldn’t see the plan didn’t make Him any less God in the flesh.  Rather, His work on the cross gave those obedient to Him eternal life (Hebrews 5:7-9).

II.  Matthew 10:32-33.  There are so many ways we deny Jesus each and every day.  Notice Jesus forgave the people from the cross before they began.  Surrounding Him there were those who defied, those who were duty-bound, and those who doubted.  Sadly, Christians today often fall into these categories of those who wear His name while compromising with the world (2 Timothy 3:1-7).

III.  Luke 23:40-43.  There was one, however, the second criminal who hung beside Jesus who, even though under the sentence of death, acknowledged his sins and who Jesus was.  He was promised Paradise because of it.  This criminal rebuked the first that He did not fear God, which is our duty (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).    We should all live as if we know we’re dying and obey the gospel (Acts 2:36-40).

Save yourself from this crooked generation’ is the same appeal today.  Save yourself from those surrounding the cross.  Be instead like the dying believer who was hanged next to Jesus.

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Easily offended

Father, let us not be ignorant of your good, nor of the evil devices of the devil.

Make us wise. We ask you for wisdom because you are generous. We need your guidance.

Forgive and restore. May we never bring shame upon the kingdom. Help our light to shine brightly.

Thank you for giving the precious gospel into our hands. May we faithfully perform our work. Make the message of Christ effective through our service.

Father, keep the weak from falling. Use us to hold up those who doubt. May those who easily feel offenses be driven to the horrible offenses that Christ endured on our behalf.

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Let us be true and transparent

Our Father in Heaven,

  • In our prayers, words, and acts let us be true and transparent.
  • Make our hearts whole in devotion to your word and will.
  • Let our motives be set on entering eternal life in heaven.
  • Cause the facts, promises, commands, and truths of the gospel to be ever more precious to us.
  • May the Holy Spirit occupy our minds and souls completely.
  • Purify us more and more that we may be sanctified in Christ.
  • Strengthen our heavenly hope in the midst of life’s disappointments.
  • Develop our love for you, for our brothers and sisters in Christ, for the lost of mankind.

We ask this because Jesus is our Lord and Savior.

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Be God in Me

Be glorified this day on earth —
O God, let kingdom light appear!
Let multitudes behold its worth,
May many a man and woman come near!

Be God in me and through me call
With news of hope and cleansing blood,
By words I speak of vinegar’s gall —
Let grace be my consuming food!

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What Soon May Be

To live with Christ is glory to the fullest,
To die with him is honor; to serve, a blessing.
No greater cause than sharing news of pardon,
That others reach salvation found in Jesus.

Violence done to Christ is our means of peace,
What paradox: his blood our means of cleansing!
Sins removed in water by the Spirit!
In faith the obedient born anew, from heaven.

O God of wisdom, Lord of fullest powers,
Keep your servant’s tongue from small complaints,
Show me surrounding good and close potential —
What soon may be, the kingdom come, by faith.

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The gospel in my country

God over all nations —

Make the gospel spread in my country. Send workers into the vineyard here. And from here may many go out to other places and reach other peoples.

Increase our sense of urgency. Help us see the wide chasm between salvation and perdition. Remind us of the final destiny of the faithful and the disobedient.

Give us courage to speak and teach the word of Christ. Open our mouths so that not an opportunity is missed. Endow us with your wisdom so that we can know how to reach others.

We trust in you, O Lord, for the harvest.

Amen.