The Preacher

Matthew 4: 23: And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

 

Preaching the gospel of the kingdom was a continual activity for Jesus.  Throughout the gospels we meet Jesus, the Preacher.  He preached good news.  He preached with conviction.  When I think of preaching, I think of someone passionate about whom they are, what they say, and their mission and message.  Passionately speaking good news is a great description of Jesus.

 

Preaching is so much fun for me.  Yes, it is pensive.  Yes, it is work and takes great preparation.  Yes, it is sometimes a frustration when the message does not seem to get across.  But, preaching is great fun for me.  It is the fulfillment of call and passion expressed all at once.  Seeing people come alive with the gospel through an illustration or comparison is wonderful fun.

 

We ought to have fun doing what we are made to do..  God made me to be a preacher.  This devotion is a preaching of sorts.  When it hits home with people, I come alive and thank my Father for His faithfulness.  Seeing someone do what they were born to do is so much fun.  Do what you were made to do.

 

ACT!  Think on something about which you have passion and conviction.  Does it make your blood stir up?  Jesus gets stirred up about you being in His family.

 

PRAY!  Father, thanks so much that Jesus gets stirred up about the good news that I can be a member of Your family.  I am so excited about being in the kingdom, in the family of God.  Stir in me that same passion and conviction that others might be able to meet the same Jesus, the Preacher, whom I know.  In me and in Carol, light the fire to fulfill my call.  That for which You have made us make alive in us.  We commit ourselves to it.  We joy ourselves to it.

 

The rain fails

Ecclesiastes 11:3 If clouds are full of water, they pour rain upon the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there will it lie.

The rain falls where the rain falls.  Be blessed.

While I write this, a pleasant and cool rain is blessing the cooked earth.  It has been a normal and hot summer.  Today, the rain blesses.  Other days, the rain has caused pain with lightening and power outages.  Enjoy the rain.  There is a pleasant detoxification in watching the rain with a cup of coffee early in the morning.

Over the last few weeks it has been a source of comic relief to think on the amount of control we would like to have over the world.  Interacting with many ministries and business and community entities a fluid thought comes up quite frequently.  How do we make this world conform to our view and expectation?  Why does the world just do what it does and not meet our definition?  How long will it take to gain the understanding needed to make today’s decisions?  What is left that we don’t know?  Why do some fail and some succeed?  Can’t I just shout at the mountain and it will disappear?

Really, these questions and the underlying quest for conforming others to our definitions can lead us to frustration.  The premise that the world should conform to our view is hilariously warped.  Sure, we are here to carve a notch in our sphere of influence and bring more of the kingdom of God into reality in our neighborhood, our metro.  Sure, we should leave the world a better place than what we found it.  But there is a reality at work that this world will groan in birth pains until the day of Jesus’ appearing.   Every worshipper of the Creator God looks for this.  The Jew looks.  The Christian looks.  The Muslim looks.  They all look for the Messiah to come and stop the madness.

Accepting reality while pressing for change is the task of a real believer.  Getting mad that it doesn’t work as fast as we would like is the mark of immaturity.  Staying unsettled and unsatisfied so that we keep working on it is an indicator of a healthy world-changer.  Just make sure you laugh at yourself often.  Just make sure you have fun in the mirror while comparing the enormity of the task with your personal inadequacy.  Just be ready to find out that some doctrine you have made into a sacred cow may have to fall dead in the face of reality and lifetime learning.  Just stay open to God peeling away layers that took you years to secure and anchor against His breath of lifelong revelation.

There is blessing to receive in every day.  There is pain to confront every day.  Our choice is one of life or death.  We can speak life.  We can speak death.  We can receive life.  We can receive death.  Both are open opportunities every moment.  Trees are falling where they will fall around us every moment.  There is a dance of avoiding too much pain and accumulating massive blessing that is our lot on earth.  Enjoy the journey.  Don’t get too hung up in making a perfect dance.  Every once in a while one of those trees will fall close and cause the pain of disease, death, abuse, slander, gossip, envy, jealousy, attack, or some other violence or loss.  Every once in a while one of those trees will fall close and cause the reality of conflict, friction, misunderstanding, or some other present reality of relationship.  Every once in a while one of those trees will fall close and bring a bucket of blessing unexpected and welcome.  Don’t get too convinced that you have as much control as you think you have.  Sure, doing the right things bring the right results.  Sure, there are principles that are unfailing.  Just remember there are trees falling, too.  It is one of the principles.

Relax and watch the rain with wonder.  Take a falling tree to lunch and laugh with them.   Call a fallen tree and have a quick chat with an encouraging word.  Listen to a tree split by the electricity from the sky and render more compassion and less judgment.  Enjoy God’s creation that defies our control and conforming desires.  Some days, it is okay to just enjoy the rain.  Be blessed.

Take Action:  Not today.  Just enjoy.

Let’s Pray:  Father of Blessing, help me to dance the dance.  Help me to place my bucket to catch more good rain than bad.  It falls all around me.  You put me here in this forest.  You placed me in this moment.  I accept the charter to live within it and bring it closer to Your will.  It resists.  It fights.  It falls hard and in places where I don’t want it to fall.  Yet, the blessings outnumber the pains.  I choose to take heart, You have overcome the world.  There is trouble, but You have overcome.  There is pain, but You have overcome.  After the heat, comes the refreshing rain.  Give me joy in all moments.  You stay connected with every moment in my life that my joy might be full.  Let Your promises overwhelm my premises.

Worth Following

Matthew 4: 21: And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.  22: And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

 

The daily drudge can easily cause us to miss opportunity presented.  Jesus is such an opportunity.  It takes guts to break the daily drudge and follow Him.

 

He is worth following.  He is worth more than our business and busyness.  He is worth more than our blood family.  He is worth more than any occupying of our time and life.  Jesus is just worth following.

 

In a business meeting recently, it struck me how many originally did not want to be a part of this team.  They had resisted and fumed and made noise in private and to my face.  We persisted.  In fact, a colleague new to the company persisted.  She continued to present the positive and the pressing needs.  She continued to follow up with them and with me.  What did I want to communicate?  How could she help?  She had been following me.  They followed her following me following the executives following the business needs of our customers.   What could happen if we fell in line following Jesus like that?

 

ACT!  Follow Him today.  Stop the daily drudge for 2 minutes and see if you can hear Him call.

 

PRAY!  Father, I'm listening.  I've put down my daily drudge, and am listening.  Call me.  Call me to follow Jesus.

 

Leaving Home

Matthew 4: 21: And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.  22: And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

 

Two Gents

 These two gents are leaving home.  They are taking up their own place in life.  What must Dad be thinking?  What must all of their lifelong friends be thinking?  They left their father.  They left the family business.  They left reputation.  Would you?

 

Apostles are different?

Oh, Phil, this is what an apostle does.  They have a big calling.  No.  No.  No.  We all have a calling that makes us leave home and family and go on to our own faith.  Zebedee had a faith.  James and John had to get their own faith.  They had to take a leap into the world each alone.  Sure, they went together.  But each had to decide. So, we have to decide.  We face moments where we need to break away from all that is beside us and take on a new life and perspective.

 

Unity Calls

Some years ago, while serving as a pastor in a large multi-cultural denomination, such a decision came.  The call meant leaving the ship, the mother church.  The call meant walking out into a new world of relationships and leaving behind many others.  It has been a scary proposition.  Going back to the congregation left behind recently felt like visiting the house I grew up in.  It is familiar and different.  It is not me anymore.  James and John surely faced this as they moved away from home and father and became new men.

 

Going Back

In the last few years a friend had a career shift.  None of the managers around him believed in it.  His own staff was reticent to follow the new direction.  It took boldness.  It was lonely.  Sure a few supported in words and pats on the back.  But when the hard part came, and it always does, he found himself plenty alone.  Alone with his thoughts, over and over he has had to commit again and again to the same decision.  Sharing with him recently made me think of this scripture.  Surely James and John thought about going back many times.  All of us do.

 

Emotions

Just as a man and wife have to leave the families of their birth to form a new one, so there are moments of departure should we take the call of God and obey.  Emotions must separate.  Physical space must separate.  Mind sets must separate.  It is a part of becoming the new creature in Christ from glory to glory.

 

Many Calls

There are many calls in life.  Not all require complete shifts of location and relationships.  All require shifts of thought and commitment.

 

ACT!  Follow Him today.  He is calling.  He is demanding a separation and a new step.

 

PRAY!  Father, this is a little frightening.  What if I fail?  What if I fall?  If I have left the ship and left my father, who will catch me?  You?  Do I trust You?  Really trust You? 

Father, You are able in me.  Christ in me is the hope of glory, of success, of making it in the tough spots.  Build me.  Challenge me.  Don’t let me fail through not giving it my all.  Don’t let me fail by staying behind when You call me to come out.  Let’s move, Father.  Let’s make a big difference in our world. 

 

Rapid Re-Vision

Matthew 4:20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

This man Jesus can make you jump in a moment.  He can make you leave all and follow Him.  He can make you look again at the same opportunity and redo your vision.  The re-vision can cause us to move more quickly.

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That has become a foreign idea in the minds of present Christians.  Sacrifice means not watching a movie.  Sacrifice means giving one night a week to choir practice so we can be in front of others.  Sacrifice means reading our bible five minutes a day. 

 

How weak have we become?  Our definition of temptation is a bag of chips sitting on the counter.  Lives have been anesthetized to real challenge and real sacrifice. 

 

A friend constantly was working with prostitutes.  One day he showed me the bullet holes in his car.  A pimp was upset at him for taking a woman off the street so he could talk to her.  It was cutting into profits.  The bullets never exited the inside of the door.  The bullets were never found.  Somewhere between the point blank shot coming at him and the realization that God had protected, I bet he thought about sacrifice.  His life was on the line every evening he went to reach those beaten women.  His time was robbed from family and friend to give to someone who might never listen. 

 

Sitting in a corporate executive office, we talked with a national community leader about the situation with fathering and fatherlessness plaguing our nation.  Somewhere someone mentioned one of the participants’ giving levels to the cause.  It was a large sum for the person.  The company matched the gift.  It was a stretch gift.  It was sacrificial giving.  It was beyond the reach of their income level.  But then Jesus can make you jump to a higher level when He calls.

 

This week, I am meeting with three pastors and a friend for lunch.  We are talking about sending backpacks and school supplies to Matamoros.  Raul and I will travel and deliver.  It is a long drive for just a few days of giving.  It means taking time off work using vacation leave.  Those days are costly.  But the joy of a child to be able to attend school and learn?  How much is that worth?  The pride of a child who has never had a backpack?  How much is that worth?  These children live and die in the dumps.  Maybe a day of dignity is worth the time and costs?

 

You see.  You see.  You see.  Sometimes we need our vision redone.  We see one way today.  Jesus helps redo our vision.  He rapidly can cause us to see what we did not see a moment ago.  When that happens our world of opportunity looks different and needs a more immediate response.

 

ACT!   What really is sacrifice?     How rapid does God want us to respond?  How willing are we to do it?  What is left undone that He has asked you to do?

 

PRAY!  Father, I believe.  Help my unbelief.   There is a part of me that loves big screen television and stereo sound.  There is a part of me that is more desperate for the easy chair and a great video experience that for loving others.  I love my diversions.  Yank me from my diversions.  Jolt me into a place of immediate obedience.  I repent.  Help me to disconnect from diversions to hear Your voice and respond.

 

Fisher of men

Matthew 4: 18: And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 19: And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

 

Peter and Andrew were never the same after meeting Jesus.   His nature as a gatherer of men for His Father's family became their nature.    He took a part of them and changed it to work for the kingdom. They gathered fish.  He needed men gatherers.  Meeting Jesus will change you to gather men and women and children to Him and His Father's family.  No matter what you gather now, He will add gathering men to His family.

 

My son and I were at the quick gas spot one evening.  A furtive man jumped from behind the car.  Assuring us he only wanted to beg some money, he approached.  I signaled to him to stay at a distance.  This was not the time and place. 

 

The next day, a half a block away, we went to lunch with my wife.  The man slipped from behind a car.  I engaged him in conversation as my wife and son went into the restaurant.  On the streets over time, I have talked to many such men.  Some are harmless.  Some are dangerous.  Some are unpredictable.  This one seemed the latter.  He was desperate, either on drugs or suffering from having none, and persistent.  Eye to eye, we talked.  He began to give me a string of problems and diseases.  Mid course, I stopped him and asked him what he was doing with what he was given.  He told me he worked painting and then quit in the last seven days.  He had already spent the money.  It would have been enough for several days in his lifestyle.  

 

He was quick witted.  He was strong.  He was trapped in somebody done me wrong songs.  It would be pitiful to give him a dollar and say the inevitable Jesus loves you stuff.   I gave him a few dollars, and I gave him straight advice.  Sure, Jesus is my motivation.  Do something with what you have.  Take your mind and body and put it to work.  Quit dwelling on the problems and get focused on the solution.  People are helping.  Use their help to get up and out.  Let Jesus pull you from the sea of problems through His fishermen.  Don’t just jump back in the water.

 

All of us get buried in our problems at times.  We like the water.  We like to swim around and feel sorry for ourselves and blame our condition on the waves.  Jesus did not hesitate to tell these two fishermen to get up and do something different.  He asked for immediate change and action.  They responded.  Will you?

 

ACT!  Think of one person around you that needs to be gathered to Jesus' family.  What do you need to do to invite them to be a part?  Think of one plaguing issue in your life.  What do you need to do to start it moving a different direction?

 

PRAY!  Father, help me to be a fisher of men.  Jesus has come to my life.  He's met with me and called me to be a fisherman with Him.  Help me to see those around me that He wants in the family.  Help me to know how to draw them to Him and Your family.

 

Father, give me a life of a productive fisherman.  Teach me to lay aside the excuses and embrace the solutions.  Take me to a place of action and response.  Open the eyes of my understanding to see and respond willingly with action.  Show me ways to fight the waves with action.  Show me ways to believe in Your support to do the impossible.  Then as my life shows promise, others will ask what makes for success and I will have the ready answer.

 

A Ready Blessing

Ps 86:5 the Lord is good and ready to forgive

Talking to a friend today the focus was so much on the law versus the gospel.  Both are needed for salvation.  Salvation is a work of a moment and every moment thereafter.  We need forgiveness and goodness momentarily.  Maybe not this particular one, but the next moment is coming shortly.

What a joy to walk with a God of good and ready forgiveness.

Never assume you are in a position of not needing grace.  A blogger friend pointed to God as the source of all grace.  He is the giver.  She was the dispenser used of His Spirit at the moment I needed grace to fail and still be valued.  Her poetry spoke the word of grace that inspired me at the moment.

What a joy to walk with a God of good and ready forgiveness.

Another friend took me to lunch.  Searching my eyes, he quizzed me on my standing in hope.  Wow, I needed the ready blessing of a faithful friend..

What a joy to walk with a God of good and ready forgiveness.

Then a pastor friend of mine just hung up the phone.  He spoke of a season of allowing God to overflow.  The seasons in the world have been of loss and vaporous prosperity.  Now, this saint declared to us all and my soul a season of God's provision.  Over the hands free phone in my truck I took all I could.  My heart united with his vision in receiving.

What a joy to walk with a God of good and ready forgiveness.

Another friend and I are headed to Mexico with backpacks and school supplies.  Our destination is the dumps.  Thousands live there.  Dr Carrillo and a local congregation choose to go and offer good and ready forgiveness to these loved and precious of God.  They are there all the time, we have the privilege to come and go.

What a joy to walk with a God of good and ready forgiveness.

How does this all add to prayer?

Meeting with a group working on a citywide fathering focus, this scripture came to mind.  Isn't this what we need in broken and struggling relationships?  We need goodness, ready forgiveness, and a spirit of overwhelming loving-kindness.   That is worthy of the focus of your prayer.  In our relationships with others and with God, we need all three directed from and to us.

Let's Pray:

Father, this is a wonderful day.  So many opportunities in front of us come in the form of problems and pains.  Yet, they are people looking for a little goodness.  These situations lead to the grace of forgiveness.  In all a spirit of loving-kindness can turn pains away for the season and restore hope.

Let us be the hands of goodness.  Let us be the hope of a ready forgiveness.  Let us be the dispensers of a spirit of loving-kindness.  

When our world experiences such moments of momentary grace and mercy, it will move closer to Your heart and kingdom principles in action.  Let us take dominion with goodness, forgiveness, and loving-kindness.  Let us be Your dispensers in a struggling world.

Father, enter into my world.  Enter into the spots I have hidden that need Your forgiveness.  Take dominion in the dreams that are slowed for the moment and pour goodness into them for energy.  Allow Your loving-kindness to permeate my thoughts and expectations so hope will always be with me and available for those around me.

Thanks, Father.  Thanks for being the God You always are.