Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Revealing the Cross of Christ

Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,  explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ." (Acts 17:2-3 NKJV)


    I intended to begin writing about 1 Thessalonians today, but realized that to do so I needed to begin in Acts, Chapter 17, where the contentious planting of the church in Thessalonika is fully described. If you Google "missionary" you’ll find more resources, ideas and information than you can possibly sift through in a lifetime. What endless Google results make seem complicated is really very simple. I often describe myself to people as a missionary. They typically ask, Missionary to where? I usually just name the place where I am standing. Missionaries are missionaries wherever they are. Paul had three mission centric resources when he entered the capital city of Macedonia, and these resources remain available to all missionaries today. 


   Verse 1 says -- Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica… In any work we begin for God, it is critical to remain sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. God often pre-softens stony hearts to be receptive to the Gospel as He did for Paul’s work here. Paul’s discernment carried him through many places before he arrived at the specific place where God had a plan in place. It is easy to convince ourselves we can decide what God wants done and where He wants it done without ever asking Him for input, and  thereby miss the blessing He has planned. When we do this we end up with our ministry to which we attach His name. Paul wisely kept walking until the Lord revealed the spot where He wanted to establish a new church.  
   
   Paul reasoned with them from the scriptures. Paul’s scriptures weren’t  our scriptures. He had only what we call the Old Testament. For him it was the Only Testament. Could you sit and reason with someone, could you make reasonable representations that Jesus was the Messiah from the Old Testament alone? Many people we encounter have no idea that the Old Testament is about Jesus. From shadows and types like Boaz in the Book of Ruth who was Ruth’s kinsman redeemer as a type for Christ, our Kinsman redeemer, to the specific details of the birth, life, death and resurrection found in the Psalms and Isaiah, the Old Testament points to Jesus. We are equipped with the Old Testament scriptures Paul had, plus so much more. Have you equipped yourself to reason with others from the scriptures?

   In Philippians 4:16 we read -- For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. Paul didn’t just go, He was sent - both by God and by the church in Philippi. The success of any missionary is greatly increased with sufficient funding and prayer support from sending believers. Many are called to Christ’s Gospel mission, but more are called to support with prayers and funding. Do you support missionaries with prayers and funding? Ask God to reveal a missionary for you to support and begin sending monthly financial help. Even small support can produce huge Gospel results in the distant reaches of the Earth. If you can’t be a go-er, become a sender.

  If you are following the leading of the Holy Spirit, you have been strategically placed by God in a Gospel opportunity. Paul got busy in Thessalonica -- explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ." Today, to whom are you explaining and demonstrating that Jesus is the Christ? Or, have you abandoned God’s mission for one more of your own design and liking? 

    

Copyright 2014 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission if a link is provided to  http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com 

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

My Prayer Life Got Hacked...




   I did a Google search the other day on a biblical subject and got many results. I selected the top one. It appeared to contain the right answer, but as I began to examine its contents, a pop up appeared. I immediately exited. Suddenly, another pop up appeared with a rolling counter itemizing how many corrupted files were on my laptop and offering me a solution for $39.99. Funny really, the corruption counter actually was the corruption. I'd caught a virus. It hacked my email and sent emails to everyone on my contact list. I'd been successfully hacked because I didn't watch where I was wandering on the internet. Many of you have had the same experience. My Internet service provider has assured me they are fixing the problem.

   This morning I realized I am having similar spiritual experience. It appears that my prayer life has been hacked. The vivid, intimate personal messages that usually flow from my lips to my Spiritual Service Provider (Jesus), and were returned by Him, have been corrupted. My prayer life has been hacked. The fire of God that He ignited in my heart seventeen years ago feels more like embers than a blaze. My shouts of praise have become whispers.

   ........like an oven heated by the baker, who doesn't stoke the fire from kneading time till the dough has risen. (Hosea 4:7 CJB) 

   I've been neglecting the fire of God, distracted by nothing in particular, insufficient distractions leading me quietly away from an all sufficient God. It isn't the first time my wayward heart has drifted to the inconsequential. 

   So, how can I fix this? Is the problem sin? Apathy? Unbelief? How can I get out of this dichotomized Christian life and be restored to a vivid life in Christ?

   I recognize that the Lord hasn't moved. He's still seated at the right hand of the Father interceding for me. He's not angry at me for drifting from His presence. I simply need to return to Him. For you that may mean more time spent in the word, but I've actually continued to read the word every day through this spiritual slump. At some point, however, I began reading the word with an open intellect but a closed heart, a transformation blocking error. Isaiah wrote -- So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. 

   I'll continue to read, trusting in the prospering of His word.    


The path from a plateaued spiritual life for me begins with prayerful worship. You can't climb down from a spiritual plateau, you have to climb higher. I began climbing this morning. Sluggishly, I logged onto the International House of Prayer live feed from their prayer room where they have maintained continuous 24/7/365 worship for 25 years. I simply sat and listened until I was captured by the spirit of their worship of the Lord, then I worshiped Him with them until prayer came. Not the corrupted selfish prayers my hacked prayer life produced, always focused on me, but prayers focused on Him. Then I simply soaked in  His Presence for a while.

   I feel like I've returned home. I have.

   Will this happen again? Probably. Will I more quickly recognize it next time? I hope so.

    A Psalm of Thanksgiving.
Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness;Come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God;It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,And into His courts with praise.Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good;His mercy is everlasting,And His truth endures to all generations. (Psalm 100:1-5 NKJV)

  
  

  

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

The Best Wedding Reception Ever......

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  2 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 

   I have four sisters. I witnessed some anguished discussions as my parents help them establish the final guest list for their weddings. At weddings there are mandatory invitations for close family on both sides, then there are categories that can either be invited or eliminated. For example, if you want to invite someone because you were invited to their wedding wedding, do you then have to invite all people who invited you to their weddings, or even more difficult, if you invite someone from work, who else from work does that require you to invite?

   As I read this verse today, I thought of applying that problem to Jesus. When you invited Him to your wedding, He came with twelve co-guests. 

   I have attended weddings where Jesus was invited and welcomed, to others where He was invited to the ceremony but not the reception, and still others where rather than invite Him and receive Him with all that comes with Him, He was not invited, but was merely mentioned in the ceremony.

   Most wedding receptions are fun events. They are a time where we break bread together, enjoy the company of some  old friends we rarely see, and occasionally with others enjoy that we rarely have to see them. All of the social interactions we experience at a modern wedding reception would have been experienced that day in Cana at the wedding described in this passage. It appears that things were going well, then Mary approached the Lord with a problem -- 3 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  4 Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come." At first Jesus' response to Mary seems like a, No! Have you ever told your mother. No!, while you are actually doing what she instructed? Yeah. Me too. Mary wasn't at all affected by His answer -- 5 His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."

   Next,  John reports the first miracle done by Jesus recorded in the bible -- 6 Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to the brim.  8 And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast." And they took it.  9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 

   The servants mentioned were servants of the household. We claim to be servants in the house of Jesus. What a different house we would be if our obedience were like theirs -- immediate and unquestioning, without fear of consequences. When the Lord instructed them to fill the jugs with water, they had no clue as to His purpose, but they obeyed. When He had them deliver a cup dipped from those jugs to the master of the feast, again they simply obeyed. I wonder at the miracles that may not have occur for no greater reason than the disobedience of the instructed purpose, and I wonder how often I may have been that servant. 

   In Exodus 7:17, Moses (the biblical representative of the Law) turned water into blood, illustrating that the Law results in death, but Jesus turned water into wine (the biblical symbol of joy) revealing the joy of salvation by grace. Dave Guzik puts it like this:
 
          1- The wine was after the water, the New Convenant is after the Old Covenant.

          2- The wine was from the water, the New Covenant is from the Old Covenant.

        3- The wine was better than the water, the New Covenant is better than the Old           Covenant.

    This miracle didn't make bad good, but made good better. Christ redeemed and re-established the institution of marriage as a symbol and type for His saving Grace. He actually encouraged the festivity and joy of the celebration of marriage and didn't attempt in any way to institute asceticism that religion often tries to substitute as a path to joy.

    This verse began -- On the third day..... Jesus chose to manifest His glory that day in Cana in the form of a miracle On the third day..., just as later the glory of the miracle of His resurrection, and through Him ours, would be made manifest On the third day. The miracle of His resurrection has become the miracle of my resurrection. In the hurried passing of my ordinary days, I sometimes lose my focus and forget that through Him the joy of peace with God is mine and that the Lord who arrived in Cana with twelve co-guests has invited me and all who have placed their faith in Him to the final wedding of all time, the wedding feast of the Lamb of God. That day, rather than wine as a mere symbol of joy, we'll all find real eternal joy. The wine of that wedding will never run out.

   The reception hall is ready. The Groom is waiting. You've been invited. Will you be  attending?



Copyright 2014 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com