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Tag: Jesus (Page 4 of 4)

Do we want revival or comfort?

January 20, 2015 /

Dear Friends,

At least one thing seems to be universally true of churches across the decades and across the faith spectrum: The church prays for revival. But what are we really praying for and do we really want revival to come? Are we willing to pay the price for revival?

If we are honest, when we are praying for revival we are often praying for God to restore some glory days of the past or we are praying for God to work within the framework of our own expectations and comfort level.

Timothy Keller, in his book Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City, shares some very important insights about revival. First, “revivals occur mainly through the ‘instituted means of grace’ preaching, pastoring, worship, and prayer. It is extremely important to reaffirm this. The Spirit of God can and does use these ordinary means of grace to bring about dramatic, extraordinary conversions and significant church growth.”

But if we stop there we miss something very important. Keller goes on to say, “nevertheless, when we study the history of revivals, we usually see in the mix some innovative method of communicating the gospel.” So it is that revivals of the past have have used the printing press, preaching in the fields, modern music, alter calls, and much more.

So the question to ask ourselves, when we pray for revival are we willing to be used in ways outside our comfort zone? In ways that may not be seen as acceptable by the church establishment? In ways that “have never been done before?” If so, pray for revival! If not, then please stop praying for something you really don’t want.

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

Breakout the Jackhammers and Open the Roof

December 9, 2014 /

Dig a big hole

Dear Friends,

It really was a very crazy scene. The crowds were swelling around Jesus. He was teaching. He was healing. He was casting out demons. And anyone who was anyone was there to see it all. Luke says the crowd grew so large that “one day as [Jesus] was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there” (5:17). There were so many of them pressed in around Jesus that some men, carrying their paralytic friend, couldn’t get him in to see Jesus. So they did they only reasonable thing they cold think of. They climbed up on the roof of the house, broke out the pick axes, shovels, sledgehammers, and dynamite and opened a hole in the roof. Then, using ropes, they lowered their paralytic friend right down in front of the crowd next to Jesus and “when Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven'” (vs. 20). And the man who had once been paralyzed leaped into the air dancing around. The pharisees and teaches of the law began to cheer. Even the Chief Priest got involved hoisting the man into the air so he could body surf the crowd of followers of God. It was all going great until he accidentally knocked old Caiaphas’ hat off his head. In a moment the crowd went silent staring in fear at what he might do, but Caiaphas only laughed and picked his hat up off the floor. Who could be angry on a day like this? A man who as paralyzed now can walk. At least that is how we want the story to go, but it didn’t go that way. The reality of a man who would never walk again miraculously walking was quickly lost in a theological technicality. Jesus had not played by their rules. Jesus has not set a man free in the way they knew God set men free. Time and time again the devout would fail to see that the good news was being preached to the poor, prisoners were set free, the blind recovered their sight, the oppressed were released, and the year of the Lord’s favor proclaimed (4:18-19) all because he wasn’t doing it properly.

The good news is, after 2,000 years, we finally know better. Or, maybe we don’t. Several years ago I read Billy Graham’s biography. The one thing that stood out to me was the amount of vitriol and hatred that was directed toward him early in his ministry, and one some levels continues to this day. The truth of people being saved and set free did not matter. He was not doing it the right way.

What about you? Have there been times when you have been quick to criticize another because it made you uncomfortable or didn’t fit your understanding all the while missing the miracle that just happened in front of you?

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

Praying for You

December 2, 2014 /

Praying

Dear Friends,

Every so often I will receive e-mails and text messages from individuals telling me they are praying for me. On more than one occasion, I have been on the verge of entering a trying situation, and have received a message from a friend just to say they are praying for me as I tackle the circumstance. Once in a while I have even been known to send such a message to a person to encourage them and let them know I am praying for them in what they are facing.

Did you know it is not just fallible persons who are praying for you, but Jesus is also praying for you? Paul tells us in Romans, that even right now, Jesus is at the right hand of God, praying, interceding for you (8:34). What is Jesus praying? He is praying that we might be one just as he and his Father are one, and that we might be brought to complete unity that the world might know about Jesus (John 17:21, 23). Furthermore, because Jesus is continually praying for you, you can have confidence that nothing will ever separate you from the love of Christ, no trouble, hardship, persecution, famine or nakedness (Romans 8:35). In any circumstance we may face know it will not prevent Jesus from praying for you and can never separate from his love.

And so, hear today Jesus say to you, “I am praying for you.”

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

Unlike Any Other

August 26, 2014 /

Dear Friends,

I wonder how much sleep Matthew really got those first few months he was with Jesus. Did he try to stay awake all night long? Did he insist on sleeping beside Jesus each night, but not just beside Jesus on the side opposite of Simon? Did he struggle to never fall asleep before Simon or allow Simon to wake-up before him? What about when they walked along the path together traveling between cities? Did Matthew always stay in Jesus’ line of site and never allow Simon to get behind him? When they would come to a section of road that was filled with twists and turns amongst the rocks did Matthew close up his distance to be sure he was right next to Jesus as they went around the blind corners? Why do I wonder about Matthew’s behaviors? Because he was a tax collector and Simon was a Zealot.

Matthew was a traitor to his people and his faith. He had turned his back on it all instead choosing to go for a life supporting the occupying nation. Simon was a devout man of faith. A fundamentalist who had sworn an oath to kill people like Matthew, if a chance ever came.

Now here are these two men are walking and traveling together with Jesus. Each because they had been called to this place by Jesus.

Crowd of PeopleThis is the Kingdom of God. This is the power of the Gospel. To change hearts and make friends out of enemies. To unite people who have no reason to be united. Only in the Kingdom of God is it possible for there to be true unity across economic, gender, ethnic, and social lines. This is the example Jesus gave to us and to which Paul calls us in Galatians, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (3:28, NIV).

Sadly, 2,000 years later we still struggle to be what Jesus called us to be. But there is hope as we are people of the Kingdom of God and not people of this world.

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

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