unstoppable gospel

But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 13:51-52

Paul and Barnabas initially saw the gospel receive a warm welcome in Pisidian Antioch. Luke records an extended sermon from Paul that was delivered in their first Sabbath meeting at the synagogue there. It was provocative, biblically solid, and winsome. And by the next Sabbath the synagogue was overflowing with those seeking to know more. This scared the Jewish leaders and they asked Paul not to come back to their synagogue.

The gospel team moved on then to do their work among the Gentiles with complete freedom. And disciples were made. The Word of God kept spreading throughout the region, steadily moving forward. The Jews, still jealous of the success and threatened by the large numbers of converts used their influence to stir up an official persecution against Paul and Barnabas that had them forcibly driven out of the region. But this did not stamp out the spread of the gospel!

So Paul and Barnabas had their Matthew 10:14 moment. Obeying the very commissioning words of Jesus, they pause to shake the dust of the city from their feet before moving on to Iconium, where the next phase of missions work would commence for them.

The persecution ultimately failed in two ways: 1) The disciples left behind in Pisidian Antioch were strong, joyful, and filled with the Holy Spirit. This would keep the gospel advancing there despite the persecution. 2) Paul and Barnabus just moved on, preaching the good news, and seeing the gospel have an even bigger regional impact. The gospel response just got bigger in terms of reach, reception, and influence.

The gospel is unstoppable when Christians will proclaim it anywhere no matter what!

astonished at the gospel

Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

Acts 13:12

This verse describes an interesting first conversion for the first missionary journey. Paul and Barnabas are just beginning their missionary travels. They arrive on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Their first step was to visit the local Jewish synagogue in Salamis, and were then making their way through population centers across the island. Then in the city of Paphos they have their first big gospel conversation with a person of influence, the local proconsul, Sergius Paulus. But they also find sinister opposition from a Jewish false prophet and film-flam magician name Elymas.

Paul and Barnabas were speaking with Sergius Paulus at the direct invitation of the proconsul. He seems truly interested in the gospel and in hearing all about Jesus. But Elymas, who seems to have been some kind of religious advisor to Sergius, interferes, opposing the gospel and working against the efforts of Paul and Barnabas as they share Christ. Paul sees right into the wicked heart of Elymas. He publically calls Elymas out for his deception and pronounces him blind. And immediately the false prophet is led away unable to see. The persuasive power of God was at work.

A hindrance to faith was eliminated. The proconsul believed, not just because of the miraculous display of God’s power, but because of the powerful truth of the gospel. He was astonished, not at the instant blindness of Elymas or the boldness of Paul, but instead at the teaching of the Lord. It was the gospel that was the real amazement, as it always should be.

When we evangelize, God may do great things to prepare a heart to receive His truth. We can count on Him doing His part. But those things cannot become the focus. The gospel itself is always the wonder at the root of every believing heart.

our salvation

May we shout for joy over your salvation,

and in the name of our God set up our banners!

May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!

Psalm 20:5

Let us rejoice

for God has brought

salvation!

Looking at us

His mercy sought

salvation.

Sending His Son

Jesus is our

salvation.

Living His life

He taught us

salvation.

Taking our sin

Jesus accomplished holy

salvation.

Making us new

He gives free

salvation.

Living for God

we can know

salvation.

In His presence

we gladly show

salvation.

gifts that bless a growing church

So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

Acts 11:29-30

There are two things I notice in these two verses today. They show the growth of the gospel. The first is a matter of generous living. The Christians in Antioch felt a certain kinship with their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem who were suffering under persecution. This crossed racial barriers since the Antioch church was gentile and the Judean church was Jewish. And when it became clear via prophecy that a famine was soon to add to the hardships in Judea, their compassion for the saints in Jerusalem took the form of systematic, organized, generous giving.

Some principles about giving emerge from this account. Generous giving can’t be generic. This was a specific, organized effort meant to go to a specific project: the relief of the saints in Jerusalem and surrounding areas. Also, generous giving is planned giving. The disciples “determined” the scope of the project, putting some careful thought, prayer, communication, and collection into the effort. This was not pocket change or last minute. And finally, they gave as they were able. Some had capacity to make large gifts. Others had capacity to sacrifice equally with smaller gifts. They ALL had the ability to give.

The second thing that shows the growth of the gospel concerns leadership. This can be seen in how the gift arrived. For the first time the leadership group in the Jerusalem church getting charged with the reception and distribution of the relief funds is the group known as “elders”. They are becoming the ministry leaders as the church expands beyond just the leadership of the apostles. A growing church develops new leaders. It grows in leadership.

The gospel grows all disciples in generous giving according to their ability. And the gospel builds leadership in specific men gifted by God to lead the church as elders. Giving and leadership bless the gospel growth of the church globally.

You light my lamp.

For it is you who light my lamp;

the Lord my God lightens my darkness.

Psalm 18:28

Sitting in a cold January pre-dawn darkness, my Bible open in front of me, I pray for some direction. And without fail, the Lord strikes the match and a flame breaks out in front of my eyes as His Word begins to light my day. My lamp now lit, I read on, finding strength, finding comfort, finding my own needs met in the grace of my Lord. I see my sin. I feel His mercy warm my heart with gospel light. The darkness starts to fade.

I pause for prayer. “Thank You, my God, for this light. I need it! I see Your mercy. I plead Your grace. I cannot see without Your light! You must lead me, for the day will be cold and short, the night is so very long, and sin waits to wrap icy fingers around my heart and draw me from Your light. But Your Word kindles a warm flame that will sustain itself, light my way, keep me safe and keep me true. Thank You, my God, for Your holy, precious Word!”

Pausing to reflect, I see where the light must shine on me and in me, not only on my heart, but in my actions. Grace will lead me to love my wife and family as well as I can. I pray for them to see God’s gracious light as He protects and guides them this day. God’s light will shine on my neighbors and friends. I pray that those who may not yet know Jesus might find His light today! His light will also lead His people, so I ask that my church might seriously shine His light among ourselves and to our neighbors and the nations so Jesus might be the light of the world.

I look out the patio door and there is a faint glow starting to show itself in the southeast. A January sunrise is about to break forth. God is once again lighting the darkness as He always does. Grateful, I thank Him that He is the lighter of my lamp.

God listens to us.

In my distress I called upon the Lord;

to my God I cried for help.

From his temple he heard my voice,

and my cry to him reached his ears.

Psalm 18:6

God listens to the prayers we make. Why else would we pray if this were not true? The reality of prayer is bound up in the important expectation that God listens to His people. God hears prayer. God answers prayer. God loves to act on the behalf of His creation. We can be sure that God hears us and listens attentively to our prayers.

I love the way Psalm 18 describes how God responds to our distress. He flies down from His heavenly throne riding on the wings of a mighty angel to attend to the cries of His people. He arrives to deal with oppression and pain, and the ground where He lands trembles and smokes in the fury of His fierce response. He shares the feelings of His people and answers their prayers passionately and powerfully. Prayer brought God’s undivided attention. It always does.

I need this reminder because sometimes I choose to discard prayer because I think a circumstance is not worthy of God’s attention. But that is wrong of me. God sees and knows all that is going on in my life. He listens to prayer and knows what I need and when I need it. He is ready to act, to love, and to give good gifts to His children. Jesus reminded us we should ask of Him like children ask of their parents and that when we do so he longs to give help to us. Jesus said we don’t have from Him because we don’t ask of Him. So NOT praying is a spiritual failure. Prayer is always a spiritual win when my desire is for God to show His power and glory! Prayer thus fits any occassion because God listens to us, and listening, acts on our behalf always in the very best way for our good and His glory.

The Golden Rule

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 7:12

These words of Jesus know as the Golden Rule provide a social framework that if adhered to generally would represent what God has always wanted from His people. Jesus said “doing to others as you would have them do to you” would summarize the Old Testament Law. It would provide a kind of practical care in society that would eliminate much of the wrong that happens among us. It would create altruism at its finest.

It is simple: Treat others like you want to be treated. Through the transformative effects of the gospel this can and should happen. Of course, without the gospel at work in us, selfish sinfulness would threaten our ability to do this at all. But if I truly want others to know the grace that I have in life through Christ, it would make sense for me to share the gospel greatly and freely with others. The gospel is how I want to be changed. I want others to experience it as well because it is so good. So if I link together the Great Commission to make disciples with the Golden Rule to love as I wish to be loved, good works and the gospel can together make maximum impact in my world.

Unfortunately Christians may not always make this linkage. They separate preaching the gospel from gracious good works. And then good works become an end in themselves and a kind of legalism emerges. We become proud of who we help and what we do and how much we volunteer and miss Jesus truly transforming both us and the ones we want to serve. Or we may share the gospel out of a rigid obedience and ignore a need, making our efforts unfruitful. A homeless person may need the gospel, but it ought to come with some warm shelter and a meal. For us to love people made in God’s image means truly and practically helping them (especially if their condition is the result of their own wrong choice). You must do this the way you would long to be helped if you were in that same situation. This changes all of us. This lives out the gospel. This is how we “do to others” according to the Golden Rule.

the power of an encourager

But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.

Acts 9:27

This part of the story of Saul shows us that very early on in his conversion, controversy marked his gospel ministry. Saul was dramatically saved on the Damascus road, and in the matter of just a few days went from persecutor of the gospel to preacher of the gospel. This shook up the Jewish leaders who had sent him on a mission of hate. It also unsettled the Christian community that had experienced his previous persecution.

Nonetheless, Saul, like a burned double agent spy, stayed just ahead of things by boldly preaching the gospel, clearly showing his new allegiance to Jesus and His Church. The controversy within the church about him needed to be settled so that the gospel could continue to advance. Enter “the Son of Encouragement”... Barnabus would defend Saul to the apostles in Jerusalem. His sponsorship ended the church’s official suspicions about Saul. His encouragement set the stage for Saul to continue to be used by God for gospel proclamation.

Eventually though, death threats from Saul’s former employers led the church to take some protective measures. They escorted Saul to the port of Caesarea and from there he set sail for Tarsus to seek refuge in his hometown. There he would be protected from the immediate threat and God would prepare him for even greater and more controversial ministry.

Saul’s story reminds me of the power of encouragement. God used Barnabus to put Saul into the best place with the church leadership. This would then literally save Saul’s life. And then God would continue to grow Saul to be an influential leader himself, bold with the gospel, to launch the church globally. And this would multiply as Saul would also grow new leaders. Encouragement is a powerful spiritual gift with long lasting effects... a type of ministry greatly blessed by God beyond our initial scope of knowing when we first reach out to encourage. 

allegiances

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Matthew 6:24

I will serve now

what my heart loves

what is my master

will reign above

whatever else I avow

Money talks loud

in the current scene

worth is measured by income

and though I fully mean

not to... money makes me proud

Yet Jesus is King

Master above all

that would rule my heart

heeding His call

my life I bring

Only one can lead

my heart to win

money serves Jesus

I surrender to Him

and from silver slavery am freed

You cannot serve two

there can be only one

so my Master is Christ

and living in the Son

I’ll honor Him in what I do

I commit to my Lord

Whom my heart loves

above this world’s treasure

I hold Jesus above

and will believe His Word

Only one can control

is what Jesus said

so He is my Master

chased from my head

are wealth’s illusions... this I know

just you and God

But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Matthew 6:6

Jesus practiced what He preached. There are numerous episodes in the gospels where we are shown Jesus practicing this pattern of alone time communing with the Father in prayer. He often chose to get away from the crowds and to seek a place of solitude in order to do this well (see Matthew 14:23; Mark 1:35; Luke 6:12). Being alone with God to enter into serious prayer is a healthy spiritual discipline.

But this command from Jesus to go to your room and shut the door in order to pray alone is increasingly difficult in our “always on” culture of non-stop communication. Interruptions are literally always in our pocket with smartphones. Most of us live very busy lives, even in “retirement”. We have to create some significant margin if we are going to pray well and obey what Jesus tells us in this teaching about how to pray. But honestly, prayer doesn’t feel very productive sometimes. But Jesus tells us it is and that it is work best done when our souls are undistracted and our hearts are focused solely on God. Yes, I can say sentence prayers while driving to work. But this is not the same. Yes, I can say a short prayer over my email inbox before diving into my daily schedule, but that is not the kind of communion Jesus is speaking of here. I’ve got to get alone to know this.

It is very important to regularly punctuate my schedule with alone times. I live in a city, so wilderness remote options are few. But a prayer walk in a park, arriving home an hour earlier than anyone else does, or simply arising before dawn and praying at the kitchen table while my family sleeps... all these can open my life to this important “prayer getaway” that Jesus insists His followers must do. Jesus promises such prayer is rewarded. I believe it is worth the effort because God is very, very good and time communing with Him is the best part of any day!

the extra mile

And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

Matthew 5:41

The expectations Jesus sets for how His followers will love in this world are deep. He expects more than action. He expects those who follow Him to exhibit true character from within that transforms WHY they do what they do. They live with an intentionality. He expects them to live in His love, motivated by His love, in order to show His love.

This section of the Sermon on the Mount get to this love in what must be the most difficult test of love: how to handle an enemy. Jesus begins by telling us that retaliation has not place as the motive of His followers. We aren’t out to live for revenge or personal justice for ourselves. We turn the other cheek when wronged (Matthew 5:39). We aren’t living “an eye for an eye” or to only love those who love us. Jesus would die forgiving those who crucified Him. That high standard informs our call to love all people always.

But it is hard to walk that extra mile. It takes the work of Christ in us to help us to let the love of Christ love through us. I must repent of my selfish demand to get what I want. I must be willing to understand the other person who is at odds with me. I must also be willing to be misunderstood. I must look at the person who is against me as one for whom Christ died... one who desperately needs the mercy of God found only in Jesus. I must see their sin, including any sin that makes my life difficult, as something Jesus longs to forgive in them. By patiently caring even for enemies, the gospel can be shown, and by telling them to the good news, they can be transformed from enemies to friends if they just receive it and trust Jesus as Savior and Lord. Going the extra mile with the gospel changes the world.

when our wants create idols

When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

Genesis 30:1-2

False worship, idolatry really, can spring up from our hearts in everyday circumstances involving “normal” wants and desires. And with idolatry comes a lot of pain and difficulty precisely because our worship priorities are out of whack. In Rachel’s case, her heart craved motherhood more than the worship of God. Pregnancy and childbirth became what she looked for in order to find ultimate fulfillment and happiness. And every child born to her sister Leah, every month in which Rachel did not conceive, provoked a jealous envy in her broken heart to the point that she wanted to die if she remained without a child. Her idol was disappointing her.

Rachel took all that pent up disappointment and bitter envy until it all built up into a moment where she launched it all against her husband Jacob. She pleaded for a child from him as if he was the one responsible for giving children to her sister and not to her. Her anger and despair made things even worse for her. It stoked an angry outburst from Jacob that ironically got to the very heart of Rachel’s real problem. She had put children and motherhood in place of God as her heart’s supreme worship. And God will not be so replaced without some severe consequences.

The messed up nature of Jacob’s home is apparent in the stories of his polygamous household. He would eventually father a family from four different women. The envy, discord, fighting, distrust, family politics, and idolatry that would constantly mark his home were all sad results of this sinful lifestyle. Only when Jacob finally turned to God would he find some measure of family stability. But it would take one more generation of Jacob’s household to settle most of this unrest.

When we look to the stuff of this world, even good things like children or family, to provide for us only what is found in the worship of God, will will always be hurt and disappointed. Rachel is proof of this in a very sad way. Only God can give us, in Christ Who is our life, what we were made to worship.

God who tests

The Lord tests the righteous,

but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

Psalm 11:5

God not only knows what is in each human heart, but He draws it out in visible ways so that He may be known and worshiped by those who trust and obey Him. David expresses this in the eleventh psalm where he seeks the wise justice of God as sinful men seek to do him harm. He takes refuge in God when threatened by people (Psalm 11:1). Despite the physical threat to his life and the seeming impossibility of changing circumstances under his own power (Psalm 11:2-3), David confidently trusts that God sees, knows, and acts on the behalf of the righteous person who trusts in God (Psalm 11:4-6). God will reward the faith and actions of a righteous man (Psalm 11:7).

In all of this, God will use challenges to our faith to test us, in order to bring us closer to Him. He did this with King David. He did this dramatically with Job. He did this from the very beginning of the start of the drama of redemption in the lives of Abraham, with Isaac, with Jacob, and with Joseph in Egypt. And in all these trials, we will see the goodness of God, His justice over the wrong, and His love for His people.

But in these tests it may not quite feel like this outcome is certain. David ran to God because the threat was very real. And so it is in trial. Although such times are orchestrated under God’s sovereign control, we are challenged by our limited perspective. This is why James in the New Testament encourages us with this reminder: Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him (James 1:12). Hang on. Trust God. Don’t focus on the difficult trial, but instead on the purposeful God Who works in us in that trial. And wait. For it is worth it. God rewards the faith of the righteous and will judge those who love their sin and hurt other people.

why purity is hard

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Matthew 5:8

These words that form part of the opening of Jesus’ sermon are powerful. And they are difficult to receive and live by. Consisting of just twelve syllables, they call us to the work of a lifetime. They have always been hard words to follow. And in current culture they are challenged in nearly every way possible. Those who wish to see God, to know Him intimately, will need to cultivate the heart purity that is theirs through the forgiving blood of Christ. But my own sin, my own culture, and Satan’s systematic ruining of the world all work against heart purity.

My own sin works against me. My own heart is predisposed against purity. I’ve had my struggles with the subject. Although raised in a Christian home in the 70’s and 80’s, the sexual revolution still had loud echoes in my life. And unfortunately, my teenage curiousities on matters of sex were too easily answered with sinful thoughts and actions. Like most in my generation, I developed a selfish personal view on these matters and like a good Pharisee of evangelical culture, outwardly spoke things considered pure, while in my heart I stoked fires of impurity. I missed truly seeing God as a result.

My culture works against purity. In my youth it was through the traditional media of books, magazines, TV, radio, music, and movies. Now the endless stream of unfiltered content in all that media that is available through the internet puts purity at risk in the hands of every kid with a smartphone. And to give in to cultural pressure is to miss seeing God. The world makes this so easy that it is almost impossible to find a person unaffected by it.

The devil always wants the worship that only God deserves. If he can use culture and technology to get that, he will do so. And he does. He successfully uses the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, served up by willing co-conspirators among us... even from our own hearts. This all arrives on glittering retina displays and stops people from seeing God.

The call from Jesus is to purity of the heart. This starts internally and affects us outwardly. Only by Jesus changing our hearts can we be pure in heart. The reward is intimacy with the Almighty. Will I believe this, fight my sin, my culture, and the devil’s own work to gain this reward?

what Jesus did

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.

Matthew 4:23

Jesus sets the standard for gospel ministry. It helps me to evaluate how I serve in His church when I look at what Jesus did and endeavor to have Him do the same in and with me as well. This is still what He does in His church. This verse describes three activities that were the early ministry of the Lord. They still mark authentic ministry today.

TEACHING. From village to village Jesus went into the synagogues and taught people. The style of teaching expected in the synagogues was scripturally grounded. As a rabbi, Jesus would have read from a scroll and then taught what was said there. The gospels record several episodes of this very thing (see Matthew 9:35; 13:54; Mark 1:21; Luke 4:15; John 18:20). Authentic ministry will still teach the Word of God clearly and point people to Jesus as it is done.

PROCLAIMING THE GOSPEL. Jesus had His own message to proclaim. He taught the good news of His kingdom. We know this was of vital importance to the Jewish listeners in the synagogues since Jesus was the Messiah they awaited. To His disciples, who were convinced of this, He also revealed His coming crucifixion and resurrection to accomplish salvation for the sins of the world. The gospel was the defining message taught by Jesus and now entrusted to us.

HEALING. Lives were made whole again in the wake of Jesus’ ministry. He healed the blind, the deaf, the lame, the sick, and those oppressed by demonic forces. And God still does this today, though there is a great deal of fraud on this subject within some elements of His church today. The remarkable wholeness Jesus brings in saving souls is still one of the greatest joys that I witness in ministry all the time. I am privileged to always be in some ongoing story of His grace restoring a life, a home, a marriage, a family, or a broken heart. It is one of the pastor’s greatest joys to see God work in this way. Jesus teaches truth... Jesus saves souls... Jesus makes people whole again! Amen!

one person’s obedience... a world of blessing

“By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

Genesis 22:16-18

This promise, made by a faith-rewarding God to faithfully bless His faith-filled follower is precious even to us today. It reaches across thousands of years of human history to provide hope and blessing right now. God blesses those who by faith will choose the impossibly difficult path of obeying and believing God. He rewards those who love Him. In the case of Abraham, God spared his sacrifice of Isaac and gave a precious picture of what was to come by providing substitutionary atonement. And God re-iterated His purposes for Abraham to bless the entire world through his descendents. His faith is part of the long story of redemptive history that leads to Jesus and the salvation now offered to the entire world.

Jesus is the fullest measure of this blessing given to Abraham. Jesus is the Son Who those sacrificed, was not kept by death, but whom God raised again from the dead so that the nations of the earth are blessed. Abraham obeyed God’s voice and then his offspring, Jesus, was obedient to death on a cross. And now people from among every tribe and nation are blessed in His salvation and will name Him as Lord to the glory of God the Father. Eternity will be filled with the blessed praise of Jesus, always testifying all the way back to the promise that God made to Abraham.

When Abraham obeyed God and led Isaac up Moriah to bind his only Son to a sacrificial altar, he had no idea God would intervene like He did. He could not know that his act of obedience would foreshadow God’s own Son-sacrifice that completed our salvation. Yet Abraham obeyed. And God blessed. And it led to grace being poured on the earth in Jesus!

my righteous Judge

God is a righteous judge,

and a God who feels indignation every day.

Psalm 7:11

I believe this. I believe God is the ultimate righteous Judge over all human activity and that I answer to Him. I believe that as a holy, righteous Judge, God is grieved over the sinful choices, thoughts, and actions I make and that every person can and will make in all of humanity. God is the judge. As a judge He evaluates and declares guilt and punishment. He never does so arbitrarily or incorrectly. There is nothing that escapes Him, either. Sin moves Him to indignation and to action as the Judge.

Yet from our limited perspective we may not feel that sin is being dealt with by Him. And we tend to want leniency on our own sins and we want God to throw the book at the sins of those who hurt us! The psalm here is obviously written because human oppression and injustice have encroached upon David in some way. He has been slandered by a man known only here as Cush the Benjamite (perhaps a relative of the house of the previous king, Saul) and David called out to God to right this wrong. When David knew an obvious injustice, he appealed to God, the only final authority, to find resolution. David still felt the oppression... that much is clear in this psalm. But his heart trusted and passionately pled with God to remedy it.

This leads me to conclude that many times in human experience we will know injustice. And the more people, the more injustice. Billions of people create exponentially greater wrongs among themselves. We will experience the awful things humans can do to one another. We will be abused by the whim of someone else. We will also struggle not to act in kind when we are hurt in this way, and at times our response can be also quite wrong. What saves us from the worst of these experiences is the faith we have in God’s justice. He is a righteous Judge and He knows when we are suffering wrongly. He is upset by all the ways that humans hurt each other. He will render justice in His way, in His time, in completeness. We must simply trust and appeal to our Judge. And in Jesus we have an Advocate before the Judge of all people Who pleads on our behalf and Who offers forgiveness to all Who believe.

let it be known

let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.

Acts 4:10

Christians make Jesus known. Christians make the work of Jesus known. In all we do, the driving goal is for Jesus and His saving work to be known by our commitment to spread the good news that Jesus saves and heals lives. Jesus does the transformative work of saving lives. Jesus brings wholeness. Jesus works in His Church. Jesus encourages and builds up His disciples. Jesus provides amazing comfort in pain and turns our losses into gains. Jesus gives power over sin and death so that the worst that life can bring us need not be feared. Jesus, Who died for us and Whom God raised from the dead gives eternal life to all who believe.

Making Jesus known in the proclamation of the gospel is the way in which we begin to obey His call on His church to make disciples. We celebrate the transformation Jesus makes. When a lame man is healed at the temple in the name and power of Jesus, Peter was quick to give all the credit to Jesus. It was a chance to celebrate and proclaim Jesus, not just to settle for the amazement of a healing. Peter pointed to the Healer. And that is what we must do every time Jesus works among us.

Two days ago my church celebrated some wonderful baptisms. Those being baptized spoke to us about their faith in Christ and the gospel was literally lived out in their stories in beautiful and personal ways. Jesus was made much of. The gospel was “white hot”, burning in the joy in our hearts as we celebrated and witnessed by baptism the clear work of God, welcoming what Jesus did in bringing them to Him. By Jesus Christ of Nazareth they stood before us “made well”. And they let it be known to all. That is the power of the gospel that we must always celebrate!

faithful gospel preaching

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Matthew 3:1-2

John was the most singular “advance man” who ever lived. He had a very simple, but profoundly important ministry. His preaching and activity focused solely on preparing the hearts of all who heard him for the kingdom of the Messiah that he was called to introduce to the world. He was Isaiah’s prophesied “voice in the wilderness” calling people to prepare for the Lord’s arrival among them. John preached a message calling for action: Repentance of sin visualized in baptism in order to prepare for the Messiah’s coming kingdom. And he plunged the repentant under the waters of the Jordan so that in baptism they might be so visibly and personally prepared.

John’s contemporaries flocked to the banks of the Jordan river in the Judean wilderness to follow his preaching. Crowds of them were baptized in response to his urgent call. His disciples were seeking the Lord under the careful leadership of this odd prophet. A people were seeking God’s deliverance like never before. They were ready for Jesus to arrive on the scene. John the Baptizer was definitely being used by God to prepare lives for Jesus’ own kingdom ministry.

Lord,

Your Word shows me this morning the powerful impact of faithful preaching as Your Spirit draws hearts. The ministry of John the Baptist was all about being faithful to the call to preach repentance while pointing to Jesus. And in many ways, faithfulness to the gospel message is still much like John’s task. The difference is we look back on a completed salvation in Jesus while also calling people to repent looking to His future kingdom. May I be a faithful proclaimer of the gospel in this way!

Amen

together... with all things in common

And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

Acts 2:44

Brothers

Sisters

Believers

We are family together

and share all that is important

Churches

Fellowships

Congregations

are drawn together

around Jesus we share everything

Challenges

Hardships

Losses

may affect us together

but we withstand them through what we have in common

Perspective

Vision

Mission

We make disciples together

with the gospel that we have in common

Sharing

Giving

Receiving

We thrive together

distributing what we have in common

Praising

Loving

Worshiping

Under Jesus we’re together

All that is important is what we have in common

Salvation belongs to the Lord.

Salvation belongs to the Lord;

your blessing be on your people! 

Selah

Psalm 3:8

I wish I could say that I naturally look only to God to be my Savior, but to be honest, I don’t. I need the gospel daily in front of me. I often try to save myself when I make a mistake. I sometimes believe my own plans will save me. I try to extricate myself from my own poor choices by looking to myself, further complicating the messes that I make. I hope that if I just had more money, or more respect, or more ability I would be happy. But all these things do not bring salvation or blessings to me. I can only have one true Savior.

Salvation belongs to the Lord. I will only find it in Jesus and in the glorious experience of trusting Him alone. The gospel calls me to repent of my personal salvation efforts to better myself and instead to simply come in my need to Jesus, Who alone makes up what I lack. God will shower me in an abundant grace that I did not deserve. He will keep me. He will bless me. He will lead me to grow in the gospel so that I do not give in so easily to the false saviors I want to trust instead of Jesus. He will help me understand how money, respect, and abilities all fit into His Kingdom and in His personal unique design of me as I surrender to His Lordship and find my life in Jesus.

Salvation is found only in Jesus. This is true for eternity. This is true in my present situations. And I will trust my Lord in both ways so that day to day He will help me to turn from the false trusts I am prone to accept. He will save me now and forever. This I know and believe as I bow and confess my failures and accept His great grace.

outside the Garden

therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.

Genesis 3:23

All the worst events in human history, all the wars, genocides, murders, and fall of kingdoms have their origin in the expulsion from paradise. Adam’s choice to disobey God’s one command brought all these consequences. Sin brought a break in fellowship with God. It brought an end to life in the Garden of Eden planted by God. It led to Adam being forced to work his own garden in the ground outside the Garden, never to return to what God had originally planned for him.

Sin and self are horrible masters. The human heart needs a Lord, a Master, a controlling influence. And under Jesus we regain some of what was lost at Eden. Sin is forgiven, though we still walk outside the Garden. Hope is restored as we know we will be in paradise with Him. A future glory awaits where Jesus shall reign in perfect glory in a world where He walks among us and curse of sin has been lifted. He lives in us now leading us beyond the worst of the curse, having lifted the worst that death and hell would bring to our souls. We can safely walk with God as disciples of Jesus.

Lord Jesus,

Today I go “to work the ground from which I was taken”. And I will feel the weight of sin’s curse at times. But Jesus, I know You died to take my punishment and You rose to bring new life to reverse the curse. I will believe and trust in You to have perspective beyond all the pain sin brings. The joy of the gospel... the joy to the Lord is my strength.

Amen

an invitation to delight

but his delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 1:2

With the fresh year, billions of well-intentioned New Year’s resolutions will be made. Most of them will be totally forgotten within a month as the demands of time and other commitments creep up on our best intentions and steal these ambitious goals from us. Yet as I look now at the first Psalm, I can’t help but see a desire that I want to make my life in the coming year... I want to delight in the law of God... to have His powerful Word fill my mind... to know the experience of day and night having scripture lead me to have the mind of Christ.

It seems ambitious to claim as a goal the description of the blessed man found in Psalm 1, but I do know by experience that in the worship of God I have found the most purpose, the most joy, the deepest centering core from which to live my life, and definitely great delight. And to center my thinking in scripture, to biblically saturate my soul, I shall personally worship. It would seem then to me that the Word of God can bring the delight of the worship of God to my heart every day.

So this year I am asking God to help me learn to delight in His Word and so delight in Him. And I’m taking this Psalm 1:2 description quite plainly as a description of how to do that. I will read and think through some scripture in the morning when I rise and again in the evening before I retire. And my prayer is that as I journal this commitment, the delight of it all, the sheer pleasure of knowing and experiencing God will become evident.

Lord,

I ask You keep me humbly in the pages of Your Word so that I may know true joy. My soul gets weary but you will revive it in You through Your Word as You promise. May my days be framed in the wonders of Your law so that I may delight in Your truth and Your saving grace. 

Amen