How Can I Prepare for Worship on Sunday Mornings?

PREPARE for worship before you come on Sunday morning. How can you prepare?

Remember WHAT worship is all about. It is the offering up of our whole lives to the God who has lavished mountains of mercy on us (Romans 12:1). Worship is acknowledging God’s worth. Worship is focusing the heart on God and gazing at His character according to the truth of His Word. Worship is expressing the joy of our salvation in melody.

Remember WHO worship is all about. Worship is about God. It is about the TRIUNE God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Worship is NOT about me. That is, I am not the focus of Christian and biblical worship. Worship is not about whether my likes and dislikes have been met on a particular morning. It is about latching onto God with my soul and drinking deeply of His beauty: Psalm 27:4. Look for Jesus in the worship time; nothing else.

Ask for the HOLY SPIRIT’S help. God-centered and God-pleasing worship is only possible with the Spirit’s empowering (Ephesians 5:18-19; Colossians 3:16). But, OH, how He empowers! We are told to ask for His help and the Father will give it: Luke 11:13.

Make sure there is no lingering and unaddressed sin in your life. David made it clear that if we have sin in our hearts the Lord will not hear us: Psalm 66:18. If we have been loose with our tongue or reacting in anger to others and have not confessed our sin to God and to those we have offended, the Spirit of God is grieved: Ephesians 4:29-31.

Start preparing for Corporate Worship the night before. Staying up late watching a soul-numbing movie or surfing the net or beginning the Lord’s Day with an hour in the newspaper and no time in the Word will leave an unhealthy slime on your heart that leaves it unprepared for the pursuit of a holy God and His Son. Instead, get to bed sufficiently early the night before and begin the next day with private time before the Lord in prayer and His Word. Time in His Word, listening to His voice, tunes the heart for careful listening later.

Pray as a family BEFORE you get to the church facilities. Pray together asking God to do the things we’ve mentioned above. Allow the children to pray. Ask the Lord Jesus to help you as a family to learn something that will help you know Him better and serve Him more faithfully. Tell Him together how much you love Him. AND IF you happen to have one of those Sunday morning family “meltdowns” before arriving at church, GET IT RIGHT with each other BEFORE you leave your car.

The Basics in Accomplishing the Great Commission

In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus instructs His disciples in HOW they can accomplish His mission:

• They had to GO. They were to start where they were and keep going to the ends of the earth

i. It is usually more comfortable to STAY where we are in familiar surroundings than to go to new people and places that require adjustment and risk rejection.
ii. If Jesus has saved you He wants you to be going to others on His behalf. But WHY are you to go? The answer is in b. below!

• They were to MAKE DISCIPLES. This is why Jesus’ disciples go to others. Making disciples involves 2 primary tasks which we see in v.19-20:

i. BAPTIZING them. Baptism is the outward ceremony and public confession that a person has made a commitment to Christ as Savior and Lord. But for a person to make this kind of commitment they MUST have the good news of Jesus shared with them and they must be encouraged to trust Christ. Therefore, as disciples are GOING they must be sharing the good news of Jesus and encouraging people to turn from their sin and trust Him. Those who do are to be publicly baptized and to become part of a local church.
· Is there anyone you are presently seeking to share the good news of Jesus with? Who?

· Are there others you could be praying and planning to share with? Who?

Come up with a prayerful plan to share with one of these.


ii. TEACHING THEM TO OBEY ALL JESUS COMMANDED.
· Just as Jesus’ disciples had been with Jesus and learned to obey Him, so they were to go and be with others so that these new believers could also learn to obey Jesus.

a. This takes time. Learning to obey Jesus’ truth is a process of being taught, being shown, being encouraged and then being taught, shown, and encouraged over and over and over again until a person has learned to obey.

b. This takes commitment. We must be prepared to be involved with people for a significant period of time.

c. This takes disciples. Once again, only a disciple can make a disciple. You must be obeying Jesus’ commands before you can teach others to do the same.

d. This takes the Bible. Jesus’ commands and Jesus’ life are recorded without error for us in the Bible. This is our disciplemaking textbook.

e. This takes Jesus. Notice 2 promises Jesus made to His disciples that will enable them/us to fulfill this mission:
i. Jesus has all authority. The right and the power to make disciples worldwide is His and He shares it with us.
ii. Jesus will be with us. As we are involved in Jesus’ mission He will be with us in the person of the Holy Spirit. This mission is a true partnership.

Even while you are being taught to obey Jesus you can teach others (see 2 Timothy 2:2 again).

Is there someone you can be sharing these truths with? Who? HOW?

Peace, Pressure, Courage and the Conqueror

Jesus spoke these words near the end of His Upper Room Discourse with the 12:

"I have said these things to you that in me you might have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world" John 16:33.

Note these 4 things:

• PEACE: Jesus told his disciples that his goal in teaching them during this last fellowship meal was their peace. Peace comes from Jesus' Word. What kinds of things did Jesus teach them during this time in the upper room? Things like: serve one another as I have served you; I am the way, the truth, and the life; I am the way to the Father; I am going to prepare a place for you and I'll return to take you there; I will send the Comforter to take my place and He will be with you forever; I am the True Vine, your life is in me...abide in Me; the world will hate you; learn to ask in My name and the Father will answer your prayers for His glory, etc. Now if we listen to this teaching of Jesus, WHAT ELSE can we have but PEACE? Peace is the inner assurance that all is well because all is under the control of our good God. Jesus has it under control, even when it looks like it is all coming undone. So...we need to abide in His Word (John 15:7) so that His overcoming promises to us will be fresh in our minds and in the place to have a controlling influence when pressure mounts.
• PRESSURE: Yes, Jesus also promised this. "In the world you WILL have tribulation" John 16:33. "Tribulation" means to crush, press, compress, squeeze and in this context means trouble and affliction. How the squeeze comes is Jesus' sovereign choice. What the squeeze accomplishes is wondrous: His glory, my godliness (Romans 5:3-5), greater hope, a shining forth of the light of the gospel to those around us, and the exposure of the false hopes and gods of this world. Another wonder is WHY we never seem to get the fact that tribulation is a part of following Jesus in this world and why we resent and question and fight against it when it does come from our Lord's good hands. Jesus is telling us: "Be ready for it. It will find you as surely as it is finding me. But DO NOT despair, I have designed this pressure to produce the kind of good that can never come from ease and comfort."
• COURAGE: Jesus tells us, "Take heart." That is, "Be courageous." or "Be bold." Note: this is in the imperative...i.e. it is a COMMAND! Jesus commands us to be bold in the face of the pressure and affliction of this world. He commands us to be courageous in the face of danger and the threat of harm, lack, confusion, and the rage of His enemies. Since this is a command, it is ALWAYS possible to obey. But HOW can the likes of you and me face the likes of a raging devil and his demons with their millenia old storehouses of strategies to tempt and cause unbelief and distraction? The Answer...
• The CONQUEROR: Praise God that Jesus finishes with, "I have overcome the world." The Greek word for this is nikao, and it means to "be victorious, prevail...to overcome, to conquer...spoken of Jesus and His followers as victorious over the world, evil, and all the adversaries of His kingdom" (Complete Word Study Bible). This is why being courageous in the face of anything and everything makes sense. This is why it is possible. This is no positive thinking. This is application of FINISHED WORK. As Jesus suffered for sin on the cross, the Father "disarmed the rulers and authorities" and completely triumphed over them. (Colossians 2:15). Being courageous is simply aligning ourselves with the reality of what Christ has done. He IS the Conqueror!! And in Him we are MORE than conquerors (Romans 8:37).

May we CHOOSE to have peace because of His Words of hope and promise and may we stand and act courageously because He is the Conqueror...period.

Laziness and Diligence

The Proverbs are full of pithy sayings on the woes of laziness and the blessings of diligence. Take for instance:

• Proverbs 12:11: "Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense." What can we learn here? If I plow and plant and fertilize and water and weed the land I own, the land, by God's general grace, will yield grain, from which I can make and then enjoy bread. I will probably even have bread to give to others and to trade with. This is doing what is expected and what is responsible with what I have so that my needs will be provided. It is living by the law of sowing and reaping. BUT...if I go after "worthless pursuits," i.e. if I "chase fantasies" (NLT), then I show I am foolish and soon I will have to do without or beg from those who were working their land!

Being spiritual and godly does NOT mean I lose my mind. It does not mean that I lose good common sense, the kind that even pagans live by. What kinds of fantasies might we chase in our day?

• The fantasy of the PERFECT JOB. Where is that utopian 9 to 5 where all employees wash one another's feet? Where is that boss who lays awake at night thinking of how he can make the work day better for ME? Where is that employment where folks break out into spontaneous Bible studies on justification and sanctification and propitiation and the boss says, "What a delight! We can do our work later...or not at all!" Where is such a job? IT IS IN HEAVEN! that is where. Until then, when I am supposed to be working my land (my day by day often monotonous job), I need to be working my land, or I and others will suffer.
• The fantasy of the PERFECT RELATIONSHIP. Why can't my wife just learn once and for all that I am not only the world's greatest romantic, but a nearly omniscient source of wisdom for all of life's problems? Why can't my kids learn to love one another with King James language and Elizabethan gentility? WHY? Because even the redeemed heart is full of sin, sin that causes us to be self-absorbed. My wife is a sinner, like me (only a little less advanced in the school of self-absorbtion). My kids are sinners. We're ALL sinners. Don't buy the lie that that gal at the office is greener grass or that the Joneses kids are one step from their heavenly graduation. WORK on those relationships that are the RELATIONAL LAND God has given you to plow and plant and fertilize and water. They don't exist for your supreme happiness. You exist under God to build into them with love. The harvest will come in God's time.
• The fantasy of the PERFECT CHURCH. OOOOOh! I am close to this one. Why doesn't Pastor _______ hold my interest like that guy on the radio? Why don't we have the same programs for our kids that FIRST CHURCH does? Why doesn't our worship team sound like they were directly transplanted from Nashville? Why don't we have more choices for Adult Classes, Kid's Classes, Youth Classes? Why aren't we growing like the Cathedral of Angels downtown? WHY? Because God's plan for every church is somewhat different. Because God has put you in your church to be an influence for godly growth through the use of your gifts in ministry and all you are doing is comparing and complaining. I have been that voice of "Why?" too many times. Brother/Sister: work the land of your church. It's the spiritual land that God has given you...don't be spending your time looking for greener spiritual acres. They don't exist.

May God grant us all to stop chasing fantasies and instead put our head down and lean our weight of gifts and talents and time and money into working the land we have already been given. The bread will be supplied and it will satisfy.

7 Resurrection Reasons for Great Commission Confidence

I. The Resurrection PROVED Jesus was Who He Claimed to be. Luke 24:44; Romans 1:4
-no resurrection and Jesus would have been just one of a long line of religious impostors with great claims but no reality. The resurrection was the trumpet call, "He has risen, just as He SAID"!

II. The Resurrection DEMONSTRATED God’s Full Acceptance of Jesus’ Death as Payment for our Sins. Romans 4:25
-like the PAID stamp on a bill, giving legal evidence that the payment has been accepted, the resurrection was God's "PAID in FULL", echoing Jesus' same words on the cross.

III. The Resurrection ANNOUNCED Jesus Christ’s Authority. Acts 2:32-36; Ephesians 1:19-23
-He REIGNS! HE is the head over ALL rule and authority. The resurrection was the definitive statement that Jesus is Lord of all.

IV. The Resurrection SECURED our Salvation. 1 Peter 1:3
-Jesus' resurrection gives us absolute certainty that our ultimate salvation is held in safe deposit in Heaven itself. Heaven-land security!

V. The Resurrection gives ASSURANCE that Jesus Christ will Judge the World. Acts 17:31; Acts 10:42
-The resurrection was God's proof that Jesus is the Judge. All men will face Him and He will make all right with an awesome and fearful justice. Either your sin is judged IN Jesus or your sin will be judged BY Jesus.

VI. The Resurrection gives a MEASURE of the Power that is Available to us from God. Ephesians 1:19-21
-The yardstick for God's power in our lives: the resurrection. We have RESURRECTION POWER available for living. This is power to achieve; power to be able. Able for what? Whatever God wills.

VII. The Resurrection GUARANTEES OUR RESURRECTION. John 14:19; 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

-He is the firstfruits of the resurrection. The Firstfruits was the very first of the harvest. They were offered to God as a symbol of a following and full harvest. The firstfruits said, "There's more to come! He's the firstfruits, we are the "more to come." His resurrection guarantees that.

May the fact of the resurrection fill you with worship of the Resurrected One today and with the certainty that all you need today and tomorrow and forever will be supplied as a consquence of Jesus' Easter morning triumph!

Thoughts for Finding God's Will by the Way of Wisdom

Finding God's Will in matters not specifically addressed in Scripture is a maturing process. We can stay immature by wanting "a word" from a friend telling us God's will or by doing the Bible roulette method of opening the Bible and deciding that God is saying whatever our eyes land on or being guided by our emotions like an inner divining rod or...we can seek God's mind through the Scriptures by hard mental and spiritual work and with the help of other wise believers. Below are some points to consider when seeking God's will in the Way of Wisdom.

• Make sure that your heart in seeking God’s will is, “Not my will, but Yours be done.” Proverbs 3:5, 6 is always a tremendous truth here. Jesus said clarity would come to those who are willing to obey: John 7:17; Psalm 111:10.
• 
  Share openly with God and one another (if you are a couple) the fears you face as you begin this process. Ask God for faith and love to overcome the fears. KNOW that God’s will is the safest, richest, most truly satisfying place on earth. In God’s will you will not be wasting your life as individuals and as a family. Romans 12:1,2
• 
  Enlist trusted believing friends to be in prayer for you during this process.
• 
  God’s primary way of guiding His children is the way of wisdom. This means other means such as circumstances, feelings, former experiences, etc. are always submitted to God’s Word and ways wisely applied.
  The way of wisdom means that what we pray for and seek after is a wise application of the Word of God – clear commands and principles – to the situation in question. God delights to give wisdom to His children: James 1:5. This “way of wisdom” is the process of growth God wants to take us on as He matures us. The process itself is a means of grace and a time of growth.
• 
  It is important to define as clearly as possible just WHAT the question is you are seeking to answer. Exactly WHAT is the guidance you are seeking? What is the decision you are facing? Make sure you and your wife agree on this.
• 
  It is wise to look for every truth of Scripture that you can remember, find, and get from others that has something to say about your situation. Don’t worry about “missing one.” The Lord will guide you and later when you enlist the help and wisdom of others, “missed” truths the Lord wants you to consider will come to the surface.
• 
  E.g. you are asking God to show you if a job change is in order. Some truths that relate to this question/guidance would be

i. Will this job involve anything that would compromise your Christian testimony? Matthew 5:13-16
ii. Will this job allow you to adequately give to God’s work and to support your family? 1Timothy 5:8
iii. Will this job allow you adequate time to spend quality time with your family? Ephesians 6:4
iv. Will this job hinder your involvement in your local church? 1Corinthians 12
v. Will this job make good use of your God-given and developed skills and abilities? Matthew 25:14ff
vi. Does this job hold good potential to witness for Christ? Matthew 5:13-16
vii. Does this job have the potential to help me grow in Christ-like character? Romans 8:28-29
viii. Have I made a commitment to my present job that integrity would require me to keep, or am I free to move to another job? Matthew 5:37
ix. How would this move affect my family in terms of potential for their growth in godliness and our impact together for the gospel?
x. Etc.

• 
  When you have gathered the biblical commands and principles that come to bear on your issue, prayerfully meditate on them and discuss how they would apply. What seems to be the dominant guidance or answer that God is giving through His Word?
• 
  Spend more time as a couple praying over these truths and discussing them. Keep doing this until you can confidently and with peace agree as a couple on what you believe God is saying to you through His Word.
• 
  If you just cannot come to a confident and peaceful agreement on what you believe God is saying to you, ask a couple of wise and trusted friends to meet with you to discuss your question/issue and what conclusions you have come to. What do they think? What other important truths or considerations can they think of that you have missed? Do they think that you have been as unbiased as possible in your thoughts and conclusions? Here it would be wise to enlist the help of at least one leader from your church. Make sure the friends you recruit are not just “yes” men or women who will be biased strongly one way or another. Rather, make sure they will reflect to you God’s thoughts and ways from His Word.
• 
  If you came to a clear and confident agreement regarding God’s wisdom for you, it is STILL time to bring other trusted friends into the loop and check your thoughts and conclusions with them. In the multitude of counselors there is safety!!
• 
  Once you have decided what God is saying to you from His Word – COMMIT TO IT. Settle in your hearts that you will do this and you will do it because it is OBEDIENCE to God. Make sure that HIS MISSION in this world, of which you are a vital part, if front and center in your decision and commitment.
• 
  GO FOR IT! Spend more time together considering the process that obedience to God in this decision will involve. What are the practical steps that you must now take? These steps may be very complex and difficult, but you can now take them with confidence that you are proceeding in God’s way with His blessing.

Nailed to the Cross - Good Friday!

In Paul's letter to the Colossians he is seeking to remind believers of the all-sufficiency of the person and work of Christ. He does this because false gnostic teaching is affecting the church. This teaching made Christ only one of a large number of intermediaries between man and the ultimate deity. Secret knowledge was necessary to move from one of these spiritual ladder rungs to the next. Of course, only the gnostic teacher could initiate a person into this secret knowledge!

In chapter 2, vv.13-15, Paul takes believers back to where they have come from. They were DEAD in their "trespasses and the uncircumcision of [their] flesh" v.13. That is, all of us who are now believers were once spiritually dead and separated from a relationship with God. As Paul says in Ephesians 2:12, we were "without hope and without God in this world." Why? Because of our rebellious acts (trespasses) that flowed from a rebellious nature (uncircumcision of the flesh). This is where all of us were. Dead because of our sin. Rebels through and through. Sin always has its consequences and they are disastrous.

But something happened. Paul says that God made us "alive together with him" i.e. Christ. From death to life. How could this radical transformation take place? ONLY when whatever caused us to be DEAD was removed, i.e. our sinful nature and sinful acts.

Paul then tells us that God has "forgiven us all our trespasses" v.13. "Forgiven" is a word that emphasizes God's GRACE in releasing us from the guilt of our sin. It is a gracious act of God toward us in infinite contrast to our rebellious acts against Him. No merit here. All free grace.

But God cannot just decide to forgive. He is the just judge of all the earth. Sin has its irreversible consequences. There is a debt to be paid and it WILL be paid...by someone.

Jesus Christ is that SOMEONE. Paul tells us HOW God could forgive our infinite debt:

• He canceled "the record of debt that stood against us" v.14. "Record of debt" was an IOU written by the hand of the debtor. It legally detailed one's personal debt to another. Our record of debt is contained in the law of God. We are responsible and accountable to obey every command and prinicple of the law of God. Because we have utterly failed to do so, that law stands as a record of our infinite and unpayable guilt and debt to a holy God. It announces, "Mike has failed to honor his mother and father." "Mike has looked on a woman to lust for her." "Mike has cared more for the praise of people than the praise of God." Mike has had other gods before God." "Mike has been a gossip." "Mike has utterly failed to love his neighbor as himself." And on and on and on and on and on...
• But this legal and unpayable debt to God has been CANCELED. This word means to be blotted out, wiped away, the total obliteration of any mark that remains against us. There is not even a smudge mark against us. The record of debt is wiped clean. 50 billion billion billion billion dollars in sin debt wiped clean. Not a penny of guilt remains. HOW?
• God set it aside, "nailing it to the cross" v.14. Here, my friend, is a breathtaking statement. MY SIN, MY REBELLION...ALL OF IT...past, present and future was nailed to the cross when Jesus was nailed to the cross. Each pounding of the spikes that held Him there as the Lamb of God was a statement that my sin, your sin, all the sin of sinners was being paid for. The hidden sins, the unspeakable sins, the sins that maimed others, the sins of attitude, the sins of pride and arrogance and presumption on God's grace, the sins that pushed God to the periphery of my life while I pursued idols of pleasure and comfort and reputation - it was nailed to the cross in Jesus, the sin bearer.

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us - for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree'" Galatians 3:13.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! The bloodied, bleeding, mocked, naked and humiliated figure on the center cross on that ancient Good Friday was in that very condition because He was taking the record of my debt out of the way, never to be seen again. He became a curse so I would not be cursed.

In light of this payment on my behalf, shall I sin lightly? Never!

In light of this payment on my behalf, shall I ever again allow Satan to play the guilt game with me? Never! see Colossians 3:15.

In light of this payment, can I think of the cross only as a religious symbol or a favorite shape for jewelry? NO...it is the place where my Savior was pounded to death for my sin.

"Father, I am humbled to the dust at the sight of my Savior bleeding for my rebellion. I am overwhelmed by grace that blots out my trespasses at the cost of the sinless One becoming sin. May I live my life in cross-gratitude and joyful obedience to the end of my days. Oh, what a GOOD FRIDAY! Thank YOU!"

Life and Ministry in "Bloody Linen"

In reading Exodus 29 yesterday morning, a startling realization hit me. Aaron and his sons were being ordained as God's priests for Israel. One of two sacrificial rams was to be killed after Aaron and his sons laid their hands on it's head (v.19). The blood of this ram was then to be applied to Aaron and his son's right ear, thumb on the right hand, and toe on the right foot. This symbolized, of course, the making holy of the priest's hearing of God's Word, their doing of ministry, and their walk in holiness before God and His people.

But it was what came next that grabbed me. Part of the blood that was on the altar, along with the special anointing oil, was to be sprinkled on Aaron and his priestly garments and on his sons and their priestly garments. THEN Aaron and his garments and his sons and their garments would be holy (v.21).

These garments were made of pure linen and were for glory and beauty (v.39-42). The robe was blue linen. The rest were possibly/probably white linen - representing purity and holiness.

Think of it...these beautiful garments of pure linen, made for setting the priests apart from all others, made for "glory and beauty"...yet SPRINKLED WITH BLOOD! Pure linen, some of it white (sleeves, pants, etc.) splattered with blood. Were these subsequently washed? Or was the blood to remain on them sybolizing WHAT set them apart as holy to serve in the very presence of God Almighty?

Of course the lesson for us is not hard to see. We are a royal priesthood through the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:9). As priests we serve people for God's sake. As God's priests we are to "proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (I Peter 2:9). As priests we hold out the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. As priests we intercede for others, imitating our Great High Priest (Hebrews 7:25).

But we CANNOT serve as God's Priests on our own merit. We must be made clean (white linen) through the shed blood of Christ (sprinkled blood of the ram). We serve God as priests in pure linen splattered with blood. The perfect righteousness of Christ's life and the sufficient death of Christ on the cross. We are not to be living fashion statements of the GQ or Glamour type, but fashion statements of the inconceivable combination: pure linen splattered with blood.

The Compassionate Jesus

We may hear alot about compassionate conservatism, but the compassion that we are to take note of and cry out for and seek to imitate FIRST of all is the compassion of Jesus. One among many beautiful and encouraging examples of His compassion is seen in Mark 8:1-10 as Jesus feeds the 4,000 in a desolate place somewhere in the Decapolis (east of the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee).

Simply listen to Jesus' words to His disciples:

"I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away" vv.2-3.

Note:

• Jesus simply CARED that the people were hungry. Jesus knew hunger. Remember 40 days in the wilderness? He did not want the people to begin their journeys home and faint from hunger along the way. He wanted to meet their physical need. A simple, humane, caring motivation. Jesus feels and He cares. He is moved even by our physical and material needs.
• Jesus intimately KNEW these folk's situation. They had been with Him for 3 days and their food had run out. They were in a desolate place where no food could be purchased easily. He knew the shape they were in - in danger of fainting along the way home. He KNEW. HE KNOWS your situation, too. Intimately. Detail by detail. He cares and He knows.
• Jesus MET THE NEED. He did it like He alone could. He once again took a little and made it sufficient for many. More than sufficient. 7 loaves to feed 4,000 men. No problem. A few sardines to feed the same number? Coming right up. He has the resources to meet every need and He will use them. WHY?

He omnisciently KNOWS our need, He compassionately CARES that we are in need, and He therefore omnipotently MEETS our need out of His infinite resources.

Do you believe this? Do you believe this about His compassion for YOU? To think that the infinite One feels my need is astounding. But TRUE.

Since He is this way, shouldn't we be also? "O Lord, give me a heart like your great heart that feels the needs of others, that will care enough to learn their needs, and that will do something about it. And, Lord, may my heart be opened to the amazing grace that my Lord and Savior feels for me."

What do you do with advice?

Proverbs 12:15: "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice."

There is far too much presumption of omniscience in most of us! That is, we make our plans, we mull over what is the proper way to proceed in a situation, and then we move forward, thinking that all critical facets of this decision have been considered. What more is to be seen? What else needs to be considered? Advice? That's for those who can't think for themselves.

Only God sees all and knows all: He alone is omniscient!

The wise writer of this proverb tells us in no uncertain terms that it is the fool who is confident he sees all and needs no input on decisions and direction. If someone tries to offer advice or input, he may even take it "graciously," but he will then stash it in his mental file 13. How often I have played the omniscient fool!

Nothing short of significant mental and spiritual blindness could cause us to think that we ever see all the sides of any matter. What arrogance to summarily dismiss the suggestions of others in the name of "I see all." Who would ever verbalize those words? But how often we practically live them out!

How well do you receive advice? When you listen to it, what do you do with it? How often God would speak to me through others but the wax of lethargy has built up in my ears to the point where I just don't take them seriously.

As a believer, I profess to be part of the BODY of Christ. This Body has many parts with many differing gifts, backgrounds, experiences, growth histories, and insights. As a Christian who is a faithful part of a local body of believers, I NEVER have to make a decision or plot a course with a partial view of things. All around me are those in whom God has been developing and teaching wisdom. They love to help. There is good advice galore.

Do I ask for it? If I do, do I carefully consider it once it is given?

How about the advice of the Scriptures? What infinite, sufficient sources of wisdom from an inspired David or Solomon or Moses or Paul or Peter or John...or JESUS! Do I intentionally search the Scriptures when I am making plans or decisions?

How easily do you ask for advice and receive advice? This is a test of whether you and I are growing wise or remaining foolish.

"O God, give me ears to hear your voice through those you have surrounded me with, especially the body of Christ. Grant me a renewed love for your Word, where all I need for life and godliness is abundantly supplied. Make me a wiser man with ears wax-free to the advice of others."

Ministry to a Lost World

One of Jesus' most unusual healings gives us a compelling lesson in how to serve a lost world. In Mark 7:31-37 a deaf and speech impaired man is brought to Jesus for healing. This man was a Gentile. Jesus was still in the largely Gentile region of the Decapolis. Jesus takes the man aside and does several unusual things:

• Sticks His fingers in the man's ears
• Spits and touches the man's tongue
• Looks up to Heaven
• Gives a big sigh
• Speaks the specific words: "Be opened"

Why? Jesus was communicating in a way that this deaf and speech impaired man would understand.

• Fingers in the ear communicated, "I am about to heal your hearing."
• Spitting (on His fingers?) and touching the tongue communicated, "I will heal your speech."
• Looking up to Heaven, "God is the source of what is about to happen."
• Sighing, "God cares and I care."
• His Words, "My very words can heal."

Every physical healing performed by Jesus was a sign or a parable pointing to the ultimate spiritual purpose of His mission: To seek and to save the Lost. This healing was a tremendous lesson for the watching disciples and for us. It teaches us how to minister to a lost world. How? By COMMUNICATING and CONNECTING with them in a way that they will understand.

• We must communicate to the lost that JESUS ALONE SAVES (see Acts 4:12). Jesus looked up to Heaven to communicate that His Father was the sole source of this healing. We must always hold up the one and only Savior of the World by holding out the Word that points to Him. In the end we want the lost to look to Jesus and be saved (John 6:40).
• Our ministry to the lost must communicate that GOD CARES and SO DO WE. Jesus' sigh showed this. So did his touching this unclean, Gentile man. Often the question we must ask and answer if we want to be effective with the lost is, "Am I willing to become involved to whatever extent communicates God's love through my love?" Are we troubled by the lostness of the lost? Does the reality of a wasted life and the eternal torment of Hell evoke compassion for them? It did for Jesus (Matthew 9:36ff).
• Our ministry to the lost world must communicate the POWERFUL, SAVING WORD OF JESUS. How can they believe unless they hear...the Word? (Romans 10:14-17)? In the end it will NOT be our testimony or our great illustrations or our persuasive arguments and apologetics (though there is a place for each) that brings a person to conviction and faith. It will be the Word of God brought home to the heart in the power of the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus' words, "Be opened" caused a deaf man to hear and a speech impaired man to speak plainly, so His Words such as "Your sins are forgiven" do just that (Mark 2:5). And these words are carried to the lost through us.

May the Lord who loves the lost in your life use you to hold forth Jesus, to show His compassion through direct involvement, and to hold out His Word of invitation to eternal life. May Jesus use you and me to bring many to life.

Intercession: The Faith Jesus Hears

In Mark 7:24-30 we meet a woman who won the heart of Jesus. This is the Gentile woman in the region of Tyre who came to Jesus on behalf of her demon-tortured daughter, begging for her deliverance. She is a tremendous example to us of an INTERCESSOR, someone who comes to Christ on behalf of another. Jesus made much of her FAITH, saying in Matthew 15:28, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire."

What was it about her faith and her intercession that won a hearing and healing from the Lord Jesus?

• She was motivated by a CLEAR NEED. Her daughter was "severely oppressed by a demon" v.22. We can easily imagine how such continual torture endured by her daughter motivated her to do WHATEVER it took to obtain her freedom. Do you see the needs of those around you clearly? Every man or woman you see will spend eternity in Heaven or Hell. There is no other option. And the only way to Heaven and out of Hell is through saving faith in Jesus. All men are held captives of Satan (Ephesians 2:1-3) and can only be freed by Jesus. If we see their need clearly, we will pray for them and not give up until either they are saved or they are dead. How about believers? The purpose of every believer and therefore their need for prayer is to bring glory to God and to reflect His Son and to serve the interests of His Kingdom. That is true for EVERY believer you know. Are you intercedeing for them? Do you see their needs? Study Jesus' prayer for believers in John 17.
• Her faith was FOCUSED ON JESUS. She had heard that this Jesus was in the area, v.25. Jesus always responds to faith that trusts His ability and His character. She comes begging to Jesus. Jesus does not respond. She keeps on begging, and Jesus speaks, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs" v.27. This strange sounding response was to let the woman know of his priority mission: the Jews. But the woman is not deterred. She responds, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs" v.28. What is she saying? She believes that even the smallest part of Jesus' compassion and power ("crumbs") is enough to overpower the demon that tortures her daughter. What GREAT FAITH! What do YOU believe about Jesus as you pray for others? Do you believe that He is so powerful that even the crumbs of His power can save the worst sinner you know? Do you believe that even the crumbs of Jesus' power can set any believer free from habits or past trauma that keeps them from growing into Christ's likeness today? Jesus is won over by such faith.
• Jesus responds to PERSISTENT faith. This woman would not give up. She kept begging (i.e. interceding) through: the cultural barriers (Jews normally hated Gentiles and vice versa), the silence of Jesus, the request of the disciples that Jesus send her away (Mt.15:23), and the strange response of Jesus referring to her as a "dog" (i.e. household pet is the Greek word used here). She would not give up. This is what Jesus says should be true of us, as well (Luke 18:1). Who have you given up on? Who have you stopped interceding for? There is only one thing to do if we have given up in our intercession: START AGAIN!! Be reminded of their need, lost or saved, and start going to Jesus, the powerful to save and sanctify, once again.
• The woman's faith was both BOLD and HUMBLE. To dare to come to a Jewish Rabbi as a pagan woman was bold indeed! Pharisees would not be seen talking to a woman in public, especially a Gentile woman. To keep begging when all signs told her to go away was bold. But she was also humble. She agreed that she was a Gentile "dog." She came and "fell down at His feet" v.25 in humility. And she was heard. We are to come "boldly to the throne of grace" in asking for help and mercy because of WHO our High Priest is (Hebrews 4:16). The throne of grace, which was so foreign to us before Christ is NOW WHERE WE BELONG!! Yet we are also to come humbly, remembering that we belong in God's presence ONLY because of Jesus. He is sovereign Lord...He does as He pleases. We should NEVER get to the place where we think our prayers force God's hand. Rather, we should remember that "if we ask anything according to HIS WILL, He hears us" 1John 5:14.

And so...let us keep going to God through Christ on the behalf of others, lost and saved...with a clear vision of their need, with a faith that even the crumbs of Jesus' power can set the Satan-captive free, with persistence, and with a bold humility.

We will be heard!

Deliverance by Discomfort

An Old Testament gem shines forth in the book of Job, chapter 36, verse 15:

"He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity."

The young Elihu is delivering his pitch of wisdom to Job before God Himself winds up the entire dialog. This solid-gold verse tells us that God uses difficulties and miseries to deliver His own from their misery. That is, God, who is sovereign over all the circumstances of life, will bring affliction into the life of those in whom He is working so that they will CRY out to Him for deliverance. In this crying out for deliverance is the salvation of the crier.

But not everyone responds to God-sent affliction in that way. Listen to Elihu again: "The godless in heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when He binds them. They die in youth, and their life ends among the cult prostitutes." vv.13,14.

How do YOU respond to the difficulties that God sends?

Now, to be sure, the difficulties we experience may be a direct consequence of our sin. But even then, the misery that comes is controlled and shaped by God. What is important is that we see God's hand in it and God's mercy in our misery. HE alone knows what will touch us most deeply with the awareness of our weakness and sinfulness.

And what then? If we respond to misery by crying out to God for deliverance, Elihu tells us, "He also allured you out of distress into a broad place where there was no cramping, and what was set on your table was full of fatness." v.16.

Living in a "broad place" where there is no cramping of spirit and heart and devotion and godly choices, where there is spiritual and mental fatness - abundance. Where does it come from? Affliction, misery, adversity. But only as we respond to these things with a godward cry.

May we see HIS hand in the difficulties and may we cry with our whole miserable heart for His intervention. HE promises to come to our aid and take us into a broad place.

Who Needs the Local Church?

I am simply pasting below an excellent article by Jim Eliff on the enduring necessity of the local church. I pray that it challenges and blesses you.


Home Alone: Do We Still Need the Local Church?
Jim Elliff

The down-the-street local church is not the only show in town anymore. We are able to enjoy faith-building messages, listen to the latest Christian music, and explore the rich diversity and variety found in the most noted Christian gatherings, all with the click of the mouse or the touch of a button.
Many local church pastors now say, "The world is my parish," just as did the horseback-riding evangelist, John Wesley. But they mean this without ever going out of their own studio or auditorium! Some are communicating to millions.
It is not unusual for savvy web users to feed from many sources during a given week. Avid cable television viewers can watch the world's premium communicators any on almost any day! Some listen to Christian radio all day long. In fact, you can hear and see Christian leaders on your handheld media device while eating a hamburger in the local fast food restaurant.
For some time we have been losing the aura of significance once automatically assigned to the local church—the attention we had when nothing else much was going on.
We now have to face the truth—most media preachers are more engaging than those who speak in our own church, and we can watch them in our pajamas. Massive church meetings on television are so vivacious and musically stimulating that many simply lose their appetite for the "same ol' same ol'" of the regular assembly. And the church programs that once seemed so essential for spiritual vitality have become a bother to masses of declared believers, as illustrated by low levels of participation. Who really wants to be out one more night missing his favorite TV programming?
Do we really need the local church anymore?
This is not a meaningless question. Millions have written off church life as irrelevant. But some benefits are to be found in the local church that not even the best media experience can offer, such as . . .
Actual relationships rather than imaginary ones. Weak as some churches are, they are still made up of living people who come together. The media-engrossed Christian isolates himself from other believers while imagining relationships that are actually not there. This is not living life, but skipping life. I am often saddened by the isolated person who misses out on people. There is no true fellowship except among believers. Once you know it, you will not be satisfied without it.
Compassionate care rather than mere talk of concern. The media pastors talk about their love for their audience, but they will not be there when your child experiments with drugs, or your spouse dies, or your business goes down the drain. Those in the media audience will not sit at your bedside when you are dying. Radio preachers say they pray for you, but they really don't know you at all. Remember this: if you live alone, you die alone.
Real accountability rather than unchecked liberty. It may not seem immediately desirable, but accountability is a precious gift. In the local church, if you stray from God, someone is there to bring you back, or even to lovingly discipline you. If you are alone, you may stray deeper and deeper into sin even though you have periodic religious media fixes. Rather, you must subject yourself to the answerability that comes from engaging with real people. If you understand the deceitfulness of sin, you know you need that.
Authentic shared worship rather than vicarious viewing of worship. God promises benefits and blessings to corporate worship, even more so than for individual worship, though we should do both. Yet the isolated virtual Christian only imagines himself worshipping with others as he sits before the monitor. If the professing solo believer were to arrive in heaven one day, he would only then experience what he was made for when he became a believer. He will say, "How could I have missed it?"
Add to the above that the isolated media-only Christian disobeys God by not participating in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper or the corporate experience of Baptism, and that he refuses to use spiritual gifts and talents which God gave him expressly for edifying his local church, a distinct privilege and responsibility.
Do we still need the local church? Yes! But its members had better major on what makes it irreplaceable—becoming the loving, caring, worshipping, responsible fellowship it was meant to be. Your church, for instance, can be the most loving church in the world. Nothing can stop you except your own unwillingness. Love, especially in our media saturated day, is immensely attractive and satisfying.
Forget the flash and the showmanship. Don't even try to compete. Leave that to those media churches enamored with such surface concerns. They soon lose meaning to true believers anyway. Pare away all that is trifling—especially the traditions that have lost their meaning because they were only the last generation's attempts at being up-to-date. Do what is biblical even if it means changing everything. And then you will have meaning. You will be the local church that nobody can think little of anymore.

". . . not forsaking our own assembling together . . ." Hebrews 10:25

Copyright © 2008 Jim Elliff201 Main, Parkville, MO 64152 USA

The Heart of the Matter

In Mark 7:14-23 Jesus deals with the problem of those who believe that external things are the main thing in relation to God and personal holiness. In summary, He teaches them that it is not what comes INTO a person from outside that defiles them or makes them common in contrast to holy, but it is what comes from WITHIN them, out of the HEART, that defiles them. He then gives a frightening list of the kinds of things that have their source in the heart.

What are we to learn from this teaching? Here are a few:

• Our hearts are SIN-FACTORIES, and the production level is always high.
• We tend to think too highly of ourselves. We tend to think we are more godly, more committed, more mature than we are.
• Within our hearts is the potential for EVERY sin known to man. Within OUR hearts, not just the heart of the gang member or the terrorist or the crooked politician are the roots of such things as thievery, adultery, murder, deceit, slander, and endless foolishness.
• We can think that bad examples, bad environments, evil people, and tempting situations are the real source of our sin, but Jesus says it is our HEART. If our focus on change is addressed anywhere else but our hearts FIRST of all, we are barking up the wrong tree for transformation. Of course our environment and associations have an impact, a strong impact, but the point is WITHOUT any of these, WITHOUT a personal devil whose goal is to bring us down, there is enough evil in our hearts to drag us into hell WITHOUT the aid of any of these others.
• If we think our children are just naughty, stubborn, and immature and that this is why they are so difficult at times, we are not grasping the utter wickedness that is bound up in their hearts. Foolishness, devilish foolishness, is bound up in their hearts (Proverbs 22:15).

It is clear, efforts for real and lasting change must focus on the heart. But how is the heart to be changed?

• Realize that WE CANNOT change our hearts. We don't even know them! Jeremiah 17:9,10.
• But God CAN, WILL, and DELIGHTS to change our hearts through Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17
• We must cry out to God to show us our hearts and what is in them so that we do not overestimate our supposed holiness, Psalm 139:23-24
• The Holy Spirit brings about and sustains real heart change: Ezekiel 36:26,27. We must ask for His help specifically and often, Luke 11:13
• The MOTIVE for heart change must be the Lord Jesus Christ: knowing Him and drawing closer to Him, John 17:3
• The WORD OF GOD has a transforming effect on the heart, Psalm 19:7f
• Pray Psalm 51:1-12 often for heart change.
• Discipline in all of life is needed for heart change, Proverbs 4:23-27
• God uses GODLY FELLOWSHIP to change and keep our hearts, Hebrews 3:12-13.

May the Lord who knows and changes hearts give you a heart ravenous for His ways.