I Still Believe in the Power Through the Church

I have to believe in the Church. It is a vessel that has been used by God to do incredible world transformation since it’s beginnings. The Church is also still around, even though it seems like it should have died a long time ago.

This week, I am continuing a sermon series, for the season of Advent called, “Prepare the Way.” As I was working on, reading the scripture, and definitely praying about this week’s message (God Finds Favor in Us – Luke 1:39-59), I kept having a nagging feeling tugging at me. I have not been able to focus on the message at all this week.

God seems to be up to something.

This Sunday is also the third Sunday in Advent – the Sunday of Joy.

When have you felt JOY when you have been with other believers of Christ? How long did that joy last after you departed your friends or family? What would make this joy return and stay rooted in you?

I still believe in the power of the Church. I still believe in the power God gives his people. I still believe God is at work in this world even though it seems as if more and more hatred, crime, indifference, gossip, you name it, seem to be running rampant.

I still believe in the power of God through the Church.

Whenever I come across Christians, I tend to find there are a few different responses about God’s power: 1) some people expect it, 2) some people think God still has power today, 3) some people think God’s shown power was at the time of the original apostles, 4) some people will think God does not have any power, that it all depends on the people.

Where do you fall in those categories?

I find whenever things are going really good, my faith seems to rely more on what I can do. Whenever things are not going well, I find that’s when I cry out to God for help. I wonder how many of you can relate to this?

What would happen, what would change, if we took the time to truly cry out to God, not just speak out minds, but really cry our heart out to him and sit still so we can listen to him? God is still in the business of making the impossible possible. There is nothing God cannot do.

I’m not calling for us to ask for whatever we want. Through prayer, we find our hearts, minds, and intentions are beginning to get aligned with God’s heart and mission for the world.

Do you ever feel like your prayers are not being answered? Like you’re just talking to the ceiling? Like you haven’t experienced God’s power in your life?

I encourage you to block out as much time as you can and be patient on God. He is already with us. Be patient to hear from him because, we may not understand or realize how much junk we have clogging our ears and hearts that muffles his voice.

As you sit and be still before the Lord, pay attention to how you begin to feel. Pay attention to what seems to be calming down. Pay attention to the still small voice that is constantly speaking to us, and we tune out much of the time because we get busy with “our lives.”

I still believe in the power of God through the Church, but I wonder how much of God’s presence and power we are missing and not living out because of all the junk we have clogging our spiritual lives.

Do you believe people can really be changed by the power fo God?

Do you believe our communities can be transformed by the power of God?

Do you believe our state and nation can be transformed by the power fo God?

Do you believe our world can and will be transformed by the power of God?

If not, why?

The longer I am walking with Christ, the more I realize I do not know. The more I realize how much I depend on my abilities, my talents, my power, my personality.

If we want to see the power of God move more, in our lives, in the world, we should expect what we do not expect to witness. We should also be unashamed to share the full message of Jesus Christ. His life is where the power is and lives are never the same after encountering Jesus Christ.

How would you react if there was someone who came in off the street and joined us in worship ion Sunday? What if this person smelled, was on drugs, just finished a night of “work”, did not have a nice home? What would we do? Could we love this person as we know God loves us?

God still does miraculous things in our world. Let’s open our hearts to pay attention. Then let’s also be the people of joy, a joy that the Holy Spirit uses to fill us so we can spread this joy out into the world.

Next, if we haven’t experienced the power of God lately, how many people are we not encouraging to do what God called them to do? How many do we put on hold because it doesn’t line up with our agenda? How many people need to be encouraged to live the life God has called them to live, even if it seems impossible?

I have seen people get crushed when another person says the dream is not right, or gives false information about not having enough to to the work. God will always provide what we need to accomplish his mission. If we haven’t experienced the power of the Holy Spirit lately, how much are we getting in the way of God working in and through other people?

Everything I have just written has been what’s convicting me lately.

I know the power of God is so strong that you will experience a miracle either in your life or to/through someone around you. This is God’s favor. Grace for us so we can show his love and power in the world.

This is the message of Christmas. God came to earth to demonstrate his love, power, and grace for the world. This power is still alive and is still making a difference.

Are we open to this power? Are we ready to experience and witness God do incredible things all around us?

I am. I pray you are too.

 

 

Live,Laugh and Love

Do you have your copy of the daily devotional on the Book of Acts?

Get your copy here. Paperback version. Kindle version.

The Book of Acts tells the historical events that shaped the early church through the powerful, dynamic movement of the Holy Spirit. This power is still available and working today all over the world. As we encounter the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we have the great opportunity to watch God do incredible work in and through us.This daily devotional walks us through the book of Acts so we can experience a personal revival and help us experience a powerful movement of the Holy Spirit in our own lives.

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Connecting Points

Click here to read Acts 17.

“All you need to do is to teach that person how to…” This sounds simple enough; but is it really that easy to get people to learn new things? Just teach them? When we teach, we are actually connecting the person to what they have seen, what they have experienced and give it meaning.

The same thing is true for sharing our faith. If we listen to the stories of those around us, we can hear something that we can help connect them to Jesus Christ. This is what Jesus did. He would look around and see everyday objects and use them to teach about the Kingdom of Heaven. Think about your life for a moment, what part or aspect has someone used to help you know Jesus Christ or help you deepen your faith in God through Jesus Christ?

When the Apostle Paul was traveling, his goal was to preach Christ. In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul writes, “I have become all things to all people, so I could save some by all possible means. All the things I do are for the sake of the gospel, so I can be a partner with it.” He was showing that when we go to people, we find what speaks to them and go with it. He understood where he was, and knew the people’s culture, so he spoke to them in the way they were most comfortable with and he gave the people the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

Many people turned away; but many accepted the message. I’m sure it bothered Paul when people criticized him for the message of Jesus Christ; but he stayed the course and kept preaching Christ and him crucified and raised. He may have used the language, symbols, culture of the people, but his message was always clear cut. When we speak with people, we should have this same kind of conviction.

Acts 17 gives us a time when Paul had a great opportunity to share his faith, and he gets ridiculed. He is placed in front of some of the smartest and brightest minds in Athens to be mocked. How would you feel if you were placed in that position? Paul never waivers; he searches around and sees all of the gods the people have made. It must have been hard to try to find something to relate to Jesus Christ; but there it was, a statue to the “Unknown god.”

That was his starting point. Paul used the people’s own poetry, about Zeus, and gave it new meaning to point the people to the real God. Again, some accepted, some left. But, he stood firm in the gospel message and people responded. Imagine what would have happened if Paul never spoke then? Imagine what happens when we don’t take time to really connect our lives with Christ to another person so they can experience Christ.

There are connecting points all around. Look at everything you can see and you might be amazed at how the Holy Spirit gives new meaning to worldly objects.

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Trouble Again?

Click here to read Acts 16:16-40.

“Paul and Silas in prison.” This is the heading for this passage in my Bible. With a heading like that, someone is bound to ask, “Wait, wasn’t Paul thrown in jail a couple chapters ago?” The answer would be yes!

In the book of Acts, there is a pattern: Paul goes to a town, Paul proclaims Jesus Christ, people get upset, Paul goes to jail/is stoned/thrown out of town. How would you like this kind of life with a pattern like this? The Christian life is supposed to be easy, right? After all, Matthew 11:28-30 says, “Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Put on my yoke, and learn from me. I’m gentle and humble. And you will find rest for yourselves. My yoke is easy to bear, and my burden is light.” But we miss the point if we think our life is going to be easy.

When we accept Jesus Christ and follow Him, we immediately are different from the world’s viewpoint. This means we get to be the people who bring the light of Jesus Christ with us, wherever we go, to shine light in peoples’ dark lives and to show sin the Holy Spirit is convicting people of.

Paul is on his way for prayer. He is on his way to spend time with Christ and allowing him to fill Paul’s spirit, mind, and heart for the task ahead. But he was interrupted. A fortune teller was there trying to tell everyone who Paul is, causing a disturbance. This happened day after day, after day. This had to be stopped. Paul commanded the spirit in her, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to leave her!” Her “owners” did not like what happened. They lost their income.

Instead of being able to continue on with their mission, Paul and Silas were grabbed and taken before the city officials. Paul and Silas were being blamed for the disturbance within the city. We all have been through some kind of situation like this in our lives. The truth is it is so much easier to blame lack of business, or even turmoil, on another person rather than looking at the true source. (Look at Romans 2:1-11)

Even though it may seem as though you are cut off from the world, because of a situation, the joy of Christ can be so firmly and deeply rooted in your life that it can never be taken.

May the joy of Christ continue to shine in and through your life and become so contagious that the people around you are drawn to the Spirit of Christ dwelling in you.

Philippians 4:4-7

Be glad in the Lord always! Again I say, be glad! Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people. The Lord is near. Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.

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United in Grace

Click here to read Acts 15:1-35.

Unless you…

Believe, belong, accept, perform, think, dress like, etc.

We have all been part of this kind of thinking at some point in our lives. Maybe we have said this to another person to make sure they were the “right material” for the group, the club, the organization. Maybe we have heard these stipulations given to us. What is the first thing that comes to mind when stipulations are placed on others for the sake of making them conform?

Part of the reason we create these “rules” is because we are more comfortable being around people just like us. We would rather have everyone in the group agree with us. No one likes to be called out for being “wrong.” (I know I don’t.) But can we be missing something when we try to force people to conform to a certain way of thinking, to be a certain kind of person?

The early Church had this same kind of issue. There were people who were nervous, including some of the apostles, for Gentiles (non-Jewish people) to become followers of Jesus Christ. After all, the people of the Jewish faith had to go through rigorous training, knowledge, liturgies as part of their faith. Jesus was raised as a Jewish person. So why not make everyone follow the Jewish law and then give them the opportunity to follow and believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior?

Why not? Because grace has something more amazing in store for the world. I want to add, this does not mean, or say, that creating liturgies, ways of learning, or any training to deepen our faith is bad or wrong. It just means that we do not have to go through all of that BEFORE experiencing God’s grace. Throughout scripture, we see the image of God reaching out to the world. God reaching out to the poor, the outcasts, the sick, the dead, the rich, everyone. He makes no qualms about the way people grew up and lived their lives. He met them exactly where they were.

Here’s the kicker to all of this. Just because God meets people where they were/are in life, it doesn’t mean he desires them to keep living that way. It is through His grace, His unmerited favor, that He gives us a new life, a new purpose, a new heart, a new mind. He knows what He created us to be. As for the laws the Jewish people lived by, He did not abolish them; but God did work in the hearts of the Christian leaders, the apostles, to say no one should have any barriers to coming to faith in God through Jesus Christ.

When Jesus died on the cross, the temple curtains were torn in two, the direct path to God was now available to ALL people, not just the High Priests or the Temple Priests. This is great news! You and I get to enter into eternal life, living in the presence of God, here and now. The only barriers to not living into this grace are those we place on ourselves.

No, you and I are not good enough, nor can we do enough to earn God’s grace. That is why His grace is a FREE gift to ALL people. The apostles and early church leaders learned this, and they became united with God in the sharing of His grace in a new way. We are given opportunities to experience and share His love and grace each and everyday.

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Strength to Stand

Click here to read Acts 14:8-20.

The passage today has many things going on. First of all, we see Paul and Barnabas come upon a man who was crippled in his legs and couldn’t walk. Paul heals the man who is able to walk. The people in the crowd see the miracle and call Paul and Barnabas gods. Paul then is stoned by the people. All in a day’s work, right?

For Paul this basically was normal, it seems. Every time he went to a new place, the people would either love him, making him as high as a god, or despising him, forcing him to leave, either on his own or by stoning/lashing him. Sounds like a cool job, doesn’t it?

But pay attention to what is happening here in this passage. Paul and Barnabas come upon a man who couldn’t walk. Now we, in our cities and day to day life, see people all the time who seemingly cannot take care of themselves. Most of the time, people just walk on past. After all, “God helps those who help themselves,” right? Nope. God uses people to help those who cannot help themselves. Paul goes beyond any prejudice for a begging man, and (with the power of the Holy Spirit) heals him. The man is now able to walk and life his life all because someone stopped and gave him what he needed: physical healing which could have lead to his spiritual healing.

The crowd seeing all of this happen, think that Paul and Barnabas have special powers and begin to elevate them into the position of their gods. Paul began to teach the people where the real power comes from and how the man was able to be healed and who the real God is.

After hearing about the one true God, people in the crowd became angry. Makes sense. You don’t like people flat out telling you you’re wrong. Pride becomes and issue here. People in the crowd did not want anyone to “mess with” their beliefs, so they stoned Paul.

Think about how this passage can relate to you today, this week. The man who was crippled needed someone to help him. We all need help at times, and are grateful when someone pays attention and helps. But this is not just about us needing help.

Paul was the person God used to heal the man. You and I get to be people God used to bring his healing power, grace, and presence wherever we are. By the grace of God, we get to be the answer to another person’s prayers, if we’re paying attention to the voice and prompting of the Holy Spirit within us.

There will be things you and I do that people will love and want to tell us how good we are at what we do. Look how Paul did not allow the crowd’s praise to inflate his ego. He turned it back on the crowd, with humility, and told them about the real God of the universe. But, the people were threatened by an outsider coming in to tell them their whole lives were wrong.

Stand strong when someone helps. Accept the help. God may have brought them to you because of your prayers.

Stand strong with the mission that God has given you. Be an encourager, lift people up, bring the message of God’s love and presence wherever you are.

Stand strong in who God says you are. The praise of people will only make us conceited; but when our faith is in God through Jesus Christ, we can keep the right perspective of who and whose we are.

Even when it hurts or you’re being criticized for following Christ, stand strong that he is using you in mighty ways and trust he will continue to lead and guide you each and everyday.

Stand strong.

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People Can Change

Read Acts 9:21:31 here.

We all, I’m sure, have known people who say they are going to change. And then they relapse into whatever they needed to stop. It breaks our heart and we lose trust. We begin to learn that the person “cannot” change. The reality is people change when the desire for Christ and the real recognition change must occur is stronger then the emotional high received from telling others they will change.

Unfortunately most people have to hit rock bottom before change will begin. What is rock bottom? This is the place and realization they have no where else to go. Most of the time, my guess is, people really do want to change. It’s the asking for help that leaves people in a state of embarrassment for some reason. However, when a person hits rock bottom, they know help must come.

When the Apostle Paul was on a mission to imprison the people following Jesus he was so obsessed and addicted to capturing them and interrupting their fellowship. Can you imagine the high he must have been on? The thrill of breaking a meeting, of sending people to prison just for following Christ. This seemed to drive him.

Paul (Saul is his Jewish name so that’s what he’s called in this part of Acts), knew the Torah better than most people. He knew the teachings and scriptures from what we call the Old Testament. He knew the line “love your neighbor as you love yourself.” I know he understood that people were made in the image of God. But he was on a mission to stop people from following or talking about Jesus.

He hit his rock bottom when he experienced a real encounter with the risen Christ on his way to find more people. It was then his heart was opened and the words of Jesus filled his being so he had a greater desire to change his ways and follow Jesus then pursuing his followers.

Did people believe that he had transformed? No. Not at first. All they pictured was this man who went on rampages across the country. All they remember of this man is the hatred they felt whenever he was present. But when we spoke about the risen Christ, they noticed something different. Saul had truly changed. Now they did not accept him fully at first, but they realized he was on their side from now on.

How about you? Do you believe that people can and do change? I know I have made big mistakes. If I were to be remembered by mistakes I have made then I would not have been able to follow God’s calling in my life. Thanks be to God people really do change.

What is more sad to me than when people, who deep down want to change, have difficulty asking for help is when people flat out refuse to want to change. There is so much more joy, peace, hope, love when we allow the risen Christ to shine and work in our live than we could have ever imagined. Our sins (things we do against God or other people with our actions/inaction, words/lack of speaking up, or even or thoughts) cause a real death. Paul wrote in Romans 6:23 “The wages of sin are death.” We cannot keep doing only what we want or giving into our pleasures/desires without some kind of death to occur (physical, mental, emotional, relational, spiritual). But the second part of that verse is even more powerful, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

People can really change. I have seen it happen. I am different because of Christ. Sin does cause death; but God gives us something greater, he gives us himself. He gives us the chance to live in his presence (eternal life) here and now AND in the life to come.

Think of people you know whose lives are derailing. Pray that God might open their hearts and minds to see a better way of life. Find some books on the subject and talk with professionals who can help.

People do change. It’s having the desire to change and leaning into the grace of God that begins a change with our hearts. Trust that God is still working. Even though the road to recovery is challenging, it is worth it and great good can from it. Need an example? Just look at the life of Saul who became the Apostle Paul who wrote most of what we have in our New Testament. Changed lives change lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Thanks be to God.

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Keep Moving Forward

Click here to read the passage for today: Acts 8:1-4.

The cards seem to be stacked against you. It seems like everyone is against you or making your life more difficult. We have all had those days, or even those weeks, where it seems nothing we do will improve the situation. A co-worker could have betrayed you, a spouse could have been unfaithful, people we trusted could have been found out to be frauds. Whatever the situation, or your personal experience, God is still present and active.

Right after the stoning of Stephen, the church scattered. They were nervous and scared because of the threats and harassment they were subjected to. Now, this was not harassment by governmental leaders like the Romans. This was done by the people they used to call family, by those in the same faith they grew up in.

But since the followers of Jesus said he was the Messiah and began to follow his teachings and worship him. This infuriated the religious leaders because they were losing the control over the people because of Jesus.

Isn’t it interesting how people react when the power and control they had is beginning to dissolve. They will panic. They will act in ways of anger. Remember anger is a secondary emotion, meaning something else is triggering the anger. Whenever someone loses the control they enjoyed for so long, they begin to feel scared and insecure because now what are they going to do? From this place of fear and insecurity, people lash out in anger.

Jesus came and showed people a new way of life. Well, actually, the original way of life God designed people to live. When the people heard this truth and experienced the life of Christ, they were different and had a new source of joy and peace. But in the situations of being persecuted (threatened, harassed, tortured) fear begins to creep in. So the people scattered and got away from the place so they could try to live in peace and safety.

Was God in this? Absolutely! Remember what Jesus said in Acts 1:8 “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all of Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the earth.” Because of the harassment and persecution they were facing, they spread out. When they spread out, they began to tell the people around them about Jesus Christ. God’s Word was continuing to spread and expand!

Here in America, we Christians do not face persecution like what is seen and experienced in other countries around the world. I invite you to take some time and pray for Christians around the world. Pray for the message of Christ to be known and shown. A good resource to help remember to pray, and pray for a country or area each day is Operation World. Click here to begin to learn about other countries and to pray for the world.

No matter what is going on in the world, the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ continues to move forward. So should we.

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