May 3, 2011 … Loving Truth Brings Hatred

Passage of the Day: John 15: 20 – 21 … 20 Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' [repeated from John 13: 16] If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed My teaching, they will obey yours also. … 21 They will treat you this way because of My name, for they do not know the One who sent Me.

My Journal for Today: Jesus, in today’s passage, pretty well lays out for His disciples what can be expected when they (we) follow Him, which, of course is mandated of His followers (see Luke 9: 23). Follow Jesus and you can expect apathy and/or superstition (see Paul's witness in Acts 17: 22 - 23), moral deviation (see Romans 1: 18 – 22), or out-right persecution (as from today’s verse in John 15: 20). I’ve heard it said before … that if, as a Christian, you are not experiencing one or more of these issues in the world, you are like a fish, floating or swimming down stream with the cultural waters of the times, rather than one who is fighting upstream to get to the headwaters (which, of course, in this context is Christlikeness).

John MacArthur, in his devotional for today from Strength for Today, reminds his readers of what Paul taught in Phil. 3: 10 … that we, as Christ’s disciples, are living in the “… fellowship of His suffering.” So, if we are experiencing some, or all, of what Jesus was warning His disciples about in today’s passage, we can be assured, using my word picture above, that we have jumped into the raging stream and are swimming upstream as hard as we can.

And that, of course, means living for Christ and/or witnessing our faith in a hostile world; and repeating for emphasis, this could mean apathy at best and painful persecution at worst. But just think about the promises and power from God as you are Christ’s disciple and a witness, in faith, to His truth …

SCRIPTURE: Acts 1: 8 … [Jesus] “… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

SCRIPTURE: Rom. 8: 31 … If God is for us, who can be against us.

SCRIPTURE: Rom. 1: 16 … I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes …

So, we have a decision to make … are we going to be dying or dead fish, floating downstream; or will be alive in Christ, battling upstream against the worldly currents and doing all we can, with God’s promised power, to swim to the headwaters of transformation in Christ, honoring and glorifying our Lord in the process?

Our choice, isn’t it?

My Prayer Today: I stand for you, Lord! Help me to swim upstream. Amen

2010 – December 12 – Sharing Our "God Story"

Study from God’s Word… Acts, Chapters 24 - 26 … Passage for Reflection: Acts 26: 28 … NIV Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?”

My Journal for Today: The scenario I studied from Acts 24-26 today, has Paul imprisoned in Caesarea by the Sea for more than two years; and he’s given the opportunity to witness his testimony and the Gospel message to several of his captors of Roman authority. Today’s verse is documented by Dr. Luke from Paul’s witness to the Roman appointed King, Herod Agrippa II, who had come down to Caesarea from Jerusalem for Paul’s hearing.

And the lesson here is how much of our attention, time, and testimony should be taken by evangelistic witness to non-believers (i.e., the lost) in our sphere of opportunity or influence. And Dr. Smith, from today’s devotional entry, remembers the exhortation of Jesus, Himself, to His disciples, whom He was sending out to share the Gospel in the countryside surrounding Capernaum, where Jesus was residing and teaching at the time. In Matthew 10: 14 we read Jesus’ words, ”If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.”

But here is Paul, in prison, and he has an audience with someone in civil authority, someone who is duty and time bound to listen to Paul’s witness; and Paul pulls out his best verbal guns to share Christ with the pagan king of Judea. And how he shares Christ with Agrippa is a great lesson for anyone who desires to share our faith with others. Paul simply gives the king his testimony, telling how Jesus entered and changed his life forever; and that is a lesson for any of us who desire to share Christ with others in our lives, especially those whom we love dearly and, in our perception, are lost.

We need to first have the opportunity and the invitation to share. As Jesus taught His missionary bent disciples, if someone is not willing – or able – listen to us share the Gospel, we need to move on, and use God’s providence of time, to develop or shape opportunities with others. But when the circumstances of life and our relationships with others give us the chance to share Christ with a lost one, as it was presented for Paul to share with Agrippa, we need to use our personal testimony of our Christ changed or transformed our life as the primary evangelistic approach. I have a story of how Christ changed my life when I was willing/able to receive Him into my life. You, as a Christian, have your story; and someone who’s lost needs to hear our story.

I used to think that I needed to trumpet a barrage of Scriptures at someone when I shared the Gospel with a lost person; but many people are “turned off” when they hear God’s word being spouted out at them, especially when they’ve given the listening license to someone to share their faith. But I’ve learned – by experience and example, like Paul’s story from today’s text – that it’s best to share my testimony in simple, brief, and clear word pictures, … my story of how Christ came into my life and changed me forever. Anyone with anti-Christian biases or negative stereotypes can argue with biblical references or pro-God arguments. However, NO ONE can argue with a testimony!

No one can argue the truth of me simply telling my story and my giving witness to the truth of how God changed me from an unbelieving agnostic to a believer in what Christ did for me on the cross. No one can argue with my story of how God broke my chains of sex addiction and gave me the power to resist those obsessive and destructive desires. And I also had to come to the realization that I’m not the one who will save the lost person with whom I’m sharing Christ. That’s God’s (i.e., the Holy Spirit’s) business. My charge is only to do all I can to have the opportunity to share my story with a lost soul; and then I simply leave it to God to take that person to the place where that dear lost soul can be humbled to receive the free gift of grace being offered by Christ.

So, we need to be convicted and directed by God’s Great Commission (which I hope you know from Matt. 28: 19-20) to devote our life opportunities to share the Gospel – from our own life experience – with those who will open the window of opportunity for Christ’s light to shine into their darkness by our testimony. And I hope and pray (below) that He will even give me such an opportunity today or into my future to do so. And here’s also me praying that God gives you that opportunity as well.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, as I do so often, I pray that You give me opportunities, maybe even today, for me, and anyone who reads here, to share our story of how You changed us forever. Amen

2010 – May 29 [SAT] – A Cord of THREE Strands

Study from God’s Word… Dr. Smith’s reading of Ecclesiastes in Chronological Order cover the topics of the emptiness of human wisdom, pleasure, achievement, human labor, the human condition, unshared lives [today’s passage], false worship, politics, wealth/materialism/prosperity, defiance, wickedness, injustice, and the emptiness of human strength … Passage for Reflection: Ecclesiastes 4: 11 – 12 … NIV 11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

My Journal for Today: Reading through the various passages selected by F. LaGard Smith today to emphasize Solomon’s realization of the meaningless of a life lived for self, one has to be struck with one repeated phrase which keeps being recited over and over again by Solomon as he exposes the elements of life which are lived without God and for self. The repeated sentence is, ”This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” So, as man plays the “Lone Ranger” game of Christian life by seeking meaning through all of the elements documented above, to which Solomon refers in Ecclesiastes, have you not discovered by now that chasing life for self is “chasing after the wind?” BUT, seeking God (primarily through His word) gives a person, or, even better, a married couple, that extra strand to strengthen us when we find ourselves chasing after the wind in meaninglessness.

Today’s highlight verse emphasizes one such aspect of life which provides power, strength, and direction so that we will not be “chasing after the wind.” And Dr. Smith uses the word picture of a wedding ceremony which uses the ceremonial picture of showing the joining of THREE strands together in a “marriage cord,” invoking God as the third strand, to give the marriage so much more strength than it would have if the cord of marriage only was woven by two cords.

You know, my wife and I were married in a church; but neither of us had Christ in our lives. Therefore, our church vows were meaningless in God’s eyes, much like what Solomon brought out in Ecclesiastes. We were joined in life by a marriage contract of two coming together in agreement rather than having the third cord of God in our marriage. So, for the first 18 years of our marriage we tried to make life work together with two cords intertwined. And it didn’t work, almost coming unraveled at one point as we dealt with the winds of distrust and my own personal selfishness. Then we let Christ into our marriage; and our two-corded strand became a three-corded strand; and a marriage which had been chasing, but bucking, the head winds of life, was given that THIRD STRAND of Christ to turn our marriage ship into the wind, and use God’s sail to move us through life, together again, but this time with a three-corded strand.

Oh, how I pray that you’re not trying to go through life alone with only one cord to deal with life. You and God together, if you’re single, can be so much stronger. But if you’re married, and you’ve seen the advantage of a two-corded strand, working together for and with each other, you’ll add so much more strength and purpose to your marriage if it is bound by the covenant relationship of that Third Cord of Christ. And it’s never too late for a husband and wife to go to God and ask Him to become the Holy third strand in the cord of a marriage. And if you’re two-cords become three, you’re going to discover what my wife and I have discovered in the truth of Eccles. 4: 11-12; and I pray that you have God’s extra cord to wrap around your life for strength.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, You, as the third cord in our marriage, give us the strength we need and the direction we seek to live our lives TOGETHER for You. Amen

2009 – Day 333.Nov 30 – Powerful “Preaching”

Passage for Study: Acts 17: 10 - 34 … Acts 17 linked for study …

My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll has selected the text from Acts 17 which describes Paul’s famous preaching stint to the Greek philosophers on the hill known as The Areopagus in Athens; and Swindoll’s devotional today was mainly directed toward preachers or pastors who have the responsibility of preaching the word of God to groups of people who may include skeptics such as atheists or agnostics. But don’t turn me off here if you don’t consider yourself to be a preacher/pastor; because the points made by Dr. Swindoll can and should apply to all of us because of the admonitions of Jesus Himself in the Great Commission (see Matt. 28: 19-20) and by the Apostle Paul in Acts 1: 8.

You see, my dear fellow Christian, we are all to be “preachers” of a sort, sharing our testimony of salvation in witness to our faith whenever or wherever the opportunity presents itself. That was also the admonition of old Peter, the Apostle, in 1st Peter 3: 15, to “ … always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness [i.e., compassion] and fear [i.e., respect].“ Therefore, since there will be a time when any Christian must witness his/her faith, we can all learn from what Chuck Swindoll is sharing for and/or to preachers today.

And in that sense, Swindoll first charges “preachers” (or those sharing their faith) to STAY ON THE SUBJECT – CHRIST. As you read in today’s passage, Paul, though he used an introduction that the Greeks could understand, was focused on doing one thing; and that was sharing Christ with his audience. And if you are given the divine appointment of sharing your testimony with someone, especially a skeptic, we should always remember that our testimony is about Christ, not about our selves.

Secondly, Swindoll exhorts us to ALWAYS SPEAK THE TRUTH WITHOUT FEAR; and I know that is a tall order for many Christians who don’t consider themselves preachers or evangelists. But we simply must remember what is at stake here; and that may be the eternal life of the one to whom you have been called to give your testimony or with whom you are given the opportunity to share the Gospel. Hence, Peter’s exhortation above to “always be ready to give a defense … for the hope that is in you;” … and that is eternal lift in/through Christ. And I also exhort you to learn and internalize the truth of 1st John 4: 4, … which states truth that ”… greater is HE that is in you (and that is Christ) than he that is in the world” (Satan or any other man/woman). You can stand without fear; because you stand with and for Christ. In that regard, also check out Romans 8: 31.

Now, thirdly in sharing our faith, we should remember to ALWAYS START WHERE YOUR AUDIENCE IS. In other words, the sharing of Christ or your testimony should take into consideration with whom you are sharing. Paul was speaking to a group of highly educated Greek philosophers; and he certainly wouldn’t share the Gospel with these men the same way he would to a group of Jewish peasants in a synagogue. And he didn’t. No, Paul catered his words to his audience; and that’s what we need to do when we share our testimony with some so-called intellectual “snob” as opposed to a lost buddy in the locker room after a game of pickup basketball. Remember with whom God has given you this 1st Peter 3: 15 opportunity; and share your story with respect to that person.

And finally, ALWAYS SURRENDER THE RESULTS TO GOD. And this may be the most important point in sharing your faith. It is not your responsibility to save the lost. It’s God’s! So, leave the outcomes to God. Our responsibility is only to share Christ; and then let Him do the rest. Therefore, when He presents us with an opportunity to share our testimony, don’t get hung up on trying to be the one to do the salvation gig. That’s God’s business. And also remember, that NO ONE can argue with a testimony. Oh, they may argue about the validity of the Bible or give all kinds of arguments about how Christ is not pertinent to their lives, but they cannot argue with the truth of what Christ has meant to you. So, your testimony, considering their feelings, is your best weapon in sharing Christ with anyone, no matter what their station in life may be.

And the closing words of Pastor Chuck today are good ones. ”When your moment comes (i.e., your divine appointment to share Christ), stand and deliver. God will give you the courage as you tell others of His Son. And there is no greater honor on earth.” [context added by yours truly – wrb]

My Prayer for Today: Lord, give me the opportunity to share You with others; and when the appointment arises, give me the boldness and the words to tell my story of the hope I have in You. Amen

2009 – Day 311.Nov 08 – Spirit-led Opportunities

Passage for Study: Study of Acts 13: 13 - 52 … Acts 13 linked for study …

My Journal for Today: As Paul and Barnabas got to Pisidia in Antioch on the Sabbath, Paul was given the opportunity to teach in the Synagogue, as was the Jewish custom in the region for traveling teachers. So, after the Word of God was read, Paul got up and gave those Jews an extemporaneous sermon from Genesis to Christ, revealing the truth of Christ’s coming and His death and resurrection, as well as the hope mankind has in Christ as Messiah.

And the word got out; because the next week on the Sabbath practically the whole town showed up, including Gentiles, to hear what Paul would preach. But that was too much for the Jews, who, jealous of the Gentiles being involved, stirred up discord; and ultimately ran Paul and Barney out of town. But the seeds of the Good News had been planted; and many were saved, including many Gentiles.

Paul took advantage of an opportunity when God’s Spirit presented it. He boldly jumped in, without fear, and shared the Gospel message. And that’s what we must be ready to do. You probably know the scripture which Swindoll quotes at the end of his message today, which is John 12: 32, with Jesus speaking, … “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” And right now, as I’m writing this, the exhortation of 1st Peter 3: 15 comes to my mind, which states, “… always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; … “

What today’s passage illustrates, and what Swindoll is teaching in his devotional, is the principle of providential opportunity. When God lays out the opportunities, we must grab them and use them for His glory. That’s also the lesson Jesus taught in His Sermon on the mount. In Matt. 5: 16 [I hope you know it], … Jesus said that we are to “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Our question becomes, are we being opportunistic and boldly sharing our story as well as the hope mankind has in Christ anytime God so presents divine appointments for us to do so. I’m afraid that all too often I have been guilty of letting fear of failure or my imagination of the opinions of others stand in my way of sharing my testimony or my Savior when God opened windows of opportunity. Too many times, I have backed off, even when God has obviously put someone in my path and given me the opening to share my story or the truth of Christ with them. May God forgive me for not grabbing hold and being bold when He would have been glorified by me shining His light with others? May I do better in the future?!

My Prayer for Today: Lord, give me opportunities to share You with others; and then embolden me with Your Spirit to shine Your light. Amen