GOD WILL PROVIDE

Christ Jesus our Lord promised, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.” (Matt 7:7-8)

As soon as one blog message is published the process of preparation for the next begins. Long before the decision is made as to what the next message will be, the temporary title, “God Will Provide,” is typed at the top of the page. This temporary title is saved on a memory stick where it remains until it is replaced by the actual title of the next blog message.

When that title is typed and saved, it is done as a prayer of faith in the certain knowledge that by the time the next message is begun God will have provided the topic. That prayer of faith is followed by a lot of listening in order to discern what that topic might be. Reading, praying, journaling, driving through the country-side to some town to attend a meeting, watching the news or conversing with people provides lots of opportunities to listen. At some point, you don’t know when or how, there comes that certain “something” that stands out; a word that quickens the heart, a thought that puts a lump in the throat and maybe even a tear in the eyes, an inspiration that wakes you in the middle of the night. Each one is different but they provide an “Aha” moment in which you sense this may be the topic. The listening doesn’t stop when the typing begins. Word by word, sentence by sentence His word must be there.

Sometimes when that “something” grabs your attention and you feel, “this may be it,” nothing comes of it. It doesn’t blossom into further thought. But then, right on time, the anticipated unexpected happens. Because God never fails, you anticipate His action; yet when He acts it is more often than not in an unexpected way that totally surprises you. O what joy and adventure is yours as God greets you over every new horizon. Something you didn’t see coming bursts into brilliant colors of possibility before your very eyes. God’s self-authenticating topic begins to dominate your thoughts as it plays over and over again in you mind. Its facets are infinite and so brilliant you have the new challenge of selection, lest you write a book, rather than just a blog message.

When this particular message began to surface it was rejected at first because it seemed to be too obvious. For weeks now this temporary title has been used for just that, a temporary title. It was a prayer of faith that God would provide, it was not to become the actual subject of a message. God obviously saw that a bit differently, and made it His topic. What better message could there be for this time than God’s faithfulness to provide? Who of us needs to hear this word from God today? Would it not be every one of us?

God’s faithfulness to provide is much, much bigger than providing a topic for a weekly blog message. It will have a thousand different themes in each of your lives, but His wonderful method will be the same in each unique situation. Anticipate the unexpected from your loving Heavenly Father whatever your need may be. Approach each new unknown horizon in your life with the certainty that God will greet you there. Be certain of this: God will provide!

LEARN OF ME

“Tell me the stories of Jesus I love to hear; things I would ask Him to tell me if He were here: scenes by the wayside, tales of the sea, stories of Jesus, tell them to me.”

Jesus told many stories as He sought to convey His message in terms that could be understood. Unheard of concepts and ideas, so cosmic and profound we still find them impossible to fully grasp, Jesus brought down to the simplest of terms in word pictures we could comprehend.

Following a series of parables about the Kingdom of God, Mark adds this note: “With many stories like these, he presented his message to them, fitting the stories to their experience and maturity. He was never without a story when he spoke.” (Mark 4:33-34, The Message)

For instance, Jesus not only declared that the Kingdom of God had drawn near; He also told simple stories that gave insight into what that Kingdom was like. One such story compared the Kingdom to a crop that grows to maturity even though the farmer who sows the seeds has no further part to play, nor even understands what makes it grow. (Mark 4:6-29) Another compared the Kingdom to the smallest of seeds, the mustard seed, that when planted in the soil grows into a large plant with such large branches birds can perch in its shade. (Mark 4:30-32)

These are wonderful stories and accomplished what Jesus intended. People were attracted to them and could grasp, at least at that simple level, what Jesus wanted them to know. If His story got their attention and they wanted to know more there was something deeper for those who became His disciples. The last part of Mark 4:34 says, “When he was alone with his disciples, he went over everything, sorting out the tangles, untying the knots.” (The Message)

Some justify shallow preaching and teaching by citing that Jesus told simple stories, but that misrepresents Jesus. Jesus calls His disciples to a deeper knowledge of Him and His Kingdom than He reveals in His stories. He invites us to “learn of Me” (Matthew 11:29) and to get to know as much of Him as we are capable of knowing. “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.” (John 16:12)

Too many Christians stop at the stories and miss out on the spiritual nourishment that is freely available to them. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly.” (I Corinthians 3:1-3a) The writer of Hebrews wrote, “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” (Hebrews 5:11-14)

As we sit together here on “The Teaching Steps” the Holy Spirit will join us and will lay before us a rich banquet of “manna from heaven” as He teaches us the things of Jesus. Your contribution is important. As many of you have heard me say before, if you keep to yourself what the Spirit says to you, you rob the rest of us of a blessing. Your insights are from a perspective the rest of us cannot have unless you share it. Thus we learn from each other.

REMEMBERING IN CAPERNAUM

Jesus left Nazareth and went and lived in Capernaum, a small town situated on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. (Matthew 4:13) When He would return there the people of the town felt that He had come home. (Mark 2:1) Simon Peter lived there, as did James and John. Levi was a tax collector there. Interestingly, on one occasion Jesus paid taxes in Capernaum. (Matthew 17:24)

There are several stories in the Gospels about Jesus teaching in the synagogue and healing people there – Simon Peter’s mother-in-law was one of them. (Matthew 8:14-15) No one in Capernaum had ever heard anyone teach in their synagogue the way Jesus taught. He taught as one with authority and with urgency, not as the rabbis they were used to hearing teach there.

As Jesus’ adopted home, Capernaum became a hub of His travels and ministry. On one occasion, as they sailed away from Capernaum across the Sea of Galilee, Jesus and His disciples were caught in a sudden storm at sea. The disciples witnessed Jesus rebuking the wind and waves and saw them become calm. (Matthew 8:23-27) On another occasion they were in a boat headed toward Capernaum when the disciples witnessed Jesus walking on water. (John 6:16-21) And, after His Resurrection, when Jesus met His disciples for breakfast on the beach by the Sea of Galilee, it was no doubt right there at Capernaum. (John 21)

It was a beautiful day in February as our tour bus pulled into the parking area and we walked the few remaining yards into the little town of Capernaum on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. There are only the ruins of a former era, left behind by time, to see; but what a lovely setting for a town. The ruins of the synagogue where Jesus taught are there; as are the ruins of the home of Simon Peter.

As I stood in silence drinking in the scenes of this place Jesus called home, I felt the peace of His presence as I remembered the events of His life that had taken place here. In my mind’s eye I could see Him teaching in that ancient synagogue. I could hear the urgency and authority in His voice as He said things they had never heard from a rabbi before.
“I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”(John 6:48-51)

Many other things Jesus taught them as He preached, “Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” (Matthew 4:17) Then I remembered the shrill, tormented voice of “the man possessed by an evil spirit” crying out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” followed by Jesus’ stern demand, “Be quiet! Come out of him!” (Mark 1:23-26) I also remembered how Jesus healed a lot more people in Capernaum, His adopted home, than He did in Nazareth, His home town. In fact Nazareth resented it. (Luke 4:23)

Another scene I remembered was the wall-to-wall crowd in Jesus house as He filled their hungering hearts with the Good News of the manna from heaven; as He announced the arrival of the Kingdom of God in their midst and in their times. (Mark 2:1-5) As I listened I suddenly heard Jesus speak the sweetest words my sin sick soul has ever heard, “Son, Your sins are forgiven.” Those words spoken to a paralytic who had been lowered through the roof by his friends, set him free. Those awesome words from the mouth of the Son of God echo through time to every member of Adam’s race. One day I heard His words spoken to me. And on that day, standing in Capernaum, I remembered His words again and rejoiced that I too had been set free.

EMPOWERED TO TESTIFY

“When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about Me. And you also must testify…” (John 15:27-27a) “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses…” (Act 1:8) “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak…as the Spirit enabled them…declaring the wonders of God…!” 

 Jesus sends His Holy Spirit to empower us to testify. The Spirit points away from Himself, past us the recipients, and points to Jesus. On the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came that is exactly what happened. Some who witnessed the disciples testifying wanted to focus on their behavior, saying “they have had too much wine.” (Acts 2:13) Peter immediately stood up and put the focus back on Jesus. “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth…God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified both Lord and Christ (Messiah).” (Acts 2:14-36) And that is where the focus must always be, even on the day we celebrate known as the Day of Pentecost. 

Jesus, our Living Lord, calls each of us to Life in Him and ordains us and sends us to testify to Him in the world. It is Jesus who ordains and empowers us. All who follow Jesus and receive His Holy Spirit are thereby ordained to proclaim Jesus in the world. The Church of Jesus Christ ordains clergy for special functions of sacrament and word within the Church, but it is Christ Jesus who ordains us, including the clergy, to service and proclamation. This is what Martin Luther referred to as “the priesthood of all believers.” We are empowered and enabled by His promised Counselor whom He sends us from the Father, the Spirit of truth. (John 15:26)

In His Holy Spirit we are constantly thrilled by the potential of the "impossible." There is sheer joy within as we face the "impossible” for we know that “what is impossible with man is possible with God.” (Luke 18:27) We rejoice in the fact that “…nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37) The whole power and economy of Heaven is behind us when we are about the business of proclaiming Jesus Christ in the world. Pentecost is the day we celebrate this empowerment. However, the Power within us and the wonder of doing the impossible must never divert our attention from the task we are sent by Christ into the world to do. 

Individuals, as well as whole churches, can be sidetracked in our witness when we call attention to the wonder of miracles and not the Man, Jesus, who is the central Miracle that makes all things possible. The Holy Spirit is His Gift to His Church. In my opinion the Day of Pentecost was the day the Church, already in existence, was empowered to do its mission, not its birthday. The birthday of the Church is the day Jesus called His first disciples, Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, and said to them, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matt. 14:19) Later Jesus confirmed His commitment to His church when He said, “upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matt. 16:18)

On the day of Pentecost His Church, already in existence, was doing exactly what Jesus had told them to do. (That’ll preach.) They were gathered together in one place, no doubt on “The Teaching Steps” on the north side of the Temple Mount, praying and waiting for the Gift of the Father, the Holy Spirit they had heard Jesus speak about. (Acts 1:4-5) They believed Jesus when He promised that they would “receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them.”(Acts 1:8) Like them, when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, we too are empowered to fulfill our calling to testify to Jesus in the world.