Power

"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power."

1 Corinthians 2:4-5

Since sometime early Sunday morning, we have been without power. No power at home. No power at the church building. We have been blessed that we still have heat and hot water at our apartment. The lack of power has been an inconvenience but not life threatening or even discomforting. We have candles to see and read. We have warm blankets to slide under. We have hot water to shower. Even though, I have realized that my life looks different without power. I do not behave in the same way. I do not do the same things. My routine and my life change when without power.

My lack of electrical power cannot be helped. There is nothing I can do to restore power. I am not a line man working to restore power, but I am thankful and blessed for all their hard work to do so. That power is beyond my control, but too often I let my life remain powerless. I know the source of power, the living God. I know what I must do in order to be empowered by him yet I find myself not doing what is needed. My days slip away without taking the time necessary to connect to God. I don't stop to pray. When I do, I pray quick empty prayers, not prayers of boldness and passion. I need to remain connected to the Power of the Living God. I must be steadfast in prayer, praying bold God sized prayers expectant so witness his power! As I do so, my life changes. It changes for the better.

Does your life have power?

Please

On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.

1 Thessalonians 2:4

Who do you seek to please? 

I tend toward being a people pleaser.  I want people to like me, to enjoy my company.  What better way to achieve that than to make sure they are happy.  But there are times when happiness is not what is needed.  An honest word of truth is not always pleasant but often needed. 

Paul says that we speak as ones approved by God entrusted with the gospel.  We speak the gospel.  But the gospel is not always pleasant to hear.  It is God's great message of love, grace, and forgiveness.  It is available for all people, but it requires that we admit some painful things.  We must admit that we are sinful.  We are broken.  We are hurting.  We must admit that we cannot fix ourselves.  All of our best efforts lead us nowhere.  We must admit that we need someone else to save us.  We need a Savior.  We must confront our pride, our sin, our weakness.  We must allow Jesus to be our forgiver, our leader, our Savior.  Sometimes we don't want to admit those things or hear those words.  But they are needed. 

If we seek to please men, we keep those words to ourselves. 

If we seek to please God, we share them not to condemn but to love. 

Who do you seek to please?

Free

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 8:32

Yesterday was Resurrection Sunday or more commonly known as Easter Sunday!  What a great and glorious day!  The sun was shining!  The weather was warm in New England.  Best of all, the tomb was still empty as it has been ever since that first Easter morning some 2,000 years ago.  Jesus is not in the grave!  As the angel proclaimed, he is alive! He has risen just as he said!

In light of Resurrection Sunday, I am reminded that I am free!  The chains that once held me, the bonds that once kept me in have been broken.  Not by my power, but by Christ.  He has defeated sin, death, and the evil one.  His death on the cross paid the price for my sin.  His resurrection broke the power of sin.  It holds no sway.  I am free.  I have been bought with a price.  I am free. 

Some days I forget that I am a free man.  I begin to believe the lies of satan that I am still chained, still bound.  I begin to lift my chains again, but Jesus shines his truth into my life that I may know that I am free.  My chains have been broken.  I have been transformed by his power and I am being transformed!  I am free. 

Are you free?

Delight

"The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

Zephaniah 3:17

The prophet Zephaniah is giving hope to beleaguered Jerusalem.  They have been punished for their idolatry.  Zephaniah offers a vision of hope that though they are punished now a day is coming when God will be with them.  He will take great delight in them.  He will quiet them with his love.  He will rejoice over them with singing. 

Have you ever stopped to realize that God delights in you? 

That the God who created everything loves you, he delights in you.  He rejoices over you with singing. 

You are the delight of God.  You are the apple of his eye.  You are his prized possession. 

No matter what others have said about you or what you have said about yourself remember this:

YOU are GOD's DELIGHT! 

Take a moment today to allow God to delight in you, to quiet you with his love, and to rejoice over you with singing.  Know that you are loved by the Most High God!

Assumption

"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags..."

Isaiah 46:6

Assumptions. 

We all have them.  Some we carry knowingly, some we carry unknowingly until we are confronted with them.

Over the course of the last week, I heard the same assumption over and over. 

ASSUMPTION: I must do good works to make myself right with God.

This assumption can be expressed and played out in many ways.  At it's core is the idea that we have to work to be good for God.  It's the idea that God will not love me unless I somehow become good.  It's the idea that I have to settle a score with God.  I must do enough good things to balance out the bad ones that I have done.  If I want to please God, then I have to work to make myself right with him. 

The Bible says that our righteous acts are like filthy rags.  Dirty, stinking, disgusting rags to God.  They do not please God.  They do not make us good enough for God.  They don't make us good.  There is nothing we can do to make ourselves right with God. 

ASSUMPTION: I must do good works to make myself right with God. 

REALITY: God's grace is the only thing that makes me right with him. 

The reality is that we can do nothing to make ourselves right.  Our good works don't make us right or good.  Only the grace of God expressed in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus makes us right with God. 

We don't do good works to make us right.  We do good works out of a deep appreciation and gratitude for what God has done.  We do GOOD in response to the GREAT thing he has done in forgiving us through the blood of his Son, Jesus Christ.

Why do you do good?  To earn God's favor or in response to his favor?

Flawed

"But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him."

Jeremiah 18:4

As a student in college, I had the opportunity to watch a potter work with clay.  He had his clay stained apron on, a board laid in front of him, and a wheel to turn the clay.  He began working the clay making it more malleable so that it would take the shape he intended.  But as he worked the clay revealed its flaws, it would not take the shape he originally had in mind.  Rather than discard the clay, he formed it back into a lump and began his work again.  He had seen its flaws and chose to reshape the clay into something else.  He worked it and worked it until it began to take the shape of a wide shallow bowl.  He formed it in spite of its flaws. 

Jeremiah compares Yahweh to a potter. Yahweh took the clay into his hands and began to shape it, but it was marred, flawed so he rather than discard it, he reformed it. 

We are like lumps of clay.  We have flaws that lie beneath the surface.  As God works to shape us and mold us into the image he has for us, our flaws are revealed.  But God does not choose to discard us and find someone else to shape.  He reforms us into the image he has for us.  He does not leave us.  He works more thoroughly in us to remold us into the likeness of his Son, our Savior, Jesus. 

I am a flawed man.  It seems like each day my flaws are exposed.  I can choose to despair at my flaws, to become defeated and dejected that I am weak.  Or I can recognize that the exposure of my flaws is an opportunity to allow the Master to remold and reform them according to his purpose.  Each day, I try to choose reformation!

When your see your flaws, do not despair that you are flawed, but rejoice that the Master Potter is working to form you and mold you into his image! 

Are you allowing Yahweh to mold you into his image, flaws and all?

Invest

"Great leaders are built more often than they are found! Invest in someone today!"

 -Craig Groeschel, Pastor of Lifechurch.tv

Not only is that true for leaders, but that is also true for disciples.  Very rarely does someone become a follower of Christ on their own.  Usually, a person's faith journey is travelled with others.  Someone comes along and helps fan the spark of belief into a roaring fire of passionte faith. 

At least, that is how it happened in my life. I was raised going to church every Sunday.  I had a spark of belief.  I heard about Jesus often and I believed, but it was the influence of some wonderful people that fanned my spark into a passionate fire.  My mom nutured my faith and demonstrated her quiet faith.  My dad revealed God's power to transform lives. Tom inspired me to speak out about Christ to my friends and neighbors. Randy lived with a joy and passion that was infectious.  Each of these people took time to care for me, teach me, and inspire me to follow Jesus with my all.  I would not be man I am today.  I would not be the Pastor I am today without the investment of these people.  Thank you to each one.  

Who invested in your life so that your spark become a passionate fire?  

Whose life will you invest in so that their spark will become a passionate fire?  

Who are you investing in?

Legacy

Recently, I have been reading the stories of the kings of Israel and Judah in 1 and 2 Chronicles.  Each story recounts portions of the life and deeds of these kings.  Some did very good things.  Some did very bad things.  And each king's life is summed up with a phrase.  They are spoken of as either walking in the ways of their father David pleasing God or they walked in the ways of the kings of Israel not pleasing God. 

In 2 Chornicles 21, the story of Jehoram king of Judah is told.  Jehoram is described as walking in the ways of the kings of Israel.  He put his brothers to death by the sword.  His enemies revolted against him.  He was stricken by an incurable bowel disease.  He led the people into worship of false gods and idols. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. It says that at his death "his people made no fire in his honor, as they had for his fathers." He made the lives of the people around him worse.

His life is summed up in these phrases in 2 Chronicles 21:20:
"Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years.  He passed away to no one's regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings."

He was so disliked that he passed away to no one's regret.  Everyone was pleased to see him go.  No one mourned at his passing.  Jehoram died and no one mourned.

That phrase struck me, to no one's regret. His legacy was a combined "good riddance".

Our legacy is the impact we have on this world.  The marks we leave behind on the lives of the people we encounter.  Are the lives we impact better for knowing us? 

What is your legacy? When people think about you, do they see the positive impact you have on their life? 

Do you walk in a way to honor God and love people? 

Are do people think of you like Jehoram, good riddance?

What is your legacy?

Want

What is your biggest want? If God asked you what he could give you, what would you ask to receive?

My intial reaction is to ask for my debts to be paid off, for a new car, a house, a healthy family.

But recently, I began the Bible in 90 days reading plan.  I am on day 31 of 90.  The last couple weeks I have read the Old Testament historical books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Today, I read from 1 Chronicles 24 to 2 Chronicles 7.  This passage chronicles the end of David's reign and the beginning of Solomon's reign.  Solomon takes over for his father and begins his reign.  Yahweh comes to him at night and says, "ask for whatever you want me to give you." 

If God asked you that question, how would you respond?

The questions seems to imply that whatever Solomon asks for he will receive.  He is just starting his reign.  There are many things he could ask to receive.  He could ask for wealth, power, prestige, women, long life, healthy children, or military success.  Yet, he does not ask for any of these. 

Solomon says, "give me wisdom and knowledge that I may lead this people."

What a powerful request.  He seeks wisdom to lead well rather than material possessions, power, or prestige. 

God, let me lead well! 

That is my prayer and my request. 

Give me wisdom and knowledge that I may lead this people well!

If God asked you that question, how would you respond?

The Path

Back in 2004, the country group Rascal Flatts released their album Feels Like Today.  One of their big hits from that album was Bless the Broken Road. Around the time the song came out I found myself recovering or at least attempting to recover from a failed romance.  I had had a crush on a girl for a couple years and my last effort to woo her had been rebuffed.  This song spoke to me.  I could resonate with the "broken road" imagery.  Every attempt at romance that I had pursued had only ended in my pain.  The road felt extremely broken. There seemed to be pitfalls and potholes all around.  Every time I tried to zig the road zagged a different direction.  Looking back on those days, it all seems fairly juvenile to me.  It felt extremely painful at the time, but those scars, those hurts shaped me.  The brokeness of the road had a direction just not one I could see at the time.  Now, I look back and I know that my starts and failures were for the best. I eventually found my wife, a woman who is all that I could ask for and more.  My road brought me to her and now we journey this path together. 

The Path or the road is a frequent idea in the Bible.  We are called to walk in the good way to ask for the ancient paths in Jeremiah.  Jesus tells us that narrow is the way that leads to life. Isaiah says that the path of the rigtheous is level. Hebrews tells us that those God loves he disciplines.  His discipline trains us for the journey.  I look back on my path of the broken road and see that God was making a level path for me.  The brokeness of my journey strengthened me.  It molded me and shaped me.  The path we walk shapes us.  The ancients understood life as a maze.  Each step in the maze was a step of faith with only enough light to see the step ahead.  These steps took faith to trust the one who made the maze.  That the Creator had a destination in mind.  A destination of good and not ill.  At times, my path has been painful and I anticipate those broken places will come again, but I trust that the one who knows my path is leading me towards good and not ill.  Each step brings me closer to my destination, the home he has prepared for me.  I will keep walking my broken road trusting that my paths will be made level and straight. 

"Trust in Yahweh with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight."

Proverbs 3:5-6

Vision

I am intrigued by passage of scripture found in Mark 8:22-26.  In this passage, Jesus comes to the town of Bethsaida.  When he gets there, some people bring him a blind man.  They beg Jesus to touch him.  Jesus takes the man by the hand and leads him outside the village where he spits on his eyes and puts his hands on the man.  Then, Jesus asks a penetrating question, "Do you see anything?" The man looks up and says, "I see people, they look like trees walking around."  Jesus put his hands on the eyes one more time and it says that his eyes were opened, his sight restored, and he saw everything clearly. 

I find this story very intriguing.  Maybe part of the reason is my own vision problems.  If I don't wear my glasses or contacts things far away become very blurry. People could appear to be trees. Yet, the bigger issue for me is not my physical sight. I think what draws me to this passage has to do with spiritual vision. When it comes to spiritual vision, my sight can become blurry.  If Jesus were to ask me, do you see anything? Would I be able to respond with more than blurryness?

Vision is important in the life of the disciple of Christ.  God wants us to see clearly.  He wants us to see clearly who we are? Do you see yourself clearly? God speaks very clearly in scripture about his vision for us. He says that we are chosen, blessed, powerful, clothed with Christ, saints, workmen, servants, and more than conquerors.  There are days that I don't see myself that way. I see a sinner, weak, small, doubtful, and less than deserving.  But that is not who I am.  God wants me to see clearly who I am. A man called by him, chosen for the work before me, empowered by his Spirit to do his work.  There is no room for shrinking, only room for growing. Christ has called me to dream big, to love much, to press on, to keep my head high, to be his, and to lead under his direction. He has given me a fire in my bones to proclaim his word, to teach and equip his people for works of service. God has given to each of us a vision for how we fit in his kingdom. 

If Jesus asks you, do you see anything? How would you respond? Do you see people that look like trees or do you see clearly who he has called you to be and the mission he has laid before you?

Preparation

In sports, preparation wins games.  I think that was witnessed this past weekend.  The New York Jets defeated the New England Patriots, much to the chagrin of all of New England.  I think the Pats were the better team.  They had the better coach, the better offense, the better if not the best quarterback, but they still lost the game.  The Jets are not a pushover team or a surprise team.  They were in the AFC championship last year and played well during the regular season.  But the Patriots demolished them 45-3 in week 13 of the regular season.  The Patriots were better, but for last Sunday's game the Jets had proper preparation.  Rex Ryan designed the right defensive game plan to defeat the Patriots.  His team prepared for that plan then they carried it out.  Their preparation won them the game.  Without that scheme and plan, I don't think the Jets would have won.  Preparation wins games.  I think that idea is true not just for sports.  Preparation is important for our spiritual lives.  E. M. Bounds wrote "preaching is not the performance of an hour.  It is the outflow of a life.  It takes twenty years to make a sermon, because it takes twenty years to make the man." And, "the real sermon is made in the closet. The man-God's man-is made in the closet." Bounds is essentially saying that preparation is necessary for our spiritual lives.  Writing about preachers, Bounds calls them to be men of prayer.  Prayer is the place of preparation.  Bounds writes that "much time alone with God is the secret of knowing him and of influence with him." If we are to be real people who live on mission for Christ, we must spend time in preparation.  Time in prayer knowing God, pleading with God, cherishing God. Too often I seek to do mission without proper preparation. 

How much time do you spend preparing?

May we be people of preparation as we seek to live on mission!

New Year, Same Mission

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45

Each gospel reveals to us a different side of Jesus. They all convey many of the same events but with different emphases. Matthew quotes the most Old Testament scriptures to show us that Jesus is Messiah! He is the king of the Jews. Luke is an educated doctor who writes up an orderly account to show that what took place actually took place. He highlights Jesus interactions with those outside the Jewish faith, the Gentiles. He shows that Jesus brings salvation to the entire world. John focuses on Jesus relationship to the Father. He witnessed the events that took place and recorded signs that we may believe in Jesus. He stresses that Jesus is God in the flesh. Mark wrote an action packed gospel. Jesus is always on the move in the gospel of Mark. Mark directs us to see Jesus as the suffering servant sent by God. He came to be a crucified Savior.

As we enter 2011, we are a church on mission. God has established Londonderry Christian Church to be a people who serve others and share the good news. We are real people who love the real God in real relationships. In order to remain focused on the mission God has given us, we are going to be looking at the life of Jesus revealed in the gospel of Mark. We will follow Jesus, the Man on a Mission, as he seeks to live out the life of the suffering servant. My hope is that as we follow Jesus we will catch a fire for his mission to serve! He was a Man on a Mission may we be a People on a Mission!