Monthly Archives: December 2014

An opportunity to minister to others

Posted on December 29, 2014 by | Comments Off on An opportunity to minister to others

How-To-ListenAn opportunity to minister to the needs of others is one of the most basic areas of Christian service. I believe that the reason many Christians are afraid of this word are the connotations that the word brings. Within the English language, minister can be used as either a noun or a verb; most are familiar with the noun – and often think of minister as being a member of the pastor or other church clergy or maybe a member of a parliamentary governmental system. The verb, minister, actually has a different meaning: to contribute to happiness and comfort or to give service, care, or aid; attend, as to wants or necessities. For a Christian, this should be a natural desire within our hearts.

Last month I was preparing a Sunday School lesson that discussed the various people we meet in life. As I tell my class, each lesson not only do I learn something from the biblical research I do, but I also get a triple reinforcement of what the Lord has led me to discover – as I prepare the lesson, as I teach the lesson, and then as I prepare the video of the class for our church website. This particular lesson hasn’t been any different; however, it hasn’t let me rest either. My attitude towards other people is beginning to change as the Holy Spirit begins to apply what I’ve been taught.

Each time we learn something about our faith, about ourselves and our walk with the Lord Jesus, we then become accountable for that knowledge and its application in our life. Within the Bible, this principle is taught in several scriptures: Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin (James 4:17), and The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more (Luke 12:46-48). With all my heart, I truly believe when we’ve been taught a biblical principle and make the decision not to apply it to our lives, we are choosing disobedience and not to fully submit to the will of the Lord.

Each Christian looks for an opportunity to minister to others. As I mentioned before, it is a natural change that happens as a result of our new nature that the apostle Paul spent so much of his time teaching other Christians about. The easiest opportunity for us to minister to others is the one that is the most obvious yet rarely done. It is the opportunity to minister to the other people who we meet when we are simply doing the things we do each day. There are people that God brings into our lives on a daily basis that we are to minister to. Sometimes, it may come as a kind word, as a smile, or even the lifting of a need of someone else in prayer to our Lord. Other times it may be presenting the good news that Jesus can save them if they will put their trust in Him. It may be in helping the person who is a couple of dollars short in front of you in the checkout line. It may be a bag of groceries, a Bible, or even something more substantial that the Lord lays upon your heart as a need that someone else has a need of. In any case, the Lord always match an opportunity for us to minister with our abilities and the needs of the people He brings to us.

An opportunity to share the gospel

Within our society and in this time we live people need the Lord more than ever. Right now, according to statistics available through the Family Research Council, there are more people today that have never attended church or are not members of a local church than ever before in American society. They need to hear the good news that Jesus loves them; they need to hear the gospel message of His saving grace and that God does love them and has a plan for their life. This means that every person we meet is an opportunity to share the simple gospel message. Jesus taught his disciples this very thing: Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen (Matthew 28:19-20), And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15), and The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised (Luke 4:18). Every person we encounter each day becomes an opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

An opportunity to meet a need

Not everyone that crosses our path on a daily basis will be in need of hearing the gospel message. They may already be a Christian, but there are always opportunities to minister to the needs of others. Again, Jesus taught during His earthly ministry: Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me (Matthew 25:34-40). There are several applications that can be made from this verse with the most common and obvious being that when we minister to others we are serving the Lord. However, when we take the opportunity to meet the physical, psychological, spiritual, and emotional needs of others we are taking part in an important ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Since October, our church has collected food and toys for baskets to be delivered to families within our area. As a part of this, members of our congregation submitted names of families that they knew were in need. Some families just needed a helping hand with food while others needed food and had children in the home without the financial means to buy presents. Not only did God give our church family with an opportunity to minister to the physical needs of others, He provided blessings for those who were able to give, those who were able to take part in the delivery, and to those receiving the Christmas baskets. Yesterday there were a couple of people who shared with us the joy and blessings they received just from delivering the baskets – which gave our entire church the ability to rejoice in God’s goodness, love, and grace, but to praise His name! We may never see any of those who received the baskets in our church or join our congregation – and that was never our goal. Our goal was to just to take the opportunity to minister to others.

While it is easy to have the spiritual desire to meet the needs of others at Christmastime, this is a mindset (and a heart-set) we need to become more sensitive to all year. It’s easy to turn a blind eye to the very real needs of others even when those needs are clear to us. It is easy to adopt the secular world view that needs can be met through some government agency or service. As an American historian by vocation, I believe that this is one of the many reasons so many people are now hurting in our country is because the church – God’s people – have surrendered the idea of meeting the needs of others within the community to the politicians, bureaucrats, and other government leaders. Before the twentieth century, it wasn’t the government that provided housing, clothing, and food to the poor – it was the local church. It was the local church, through its people, that showed the love of the Lord Jesus Christ to those in need. It was through the people of the local church that the needs of both body and soul were met.

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Don’t lose Jesus while celebrating Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2014 by | Comments Off on Don’t lose Jesus while celebrating Christmas

cross-shadow-on-manger-743969Tonight is Christmas Eve – the night before the second most holy day of the Christian year.  All across the world, families and friends gather to celebrate and share in various Christmas traditions. It can be easy with all the great food, family visiting, and the games and pageantry to forget the real reason we gather together at this time of the year. The traditional Christmas movies, music, the tree and all its decorations and lights, and the great meal many of us will be enjoying over the next couple of days can easily distract us that we are celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Without Him, there would be no Christmas celebration, no Christmas day dinner, and no Christmas music. Without Christ, there would be no redeemer to bridge the ever-widening gap between God and man.

At the church that I attend, last night our pastor read the story of the Lord Jesus’ birth out of the gospels of Luke and Matthew. As he shared those scriptures that I’ve read many times, I cannot help but to marvel at the way that He first appeared to man as the hope of our eternal redemption. He chose to be born in the way we all are born. He chose to live among us and to experience all that we experience. He chose to enter life as a child so that He would understand the prayers of every child who has ever uttered the prayer, “Lord, my parents just do not understand me…” He chose to live through the teenage years, so He would understand the prayers of the teenager who cries “Lord, I don’t fit in, where do I belong…” and “my parents are being unreasonable…” He chose to live life as an adult and face all the problems faced by us so that He would understand our prayers of “Lord, I don’t know how I am going to pay for this…”, “I feel alone, Lord,” and “I just don’t understand why…” This is one of the reasons there had to be that very first Christmas.

You see, He came to live among us and fashioned like us so that we can take all our cares and worries to Him. I believe that this is the very reason why the apostle Peter wrote, Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you (1 Peter 5:7). No doubt that Peter had experienced what we all do – we share our pain or fears with a family member or a friend and they laugh or make light of what we tell them. Peter understood that Jesus would understand all our fears and concerns; He would not be dismissive of even the smallest of our worries. We have the ability to approach our Lord and Savior with anything without fear of Him not understanding because He has literally “been there too.” When I think of the other religions that mankind places their faith in, there is no other where God has come down to dwell among men. 

What_Child_Is_This_402A while back ago, I  was flipping through a hymnal at a used bookstore in Evansville. As I came to the Christmas hymn section of the book, I was interested in the songs selected to see if any of the older, more traditional hymns had been replaced with more modern songs. I was excited to see that my favorite Christmas hymn, What Child is This? had been included in that particular hymnal. As I read over the lyrics, I became horrified as I noticed that the second and third verses did not have their original and respective choruses, but that the song had been “arranged” by one of the editors of the hymnal. Particularly disturbing is that without the second chorus, the entire meaning of the song was changed – “nails, spear, shall pierce him through, the cross he bore for me, for you. Hail, hail, the Word made flesh, the Babe, the Son of Mary.” The song, as sung since the eleventh century, not only celebrates the birth of Jesus, but reminds all who sing and hear it that He came to bear our sins on the cross. Without the cross, there would be no reason for the birth of Jesus.

As you celebrate this Christmas with your family and loved ones, don’t forget the real reason we celebrate this season. From my family and me to yours, Merry Christmas.

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God has a plan for your life

Posted on December 22, 2014 by | Comments Off on God has a plan for your life

bible_and_candle_krx5God has a plan for your life. No one has ever been born by accident or without any sort of desire by the Lord. Before any of us were even born, the Bible teaches Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself (Isaiah 44:24). Within the teachings of the Old Testament there are a handful of verses that also adds to our understanding – as Christians – of how God has a plan for each of us even before we are born! Even before the birth of Jeremiah, the prophet, God already had a plan for his life: Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations (Jeremiah 1:5). Although God did have a plan for Jeremiah, it is important to understand that Jeremiah had to be surrendered to the Lord’s will before he could understand what God had planned for him.

God has a plan for all Christians

Just as God has a plan for every person ever conceived, God has a plan for every Christian who will completely surrender to His will. When I was a young-in-the-faith Christian, there was so much about my new-found faith that I simply didn’t understand. As I have shared many times, I was regularly attending a church that did have sound Bible preaching, but there was no discipleship for those, like me, who didn’t come from a Christian family. As the pastor would teach about great men of the faith such as Moses, Abraham, Billy Sunday, and even Billy Graham, I had no idea where I fit into God’s plan. All I knew was that I wanted to be used by God but I wasn’t sure if God even had a plan or purpose for my life. What I didn’t know was a simple lesson taught by Jesus himself during His earthly ministry: For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey (Matthew 25:14-15). What I didn’t understand was that I had not demonstrated to the Lord that I could be trusted with even two talents. I didn’t realize that I had not been faithful in doing the things that God had already called me to do.

God has a plan for all Christians that begins with us demonstrating we can be faithful in four simple things that all Christians are called to do. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been a Christian for two weeks or two decades, there’s no spiritual growth or other things that God will place in front of you to do if you’re not being faithful in these four basic areas of Christian service. These four areas have always been a part of His plan have been the same for those who lived in the days of the Old Testament and for everyone that has lived since the times of the New Testament. This shouldn’t surprise us because the scriptures teach us, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever (Hebrews 13:8) and He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting (Habakkuk 3:6). God’s plan has never changed and never will.

The four basics we all must do

After 2006, when I became serious about my relationship with the Lord, I began to pray daily and read my Bible with a new intensity that I had never had before. Not sure where to start in my Bible reading, I began in Proverbs, reading a chapter each morning before I began my daily routine. What I began to learn from my Bible study, the sermons of the pastor where I attended, and from the leading of the Holy Spirit is that praying and studying the Bible were two of the four things that God wants those who love Him to do. Over time, I learned that the other two things, bearing witness to others of Christ’s love and the willingness to worship God alone, when done with a servant’s heart, is where true obedience and spiritual growth begins in the life of a believer. We cannot expect the Lord to use us in any ministry or lay on our hearts a specific calling if we are not faithfully doing the very basic things of our faith. Do you want to be more than a pew-sitter within your church? Then you must be faithful in the things that God has already called you to do.

We are to be willing to read and study the Bible

David, the psalmist, wrote Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee (Psalms 119:11) and the apostle Paul left the instructions to Timothy, Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). Both men understood a simple truth that Paul understood well: For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). It is through our personal reading of the Bible that we truly begin to learn of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His will for our life. Regular Bible reading bears fruit and is never a waste of our time and effort. As inspired by the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul wrote, All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). When we truly study the Bible on a daily basis we are opening the door for the Lord, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, to truly make and mold us into the Christian that God has called us to be.

We are to be willing to have an active prayer life

When I first became a Christian, the extent of my prayer life was in giving thanks for the meals I ate each day. After the decision was made to become more serious in my walk with the Lord, my prayer life had to change as well. I asked the pastor of the church I was attending in Carbondale the best way to do this and he offered me perhaps the best advice I ever received on the topic of prayer: Don’t worry about them – just talk to the Lord as if He is in the room with you and don’t be afraid to pour out your heart and soul to Him. This is similar advice to what the apostle Paul wrote, And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear (1 Peter 1:17). God doesn’t compare the prayers of Christians to one another but he judges our prayers according to the contents of our heart. As I have studied the psalms there’s a consistency to David’s writings. He is completely open with the Lord in all of his psalms. He tells God how he is feeling, the fears he has, the sorrows and pain, and even the joys he has. I believe that too many of us treat the Lord as if he doesn’t already know the content of our heart and we pray what we think He wants to hear from us.

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