Do I live like Christ?

Do I live as if I had nothing to lose and everything to gain in Christ?

One area I particularly struggle in is why God doesn't always grow InterVarsity chapters or churches. Isn't that exactly what God called us to: to make disciples of all nations? Why would he wait? Why would he not bring thousands to him everyday? 

Why do missionaries die without ever reaching their mission field? Why do InterVarsity staff go months without funding to do God's work? 

I don't know: but we follow in the footsteps of Jesus who had all power, authority, wisdom and righteousness? He could have made all people bow to him, he could have convinced every single person to follow him. But instead Jesus humbled himself to serve and not demand or force anyone to follow. Jesus greatest act was foolishness to the world: he died for us on a cross.

And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:34-36 ESV)

Gods victory will come not with human might but with God's power.

But before then God gently and truthfully and humbly loves us inviting us to repent and believe in him.

But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” (Mark 14:61, 62 ESV)

All of Jesus apostles deserted him and one betrayed him. By every worldly measure he failed and yet his victory was to come through death and resurrection. And so to was the faith of the first Christians to come not through power but through failure. Peter denied Jesus 3 times and went home to go fishing when Jesus was captured. But God humbled Peter and he came to believe and serve humbly. I think Peter learned from the time he thought he should call destruction down on cities through his experience that God wants him to serve and love and invite all to repentance and not to demand it. And Peter went on to die for Christ. God continues to work not through forcing people or through power but rather sacrificial humble service in love inviting people to him.

And so I want to live as if I had nothing to lose and everything to gain in Christ. In the ministry I lead I want to not be on high demanding but low and serving and willing to die for Gods people and for sinners that they might be with him.

I trust that your plans are better than mine. And so I walk and live and do ministry as Jesus did. Holy Spirit guide me!

Amen

James 5 study from Calvary Bible Church Sermon

^{This Sunday my home church in Boulder Calvary Bible Church was finishing a series on the book of James. It was good to be back in that place where God is really worshipped, Christ, the gospel and bible are central.} 

^{James 5}

¹³ Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

¹⁷ Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. ¹⁸ Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

¹⁹ My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, ²⁰ remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Prayer is so central to our lives of faith and our community of faith as guided here in James where the response to many situations is to pray! In my life and I think in some churches especially in the West we have gotten away from this dependence on prayer. We are slow to pray and we often make it seem awkward. At church I often feel reluctant to ask the person next to me for prayer unless I know them well. But that is the opposite of the way it should be, we are connected in Christ and the Spirit and should be quick to pray for each other. 

I think this reluctance and culture of not praying may be connected to our extreme desire for independence in modern and American culture. Prayer is in some ways the opposite of independence. For in prayer we recognize we are not in control and ask for help from our God. Now sometimes we are going through trials and situations that humble us to be really willing to pray as long as we are alone or with a few very close friends or family. But the idea of asking a stranger or acquaintance for prayer especially in a group setting or in public is too much for us sometimes. That would expose the fact we don't have our life all together to those we are trying to impress. It would reveal our "weakness". God I pray that the church in the west and America and starting with just me would learn from cultures that are more interdependent and group minded especially as they pray together to our God. 

Prayer is also a dangerous and scary activity. For one one extreme of the spectrum we are risking our faith, because we are afraid God won't answer our prayer. On the other extreme prayer is often so effective that we have to face the consequences of our prayers. I remember one time praying for God to grow my patience and one of the ways God answered that prayer was that I was single at the time and God worked it out so that I remained single for over a year. Which I certainly wasn't happy or thankful for at the time, but now I am so thankful for that time of growing in patience and how it helped me be ready for the wonderful relationship I am in now.

One really cool thing about this sermon is that it was given by the chairman of the elder board at Calvary. And he was able to tell us what the elders actually do and one of their main responsibilities is to pray for those who are sick. 

That brings up a big question and issue we must tackle. It seems that God does not always answer these prayers for healing of the sick as we ask. God certainly can and does answer these prayers and reveal his power with miracles for some. Yet some who are sick pray and ask many other righteous and faithful people to pray but are not healed. I wish I had an answer for this, but I don't. I struggle with this myself. But I also believe God can heal and does still heal in today's day and age. So I try to pray with faith and ask the Lord to help my unbelief. 

In the Sermon a great question was asked: Do we really want more powerful, effective prayer? Do we want a revival in our prayer lives?

We all said yes. But the real test is will we believe and will we act to move in this way. He gave a few quick suggestions to revive our prayer lives:

1. Pray on knees to recognize God's sovereignty and our dependence
2. Confess sins to each other
3. List prayers and keep list to pray about
4. Pray earnestly with fervor.

I might add:

1. First Praise God and remember who he is and how he has provided in the past before asking. 
2. Pray in community
3. Pray longer than 10 minutes
4. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak and guide the prayers
5. Ask for faith to believe in places you doubt even as you pray and ask.

Here is a good summary of James 5 as the sermon concluded:

• Pray
• Praise
• Confess
• Rescue sinners

And so God I pray in my life and in the lives of those around me we might seek more and more to be a people of prayer. But I pray we would pray in ways that are healthy and good and not self focused. I pray we would grow in faith. I ask that you remind us who you are and you can and will move in mighty ways as you have in the past. Come Holy Spirit and start a revival of prayer right now in my life and the communities I am in!

Amen

Study of Daniel 1-3 from Sermon @ Calvary Chapel Tucson

This past Wednesday I visited Calvary Chapel Tucson for an evening service.

I love the worship, communion and bible focused preaching. The speaker spoke on Daniel 3 with Daniel 1-2 as background covered the previous two weeks. The sermon really was just brought to life out of the scripture itself. It wasn't played up with some fancy style. Pastor Pat Lazovich simply preached from the Word of God trusting that the stories of God working in the past were enough and that we would find ourselves in the story just as the pastor did.

Recently I have come to appreciate and really connect with the Old Testament books about Israel's time in exile especially Nehemiah and Daniel. It is just amazing how through hundreds of years of prosperity and ups and downs of judges and kings how much Israel sinned. But it wasn't until the time of exile that some serious changes happened. Israel and many of the leaders made a big turn and really came to believe and follow God alone during exile. This is a great example of how what we want in pleasure and prosperity is often actually not good for us eternally. For Israel sinned greatly in times of prosperity but turned back to God in a time of great trial as the people of Jerusalem and Judah were sent into exile in Bablyon.

But God was still sovereign and still with Israel working for their salvation all the time and also in exile and in their time of trial.

I think I have recently been feeling how we as Christians are a minority and really are a people in exile in a foreign land on the earth. For no nation on earth is God's nation and none are righteous and holy like God and his kingdom. Daniel 2 is a great reminder of the spiritual reality of earthly kingdoms vs God's kingdom as Daniel interprets the dream of the king of Babylon.

Daniel 2

³⁶ “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. ³⁷ Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; ³⁸ in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.

³⁹ “After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. ⁴⁰ Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. ⁴¹ Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. ⁴² As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. ⁴³ And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

⁴⁴ “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. ⁴⁵ This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.

“The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

God alone is in control. God gives dominion temporarily to men and to nations but they will all pass away. Christ has risen and his kingdom is here and now and yet still yet to come in its fulness as we know from Revelation. God's kingdom will reign forever. Yet for now it may seem hard to see God and his sovereignty when people and nations and idols are everywhere. But we must remember we are foreigners in exile away from our true home and our King Jesus. But he has come and will come again. 

The real question is will we believe?

And will we follow God?

Or will we follow the world and the powers and idols that rule the earth?

That is the same question that Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah 3 jews in exile faced and their very lives were at stake if they followed God. 

Yet their simple decisions and life of prayer and faith built them up so that they could face this great test. And they were faithful. 

Daniel 3

¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. ¹⁷ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliverus^[c] from Your Majesty’s hand. ¹⁸ But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

These men gave a great example of faith. For they believed in God, they worshipped him alone even at the risk of their death. And they prayed and believed God could and would save them. Yet they acknowledged the possibility God wouldn't save them and still trusted that God was greater!

Even if the story ended there or those 3 men died for their faith in action it would be beautiful. And so Jesus and the 12 apostles and many more died for faith in God. But in this case and sometimes God works to reveal himself through mighty works:

Daniel 3

²² The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, ²³ and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace.
²⁴ Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”
They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.”
²⁵ He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”
²⁶ Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!”
So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, ²⁷ and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the firehad not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.
²⁸ Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. ²⁹ Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.”
³⁰ Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

But I pray we would trust not in being saved from the fire but in God who's kingdom will never end. For either way in our life or death God is glorified and we live with him forever! God I ask you to strengthen my faith daily that in life or death I would trust you and follow you alone. 

Desiring Spiritual Gifts1 Corinthians 12

Recently I have felt the pull to seek an aspect of God in the works and power of the Holy Spirit. I feel this is an area I have been skeptical of and avoided. But I believe is absolutely biblical and we can follow Jesus and Paul's example in asking for and using the gifts of the Holy Spirit for God's work and ministry to others. So I am digging into and praying into scripture around the Holy Spirit. 

1 Corinthians 12

1Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. ² You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. ³ Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴ There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. ⁵ There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. ⁶ There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

⁷ Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. ⁸ To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,^[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.^[b] 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

^... 

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. ²⁸ And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?³⁰ Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues^[d]? Do all interpret? ³¹ Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.

The biggest argument against asking for and hoping for God's miracles and healings today is that only the Apostles and heroes of the early church had these gifts. But now we have the bible and don't need those same spiritual gifts of healing and miracles. 

But I don't see any evidence of this in scripture. In fact what purpose is there in me reading 1 Corinthians 12 and other passages about the Holy Spirit if they no longer apply? Why are they even included in scripture. What is so different today for us than the churches like the one in Corinth in the early church? Both churches have great facets of their faith and teaching. Yet both are broken and off of the truth and life of following Christ. 

Today churches and the world need the miracles, healing, prophecies and other gifts of the Holy Spirit. I need them just as much in my life and in the ministry to college students!

Another argument against these gifts is 1 Corinthians 13:

If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poorand give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

But I don't think this says anything about gifts being unnecessary or obsolete. It simply points out gifts and power of the Holy Spirit can do no good without love. This also says giving everything to the poor is worthless without love. That is a powerful statement and yet it doesn't mean nobody should give to the poor or give up everything. Instead in all these things it says do them with love and they will be powerful workings of God. 

God as I continue this journey of learning more about the aspect of you as the Holy Spirit who dwells in us who believe in Jesus I ask for your guidance. I ask for your truth and wisdom as guided by your Word and your Spirit! For I believe your Spirit is alive and active in me. I believe I could not understand the gospel or the bible or repent without the Holy Spirit. So I beg, fire of the Holy Spirit fall on me more and more. Not for my glory or for my boasting or my pleasure. I pray for more of your gifts and i desire the greater gifts so that you can work through me more effectively to minister to others. 

Amen