Living in Unity.

I played high school football. There were many things I enjoyed and learned by being on a team. One of those pleasures was having the unified backing of my teammates. During a game if you got hit hard or the other team began giving you a hard time, my teammates would come to the rescue. Our unified voice told others we did not stand alone.

The Apostle Paul and Jesus both prayed that as followers of Jesus, we would have one voice and stand together so that the world would know Jesus and the love the Father has for his creation (John 17:20-21, 23; Romans 15:5-7).

Tragically, we have felt many times the enemy is the group of other believers down the street. When in fact, our common enemy is Satan who only wants to kill, steal, and destroy. But if we ever finally lay down that thing we have been carrying all these years (hatred, agenda, unforgiveness) we’d discover that we can do infinitely more for God’s Kingdom together. So, we pray for unity and one voice for Jesus.

We pray for unity because we desperately need each other. Paul tells us in Romans 12:4-5 that like the human body is made up of many parts, so the body of Christ is also made of many parts. We can’t live without our body organs just like we can’t function without the diversity a church brings to the story of Jesus. We belong to one another. Think about the church universal. No matter the skin color, language or name over the door, we all worship the Name above all names, Jesus!

We pray of unity because the world will see God’s love for them. The word Paul uses in Romans 15:7, “accept”, is a word in the original Greek with beautiful imagery. The visual Paul gives us is this: we hug, pull each other in then walk hand-in-hand through life together. Jesus himself told us in John 13:34-35 that the way we love each other is the way the world will know we are his disciples. Jesus didn’t say, “with the right doctrine” or “with the right name on the building”…No! He said, “Your love for each other will point the world to me.”

We pray for unity because we can do infinitely more together than we can do apart. Because of our desire to be known as Jesus followers, together we positively affect churches in two foreign countries. We put Bibles in public classrooms in Eastern European countries. We partner with local para-church organizations to help homeless families get off the street and young couples make better decisions about their unborn baby. We partner with a local Bible translation group who puts the Word of God into the hands of people who have never read the story of Jesus in their local language. I really can’t do that on my own. I need you and you need me.

Acts 2 and 4 remind us of what one voice can do. Followers of Jesus came together to eat, worship, pray, and live. They supported each other and loved each other. Every need was met if you belonged to Jesus.

The truth is, the world is tired of hearing about Jesus…they want to see Jesus. How will they know? By the way we love each other. So, what do you need to change in order to be the follower Jesus prayed for? What thing are you hanging on to that is prohibiting you to be the person Jesus prayed for?

My hope is you will desire to live into Jesus’ prayer and love those who also believe. It’s our turn to roll up our sleeves and show the world the loving Savior you and I have. Blessings on the journey.

How to Share your Faith.

When it comes to sharing your faith, most of us hesitate. It is not because we don’t love our life or being a disciple of Jesus. Usually, it falls into one of three categories.

We just get busy. I mean, life happens. Most of us have no margin in our day to consider how we could share our faith. We hit the ground running in the morning getting kids ready for school with breakfast and sack lunches. After we drop them at school, we go to work and put in a full 8-hour day. Most of the time we don’t finish our work so we take it home with us. Once the kids get home, there’s homework, dinner, soccer practice. By the end of the day, we collapse into bed only to do it all again the next day.

Another is, we don’t want to be known as the weird Jesus-freak. I call them megaphone man. You see them on street corners with a megaphone calling down hate and judgment on people who don’t look like them. We just don’t want to be viewed as weird. I get that.

Finally, we don’t think we know enough about our faith. We think, “If I knew more about Jesus and my faith, I’d share more with the folks I interact with everyday.” But Paul’s prayer in Philemon 1:4-6 would indicate the opposite is true. He says that we share our faith in order to have a deeper understanding of who Jesus is to us.

With that in mind, I want to give you four ways to share your faith that you can do easily…yes, you! All of these ideas are loosely based on biblical stories from our New Testament.

You can be loving but direct. Peter used this approach in Acts 2 when we preached his sermon on the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. He told the crowd the good news about Jesus and that they, the Jews, had killed the Messiah. He invited them into a relationship with Jesus. All they needed to do was change and allow Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. Now, you can’t have this voice all the time because then you simply turn into megaphone man and you’ll loose your voice.

A second way to share your faith is just to share YOUR story. How did you come Jesus? What did he do for you? You have stories of recovered health, broken addictions and healed relationships. You are a better spouse and parent because of Jesus. You have a more purposeful life because of the Risen Savior.

Third, you can invite people to church. Now, the church is more than just the four walls. There are lots of ways you can let people know about the family of believers you live life with and invite them to come and see how you do life together. Most churches have events like a trunk or treat or a Christmas event you can invite folks to. If you have an online presence on Sunday morning, invite them to check out the livestream before coming to an in-person service.

Finally, you can live a life others want. We all have chaos going on in our life. Whether it’s the loss of a family member, loss of job, dealing with cancer or the effects of COVID, the world is watching to see how Jesus-followers react. When you show joy and peace in your life no matter what is going on, the people around you notice. And they want what you have. It’s your opportunity to let them know, Jesus is the reason you have that joy, peace, and love in your life.

COVID has made it easy for us to sit back and blame the virus for not being active. But it is time we rekindle the fire and discover new ways to share our faith. You can do this with the power of the Holy Spirit living in you. Blessings on the journey.

The Power of Prayer

Have you ever prayed for strength and power to be present in your life? My guess is most of us believe in the power of prayer but know we don’t nearly pray enough. There may be many reasons why we don’t. Maybe you’ve heard others pray eloquent prayers and thought you couldn’t possibly measure up. Other times, you start to pray but you’re ADD kicks in so the ding on your phone gets you off track and you don’t finish your prayer.

I do think we have two major mistakes when we pray. We pray way too small and way too general. It’s probably because we don’t want to be let down. I mean, what if I pray and God doesn’t grant my request. I don’t want to risk it so we keep everything generic.

But we serve a God who goes before us (Deuteronomy 31) and who levels our mountains (Isaiah 45). Jesus said it you have the faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains. Paul said we serve a God with whom all things are possible. I wonder if we are undercutting our God by praying too shallow.

Paul wrote the house church in Ephesus from a Roman prison cell in 60AD. In the first 3 chapters of Ephesians, Paul reminds us what God did for us. In the last 3 chapters, Paul reminds us the type of life practically that we are called to live because of what God did for us. Right in that transition in chapter 3, Paul prays for the church, and us, to be empowered with the incredible power of God and the indwelling of his strength.

Paul in Ephesus 3:14-20 reminds us that we have every possible resource from our God to accomplish what comes our way everyday. Paul also said in Philippians 4 that God would meet all our needs through His glorious riches. Yet, you and I pray as if we are impoverished children. God wants us to ask for the good things which He will give us as it falls into his plan.

In this section of Ephesians, Paul uses the word “power” multiple times. The Greek word Paul uses is the same word we get the English word “dynamite” from. It means we have access to the miraculous, explosive power of God through prayer.

Paul’s prayer reminds us to be rooted in love so that we may have the power that only comes from God. When we are rooted in Jesus, we are able to live into the power of His glorious riches so that we have the ability to love the unlovable, be patient with our coworkers, and stay calm while others are abrasive in their interactions with us. We can do that because the power of God lives within us.

Verse 20 Paul says that through Christ, God can do more than we can imagine in our life. So my prayer for you is that daily, you pray the power and strength of our God dwells in you. Be specific for what you pray. Be bold and ask for things that only God will do. I know prayer changes things. I have seen it in my own life. May you pray with passion and may the Spirit of God dwell in you. Blessings on the journey.

God is Here and is Personal.

I loved playing football in junior high and high school. As a running back, it was nice to have the fullback or a tight end leading the way around on the sweep to clear defenders out of the way. I love what God says to his people in Deuteronomy 31. He says, “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.” Did you hear that? He will personally go before us. That’s comforting in a world that is full of chaos and misdirection. God KNOWS you and is for you.

The first time the word, “know”, is used in Scripture is Genesis 4:1. It’s the spot where Adam knows Eve. In other words, they are intimate and sleep together. There was nothing in the way. Nothing was covered. Everything was exposed.

The word of “know” in the original Hebrew language is “yada”. It means to know intimately. As you read through the Old Testament, it describes the relationship God wants to have with us. The word tells us that God knows you completely. That can be so very comforting or absolutely terrifying depending on your relationship with God.

King David knew how deeply God cared for us and knew us when he wrote Psalms 139. Reading the first four verses, you see how deeply God knows us. We are beautifully made. Did you know God knew you even before you were born? Jesus says in Matthew 10 that God knows how many hairs are on your head. That’s how intimately God is close to you.

In the Old Testament, Job is the story of a man who is asking if God knows him and what he’s going through. We each may be asking that same question right now. But at the end of Job’s story, he seems to land on the idea that God does know him and that thought does two things for Job. Job is comforted that God knows and Job is confident that God will redeem him.

Right in the middle of Job’s story in Job 19:25, he exclaims I know that my Redeemer lives and one day will make all things right. He’s proclaiming that everything going on in his life is temporary but God is eternal.

Because God is powerful and tender and personal, we too can proclaim that our Redeemer lives. So the challenge is to live like it. Let the world know by your words, your actions, your life you believe God knows you and is for you. He sees you and you are his. Blessings on your journey.

God is Here and Powerful.

Our current situation seems chaotic. A massive hurricane hitting the Gulf coast this week; Delta variant overwhelming hospitals again; Evacuations in Afghanistan; Christians being hunted down and killed around the world; Racial tension still evident; State and Federal government strong-arming one another; Rising flood waters in Tennessee killing innocent people. We look around and wonder where is God?

While we as believers know God has not left us, our human side wonders, “Is He in control?” “Does He even care about my situation, my anxiety, my story?” These past several months have revealed we are more fragile and vulnerable than we care to admit.

Job is a story about a man who worshiped the Living God. His story is found in the Old Testament. He’s living the American dream one day and the next, he’s lost everything: his business, his livestock, his children, his health. However, he never loses his faith but he does have some questions for God.

Job begins to ask God about his current state, wondering where God is in his story. By chapter 38, God has had enough and answers Job’s questions, not with answers but with more questions. God asks beginning in Job 38, ““Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?Tell me, if you know so much.

Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from the womb, and as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness?

For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores. I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop!’ Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?

As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal; it is robed in brilliant colors. The light disturbs the wicked and stops the arm that is raised in violence. Have you explored the springs from which the seas come? Have you explored their depths?

Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom? Do you realize the extent of the earth? Tell me about it if you know!”

King David also knew that just be looking around us in nature and the cosmos, God’s presence is revealed. David says in Psalms 19:1-4 that if you and I would just slow down, go outside and look up, we’d see that God is with us. Nature itself screams the glory and presence of God.

As Christ-followers, we worship a God who is so much bigger than we are! He knows and sees what we do not. There’s something comforting about worshipping a God that big.

My prayer is we’d realize we are not in control but He is. At the end of Job’s story in Job 42:5, Job says, “I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.” Job went from hearing about God to seeing God; from knowing about God to knowing God. May you truly know God is with you during these difficult times. May you feel the peace in your life that only He can provide. Blessings on the journey.

Do You Like Me?

We often wonder if our friends really like us…if our coworkers admire us…if our boss respects us. So many of us are addicted to the disease to please. It’s a human condition to desire others to like us but how far will we go to make that happen?

There are three flags that might indicate you desire people to like you over and above the normal. If you obsess about what other people think about our clothes, your job, what you drive, your social media posts, you might find yourself in that position. If you are overly sensitive to criticism you might just care too much what others think. If you have a hard time telling anyone “no”, you probably will go to great lengths for others to swoon when you walk in the room.

King Solomon said in Proverbs 29:25, “Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety” That word “trap” in the original language could be translated as a noose to catch wild game or a nose ring for a cow. Hoping for people’s approval can led you to an invisible prison. See, becoming obsessed about what other people think about you is the fastest way for you to forget what God thinks about you.

The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 1:10, “I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.” Paul had given up on what people thought of him. He had lost so many friends and family because of his conversion to Jesus. He had placed himself under and in submission to Christ which meant his call was to live for him, not other people.

See, pleasing people is a form of idolatry. You may be saying you don’t have any real idols in your home you bow down to but anything you put in front of God becomes an idol See God wants to be your everything and if you are consumed with what other people think about you, there is no room for God.

But the good news is that the approval of God sets us free from the disease to please! Think about how freeing it would be if you just didn’t worry about what other people thought. You only recognize who God has said you were and that would be enough. Your worth is not based on what your family thinks of you or your coworkers or even your spouse. God has already said how worthy you are when he sent Jesus to earth.

You are not what others think or say about you. In Jesus, you are God’s workmanship. You are an adopted chid of God. You are a prisoner set free from your past. You are an overcomer. So, don’t think about how the world views you. Enjoy the freedom you have in Christ. Blessings on the journey!

How to Be Great.

I was going to be famous. I produced two country music albums in the early ‘90s. I had sent in a vocal demo to Charlie Daniels’ new TV show in Nashville. Once they heard it, I was invited to a physical audition in Nashville. This was it!! I was going to break through. Becoming a house-hold name was just a song away. Until it wasn’t. God had other plans for my story and I’m so glad his plan worked out and mine did not.

People everyday hope to become famous. Look at all the research from your kids to those in their mid-30s to many adults, their hope is to become famous and great. But God calls us to live in a way so you elevate others and God in your life. Now, it’s not a problem to be famous but generally, our focus is pulled away from God and others when all the focus is on ourselves.

John the Baptist got it right. He was preparing the way for Jesus at the front end of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life. John was incredibly popular and famous. In Matthew 3:5 it says, “That everyone from Jerusalem and Judea and the Jordan Valley came to hear John.” He had a massive following from the everyday villager all the way to King Herod, everybody knew and admired John.

But in John 3:30, after several people came to John asking if he was the Messiah, he says, “Jesus must become greater and greater and I must become less and less.” John says that it’s not about him. His mission is to point to Jesus.

And as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember we are his ambassadors. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:20 that we are Christ’s ambassadors and he is making his appeal to the world through us. An ambassador is the highest ranking official from one country to another. So Paul is saying we are the highest ranking official from heaven to earth. Whatever we do, we are called to bring glory to God.

So, consider your walk. Whose approval matters most? God…or those around you. Like John, we say “More of Jesus, less of me”. Not my glory but his glory. Not my name but his Name. The world may not know you but you are known by the Name above all names. His Name is Prince of Peace, King of kings and Lord of lords.

He calls you blessed, loved, forgiven, and child of God. You’re already famous as a member of the family of God. Blessings on your journey.

Trying to Live the Flawless Life?

I’m wound tight. My personality likes to look like I’ve got it all together…that I’m “perfect”. When I fail, I’m really hard on myself and I certainly want to hid my short comings. Our social media world only worsens that kind of personality. Every picture posted on any of my social media sites screams, “Wouldn’t you want to be like me?” And Scripture doesn’t help either.

Jesus says on the Sermon on the Mount, “Be perfect just like my Heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Wow! How do I live up to that? I end up putting unrealistic goals on myself. I perceive unrealistic goals from those around me. I perceive what God wants me to do in my life and I fall short.

Trying to look flawless though is just a cover. You see, there is a spiritual side to this seemingly psychologically-bound personality. The real issue is, I’m simply trying to cover my deepest insecurities, my deepest fears and my own sinfulness.

The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 3:20 that no one can ever be “made right” with God by trying to be perfect. So how do we move forward in our life? Paul continues in verse 22 by saying, “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.”

When I trust in Jesus to be my Savior, my perfection, I can let go of me trying to be perfect. Because of Jesus we can walk in freedom, embrace his grace, and live unburdened. With Jesus, the pressure to perform has been removed. So, because of Jesus…

We get to choose people over our perfection. It’s all about relationship rather than “getting it right”. Equally because of Jesus, we get to choose love over a perfect performance. Remember that trying to look perfect is simply a cover for our deepest fears.

But didn’t we start out be saying Jesus called us to be perfect in Matthew 5? In the context of that verse, Jesus is talking about love. Jesus is calling us to love everyone completely and maturely. We don’t just love people we think deserve our love. We are all-inclusive of our love, just like our Heavenly Father. We love on those who love us but also those who speak poorly about us, mistreat us, are mean to us and disrespect us.

You and I will never be perfect. My assignment as a disciple of Jesus is not to convince people how good I am. My assignment is to tell the world how awesome our God is!! It is all about Jesus!! So let go of faking how perfect you are and let your life scream how perfect our Heavenly Father has been to you. Blessings on the journey.

What You Got There?

So one day a rich man goes off on a journey. Before he does, however, he asks three of his servants to invest his money. Two of them go away, use their entrepreneurship to double their investment and return their boss’s cash with more besides. He’s overjoyed, of course, because this is a substantial sum of money. Everyone ends up celebrating.

Everyone, that is, except the third servant, who, for reasons of his own, disobeys his master and buries the money in a hole. His employer is, not surprisingly, unimpressed.

That’s how the Parable of the Talents goes, and the interpretation is evident – God entrusts us with resources, talents and relationships and we’re supposed to use them to further his Kingdom. There’s a responsibility here, and that’s a lesson the third servant learned to his cost.

Hmm. The third servant. Traditionally the third servant is the point of the story; he disobeys his master and pays the price – he was given a talent, worth twenty years’ wages, so we’re not talking peanuts here. This makes the parable a warning, and it partly is, but there’s a danger in taking that too much to heart – after all, should serving God become a duty we reluctantly carry out simply because we’re afraid of the consequences? Or does that just make the attitude displayed by the third servant a self-fulfilling prophecy? The third servant sees his master as harsh, judgmental and unfair, and he acts appropriately – or does he? If the master is really that bad, why didn’t the servant at least make an effort?

See, his boss points out that he could have just put the money on deposit and earned some interest. Instead, the servant went to the trouble of physically digging a hole and dumping the money in there. It almost sounds like it was harder work to not make a profit.

So what if the servant’s assault on his boss’s character is really just a cover for his own apathy? Is there any objective evidence that the master is the unreasonable badass he’s made out to be? Or is the description provided in verse 24 just an extension of the servants own heart, much like the elder son’s attitude towards his father in the parable of the Prodigal Son.

Let’s try looking at things from the perspective of the first two servants, because there are actually two gifts on display here: not just the money itself but also the opportunity to use it to build a Kingdom. It’s this second gift that reveals the hearts of the servants and their attitudes towards God. The third servant couldn’t be bothered and the Kingdom is smaller as a result. The other two servants, however…

We’re entrusted with so much and most of it can be used for the benefit of others and as an extension of our relationship with God. After all, he invites us to work with him to build a Kingdom that isn’t just in the future, isn’t just up on a cloud somewhere but here and now. That’s a huge privilege – the sums entrusted to the servants are insanely extravagant and so are the profits. That money in your account, that thing you can do better than anyone else, the circumstances you find yourself in? Their value can be incalculable when approached from the perspective of God’s Kingdom.

So let’s not just read this parable as a warning. Let’s see it as an invite. God gives us a talent or five and asks us to build his Kingdom. That might be sharing his story, it might be digging a well or running a soup kitchen or becoming a voice for the oppressed. It could be a thousand and one things but a single fact underlies them all – God gives us the chance to build a Kingdom. That’s an incredible honor.

So, let’s not get apathetic and start throwing the things we’re given into a hole somewhere. Let’s use that with which we’ve been blessed to achieve something that will echo into eternity. Be alert and look around for ways to use whatever God has gifted you with. Blessings on the journey.

The Point of the Vineyard Parable.

Jesus made a regular habit of upending established social conventions. Jesus spent much of His earthly ministry illustrating the sharp contrast between the world and His heavenly kingdom. One of those key teaching moments is found in the preface and epilogue to Christ’s parable of the vineyard.

Christ’s story is framed with a single, simple proverb: “Many who are first will be last; and the last, first” (Matthew 19:30). The same concept is repeated at the end of the parable: “So the last shall be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16). An echo of the proverb is also found in the parable itself—in that key phrase in Matthew 20:8 where the landowner instructs the steward how to pay the workers their wages: “Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first” (Matthew 20:8)

The proverb is also something of a riddle. What does it mean? It’s not saying precisely the same thing as Mark 9:35: “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” Or Mark 10:43–44: “Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all.” Those verses elevate humility and self-sacrifice. Those are imperatives: commands instructing us to be humble servants rather than seeking prominence and power.

But the proverb that goes with this parable is an indicative, a simple statement of fact: “The last shall be first, and the first last.” What does that mean, and how would it work? In a foot race, for example, the only way for the last to be first and the first to be last is for everyone to finish simultaneously. If everyone crosses the finish line at exactly the same instant, the first are last and the last are first. Everyone ends in a dead heat.

That, of course, is precisely the point Jesus was making in the parable. Those hired first and those hired last all got exactly the same pay. All of them, from the first to the last, got the full benefit of the landowner’s generosity, in equal shares.

What spiritual lesson is woven into that story?

The lesson is actually quite simple: the story is a precise picture of God’s sovereign, saving grace. Since sinners are all unworthy, and the riches of God’s grace are inexhaustible, all believers receive an infinite and eternal share of His mercy and kindness, though no one really deserves it.

The dying thief who repented in his final moments entered paradise, where he is enjoying eternal life and everlasting fellowship with Christ just the same as Peter, James, and John, who literally gave their lives in service to the Savior.

The landowner in the parable represents God. The vineyard is the kingdom, the sphere of God’s rule. The laborers are believers, people who come into the service of the King. The day of work is their lifetime. The evening is eternity. The steward, perhaps, represents Jesus Christ, to whom has been committed all judgment. The denarius represents eternal life.

Note: this pay is not something the workers have earned. It is not given to them like a minimum wage in a fair exchange for labor done. It is far too much for that. Rather, this represents a gracious gift, a lavish endowment that exceeds the best reward any day worker could ever merit.

So this is the point: If you are a believer, you receive the full benefits of God’s immeasurable grace, just like everyone else in God’s kingdom. Your place in heaven is not a timeshare where your access is determined by the length of time you spent doing the Lord’s work. The blessings of redemption are not doled out in quotas based on one’s personal achievements. Forgiveness is not measured by weighing our good deeds against our sins, nor is it partially withheld if we have sinned for too long or too badly.

Everyone who enters the kingdom receives the full abundance of God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness. That’s true no matter how long you have worked in God’s kingdom. It’s true no matter how hard or how easy your circumstances are. It’s true whether your service was minimal or maximal; whether you die as a martyr in the prime of life or live a fairly peaceful life and die of old age. It’s as true of those who come to Christ in adolescence as it is of those who genuinely repent of their sins at the end of a life.

When this earthly life is over, if you are a believer, you will go to be with Christ, just like that thief on the cross (Luke 23:43); just like the apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 5:8); and just like every other saint who has died since.

Heaven is not a reward for long service or hard work. Some people serve Christ their entire lives, and some for a very short time. We all enter into the same eternal life. We all will receive the same spiritual blessings in heaven.

If that seems inequitable, remember that it is far more than any of us deserve. The benefits of the kingdom are the same for everyone because we are redeemed in the first place only by God’s grace, and nothing else. That’s truly good news for you and me; we don’t have to earn our way into the kingdom. Blessings on the journey.