Humbly Yield Control
Note from Jesus Dear Disciple, Yesterday I talked to you about letting the Spirit lead the dance of your life. Today, I want you to notice what happens when a person takes the lead of his or her own life. This is what happens when a person’s “constant pursuit of gratification” and continual “focus on self-indulgence” have control of his or her heart: Prayers go unanswered. Envy and jealously control life in ways similar to an out-of-control addiction. Pride and arrogance rule over a person’s heart. Overbearing criticism shows up regularly in conversations. Accusations are made against good people. A sense of control of one’s destiny makes a person oblivious to the fragility of his or her own life. Good things that need to be done go undone and neglected. Just as Paul emphasized in the verses yesterday, James reminds you today with strong words that you must consciously and humbly offer yourself to the Father. Don’t be afraid to be physically demonstrative with your humble repentance. Not only ask for His forgiveness but also offer Him control over your heart and your life. Offer your whole self to the Father — heart, soul, mind, and strength — to be used as His person and controlled by His Spirit. Rid your heart of the evil influences that poison it and that make it inhospitable to the Holy Spirit. I sent the Holy Spirit to live in your heart. The Spirit wants to bring God’s character, compassion, and blessing to life in you. So resist the power of evil, Satan, and the demonic world. Drive the evil one away and invite the Holy Spirit to take control! Verses to Live In the verses below, James uses his typical straightforward style to challenge his readers to look at their hearts. He wants you to be aware of what motivates your heart. He warns of all sorts of ways pride and arrogance sneak in and steal a person’s heart from God. So offer yourselves to God… in humility. Where do you think your fighting and endless conflict come from? Don’t you think that they originate in the constant pursuit of gratification that rages inside each of you like an uncontrolled militia? You crave something that you do not possess, so you murder to get it. You desire the things you cannot earn, so you sue others and fight for what you want. You do not have because you have chosen not to ask. And when you do ask, you still do not get what you want because your motives are all wrong — because you continually focus on self-indulgence. You are adulterers. Don’t you know that making friends with this corrupt world order is open aggression toward God? So anyone who aligns with this bogus world system is declaring war against the one true God. Do you think it is empty rhetoric when the Scriptures say, “The spirit that lives in us is addicted to envy and jealousy”? You may think that the situation is hopeless, but God gives us more grace when we turn away from our own interests. That’s why Scripture says, God opposes the proud, but He pours out grace on the humble. So submit yourselves to the one true God and fight against the devil and his schemes. If you do, he will run away in failure. Come close to the one true God, and He will draw close to you. Wash your hands; you have dirtied them in sin. Cleanse your heart, because your mind is split down the middle, your love for God on one side and selfish pursuits on the other. Now is the time to lament, to grieve, and to cry. Dissolve your laughter into sobbing, and exchange your joy for depression. Lay yourself bare, facedown to the ground, in humility before the Lord; and He will lift your head so you can stand tall. My brothers and sisters, do not assault each other with criticism. If you decide your job is to accuse and judge another believer, then you are a self-appointed critic and judge of the law; if so, then you are no longer a doer of the law and subject to its rule; you stand over it as a judge. Know this — there is One Who stands supreme as Judge and Lawgiver. He alone is able to save and to destroy, so who are you to step in and try to judge another? Listen carefully, those of you who make your plans and say, “We are traveling to this city in the next few days. We’ll stay there for one year while our business explodes and revenue is up.” The reality is you have no idea where your life will take you tomorrow. You are like a mist that appears one moment and then vanishes another. It would be best to say, “If it is the Lord’s will and we live long enough, we hope to do this project or pursue that dream.” But your current speech indicates an arrogance that does not acknowledge the One Who controls the universe, and this kind of big talking is the epitome of evil. So if you know the right way to live and ignore it, it is sin — plain and simple. (James 4:1-17) Response in Prayer O Father, please forgive me. Forgive me for trying to live my life by my own power. Forgive me for the times I’ve wandered from the Spirit’s lead in the dance of my life. Forgive me for my willful sins. Please forgive me for those sins of neglect and laziness when good things have gone undone. I humbly offer myself — my heart, my mind, my spirit, and my body — to be controlled by You and used for Your glory. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. ‘A Year with Jesus’ is written by Phil Ware. © 1998-2024, Heartlight, Inc. ‘A Year with Jesus‘ is part of the Heartlight Network.All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated,
The Importance of Affirmation!
Note from Jesus Dear Child of the Father, While Paul was in Corinth, he waited anxiously to hear how the new believers in Thessalonica were doing. The Thessalonians had made a huge change when they became Christians, as he wrote to them: [Y]ou turned toward God and realigned your life to serve the one true living God — leaving your idols to crumble in the dust — and how you now await the return from heaven of His Son, Whom He raised from the dead — namely, Jesus — our rescuer from the wrath to come. In addition to the huge change in their lifestyles, the Thessalonians had endured some hardships because of their faith: You took to heart the word we taught with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, even in the face of trouble. Since Paul was prevented from returning to Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 2:17-18), he sent Timothy “to strengthen and encourage” them in their faith (1 Thessalonians 3:2 NIV) and report back to him on how the Thessalonian Christians were doing (1 Thessalonians 3:5). Paul was relieved that in the face of real suffering for Me, these new believers in Thessalonica were remaining faithful to Me and still thought favorably of him, My apostle. As Paul began the first of his two letters to the Thessalonians, he affirmed My new disciples. He thanked God for these new brothers and sisters in Thessalonica. His thanksgiving was not generic appreciation for new believers, but he was genuinely excited about their signs of true Christian maturity — faith, hope, and love (1 Corinthians 13:13). In his letter to them, he said: Your actions on behalf of the true faith, your tireless toil of love, and your unfailing, unwavering, unending hope in our Lord Jesus… To affirm them further, Paul then reminded these new believers that he knew God had selected them. He emphasized three things that show they were chosen by the Father: The way the “life-empowering, Spirit-infused message” had come to them. The way they (Paul, Silas, and Timothy) as messengers from God had come to them — they had lived “transparently” as great examples of My lifestyle for the Thessalonians. The way the Thessalonians had come to be a great example of outreach and faith to other churches. How important was it for Paul to start with affirmation? Extremely important! Remember that the Father affirmed Me right after My baptism by saying: “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.” (Luke 3:22 NLT) The Father gave Me assurance that I was His beloved Son Who brought Him joy, and He did this immediately before I faced a time of testing from the evil one. I faced struggles with the evil one, but I had been prepared by My Father! Paul is doing a similar thing with these new believers facing hardship, troubles, and sufferings. Paul had some very important doctrinal and moral truths to communicate to the Thessalonians and also some things to correct in them. However, he spent over sixty percent of this letter affirming them, praying for them, and stressing how important his relationship with them was to him. Despite all that they lacked in their understanding about morality and My return in glory, Paul began with an affirmation of their progress in their faith and confirmation of his love for them. Paul’s emphasis on affirmation is important for you to notice. As you encounter new and struggling disciples, I hope that you will remember his example of affirmation. The evil one is always sowing seeds of doubt in new believers’ hearts. When hardships and troubles come, new disciples can easily doubt their importance to Me and the growth of the kingdom. They need affirmation that they are loved. They need to be assured that faith in Me is the right choice. They need to be reminded that the sacrifices they are making and the hardships they are enduring are worth it. This affirmation is especially important at the earliest stages of faith. I don’t want the evil one to steal away new believers’ joy at being My disciples. I don’t want Satan to use hardships and suffering to lead My new disciples to fall away from Me. I don’t want the cares of the world to keep them from being effective in their discipleship (Mark 4:13-19). Please affirm new and struggling believers and help them stay on track in their lives of faith! Verses to Live As Paul begins his first letter to the Thessalonians, notice his emphasis on what these new believers are doing right! He is thankful for them. He sees the good work they have done and the great example they set even in the face of hardships. He reminds them of how they turned their lives around to follow Me. Paul begins with affirmation! Paul, Silvanus [also known as Silas], and Timothy to the church gathering in Thessalonica, those living in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus the Anointed. May grace and peace be yours from God our Father and the Lord Jesus the Anointed. We always thank God for all of you in our prayers. Your actions on behalf of the true faith, your tireless toil of love, and your unfailing, unwavering, unending hope in our Lord Jesus the Anointed before God our Father have put you consistently at the forefront of our thoughts. O brothers and sisters loved by God, we know He has chosen you. And here is why: what you experienced in the good news we brought you was more than words channeling down your ears; it came to you as a life-empowering, Spirit-infused message that offers complete hope and assurance! We lived transparently before you so that you would know what sort of people we truly are. We did it for your sake, and you have modeled your lives after ours just as we are modeling ours after the Lord. You took to heart the word we taught with
Prayer and Mission
So if they didn’t and couldn’t, how dare we? If you want to discover your congregation’s God-given purpose, there can be no starting point other than prayer. If that’s not immediately apparent, a cursory glance at the book of Acts should make it clear! Acts begins with a group of disciples who had received the Great Commission, but had no clue how to fulfill it. Had they attempted to draft a mission statement at that point, it would have borne little resemblance to God’s divine plan. Their strategic initiatives would have been based on woefully wrong-headed assumptions. Of course, any such plan would have failed anyway for lack of spiritual power. Acts chronicles a series of crucial junctures where God challenges and changes the disciples’ false notions, surprising them with new directions and fresh opportunities that they could have scarcely imagined on their own. There is a common theme at each of these critical crossroads: prayer! For the earliest disciples, the generality of the Great Commission became a specific and focused strategic plan in response to intense prayer. God revealed the gospel message and poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit onto a group of disciples who had been praying constantly for ten days (Acts 1:14; Acts 2:1-4). God’s shockingly unexpected plan to receive Gentiles into the kingdom was revealed to Peter, who was deep in prayer at the time (Acts 10:9). Peter then inaugurated the Gentile outreach by teaching Cornelius, who had been praying at the same time (Acts 10:2). When Saul of Tarsus first appears in Acts, he is intent on fulfilling his personal mission statement, which is to intimidate and incarcerate all who follow Jesus (Acts 9:1-14). But because Saul is fervently praying following his Damascus road encounter with Christ, God sends Ananias to give him a radical new mission: carrying the message of Jesus to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15). Another radical shift in mission occurs when the Holy Spirit directs Saul (now known as Paul) away from Asia and into Macedonia. Paul and Lydia — who becomes the first European Christian — meet each other because they both seek out a place of prayer (Acts 16:13). Only through prayer could the first disciples have grown to understand the surprising twists and turns of God’s purposes. In response to prayer, they received boldness in the face of opposition (Acts 4:24-31) and they united around common goals (Acts 2:42). No wonder that the leaders of the Jerusalem church placed a higher priority on prayer than on “church management” (Acts 6:4). Today, even skilled, educated, and well-meaning leaders will go badly astray if they attempt to sharpen the church’s focus and define its purpose apart from an emphasis on prayer. Leaders of churches that are searching for preachers need to give special prominence to prayer. Again, the book of Acts is instructive. Through prayer, the early believers met the daunting challenge of fitting the right people with the right gifts into the right places at the right time. The apostles knew that their limited wisdom was insufficient to choose an individual to join their ranks, so they prayed and left the decision to God (Acts 1:23-26). With fervent prayer, six men were appointed to minister to the widows in Jerusalem (Acts 6:6). Through prayer, Barnabas and Paul were set apart as missionaries (Acts 13:3). And by means of prayer, elders were appointed to lead each fledgling congregation they established (Acts 14:23). One thing that cannot be discerned from a résumé is the internal state of a person’s heart. That is why those who selected spiritual leaders in the first century prayed to the God who “knows everyone’s heart” (Acts 1:24). Wise leaders today will learn from their example and do likewise. If you are a leader in a church that needs to rediscover or redefine its mission; if your church needs to hear a fresh call from God; and especially if you are in the process of searching for a minister, prayer must be your top priority. Without it, we stand no chance of recapturing the purity, the wisdom and the spiritual power of the earliest Church. This is part of an ongoing series of messages from the partners at Interim Ministry Partners on a church discovering its mission. These messages are based on a proven set of moves a congregation needs to make as it is transitioning in its preaching leadership and wants to focus on its mission. The following chart illustrates the key moves and the direction each of these moves should help the congregation move. About the author: Mark Frost has been in ministry for 41 years, 34 of which were spent with a single congregation. He is now working with churches in transition with Interim Ministry Partners. Mark is a loving and insightful minister who is loved and trusted by the congregations with whom he has worked because of his kind and loving demeanor, positive outlook, good grasp of Scripture and faithful ministry experience.
Let’s Go Somewhere Else
Why would Jesus leave someone behind? When they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else …” (Mark 1:37-38 TNIV). Following Jesus and ministering in his name fills life with hard choices. I faced some of those tough choices this past Friday. These hard choices led me to ask some hard questions: When does compassion become the opportunity for others to take advantage of God’s community? Is there a time to ignore the professional “panhandler” who continues to live irresponsibly by taking advantage of well-intentioned people? Can you walk away from someone, even those who are trying to take advantage of your kindness, and move on to another pressing need you feel is more important? How do you know the difference between your own self-serving avoidance of a needy person and true mission-guided opportunity? Jesus faced these challenges often. Many folks are startled to learn that Jesus actually did walk away from folks who were seeking him for a miracle (Mark 1:35-45) and he did “run off” folks who were trying to take advantage of his miracle-working ability for their own selfish interests (John 6:26-66). Yet, as the story about healing a man with leprosy makes clear (Mark 1:40-45), Jesus ministered out of his deep compassion for broken and wounded folks who needed his touch, his grace, and his power. So how can we know how to do what Jesus did and do it appropriately? Clearly, Jesus didn’t walk away from folks in need out of selfishness or avoidance. When he left behind those who were looking for him, he did so to specifically live out his God-ordained mission (Mark 1:38). He was able to discern between the two because he had tuned his heart to that mission through his regular times with the Father early in the morning while it was still dark, in a time and place of intentional prayer (Mark 1:35). What’s more, when presented with a need directly in his path, Jesus did more than just physically heal: he touched and validated the value of people even when it wasn’t culturally acceptable to do so (Mark 1:41). When Jesus did “run off” folks with his strong teaching, he didn’t do it for selfish reasons. He did it to avoid the misperceptions and wrong desires of those seeking to highjack (John 6:14-27) — in other words, people were wanting Jesus to abandon his God-ordained ministry to give them what they wanted. So what are we to make of all this? For me, Jesus’ example provides us some good principles to help us in this struggle to balance compassion and mission. First, I’m called to be compassionate as a follower of Jesus and I will be judged based on how I respond to people’s needs (Matthew 25:31-46). Second, I must stick to the mission God has given me and not get side-tracked by doing what is good when God has called me to do what is best (Mark 1:38; Acts 20:24; 2 Timothy 4:6-8). Third, when a person who has needs is in my path, I must act with compassion and care, even if it interferes with some things I have planned to do (Mark 1:40-45; Luke 10:25-37). Fourth, and the focus my concern today, I’ve got to spend time with the Father tuning my heart to his will if I’m going to know how to stay on mission (Mark 1:35-38). While we can distill guidelines — like we’re doing here — there’s nothing that can replace living in the stories and events of Jesus’ life to help us get a feel for how to live for him in these situations. When added to personal prayer where we offer ourselves to God and ask for his wisdom, this time with the Father in Scripture and prayer becomes a conduit of God’s guidance and grace to help us (James 1:5-6; cf. James 4:17). Those of us who claim to follow Jesus are so often involved with books about Jesus and Christian stuff, we are so into the personalities and events of our religious world, and we are so busy in our regular lives that many of us have simply given up spending time with God on a daily basis. We’re often just living off the residue of a past relationship with God, but are no longer in direct daily communion with our Father. What we offer at www.heartlight.org — daily devotionals, Scripture graphics, and articles — are supplements to your daily walk with God. They can’t replace regular daily Bible reading and prayer time. I strongly encourage you to commit yourself to daily time in the word using a method like Wayne Cordeiro outlines in his new book “The Divine Mentor” or by using one of the daily Bible reading plans from Heartlight. Without opening our hearts to God, without his stories from Scripture in the hands of the Holy Spirit to shape us and form our values, we are left adrift on the sea of good intentions, caught in the winds of our own culture’s biases, and left to decide based on our own selfish whims. How do open your heart up to God so you can be tuned by the Holy Spirit to live out your mission in the world? How do you decide whether to “go somewhere else” or spend time with the folks clamoring for your attention and service? What are some Scriptures you would add to this discussion that can be used to form us into the people God wants us to be? I’d love to hear from you on my blog: http://blog.heartlight.org/phil/2007/09/tuned.html About the author: Phil Ware has authored 11 years of daily devotionals, including VerseoftheDay.com, read by 500,000 people a day. He works with churches in transition with Interim Ministry Partners and for the past 21+ years, he has been editor and president of HEARTLIGHT Magazine, author of VerseoftheDay.com, God’s Holy Fire (on the Holy Spirit), and aYearwithJesus.com. Phil has also authored four
Flying High with Freedom!
We have been set free, so let’s not give up our freedom? Freedom has always been purchased at a high cost. For years, I listened to a dear friend and Elder share his experiences of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge during the July 4th holiday. He spoke of the terror. He reminded us of the blood-stained water. He talked about surviving the biting cold of a brutal winter. He spoke of the weariness, worry, and despair as ammunition and food ran low right at Christmas. He reminisced about the hard nights sleeping on the cold hard ground so far from home. For us as Christians, we must use every opportunity to reawaken our hearts to the high price paid for our spiritual freedom. Jesus’ coming, his life, and his death all testify to God’s incredible and sacrificial love to redeem us. At great cost, Jesus purchased us from law-keeping, sin, and death. So we shouldn’t be surprised by the apostle Paul’s biting words, sharp toned warnings, and urgent pleadings in his letter to the Galatians to hold on to their freedom. Paul spoke specifically of two great dangerous temptations back toward slavery for Jesus’ followers: For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. … For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another (Galatians 5:1; Galatians 5:13 NRS) The first of these temptations is to use law-keeping as the basis for our personal sense of righteousness. This process is sometimes called legalism. This practice is not to be confused with Christian obedience, which arises out of our sense of love and appreciation for the salvation given us by grace. Law-keeping becomes our way of identifying ourselves as better, more saved, more holy, and more righteous than others. We choose the laws that are most important to keep and define our righteousness by those laws. The problem with law-keeping, Paul told the Galatians, is that if you break any law, then you are a lawbreaker and guilty of all the law. While the Mosaic Law was good and holy because it pointed to the character God was seeking in our lives, the law could only help us see how we failed to measure up to God’s holiness. We needed a Savior to pay for our sin. We needed the Holy Spirit to empower us to a new way of life. This new way of life is the way of the Spirit — not the written code — and is built on the righteousness of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:1 and 2 Corinthians 3:1-18). To go back to trying to justify ourselves by keeping the Law, any law, is to fall from grace and abandon the justification that comes only through the sacrifice of Christ (Galatians 5:4). Paul went ballistic with those who were trying to make law keeping the basis of their Christian faith in the book of Galatians. The second form of slavery is to say that we are saved by grace and then get caught up again in immoral and unrighteous living because we know that grace will cover that sin. If the first form of slavery is called legalism, the second is called license. Jude warned about such teaching and such people (Jude 1:4). While doing what our desires lead us to do can feel like freedom at first, it is actually another form of slavery. Jesus warned that if we sin, then we become a slave to that sin (John 8:34). The Lord came to liberate from sin — not just our past sin, but from a life of sin in the here and now. We must not think we can go on recklessly sinning and nonchalantly depending on grace to cover our sin (Romans 6:1-2). In fact, when the Spirit is at work in us, the power of sin is broken (Romans 6:11-14) and the fruit of God’s character comes to life in us (Galatians 5:22-26). To go back to our old sin, Peter warns, is like a dog returning to its own vomit (2 Peter 2:22). For me, one way to understand the differences between grace, license, and legalism is to look at a kite. A kite may decide it wants to be free — not bound by a string, but free to go anywhere the wind takes it. After all, isn’t this true freedom? The problem is a kite can’t sail or soar without the string that ties it to the kite master. Instead, it is at the mercy of the wind. Blown in whatever direction any ill wind wants to take it. It will not rise to the skies. It will be bounced along the ground and torn by all sorts of obstacles until it is destroyed or shoved under a mound of wind-blown debris. At the same time, legalism can be understood as trying to fly a kite without the aid of the wind. We can try all we want to make the kite fly and soar. However, any flight is temporary. We are not strong enough and fast enough to keep our kite in flight by our own efforts. Sure, the kite is tethered and controlled. Yet without the wind, it cannot soar, dart, and dance as it was designed to do in the wind. When all is right in the world of kites, the true Kite Master lets the kite rise on the power of the wind. It soars, dips, sways, rises, dances, darts, and dives with great elegance and freedom. It is kept from danger and disaster by the true Kite Master’s careful influence, guidance, and care. The kite is then free to be all it’s supposed to be powered by the wind and guided by the true Kite Master’s loving control. If we understand the wind in this analogy to be the Spirit of God,
Your Life in God’s Mission
Can you visualize your workplace as your mission? For the sake of argument, let me assume that you have a career path. It may have been challenged of late, and you may be functioning outside your sweet spot. But there is something for which you see yourself best suited. You hope that career will make it possible for you to pay your bills, take care of your family responsibilities, and provide a certain standard of living. You probably also expect it to provide certain less-tangible rewards as titles and social standing. But do you also have a calling? Consistent with the way most people hear that term, a calling involves a clear sense of being commissioned by God for some holy task. It is an awareness of the sovereignty of God over who you are and what you are doing with your life. It is the sense that God’s hand is on you and that he has a sense of genuine pleasure in what you are doing. The real secret to fulfillment is for career and calling to merge into one. Don’t you sense Billy Graham has viewed his as one and the same? What about you? I believe God is offering you an opportunity to make a difference in the world. I am convinced he wants you to change the world. And I further believe that he wants you to see your job, business, or profession as an extension of his kingdom reign on Planet Earth. Here’s what I mean. The sense that one’s career is also a holy calling really shouldn’t startle us. If slaves-become-Christians were counseled to “render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to men and women, knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive the same again from the Lord” (Ephesians 6:7-8 NRSV), then surely you are supposed to be the best employee or employer the Acme Widget Company has ever seen. If not, why not? Above paycheck or promotion, do something that contributes to the good of your world. Let your routine reflect the character and excellence heaven is building into your life. Know that your work is inseparable from your spiritual life — and reflects its authenticity. When your faith cleanses and consecrates your workplace to God, you have found a calling larger than your career. Solomon put it this way: There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their work. This, I saw, is from the hand of God; for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25). Ready to change the world today? God is ready to be your partner. About the author: Rubel Shelly preached for decades, been a professor of medical ethics, Bible, and philosophy at multiple universities and a med school. He is currently Professor of Philosophy & Religion at Lipscomb University. He is the author of more than 30 books and hundreds of inspirational articles.
What is CORE: Finishing
I remain convicted that these passages give us the CORE of what we must believe and practice as Jesus’ disciples. Sometimes, I make things more complicated than they need to be to make sure I haven’t missed something important. That might work when you visit your future mother-in-law for the first time, and you eat more than you should while bragging about how good a cook she is! That no longer works when you are in your sixth decade of life and visiting your mother-in-law. She sees through your compliments and worries that you are ruining your health with your overeating. Trying to say too much when writing about clear and simple truth can have a similar effect. As I have focused on “What is CORE” in the New Testament, I have emphasized three key passages. Each passage claims and stresses that it is central to our faith. Much of the rest of our Christian doctrine and teaching hangs on the structure of those CORE truths: The things of “first importance” we must believe about Jesus (what I call “The Great Faith”) (1 Corinthians 15:1-7). The two “The Great Commands” that Jesus said were the most important commandments in the Scriptures (Matthew 22:34-40). Jesus’ last commandment about making disciples of all nations, what we call “The Great Commission” (Matthew 28:18-20). I remain convicted that these passages give us the CORE of what we must believe and practice as Jesus’ disciples — what we need to become JESUShaped. I don’t believe these truths are CORE because I am a great theologian who discovered something novel or new. I believe they are CORE because they claim to be essential. I also believe they are CORE because much of what the Bible teaches elsewhere orbits around these key ideas. As we conclude this series, let’s finish using a principle important for us in a world with so much noise and so many distractions. We need to live faithfully and teach the truth of the Bible using the KISS principle — Keep It Short and Simple. So, here is a KISS statement to help us remember “What is CORE”: I will live for Jesus by loving God, loving people, and making a difference in the world. To put it another way in bullet format: Jesus is our Lord and Savior because of death, burial, and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-7 — The Great Faith). We will love God and love people like Jesus did and commanded us to do (Matthew 22:34-40 — The Great Commands). We will make a difference in the world by reaching out to all people and inviting them to become disciples of Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20 — The Great Commission). I hope these short summaries help you grab hold of the truths of this series for yourself. We do need to explore the deeper truths about “What is CORE.” Those deeper teachings matter. However, we must not cloud our understanding of the clear and simple CORE principles of our faith. If we live these principles, we are disciples of Jesus. Our goal as Jesus’ disciples is to honor him by becoming like him in what we do and say (Luke 6:40; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Colossians 1:28-29; Galatians 4:19). So, let’s get busy doing “What is CORE”! Which brings us to the questions we want to ask each week of our series: Do I believe this? Do I let this change who I am? Do I let this guide me to what is important in life, in fellowship, in worship, and in doctrine? How can we not? Articles in our series entitled: What is CORE? Jesus! Believing Disciple-making Going Baptizing Training Loving Communing Worshiping Finishing Special thanks for the use of images related to Jesus’ ministry from The Lumo Project and Free Bible Images. About the author: Phil Ware has authored 11 years of daily devotionals, including VerseoftheDay.com, read by 500,000 people a day. He works with churches in transition with Interim Ministry Partners and for the past 21+ years, he has been editor and president of HEARTLIGHT Magazine, author of VerseoftheDay.com, God’s Holy Fire (on the Holy Spirit), and aYearwithJesus.com. Phil has also authored four books, daily devotionals on each of the four gospels.
It’s All About People!
Through the years and all the changes, one thing remains true about the heart of God. First Words: The life of Jesus revolved around people. He always made time for people, even when he was so tired that he desperately needed to get away to a quiet place for rest. When the human inclination was to send them away, “he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:30-44). He saw people at the center of every problem and opportunity. Sick people needed to be healed. Hungry people needed to be fed. Lost people needed to be found. People in distress needed to be comforted. Maybe the issues of our time are so overwhelming because we have forgotten that people are at the center of every problem. What’s more, people are at the center of every solution. We may never call a group of 56 people to meet and draft the founding documents of a new nation, or answer the deep life and death questions, even to our own satisfaction. But Good Samaritan opportunities are everywhere. No training required, no vetting necessary, no permission needed. People are in need, we help them, end of story. Created Equal: The hot and sultry Philadelphia summer was even more uncomfortable when windows were closed and drapes were drawn to keep the deliberations of the Second Continental Congress secret. King George might well consider a declaration of colonial independence a treasonous document; so it would be debated and drafted away from prying eyes. The Revolutionary War had been going for a year when the Congress convened on May 10, 1775, with representatives from twelve of the thirteen colonies, and Georgia to send representatives later. The most vigorous debate was about independence and how to achieve it. Thomas Jefferson’s original draft was altered at least 86 times before an acceptable version could be approved on July 2, 1776, and signed on July 4, 240 years ago. The second sentence of the Declaration is the one Americans know best: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Critics noted that there were almost 700,000 slaves living in the colonies, maybe created equal, but not treated as equals. And others were quick to point out that women, often considered chattel in those days, were hardly treated as equals. Proclaiming equality was easier than practicing it. Saving All: Go back 2,000 or so years to another declaration, this one in the form of a sermon. Urging repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins and the receiving of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Peter then declared, “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off…” (Acts 2:38-39). Just eight chapters later, that same apostle resisted God’s command to preach the gospel to Gentiles. He preached that the gospel is for all, perhaps not realizing that all included Gentiles. Preaching equality was easier than practicing it. Pausing in the Present: With the benefit of hindsight, we wonder how congressional delegates and apostles could have been so unaware of the inconsistencies we see so clearly. Or, do we? We may not handle our issues any better than people in the past handled theirs. I often think that all the easy questions were resolved before I got here, for all the questions now are hard. Life is complex, from beginning to end. I believe that human life begins at conception, but that is my religious conviction rather than a scientific or medical conclusion. Living tissue is not always a human life. Unfertilized eggs and unattached sperm are living, but they are not a human life. Even if we agree that human life begins at conception, we may still have to make painful choices about what to do with that life. If for example, fertilization occurs in the woman’s Fallopian tubes rather than her uterus, that embryo — baby, in my view — cannot survive and the danger to the mother is life-threatening. Rather than labeling and categorizing people who have to make painful choices, maybe we should just love and accept them as PEOPLE. End of life decisions are no less vexing. As a chaplain volunteer in hospital and hospice environments, I have spent a lot of time helping people think through the ethical and moral questions they have about allowing their loved ones to die. Technology enables doctors to keep people “alive” artificially long after meaningful life has ended. Letting go is an awful, yet merciful choice. Seventeen years ago, I had to make that choice when there was nothing else to be done for my father. He had made a Living Will, had DNR orders, end-of-life directives, and a Power of Attorney document giving me a responsibility I would have gladly relinquished. I’m still haunted by my mother’s plaintive question, “Isn’t there just one more thing the doctors can try?” The pain of losing my father was no greater than the pain of having to answer my mother as gently as I possibly could, “No, Mother, there’s nothing more to be done.” Final Thoughts: It’s a long way from Pentecost, to Philadelphia, to beginning of life and end-of-life decisions, yet they are all alike in that they center on people — people who sought forgiveness, people who sought freedom from tyranny, people who would bring new people into our world, and people who help people leave this world peacefully. Don’t turn away from people of a different color; they’re people. People of a different nationality are people. People with different religious beliefs are people. No matter how they may be labeled, people are people. God loved the people of his creation so much that “he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). About the author: These Encouraging
Pentecost!
Note from Jesus Dear Disciple, A new era began after My resurrection. On the day of Pentecost, I poured out the Holy Spirit first on My closest disciples. Then I poured out the Holy Spirit upon all those who responded to their message (Acts 2:38-39; Titus 3:3-5). The pouring out of the Spirit upon My disciples was done loudly and with no small disturbance. The apostles spoke about Me. People from many countries heard the message in their own languages. Yes, there were some skeptics — as there always are. Undeniably, something dramatic was happening. The words spoken by Peter and the apostles were powerful, but there was something more than convincing words touching the hearts of the people. My life, death, and resurrection were proclaimed. Conviction swept through the crowd like wildfire. Their yearning hearts cried out for relief from their rejection of the Messiah, their Lord and Savior — Me. Peter let the crowd at Pentecost know that the same Spirit Who propelled this message past their defenses and brought conviction to their hearts was now available to them if they repented and were baptized. And many were immersed that day based on their faith in Me and turning their lives around to follow Me! Luke, the writer of Acts, described it this way: Whoever made a place for his [Peter’s] message in their hearts received the baptism; in fact, that day alone, about 3,000 people joined the disciples. The movement of the Spirit in My disciples had begun and would sweep across the Mediterranean area in about thirty years. And you, My dear disciple, are a part of that movement that began at Pentecost. You are part of a movement centered on My death, burial, and resurrection. This gospel is proclaimed by people filled with the Holy Spirit. These people are built into a spiritual family that reflects my righteous character and gracious compassion. You can see that Luke emphasized all of this in his telling of the Pentecost story. Please know that I long to do in your day what happened in that time long ago. Come! Believe! Ask for the Spirit’s power to be at work in you, among your spiritual family, and with your efforts to bring the kingdom of God to the lost world around you. Verses to Live These verses talk about the birth of the new era of the Holy Spirit. Read through them a couple of times and then ask yourself if you have responded to the call of My gospel the way those early disciples did. Then open yourself to the work of the Holy Spirit in your day. I long to reanimate My people with grace and power. Don’t let the power of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, be dead in your day! When the holy day of Pentecost came 50 days after Passover, they [the disciples] were gathered together in one place. Picture yourself among the disciples: A sound roars from the sky without warning, the roar of a violent wind, and the whole house where you are gathered reverberates with the sound. Then a flame appears, dividing into smaller flames and spreading from one person to the next. All the people present are filled with the Holy Spirit and begin speaking in languages they’ve never spoken, as the Spirit empowers them. Because of the holy festival, there are devout Jews staying as pilgrims in Jerusalem from every nation under the sun. They hear the sound, and a crowd gathers. They are amazed because each of them can hear the group speaking in their native languages. They are shocked and amazed by this. Pilgrims: Just a minute. Aren’t all of these people Galileans? How in the world do we all hear our native languages being spoken? Look — there are Parthians here, and Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians, and Judeans, residents of Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, Phrygians and Pamphylians, Egyptians and Libyans from Cyrene, Romans including both Jews by birth and converts, Cretans, and Arabs. We’re each, in our own languages, hearing these people talk about God’s powerful deeds. Their amazement becomes confusion as they wonder: Pilgrims: What does this mean? Skeptics: It doesn’t mean anything. They’re all drunk on some fresh wine! As the twelve stood together, Peter shouted to the crowd: Peter: Men of Judea and all who are staying here in Jerusalem, listen. I want you to understand: these people aren’t drunk as you may think. Look, it’s only nine o’clock in the morning! No, this isn’t drunkenness; this is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel. Hear what God says! In the last days, I will offer My Spirit to humanity as a libation. Your children will boldly speak the word of the Lord. Young warriors will see visions, and your elders will dream dreams. Yes, in those days I shall offer My Spirit to all servants, both male and female, and they will boldly speak My word. … Everyone in Israel should now realize with certainty what God has done: God has made Jesus both Lord and Anointed King — this same Jesus Whom you crucified. When the people heard this, their hearts were pierced; and they said to Peter and his fellow apostles: Pilgrims: Our brothers, what should we do? Peter: Reconsider your lives; change your direction. Participate in the ceremonial washing of baptism in the name of Jesus God’s Anointed, the Liberating King. Then your sins will be forgiven, and the gift of the Holy Spirit will be yours. For the promise of the Spirit is for you, for your children, for all people — even those considered outsiders and outcasts — the Lord our God invites everyone to come to Him. Peter was pleading and offering many logical reasons to believe. Whoever made a place for his message in their hearts received the baptism; in fact, that day alone, about 3,000 people joined the disciples. (Acts 2:1-18; Acts 2:36-41) Response in Prayer Almighty God, do in our day what we heard
Can These Bones Live?
Note from Jesus Dear Precious Believer, My resurrection was a surprise to everyone, including My closest followers. It was a glorious shock to their system in many ways, but the truth of My resurrection became obvious through My many appearances. The reanimation and the reinvigoration of My followers — their “resurrected” lives — suddenly became a possibility with My resurrection. New life was no longer a symbolic truth, but a genuine reality. When I poured out the Holy Spirit — the Helper as John the beloved disciple liked to call the Spirit — the power that raised Me from the grave was suddenly poured into the lives of mortal people. That’s why the apostle Paul could pray the following prayers for My disciples in Asia Minor: God of our Lord Jesus the Anointed, Father of Glory: I call out to You on behalf of Your people. Give them minds ready to receive wisdom and revelation so they will truly know You. Open the eyes of their hearts, and let the light of Your truth flood in. Shine Your light on the hope You are calling them to embrace. Reveal to them the glorious riches You are preparing as their inheritance. Let them see the full extent of Your power that is at work in those of us who believe, and may it be done according to Your might and power. Friends, it is this same might and resurrection power that He used in the Anointed One to raise Him from the dead and to position Him at His right hand in heaven. There is nothing over Him. (Ephesians 1:17-20) Father, out of Your honorable and glorious riches, strengthen Your people. Fill their souls with the power of Your Spirit so that through faith the Anointed One will reside in their hearts. May love be the rich soil where their lives take root. May it be the bedrock where their lives are founded so that together with all of Your people they will have the power to understand that the love of the Anointed is infinitely long, wide, high, and deep, surpassing everything anyone previously experienced. God, may Your fullness flood through their entire beings. Now to the God Who can do so many awe-inspiring things, immeasurable things, things greater than we ever could ask or imagine through the power at work in us, to Him be all glory in the church and in Jesus the Anointed from this generation to the next, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:16-21) This power and glorious reanimation of what was dead was foreshadowed by the prophet Ezekiel hundreds of years earlier. Seeing the people of Israel “beyond dead” — nothing more than symbolically being a bunch of scattered, dried, and unburied bones piled high and abandoned in an open valley as the remnants of war — the Father told Ezekiel to speak life into those bones. When those bones took on sinew and flesh, the Father told Ezekiel to prophesy the breath of the Eternal, the Spirit of the living God, to make those bones live. The gloriously strange vision you find in the verses below is what the coming of the Holy Spirit means to My followers. Where there once was death, the Holy Spirit, the Breath of Heaven, can bring life. As the Father said, “I will breathe My Spirit into you, and you will be alive once again.” With My resurrection, I defeated death, sin, and hell. I poured out the Spirit on My people at Pentecost (Acts 2:14-21; Acts 2:33-39). I continue to pour out the Spirit on each believer (Titus 3:3-7) when she or he shares in My life, death, and resurrection based on faith and experienced through immersion with Me into My saving grace (Romans 6:3-7). The Breath of Heaven that Ezekiel prophesied to make the dead bones live was at work in My resurrection. This same Holy Spirit, Who was the power behind My resurrection, has also been at work in the lives of My disciples from Pentecost up until your time and will continue His work among My disciples until I return. This Breath of Heaven, this glorious power of the Holy Spirit, is available to you now. The Spirit has the power to bring life out of death, hope out of despair, and strength out of powerlessness. Can these bones live? Yes, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you can begin to experience everlasting life! Verses to Live Do you feel dead and lifeless in your spiritual walk? Are you ever frustrated with the powerlessness you see in the lives of those who claim to be My people? Do you long for the powerful influence of the Spirit that you see in the book of Acts? Then I ask you to read Ezekiel’s old prophecy and remember this: the Holy Spirit, Who has this power, is available to you and is at work among My people who pray for the Helper’s power to be released among them and in them (Luke 11:13). The Eternal had a hold on me, and I couldn’t escape it. The divine wind of the Eternal One picked me up and set me down in the middle of the valley, but this time it was full of bones. God led me through the bones. There were piles of bones everywhere in the valley — dry bones left unburied. Eternal One (to Ezekiel): Son of man, do you think these bones can live? Ezekiel: Eternal Lord, certainly You know the answer better than I do. Eternal One: Actually, I do. Prophesy to these bones. Tell them to listen to what the Eternal Lord says to them: “Dry bones, I will breathe breath into you, and you will come alive. I will attach muscles and tendons to you, cause flesh to grow over them, and cover you with skin. I will breathe breath into you, and you will come alive. After this happens, you will know that I am the Eternal.”