Todays Life

ACTS 2 (NLT)

The Holy Spirit Comes

2 On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. ² Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.³ Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. ⁴ And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

Everybody loves the spectacular celebration of a new birth. The new life, the fulfillment of expectations, the excitement of a brand new life and the unlimited potential it represents. The 2^nd chapter of Acts records the birth of today’s Church age with the gift of the Holy Spirit and the unlimited potential that comes with it n our lives.   Often we are drawn spectacular events and happenings that take place around us. We go to ballgames, car races, or concerts to name just a few and we are looking for the spectacular and exciting to happen at any moment. It is odd why we don’t have the same expectations when we go to a worship service or Church gathering. There we expect “normal” and most often that is exactly what we get so we continue each meeting with the same expectations. Nothing to big or too small just where it always is and our expectation is met with success. We often then begin to think of Normal as a purpose for us in the Church. It does not look like from the scriptures that God planned for our gathering and meeting time to have “normal” expectations?  

Michaelangelo said – “ The Greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it BUT that it is too low and we reach it.”

It is clear in the writing of Luke on the day of Pentecost that God’s fulfillment of Jesus promise of a helper and encourager was met in only a way God could provide and that was SPECTACULAR ! Can you imagine the feeling in a room of people where “everybody present” was filled with the Holy Spirit? Pastors go into pulpits every week with a thought out and God guided message in hopes of just reaching one person. If the message today opens a persons heart or plants a seed that yields the Holy Spirit then it is a spectacular success. That is because most weeks go by with no movement and just a normal week to week process of what we call Church. Gods ability and willingness to provide the spectacular to “everyone” under the presence of His Holy Spirit are with us every week. May we open our ears and heart to God’s word and His Spirit that it may accomplish something spectacular in us. That it may fill us in a way that we would serve our purpose with the unlimited potential the spirit provides us.

Happy Belated Father’s Day !  

Some say it is better late than never to get well wishes and while that may be true; Father’s day can never really be late if we are willing to look at it from God’s point of view. Much effort and language is crafted for Father’s day cards to account for the types of fathers in the world today. Father’s can be New, they can be Old ( experienced ), they can be the father of one or many children, they can be a biological father to some and a father figure to others. It can be a daunting task to find a sermon for father’s day that covers all the bases. What if we took a perspective about Father’s day from who God is as our heavenly Father.

The definition of a Father includes the title of “ Originator” or the plural “ Originators” – one who creates or initiates something. Synonyms for Father include: Inventor, architect, author, founder and innovator. The record in Genesis is clear on the Creator of our Universe and the architectural order of it ALL.

GENESIS 1

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
³ Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”
And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.

The scripture says that all that God created was Good and he was satisfied but he needed a “stweard” and God being an innovator Genesis records that we were made in His image as His crowning creation. God placed us in a position of stewardship over His creation and he became the Author of the Human story with the blessing of “ Be fruitful and multiply.

GENESIS 1

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” ²⁷ So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. ²⁸ Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply.

We can celebrate Father’s Day with God EVERY day. We can thank Him for His love for us and for creating us the wonderfully made beings we are with the ability to reason and think. He blessed us with the capacity to love one another and in His image serve and take care of the blessings He provides us in a way that would be pleasing to Him. God and Jesus ( “originators” ) began a story with creation that we are still living and writing today by fulfilling our purpose in life.

As we go our way this week may we give thanks to our heavenly father for all of His love and blessings that he has and is providing us each day.

It is Never to Late to THANK Him ……

Genesis 25:34 ( NLT ) ³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate the meal, then got up and left. He showed contempt for his rights as the firstborn.

For those graduating at this time of year this message can be of great value to you. Do not give away your future value by lowering your self esteem for a short cut or an easy way out. At some point it will come back to you in a perspective that clearly shows what you traded away as a long term value was far greater than what you traded it for and how it can limit your life.  

The exchange in Genesis 25 between Jacob and Esau was not the natural order of man’s plan in life but is a direct fulfillment of our struggle with human nature. Sin in temptation comes to everyone and most often it is disguised as a “short cut” that moves us to trade our long term value for short term satisfaction. It can be an appetite for much more than soup – It can be lust for self gratification, wealth, popularity, knowledge or any other area where we do not have what we want. It is in this frame of mind that we leave what our spirits know is real for what our bodies want at the moment. By accepting less we give away our future life by devaluing our current life like Esau did and it will cost us greatly just as it did him.

If you are graduating or moving from one place in life to the next make sure to look at all the possibilities and plan for the long term. A sign of a maturing adult is to delay short term satisfaction for the results and benefits of a long term plan.

John 21: 20 – 22 ²⁰ Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved—the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, “Lord, who will betray you?” ²¹ Peter asked Jesus, “What about him, Lord?”
²² Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.” 

After Jesus and His Apostles had breakfast on the beach, in John 21, Jesus provides Peter with His purpose in life based on Peter’s threefold commitment to his love for Jesus. Even with his promise to carry and advance Jesus ministry here on earth Peter still has the free will of human nature in him. Now that Peter knows what he is going to do he wants to also know what John will do in the future. We always like to compare our lot and place in life to others whether it be our path in life, our day to day obstacles and circumstances or just to see where we are in the scheme of things in compared to those we know. This type of comparison has 3 big challenges for us in life – 1) comparing our path to others will most likely either make us feel good or bad for the results in our life that is completely independent of our purpose. 2)  Looking at someone else allows us to take our focus off our relationship with God and what His purpose really is for us. 3) It takes valuable time from our lives that we could be fulfilling our purpose and producing fruit for God according to that purpose here on earth. With our lives here being a “one way” ticket there is only one of any given minute, hour or day in our lives. No two can be the same and no two can ever be repeated so our faith should move us to follow Jesus without getting bogged in how we might measure our lives by the lives of others. Jesus answer to Peter here is a firm reminder for us that our days here are limited and each one is a gift granted by Him. If we are  trying to busy ourselves with others business we should hear God in our conscience asking “ What is that to you?”. May that reminder keep us on track and faithful to our calling knowing that God has all things under His hand and we are to simply Follow Him …………… 

John 21: 15-17
¹⁵ After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.”
“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.
¹⁶ Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.”
“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.
¹⁷ A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.

The last moments that John records of Jesus with His apostles finds them having breakfast on the shore after their unsuccessful night of fishing and Jesus gracious provision of food for them. He brings them both food for the body and for the soul. After they had eaten and were fellowshipping together Jesus and Peter have an opportunity to talk and from Peter’s view they had a lot to catch up on after his denial of Jesus in His hour of distress and trial. Yet we see that Jesus is not focused on the past but the future and how Peter will live as he goes forward from this day. Some commentaries pair the threefold request from Jesus to Peter as a type of follow up to the three denials Peter made and maybe so but the focus here is on Jesus’ love for Peter and the ministry He prepared Peter for while he was alive. We may not often read God’s word and ask ourselves the question over and over if we believe on Faith that God loves us. The question can be asked of us at any point and time in any day – do we Love God. Simply saying it over and over will not suffice to prove out our feelings and gratitude to God for His Grace extended to us in Jesus Christ. Our lives have to show forth fruit of our Love for God in how we behave and treat others. All of us like sheep can go astray and need the help, kindness and encouragement from others that feed the empty place in our souls to renew our acceptance and commitment of our Love for God. Sometimes we repeat questions to make sure the question and the answer are understood. Jesus was not repeating to change Peter’s mind or even for him to reflect back to his prior failures. The text says Jesus repeated His first question and then asked a third time. Maybe God asks us the question over and over not for us to answer differently but to get to work on our first answer………………….  

In Genesis 3:20 Eve was called by the title of “Mother” before she had actually brought forward any children. From the beginning God recognized the two fold function of a mother. One was to bilogically give life to another human being and second was to provide for and raise that life into a functional living being. The one who gives us life is our bioligal mother and without whom we would not exist to be a part of “All Living Things.” Depending on our direction and circumstances in life there will also be someone who becomes our mentor, coach, encourager and friend. If that is the same person then the bond of mother grows even stronger and yet we can feel a love for both areas in our lives if it happens to be different people. Our desire for a relationship and to be loved will always move us to look for someone to learn and grow with as we go along in life. No matter who we are or where we are today we can feel those connections in our lives. Today is a day to reflect and to remember the mother(s) that have impacted our lives. It also provides an opportunity for us to reach out and thank them, and tell them how much we appreciate them. If they are no longer with us it is most likely that their influence has become a part of our lives that we may now pass on to our children or to other young people in need of support. A mothers love is still giving life and impacting lives long after their life here is over. Please pray over this and reach out to a special “mother” in your life today.

Easter was a great marker this year coming in the middle of April with many of Gods flowers and trees in bloom it brought forward the message of renewal and resurrection in a wonderful way. The resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone of our faith and our promise of eternal life provided by God on our acceptance of faith in forgiveness of our sins under the blood of Jesus on the Cross. The resurrection under God’s power escapes our ability to understand and moves us to Faith in His word and Promise through Jesus. We like for things to make sense to us by fitting it into our “logical” box. This works nice when things fit and make sense to us but it leaves little to no room for faith and growth in our lives. Easter gives us an opportunity to use our logic and reason as far as we can take it in understanding God’s power through the resurrection. Easter brings us to a remembrance of his love for us and the Grace of the final sacrifice for our sin in His death providing our forgiveness. Our faith after Easter rises in the light of Grace under the power of the resurrection. Grace extends the gift of forgivenss and eternal life to us through God’s love and power. That love should move us to live so that the Grace of the resurrection is evident in our daily lives.

The story of the 2 travelers on the road to Emmaus is a wonderful illustration of living our lives inside our day to day circumstances and God finding us in that day to day struggle and opening our spirits to his Word and guidance.

One of our biggest challenges in life is we think salvation and a relationship with God is a destination – a state in life we will attain to when we are worthy of salvation and the relationship, we will share with God one day in Heaven. That may be true, but it is NOT what God created us for – the scripture says he created us for his pleasure and his purpose. His pleasure is in a relationship with us where we value him daily and live out his love in our lives to fulfill the purpose, he has for each of us. The purpose God has for us is not a destination (although that comes with it) it is a journey thru this life that he has provided and blessed us with. That life is lived each and every day that we get up and go out about our way. God’s word is our light in the darkness, it is a map and a compass all in one that provides direction for us each day.

The Bible provides direction, correction, teaching, training – it is a living document and that is what makes it so powerful. It is not a just a document of history, it has current application and its most powerful attribute is as a prophetic guide into our future. This living power of God’s word assures us that He will not only be with us in our darkest hour, but he be with us and provide a light for our path to remain in His love for us. God seeks a daily relationship with us where we look to him for our day to day guidance. Like the travelers on the Emmaus road may He be a light on our path today.

On the day of the resurrection when the two travelers from Emmaus were telling their story to the apostles and Jesus appeared to them Thomas was not with them. Now a week later when He appears again, Thomas is with them and Jesus is aware of his doubts from His earlier visit. Jesus first words were “Peace be with you.”  But then He singles out Thomas, and demands that Thomas step forward. “Put your finger in my wound, see my hands, reach out and touch me.  Do not doubt, believe,” Jesus demands of Thomas.  And with those words, Thomas immediately recognizes Jesus, and says, “My Lord and My God.”  And Jesus responds, “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have come to believe.”

The beauty in this story for me is in Jesus’ love for Thomas – even in his doubt.  Jesus’ compassion for Thomas, acknowledges that deep faith requires perseverance, it requires attention to both the head and the heart, and it takes time. There are people who do not need to see to believe.  People who have heard the old, old stories and imprinted them on their hearts.  As we grow older and navigate our way thru more and more of life’s circumstances, we tend to get a better long-term view of God’s plan and His love and faithfulness for us. It is why we see many older believers that have a firm grasp of the Truths in the Bible. They have lived and seen lived so many life experiences where faith was proven out that in their hearts, it is just a daily truth for them. God has supported and strengthened their faith over time and the fact that God is in control of this world is now a part of their lives and the foundation that they live their lives on every day.

When we doubt in our day to day life and our cynical nature holds us up waiting on God to show us a sign we would do well to remember Jesus words to Thomas    ……Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” 

The story of Thomas is not about doubting. The story of Thomas is about a merciful and loving Jesus who will come to us where we are and give us what we need to believe. Accepting Jesus extends to us both Mercy and Grace. Mercy is not getting something we deserve and Grace is getting something we never deserved. Forgiveness of our sins is God’s Mercy provided in Jesus death and the promise of Life beyond this life in Heaven is God’s Grace provided in Jesus resurrection.      

Luke 24
Jesus Appears to the Disciples

35 Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road, and how they had recognized him as he was breaking the bread. 36 And just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 37 But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost! 38 “Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt?

Dr. Luke records here the ending of the wonderful story of the two travelers on the road to Emmaus. Luke writes that on the same day ( resurrection Sunday ) these two travelers having experienced the life and loss of Jesus are turning to move on in their lives or at least be in a smaller town with less noise and commotion than has been lived in Jerusalem over the past week. They are leaving to move on but like all us of they bring the past with them and are discussing the events of Jesus life, trial, death and resurrection as they walk. Jesus joins them and Luke records the encounter that they shared along the road in Vs 13-33 where they head back to Jerusalem and in our text, relay their day to the apostles who are behind locked doors hiding in fear and doubt.

It seems that we go through life living out the paradox that is our Faith and our doubts. We have come to accept as normal our continual questioning and doubt, always looking for logical answer to satisfy our minds. Doubt is a such a normal condition for us that we fail often to look at where it comes from and what affect it has on our lives.

In our daily lives like the travelers on the road to Emmaus we encounter life and the stress of circumstances. That puts a doubt in our hearts and brings our minds to worry about our present and future under a fear of uncertainty. We long for a return to normal because it brings us the comfort of the known. Normal is less Doubt because we really don’t think about it so there is also less Fear and Worry.

We tend to really want to rely on our ability and knowledge of things to prove out everything in our lives. We value our wisdom that is built from a hands on “ show me” attitude to try to confirm even our spiritual lives and often ignore the simple yet profound nature of the Gospel Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25  (NLT)       The Wisdom of God

18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. 19 As the Scriptures say,  “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”[a] ……………………. 25 This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength

Reason is our logical box and has the limit of what we individually can process and understand – it is what we always try to fit life into. Faith doesn’t share that limit. The apostles had Jesus with them and had him reappear to them after his resurrection and still they doubted – They needed to fit the spiritual into their “logical box” of life that made sense to them. If it didn’t make sense (that is they could not touch or feel it like Thomas) they couldn’t believe.

The result of this leads us to physical solutions and not enough spiritual space for Faith. So many times, we think I will come to God when I get my life right. When I have things in order and life is normal and I have no worries or fears I will come and serve God.

God is looking for us where we are (like the two he joined on the road to Emmaus) – if we can’t accept him where we are then how can he use us anywhere else. We recognize that God’s plan is far removed

from ours, but it is His plan in the end that will be accomplished. We must come to God with our shortcomings of doubt, fear and worry and allow Him to lead us to a more purposeful life in his service.