Monthly Archives: January 2012
How God Played a Joke on Me . . . or The Time I May Have Spoke In Tongues!
Normally, I would arrive at the church around 8:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. I would park at the southeast corner of the large building and then cut through the youth room—a large multi-purpose room connected to the south end of the church and then exit through the northwest corner of the youth room, head to the garage and get the van. This route took me straight through the far south part of the church and left me nowhere near a telephone. The plan was to get the church van out of the garage, warm it up, head out and begin picking up 10-15 youth for Sunday School and be back at the church by 9:30.
On this particular morning however, I diverted from my path and went the long way around , through the building. I don’t really know why I did that. I’d never done it before. Nobody was there. I guess I just decided I needed the exercise. In reality, I probably had an ADD moment and forgot how to get to the church van. In any event, just as I was passing the Sunday School office (a small covey hole with a desk, a file cabinet . . . . and a phone), the telephone began to ring.
I stopped and answered the phone, realizing that no one should be at the church and therefore, no one should be calling it. I identified myself and heard a whimpering, young female voice on the other end of the line. The young lady explained that her father had brought her down from Albuquerque (250 miles away) on Friday and moved her into a dorm for the fall semester of college. Just before her father went back to Albuquerque, he had taken her to a used car lot and purchased a car for her to navigate around town. Since it was still a few days before school was scheduled to start, the young lady had only met one or two people and she was unable to get hold of them.
She had woke up hungry and excited on this beautiful Sunday morning and decided to go get some breakfast. On the way, she stopped to get gasoline for her new car. But once filled, the car wouldn’t start. In our small town of Portales back in the mid-eighties, there were no repair shops open on Sundays, so she called her dad. The family had rarely ever attended church and her dad was apparently operating under the false assumption that churches were filled with off-duty mechanics at 8:00 on Sunday mornings, and they must be just sitting around waiting for an opportunity to rescue a damsel in distress. With this erroneous thinking in place, dad told daughter to get a phone book and call a local church for help. After all, that’s what the church is there for, he assured her.
As it turned out, there were no off-duty mechanics in our church when she called. I’m not sure there were ever any in our congregation. What she got, was an off-duty idiot playing the role of a youth minister. I had no idea what to do, so I simply told her I’d be right there. I got the directions and the church van and headed to the convenience store where she was waiting.
I know a little amount about cars, but I’ve never been great at diagnosing their problems. I can take a car apart and put it back together, but to actually fix one . . . . well, that’s another story altogether. When I drove up, I found the young lady with her red, puffy eyes, still sitting next to the gas pump. She was just beside herself and still so upset, she was trembling. I asked her to pop the hood and when she couldn’t figure it out, I got in and tried to help. It turns out that the car was an English model and was very different from anything I’d ever seen. By the time I figured out how to open the hood, she had already filled me in on her story.
I walked to the front of the car and raised the hood. To my horror, I didn’t recognize anything under the hood. I assumed there was engine in there somewhere, but it didn’t look anything at all like any motor I’d ever seen. I glanced around the hood and looked into the eyes of this eighteen year old lady who had now placed what was left of her hope for humanity in me. I knew I was about to let her down and have no idea what possessed me to do what I did next, but I just jumped in with both feet and did one of the many things that makes me think that I am so adorable.
With no idea what to do to fix the car or make it start—it would crank, but it wouldn’t fire off—I placed my left hand on what I think was a strange looking air breather and held my right hand in the air. With my open palm stretched toward heaven, I cried out:
“Umnighbegamedilliwhoopum!” I have no idea what that was supposed to mean—it was simply garbledy-goop to me and in my moment of uselessness, I guess I decided to go down in flames. I leaned around the hood and saw that the young lady’s eyes were about to bug out of her head and said in my best redneck accent, “try it now!”
She never took her eyes off of me or even blinked, but she reached for the key and turned it. The car instantly roared to life. If it were possible, she appeared to be even more shocked than she had been a moment before. I shut the hood and walked up to her, handed her a card from our church and told her we would be serving donuts and coffee/juice in about an hour to the handful of other college and career kids that would undoubtedly be there. I invited her to come and then turned, got in the van and drove away. She still hadn’t blinked and I just acted like I did that sort of thing all the time.
Now, some of my Assembly of God friends (and others), may actually do that kind of thing from time to time, but I’m a dumb Baptist and had never experienced anything like that. I still have no idea what happened, except for this: God used a used car that had malfunctioned to set a series of strange circumstances in play. Whether I yielded to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, or was just placed in the right place at the right time, I’m not sure.
What I am sure about is that once I answered the phone, I had a choice to make. Either I could try to rescue this young lady, or admit I knew nothing about cars and was too busy to get involved, leaving her to look elsewhere for help.
When I arrived back at the church with a van full of youth, someone met me at the door to tell me that the young lady was there and had asked for me. I went and found her in the college department where she was already getting to know a couple of other students. She jumped up and came to give me my long overdue hug and then broke into tears again. I just chuckled and told her the Lord had something special in store for her.
Little did I realize that in a few short weeks, she would invite Jesus into her life as her Lord and Savior and a few years later, would surrender to serving Christ as a missionary. She became a vital part of our college and career group and our lives, before leaving to follow God out into the world of missions a few years later. When I think about this story, it still gives me goose bumps to think that because I didn’t know anything, God was able to show Himself to her (and maybe me too) in a very special way, and I wasn’t able to take any credit at all for it! It would have been so easy (and even logical) for me to have said “no” to God at any point along the way. I wonder what it would be like if we could learn to better follow the prodding of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives.
Love . . . in 3-D!
Admittedly, there are not very many good 3-D movies out there. But they are making more of them and when you find a good one, it’s usually worth the price of admission. Why? Because we suddenly see things on the movie screen that we don’t normally see. When that happens, the picture comes alive. Sometimes we need to see things in the Bible in the same way in order to get the deeper meaning. Hopefully, we will see this very old message in a new way this morning–as if we were seeing it in 3-D for the first time.
We will start with the definition of the word “Love.” Biblically speaking, love is one of the most misunderstood and most talked about words used in our Christian expressions. The first problem begins with the modern definition of the word love in English. Many dictionaries begin the many and varied lists of meanings with this: “Love is an emotion.” By far, the most widely used form of the word love is while we are thinking of it as a noun. An emotion. Generally a feel good moment, thing, or person. When using love this way, we are looking at it from the perspective of how does (blank) make me feel. If I feel good enough, then I say I love (blank).
But this is not how the Bible itself defines love. Take a look:
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails.
–1 Corinthias 13, 4-8a, NIV, ‘84
Love’s 3-D’s:
- Love is a DECISION. We do not often have a lot of say-so in whom we are attracted to. But we can definitely choose whom we love!
- Love requires DISCIPLINE. Practicing things like patience, kindness and not being self-seeking (or selfish) requires a lot of work! These things do not come easily to most of us. When I was younger, my grandmother told me I needed to pray for patience. I told her I didn’t want any!
- Love is DIFFICULT. The practice and the wishing will not make it so. When we try to love someone, at some point we will fail. We have difficulty understanding that. We usually think of the other person as the one who fails.
- Love is an action VERB! And here is the root of our problem! We often think of love as “the way we ‘feel’ toward another person.” But when we think that way, we are being “self-seeking” or “self-serving.” We say we love someone when we feel good about being around them. This emotion is more closely related to lust than love. Lust is what we get–love is what we give. As soon as many people stop “getting” in a relationship, then they want out.
So, what are we to do with this information? How do we live out Biblical love? It’s one thing to begin understanding love as a verb rather than a feel-good emotion, but it’s entirely another to figure out how Jesus would have us put that new-found knowledge into practice. If we are truly followers of Jesus, then we must figure out how to follow Him in the most important area:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
–Jesus, (John 13:34, NIV, ‘84)
So, how exactly, using love as an action we take, rather than an emotion we feel, do we go about loving others the Jesus wants us to? Let’s look:
27“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. 35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
–Jesus, (Luke 6:27-36, NIV, ‘84)
- Jesus tells us to love those who do not love us!
- Another way to say this is that we are supposed to do things we may not like doing for people we’d rather not be around!
- It’s not about us! It’s about Him and them!
Live Life On Purpose!
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico was the scene. I was sixteen and Billy Graham was coming to the University’s “Pit!” The place where the UNM Lobos play basketball. My parents allowed me to drive to Albuquerque with a friend to attend two nights of the crusade. Dr. Graham has been one of my heroes ever since I became aware of him. He preached in a way I could relate to. He made sense. I’d seen him numerous times on TV and now, I wanted to see him in person.
I remember sitting in the arena, just far enough from the stage that we couldn’t clearly make out the faces of the people who were coming and going. Every once in a while, a small group of men would emerge from the tunnel and make their way to the stage. Each time, I would strain, trying to see if Dr. Graham was among them. A couple of times, we thought we saw him. But each time, it turned out to be one more of a litany of dignitaries that had been allowed to sit on the stage.
Finally, after what seemed to me to be way too long, something dramatic happened. It started out innocuous enough. Another group of men emerged and separated themselves by forming a type of walking circle from two very tall looking men in the center of the circle. One had jet black hair and the other was white headed. Even before the lights went dim and a spotlight illuminated them, I recognized these two men as Cliff Barrows and George Beverly Shea. I tried to contain my excitement because I knew what would happen next. Sure enough as someone at the pulpit said, “please welcome . . . “ I could see another group just like the one in the spot light. But this one was make it’s way in the pseudo darkness, but with the swirling lights fit for a rock band, occasionally one would cross the second group and the two men in the middle. Both men were tall. One was wearing a black suit with a black shirt and had a full, teased back head of hair. The other, no less distinguished was Billy Graham. I was already on my feet waiting for them to introduce Billy and the man in black–Johnny Cash.
You’ve probably been in a similar situation. Excited anticipation of someone or something coming your way. And at least in my case with Billy Graham, the anticipation was rewarded by the way he entered. With a security entourage in tow, Billy Graham and the other three mentioned, all entered with a certain swagger. No hesitation. No doubt of where they were headed. They entered with purpose.
Jesus did that when He went to Samaria. He did it in most of the things that He did. And He did it again when led the parade into Jerusalem for the most memorable coronation ceremony in history:
35They brought [the donkey colt] to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. 37When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
38“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
40“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
–Luke 19:35-40, NIV ‘84
- Jesus came to establish a “love relationship” with us.
When we actively express our love toward someone, and we are really sold out about expressing that love, it is said that we are “worshiping that person.” The crowd was “worshiping” Jesus by expressing their love and adoration to Him.
“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
–Jesus, (John 17:3, NIV ‘84)
- We were told the greatest commandment is to love God.
37“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment.
–Jesus, (Matthew 22:37-38, NIV ‘84)
- We most often express our love for God/Jesus through our worship.
- In the Luke passage above, we find Jesus riding into Jerusalem and the masses are worshiping Him!
In many ways, Jesus was being tempted in this moment. “How”, you say? Look at this passage of the temptation of Christ:
8Again, the devil took [Jesus] to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
–Satan, (Matthew 4:8-9, NIV ‘84)
- We are told that Jesus was tempted in the desert after His baptism.
- But Satan continued tempting Jesus at every opportunity.
- In the two previous accounts above, Jesus remained focused on His mission.
- Jesus could not remain in the moment. He had come in part to establish a love relationship with us. But now that the people were worshiping Him, He couldn’t allow Himself to get caught up in that. He had another task to do.
- He had to continue His journey, His mission, His task. Every step Jesus took from this point on was following a shadow . . . . . . of a cross.
Jesus was focused on His mission rather than His desires. He was living every step of His life on purpose! What about us? Do we plot out our mission each morning? Do we plan a moment or two of ministry into our lives each day? Or do we just coast and take life as it comes to us? I wonder, what would Jesus do?
The Things Prayer Changes!
Winter had been long and cold that year. Looking back, it had been pretty bleak as well. At least for the Kelly’s and their closest friends. The diagnosis had been simple enough for Wendell—Esophageal Ulcer. All Wendell had known was that it hurt when he ate. And Wendell loved to eat.
The doctors had promised Wendell and his wife of thirty-five years a routine surgery followed by a few long overdue dietary changes and then, life could return to normal. Cecile could hardly remember “normal.” Wendell had driven the two-hours it took to get to the hospital and then he and Cecile took a walk from the parking garage to the registration desk. It’s funny how you never know when or where your last walk will be.
“Sometimes this happens,” was all the doctor could say to comfort Cecile after the surgery. There didn’t seem to be a lot of urgency, but on the other hand, you are supposed to “wake up.” Wendell’s vital signs were good, but he wouldn’t respond to any stimuli. He just laid there with his eyes taped shut. Cecile began making long distance phone calls from the hospital’s courtesy phone. She hadn’t planned to stay in Lubbock more than one night and wasn’t sure what to do.
The doctors had informed Cecile that if Wendell didn’t wake up in the first 24 hours, it was likely that he would suffer brain damage. 36 hours later, they were informing Cecile and friends that if Wendell didn’t wake up in 48 hours, the likely hood was that he wouldn’t at all.
Wendell and Cecile were core members of their church. Wendell was a deacon. Cecile was the unofficial church decorator. She also worked with either the children’s ministry or in the nursery. They were avid youth group sponsors that could always be counted on to take trips with the youth.
As you might expect, the church had placed Wendell on the prayer list way back before he had even been diagnosed. Just a little pain in the upper chest that increased upon swallowing. Now, the many friends were beginning to unofficially pray around the clock. A week into the ordeal, there was no longer any medical hope, and yet the church continued to pray, asking for a miracle from the Creator.
Why does God allow the things that happen, to happen? We won’t be able to fully answer that this side of Heaven, but once in while, we hear of a true miracle that gives us hope and keeps us praying. On a Sunday morning, exactly one month after the surgery, Wendell and CeCele’s pastor veered off the scheduled order of events after the opening hymn. He asked for the congregation to come to the front of the church and kneel before God and pray. He gave them a portion of Scripture to dwell on as they did this: Numbers 14:11-20.
The people came to the front, knelt and one by one, or several at a time, offered up prayers on behalf of Wendell. Finally, at 12:15, the pastor stood and without a sermon, gave the final dismal prayer. He, and others, went home exhausted. The time in Lubbock was 1:15 in the afternoon.
At 1:00, the pastor’s wife received a phone call from Cecile Kelly. Cecile called to report that at 45 minutes earlier, (1:15 in Lubbock) Wendell opened his eyes and began to make gagging noises as he tried to communicate. The nurses rushed in and began removing feeding tubes, allowing a very weakened Wendell to speak. His first words: “Can I have a steak now?”
They laughed . . . . and cried . . . . . and hugged and brought him soup. Wendell had no idea that he had been in a coma for a month. To him, he had simply woke from surgery. Wendell had lost a lot of weight, and his road back to full health would still be a long journey. But several years later, Wendell and his Wife Cecile officially retired and moved to Lubbock.
And the people that were present in that very special church service remain changed to this day, having been in the very real presence of a holy God. Prayer changes things. But when we truly pray, believing all that there is to believe in, then we often find that the things prayer changes most . . . . is us.
Why I Don’t Watch Late Night Basketball!
I don’t normally eat breakfast. I’m more of a late-night-snack guy. The other night I was sitting in my recliner watching a basketball game on TV. It was a late game, but I was determined to see it through. At about half-time, I woke up and became aware of the strong sensation of hunger. I had to let that sensation simmer for a few moments while I tried to regain consciousness.
I decided a snack would help perk me up and get me through the second half wide awake. Our kitchen is just off the bedroom where my wife was making wounded moose sounds (her version of snoring). I didn’t want to wake her, so I didn’t turn on the light. As is my habit, I removed a large empty butter tub from the shelf (my choice of bowl), and filled it half way up with my favorite man-cereal: Honey Smacks.
At about that time, one of the dogs wanted out so I put the cereal on the counter and went to the back door. It was cold out and my basset hound, Beau, is afraid of the grass. When he needs to go, I have to walk out in the grass ahead of him so he can see that he won’t fall through, be attacked, or suddenly explode. I’m not sure what his deal is, but by the time he got through going, I noticed that I was now cold. I was shivering. This wouldn’t have happened had I thought to put on a coat, but I hadn’t. We came back in and I quickly returned to my place in my recliner. I grabbed a nearby blanket, covered up and was quickly joined by my fifty pound lap dog who was now invigorated by his late evening jaunt four feet out into the yard and wanted to play.
At this point, I realized that not only was I cold and missing the game because of the huge beast standing on my chest, but I was still hungry. After some wrestling I finally got my dog off of me (he thought we were playing and kept dragging out the event) and headed back into the kitchen to get a bowl of cereal. I went to the cupboard to retrieve a butter dish and cereal. There was very little cereal left and then I remembered, I had already pored a bowl . . . . . somewhere.
After a brief amount of searching, I discovered the cereal in the bowl on the counter. But now that my eyes had adjusted to the dim evening light, it appeared that my cereal bowl was way too full. I turned on the light above the stove and sure enough, the bowl was almost full of cereal. This obviously was a waste of cereal. I would not be able to eat that much and it would take a second bowl just to put the milk in. I thought about this quandary and decided that some of the cereal would have to go back in the bag.
After searching diligently, but unsuccessfully for a funnel, I remembered I had one in the garage. I went back outside in the cold and opened the garage door. My garage is kind of disorganized and I couldn’t find the funnel in the dark. Since the light switch is in the bedroom (I don’t know why it’s in the bedroom—I didn’t put it there) where my wife was still sleeping, I gave up and returned to the kitchen. I was now cold all over again and shivering. I decided to try to hold the self-sealing bag of cereal open with one hand and pour the cereal back into it with the other.
It was just at the moment that with shivering hands I began to pour the cereal back into the bag, that I discovered that I had apparently forgotten that I had already put milk in the cereal. The Honey Smacks were deviously hiding the milk from my view and all the while pretending to be filled higher than they were. Between my shivering, the surprise presence of the milk, and the slightly flawed plan, I wound up pouring cereal and milk all over the counter and noticed that much of it was running down past the burners and ending up under the stove top.
I knew Sara was not gonna be happy with this in the morning, so I decided it would have to be cleaned up. I snuck into the bedroom and returned to the kitchen. I gently placed the rudely awakened cat on the counter top and watched him go to work. I could tell this was gonna be more than the cat could handle by himself, so I picked up Beau and placed him on the counter too. This worked well for a moment, but apparently, Beau got a little to close to Bob (the cat), and Bob snarled and clawed at Beau. This maneuver on Bob’s part caused Beau to bark several times in self-defense.
Beau jumped from the counter taking a few pots and pans with him, I presumed for his protection. All of the barking, meowing, clanging and banging, brought my wife from the bedroom requiring an answer to her question: “What is going on in here?”
I answered in the only way I know how. I told her, “Apparently, Beau got up on the counter and tried to get into the cereal and milk I had left there. The cat was already up there and they got into a fight.”
After a late night impromptu discussion, Sara took the cat and went to bed. I tried to figure out whether I needed a broom or a mop. Neither seemed quite right, so I opted for the shop vac. By the time I returned to the living room, the game was over and so was the post game. I still don’t know who won. But I sure learned a lesson!
And that’s why I don’t watch late-night basketball! It’s nothing but trouble!
Where Do You Stand?
January 18, 2012–Danny Sadler
Have you ever had to pick a team or a group that you wanted to support? How did you decide which group you wanted to be part of? Have you ever secretly supported a group or a team, but you were afraid to let others know what you thought? I have cheered for teams in the Superbowl before, but because “my team” hadn’t made it, I really didn’t care who won. I was a fan of the moment, but I was not sold out for them.
In a way, that’s what it is like when we decide to follow Christ. Some people have no issues in deciding to follow Christ. Others refuse to follow Christ altogether, for a whole host of reasons. And there is the group in the middle. They don’t want to give up anything in order to follow Christ. But they want the fire insurance, so to speak. Still, others want to follow Christ–for right or wrong reasons, but they have difficulty expressing their faith to anyone. Some are shy about expressing anything, others are afraid of being laughed at or being ostracized because they are a believer. Which group are you part of?
So, just how important is it to proclaim which team we’re part of? How important is it to let people know that Jesus Christ is our Lord? Well, if you want to be a secret fan of the Green Bay Packers, that’s probably advisable, but if you’re wanting to follow Christ in the privacy of your own world, you might want to hear what Jesus says about it:
23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? 26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
–Jesus, (Luke 9:23-26, NIV, ‘84)
- In order to follow Christ, we must die to ourselves.
- This does not mean that we physically die, but we must die to our own will, even to the point of death if we are called to that.
- Without Christ, we are free to do what we want now, but we will lose our souls for eternity.
- If we choose to follow Christ, we cannot do so secretly. It’s not an option!
Look at the three pictures below. The first is a life with Christ on the outside, wanting in. The second is a life that has Christ in it, but the person is still in charge. It’s as if the person has simply added Christ to their life, but hasn’t cleaned anything out. The third is a life with Christ in the center and the individual allowing Christ to rule over them and through them.
Which life represents yours?
Look at this:
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
–Jesus, (Matthew 24:9-13, NIV, ‘84)
When it is easy to follow Christ, there are many “shallow” followers. Many who play the game and “look” like Christians. But whenever it becomes “hard” to follow Christ, the true believer continues to follow. The “shallow” or false believers begin to drop out. When it begins to get too difficult, they even begin to turn away from the faith. They join the enemy camp.
Where do you stand?
Prayer From a Different Point of View
In John 1:1-14, we are told that Jesus Christ was God in the beginning–and remains God today. He was God in Heaven long before events unfolded in the lives of two weary travelers who arrived at a sold-out inn in Bethlehem to celebrate the first Christmas. And He emptied Himself of His glory to become a man (see Philippians 2:7-8). This does not mean that Jesus stopped being God, but that for a period of time, became nothing special in the eyes of men. He was born as an un-welcomed out-of-town guest and his first bed had been a feed trough for hungry sheep just moments before.
While growing up and living as one of us, Jesus looked nothing at all like a god. But Jesus was not only God’s Son, but somehow He was also God at the same time (at this point, it would be good to delve into a study of the Trinity, but alas, that point is not our point).
This article is about prayer from Jesus’ perspective. Think about this: Jesus was perfect as a man, He was the Son of God and He was God, Himself. So what did Jesus spend a great deal of time doing? Praying. Jesus prayed . . . a lot! Often all night long. How long do you spend in prayer? And if you study the Gospels, you’ll find that Jesus spent a lot of time communicating with us, but when He prayed, He talked with His Father.
We might be tempted to ask the question at this point, why did Jesus need to pray–being perfect and being God? At the root of at least part of the answer, we will find a new understanding of part of what prayer is. The apostle, John, gives us a great glimpse at the personal interaction between Jesus and the Father in John 17.
As Jesus prayed in the garden that night, He continued to waste no opportunity to continue to teach. As Jesus was praying, the disciples were listening (at least until they fell asleep). And so Jesus prayed to the Father while teaching the disciples at the same time–and through the gospel of John . . . . us. So what did He teach us? Some pretty important stuff! In verses 2 and 3, Jesus tells us that He has been given the authority to grant eternal life, and then He tells us what it is. He said, eternal life is knowing God and knowing Jesus. A lot of people that attend church, and some who don’t, know about Jesus. But Jesus teaches us that Eternal life is much, much more than know about Jesus Christ. Eternal life is a love relationship between Jesus and us! That love relationship is expressed in obedience, in worship and in prayer.
Jesus’ prayers were certainly petitions on His behalf as well as on our behalf. He prayed for Himself. He prayed for us. But His prayer sounds a little bit like a soldiers letter home to tell his parents that he’s almost through with his tour and will be home soon. He expresses His concerns. He states His desires for His disciples. And He expresses His love to the Father.
And therein lies at least one of the biggest reasons for prayer. Not the petitions, but the expression of our love. When we have a relationship that is worth while in our lives, whether it be with a spouse, a child, a parent or a friend, we know that we need to spend time with them in order to maintain the relationship. Jesus did not pray because He needed to. He prayed because He wanted to. His sole desire was to do the Father’s will and maintain a love relationship with Him.
We need to learn to pray out of a desire to spend time with Jesus, not just because we have a “shopping list.” It’s certainly okay to ask for things. Jesus tells us to do that, but too often, that’s all we do.
Prayer is our intimate expression of love to and from the Father. Let’s pray!
Death is in the Air!
January 11, 2012–Danny Sadler
Have you ever been to a funeral? What kinds of things did you think about while you were there? Do you remember how final it felt? Death is a big deal! Unless your name is Lazarus, or Jesus, death is a kind-of one time thing. Death scares some people. You might say they’re scared to death of death. You may be one of them. But it needn’t be that way. Look at what Jesus says:
9 “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
–Jesus, (John 10:9-10, NIV, ‘84)
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Jesus gives us life.
Jesus gives us life. But even if all we get is this temporary life we are currently living, at least we have something. But is that all there is? If you’re on death row, it’s one thing to be granted a temporary reprieve, but it’s entirely another to be completely exonerated and freed from prison. It is a great thing that Jesus provides for us: life. Even temporarily, most of us would take the deal. People from all over the world with terminal illnesses fight hard to add just a few months to their life. Many people–even those in our churches–seem to have a death grip on life. Perhaps they do it because of their love of life. Maybe it’s because of their fear of death. Either way, life is life. But Jesus wants more for us.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
–Jesus, (John 3:16-17, NIV, ‘84)
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Jesus gives us eternal life.
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We are not condemned if we believe in Jesus.
So, what does it mean to believe in Jesus? Is just believing in the existence and truth of the story enough? Often, I run into people that say they believe in Jesus. They say that Jesus is God’s Son, or some other description that varies truth to mythical. The problem is that too many of these people can’t tell me anything at all about Jesus, what He did or stood for (other than teaching us to be “good”–whatever that means). Before everyone starts throwing opinions around, let’s look at what else Jesus said:
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”
–Jesus, (Matthew 7:21-23, NIV, ‘84)
Did you see what Jesus said? That’s scary.
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Understanding and acknowledging Jesus as Lord is not enough.
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Believing in Jesus is not enough.
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Knowing who Jesus is is not enough.
Jesus clearly tells us that we must believe. But here we get an indication that the belief Jesus talks about can not be superficial. The belief that Jesus is talking about goes far deeper than just knowing about Jesus. It involves believing the things He taught. It involves doing the things He told us to do. Let’s look at what the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write concerning some of the things we must do:
3 Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. . . . .
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. . . . .
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
–Romans 6:3-11, NIV, ‘84
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To be a true follower of Christ, we must die.
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To be a true follower of Christ, we must live.
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Our new life is not our own.
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We must die to self will and our sinful nature and live for God.
Following Christ is not as easy as it is sometimes portrayed. It involves a life-long, moment-by-moment commitment to denying self and living for Christ. Have you made this commitment?
You can become a true follower of Jesus Christ by simply praying to Jesus and surrendering your sinful ways to Him. We can’t really do that in our own weak-willed power, so you may want to ask Jesus to help you even as you try to become obedient to Him. Acknowledge Jesus as both your Lord and Savior. If you have made a decision to follow Christ, it’s important that you share your new commitment to Christ with someone–or even better, a bunch of someones. Start with your minister. If you don’t have one, find a local church near you and go seek out a minister. You will want to make arrangements with the minister to be baptized. If you have already been baptized, but are making this commitment to Christ for the first time, you will want to be baptized again.
Finally, if you have found this post helpful, it would be blessing to both you and me if you shared that with us by posting a comment below. God bless y’all real good!
How to Stop Procrastinating!
Hey everybody! I’ve just discovered a sure-fire solution to aid in fighting procrastination!
. . . . . . . . Please be patient. I’ll get back to this one
later.
Bula’s Chili Dish
Cooking With Bula
by Bula
Lady’s, as the days get colder, and the evenings come with a cold northern wind, we must turn to the cook stove to find just the right dish to warm our hearts and lift our spirits. One of the best recipes I’ve ever came across is an old recipe that my Daddy gave me. I like to call it, “Bula’s Chili Dish.”
Start with a cast iron pot, or aluminum, or glass. It doesn’t really matter, so long as it will hold water . . . or in this case, a steaming hot can of Wolf Brand Chili®. I suppose you can use another brand of chili if you want to, but you’ll just end up ruining the dish, so you might as well do it right in the first place. Besides, if you don’t use Wolf Brand Chili®, then you’ll never know what this dish is supposed to taste like. (I get nothing from the Wolf Brand Chili® company, but bring you this recipe as a public service).
Anyway, carefully open your can of Wolf Brand Chili® so as not to cut yourself, because if you get your blood mixed into the chili, someone will eat that and that’s just wrong! Once you get the can open, pour, scrape, drain and otherwise empty the contents of the can into the pot that you are heating up on top of your stove. If you do not know how to turn your stove on, please refer to the owner’s manual. Sorry, but after the last incident, I’m no longer allowed to give advise on lighting a gas oven.
Once your chili is in the pot on the stove with the lighted burner, you’ll need to carefully monitor the heating process. I like to cook on the highest setting so as not to have to monitor the heating process too long. That way, I can get back to my TV. If nothing good is on TV, you can heat the chili on a lower setting if you’d like. Either way, you will need to stir frequently . . . or constantly depending on the heat setting you have chosen. Warning: If you do use the highest heat setting, make sure you shave your forearms before stirring constantly, so as not to have the arm hairs curl up into little balls (See Bula’s beauty blog).
After the chili has reached the boiling point (you do not need a thermometer to check this, when the chili starts blooping and small droplets of grease begin to burn your fingers and forearms) then you know that your dish is almost ready. Next, crush up two sleeves of crackers. Then, open the sleeves and dump the crackers into the pot. Then pour about a can’s worth of ketchup into the pot to kill the taste of the chili. Stir and reheat to the boiling point again, making sure to stir all the ingredients together.
You are now ready to serve Bula’s Chili Dish with a side of apple sauce. This will warm the blood, lift the spirits and get you ready for a nice romantic evening with your lover, or your dog. Whichever you prefer, bless your heart.
Step by Step
Bula’s Chili Dish
1—19.0 oz. can of Wolf Brand Chili®
2—Sleeves of salted crackers (if you use unsalted crackers, you will need to add salt—this meal is not intended for the health conscious, honey)
1—19.0 oz. empty can of Wolf Brand Chili® filled with your choice of ketchup (even if you don’t like ketchup, this really is good)
A boat-load of ketchup
1. Place the chili in a pan on the stove and heat until hot.
2. Crush two sleeves of crackers, open and pour over hot chili.
3. Add 19 oz. can full of ketchup.
4. Stir.
5. Heat the whole mess until hot.
6. Serve while steam is still rising.
Recipe makes one serving. Two, if you have a side dish of boiled okra and some apple sauce. Enjoy!
theweirdworldofdanny 