How to Walk With God.

Greetings All,

Today's thought comes from the first chapter of a book I read as I was starting out in the ministry.  It was 1987 and the book was written by a man who was having a ministry of great impact at that time in New England -- Everett L. Fullam.  The book is entitled, "How to Walk With God."    Yet, before Fullam tells us how to walk with God (by faith, of course), he points out one necessary detail many overlook in terms of the Being we hope to walk with by faith.  Enjoy.

     "The most distinguishing characteristic of the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob -- the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ -- is His holiness. It's not His great power. It's not His infinite wisdom or knowledge. It's His holy character, with no dark spots, no shadows, but rather light through and through. His holiness means a consistency of purpose that is never deflected and a constancy of devotion in continual and eternal covenant.  If we are going to be among those who seek the Lord, we must concern ourselves with His holiness -- and concentrate on responding with a personal holiness that conforms to the will and purpose of God (Hebrews 12:14 / I Peter 1:16). 

     Holiness is not a popular idea today. There is a form of Christianity that is devoid of holiness, an eloquent testimony that its god is not the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, nor is it the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. People fashion gods after their own images and relate to those gods (those idols) on their own terms, because their gods are products of their own self-creation. In the early chapters of his prophecy, Isaiah recorded a marvelous vision of God seated high and lifted up on a throne. Isaiah wrote that God's train filled the temple, and that the pillars of the temple trembled at the presence of God.  He saw the place was filled with smoke and seraphs and angels flew about, singing, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts" (Isaiah 6:3).  In perceiving this God, the first words that came from his mouth were, "Woe is me, for I am undone. Because I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips."  He had been dealing with the real God, and said: "For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:5).

     The only time we can deal with God and not be impressed by the depths of our need is when we fashion a god after our own liking and worship that god. We can deal with that god and remain the same, but if we come into the presence of the living God, we are struck with our own need. If we are unwilling to deal with the things in our lives that are contrary to the purpose of God, then we are not dealing with the holy God. We are dealing with an idol of our own imagining...  Whatever concerns us ultimately, whatever is the controlling dynamic of our life, is our god. For some people it is family, for others its careers, or getting ahead, or reaching the top. Whatever is dominant in our life is our god; and if it is anything other than the Lord God Himself, that's idolatry.  Before we can walk with Him we need to deal with those things. He wants His people to allow Him to be supreme, and so He told Abram to leave his country, his people, and his father's house. He told him to throw away the gods of his forefathers so he could start afresh, so he could learn to serve Him in singular faithfulness...

     God is a God of mercy -- He is a God of the second chance, and the third chance, and the fourth chance, and fifth and sixth and so on. When we come to Him -- even though we've been walking in the wrong direction,  even though we've stopped for a time and have not been moving at all -- if we recognize that we've been disobedient, and confess and deal with our sin by repentance, we can start over again right away.  God's forgiveness cleanses, and the grace of God again begins to flow toward us, and in us, as the joy of our salvation is restored."

     In our day it must be asked if we seek to walk with God as He really is.  That is, if we seek to walk with the God who is revealed in the Bible as being Holy above all else -- Holy, Holy Holy.  Unspeakably Holy and unalterably opposed to sin.  A God who as Fullam points out, calls us to be holy as He is holy (I Peter 1:16).  In many ways this calls us to divest ourselves of some of the common misrepresentations we have about Him in our minds. It means we must be willing to rid ourselves of the images of Him that we've created (or adopted over time) that make us feel more comfortable in dealing with Him.

     In 1987 when Fullam wrote the book, he could say, "Holiness is not a popular idea today."  I would say that is even more the case today.  Yet if we are to walk with God we must not ignore His primary attribute.  For we are told He is, "the Holy One of Israel."   We are told to "glory in His Holy name" (I Chron. 16:10).  Scripture tells us, "our God is Holy," and "His ways are Holy" (Ps. 77:13 / Ps. 99:9).  No other attribute of God is ever repeated three times in rapid succession. God is never said to be, "Love, Love Love," or"Mercy, Mercy, Mercy."  But He is said on three occasions to be, "Holy, Holy, Holy."  And therefore, if we desire to walk with Him, we must seek to grasp -- maybe above all else -- exactly what that means. For if we do not envision a God who is holy, we are not envisioning the God who is.

May we learn to walk with Him in holiness and reverence, Pastor Jeff 

Shut in by God

Greetings All, 

     This week's "thought" is called "Shut in by God"  It comes from a book of daily devotions complied from the writings of James Montgomery Boice, who served at 10th Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia for over 30 years before his relatively early death in 2000 at the age of 61.  Boice was a  gifted and well-known Bible teacher who held degrees from Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Basel in Switzerland, and whose "Bible Study Hour" radio program can still be heard on air and online. This is the devotional entry for - January 8th (today!) -- and offers three lessons we can learn from the biblical narrative regarding Noah and his family. Enjoy.

Shut in by God

"And the Lord shut him in..." 

Genesis 7:16

     

     "Consider these three lessons.

     FIRST, when the Lord shut Noah and his family up in the ark, they were totally secure and thereby become an illustration for us of the believer's perfect security in Jesus Christ. The rains    would come. The floods would rage. But nothing would touch these who had been sealed in the ark by Jehovah.  The Lord does not place the safety of his people in the hands of others. He himself throws the bolt-lock. It is said of him, "What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open" (Rev. 3:7 NIV) The shutting in of Noah was the equivalent of our being sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30).  Like him we are not only saved; we are secure as well.

     SECOND, there is a lesson of God's great grace. The last thing we are told in this story before the waters actually begin to come is that, 'the Lord shut him in" (v. 16).  Presumably this was done at the last possible moment.  Noah had been preaching God's righteousness, man's sin, and warning of the great flood for years and years, but no one had believed him. They were still refusing to believe. Yet the door to the ark remained open, and any who wanted to could have gone inside. What great grace!  What magnificent forbearance on the part of God!  Since Noah had believed and had gone in, no one still outside could say that the possibility of belief was closed to him. "Whoever willed" could come. So it is today. All who will may come. Many do not, but none of these can say that the possibility of repentance from sin and turning to Christ are beyond them. 

     FINALLY, there is a lesson in that there is an end to grace. Grace is great, but it is not unending. If it is spurned, the day of reckoning eventually comes. For one final week the door stood open. But the week ended, the door was closed, and the flood came. The same God who opens doors is himself the door (John 10:7 & 9).  He also closes doors and refuses to open them when the time of grace is gone.  For you it is not yet past, whoever you may be.  This is still the day of grace, and though it will end, it has not ended yet.  Won't you come while there is still time?  God said to Noah, "Come... into the ark" (Gen. 7:1). At the end of the Bible we read, "The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come!' And let him who hears say, 'Come!' And let him who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price" (Rev. 22:17)." 

     Grace is the most wonderful thing! Nothing in all the earth compares with it!  And though it is God's nature to be gracious, and the riches and glory of His grace will be (and should already be) the source of endless praise among the recipients of it, the Bible makes clear (as Boice rightly notes), that God's offer of grace will one day end.

     Isaiah 61:2, in speaking of the ministry of Jesus, states that He was to: "proclaim the year (or time) of the LORD's favor (grace), and the day of the vengeance of our God."  And Jesus did just that. He fulfilled this prophecy about Himself by proclaiming the "year" (the time, season, or epoch) of God's grace in light of the coming day of judgment. He did not preach that grace did away with God's justice and judgment forever, but that God in His great mercy was offering grace to all now in light of the impending Day of Judgment which is to come.

     The Gospel declaration (like Noah's message to the people of his day) was, "Come for safety and salvation now!  Hurry! For the day is coming when the door of God's grace and mercy will close, and the time of judgment will begin for all who have not entered in."   Peter proclaimed that  message in Acts 2:38-41 on the Day of Pentecost.  And Paul proclaims it as well in II Cor. 5:20 - 6:2.

     It assures us that the call of the Gospel must always have a sense of urgency to it.  For it's message is not, "Grace to everyone now and forevermore," it is, "Now is the time of God's favor! Today is the day of salvation! Come to Christ for mercy now, for the day of wrath and divine judgment is coming" (II Cor. 6:2, I Thess. 1:9-10, II Thess. 1:3-10).  Yes, Scripture assures us that there will come a day when the door of God's grace -- like the door on the ark -- will one day be shut and all left outside (all who spurned His offer of grace in Jesus) will experience God's great wrath.

     So come now, says Scripture!  Whosoever will, come!  Be sure you come to Christ before the door of God's free offer of grace is closed to you forever.

     If any of you have not yet come, I pray that by God's grace you would, and without delay.

In the Service of the Gospel, Pastor Jeff

Attitude Adjustment

Greetings All!

     What does one do when they find their job unfulfilling?  One answer?  Try looking at their job in a different light.
     I was searching through my documents (looking for something else) when I found this "thought" which I saved over a year ago. It was written by Gene Twilley, who works for CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach) and oversees CCO staff who work on college campuses doing outreach in the Philadelphia area.  I felt his insights could help those caught is a similar predicament, so I thought I would pass it along as we begin 2019.  It is entitled "Attitude Adjustment."  Most all of us could use that on one occasion of another!  Enjoy.

Attitude Adjustment

     "Eight months after finishing my undergraduate studies, I started working as an auto liability claims adjuster for a very large insurance company. There were ample benefits with the job—from day one, I was vested in a matched 401k; I had a pension, nearly a month of vacation per year, and great health benefits.  I loved the people I worked with An older African-American woman called me her newly adopted son. We worked in collaborative cubicles—four to a large cube—and laughed a lot.

     But I hated the work.  In a claims environment, every call is a complaint The workload is heavy. I was threatened with physical violence over the phone, bullied with potential lawsuits, and accused of all sorts of character flaws.  There were and are far worse places to be employed. But in the moment of any sort of seemingly bad circumstance, we don’t usually think about what could be worse. We long for something better.

     Then my wife and I attended a wedding for one of her co-workers, and I was making small talk with a woman I didn’t know, and who I probably wouldn’t recognize if I saw her today.  In the midst of conveying to her what I did, before I had the opportunity to complain about my job, she exclaimed, “How exciting! You have the opportunity to help put people’s lives back together every day.”

Sobering.
Clarifying.
Convicting.

     I was willing to approach my work as a Christian who had hope in Jesus, but not as a Christian who had hope that my work actually mattered.  I don’t know where this woman was in terms of faith, but she pointed out something that I was completely missing.

     Isaiah 61 is a messianic prophetic utterance. Jesus took up this section, read it in a synagogue in Nazareth, and explained, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).

     He was anointed to preach good news to the poor.

     He was sent to proclaim liberty to captives.

     He was sent to give sight to the blind

     He came to release the oppressed.

     In all of that, Jesus was announcing the “year of the Lord’s favor.” In the broader context of Isaiah 61, we see other really good things too! There is comfort for those who mourn. Those who sit in shame and in repentance are made beautiful. They are planted deeply into God’s grace, that they might praise rather than mourn. The people of God are called by the Servant of God to be re-creators of things that are broken… All that hope, that expectation, that rebuilding of the things that have been broken—it’s in Isaiah 61. It all finds its beginning, current, and end in Jesus.

     And this is the kind of hope that can lift me out of myself and all my meandering thoughts about greener pastures. I start to ask different questions.  After all, aren’t we called to care about the situations that God has placed us in, the broken places already in our midst? How can we make the most of our God-given opportunities today? How might we redeem the time that he’s given into our possession?

     As a claims adjuster, I was occupied with my work—getting through the day, looking for the next best thing. It was a job, not a calling.  Or was it?  What if every opportunity to serve others is a calling from the Lord?  Tim Keller explains, “our work can be a calling only if it is re-imagined as a mission of service to something beyond merely our own interests. Thinking of work mainly as a means of self-fulfillment and self-realization slowly crushes a person.”

     Calling is found at the sweet spot where my vertical and horizontal relationships meet—where I love the Lord and where I love my neighbor. Too often, maybe we’re disappointed with where we are because we simply don’t see the potential of the work ahead of us. But what if some of us are so concerned with our own emptiness that we don’t see the joy set before us?  Isaiah 61 tells a bigger story, and in this story, work becomes service, pain becomes joy, and despair becomes hope.  Come, Lord Jesus. Give us eyes to see." 

     Where might an "attitude adjustment" (or simply looking at something from a different perspective) help you in your struggle to find fulfillment in something which is not at present?  Only you can know. But it is worth pondering!

Living in the Grace of Jesus, Pastor Jeff 

Tortured for Christ

Greetings All,

     This week’s “thought” comes from a man whose faith and commitment to Jesus I have admired for years.  Shortly after I came to Christ 38 years ago, I headed to the Dominican Republic as a short-term missionary.  At one point I came across a book in the mission’s library.  It was Richard Wurmbrand’s autobiographical sketch of the 14 years he spent in a Communist prison camp in Romania for being a Christian - “Tortured for Christ.” 

     It was the first Christian book I ever read cover to cover in one sitting, and I have given out many copies to friends ever since! The two stories I share today were related by Wurmbrand to a friend, and are samples of what you will find in that book.  They come from the most recent “Voice of the Martyr’s” magazine.   Enjoy.

     Story #1:

     “Richard once overheard a conversation between a pastor named Simeon and a thief named Cunia.  Every day Cunia stole Simeon’s eyeglasses and then offered to return them in exchange for the pastor’s supply of sugar. Pastor Simeon never complained, and then one day he said to the thief, “I will give you the sugar gladly. You don’t need to blackmail me by taking my glasses.”  “Why don’t you get angry with me and report me?” Cunia asked.  “Because I want you to become a better man,” Simeon replied, “I love you.”

     “Nobody loves me,” Cunia said.  “I am a thief.”  “It is Christmas -- Jesus’ birth,” Simeon continued.  “He loved thieves so much that He likened Himself to a thief who comes in the night.  I too have learned much from thieves.  You are passionate in your trade. You go to great lengths to get money. You suffer repeatedly, but, once freed, you revert to stealing. You are a model of perseverance.  Like you, I too like gold. I have chosen as my eternal abode a city where even the streets are paved with gold. Jesus came from there to enrich us. There is no need to steal anymore.”  He went on to tell Cunia about the Son of God who was born in a stable to save us...

     Wurmbrand said of Pastor Simeon, “On Christmas the Son of God was made a man that we might become children of God. His aim has been fulfilled. There are real children of God.”

     Story #2:

     “On Christmas Eve, while Richard lay in bed, an abbot named Iscu lay in another bed on his right, awaiting death from the tortures he received. The abbot was serene knowing he would soon be with Jesus in heaven…  On Richard’s left was another prisoner – the man who had tortured Iscu.  His comrades had turned on him and he too had been imprisoned and tortured.  Distraught by his deeds, this man woke Richard during the night.  “I have committed horrible crimes,” he confessed. “I can find no rest. Help me,” he pleaded.

     Just then, Iscu called two other prisoners to his side to help him. Leaning on them, he slowly walked to his former torturer and sat down on his bedside. “You were young and did not know what you were doing,” he said, caressing the man’s head. “I forgive you and love you, as do all the other Christians you have mistreated. And if we sinners who have been saved by Jesus can love like this, how much more is He ready to erase all the evil you have done, to cleanse you fully. Only repent.”

     In that common cell in which there was no privacy, Richard heard the torturer confessing his crimes to the one he had tortured…  Both men died that night, on Christmas Eve.  It was not simply a commemoration of the event in Bethlehem. It was Jesus being born in the heart of a criminal.”

     Such a degree of love really is amazing.  Who could explain it except as the fruit of a very real and true faith in Jesus Christ.  And what a blessing it is for those who have messed up so badly to discover that salvation is by the grace of Jesus, and therefore no one is too far gone to be beyond the reach of God’s power to redeem. Not even a man who had tortured and brought great pain and suffering to many.

     It is a matter for great praise that forgiveness is not earned, but as the Gospel proclaims, is a free gift of grace to those who cast themselves upon the mercy of Jesus and take eternal refuge in the blood that was shed to satisfy God’s just wrath against sin.  A Gospel promise that is to all who will turn in faith to Jesus and leave their life of sin behind -- regardless of how terrible that past life of sin may have been.

     Blessing the Name of him who came and took on flesh that first Christmas, Pastor Jeff

What Does "Revival" Look Like?

Greetings All!

     Last week I sent out some thoughts on revival.  This morning I gathered with some other gentlemen from my church discussed those thoughts.  In our conversation we talked about what a revival is like and if we had ever witnessed or been part of a reviving move of God.  I will not share things from that discussion, but as a follow-up to it (and last week's thoughts on revival) I did want to share part of a message I once preached on the topic based on the text of Isaiah 57:15: "This is what the high and lofty One says -- He who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite."   It contains more thoughts on revival from others (not just mine) and a factual account of the things that actually happened during the First Great Awakening in New England in the 1730's - 40's.  If nothing else, I hope it makes you think.  Better yet, I hope it makes you pray that we might soon see another expression of such divine, holy and reviving grace.  Where water has once flowed, it can flow again.  Enjoy.

What Does "Revival" Look Like?

     “John Babcock, writing of a service in his church during the revival that swept through Virginia in the 19th century could say:  “The death-like awe of silence and solemnity sometimes seemed as if it were the hem of the robe of His glory waxing all but visible in our midst.”  It’s an unfortunate misrepresentation to suggest that all revivals result in outbursts of excited fervor.  They do not.  When the presence of God comes upon a congregation, what often pervades it is a sense of His holiness and majesty.  One feels the eerie sense of a spiritual presence that is so awe-full, so holy, so Other, that a quiet hush comes over that place and people are glued motionless to their seats.  They can hear themselves breathe. They listen to the beating of their hearts.  Even their thoughts seem loud.  Soft weeping throughout the congregation is often the only sound heard.

     When the Spirit comes in power people often begin to weep as the God they have often maligned, taken for granted, and dishonored by their sin, apathy, and unbelief, enters the sanctuary in a tangibly sensed way.  The people feel it.  Many are overcome by a fear of the Lord and a deep conviction of sin as God fills that place with a conscious sense of His holy presence, power, purity, righteousness an soul-exposing light. That’s one of the ways you can tell when “God shows up” and His manifest presence fills a room to convict, convert, comfort, or bring people to earnest life-changing repentance.  It gets really quiet.  Things becomes very still.  Everyone is motionless.  People stop coughing, clearing their throats, and shifting in their seats. Why?  Because they sense the presence of God in a way they don’t (or haven’t) at any other time.

     And don’t get me wrong.  God is always present – at all times, and in all places, whether we sense it or not.  But sometimes, for reasons known only to Him, He chooses on certain occasions, or for certain seasons, to make His presence so tangibly known to us that we actually sense His presence in our midst in an undeniable way.  That’s what revival is.  A powerful visitation of the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity and whose name is Holy (Isaiah 57:15).  God, so to speak, rends the heavens and comes down to visit His people (Isaiah 64:1).

     George Whitefield on one such occasion wrote:  “I was so overpowered with a sense of God’s love, that it almost took away my life.”  The experience of God’s presence - His Holy Love was so powerful it almost killed him.  D. L. Moody testifies of a similar experience.  Jonathan Edwards called them, “special seasons of mercy” or “extraordinary effusions” or “outpourings of the Holy Spirit.”   That is the essence of revival  God comes in a new and fresh visitation of His presence, sometimes in unspeakable holiness resulting in a hushed death-like stillness; other times in love so consuming and overpowering that a person nearly loses consciousness; and still other times in joy so euphoric and captivating that we feel it will carry us up into paradise that very moment (and we wish it would)!  A joy so freeing, peaceful and pleasurable that the soul is enraptured - feeling spiritually ravished by God.

     “When people,” writes Iain Murray, “burdened with a sense of guilt, come to complete deliverance through faith in the atoning work of Christ, and when the love of God fills the hearts of believers, then joy is irresistible.  The greater his knowledge of the benefits purchased by Christ, the greater the degree of joy, liberation, and gratitude to God he receives.”  And what causes it?  The Holy Spirit comes upon a person and convinces them that the Gospel message is really true!  Not that it would simply be nice if it were true, but that it is true!  Christ purchased it all.  He lived the perfect sinless life we could never live, and died in our place as the substitute who took our punishment upon Himself, and on the basis of trusting in that Gospel and that Saving One, we are freely forgiven and put in right standing with God (Isaiah 53 & 55)

     Jonathan Edwards recorded this account of the revival that swept through Northampton, MA, at the start of the first great awakening in America in 1734.  He writes: “The Spirit of God began to set in in an extraordinary way... The news of it seemed to be almost like a flash of lightning upon the hearts of young people all over town... In time, a great and earnest concern about the great things of religion and the eternal world became universal among persons of all ages and degrees.  The noise among the dry bones waxed louder and louder.  All other talk but about spiritual things and eternal things was soon thrown by.  All the conversation, in all companies, and upon all occasions, was upon these things only, except for what was necessary to carry on ordinary secular business.  People’s only concern was to get into the Kingdom of God, and everyone appeared to be pressing into it. The work of conversion was carried on in a most astonishing manner, and... souls did, as it were, come by flocks to Jesus Christ...  In 1735 the town seemed full of the presence of God - never was it so full of love, nor of joy, and yet so full of distress (in the unbelievers) as it was then.   There were remarkable tokens of God’s presence in almost every house...  The Lord’s day was a delight.  Worship services were beautiful.   The congregation was alive... and every hearer was eager to drink in the words of the minister.  From time to time people were in tears as God’s Word was preached; some weeping with sorrow and distress, others with joy and love; and others out of concern for the souls of their neighbors.”

     It was a move of God’s Spirit so powerful it spread from Massachusetts to Connecticut and then clear down the east coast - all the way to Georgia.  Everyone sensed the presence of God as the High and Lofty and Holy One who inhabits eternity broke in upon the consciousness of people in a way so real and tangible that even unbelievers felt His presence in their midst.”

     I would love to share more historical accounts of revival. Like the Moravian revival of 1727, the Wesleyan revival in England around the same time, the revival among the Indians through David Brainerd, the 2nd Great Awakening in America, and many others, including the Azusa Street Revival and two others in more recent years at Asbury and Wheaton colleges. But time and space do not permit it.  That will be up to you to research n your own!

With continued prayers for you all, Pastor Jeff

Thoughts on Revival

Greetings All!

     Today I send out some thoughts on revival.  I do so because it seems clear to most who look around at the contemporary scene that the church stands in great need of God's reviving influences.  Not mere emotionalism.  Not religious fanaticism.  Not a sudden surge of popularity or culture-wide respect for the Church.  And not humanly generated attempts to pump up a fleeting zeal through motivational speeches.  No.  A true heaven-breathed move of the Holy Spirit which transforms hearts and restores in the people of God an all-consuming love for Him and our neighbors, a passion for His glory, a yearning for His kingdom to come, and a true concern for His redemptive will to be done on earth -- regardless of the sacrifice or cost to us.
     I send these to you with the hope that they might guide your prayers for such a blessed move of God in His Church.  May the fresh winds of the Spirit blow through the Body of Christ as we pray, confess, repent, worship, speak of His grace and love as He calls us to love.

"How little time the average Christian spends in prayer!  We are too busy to pray, and so we too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity, but we accomplish little.  There are many services, but few conversions. The power of God is lacking in our lives and in our work. We have not because we ask not."

R. A. Torrey

“Revival is God breaking in and upon and over His church like ocean waves upon the shoreline rocks.”

Jonathan Edwards

“Revival is the Church falling in love with Jesus all over again.”

Vance Havner

“Revival is a community saturated with God.”

Duncan Campbell

“A revival means days of heaven upon earth.”

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“Revival is ultimately Christ Himself, seen, felt, heard, living, active, moving in and through His Body on earth.”

 Stephen Olford

“Revival is that strange and sovereign work of God in which He visits His own people, restoring, re-animating, and releasing them into the fullness of His blessings.”

Robert Coleman

“Revival is an extraordinary work of the Spirit that invades the church to re-energize us with God’s eternal purposes in Christ Jesus.”

David Bryant

“Revival is a sudden bestowal of a spirit of worship upon God’s people.”

A. W. Tozer

“A true revival means nothing less than a revolution, casting out the spirit of worldliness and selfishness, and making God and His love triumph in the heart and life.”

Andrew Murray

“Revival is God revealing Himself to man in awful holiness and irresistible power. It is God’s method to counteract spiritual decline and to create spiritual momentum in order that His redemptive purposes might be accomplished on earth”

Arthur Wallis

“Revival comes to the church when we are thoroughly possessed by the hope held out in the gospel—and that hope is Christ Himself.”

David Bryant

With prayers for God's Spirit to stir afresh in your heart, Pastor Jeff

Advent Devotional Thoughts

Greetings All!

This week's "thought" comes as one selection from a series of Advent Devotional Thoughts sent out by an organization called CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach) which seeks to place people for Gospel outreach purposes on college campuses. One of the things it focuses on in its discipleship of students is to help them see that their career (in whatever field it may be in) can be their "calling from the Lord" just as much as some full-time work in the local church or missions. One does not have to go into the ministry, or some exclusively "Christian" service, to be "serving the Lord full time."  This is nothing new, as Martin Luther stressed it 500 years ago as one of the many insights of the Reformation.  Yet it does continue to get overlooked (even to this day) in some Christian circles. The author is Gene S. Twilley who serves as CCO Campus Ministry Staff at Delaware County Community College in Media, PA. Enjoy.

Attitude Adjustment 

     Eight months after finishing my undergraduate studies, I started working as an auto liability claims adjuster for a very large insurance company. There were ample benefits with the job—from day one, I was vested in a matched 401k; I had a pension, nearly a month of vacation per year, and great health benefits.  I loved the people I worked with. An older African American woman called me her newly adopted son. We worked in collaborative cubicles—four to a large cube—and laughed a lot.  But I hated the work. In a claims environment, every call is a complaint. The workload is heavy. I was threatened with physical violence over the phone, bullied with potential lawsuits, and accused of all sorts of character flaws.  There were and are far worse places to be employed. But in the moment of any sort of seemingly bad circumstance, we don’t usually think about what could be worse. We long for something better.

     Then my wife and I attended a wedding for one of her coworkers, and I was making small talk with a woman I didn’t know, and who I probably wouldn’t recognize if I saw her today.  In the midst of conveying to her what I did, before I had the opportunity to complain about my job, she exclaimed, “How exciting! You have the opportunity to help put people’s lives back together every day.

Sobering.
Clarifying.
Convicting.

     I was willing to approach my work as a Christian who had hope in Jesus, but not as a Christian who had hope that my work actually mattered.  I don’t know where this woman was in terms of faith, but she pointed out something that I was completely missing.  Isaiah 61 is a messianic prophetic utterance. Jesus took up this section, read it in a synagogue in Nazareth, and explained, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).

    He was anointed to preach good news to the poor.
    He was sent to proclaim liberty to captives.
    He was sent to give sight to the blind.
    He came to release the oppressed.

     In all of that, Jesus was announcing the “year of the Lord’s favor.” In the broader context of Isaiah 61, we see other really good things too! There is comfort for those who mourn. Those who sit in shame and in repentance are made beautiful. They are planted deeply into God’s grace, that they might praise rather than mourn. The people of God are called by the Servant of God to be re-creators of things that are broken… All that hope, that expectation, that rebuilding of the things that have been broken—it’s in Isaiah 61.  It all finds its beginning, current, and end in Jesus.

     And this is the kind of hope that can lift me out of myself and all my meandering thoughts about greener pastures. I start to ask different questions.  After all, aren’t we called to care about the situations that God has placed us in, the broken places already in our midst? How can we make the most of our God-given opportunities today? How might we redeem the time that he’s given into our possession?

     As a claims adjuster, I was occupied with my work—getting through the day, looking for the next best thing. It was a job, not a calling.  Or was it?  What if every opportunity to serve others is a calling from the Lord? Tim Keller explains, “our work can be a calling only if it is reimagined as a mission of service to something beyond merely our own interests. Thinking of work mainly as a means of self-fulfillment and self-realization slowly crushes a person.”  Calling is found at the sweet spot where my vertical and horizontal relationships meet—where I love the Lord and where I love my neighbor. Too often, maybe we’re disappointed with where we are because we simply don’t see the potential of the work ahead of us. But what if some of us are so concerned with our own emptiness that we don’t see the joy set before us?  Isaiah 61 tells a bigger story, and in this story, work becomes service, pain becomes joy, and despair becomes hope.

Come, Lord Jesus. 

Give us eyes to see."

     One of the blessings of understanding the biblical concept of "the priesthood of all believers" is to grasp that all believers are called to minister Gods grace in all is various forms to others, but not all are called to do it in the same way or in the setting of being on staff at a church, parachurch organization or a mission.  People can live out their divine calling while being an engineer, nurse, teacher, athlete, lawyer, accountant, construction worker, farmer, technician, programmer, and so forth and so on!  Their "prayer room" is their office.  Their "congregation" consists of their co-workers. Their "pulpit" is their position. And their "testimony" is their honesty, approachability, and integrity -- all done for the glory of God -- which paves the way for opportunities to share the Gospel over a cup of coffee in the break room, or as they frame a house together with others.  God forbid that the only place "ministry" happens is through the pastor in the church! That's NOT how God ever intended it!

     As Gene Twilley reminds us, any job, profession or occupation can become exciting when we see it as a way to be "re-creators of things that are broken."   A simple "job" can become a calling from the Lord when we come to see it as "an opportunity to serve others."   Or as Tim Keller reminds us: “our work can be a calling only if it is reimagined as a mission of service to something beyond merely our own interests. Thinking of work mainly as a means of self-fulfillment and self-realization slowly crushes a person.”

     So, as Christmas approaches give yourself a present.  Re-envision your job as a ministry.  God has placed you there.  Opportunities for service and outreach abound.  In many places of employment, you will rub shoulders every day with people who have never heard the Gospel.  Redeem the time.  Work well and with integrity.  And as the opportunity arises, "be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear" ( I Peter 3:15).  God may have strategically placed you where you are for the very purpose of reaching out to that one person who would never darken the doors of a church, but may come to Christ because you -- outside the doors of the church -- cared enough to reach out to them in love.

In The Service of the Gospel, Pastor Jeff