Posts Tagged ‘calling’

Do You Feel Safe?

Posted in Bible Study, Life and Ministry, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 22, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I was asked an interesting question today, “Do you feel safe?” It was in relation to the fact that we are urban missionaries and live in an area prone to crime but it really got me thinking.  I live in probably the worst neighborhood that I have ever lived in.  Yet I can honestly say that I feel safer than perhaps I ever have before.  When I look back at times in my life when I felt unsafe and insecure I see that it was really a matter of self-doubt.  It was when things were out of my control or beyond my control that I would feel unsafe.  The reality was that while I believed in God, I trusted in my own abilities.  Yet I understood the limitations of those abilities.  So then my feelings of personal safety were a function of my surroundings and how equipped I felt to handle them.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, My God , in whom I trust.”  Surely hew will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.  He will cover you with his feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”

It is only when I move the trust and responsibility for my safety into the hands of  God that I can truly feel safe.  It is the feeling of safety that accompanied Daniel to the lion’s den in Babylon.  (Daniel 6)  But it is also the feeling of safety that shone on the face of Stephen as he was stoned to death on the outskirts of Jerusalem. (Acts 7) When our trust is truly in God then our feeling of safety is no longer dependent on our circumstances, skills or even our faithfulness.  As the Psalmist states “His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”

Just as our salvation is not based on anything that comes from us (Ephesians 2:8) so too is our safety, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4)  It is our personal relationship with Jesus Christ which is the basis for our safety.  The writer of Hebrews beautifully expresses this relationship, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.  It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.  He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 6:19-20)  He is a high priest who has been assailed in every way just as we are and held firm (Hebrews 4:15) in a way that is completely beyond the ability of our fallen nature.  So then it is by His intervention that we may “approach the throne of grace with confidence” (Hebrews 4:16) It is this confidence in  God’s faithfulness expressed in the person of Jesus Christ that is at the base of the safety that we enjoy as His children.

So, do YOU feel safe?

“What then shall we say in response to this?  If God is for us, who can be against us?… Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”  Romans 8:31, 35, 37

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Uncommon Faith?

Posted in Bible Study, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

“Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:”  2 Peter 1:1

Too often we get the idea that God provides different levels of faith to different people.  We look to leaders of the Christian world and ascribe to them some kind of special faith that is not available to us.  It would seem that people have not changed that much since the first century.  Simon Peter looked out at the people of the early church and saw the same divide, a divide that is spawned by the father of lies and limits the effectiveness of our walk with Christ.

This is the very topic that Peter addresses even as he faces impending execution.  Inspired by the Holy Spirit Peter tries to short-circuit the very half truth that flourishes even today:  That Peter had some kind of extra-ordinary faith that enabled him to live for Christ in a way that is inaccessible to you or I.  Peter saw the potential for Sainthood.  He saw the potential for people to excuse themselves from the riches and responsibilities of being a child of God because they believe that Peter was a man of uncommon faith.  The ESV translates this verse, “To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:”

Peter would have made a good modern pastor.  His message starts right from his address.  He has stated his thesis and he immediately jumps  into supporting it.

“seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”  2 Peter 1:3

Why is our faith of equal standing?  It is because our faith comes from God granted not by our own intellectual reasoning or emotional response but by HIS DIVINE POWER.  Faith does not come from the school that you attend, the church that you belong, the pastor that you listen to or even the blogs that your read.  Faith extends directly from God a free gift granted by His divine power.  “For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.” 2 Peter 1:4

Peter tells us where the magnificent promises, the source of salvation come from.  They extend right out of the glory and excellence of God.  It is all right there for us.  The question then is what do we do about it.  Like the parable of the sower there are many reactions to the glory and excellence of God and to His great promise of salvation.  Some just don’t accept it.  They harden their hearts and the seed of life dies on rocky ground.  Some accept it but the cares of the world grow up as weeds in a garden choke out a beautiful flower the beautiful promise and gift of God fades and disappears from the heart and mind.  Peter anticipates the question to come.  What then do i do?  How can I be the rich soil that bears fruit?  Peter I don’t feel my faith. How can I possibly be like you?

“Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.”  2 Peter 1:5-7

This phrasing may seem awkward in English but in the Greek it flows and builds emphasis veritably exploding on the concluding subject: love.  Perhaps not the structural monument that Paul constructed in Ephesians 1:3-14 which concluded with, “…the praise of His glory” ; but still the emphasis is clear and the conclusion of it all is love.  Yet the steps are just as important.  Too often we want to pursue love without putting in the diligence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness and kindness.  Then we sit and cry in our coffee (for those of us who drink way too much coffee) because things are not coming together the way that we thought they should.

“For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.”  2 Peter 2:8-9

This is not about salvation.  Peter is speaking to the redeemed.  This is about faith and the fact that we have it within our grasp to live as Peter lived totally sold out for Jesus.  God supplies us all thetools and even the energy and commitment to be fruitful, looking only to Jesus Christ. So let’s sum it up with a little bow to homiletics:

Peter’s 8 Steps to Experiencing True Faith

1.  Be Diligent

2.  Be Virtuous (ESV)

3.  Be Knowledgeable  (of Jesus Christ)

4.  Be  Self-Controlled

5.  Be Steadfast (ESV)

6.  Be Godly

7.  Be Kind

8.  Be Love

It is not easy.  That is where diligence come’s in.  Peter climbed the 8 steps from Gethsemane to the prison’s and shares his journey with us, a journey of uncommon faith available to all.

 

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Sharing Our Hearts

Posted in Life and Ministry, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This video clip is of Allana and I sharing about the ministry that God has called us to.  We are so thankful for Pastor Nate Elarton and the people of Compelled Church  ;For the opportunity to share our heart for The Lewis House and the Five Points neighborhood of Toledo and for their tremendous generosity!

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Prodigals

Posted in I'm Just Sayin', Life and Ministry, tagged , , , , , on January 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

God woke me up at 4 am this morning and laid an early christian influence of mine on my heart.  Bob Harrington is “The Chaplain of Bourbon Street”.  My heart was wrenched when he left the ministry and spent 20 years running from God.  We have similar stories except that his wilderness time came at the peak of his ministry and mine came before it even got started.  That and the fact that a phone call from his friend Rex Humbard brought him back to God.  Though most of you do not know the name I hope to have many Rex Humbards as guides in my life.  I was saddened to see that Bob had lost his wife in July of this year.  He has also retired after adding many years of fruitful ministry to his legacy.  We are both reminders that God’s call to ministry is never negated by the foolishness of men, even when it is our own.  He waits patiently for his prodigals.   Thank you Lord for your patience!

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Wow What a Day!

Posted in Life and Ministry, tagged , , , , , , on July 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Another awesome day at the Lewis House.  It started off a little rough with Allana down with a bad cold.  She is still wrestling with the sniffles now but looks and feels better.  Stacey, one of the full-time workers here, took Robert (instead of me because of Allana’s condition) to Sydney (I don’t know if I spelled that right) to stop at a ministry that helps to supply our foodbank here.   We were getting a little thin in the pantry.  I know this is a big problem for  food driven ministries now.  Fishes n Loaves in Adrian is running low on food also.  So if you have extra or want to donate to a food pantry now is a good time.  There is almost certainly some sort of Organization helped to feed the poor who could really use your help.

So since I did not go to the foodbank, I got to move furniture and sweep floors.  We prepared the floor in the  fellowship hall to be power washed which we are doing tomorrow.  Sami and Emily did an awesome job carrying about 100 chairs up two flights of stairs from the hall to the auditorium.  George and I stacked tables and swept.  George had previously finished putting the plugs in for the lighting.  As we moved the furniture we planned out our plan of attack tomorrow.  By the time we were done the place was ready for powerwashing.  This is a very different face of ministry.  Yet it is ministry.  We need to stop narrowly defining what is and is not ministry.  I believe at least in part this was Martha’s issue in Luke 10.  Martha thought she had a lock on what the ministry should look like, and she WAS ministering.  Her mistake was thinking that Mary had to be serving in the same way.  You may be called to be Martha and called to be Mary all in the same day.  We were blessed to be Martha this morning.

Later in the day one of the regular attenders to our Friday night meeting brought in a homeless man whom she came across in the Kroger parking lot.  George was busy so I put together a food box for him and prayed with him.  God said love him…so I did.  It was a learning experience.  Don’t judge…love.  Don’t assign blame for his circumstance…love.  Don’t be the cynic…love.  It felt good.  I may try some more of this loving the people that God loves even when my flesh wants to be cynical thing…It feels good when you can feel God smile.

Dinner was a potluck affair with some of our regular Friday night crew and people from the neighborhood.  WHAT A BLESSING!  We had a great night of fellowship.  Relational ministry, love the people that God love’s.  Definitely the lesson for today.  Love the unlovable.  Love that family member who is a pain.  Love your neighbor.  Love the little kid down the street who is desperate for any kind of attention.  Love the brothers and sisters in Christ  who are all around us. 

Robert had an awesome day on his trip.  He has been so awesome with the kids here.  Plus they got chickens, not frozen oven roasters, real live chickens.  You can see a picture of Emily holding one of the chicks in my facebook mobile uploads album.  The kids in the neighborhood when wild.  They mobbed Stacy when she pulled back into the neighborhood.  She had called one of the Mom’s and let her know that live chicks were coming.  Stacy spent time letting them all see the chicks.  Relational ministry, Love them.  Love the little children who mob you.  Love their silly questions.  Show them God in action.  It requires love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.  Hmmm I think I have heard that somewhere before.  I guess I need to do more than memorize it.

Pray for Allana that she feels better soon.  Pray for the people in our neighborhood, that they would know Jesus!  Pray for the people in your neighborhood, that they would know Jesus…then show him to them.

God Bless and Goodnight

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