Motivation and Inspiration – Page 2

BSF Acts: Week 7 – Opening Assembly – Acts 14

It was my turn to lead opening assembly last night and I decided to do something a little different than normal. A poem:

Paul and Barnabas

Paul and Barnabas, P&B,
2 brave disciples, missionaries, visionaries, for the man who died on the tree.

From Pisidian they left shaking the dust from their feet
To Iconium they came, preaching to the Jews and the Greeks.

Many are saved, many believe but the non-believing jews gather with not believing gentiles to deceive. Where the spirit moves and power achieves, satanic forces mount creating a division of this very city. Many are fore, some are against, a conspiracy to stone P&B is conceived.

P&B flee.

To Lycaonia, a new song is sung, but confusion ensues from ignorance and a foreign tongue. When Paul, through the power of the spirit of the Lord, heals a lame man, a believer, who jumps up for joy. But confusion, frustration, appalation ensues when instead of worship God the locals brand Paul as Hermes and Barnabas as Zeus. The apostles tear their clothing, they preach and they plead: worship only the creator not a man such as me.

Then the wolves arrive. The Jews strive
to turn the local sheep into an angry herd.

The mob turns on the apostolic messengers, casting out a punishment as if they were common blasphemers,
they pick up rocks they pick up stones and throw them at Paul’s head
Bleeding and broken the mob drags him out, leaving him for dead.

The disciples gather in prayer, around Paul whom they plan to bury
but he jumps up, alive, and marches right back into the city.

Then to Derbe, preaching and blessing, the very next day
despite persecution, despite attempted execution, the word of God is here to stay.

They travel back through each town, lifting up the new leaders, strengthening churches, and teaching, encouraging new believers.

The seeds have been planted, the church roots enchanted with the spirit, the word, the living breath that was granted, that was breathed into man into dirt to create life, that spoke , that healed, that gave everlasting peace, that provided new sight

to the blind, and legs to the lame, hope for a sinner, that is the reason the lamb was slain. But death is defeated, sin has been beaten. The son of man sings from the throne of the King.

So this hollows eve, we focus our thoughts on the work of the spirit that came from the on-high and on 2 humble servants who were open to gentiles like me, these brave missionaries, with the initial P and the initial B.

Living in Fear of the Lord

Acts 9:31 tells us the early church was, among other traits, “living in fear of the Lord.” What does that mean? Is that a good thing?

When we think of someone “living in fear” we think of that as a horrible state. We think of a victim of abuse and domestic violence. We think of someone in a rough area of town, always vigilant of gang violence, shootings, muggings, rape and murder. We think of someone who has a horrible secret, an unconfessed wrongdoing that they suffer its revelation every day.

If that is what is meant by “living in fear of the Lord” then, for most of us, our first thought would be: count me out!

But as I prayed on this and researched it, I found a completely different, but accurate, meaning. In Isaiah 11:2, we learn that “the fear of the Lord” is a gift of the Spirit, on the same par with “wisdom, understanding, counsel and power.” Clearly, this isn’t something to avoid or dread. So what is it?

Christ refers to “God the Father”, which prompted me to think in terms of fear of my Dad. I grew up far before the days of “time out” and when I, justly, had pushed things to the degree that I was going to receive a deserved spanking, then I had a clear element of fear. But that was seldom and a last resort, so I didn’t believe that is what these verses were trying to portray. Instead I thought more to my teen and adult years and my view of my Father.

I grew up in an area where, from my perspective at least, everyone knew my father. He has been gone from this earth for 7 years and, on a weekly basis, I will still run into someone who recognizes me because of my Dad. My Dad cared for me, loved his family, went to church was involved in the community and did his best to follow God’s design for his life. As I matured to the point that I understood this and appreciated it, I realized that one of my greatest fears was to do something to let my Father down or cast him in a negative light. How could I repay his love and devotion, not to mention his support and patience, by dishonoring him or his name?

I think this type of fear is what is meant by “living in fear of the Lord.” When we mature to the point that we recognize the love and sacrifice that our Lord has made for us, we should live our lives guardedly. How could we ever desire to disappoint or reflect His love and gifts to us in a negative light by our actions? We live in fear, not of punishment or retribution, but that, by our actions, we would somehow fail to show our appreciation, respect and honor for the Father who has given us so much – His only Son!

They say that there are healthy fears. Fear of power tools, fear of great heights, fear of electricity. These fears don’t paralyze us, but they cause us to be attentive in all that we do. I believe that as we mature in our faith and the Spirit grants us the amazing gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel and power, we also receive a very healthy and humbling gift of being able to “live in fear of the Lord.”

What are you thoughts and experiences? Please comment back to me!

No needy person

I’ve spent some time thinking about the words in Acts 2: 42-47 and Acts 4: 31-35 as I’ve worked on my lessons these past 2 weeks. This is an amazing account of the fellowship of the early church. But I think it is much more than that. As I’ve read it and prayed on it over time, the central sentence that keeps speaking to me is from Act 4: 34: “There were no needy persons among them.”

I live in an rather affluent area. Luxury cars abound. Designer clothes are common. Families don’t complain about lacking financial resources to do things only about the time to do them. But as I look around my area, my neighborhood, even in my church, there are a lot of “needy people”.

I am not pointing fingers, because, clearly, there are many times that I act that way myself. It seems to take two forms, when we over focus on ourselves and when we over focus on others. In the first we get self absorbed. We think about how down we feel or sad or lacking or whatever, but we “need” other people to boost our ego. The second is when we focus on what others have that we do not and covet those things, whether material or not. Both paths lead to the same place, this personification of being a “needy person.”

In contrast, my family has been spending some time working with our church and a sister church in Joplin, MO. In case you don’t know, on May 22nd a Category 5 tornado , 1/2 mile wide with winds of over 200 mph left a 6 mile path of destruction through the town. 160 lives were lost, 22,000 vehicles, 15,000 jobs, 7,000 home, 3 schools. An entire Wal-Mart and Home Depot, including the building and all the shelves, contents, etc. were completely wiped off the map. But, here is the amazing part. When you meet with people at the church, when you see the volunteers and helpers, there aren’t needy people. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of needs in the community. With cold weather quickly approaching, there is a glaring need for shelter, for warm clothes, for healthy foods. But, the people themselves at the church don’t talk about being needy. They talk about how hard everyone is working. They talk with awe about how many christians have flocked in. They marvel at how God is moving to bring kids into a new after school program to learn about God and His Word. They talk about the beauty they see in the spirit moving in the people that pass through their doors.

I get the sense that the lack of need in the early church wasn’t just that everyone shared money and possessions. I think it was first and foremost the Holy Spirit filling them, but with that, the fact that the Holy Spirit was filling them to work, to testify, to spread the word that Jesus is the Lord. As we start to feel ourselves feeling needy, maybe we should look at what work the Holy Spirit is filling us to do and who He is calling us to reach out to and fellowship with. That, to me, seems like the main way the church today can grow like the church grew in the beginning.

Living in a fog

I recently finished reading a book by Robert Bly called “Make Every Second Count.” Bly is a business writer and this short book was a very quick compendium of useful time management tools and techniques.

One of the items that he discusses is stress. We all feel stress from time to time, some more than others and some times more than other times. But I loved the analogy that Bly used.

Imagine you are in a city in incredibly thick fog. So thick you can’t see through it at all, even to the end of your outstreched hand. Now picture that fog from ground level up 10 stories high and picture it in an area 7 blocks by 7 blocks. That is a lot of fog!

If you took all of that fog, or more appropriately, all of the moisture in the air that is creating the fog, and condensed it into one place… it would only fill up one drinking glass.

That is how stress, sin and so many of the harmful worries and obstacles are in our lives. We spread them out over space and time and they are a huge deal, even paralyzing. But when we earnestly pray to turn it all over to God, in His power he compresses it down to what it really is – just a single cup.

The next time you read the scriptures about Christ being willing to drink the cup – keep this in the back of your mind.

Quiet Strength – Daily Walk

I recently finished reading Tony Dungy’s memoir, Quiet Strength. I enjoy football and I can get into watching a good game, but I couldn’t say that I’m a big fan. To the best of my knowledge I’ve never screamed at the television set. I also don’t obsess over scores or players.

At our first BSF leader’s meeting a number of the guys mentioned that they had read Dungy’s book over the summer so I decided to pick it up. It is a very good biography and an excellent book on tape, read by the author. Tony recounts the trials and tribulations that he has observed and been a part of from growing up through the Colt’s Superbowl championship. Tony is a man of God and his faith and commitment to the Word are evident throughout everything. It would be a good read for that story and the encouragement it provides alone.

But, what really struck me was how many sentences in the book Tony begins with the word “God.” “God had this move in mind for us”, “God was with us”, “God is faithful to us”. It made me think about the “walk of faith” that we so often talk about. In Tony’s life it is clear that in his walk he is just to the side and one step behind our Lord, always keeping an eye and doing his best to let things happen in God’s time and at His pace. It made me think about how many times I rush ahead, then fall to my knees praying that God will come find me when I get lost. Or, the other times I’m behind, but pushing God to hurry up and take me the direction I want to go.

An old hymn came to mind as I thought more and more about the lesson that Tony provides of daily devotion, unashamed profession of faith, pray and praise through everything:

I am weak, but Thou art strong;
Jesus, keep me from all wrong;
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.

Refrain:

Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

Through this world of toil and snares,
If I falter, Lord, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares?
None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.

When my feeble life is o’er,
Time for me will be no more;
Guide me gently, safely o’er
To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore.

Dr. Luke and the Ladies

BSF started as a bible study for women by a woman. Those of us attending today, including the men and children in the study, are grateful for the way God moved in the life of A. Wetherell Johnson to organize the study.

This is important to keep in mind when reading Luke particularly as we see the characters that Luke discusses. Women play a very prominent role throughout the book. In fact there are 13 women mentioned in the book of Acts who do not appear anywhere else in the bible. Luke is also the one to mention that the first European convert to christianity was, in fact, a woman, Lydia.

Clearly Luke was a quick learner. While it may have not been the norm in his day to elevate women in society, he observed Christ doing it over and over again. The woman at the well, Mary and Martha, etc., etc. Jesus did not come to deliver a message to men, he came to save all mankind (and women-kind). Luke listened, observed, learned and did likewise.

Ladies prayed and played a prominent role in the early church as they do today. I’m one of the many men who can state that my wife began attending a bible study and encouraged me. Thank God for the ladies!