The Disconnect

Today found me back in the dirt.  Maybe busting open furrows of dark dirt for planting potatoes served me like a jug of water priming a well.  Anyway, putting the push plow aside, I picked up a shovel to dig a couple of holes for some peach trees.  One of the thing that happened to me through the course of my working years was a disconnect from the earth.  Retirement and life on a farm set me to thinking about the earth in a new and different way.

 

I suppose it is truthful to simply say I did not think about the earth much at all.  Aside from giving the occasional lip service to taking care of the earth and choosing not to be a litter bug, I was largely unaware that the ground on which I walked was holy, created, and called good by the Creator.  And, it is also true that I lived without any real awareness that the Word of God called me a child born of dust who would return to dust.  What I heard and proclaimed on Ash Wednesday was mostly forgotten and ignored the rest of the time.

 

Our sanctuaries are filled with symbols made by human hands that point us toward the holy, but the earth under our feet was made by the hands of God and point us directly toward Him.  It has become impossible to walk the land, see the trees rising in the air, watching everything around me constantly changing according to a divine plan without realizing that sanctuaries are small holy places and the earth is holy for as far as the eye can see and even beyond.  I should take my shoes off more.  Maybe you should, too. 

The Holy Partner

Planting red seed potatoes on Valentine's Day is a tradition which spans all my adult years.  Actually, I am a bit late this year as the planting took place only a few days ago.  It is a tradition which is both therapeutic and spiritual.  There is something special about taking the old push plow out for a ride through freshly tilled dirt and watching it opening the earth before me.  Once the furrows are busted open, there is a slow walk down the rows dropping cut potatoes in the ground.  A final walk along those white sulfur dusted potato pieces is filled with the smell of freshly turned dirt as a booted foot covers them up. 

 

It is therapeutic.  It is mind emptying.  It is spiritual.  The soul is fed.  Long before the potatoes fill the stomach, the planting feeds the soul.  There is something unique and holy which takes place in that moment of being so connected to the earth.  It is as if there is a holy partner walking through the dirt with me.  It is a reminder that there is a Partner present with me in any act of planting.  Once the seed is in the ground, my part is done and everything that follows is up to Him. 

 

I cannot help but be reminded on the day of planting these potatoes that life is constantly lived with the holy Partner walking alongside.  Sometimes, as was the case when the plow was opening the earth, I am aware I am not alone.  But, there are too many other times when the task becomes so important that getting it done becomes more important than being in touch with what is happening as it is getting done.  Too many times I treat the journey with this Holy Partner carelessly.  It was good to have a different moment which reminded me of how it should be every day and every moment. 

The Falling Spirit

We all know about the Pentecost which took place in Jerusalem.    The church still sets aside a Sunday to celebrate this eventful moment.  What is often missed in the reading of the Word is the Pentecost like event which took place some time later in Caesarea.  In Jerusalem the room was filled with Jews, but in Caesarea the room was filled mostly with Gentiles.  Of course, the real common denominator was the Holy Spirit.  In both places the Holy Spirit worked in a powerful way.

The language used to describe the action of the Holy Spirit in Caesarea appeals more to those who prefer imagery over preciseness.  In those final verses of the 10th chapter of Acts, the Word says, "While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word...(they) were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles..."  (Acts 10:44-45).  Most are comfortable with rain falling, or night falling, or even dew falling, but some are troubled with the image of the Spirit falling.  The image of the Spirit being "poured out" raises similar concerns among those who find themselves searching for a better, more definable word.

The truth is there is very little which is easily defined or understood when we begin to think about the action of the Holy Spirit.  If we are honest with ourselves, there have been times when it truly did seem that the Spirit fell in our midst.  And while we do not see ourselves living with a three-tier view of the world, the word "fell" still seems more than appropriate.  Like a good heavy dew that falls, the falling Spirit has a way of covering completely and making all things touched by that covering as something which is new.  This included folks like Peter and Cornelius back then and folks like us even now.   

Why Not Now?

Some say the Day of Pentecost is a once in history event.  It was so extraordinary it could not possibly happen again.  However, when we come to the end of chapter 10 in the book of Acts, it seems that it did not take nearly as long as today's nay-sayers would have thought.  Verse 44 of that chapter says, "While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word."   A little later Peter would report to the new church pillars in Jerusalem, "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning."  (Acts 11:15)   There was no doubt in Peter's mind that the second was a cousin to the first.  He would know as he was present at both. 

 

Even though there had been ample warning that such a thing was possible (Acts 10:34),  those who were travelling with Peter were astounded.  No one could have imagined such a powerful work of the Spirit in Caesarea.  Just like with the Jews in Jerusalem, Gentile people were speaking in tongues and extolling God in Caesarea.  (Acts 11:46)  Despite this repeat of Pentecost and other similar moments described in the book of Acts, it still remains difficult for today's believers to be anything but today's skeptics when it comes to believing that the Holy Spirit could do something so extraordinary with the church that the only explanation would be "a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit."

 The church is surely in need of some great, all powerful cleansing work of the Holy Spirit.  It is under siege by the world which surrounds as well as from those within who would sow seeds of compromise.  What we have learned through experience is the bankruptcy of committees, programs, conferences, clever ideas and money driven agendas.  All promise to deliver the church.  None have.  The Holy Spirit seems to be all that is still untried.  If in Jerusalem, and then Caesarea, why not here?  If then, why not now?

A New Understanding

I must confess to seeing a lot of things differently than I did back in the beginning of this spiritual journey.  Actually, I do not have to go that far back to see how new ways of seeing things have unfolded before me and within me.  Maybe some of the change has to do with the different seasons of our living.  As I reflect back on just these nine years of retirement, it sometimes seems that I hardly recognize myself.  So many things which I have never considered are being seen and experienced so differently.  Surprised and amazed is how I sometimes experience it.

 

I wonder if it might have been something like that for Peter when he went to Caesarea to become a guest of Cornelius, the Centurion of the Italian Cohort.  In earlier days he had never been uncomfortable being in the home of Gentiles because going was something he would not have done.  But, here at this moment in his life, he goes along with the messengers sent from Cornelius knowing full well that he is heading into a moment he would not have considered possible only a few years earlier in his life.  (Acts 10:28)  What he declares at the beginning of his message sums up the way his life and heart was changing. "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nations anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to Him."  (Acts 10:34)

 

Those of us who see ourselves exactly as we were when we started walking with Jesus, or who are holding on to past understandings as if they are poured in concrete may actually be walking out of step with the Christ who is leading us.  One thing He is always doing is moving us out of our comfort zones where we see ourselves as being in control, or having it all figured out to a place where going forward is going to require a new level of faith.  Even as life is unfolding daily around us so it our understanding of what it means to walk with Christ.  If such does not seem to be reality for us, perhaps, we need to look more closely at whose lead we are following.

The Unfolding

In the beginning the way forward with Jesus seems clear enough.  It seems clear because the way we see is paved with our own expectations.  It may take some time, but there finally comes that moment of knowing the way forward is not about our expectations, but His.  Instead of a way that is precise, logical, and as straightforward as one, two, three, the way forward is more like something which is unfolding before us as we go.  As we walk the road of faith with Christ the things that are hidden become clear.  The way forward unfolds.

 

When Peter had that vision of the sheet filled with every creature being lowered, it was about clean and unclean food.  Nothing more.  It seemed rather obvious in the moment.  But, by the time he actually got to the home of Cornelius in Caesarea, things had changed.  It was no longer about food, but about people.  We hear what he spoke to the Centurion in verses 28-29 of Acts 10, "You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that should not call anyone profane or unclean.  So when I was sent for, I came without objection."  When Peter left Joppa, he was thinking food.  By the time he arrived in Caesarea, he had jumped from food to people.  God got Peter's attention with the vision and then things started unfolding in a way not so clear in the beginning.

It is no different for each of us.  We are likely to start out in one place and find ourselves in another.  We may be thinking we have it figured out and realize we are far from it.  We may think that God is taking us one place only to find that He has actually used what seemed obvious in the beginning to take us to a place that had been hidden and unseen.  Our going and doing speaks of our faith.  Our faith makes things that are hidden become clear. 

Three....And More

Three times Peter denied Christ.  Three times on the beach Jesus questioned him about his love.  Those moments on the beach were not moments filled with judgment and guilt, but forgiveness and grace.  In Acts the saga of Peter continues.  After being blinded on the road to Damascus, he is without sight, food and water for three days.  (Acts 8:9)  In Acts 10 he sees a vision of a sheet filled with all kinds of creatures being lowered three times.  Three men show up at his gate to take him to the home of Cornelius.  Peter and his new companions arrive at the home of Cornelius at three o'clock in the afternoon.  The whole thing with Cornelius and Peter takes place over three days. 

 

Surely, Peter's experience must have caused him to pay special attention when three of anything showed up in the present part of his life.  In some spiritual circles, the number three is given special significance since it is also the number of the Trinity, but in Peter's case it might have served him as something which hollered out at him, "Pay attention.  God is about something!"  Now, while there may be nothing particularly Biblical about looking for "three" to show up in our life, it may be true that our experience with God has made us aware of how He has revealed Himself or spoken to us in the past. 

 

While there is no attempt here to introduce some new spiritual discipline, or to reveal some hidden spiritual secret about how God works, there is a suggestion learned from experience that the repeated occurrence of certain things in our life which have brought us into some encounter with God in the past may indeed be something which might be saying to us, "Pay Attention!  God may be stirring around!"  Maybe it has nothing to do with any numbers.  Maybe the moment calling us to pay attention comes in the shrill of a hawk, or the rain dripping off the edge of a roof, or anything which brings an unexpected and surprising reminder of God at work in our life in days gone by. 

A New Word

I wonder if Peter would have had his vision about the clean and the unclean food had he not been hungry.  When food gets on our mind, or when our stomach starts growling for food, all sorts of things can start happening.  Verse 10 of that 9th chapter of Acts says, ""Peter became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance."  Some might say what happened was hunger induced and maybe hunger had something to do with it, but it is more likely that what Peter experienced in that moment of vision was Spirit induced. 

 

If God can use a sunset, or a soaring eagle, or a mother hen as a means of pointing us toward Himself, who is to say He cannot use a growling stomach.  We know from our practice of fasting that a body deprived of food for spiritual purposes can bring an increased sensitivity to both the presence and the voice of God.  In those moments significant spiritual experiences can shed light on our way forward.  Such was the case with Jesus after His baptism and, perhaps, this is part of what enabled Peter to think about food in a different way.

 

God has a knack for taking ordinary things and causing us to see them in different ways.  Once I saw a fallen limb on the ground and also saw that it was on its way to becoming a part of the earth, every limb I see on the ground reminds me that I, too, shall finally become broken and become a part of the earth.  On another day as I was carrying the trash out of the house, it suddenly came to me in a new way that I am not as careful caring for the earth as I would like to believe.  So, if God can use broken limbs and cans full of trash to get my attention, surely it is not beyond the realm of possibilities that He used an empty stomach to grab Peter's attention so that he could hear a new Word from Him. 

The Call for Balance

The story of Cornelius, the centurion of the Italian Cohort who lived in Caesarea, is told in the 10th chapter of Acts.  After being identified by his nine-to-five life, he is identified as a man who feared God and who prayed constantly.  (Acts 9:1-2)  Obviously, he prayed at appointed times of prayer, and apparently, he prayed a lot.  One afternoon while praying the Lord told Cornelius something most of us have never heard.  While we can read the literal words of the Lord in verses 4-6, a loose translation might read, "Enough!  Enough!  I have heard your prayers. Enough!"

 

When was the last time we prayed in a way that might be characterized as "constant" and when was the last time we heard the Lord interrupt our prayers with "Enough!  Enough!"   When was the last time we heard the Lord telling us to stop praying because there was something He wanted us to get up and do.  There could be other reasons as well.  The Lord might want to say "Enough!" when we refuse to accept His silence as the answer, or when we will not accept an answer we do not want to hear, or when what we want does not fit inside His will.  When we persist in those moments, it is likely listening might bring to our ear the words "Enough!  Enough!"

But, what was true with Cornelius may actually be the case with us.  Prayer can be used as excuse for not getting up and doing what the Lord is putting out there for us to do.  After all, if we are busy praying we are doing important work and we cannot possibly stop it for something we regard as having lesser value.  The story of Cornelius does not negate the importance of prayer, nor does it imply that God does not highly regard our praying (Acts 9:4), but it also tells us that on bended knee we are not meant to stay if God is calling us to get up and be about something which in His heart for us to do.  Within this story we find the unexpected call for balance between staying and going, praying and working. 

A Reason for Repentance

While Peter was staying in the house of Simon, the tanner of Joppa, a man so different from him was praying in a town up the coast.  The man who was praying lived in Caesarea and was named Cornelius.  Many things made Cornelius different from Peter, but the main thing which made him different from this Jewish Christian was the fact that he was a Gentile.  Even a casual reader of Scripture quickly learns that in the Hebrew mind of that first century there were two kinds of people.  There were Jews who were God's chosen and there were other folks who were lumped together as Gentiles.  Jews and Gentiles did not mix. 

 

While Peter was resting in Joppa, Cornelius, the centurion of the Italian Cohort, was praying.  As he was praying an angel of the Lord appeared in a vision telling him to send men to Joppa for one called Peter who was staying at the home of Simon, the tanner.  What Cornelius heard from the Lord was a very specific Word.  There was nothing vague about it.  He was told to do something and he did it. Unlike some might do, he did not talk it over with friends, or check it out for credibility with his spiritual leader, instead, he just up and did what he heard the Lord telling him to do.

 

There are times when it might be true that we cease hearing a Word from the Lord because He has spoken to us and we failed to act on what we heard.  Perhaps, it has happened often enough, that the Lord is tempted to think, "Why speak again.  It makes no difference."  Maybe what we have heard lacks the specifics of what Cornelius heard, but it was specific enough that we knew the Word was directed to us from the Lord.  If we are not hearing the Voice of the Lord in these days, going back to the last time we did hear might be the place to go.  While visiting that memory, we are likely to find a reason for repentance. 

The Little People

As the ninth chapter of Acts begins to fade away, so does Saul of Tarsus who is on his way to becoming Paul the Apostle.  And as he fades, old Peter begins to take center stage for an act or two, maybe more.  As he did during the revival in Samaria, Peter goes back on the road to Lydda and Joppa.  In both of these coastal towns the power of the Holy Spirit is made known as he is used to heal a man paralyzed for eight years and to bring back to life a woman who had pronounced dead.  As the dust is settling we see him staying for some time with Simon, a tanner there in Joppa.  (Acts 9:32-43)

 

In addition to the healings, one of the striking things about this section of Scripture is its attention to details and the way "little people" stand as central characters.  A man named Aeneas, a woman named Tabitha, and another man named Simon each become a part of the story of what the Holy Spirit is doing in the church of that day.  It is an important word to read and ponder for sometimes we might think that the work of God is all about special people, leaders, and spiritual giants.  While strong spiritual leaders are important for the church, the real work of God is accomplished through the "little people," the ordinary men and women who sit in the pews and serve in the world.

If most of us looked back over the years of our journey with Christ and started writing the names of the unknown people who made a difference for Christ, it would indeed soon become a thick and heavy volume.  As we allow our memory to take hold, the names start rushing forth like water pouring over high rocks to the turbulent pool below.  A saying from years ago declared, "God don't make no junk" and indeed it is true.  The Kingdom is filled to overflowing with people like Aeneas, Tabitha, Simon, and the folks we have known and whose stories we still tell.

Faith Stretching Moments

The Asbury Revival of 1970 was an extraordinary moment of being in a place where the Holy Spirit came with such power and fullness that all those gathered could do was take off their shoes.  It was for me one of those spiritual experiences which not only brought change, but also continued through the years to have shaping power. After a couple of days, I joined with a few other guys and went to share what God was doing at Asbury.  One of the places we went was Olivet Nazarene College. 

 

We arrived while there was a planned campus revival taking place.  It had nothing to do with what was happening at Asbury, but then again, it did.   The few of us went and asked the campus pastor if we could share about the Asbury Revival.  His guest preacher was present ready to preach the evening service.  After a brief conversation he did an amazing thing.  He agreed to let us speak to the gathering of students.  One of our group started sharing and students started coming to the altar.  The guest preacher never got to preach. 

 

This remembrance came to mind as I was reading that part of the 9th chapter of Acts which talks about the Jerusalem leadership being afraid of the newly converted Saul of Tarsus.  They knew him only as an antagonist to the gospel.  They would not accept him until Barnabas stepped forward and spoke in his behalf.  (Acts 9:27)  There were a few times over the years of my ministry when the Spirit brought someone into my presence in much the same way I showed up at Olivet Nazarene College and the way Saul showed up in Jerusalem.  Sometimes the Holy Spirit gives us opportunities which stretch our faith and enable us to be a part of something He is doing in our midst.  And while we may stand in the moment fearful and hesitant, such moments can also be moments when the Holy Spirit is ready to unleash some powerful Kingdom moment in our lives. 

Basket Cases

Before the transformed and on fire for Jesus Saul of Tarsus got out of Damascus things got so heated that he had to be lowered by night  through an opening in the city wall in a basket.  But, of course he was not the first person the Lord delivered from danger in a basket.  In the first chapter of Exodus there is the story of the baby Moses being placed in a papyrus basket so the waters of the river would carry him where the daughter of Pharaoh would see him.  Both of these basket cases point to the deliverance of the Lord.

 

Baskets are rather ordinary vessels.  There is nothing special about them.  But, God can use ordinary things for extraordinary purposes.  It brings to mind the old story of the man who was drowned in a flood.  When he got to heaven, he complained to the Lord about His failure to save him only to be told that he turned down both a boat and a helicopter while waiting on some miraculous event to deliver him from the rising water.  Like the man of the story we often fail to see what the Lord is doing in the midst of the ordinary because we have different expectations.

 

And, of course, when we are delivered from some danger through ordinary circumstances, or by someone who happened to be in the right place at the right time, or because some great coincidence took place, we are quick to do everything but give God the credit.  If He does not act according to the expectations of our praying, it is easy for us to miss it and falsely put the credit somewhere else.  If the Lord would choose to use baskets to deliver Saul and Moses, a close look might enable us to see we have some baskets littering our past as well.

A Great Miracle

Anyone who wants to see the power of the gospel unleashed in a single word only need read what Ananias said to Saul of Tarsus that day when they met for the first time in the house of Judas on a street called Straight.  Ananias was not extremely excited about going to the place where Saul was waiting.  The Lord had told him Saul was expecting him, but such did not likely erase all his anxiety and fear.  Saul came to Damascus with murderous intent against believers of Jesus and Ananias was a card carrying member.  When Ananias arrived his first words were, "Brother Saul,..."  (Acts 9:17)

For the one whose life was in danger to call the one who was a threat to his life "Brother" is no less than a miracle.  Some may say the blinding light on the road which set Saul of Tarsus on his way to becoming Paul the Apostle was a great miracle, but it was no greater miracle than the one which took place in the house of Judas.  Any watcher of what was unfolding would have declared such to be an impossible thing.  Two men who were antagonist suddenly became brothers.  Enemies became partners in accomplishing the work of God.

Paul may have gone out from that place and been used as an instrument to change the world, but it was Ananias modeling and fleshing out reconciliation that illustrated to Saul how people who were so different could be reconciled and made as one through the power of Christ.  Saul certainly knew it was not what he deserved from the one he sought to destroy.  But, then, reconciliation is never about giving or receiving what is deserved. It is something experienced because Christ has come to make us one with God and one with each other.  Ananias was gripped by that reality and it changed the way he lived in the world.  When we are truly in the grips of the gospel, reconciliation will always be more important than being in the right. 

Breathtaking Prayer

The story of Ananias in the 9th chapter of Acts does not actually say that this disciple of Damascus was actually praying, but since he had a vision and the Word says that the Lord said, "Get up and go..." (Acts 9:11),  it is assumed that he was kneeling in prayer.  And certainly if prayer is defined as a conversation with the Lord, Ananias was praying.  It was not the kind of praying most of us are accustomed to doing. Ananias heard the voice of the Lord calling his name, was told what to do, and, finally, was told that Saul to whom he was to go was praying and had seen him coming in a vision. 

 

It must have been a breathtaking moment of prayer.  It must have been one that caused Ananias to feel weak in the knees and scared within an inch of his life.  One part of him must have surely been telling him that to go was to go and die while another part of him was saying obedience gave him no choice.  If the angels in heaven were given a front row seat to that unfolding drama there in Damascus, they must have surely been holding holy breath as they waited to see what Ananias was going to do.

 

Not many of us would declare our prayer life to be so exciting.  Of course, one prayer moment like the one Ananias had that day in Damascus might cause our hearts to race so fast we would arrive early in the heavenly grandstand where the witnesses gather.  Maybe we are missing something.  Maybe our prayer life is mundane and nothing to write home about because something is amiss in the way we pray.   I wonder what it might be.  Maybe you wonder, too. 

Obedience Trumps Courage

The early part of the 9th chapter of Acts is as much about a minor character named Ananias of Damascus  as it is about the major character named Saul of Tarsus.  Some would say Ananias exhibited extraordinary bravery and courage.  No doubt the grapevine had alerted every believer in Damascus that Saul of Tarsus was coming for them.  He had letters of authority empowering him to arrest any one who followed Jesus.  It was not a safe time to be a visible follower of Jesus and no one knew this any better than Ananias. 

 

There is no question that Ananias was one of those whose life was in danger.  While Saul was languishing in darkness trying to sort out what had happened to him, Ananias heard the Lord telling him to go directly to the place where the persecutor was staying.  "...go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul."  (Acts 9:11)  Apparently, it can be a dangerous thing to be found praying when the Lord is looking for someone to do His work.  Now, Ananias responded like a lot of others whom God called.  Men like Moses and Jonah had tried to get out of the hold of the Lord and Ananias was no different.  He was not inclined to go and die, but after the Lord spoke again about going, the Word says, "So Ananias went and entered the house."  (Acts 9:17)

 

Maybe Ananias did exhibit extraordinary bravery and courage, but what is even more certain is that he exhibited extraordinary obedience.  It was not courage which took Ananias to the house of Judas, but obedience.  More than he valued his own life, he valued being true and faithful to the Lord who died for him and loved him.  Obedience is what took him far from his comfort zone into the unfolding will of God and obedience always trumps courage when it comes to being faithful to what God is calling us to do. 

Cut Bait or Fish

It goes without saying that Jesus got Saul's attention on the road to Damascus.  One minute he was full of himself, patting the letters in his pouch which gave him power, and imagining how men would grovel for mercy in his presence and the next minute he was the one groveling in the dirt, sick at his stomach because he could not see, and reaching up for hands to help him stand.  One minute he was riding powerfully at the head of underlings and he next minute those underlings were leading him by the hand. 

 

It was no mystery to Saul who was responsible.  It was the Jesus he had declared dead on the cross.  This man who was accustomed to telling men what to do and having them do it heard a voice filled with authority and telling him to "...get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do"  (Acts 9:6)  and he was doing it.  For him there was no option.  Once he got to Damascus he sat for three days in the darkness without food or water trying to figure out what had happened to him and knowing that the voice which had spoken to him could not be ignored.

 

When Jesus really gets our attention, we find ourselves on the road with the one who became the Apostle Paul.  Now, we may give lip service to Jesus, we may do what we figure He would have us to do when it is convenient, but when Jesus truly gets our attention, there is no time left for fooling around with maybe's.  As is often said it in these parts, "It is time to cut bait or fish."  When Jesus grabs hold of us as he did Saul on that road, we either get up go where he says go, or we get left in the dirt of a life that might have been.   When the scales finally were removed from Saul's eyes, he never looked back, only at where Christ was leading him.   In doing so, that old Apostle points the way forward for us. 

Life Changing Encounters

Encounters with Jesus change people.  Actually, change may be the wrong word.  The Apostle wrote in his second letter to the Corinthians church, "So, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new."  (II Corinthians 5:17)  One of the great stories of life changing encounters with Jesus shows up in the ninth chapter of Acts.  Saul of Tarsus, "still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord," (Acts 9:1) was on his way to Damascus to find believers in Christ and take them bound back to Jerusalem.  At this moment in his life all his energies were directed toward wiping the Jesus movement from the face of the earth.  He was one of the first major antagonist to the spreading message of Jesus.

 

However, as we read that chapter, we do not see the antagonism and hatred being softened , or moderated, but eradicated.  The antagonist became something new.  He became the chief advocate of Jesus in that first century world.  On the way to Damascus he encountered Jesus and in that moment everything upon which his life was built melted away and he was left with nothing but the realization of a misdirected life.  As Saul was struggling to pick himself up off the road midst that blinding light, he heard a voice saying, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.  But, get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." (Acts 9:5-6)  With the help of others, he got himself up and did what the voice of Jesus told him to do.

 

Something totally new came into being out there on that road.  The blind man that had to be led into the city was totally new.  He had never before been who he was in that moment of going.  It is always that way with any of us who encounter the Christ and who choose to walk away from that encounter intent on doing His bidding.  What we become is not something we ever imagined ourselves being.  Anyone who has had such a moment knows the truth of being made new and those who are on the front side of such an encounter are only a step away from a moment which can make them not better, but new. 

Transitional Words

Transitional words in the Scripture should not be seen as a racing train that simply get us quickly to the next place, but as words designed to slow us down.  In Dr. Robert Traina's class at Asbury Theological Seminary, he taught us that a transitional word announced something important.  They have a way of keeping us centered in the context of the passage.  They connect past and future, what has happened with what is about to happen, and keep us focused on the bigger picture. 

 

The very first word of the ninth chapter of Acts is a transitional word.  "Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord..."  The preceding chapter is all a time of great spiritual renewal in Samaria and a missionary moment when the gospel leapfrogged into the continent of Africa.  The message of Jesus is literally turning the world upside down.  Then come that word, "Meanwhile..."   It is a word which takes us out of the fervor and excitement of a great revival into a world where someone is lurking out there to do everything in his power to undermine and destroy the message of Jesus and the people connected to it.  While one is happening, so is the other.  The sun is shining on the Jesus movement.  The storm is hovering over it. 

 

It is a word which reminds us something important about the work of God in the world as well as in our own individual life.  Even as great things are happening which can only be attributed to the power of the Holy Spirit at work so are there things at work seeking to diminish and destroy what ever is gained for the Kingdom of God.  We must never be lulled into a spiritual complacency.  We must always be alert.  We must always be aware that even as we experience gains in our spiritual life, the evil one is lurking out there to undermine what the Spirit has done in us.  It is no wonder that the Apostle Paul would write, "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able... to stand firm."  (Ephesians 6:13) 

 

 

Need to Know

One of the fallacies of the contemporary church is that its mode of operation is based on the assumption that everyone present when the doors are opened is a card carrying believer in Jesus Christ.  There was a time when sermons were preached with a hope that they might be persuasive enough to bring the non-believer to faith in Christ.  In most places those sermons are no longer preached.  Issues other than the life and death issue of faith in Jesus Christ take top billing and consume too much sermon time.

 

There are a lot of personal problems which could be resolved by a good dose of honest repentance, but the church has become hesitant in its preaching about sin because it might be offensive and affect both the numbers in the pew and heaviness of the offering plate.  Wanting to be popular and liked has been the downfall of many a preacher.  Old Jeremiah battled with this issue of preaching a word no one wanted to hear.  It surely broke his heart to speak faithfully the Word God had placed upon his heart.  He did not want to speak, but faithfulness would give him no other choice. (Jeremiah 20:19)

 

As the song says, "People need the Lord" and what is also needed is someone to preach about the reason why people need the Lord.  We may not all be able to look back and put our finger on the calendar and the clock and say, "This is the moment I asked Jesus into my life," but it is imperative that we can look at the whole of our life and declare with confidence that such a decision has been made.  We, as well as the people around us, are lost, overloaded with unmanageable guilt, and living with unresolved regret when we try to manage our own life.  There is one thing we cannot do for ourselves and that is to bring ourselves back into a relationship with God once we have broken that relationship with our sin.  This is the work of God though Christ.  People need to know.

Eternal Work

When Philip left the crowds of Samaria who looked to him as the leader of a great spiritual awakening and went to some deserted wilderness road, he surely must have wondered what in the world the Lord was doing.  As he went in obedience he could not have imagined that he was going from a movement of the Spirit which was localized to one which would go beyond borders into a part of the world where Christ had not yet been proclaimed.  As we read the end of the 8th chapter of Acts we read the rest of the story that reminds us a stone thrown in a pond never stops creating ripples.

 

Perhaps, never is an exaggeration, but surely it is no exaggeration when we think about the work of God.  If we believe that God dwells in us and is at work in and through us, it should not stretch us too much to come to the place of knowing that what God does has no ending point.  When He uses us to touch one life, the touch of that touched life will touch others, and that life still others. God may do some things in extraordinary and unbelievable ways, but so much is accomplished one step at a time.

 

What we often forget is that God is not hurried as we are hurried.  If something He has planned takes a hundred years, or a thousand, it is no big deal to Him.  And, if we are a small part of this work of His, our lives certainly have a worth and value which is unseen by those around us.  Actually, we not even see it ourselves.  How many times have we been tempted to think that what we have done for God has not counted for much?  Think it no more.  Give thanks for the way He chooses to include us in eternal work that has no end.

The One Who Went

The front end of the 8th chapter of Acts records a great revival in Samaria.  No Apostle or highly paid evangelist from another city led this movement of the Spirit.  Instead, one of the Hellenistic helpers named Philip was the lead evangelist.  The language of the record tells us it was a Pentecost like revival which broke out in that place.  :The two (Peter and John) went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit...they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit."  (Acts 8:15-17)  Jesus centered preaching and miracles were a part of this mighty work of the Spirit. 

 

 And midst it all the Word says, "Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.'  ( This is a wilderness road.)"  (Acts 8:26)  Had I been Philip, I would have paused.  No, I would not have paused.  I would have said, "Wait a minute, I am needed here."  I would not have wanted to leave a powerful revival where everyone knew my name for the wilderness and all its emptiness.  But, I was not there.  Philip was there and the Word says about his response, "So he got up and went."  (Acts 8:27)  Without blinking an eye or looking back with regret, he went.  Not later. Now. Immediately.

Obedience is what possessed Philip and pushed him away from the crowd to the wilderness.  He was not one who was interested in doing his own thing, but doing the thing that God wanted Him to do.  Even when it seemed to be taking him from a place where he thought of himself as being more useful, he still chose obedience.  Obedience is never about self choice or convenience, but God.  One of the reasons so many of us struggle with obedience is because we are still claiming a right to ourselves.  Philip belonged to God and God's purposes which is where we are called to live.

The Untrustworthy Ones

The church and Holy Spirit no longer mix.  It is not the fault of the Spirit.  The church is distrusting of anything that seems to undermine its control.  The church is about long term strategic planning, financially sound practices, and setting goals.  When the Holy Spirit breaks loose it is often at the expense of these things so treasured by the control conscious institutional church.  Who knows?  People may get carried away into some kind of spiritual experience which is not kosher or theologically correct.  Whatever happens within the church must happen within its prescribed practices and disciplines.

 

The Spirit must surely feel like an outsider in many of the places where the church seeks to be the church.  Shortly after Pentecost a revival broke out in Samaria and the one in charge was not an Apostle, but a Hellenist named Philip.  So the church in Jerusalem sent two of their own to check it out.  (Acts 8:14)  A little later a similar thing happened in Antioch and the leaders were some unknowns from Cyprus and Cyrene.  Great numbers were becoming believers so the church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas. (Acts 11:22)  Organized religion has always felt threatened by those are used by God in a way that seems to undermine its control.

 

Control and power.  When these things are threatened, the church often reacts in extreme measures.  The cross is one response organized religion has made to its power being threatened.  Religious power brokers could not tolerate Jesus.  Today, it is more subtle.  Those who would choose to trust the Spirit instead of the things which empower the institutional church are often viewed with a kind of skepticism which discredits their integrity.  The Spirit trusters end up being not trustworthy.  When the church gives the Holy Spirit so little room to work, there can only be trouble which speaks volumes to the state of the church today. 

A Little Place

As I think back over the years of preaching, I remember a lot of different churches of different sizes in so many different locations.  While I did not always perceive it as clearly as I do now, each one had a unique place in shaping my spiritual journey.  Today as I saw the obituary notice of one who sat in the pews at my first preaching place and was a long time Sunday School leader, I found myself thinking about that small country church so far back in the woods you had to know where it was to find it.  It was called Zoar which literally means "a little place" and it was.

 

It was a little place compared to some of the other churches I have served, but none blessed me as this one did.  I went to it while still in seminary. I thought I knew more than I did know.  I was the spiritual novice in that place for it was filled with many a soul far more under the influence of the Holy Spirit than their preacher.  They were a patient and encouraging bunch when it came to my preaching.  But, the thing I remember most is their praying.  I have never been anywhere as a preacher where so many prayed for me.  I have often thought over the years that it would be a good thing for every young preacher to go to a "Zoar" and know what it is to be a part of a church that really takes praying for the preacher seriously. 

 

Today I gave thanks for this man who spend time praying for me.  He is now truly a part of that great cloud of heavenly witnesses.  He will be missed and always loved.  The effects of his praying will go on and on.  No doubt he prayed for those he loved with more fervency than he prayed for his preacher.  Those who pray for us leave with us a legacy that is eternal. 

Asbury Revival 1970

There are several days which I count as formative in the beginning of my journey toward God.  The first was December 19, 1955.  It was the day my father died.  I was seven years old and on that day I started looking toward heaven.  Two years later I was baptized in Waycross, Ga. by a pastor who would later marry my mother.  Just before I turned 18 years of age I gave my life to Jesus and heard a call to preach.  Some six months later as a member of a lay witness team in Blue Ridge, Ga. I said "yes" to that call to preach.  And, then on February 3, 1970 the Holy Spirit blessed Asbury College with a powerful overwhelming revival.  I was blessed to be present that morning when it started.

 

The Asbury Revival became more than just a memory.  It was a moment in my spiritual journey which brought me to a place of wanting to give my whole life to God.  It was a moment in which the Holy Spirit worked to create in me a hunger for God which has always driven me forward; yet, which has never been satisfied.  This is not to say this life I have lived has been without the same sins and distractions with which we all struggle, but it is to say a hunger and thirst for God started growing in me that day that has been unshakable.

 

There have been those moments which I have sought to put what happened to me on February 3rd at Asbury College in some kind of neat theological box.  I have never been able to really wrap it up.  It was powerful and life changing in the moment and it brought me to an awareness that we ought to expect the powerful and the life changing work of the Holy Spirit to always be unfolding before us.  I have not always understood what it means to live under the control and authority of the Holy Spirit, but since that day I have been one who has been pressing toward that goal even though it always seems to be somewhere beyond attainable.  

The Unasked Question

"...live in love, as Christ loved us."  (Ephesians 5:1)  Sounds simple enough.  Here is a word which is not difficult to understand.   But, then, we are not sure we want to live our life by such a high standard.  If we did our friendships would not go bankrupt and our marriages would not go bust.  To look at the way Christ loves us is to see a love which goes beyond anything most of us have ever really practiced.  From time to time we may rise to heights which surprise us, but most of the time we live too much in that world which seeks to serve self.

 

Christ had nothing to do with serving self.  He gave up all rights to Himself when He made the journey from heaven to Bethlehem.  "...though He was in the form of God, (He) did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness..." (Philippians 4:6-7)  But, the emptying out of Himself for us did not stop with the moment of birth.  To continue reading that same section is to encounter a Word from God which says, "...(He) became obedient to the point of death even death on a cross."  (Philippians 4:8)  Nothing was more important to Christ than living in love and dying in love for the likes of me and you.

 

He asked for no response guarantees before He acted.  What He did He did because of the love which motivated Him.  He did what He did not for just a few, but for everyone regardless of their attitude toward Him and despite the things which were wrong about their lives.  To much of our loving brings us to the question, "What's in it for me?"  It is a question Christ never has asked and never will ask.  And, if we are serious about living in love as Christ loves us, we will never ask it either. 

More Than Imitation

I confess to being a cow watcher.  Here on the farm it is often our evening entertainment.  Parking the truck at the fence and watching is what we do around these parts in the final twilight moments of the day.  The young calves make it even more interesting.  Not being weighted to the ground with eight  hundred pounds and a few years enables them to run and frolic with feet kicking high in the air.  The calves are like children.  They learn how to be calves by imitating the older cows who share the pasture with them.  It is no different with two legged children who walk among us.

 

In Ephesians 5:1 the Word of God says, "Therefore be imitators  of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us..."  It is both striking and interesting that the Apostle would write about being imitators with one stroke and being children with the next.  Could it be that even as calves learn to be cows by imitation, so do we learn how to live through imitation.  When the Son came into the world through Bethlehem and lived among us, he gave us a life to model and imitate. 

 

Of course, imitation alone is not enough.  Most of us can remember a time in the early days of our spiritual journey when it seemed possible to simply grab hold of our life and make it after the example of Jesus.  As we walked a few steps down that road of faith, we soon learned that being Christ-like is not something we can manufacture out of human determination.  Oh, it can be done.  We can be shaped into the image of the heart of Christ from within, but it means putting our life completely in the hands of the Holy Spirit.  He is the One who can do with us what we cannot do for ourselves.  He can shape us from within in such a way that the spirit and heart of Christ begins to show through us. 

No Wiggle Room

When it comes to forgiving others, most of us wish the Word gave us a little more wiggle room.  Actually, when it comes to forgiveness, we have absolutely no wiggle room.  We may exercise some discretion about who is going to be the recipient of our forgiveness, but discretionary powers do not really belong to anyone who is serious about walking the way Jesus calls us to walk.  There is a Word the Apostle Paul was inspired by the Spirit to write which says to us, ", "...be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you."  (Ephesians 4:32).  No wiggle room there.  We are to forgive as Christ forgives.  And, in that prayer we pray there is a Word which says, " ...forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors."  (Matthew 6:12)  No wiggle room there.

 

What we like to do is pick and choose.  We like to forgive those who according to our perspective are worthy of being forgiven.  We are ready to forgive some of those who act and speak out the words of regret and sorrow for their offensive behavior directed toward us, but we are not always ready to forgive them just because it is what Christ calls us to do.  The hard truth is that none of us in our right mind want God to forgive according to our meriting that forgiveness.  We would much rather fall on mercy than merit when it comes to being forgiving.

 

The Word points toward forgiveness coming to us according to the measure we are willing to forgive.  And while God will even forgive us for not being forgiving to others, who among us wants to live in a way which is known to be displeasing to Him?  The hard way is the way of the cross.  The cross was a means of offering forgiveness according to mercy and not merit.  It is how Jesus would expect any follower of the way of cross to live....even me and you.