The Small Branch

 The other day I was talking with someone who has been struggling for the last few years.  He wanted to present a theory.  He thought that perhaps God was very distant and didn't deal with the things on earth much.  His example was the holocaust.  How could God be involved and still allow things like that to happen?  Needless to say, I pointed him to verses about how God has numbered the hairs on our heads and takes care of us even more than the sparrows which He carefully watches over at all times.  But this morning, as I was reading in Acts, I found another example of God allowing tremendous persecution, including death.   Acts 8:1 says, "Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him (Stephen) to death.  And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles."  Verse 3 continues, "But Saul began ravaging the church, entering...

 I've been listening to a sermon series on Galatians .  I'm no where close to done with it (there are 24 sermons, as you can see), but I am finding my thinking challenged and convicted.  You see, I grew up in a "performance based" household.  Everything I did was to gain favor with someone.  In a lot of ways, while I had a basic understanding of grace, I thought God was the same way.  This balance of works/law and grace is hard to figure out.  Especially for someone like me who wants to puzzle things out until complete understanding dawns.  I don't really think complete understanding will dawn for me on this one for a very long time, if it does this side of heaven.   Galatians 5:1 says, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery."  At the same time, in chapter 6, verse 9, Paul says, "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do n...

 "Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe;" Acts 2:43a In the end of Acts 2, we are told about the baby church.  They functioned in a way that was beneficial to all and led many to Christ.  I have a note written in my Bible (not sure where I got it) that says, "The church before people started messing it up."  As I was reading this passage the other day, one thing stood out to me more than anything else - their sense of awe.  We have lost our sense of awe.  How sad for us!  We serve an Awesome God!  He is holy and perfect and amazing.  We should be in awe constantly that He would pay the slightest attention to us rebellious humans.  Awe.  When we spend time with Him, often and consistently, we can feel that awe.  Verse 42 of Acts 2 says, "They were continually  devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." (emphasis mine)  Maybe that is where the awe comes from....

 Today, I finished a book called Out of the Saltshaker and into the World:  Evangelism as a way of life  by Rebecca Manley Pippert.  If you are looking for a book that is full of encouragement as you seek to "Go and make disciples" as the Lord commanded, I would recommend this one.  She also lists many other books in the appendix for further study.  This book isn't about a formula or a program to share the gospel, but about how to live our faith and communicate well so that sharing the gospel is natural as we develop relationships.

 "Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?"  Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."  Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?""  John 18:37-38a "What is truth?"  We think this is a question only of our relativistic time, but Pilate asked that question 2000 years ago.  People have been asking that question since there were people.  In Psalm 119, we are told "Your law is truth" (verse 140), "Your commandments are truth" (verse 151), and "The sum of Your word is truth" (verse 160).  This tells us that God's Word is truth.  John tells us that "the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)  If God's Word is truth and His Word became fles...

  2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (ESV) "7  So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.   8  Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.   9  But he said to me,  “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.   10  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." A lot of people quote verse 9 when others are struggling, but let's look at the context.  Paul has been given some kind of "thorn in his flesh" to torment him.  We don't know exactly what this means.  Some have proposed it is...

 Life is a struggle.  The past few days, I have not been feeling great physically.  It is amazing to me how much I still let physical struggles make me lazy about what goes into my mind.  It takes too much effort to think only on things that are pure, right, excellent, praiseworthy, lovely, admirable, noble, and true (Philippians 4:8) so I just make excuses and let my mind go.  It is never a good thing.  Then I deal with guilt for thinking unkind, bitter, just plain wrong things, not to mention watching them on tv or reading about them.  This is not the life the Holy Spirit wants for us.  But the struggle is real.  We have to listen to His warnings, no matter how we feel physically, no matter how much stress is going on around us or in us.  That is tough.  That's why we have the Holy Spirit in the first place.  We CANNOT do it on our own.  Even submitted to God, we often have trouble hearing the Holy Spirit over our flesh....

 A few weeks ago, God brought together the perfect storm of conviction for me and I began exercising again.  So far, I have worked out every day for just over two weeks.  Not much, I know, but it is a start.  While I am on the treadmill, I usually read, listen to sermons, or watch videos on RightNow Media.  This morning, I was reading Shepherding Women in Pain  by Bev Hislop.  In my exercises after the treadmill, I was pondering the chapter I had just read, all while sweating and groaning as my muscles struggled to work.  The author had made a very good point about the Western view of pain.  We always look at pain as something to avoid.  Something to be fixed.  Something that is just plain wrong.  This viewpoint often leads to very unhealthy reactions to pain.  As I was feeling the pain in my workout, I realized that this is true, except in the gym.  Anyone who exercises will tell you "no pain, no gain."  We all ...