Jesus

Not my will

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“….not my will, but Yours, be done.” Luke 22:42

Jesus prayed it. Jesus lived it. Many times in Scripture He talked about how important what the Father wanted was to Him:

  •  “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” John 5:30
  • “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”  John 6:38
  • “Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” John 5:19
  • “For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.” John 12:49

This same thing is what He taught us to pray: “ So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Luke 11:2

It was important to Jesus. We would all, as Christians, say that it is important to us as well.   Because God wills some pretty amazing stuff – salvation, healing, deliverance, and more. And we say, “Your will be done Lord! Amen!” But there’s that other part of Luke 22:42 that maybe we don’t find so exciting – NOT MY WILL.

We are very happy to fit the will of God in between our will, of course as long as it doesn’t squeeze us too tight. But to exclude our will entirely? Deny our own rights and desires and wishes and wants and pleasures and comforts and conveniences and entertainments? Surely that isn’t what it means.

That is exactly what it means.

It isn’t – my will + His will

It isn’t – His will most of the time

It is- His will regardless of my will

“….not my will, but Yours, be done.” What glory there must be in the life surrendered to this.

 

Report for duty

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No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.  2 Timothy 2:4

The soldier who is actively engaged in combat thinks only of the battle.  It is life or death, not only for himself, but for his fellow soldiers and the land he is fighting for.  There is much at stake, so his life is focused, disciplined and courageous.  There is a great loyalty that motivates him.  There is a cause greater than himself, and he has given himself fully to it.  His whole life has been so ordered that he might be most useful and available to those he is serving.

It is a good analogy for us….the picture of a soldier.  Because we too, as followers of Jesus, deal with life and death realities.  Lives are depending upon us.  God has chosen to use His church to reach the world with the gospel….there is no backup plan.  And should we fail to accommodate our lives to the progression of this heavenly kingdom on earth, many…..so very many, will neither hear, nor avail themselves of God’s great gift of grace through Jesus Christ.

It is good to go to church, but it is not enough to simply sit on a pew.  We must be the church.

It is good to pray, but it is not enough to say reverent words.  We must move heaven with our prayers.

It is good to worship, but it is not enough to sing our songs.  We must encounter the heart of God.

Otherwise we will not go and they will not hear.

Many things will present themselves as obstacles: the cares and troubles of this life….. the emotional disruptions we face due to the irritations, hurts and offenses caused by others….. our own fears, inadequacies and weaknesses..… but what do any of these have to do with the gospel?  The mission has not changed.

It is time to report for duty.  Our Commander-in-Chief has given the command.  Our weapons are unstoppable and victory is assured.  Sitting on the sidelines of the conflict has never been a place of safety, child of God.  Engage the heart of God….and then engage in the warfare.

Lives in the balance

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Now when He concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum. And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant.  Luke 7:1-3

A life was in the balance.  Someone was at the point of death, someone heard about Jesus, and there was life instead of death.  This scenario plays out over and over all across the earth every day.  Multitudes are dead in their transgressions and sin, the enemy of their souls patiently waiting for their last day to claim his prize.  But then someone comes with the message of the gospel…..the good news that instead of death, you can have life through Jesus, abundant and eternal.  And to those who receive Him, the power of death is broken!

But someone must go.  Someone must tell.  Somewhere around you today, a life is in the balance.

Live after Five Outreach – Friday May, 2015

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There were two women who passed by us on the sidewalk several times Friday afternoon. What caught my attention about them was how entirely they were trying to look like men. I prayed a simple prayer in my heart for them, that God would reveal Himself to them and help them to understand who He is and who they are.  A little while later they were passing by on the sidewalk again and this time one of them headed directly for me. I braced myself, expecting her to angrily confront me concerning what Christians believe about homosexuality. But instead she asked me where I went to church. I told her and she said she thought she had seen me before and we discovered that we had gone to the same church more than 10 years ago.  She told me how she had walked with Jesus for twenty years, being very zealous for Him, until her godly husband died, leaving her in a place of sorrow and confusion.  And then she confessed “ after he died, I went down a path that I knew I shouldn’t have gone down”.   With tears she said God had been dealing with her heart. I only had a few brief moments to offer her some encouragement to return to Jesus. Still crying she said “thank you for what you’re doing”, hugged me and walked away down the sidewalk.   I hadn’t given her a gospel tract. I hadn’t even preached the gospel to her.  But just standing on the sidewalk for Jesus was all God needed in that moment to speak to a precious soul that had strayed away.

Local Outreach – March 27, 2015

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Yesterday afternoon we did our first outreach at an LSU baseball game. It’s a great opportunity to put the gospel message into the hands of many people in a short period of time, which we are always glad to do. But we are very watchful for opportunities to speak to people. Yesterday a precious young lady, a high school senior, stopped to talk to Charles for a few minutes. I could hear bits and pieces of their conversation from where I was standing and was very disturbed to hear that her family had been asked to leave their church after her mother was divorced. They hadn’t really been involved in church since then. She walked off shortly afterwards, but passed by us again later that afternoon. I stopped her to tell her how sorry I was that her family had been treated that way, that I was also divorced but had found forgiveness in Jesus and love from His people. It broke my heart to think of her and her mom feeling thrown away by God because of how they had been treated by church people. God forbid that we should be the reason people don’t find their way to Him. It matters how we treat people.

Later that night we were on Third Street and within a few minutes of getting there a college student stopped to talk when I handed him a gospel tract. He had been raised to believe in God but had strayed away from any interest in Him. At LSU he had listened to the people who came to preach at Free Speech Alley, wanting to know truth, but very turned off by the manner in which the preachers dealt with people, even when they only wanted to ask them questions. Even though he did not disagree with their message, he wanted no part of something that was presented in such a way that it seemed so angry and hateful. He and his girlfriend had been talking about spiritual things….. they are seeking and wide open to Jesus right now. And being pushed away by people who claim to represent Him. It matters how we treat people.

Born again believers…..we represent Jesus Christ on this earth. It matters how we treat people.

Third Street Outreach – January 2, 2015

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Although there were several people who stopped to talk, the one who is on my heart the most is the one who didn’t. I was sharing the gospel with someone and I saw a woman on the sidewalk with her husband. She was about my age and looked like she’d had a few drinks. Out of the corner of my eye I could see that she had stopped and was watching me. When my conversation ended she was standing on the edge of the sidewalk just a few feet away from me. She avoided making eye contact with me but she kept glancing my way. So I walked over and handed a gospel tract to her. She looked at the tract, then back at me and said “this is a sign”. She didn’t want to talk to me, but as she was walking away with her husband she looked at me one more time, still holding the tract, and said again “this is a sign.” Maybe the Lord will use a little piece of paper to get this woman’s attention.

A short time later a group of three guys walked by, full of tattoos. What I found out shortly afterwards was that they were also full of the Holy Ghost! They were downtown passing out tracts and evangelizing and I was so encouraged to hear about the transformation Jesus had brought to their lives. Delivered from addiction and the occult, these young men were absolutely on fire and sold out for Jesus and believing for revival in our city! Thank You Jesus!

Choosing the Eternal

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2 Corinthians 4:18 “while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Colossians 3:2 “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”

The tendency of humans to place too much importance on the things which affect their senses and feelings has been a problem from the beginning. When Eve looked at the fruit on the tree of knowledge she considered not the command of the eternal God but “that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise…” It appealed to her senses and in that moment she valued that temporal momentary gratification more than the eternal benefits of obedience. And the whole world has suffered for it.

It can be easy for us as believers to avoid those things that are clearly sinful. However, there are many things in this world that are not evil in and of themselves, but they are merely temporal. We can give time and attention to them without it necessarily being a matter of sin…except that it takes our focus from the eternal things and dulls the spiritual senses. Daily we are faced with choices….the temporal or the eternal. This material world so often casts a shadow over our life…a veil over our mind. And so we live in a fog, unable to see those things which are truly important. Meanwhile a world perishes without Jesus. The cost of temporal living is far too high.

Third Street Outreach – Friday October 10th

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I had been on Third Street for about thirty minutes when I noticed a young man walking unsteadily down the sidewalk with the police following behind him, watching him. He passed by me and overturned one of the metal garbage cans into the street. (The garbage cans are very heavy and it took two men to set it back upright). As he continued to walk down the street he was screaming and cursing at the police officers until he disappeared from sight. I silently prayed that God would touch his heart and bring him back so I could talk to him. Less than an hour later he was back and instead of passing by me, he walked right up to me and stood there looking at me. So, assuming that he wanted to hear the gospel, I spent the next twenty minutes telling him about our wonderful Jesus and how desperately he needed Him. He listened so very attentively and when our conversation was over he walked away meek as a little lamb, thanking me for talking to him. Please pray for this young man.

A solemn warning from Judges 19

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In Judges 19 I have heard an urgent warning for our day….

“As they were enjoying themselves, suddenly certain men of the city, perverted men, surrounded the house and beat on the door. They spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came to your house, that we may know him.” Judges 19:22

(A little bit of background) Earlier in the chapter we are introduced to a Levite who has traveled to Bethlehem to retrieve his concubine who had run away. Getting a late start on the trip home, they found themselves near the city of Gibeah (of the tribe of Benjamin) as night was beginning to fall. Finding nobody willing to take them in for the night (verse 15) they made their way to the open square of the city. About that time the old man mentioned in our verse above came in from his work in the field and invited them into his home for the night. The perverted men of the city (enough of them to surround a house) came to the old man’s house with wicked intentions. The Levite puts his concubine outside the door and she is violated by these men to such an extent that she dies. When this becomes known in Israel, forces gather for war against Benjamin and not only Gibeah, but nearly the whole tribe of Benjamin is wiped out.

Usually I pass through this chapter pretty quickly because, to be honest, I don’t want to spend any more time than necessary thinking on what has happened. But when reading this last weekend I couldn’t pass over it. In it I saw a picture of the day we live in.

Consider this – the man of the house was familiar with the city. It was his home. He knew the kind of people who lived there and the wickedness that was prevalent. His insistence that the visitors not spend the night in the open square indicated that he knew it wouldn’t be safe for them. Yet once they are all safely inside his house, there seems to be no concern about what may be happening outside as they are “enjoying themselves”, or “making merry”. In that little cocoon of safety they enjoyed a carefree meal, eating and drinking…yet evil was gaining ground and about to pounce. And the old man knew the danger, yet did nothing. Possibly he thought that getting them into the house would be enough to protect them. It was not.

In a culture that placed a high value on hospitality, it is extremely odd that they were refused a resting place for the night at anyone else’s home. Except when you consider that the rest of the inhabitants of the city also knew what manner of men dwelt there. And even though they knew these travelers would be in danger, they just weren’t willing to be inconvenienced or put themselves at risk to help.

We cannot afford to ignore the intensity and urgency of the days we live in just because it hasn’t (yet) affected us personally. We are in the safe little house of America, but even here the enemy is working to surround us. While we are busy enjoying ourselves, eating and drinking, and having church, the forces of darkness are advancing at an alarming rate. Meanwhile, our brothers and sisters in other nations are experiencing horrible persecution and our eyes are dry. It isn’t a day to play it safe or worry about how to not have our comfort infringed upon.

The inhabitants of Gibeah who were living in denial of the evil all around and refusing to get involved….they all ended up being swept away in the destruction that resulted from the evil acts commited there.

It is time to seek the face of God like our lives depended upon it. Because it may very well be that they do.

Third Street – Friday Night, August 8, 2014

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I was walking across Third Street tonight to get to my normal spot when my path crossed that of a young man named Brian who was walking down the sidewalk. I gave him a gospel tract; he looked at it for a minute, and then apologized to me for his drunken state. As I talked to him about Jesus, I learned that he was raised by a Pentecostal grandmother. At fourteen years old he’d had a very real experience with the Lord, but he soon yielded to peer pressure and walked away from the Lord. He felt that it was no coincidence that I walked up to talk to him. I agreed with him that it absolutely was not, because I had prayed before I went out to Third Street that night that God would put people in my path who had wandered away from Him. His heart was very tender as he talked about his belief that he had a calling on his life from the Lord. I told Brian that I believed that this same Jesus he had walked away from at fourteen was now inviting him to come back. “He still loves you Brian. He hasn’t changed His mind about that.” There were tears in his eyes as he thanked me repeatedly for talking to him. Please pray for this young man. Even now, he is in the valley of decision.