Pastor Bob’s Blog

We spent some time talking about David and Goliath at church yesterday. There are a lot of lessons we can pull from the account of David’s great triumph and Goliath’s great defeat as recounted in 1 Samuel 17.

Here’s one lesson – give more attention to God and His promises than to the problems in your life.

The armies of Israel are a great example of the wrong thing to do. They had been listening to Goliath taunt them over some time. The more he taunted, the bigger he got in their eyes.

David, by contrast, had been spending time in the field tending sheep. His practice there was to sing to God and to marvel at how vast and great He was. It was in those fields that David caught the idea that this vast and powerful God cared for him. That idea blossomed into faith that allowed him to rip bears and lions to shreds with his bare hands.

When David arrived at the battlefront, he was still marveling at how big God was. He found an army that had forgotten God, and instead was marveling at how big Goliath was. David arrived in faith, while the armies of Israel cowered in fear.

If you and I want to conquer our individual Goliaths, we need to be careful what we mediate on – what we spend time turning over and over and over in our minds, what we read, what we watch, what we listen to, and what we say repeatedly. Pondering how big problems are produces fear. Pondering how big God is, and how much He loves us, produces faith.

I want to be like David.

Today I attended a memorial service for Al Topping, a fellow I’ve known most of my life. Al died in September of 2010 just shy of his 87th birthday.

I could write columns about Al’s life, because he lived it fully, generously, and joyfully. What struck me, though, was how his memorial service reflected Al’s life.

As a friend and I walked to the local Episcopal church, we heard the strains of bagpipes – not a sound often heard in Athens, Ohio. It made us smile.

The crowded church was filled with friends and family. The service began with “Just a Closer Walk With Thee, ” “In the Sweet By and By,” “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” and “People Get Ready.” As the service ended, the Dixieland band processed the center aisle playing, “O When The Saints Go Marching In.” We all sang along – and smiled as we remembered Al.

Sandwiched in between these songs were a Rite I Eucharist service with traditional Episcopal hymns, scripture, and touching and funny remembrances by Al’s children.

It was a service Al would have liked – upbeat, hopeful, and tinged with humor.

It reminded me that those who die in Christ have every reason to be joyful. Likewise, we who remember them should be joyful, too. Through his memorial service, Al ministered to every person who attended. What a great ministry.

I sat with a friend from high school in the back of the church. He mentioned a scripture that was so fitting. I’ll close with it (1 Corinthians 15:53-55 NLT):

For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die. When this happens – when our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die – then at last the Scriptures will come true: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Godspeed, Al. I’ll see you in a few years.

I was struck today with this question: If the early followers of Jesus came to visit my church, would they recognize it? Would they see it as an extension of the Church they knew?

I’ve read the book of Acts more times than I can count. I’m reading it again. I’m struck by how outward looking, bold, and power-filled those who were devoted to Jesus were.

Think about it for a moment. The leaders of the temple bound and beat them for proclaiming the name of Jesus, and commanded them to stop. They didn’t. Instead, they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer persecution for Jesus. They prayed for even greater boldness to proclaim the name of Jesus. They asked for a healing revival to break out. The Lord must have been happy because His power shook the place! Everyone went out and proclaimed the name of Jesus with boldness!

Miracles and healing were expected. Peter and John walked by the Beautiful Gate of the temple, found a lame beggar. They ordered him to get up in the name of Jesus, expecting him to be healed. He was miraculously healed, got up, and danced.

Throughout the book of Acts, we read that thousands were added to the church. And we’re part of the same Church – just a few centuries later.

We should be doing the same things as our early brethren – and more. But we won’t see any of it if we’re inward looking. We won’t see it if we’re paralyzed by fear of failure or criticism. The Church will be weak if we don’t both BELIEVE and DO what the Bible tells us we can and should do.

Let’s really live by faith and not by our senses and experience. Let’s be really evangelical, boldly proclaiming the lordship of Jesus, and inviting people to join us. Let’s believe what the Lord says in Mark 16:17-18. Let’s have some faith in the authority of the name of Jesus, and in that name let’s cast out demons and lay hands on the sick expecting them to be healed. Let’s operate in the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.

Let’s stop entertaining ourselves on Sundays, and secluding ourselves in little enclaves. Instead, let’s break out of our safe houses, go into all the world, and let the Lord use us to minister His love and His power to the world around us – just like He did in the Church years recorded in the book of Acts.

I want my church to be a place the early disciples would recognize and feel comfortable in. How about you?

Have you ever filled your car’s gas tank just so you could park the car and enjoy the sound of the engine? Of course not. You gassed up so you could drive – so you could GO somewhere.

After He was resurrected from the dead, but before returning to heaven, Jesus told His disciples to hang out in Jerusalem until power from heaven had come to them. (Luke 24:49). They did what He told them to do, and the power came with fire and a sound like a mighty rushing wind. (Acts 2).

But He also told them to go into the world and preach the good news. (Mark 16:15). He just wanted them to power up before they went. The entire book of Acts records that they did that. The early disciples went all around the region, and miracles happened wherever they went. The number of followers of Jesus grew exponentially.

The Church today is spending too much time in the garage enjoying the engine’s sound, listening to the radio, and telling everyone else in the car how great it is to be in the car.

We’re supposed to meet – at least every Sunday – but we’re not supposed to think that’s all there is to being a disciple of Jesus. No! We’re supposed to GO!

If Jesus is your Lord, you have a ministry. Get powered up in the Word and the Holy Spirit, get prayed up, get praised up, and go do your ministry. Minister healing to the sick. Minister hope to the hopeless. Minister salvation to the lost.

Minister in the work place. Minister at home. Minister at the grocery store. Minister where you are.

Go and share the Good News. Jesus is Lord!

GO!!

On Twitter, I follow accounts of men of God who have gone home to the Lord – Kenneth E. Hagin, Smith Wigglesworth, and AW Tozer are three of them. Just because someone isn’t in an earthly body walking the earth doesn’t mean we can’t benefit from the truth the Lord gave them while they were here.

Today I received, from the Global Prayer Alert Network of Mac and Lynn Hammond’s Living Word Christian Center, a great piece written by John Osteen, the founder of Lakewood Church. John Osteen’s son, Joel, is now the pastor of Lakewood. I wanted to share this piece. Let it sink into your spirit.

The following excerpts are taken from Becoming a Man of Unwavering Faith by John Osteen:

What to Do When Nothing Seems to Work

1. Check Up on Your Own Life

When I face adversity, the first thing I do is to turn God’s great searchlight on in my heart to check up on my own life. I want to find out if I have overlooked anything that needs to be made right. Jesus said, “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that you Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25).

2. Check Up on Your Promises

If you do not have some definite promises from the Word of God that has been whispered to your heart and which you have embraced; if you do not have any real, definite, pointed promise that God has quickened to you in your present situation, then you have a loose connection.

3. Check Up on Your Confessions of Faith

Jesus said, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says” (Mark 11:23). You will never rise any higher than your confession. You will never sink any lower than your confession.

4. Check Up on the Arena in Which You are Fighting

If the devil ever gets you in the arena of reasoning and looking at your symptoms, he will defeat you every time. Stay in the arena of faith and you will win every time.

5. Check Up on Your Companions and Fellowship

Are you in constant fellowship with people of faith? If you associate with people who cannot support you in faith, you may find yourself struggling to hold on to your promise.

6. Check Up on Yourself to See if You are Obeying the Scriptures

Many people live very worldly lives. They disregard the commandments of God. When they try to appropriate God’s promises, they fall.

7. Check Up on Your Praise Life

Are you showing your faith by praising God before you see the answer, The Word of God tells us: I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in your mouth.”