5/25/14 YEAR OF EQUIPPING TO SERVE

Acts 1 - The Launch of the Church

    How in the world can we do it?  This is a real challenge.  This question and statement have been asked for many situations.  When there is something new we want to learn, we can take a class, or watch a video or read a book.  We can’t just say that it’s impossible.  We have to be willing to learn.
    Some times we can learn from someone who doesn’t know our own specific specialty. For example, here’s a story of a group of ER docs who learned from a Formula One Team.
    What could a team of medical doctors possibly learn about practicing medicine from a Formula One racing team? If the doctors remain teachable, maybe they could learn a lot. That’s what happened at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. After completing a twelve-hour emergency transplant, the head doctor watched a Formula One race. As a car pulled into the pit, he noted that the crew changed the tires, filled it with fuel, cleared the air intakes, and sent it off in seven seconds.
    It struck him that it often took thirty minutes for his team of doctors and nurses to untangle and unplug all the wires and tubes and transfer a patient from surgery to ICU. He wondered if a racing team could teach a hospital how to run an emergency room.
    Imagine the pushback from the highly trained medical staff when the McLaren and Ferrari racing teams showed up to advise them on how to improve their emergency services. After all, what did they know about surgery or patient care? Nothing. But what did they know about speeding up complex processes? Everything.
    As a result, after visiting with the Formula One racing team, the hospital staff initiated major changes, including better training, new procedures, a step-by-step checklist covering each stage of the handover, and a diagram so that everyone knew their exact physical position as well as their precise task. It almost halved handover errors.
    The hospital team’s problems were solved by a group of people who knew nothing about the practice of emergency room medicine. But the Formula One team’s expertise allowed them to easily spot what the hospital tribe had missed. And the medical team had the humility and teachability to learn from the outsiders.
Larry Osborne, Innovation’s Dirty Little Secret (Zondervan, 2013), pp 130-131
    Here’s an insight: no matter who we are we can learn and things we do can improve.  Here’s an illustration of how quickly they can change the tires on a race car.  (Video) Wow, that’s amazing.
    Now, let’s look at the beginning of the church.  We recently celebrated Easter.  We rejoiced at the victory Jesus won over death and the grave.  What He did was amazing.
    Then, we read that the command was given to the church to go out and spread the good news.   It would do no good for Jesus to come and die on the cross if no one heard about it.  We are told God expects us to be involved.  We are to build the church, spread the gospel, do God’s work.  And the big question comes up: HOW?????
    Another thinking point: how did they do it right away at the beginning of the church?  They had no history.  They had no organization or structure.  They had no financial backing.  They were starting from scratch.
    That is the story we find in the Book of Acts.  We find the story of the triumphant spread of the Gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit.  God equipped and empowered the believers from the beginning.  He is still doing the same today.
    Jesus left this world and returned to heaven forty days after the resurrection.  In Acts 1 we se this story.
Acts 1:9-11 NIV
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
    Jesus came to the world and left in miraculous ways.  He was born without a human father and welcomed with a multitude of the heavenly host praising God.  He returned to heaven by simply lifting up out of their sight.  He left with the promise that He would return some day.  We look forward to that day with excitement.  Yes, some day we will see Jesus.
    We know that the early church shocked the world with their message.  We read:
Acts 17:6 NLT
6 Not finding them there, they dragged out Jason and some of the other believers instead and took them before the city council. “Paul and Silas have caused trouble all over the world,” they shouted, “and now they are here disturbing our city, too.
    Another translations says they turned the world upside down.  How did they do it? How did the early church make such an impact?
    Let’s go back to chapter 1.
Acts 1:8 NIV Jesus said:
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
    The power of the Holy Spirit was promised to the church.  We are enabled to do what God commanded and what the world needs more than anything else through the power of the Spirit of God.  The Spirit empowers us to DO God’s work.  The church spoke the Word of God with boldness because of the Spirit.
    This key verse tells us we will be used by God where we live and spreading out to around the world.  We as believers become the carriers of life and hope.  People will know the forgiveness God offers through our work.  And it will accomplish eternal purposes because God does the enabling.
    Here’s another key the early church learned to win the spiritual battle.
Acts 1:14 NIV
14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
    The church learned to join together constantly in prayer. The Greek word here is that they joined together in the same mind or spirit.  The believers faithfully joined together in one accord, in one mind, obeying Jesus’ command to wait for the Father’s promise of the Holy Spirit.  They were totally focused together in prayer with extraordinary unity and purpose.  When God’s timing came they were clothed with supernatural, tremendous power.  The experience of receiving the baptism in the Spirit empowered them to do God’s work.  God’s people got together and prayed.  This was not the only time they prayed.  We see throughout the Book of Acts that the church prayed.  They prayed with power and things happened.
    Acts is a history book.  It tells the opening chapters of the church.  The book is still being written in the sense that the church is still alive and well.  What was the purpose?  Why did Luke write?
    At least some of that answer is found in two parts.
    He shows how the gospel of forgiveness and eternal life through belief in Jesus was spread capably beyond the Jews who first believed to the Gentiles.   They faced severe opposition and persecution.  Yet, they saturated most of the Roman Empire.
    The Holy Spirit played a central role in the believers’ lives and purpose.  This book emphasizes the importance of the baptism in the Holy Spirit to empower the church to spread the message of Jesus.  The baptism in the Spirit was the normal experience in early Christianity.
    For us today in western Wisconsin:  What God started He will complete.  The last thing Jesus promised as He left this earth was that believers will receive power for service.  We will serve Him and win the world because of God’s empowering.
Discussion:
Who was Jesus talking about in Acts 1:8?
I’m going to give you a hint.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
You = YOU!!!!  God wants to use all believers.
What parallels can you see between the situation the early church faced and what we face today?
Can we expect to see a spiritual breakthrough in western Wisconsin?
What must we do to see the breakthrough come?
Let’s pray specifically for the spiritual breakthrough.  Praying with faith and expectation that we will see it, that we will disturb our cities for Jesus.

5/18/14  YEAR OF EQUIPPING TO SERVE

Some Practical Applications of the Christian Life

    How do you actually do it?  We live in a marvelous technological age.  We have computers, tablets, smart phones, digital cameras, DVR recorders for TV, remote control start for our cars.  You can use your phone to start your car remotely, turn on the lights and heat at home, and see the security cameras around your house.  You can sit at your computer and have a video conference with people around the world.  You can watch life news events around the world.
    In 2010, when thirty three miners where trapped in a cave-in 2,300 feet under the ground in Chile for sixty nine days, I watched live on my computer as they were pulled up in a specially made metal tube.  It was amazing.
    Now,  questions for you as we talk about this technology.
What percentage of your computer’s capacity do you actually know how to use?
Can you use every feature of your cell phone?
Are you confused by your TV remote?
Do you know everything your car radio does?
    For most of us, we learn the basics of how to use the things we own and then muddle through the rest.  Somehow, we make it.
    Now, that’s OK for technological things, but, how about your walk with Jesus?  Do you muddle through the Christian life?  Do you struggle and wonder how to live it?  The Bible is filled with information and directions.  Yes, it will take our whole lifetimes to study and continue to grow.  But, we can learn and apply the Bible so that we live a growing and spiritually mature life with Jesus. Today we are going to look at some practical applications of the Bible for daily life.
Colossians 3:1-17 NLT
    1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.
    Where is your focus in life?  What fills your mind?  What is your identity?  Christians need to focus on our relationship with Jesus.  Set your mind on spiritual matters and let your attitudes be influenced by eternity.
    Think of your priorities and affections.  Will they store up treasures in heaven?  This chapter gives us a practical outline for our Christian lives. 
Seek spiritual things, 1-4
Resist sin, 5-11
Develop Christ’s character, 12-17
    God will help us accomplish our spiritual goals.  Keep asking, seeking and knocking for God’s help.  He will help you stay true in your commitment to Jesus.  You will have confidence in your eternal home.
    We have died to this life and sin.  The Bible clearly teaches that believers have died to sin and should have no connection with active participation in it.  Yes, we are tempted.  Yes, we can yield.  But, Yes, we have victory over it through Jesus.
    Sin, wickedness, transgressions against God – this is all NOT a part of the daily and victorious Christian life.  The essence of sin is selfishness, rejecting God’s commands or the welfare of others.  Sinners become cruel in their rebellion against God.  It often leads to moral corruption.
    What are we told to do?  Bury the old sinful nature through the power of God in our lives.  Resist sin, 5-11
    5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. 7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. 11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.
    Resisting sin.  That is something we must continually do and develop our skills in.  A couple of verses for us to ponder:
Romans 6:12-14 NLT
12 Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. 14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.
James 4:7 NLT
7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
1 Peter 5:8-9 NLT
8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.
    This last section from Colossians 3.
Develop Christ’s character, 12-17
12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.
    15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. 16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
    Let God’s word live in you.  Read, study, reflect on the Bible.  It will influence you in a good way.  This will help you to do everything for God and His glory.
    Where did we start today?  With some interesting questions.
What percentage of your computer’s capacity do you actually know how to use?  Can you use every feature of your cell phone?  Are you confused by your TV remote?  Do you know everything your car radio does?
    We have talked about some practical applications of the Christian life.  These are important so we can live a holy life.  God gives us His guidelines.
    We have talked about:
Seeking spiritual things
Resisting sin
Developing Christ’s character
    How do we do each one of these?  Discussion time.
Ask yourself the question:  Which of these do you need to work on first?
How will you go about it?
Let me leave you with a quick true story.
    A man brought a violin to a pawn shop and asked for an appraisal. According to the man’s story, he had purchased a piece of property that included a house and a barn. Shortly after his purchase, he opened an old chest in the barm and discovered the violin safely tucked inside. As he dusted off the near-perfect instrument, he found the word “Stradivarius” clearly inscribed on the violin. The man was hoping the “Stradivarius” was worth millions of dollars.
    However, after the pawn store owners examined the violin and then also had it appraised by an expert, they told the man it wasn’t a genuine Stradivarius. Instead, it was a cheap imitation produced in the early part of the 1900s, worth around five or six hundred dollars. The appraiser concluded by telling the crestfallen violin owner, “Just because something has a label doesn’t mean it’s real.”
Pawn Stars, History Channel (2-7-07)
    That’s an awesome insight.  God wants to help us not only wear the label, but be the genuine article.
PRAYER for us to identify areas of growth and apply what God shows us.

5/11/14 MOTHERS’ DAY

    As we all know, this is Mothers’ Day.  There are countless stories about mothers.  Some of them are funny.  Some are very emotional and touching.
    This week, floating on the net: If at first you don’t succeed, try doing it the way Mom told you to do it in the beginning.
    Mothers are very important in the lives of children as they grow.  The relationship of mother and child usually lasts very strong all throughout life.  This day of celebration is a large economic boom to restaurants, florists, candy makers and long distance companies.
    A question that is running through my mind is this: why did God make mothers and fathers?  He could have created the human race to multiply like trees and flowers that simply spread seeds and new growth happens.  And yet, for human life to continue, it takes a mother and a father.  For life to flourish and be successful, it is best with a mother and a father.  We see that, after the creation of everything, the first institution created on the earth was the family.  God’s creation of the family allowed for the powerful and blessed relationships we can enjoy.  The family gives us a place where we really belong.  And, belonging is one of the most basic needs of every person.
    I think a good answer to the strange question I just asked is that we are designed for healthy and loving relationships.  Through marriage a man and woman have the foundation for that relationship.  Out of their love and relationship come the children.  Together the family finds fulfillment in their relationships.  They then can grow and establish new families and relationships.
Genesis 1:27-28 NIV
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Genesis 2:20-24 NIV
20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.
21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
    God’s awesome plan from the very beginning was marriage and the family.  You may have heard the term “leave and cleave”.  God’s plan is for a man to leave the home he grew up in and start his own family.  Both the husband the wife are very important.
    The Bible says that people were made in God’s image.  That helps us to understand our value.  This enables us to respond to a unique personal relationship with God.  We can reflect His love and character.  We have a moral likeness to God in that we can understand right and wrong.  We can also have loving hearts and the desire to do right.  This allows us to have a personal relationship with God.
    The family is God’s channel to pass on His truths.  The husband and wife were created to have a family and pass on godliness to the next generation.
    God had a wonderful idea when He first established the family.  It is possibly the greatest gift we have as humans for our existence on this earth.
    God uniquely created both Adam and Eve.  He uniquely made men and women to be different and have equally important roles in the world.  So, both the husband and the wife are needed.
    Ladies, don’t listen to the world when it is trying to tell you that being “only” a mother is demeaning.  Sadly, there is basically nothing in our culture or in our education that encourages girls to desire or expect to grow up and get married and stay home with the children.  Being a loving wife and mother is not considered a worthy goal.
    Discussion for us:  What creates the most important impact?  Climbing the corporate ladder?  Shaping the lives of your children?
    I read a great thought:  Leaving children to discover their own values is a little like putting them in a chemistry lab full of volatile substances and saying, “Discover your own compound, kids.”
Christina Hoff Sommers, The War Against Boys (Simon & Schuster, 2013), page 201
    What does God think of mothers?
Proverbs 15:20 NIV
20 A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother.
    It is foolish to despise or not give real respect and honor to your mother.
    God created the comfort gene.  He used it to explain how He would one day bring comfort to Jerusalem.
Isaiah 66:13 NIV
13 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.
Discussion:
***We know that the ten commandments tell us to honor our father and mother.  What does it mean to give your mother honor?  Think beyond this specific day we remember today.
***What should we do to encourage the mothers of our culture?
***What piece of wisdom do you hope your children have grasped and actually applied in life?
***Let’s share some of our best “mother” stories.
Prayer

5/4/14 YEAR OF EQUIPPING

Being God’s People of Prayer

    In a recent issue of Christianity Today (January 2013), a Muslim man describes his commitment to follow Isa al Masih, Jesus the Messiah. Surprisingly, a miracle caused this man to open his heart to Jesus. Here’s how he described the miracle:
    One night the only food my wife and I had was a small portion of macaroni. My wife prepared it very nicely. Then one of her friends knocked on the door. I told myself, The macaroni is not sufficient for even the two of us, so how will it be enough for three of us? But because we have no other custom, we opened the door, and she came in to eat with us.
    While we were eating, the macaroni started to multiply; it became full in the bowl. I suspected that something was wrong with my eyes, so I started rubbing them. I thought maybe my wife hid some macaroni under the small table, so I checked, but there was nothing. My wife and I looked at each other, but because the guest was there we said nothing.
    Afterward I lay down on the bed, and as I slept, Isa came to me and asked me, “Do you know who multiplied the macaroni?” I said, “I don’t know.” He said, “I am Isa al Masih [Jesus, the Messiah]. If you follow me, not only the macaroni but your life will be multiplied.”
Gene Daniels, “Worshipping Jesus in the Mosque”, Christianity Today (January-February 2013)
    There is no limit to God’s power.  The Bible tells the stories of when Jesus multiplied a small lunch to feed thousands.  Jesus never changes.  He has no problem in supernaturally intervening in the lives of people and doing the “impossible”.
    We are going to take a few minutes and be reminded of the importance of and the power of prayer.  Let me share a few pictures of my trip to Brazil, ministering with Pastor Richard.
    End pics, powerful times of prayer.  This is what we must seek, expect and live in. Powerful prayer makes all the difference.
Isaiah 56:7 NKJV
7 Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.
Luke 19:45-46 NKJV
45 Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”
    God’s house is a house of prayer.  There were people who were corrupting God’s house back then. There are still people corrupting God’s house.
    Let’s focus on the part that talks about prayer.  God wants a  house of prayer for all nations.  It is clear that God’s house is designed to be a singular place where God’s people will gather with Him for prayer and worship.  There should be nothing that interferes with coming close to God.  Don’t let anything make it difficult to pray, to worship and seek God.
    It is through prayer that we see the supernatural intervention of God in our lives.
Mark 11:22-26 NKJV
22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 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. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. 25 And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
    Another passage where Jesus tells us that nothing is impossible with Him.  We must believe for anything.
Matthew 21:21-22 NKJV
21 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. 22 And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

1 John 5:13-15 NKJV
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. 14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
Matthew 7:7-8 NKJV
7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
    Prayer is what we must believe in, it is what we must do.  Think about this: one of the most difficult things to do it to pray.  The enemy works very hard to keep us from praying.  It seems unimportant.
    But, history tells us that every time there is a powerful move of God, prayer is behind it.  We must be people of prayer.
    We will take time to pray for your needs and requests.