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After speaking with some ministry interns, we wrapped up our time with a Q&A session. I had lots of very thoughtful questions, but this one seemed to really resonate with everyone. I was asked:
“When you’re contemplating resigning from a ministry position, how do you know that God called you to this position in the first place and it wasn’t just me calling myself here?”
I know when the going gets tough it’s natural to think that it is time to move on. Before you submit that letter of resignation, there are a couple of things to consider first. Check out this short video…
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Some people are either afraid to say what they really think, or else they aren’t entirely confident in what they believe. As a result, they tend to take an indirect approach to communicate what they want someone else to hear.
Some try to imply what they’re really trying to say: “Do you get what I’m saying? Can you read between the lines?” Others hope the other person will infer the right meaning. But bold claims are something completely different—there’s no implying, no hoping the other person will infer the right thing, but just a clear statement. Like Caiaphas’ statement that we looked at last week: “Jesus must die so that the rest of us can keep our cushy positions.”
You can always tell if the message got through by how the recipients respond. Usually the stronger the reaction, the more clearly the message was received!
Remember that I talked about the clout that Annas still held, even though he wasn’t officially the high priest anymore? We see it right after the arrest of Jesus. Instead of taking Him directly to the Sanhedrin, He was first taken to Annas. There Jesus was questioned about His followers and His teaching, and He simply replied, “Everything I taught is public knowledge. I’ve boldly and clearly proclaimed Who I am” (John 18:12-14, 19-24).
All throughout His public ministry, Jesus did make it clear who He was. There are so many places we could read about this in the Gospels, but let me just show you three examples from the Gospel of Luke:
He forgives sins and heals a paralytic to prove that He has the power of God to forgive—Luke 5:20-25
Demons recognize Him and submit to His power—Luke 8:28-35
His disciples recognize that Jesus is the Son of God—Luke 9:18-22
Finally, Jesus was asked directly by the Sanhedrin and He made His bold claim that He was indeed the Son of God (Luke 22:66-71). Remember I said earlier that you can tell how clearly the message got through by the response of the people? Well, check out this response—
Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?”
“He is worthy of death,” they answered. (Matthew 26:65-66)
What about you and me?Do we have to imply that we believe Jesus is the Son of God? Do we have to hope the other person will infer that we are His disciples? Or can it be said that our verbal and lifestyle testimony is a bold claim of what we believe and Whose we are?
The Book of Acts records the response of the Sanhedrin to the first Christians, and it appears to be identical to their response when they heard Jesus say, “I am the Son of God.” For instance:
After Peter and John healed a lame man, the Sanhedrin could see “that these men had been with Jesus” but they ordered them not to talk about Jesus anymore. These men said they could not obey that directive (Acts 4:13-14).
When they were called back in for a second appearance, Luke tells us the Sanhedrin “were furious and wanted to put them to death.” But they persisted in boldly proclaiming Jesus to everyone (Acts 5:30-39).
Then there was an early church leader named Stephen. His bold preaching brought him before the Sanhedrin as well, who ended up stoning him to death (Acts 6:8-10, 15; 7:55-56).
So let me repeat the question: Can it be said that our verbal and lifestyle testimony is a bold claim of what we believe and Whose we are? Or do we simply speak empty words?
Jesus made His bold claim and He backed it up. What about us? Do we make the bold claim that we will stand for Jesus even if that means we will be ridiculed, persecuted, or killed? Is our bold claim backed up by a lifestyle of complete trust in our Savior? These are questions every Christian should ask and allow the Holy Spirit to help them answer honestly.
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We’ve all heard people make some audacious claims. But the real power is in being able to back up those claims. Without any proof, it’s all talk! As things were coming to a conclusion for Christ’s ministry—at least in the world’s eyes—there were some bold claims being made. Some were made by Jesus Himself, some by His rivals, and some by His supporters.
The first bold claim we’re going to consider was made by the high priest: a man named Joseph Caiaphas.
The Sanhedrin was the highest court in the land and was made up of 70 + 1 men. This comes from Numbers 11:16-17 (seventy leaders) plus Moses. After Moses, another person was always appointed to serve as the leader, which was usually the high priest.
By the time of Jesus, this ruling body had become more political than religious. Very frequently, leadership would change because of the whims of the Romans or their puppet leaders (someone like a King Herod). The high priest in Christ’s early years was a man named Annas, who served from AD 6-15. During all of the public ministry of Jesus, the high priesthood had transferred to Caiaphas (AD 18-36), who was Annas’ son-in-law. Yet both of them still shared considerable influence (see Luke 3:2; John 18:13, 24; Acts 4:6).
Caiaphas and his family were Sadducees. They didn’t hold to any beliefs of the supernatural—no angels or demons, no resurrection, no afterlife. Partly because of these unscriptural beliefs, the Jewish Qumran, who safeguarded the careful copying of the Scriptures, called Caiaphas “the wicked priest.”
Annas, Caiaphas, and their family member were the ruling party that wanted to stay in power. So their activities were always a balancing act: Trying to keep the Jewish community happy on one hand, while not offending the Romans or other political leaders on the other hand.
It’s with this backdrop that we read the story of Lazarus’ resurrection in John 11. Jesus knew this miracle would validate His ministry, and sure enough, after the resurrection of Lazarus, more and more people put their faith in Jesus. So much so that the religious leaders wanted to kill both Jesus and Lazarus (11:53; 12:9-11).
Ironically, these same religious leaders had previously asked Jesus for a sign to prove He was who He made the bold claim to be. To this demand, Jesus said that He would give them “the sign of Jonah” who was considered dead in the belly of the fish before he was “resurrected” to complete his mission (Matthew 12:38-40, 16:1-4).
Since the religious leaders viewed everything through a political lens, they thought Jesus was also going to instigate a political or military uprising. The following that Jesus would gather would challenge the Sanhedrin’s hold on power, so Caiaphas proposed a political solution disguised as a prophecy (John 11:49-53).
Caiaphas meant it like this: “We’re trying to keep the balance between the Jewish people and the powerful Romans. If we kill one Man (Jesus) in time, we may be a little out of favor with the Jews but we will save our position with the Romans. Later on, we’ll make things right with the common people.”
Even to this day, people are trying to balance, juggle, control, appease, and bargain their way to get or keep the life they want to live. They will use religious dressing to do political things, thinking they will “make it right” later on.
Caiaphas made this bold claim: “If Jesus dies, our position will be saved for us and our children.” But he had no power to back up his bold claim, so it was just talk.
But Jesus made this bold claim: “I will die so that your souls can be saved for eternity.” He, on the other hand, had the power to back up His bold claim (John 10:17-18).
Caiaphas’ plan sounded like it would be the end of Jesus and His mission, but “the end” was really just another step in fulfilling what God had already planned!
Let me say it again: God’s plan always prevails. The bold claims of powerful evil people may make it seem like the end is near, but don’t fret because their “end” is only fulfilling God’s plan!
If you are a pastor (or if you really want to encourage your pastor), I’ve got a super-special deal on my book Shepherd Leadership. Check it out by clicking here.
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I’ll bet you have “go-to” people in your life. The ones you immediately call when you need computer help, relationship insights, household or car repairs, Bible questions, or even cooking instructions.
We love having these go-to people in our lives, but I’m also going to guess that none of us has someone who possesses all of these go-to skills. After all, all of us are only human, with limitations and deficiencies.
We’ve learned that in prayer we can come to God as a Father—calling Him our Abba Father.We can also come to God as a Brother—knowing that Jesus has walked every path we will ever walk, and He intercedes to the Father on our behalf.
In fact, we saw last week that Jesus was never at a loss of what to say, what path to take, or what prayer to pray. He spoke what He did, and did what He did, and prayed what He did because of the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
This is the same Holy Spirit that is in us as Christians. It’s because of this that we can come to God as a Counselor. The Holy Spirit is THE Go-To Resource for everything!
Andrew Murray wrote, “Prayer is simply the breathing of the Spirit in us; power in prayer comes from the power of the Spirit in us as we wait on Him. Failure in prayer is the result of a spirit that is not yielded to the Spirit of God.”
What does it mean to yield to the Holy Spirit? It means that we don’t look for other go-to people for certain situations, but we trust the Spirit to be the Go-To Resource for everything. This is what Jesus did.
As Jesus relied on the Counselor, so must we. As the Counselor helped Jesus, so He will help us.
Second, Jesus was never at a loss of what path to take, and neither do we have to experience any confusion about what to do and when to do it (Matthew 4:1; Luke 2:27; Acts 16:6-10).
In addition, there is not one issue we will ever face that God hasn’t already addressed for us in Scripture (Ephesians 3:4-5). We see Jesus being totally reliant on Scripture (Luke 4:4, 8, 12). In an identical way, the Holy Spirit will help illuminate and apply the Scripture to our lives (John 14:26; 1 Corinthians 2:13).
Let me repeat this vital truth: The Holy Spirit is THE Go-To Resource for everything!
We are vulnerable to temptation without the help of our Go-To Counselor.
We are limited in our understanding of Scripture without the help of our Go-To Counselor.
We have a shallow prayer life without the help of our Go-To Counselor.
We will be frequently confused about words to use or paths to take without the help of our Go-To Counselor.
Let us learn to rely on our Counselor, as we keep our eyes on our Brother, and as we go together to our Father in childlike prayer. This is what leads to true intimate conversation!
If you’ve missed any of the other messages in our prayer series Intimate Conversation, please click here.
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Merry Christmas!
When the Magi came to Jesus at His first advent they brought gifts. Isaiah also prophesies all peoples bringing gifts at the second advent of Jesus. Have you ever wondered what gift is appropriate for the King of kings? Fortunately, the Bible tells us the gift He is happy to receive from you!
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Last week I mentioned over-dramatic kids complaining, “I’m starving!” Or people with expensive phones complaining about a slow internet connection. We’re really good at expressing what we want, aren’t we? In fact, we’re really good at loudly letting everyone around us know that we want something.
But here’s a good question: Are we just as quick to loudly express our gratitude?
It’s innate human nature to behave this way. No one has to teach a child to express their desires—loudly! But we do have to teach our children to say, “Thank you.” And sometimes it takes even more prompting to get them to say it loud enough for others to hear, and sincere enough for others to believe that they are truly grateful.
So why would we expect it to be any different just because we happen to be older? That’s why we’ve noted that the attitude of gratitude is a great attitude, and it’s also an attitude that makes the grateful person stand out from the crowd.
G.K. Chesterton noted, “In life you can take things one of two ways: you can take them for granted or you can take them with gratitude.” Sadly, it seems that “for granted” is what is typically exhibited. In fact, I think the granted-to-grateful ratio is 10-to-1.
Luke alone tells a story in his Gospel about ten men with leprosy (Luke 17:11-19). All ten lepers had no problem calling out their need for healing “in a loud voice.” And they called out to the right Person, as they called Jesus “Master.” This word shows that they believed He could do something no one else could do. Indeed, Jesus shows His authority over leprosy with just the word, “Go” and “as they went, they were cleansed.”
All ten were quick to loudly express their desire for healing and to call on the authority of Jesus, but only “one of them…came back, praising God in a loud voice.” Both Luke and Jesus affirm that all ten men were cleansed on the outside—their skin no longer showed the ravages of leprosy, but only to the one grateful man did Jesus say, “Your faith has healed and saved you” (v. 19 MSG).
The Greek word here is sōzō. This is the same word used for the eternal salvation that Jesus alone can bring. Check out John 3:17, John 10:9, Acts 2:21, and Romans 10:9. This is better than just physical cleansing, it’s wholeness that lasts for eternity!
E.M. Bounds wrote, “Gratitude and murmuring never abide in the same heart at the same time.” Sadly, the ratio of grumblers-to-praisers is only going grow as we move closer and closer to the end of the age, culminating in people who have the outward appearance of godliness (like the nine cleansed lepers) but ignore the true power of God for salvation (see 2 Timothy 3:1-5).
In this take-everything-for-granted, focus-on-the-outward culture, those 1-in-10 stand out. Those who have gone beyond skin-deep cleaning to soul-deep salvation, and who loudly express their gratitude, are the ones the apostle Paul declares shine brightly and influence those around them (Philippians 2:14-16).
The origin of the word influence comes from a power people thought those bright stars had to affect the lives of humans. So your consistent gratitude is influencing those around you, and giving them a star to chart their course, more consistently than almost anything else you can do.
So shine on! Praise God loudly, quickly, and sincerely for what He has done for you! Be the 1-in-10! And then watch your influence impact everyone who encounters you.
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No one likes to be around a complainer!
Complainers, ironically, find things wrong everywhere else but with themselves. Complainers know how everyone else should raise their kids, run their businesses, operate their government, lead their sports teams to victory, but they seldom apply their so-called wisdom to their own lives. Complainers find the one thing that’s wrong in an otherwise perfect situation.
Complaining is easy because it comes so naturally. What do I mean by that? Take a look at the magazine covers at your grocery store—do they have good news or complaints? Take a look at the lead news stories—are they celebrations or complaints? Those magazines want to sell copies. Those news stations want viewers. Those websites want clicks. They wouldn’t promote the complaints if they didn’t get them the attention (and the advertising revenue) they desire!
Let me see a show of hands on this: How many of you want to be around complainers?
I noticed no one raised their hand, so I need to ask a follow-up question: Why do you complain? If you don’t like to be around a complainer, why do you do what others obviously don’t like either?
I think we complain because we think our situation is unique—no one has experienced anything quite like what we’re going through. We often make a list to “prove” to everyone that we have earned the right to complain. This is what Job did. Check out his list in Job 7:1-11, and then notice his conclusion where he says, “Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.”
But we need to be careful because the Bible makes it clear that complainers make God angry (see Numbers 11:1; 1 Corinthians 10:10-11). Why? I think there are two reasons.
First, I think God gets angry about complaints because of how quickly they spread to everyone around them—like cancer cells they destroy the whole body.
Second, complainers take everyone’s eyes off God and point their attention to the lousy situation about which they are complaining.
On the other hand, grateful people stand out because they can find the one thing worthwhile in an otherwise lousy situation. Being a grateful person takes discipline to overcome the downward pull of everyone else’s complaints.
Paul wrote a letter to the church at Philippi that is bursting with thankfulness! We only have to get three verses in when he says, “I thank my God every time I remember you” (Philippians 1:3).
Paul stood out because of his great attitude of gratitude. Consider what happened the very first time he visited the city of Philippi. He and Silas were wrongly accused, beaten, and locked in prison. Paul didn’t start a petition, he didn’t give the jailer a bad review on Yelp, he didn’t organize a rally, he didn’t call the Roman governor. Instead, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God while the other prisoners listened in (Acts 16:16-25).
In a lousy, unfair, dark situation, Gratitude says, “God is still God, and He is still worthy of abundant praise!”
So in the middle of his letter to the Philippians, Paul instructs these Christians to: Do all things without murmurings and disputings (Philippians 2:14 KJV). Murmurings are the vocalizing of the faults we have found.Disputings, though, are internal. In the Greek, this word almost always refers to complaining and grumbling thoughts, and many times it’s translated as “evil thoughts.”
When the complaining comes out of our mouths, that is just the ugly weed. The root of that complaint is in our hearts. We don’t need a vocabulary change, we need a heart change.
When we praise God, we magnify Him. That doesn’t make God bigger because He is infinite. But it does put a “telescope” on Him. Telescopes bypass everything that is close by and focus on something majestic. Our praise—like Paul and Silas’ song from prison—invites others to look through our telescope to see the God we are magnifying.
Gratitude can start with one person, and then it can spread. Gratitude can counteract the cancerous complaints. Will you be that one grateful person at this Thanksgiving season and beyond? Will you be the one that says, “No matter what, God is still God, and He is still worthy of abundant praise”? Will you be that one that sings praise at the exact moment everyone else expects complaints? If you do, your gratitude will entice others to want to worship this all-good God too!
Follow along with all of the messages in our series called The Great Attitude Of Gratitude by clicking here.
I thought this was brilliant insight from the weekly Cultural Translator newsletter from Axis—
In the Q&A portion of one of his lectures, Jordan Peterson was asked about his thoughts on abortion. At one point he said, “The discussion regarding the legality of abortion is nested inside a larger discussion about the morality of abortion, and that’s nested inside a larger discussion about the proper place of sexuality in human behavior. And to me, that’s the level at which the problem needs to be addressed.” Although he doesn’t offer specific prescriptions about how to do that, it’s a helpful way to position the conversation.
In many people’s minds, sex is appropriate whenever the parties involved consent to it. In this view, sexual activity outside of marriage becomes a foregone conclusion. Abortion is then regarded as a necessary adaptation for this new undeniable sexual ethic. In that same Q&A, Peterson says, “Let’s say you are in a position where you are inclined to seek an abortion. The question is: how did you get there?” The literal answer for 99% of pregnant women is via voluntary sexual intercourse—but when our culture frames “sexual expression” as an inevitability, it can seem hard to envision other safe paths forward apart from abortion.
For some, it’s too late to think proactively. Along those lines, one of the primary pro-choice arguments has been that having children too soon will plunge parents into permanent poverty. But when the church is at its best, it has rallied together to provide for those who could not provide for themselves. Acts 2:44-45 says about the early church, “All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.” Other ancient sources record that the early church was known for saving and protecting unwanted children, who were sometimes left outside to die.
Although some may frame “celebrating the Supreme Court’s decision” and “thinking about how to be more holistically pro-life” as somehow in tension, the early church models both a care for babies and for their mothers. May God give us grace to do the same.
The 1440 Daily Digest had an interesting article for the July 4th weekend entitled “Happy Birthday, America.”
Congratulations, America—Monday marks the 246th commemoration of the day the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress. The Congress actually voted to separate from Great Britain two days earlier, and possibly didn’t sign the document until August. Some argue the US didn’t really become a country until we began operating under the Constitution in 1789.
Still, since then, the country has grown from 13 colonies with about 2.5 million people to 50 states and 14 territories with a population of more than 330 million. The economy has swelled to roughly $24T. Advances in public health—public sanitation, the germ theory of disease, and more—have cut the child mortality rate from more than 45% to under 1%, and our citizens live 35 years longer on average.
We’ve built almost 4 million miles of paved roads and more than 5,000 public airports. More than 2.7 million miles of power lines electrify the country, with about 85% of households having access to broadband internet and 92% having at least one computer. In 1800, 95% of the population lived in rural areas, and now about 83% live in urban areas. The US has also been responsible for more than 800 human visits to space—the most of any other country with a space agency.
While there will always be challenges to face and improvements to make, we’ve come a long way since the beginning. So grab a hot dog and your drink of choice—here’s to the next 246 years.
“The measure of a country’s greatness is its ability to retain compassion in times of crisis.” —Thurgood Marshall
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I had a great time teaching some emerging ministry interns. I shared with them part of my autobiography. There was a time when I heard God’s voice as clearly as I had ever heard it telling me to pursue a career in the medical field. Before I completed that degree, I just as clearly heard God’s voice telling me that medicine wasn’t going to be the career for me.
For a number of years, I struggled with this because I thought I had missed God’s voice the first time. “Perhaps,” I thought to myself, “I didn’t hear God clearly.”
But then the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to a story in the Book of Acts that I had completely missed before. The principles in this story helped me realize that God had put me on a particular path in order for my life to intersect with other people and places.
Here’s how I explained my story and the principles I learned from the life of Philip:
My friend, your journey may be different from mine, but we still share something so vital in common: God is using everything in your life to accomplish His plan. As you follow Jesus, you will intersect with the lives of others, and your life is making a difference in them.
After speaking with some ministry interns, we wrapped up our time with a Q&A session. I had lots of very thoughtful questions, but this one seemed to really resonate with everyone. I was asked:
Craig T. Owens 