The Essential Confession

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Last week we talked about biblical beliefs carrying more weight that non-biblical or extra-biblical beliefs. Christians must stand firm on God’s Word to give biblical meaning to everything we say and do, otherwise we lose the true meaning of essential terms like Church and Christian. That means there are words we need to let go, and there is the Word for which we must stand without wavering or backing down. 

Have you heard people make the “They say” claim? “Well, they say you said…,” “They say that Christians are…,” or “They say that Jesus said or did…” It’s always a good idea to get to the source of these statements. 

This is what Jesus did in Matthew 16:13-14. Jesus asked His followers about the “they say” claims they had heard, especially in light of what Jesus had already addressed in Matthew 11:18-19. 

(Check out all of the Scriptures I use in this post by clicking here.) 

Matthew 16:15 is a great question to ask others: What do you think of Jesus? By asking this question and truly listening to the answer, you may just be able to uncover some non-biblical “they say” thinking that you can help correct. 

But this verse is also a great question for us to ask of ourselves! Why? Because there is a huge difference between a verbal confession and a lifestyle confession. Look at vv. 16-23 to see the difference between Peter’s verbal confession in verse 16 and his lifestyle confession in verse 22. 

John may have had this exchange in mind when he wrote 1 John 1:5-10. Notice John’s contrast between the verbal confession (“If we claim”) and our lifestyle confession. Listen: Demons can make a verbal confession (Luke 4:41) but they will be confined in Hell for eternity (Matthew 25:41). In the same way, religious people can make a verbal confession and walk out a completely opposite lifestyle confession (Matthew 7:21-23). 

A lifestyle confession can either amplify or cancel a verbal confession. 

Jesus loved Peter’s verbal confession, but then He gave us a lifestyle confession in Matthew 16:24-28. 

The essential confession is not just, “I believe You are the Christ the Son of the living God,” but also, “I will take up my cross and follow You!” 

We lose our life when we live for Jesus’ words (“I will build My Church”) and not living for “they say” words. As Brennan Manning sad, “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” 

So let’s ask others, “What do you think of Jesus?” But let’s also ask ourselves that question. Let’s make sure that our verbal confession is being amplified by our lifestyle confession. Ask the Holy Spirit to search your vocabulary and your lifestyle. A great prayer for this is in Psalm 139:23-24. 

If you’ve missed any of the messages in our series “I Will Build My Church”, you can find them all here. 

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Links & Quotes

Your gratitude blesses future generations. When you talk about the ways God has blessed you—and you are continually grateful for His provision—you are fortifying future generations as well.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

“Wherever men are still theological, there is still some chance of their being logical.” —G.K. Chesterton 

“We must not be too hot upon cold matters, but even this is better than to be cold upon matters that require heat.” —Charles Spurgeon 

Clinton Manley says, “Although the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5–7 is often called a sermon, these words are closer to Henry V on the battlefield than to a pastor in his pulpit.” Before you read the Beatitudes again, check out this background to this battlefield message from Jesus. 

“The ping of a notification, the silent vibration in a pocket, the ambient awareness that something, somewhere, might require a response: these are not incidental features of modern life. They are now its architecture…. The mind never fully settles. It hovers in a state of anticipatory vigilance, perpetually primed for the next interruption.” —Carl Hendrick  

Delight In Your Duty

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

If anyone is known for attentively doing their duty, it is the members of our military. Duty is drilled into them over and over and over. Civilians could learn a lesson from this. We tend to be reward-motivated, that is to say, if we feel some sort of reward for our effort, we may stick to our commitment. But duty-bound soldiers stick to their commitment regardless of how they feel or what the circumstances are. 

We need to be especially on guard against Christian duties that seem to be thankless, or else we may forget about doing them or do them only reluctantly. 

Some of you might be saying, “‘Christian’ and ‘duty’ doesn’t sound right in the same sentence. Isn’t everything we do for Jesus supposed to be delightful?” Paul said to Timothy, “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3). 

(Check out all of the Scriptures I use in this post by clicking here.)

And listen to these words from Jesus—

     Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, “Come along now and sit down to eat”? Won’t he rather say, “Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink”? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.” (Luke 17:7-10) 

Why does the military drill the idea of duty into every soldier? Because doing your duty is indispensable to success in battle! 

In the New Testament, we meet three Roman soldiers who did their duty. Only one that we know of became a follower of Jesus, yet all three were pivotal for two key leaders in the early Church. These Roman soldiers were important because doing their duty helped Peter and Paul get where God had called them. 

Peter—Jesus called on Peter to be one of the foundational leaders of the Church (Matthew 16:18). But Peter never stepped fully into this role until a Roman centurion named Cornelius did his duty. 

In Acts 10:1-7 we meet Cornelius who followed the command of an angel without question, just as a dutiful soldier would. This dutiful act helped Peter understand what God was calling him to do (10:15-16, 22-28), and then helped him explain what the rest of the Church was supposed to do (11:18; 15:7-11). 

Paul—Lysias was the commander of the Roman garrison in Jerusalem. He saved Paul from literally being torn limb-from-limb by an angry mob, and then he safely transported Paul to Caesarea to avoid the assassins who were laying in wait to ambush Paul (Acts 21-22). 

Then when Paul was being sent to stand trail before Emperor Nero, a centurion named Julius also went to extraordinary lengths to see that Paul made it safely to Rome (Acts 27). 

All three of these Roman soldiers were merely doing their duty—obey orders from their commanding officers—but their dutiful service allowed Peter and Paul to get to the places where God needed them to be. 

Earlier I asked if the Christian life was supposed to be delightful. It may not be delightful here, but doing our duty may be tough at times. Paul said he rejoiced in the difficulties (2 Corinthians 12:10). 

Truly, doing our duty here is noticed by our Commander and King. Allow me to paraphrase Matthew 25:21 for the reward that Jesus gives those saintly soldiers who do their duty—

Our Commander will reply, “Well done, good and dutiful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” 

Do your duty—for your sake, for the benefit of others, and for the glory of our King. 

If you’ve missed any of the other messages in this series called The Lord’s Army, you can find them all here. 

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Strength To Pray

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul. (Psalm 138:3 NKJV)

Prayer requires stick-to-it-iveness, which means it takes strength to pray. 

Therefore, being physically or emotionally drained makes it challenging to be alert and attentive in prayer. When we’re tired, our thoughts often drift; it’s hard to stay focused. 

Sometimes one of the most helpful things you can do for your spiritual growth is to get a good night’s sleep (or take a nap). 

Jesus did this (Matthew 14:22-23). He was very aware of His physical and emotional levels. When He was tired, He took a nap; when He was drained from ministry, He got alone with His Heavenly Father for refreshing (Mark 1:35, Luke 5:16). 

(Check out all of the Scriptures I mention here.) 

Jesus told His disciples to pray so they wouldn’t give in to temptation (Luke 22:40, 45-46). Prayer does strengthen us against the enemy’s attack, but physical and emotional stamina helps us too. 

Notice the full cycle—we need physical and emotional strength to pray persistently and consistently, and prayer enhances our physical and emotional reserves to help us pray. So do all three: 

  1. Pray 
  2. Take care of your body 
  3. Take care of your emotions 

Download the graphic → Strong prayer cycle

When all three components of your being—spirit, body, soul—are alert and healthy, you will find your prayer life fully engaged. If one area becomes depleted, listen to the always-practical counsel of the Holy Spirit. Pray, rest, talk to a friend or a counselor so you can return to the optimal position of strength. 

Yes, it takes strength to pray, but in prayer your strength is renewed. 

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Prayer Changes My Maturity

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Prayer can unleash God’s miracles. Sometimes the most visible miracles are the changes that are seen in us—our attitude, our expectation, our focus, and our maturity.  

Maturity is not stuffy and stodgy. Those folks actually become quite childish when others around them don’t “act right,” according to their standards. The most mature people are the most childlike. 

Do you want proof for that last statement? The most mature Person to ever live on earth was Jesus, and He loved being around kids and having children around Him (Mark 10:13-14). 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

His teaching examples were frequently quite simple—farmers, birds, flowers, trees, and even going to the bathroom!. He knew their songs (Luke 7:31-32), and many of His interactions with the overly-mature religious leaders were quite playful and childlike (Mark 11:27-33). 

Jesus wants us to come to our Father like children (Mark 10:15-16). “Like a little child” means childlike, which is the exact opposite of childish. Those who think they are too mature for such simplistic things are actually the ones who are childish. 

Jesus uses the Father-child relationship over and over to teach us about praying to a Father who is desirous of giving us the best things (Matthew 6:7-9; Luke 12:32). 

One of the Psalms of Ascent written by David strikes this childlike note (Psalm 131). Verse 1 describes the childishness he’s giving up, and verse 2 describes the childlikeness he is taking on: 

  • “my heart is not proud”—not focused on me (v. 1a) 
  • “my eyes are not haughty”—overly grown up (v. 1b) 
  • “I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp” (v. 1c NLT) 
  • instead I am stilled, quieted, trustingly at peace (v. 2) 
  • and then David calls all of us to this same childlikeness (v. 3) 

Jesus taught about persistent prayer in Luke 18:1-8 and then used a scenario from the temple to illustrate His point (Luke 18:9-17), contrasting the childish pseudo-maturity of the overly-religious man and the childlike maturity the childlike man. And then, as directed by the Holy Spirit, Luke includes the same exchange Mark used about Jesus taking up children in His arms to bless them.  

Childlike is loving dependent; childish is fiercely independent. 

Childlike is trusting someone wise; childish always knows best. 

Childlike is imaginative; childish is realistic. 

Childlike is persistent; childish is whining. 

I love the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem called The Children’s Hour. As you read through this, imagine our Heavenly Father as Longfellow and yourself as his three daughters. 

Between the dark and the daylight,
When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day’s occupations,
That is known as the Children’s Hour.

I hear in the chamber above me
The patter of little feet,
The sound of a door that is opened,
And voices soft and sweet.

From my study I see in the lamplight,
Descending the broad hall stair,
Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,
And Edith with golden hair.

A whisper, and then a silence:
Yet I know by their merry eyes
They are plotting and planning together
To take me by surprise.

A sudden rush from the stairway,
A sudden raid from the hall!
By three doors left unguarded
They enter my castle wall!

They climb up into my turret
O’er the arms and back of my chair;
If I try to escape, they surround me;
They seem to be everywhere.

They almost devour me with kisses,
Their arms about me entwine,
Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen
In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!

Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti,
Because you have scaled the wall,
Such an old mustache as I am
Is not a match for you all!

I have you fast in my fortress,
And will not let you depart,
But put you down into the dungeon
In the round-tower of my heart.

And there will I keep you forever,
Yes, forever and a day,
Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,
And moulder in dust away! —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

We mature by trading childishness for childlikeness. We mature best by coming to God our Father in prayer as a child comes to his father. 

Let prayer change your maturity! 

If you’ve missed any of the other messages in this series on how prayer changes us, you can find them all here. 

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My Brothers And Sisters

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Hello, my brothers and sisters! On this episode of The Podcast, let me tell you how much power is packed into that simple greeting. 

The biblical passages I reference in this video—Matthew 6:9; Hebrews 2:11, 14-15; Romans 8:15; Ephesians 1:5; Galatians 4:5; Acts 2:42-47, 4:31-35. 

You may also want to check out my blog posts: 

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Prayer Changes My Expectation

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

Heartfelt prayer is never a meaningless exercise. Without exception, something is changed with every single prayer we offer to God. Last week, we talked about how prayer changes our attitude. 

Here’s an important question: What do you expect is going to happen when you pray? Or maybe we should ask the question the opposite way: What do you expect is going to happen when you don’t pray? The writer of Hebrews talks about our expectation in coming to God (Hebrews 11:6). 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

Recall that last week that we used the word “attitude” as a pilot understands it; that is, the direction of the nose of the plane takes the rest of the plane and all its passengers up or down. The same thing is true of our expectation in prayer: it also impacts those around us. 

There was a father that comes to Jesus with a heavy burden on his heart: his demonically-afflicted son (Mark 9:14-18). The man came in a posture of prayer (Matthew 17:14-15) only after he had first gone to the followers of Jesus, but they could not heal this boy. 

Why? I don’t think they expected that they could ask for God’s power to be released. How sad! Look at what they had already experienced: 

  • the miraculous feeding of the 4000 (Mark 8) 
  • a deaf and mute man healed (Mark 7) 
  • Jesus walking on the water and feeding 5000 people (Mark 6) 
  • Jairus’ daughter raised to life (Mark 5) 
  • And probably most shocking of all, they themselves had been used by God to heal people—“They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them” (Mark 6:12-13). 

Jesus calls His disciples an “unbelieving generation” (9:19). Some translations use the word “faithless” (like the NKJV and NLT). The Greek word here is a- (without) + -pistos (faith) = apistos. Literally translated it means without trust in God. 

Bu I think maybe Jesus was really saying, “O unexpecting generation!” 

Their lack of expectation negatively impacted the praying father. He originally came in faith for healing, but now he says to Jesus, “If You can” (Mark 9:20-22). 

Jesus calls on this father to banish the “if” (vv. 23-24). At the word of Jesus, the father’s expectation changes, he believes for a miracle, and the miracle happens (vv. 25-27)! 

The disciples wanted to know how to banish the “if” from their hearts, and Jesus gives them an interesting answer in vv. 28-29. He tells them to pray. We are supposed to pray in faith, but that faith comes as we pray (Matthew 17:19-21). Other New Testament writers bring this out as well: James tells us the prayer offered in faith is effective (James 5:15), and Paul tells us to be faithful—or faith-filled—in our praying (Romans 12:12). 

Does this sound circular? It is a beautifully circular thing! 

Abdu Murray said, “Hope is a positive expectation of a desired future event. Faith is trusting in the One who promised to make that event happen.” 

It was the word of Jesus that raised the expectation of the father, that gave him the spark of faith (Hebrews 11:1; Romans 10:17). Then he used that faith to raise his expectation of a miracle from God. 

Go back to the biblical record or even your own personal history to see what God has already done. Let the word of Jesus ignite your expectations—let that word raise your expectations!—and then cling to His word as you pray in faith. 

Faith fuels your prayer, and prayer fuels your faith. So we need to remain on the lookout for opportunities to pray for ourselves and others (Colossians 4:2). 

Let me return to the opening question: What do you expect is going to happen when you pray? If your expectation is too low, start by praying, “God, forgive us of expectations of You that are too low!” Be humbly bold enough to admit, “I do believe, but help my unbelief.” Then when you hear the word of faith, expect the miracle through that faith. The longer you pray, the more you need to include a prayer for your own faith to remain expectant. 

The God who gives you faith wants to reward that faith. Let prayer raise your expectations as you continually banish the “if”! 

If you have missed any of the other messages in our series Prayer Changes Things, you can find them all by clicking here. 

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Links & Quotes

Jesus tells us that He can carry our heavy burdens (Matthew 11:28-30). I learned this lesson more clearly while asking my Mom to hang on to me.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

“I love to think of nature as unlimited broadcasting stations, through which God speaks to us every day, every hour and every moment of our lives, if we will only tune in and remain so.” —George Washington Carver 

J. Warner Wallace writes, “Some object, saying, ‘Christians are biased.’ But there’s an obvious oversight here. Yes, Matthew ultimately became a Christian, but look closely at his background. He started out as a tax collector named Levi—not a member of John the Baptist’s group, not a friend of Peter or Andrew, not one who grew up expecting a Messiah. He encountered Jesus, witnessed miracles, listened to teaching, and after observing all these things firsthand, became a follower. Don’t hold his subsequent transformation against him as if it poisons the well. The fact that someone who wasn’t predisposed to belief chose to follow Christ after seeing what he saw lends real weight to the testimony.” Read more about how our judicial system vets courtroom witnesses.

The God Who Knows You

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

You are lovingly and securely held in the most powerful, the most loving Hand imaginable! 

The Scriptures I reference—Isaiah 40:12, 25-26; Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 49:16; Matthew 10:30; Psalm 139:13-16. 

You may also want to check out these related posts:

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Prayer Changes My Attitude

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

In The Matrix, Neo is fascinated by a young man who appears to be bending spoons simply by looking at them. Neo sits down on the floor across from this young man and takes a spoon in his hand. Although young, this boy gives sage counsel to Neo, “Don’t try to bend the spoon, for that is impossible. Instead remember that there is no spoon. That way you will see that it is not the spoon the bends, but you are the one who bends.” 

There is a nugget of truth here for anyone who has ever been face-to-face with an impossible situation. The God who does the “impossible” has offered us the means to see His omnipotence at work—He has told us that we can bring our impossibles to Him in prayer. Prayer changes things! 

In God’s perfect will, sometimes the impossible is done before our very eyes, and sometimes we see that it is not the situation that bends, but it is we who bend, becoming more godly, wise, and mature because of what God has imparted to us. Heartfelt prayer is never a meaningless exercise. Without exception, something is changed with every single prayer we offer to God. 

There are many of us who have experienced a miraculous answer to prayer. We prayed to God in a bitter season of our life and experienced His sweetness come to our rescue. These answered prayers are testimonies of God’s love and power. 

Think about people you know who are struggling with the bitterness of life. I wonder: do they know that there is a sweetness that only God can bring? Brian Ridolfi noted, “Vinegar is not bitter to those who have not tasted honey.” Peter told us we are to crave more and more of God’s sweetness “now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:2-3). This isn’t primarily for us, but it is to us and through us so that a watching world can recognize their bitterness as contrasted to the sweetness in our Savior. 

One of the things prayer changes is my attitude about the things of God. When I say “attitude” I am referring to how an airplane pilot defines this term: The nose of the plane in relation to the horizon. If the attitude of the plane is up, the plane and all of its passengers are climbing. 

There is a man we meet in the Gospels whose name means “whom God enlightens.” The answer to prayer he received was an attitude-changer for him, everyone around him, and his family. Check out his story in Luke 8:40-56. 

Jairus is called “a ruler of the synagogue.” He is the final authority on what happens in his synagogue. He came and “fell at [Jesus’] feet, pleading with Him” [pleaded earnestly—Mark 5:23], which sounds like a posture of intense prayer to me! 

We don’t know how long the journey was to Jairus’ home, but it was made longer by “the crowds [that] almost crushed [Jesus].” It was made even longer by an interruption of yet another healing (vv. 43-48). During this delay, there is not a word of protest from Jairus as he is clinging to his faith in Jesus. 

Jairus gets the news, “Your daughter is dead.” 

Jesus reignited Jairus’ faith with the words, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” Matthew 9:18 records Jairus’ renewed faith-filled prayer as he acknowledges, “My daughter has died.” 

The family and friends gathered at Jairus’ house were “wailing and mourning.” The AMPC says, Jesus saw “the tumult and the people weeping and wailing loudly” (Mark 5:38). Why? Because they knew she was dead—this was now an impossible situation. 

But let me ask you: Is it possible that Jesus allowed this delay so that the little girl would become beyond all human hope? I think it is. Jesus was going to do something that absolutely no one could take any credit for. Jesus said, “Stop wailing. She is not dead but asleep.” They laughed at Him! 

After this dead little girl stood up, who was laughing then? I think Jesus was—He always gets the last laugh and the best laugh! 

The Greek word for “wail” (alaladzo) has an interesting root word (alala) which means the cry of soldiers running to the battlefield. And then when those soldiers return victoriously, they have a total change in their attitude so alaladzo is now a joy-filled shout (Psalm 47:1; 66:1-3).  

(1) Jairus had an attitude change. I believe became a Christ-follower in the truest sense of the word. Why do I think this? Because we know his name. There are four “synagogue rulers” described in the New Testament: three that become Christians we know by name (Crispus [Acts 18:8], Sosthenes [Acts 18:17], Jairus) and one who remains anonymous because he was bitter that Jesus healed someone on a Sabbath (Luke 13:14). 

(2) The scorning mourners who knew the girl was dead had an attitude change. They spread the laughter everywhere (Matthew 9:26). 

(3) What about us? An encounter with Jesus changes us (Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18). In order to “taste and see” how good God is, we must be people who are consistently prayerful and expectant of His wonder-working power. Let’s change our wailing into a battlecry, our mourning into praise, so that God can chance our tears into laughter! 

A world steeped in bitterness needs to see the sweetness of our God—Come and see what God has done, His awesome deeds for mankind! (Psalm 66:5). 

Keep up with all of the messages in this prayer series by clicking here. 

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