Like Jesus, when we are full of and led by the Holy Spirit everywhere we walk is holy ground; every moment is a sacred moment; every work is worship to God because we are occupied about the Father’s business.
Check out the full series of messages about the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in the series We Are: Pentecostal.
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One day, the Lyaconians hailed Barnabas and Paul as gods and tried to offer sacrifices to them, and the next day they attempted to murder Paul.
Even in the light of these words [Barnabas and Paul] with difficulty prevented the people from offering sacrifice to them. But some Jews arrived there from Antioch and Iconium; and having persuaded the people and won them over, they stoned Paul and afterward dragged him out of the town, thinking that he was dead. (Acts 14:18-19)
Crowds have always been fickle—quickly changing their allegiance from one person or idea to another one. Think about Jesus: they went from “Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord” to “Crucify Him” in less than a week!
Jesus wasn’t surprised by this. He knew what was in men’s hearts and never built His hopes or His ministry on them (John 2:23-25).
So why do we?
Why do we equate a large church attendance or lots of views of our online content as “successful” and anything less as “failure”?
Jesus didn’t want or need the approval of a large crowd. Instead, He heard, “This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17, 17:5).
Paul didn’t want or need the approval of a large crowd. Instead, in his final letter he noted that with the exception of Luke, everyone else had abandoned him. And still some of his last words were, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
If we are measuring success or failure by merely humans standards, we are bound to go from elated to crushed over and over again.
There is only one metric of success we should ever give weight to:
We should only desire to hear our Master say, “Well done” because we faithfully stewarded the gifts and opportunities He gave to us.
Let’s stop this thrilled-disappointed-thrilled-disappointed cycle by taking our eyes and hearts off of numbers, and resolving to keep our eyes and hearts solely on our Savior.
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There are several psalms that are regal in their focus—talking about the King’s coronation, or the King ruling on His throne, or the ultimate victory of the King that is coming in the future. Although these royal psalms are extolling God as King, many of these psalms use King David as an object lesson. The idea is seeing how a man after God’s heart (1 Samuel 13:14) became the standard by which all other kings were measured:
Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done (1 Kings 15:11)
Amaziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, butnot as his father David had done (2 Kings 14:3)
Unlike his father, Ahaz did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord, as his father David had done (2 Chronicles 28:1)
The people followed their king in both righteousness and evil. They were fiercely loyal to their monarch. We don’t really get that loyalty today. “We’re Americans,” we cry, “We live in the land of the free and don’t ever bow our knee to a king!”
That’s an appropriate response for those living in a democratic republic, but we would do well to learn to bow our knee to a true King.
After the United States Constitution was adopt adopted, Elizabeth Willing Powel asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?“ Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Franklin went on to say, “In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no form of government, but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered; and believe further, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government.”
Because of our defiance as free people in our government, we have become lacking in our loyalty, which shows itself in a lack of proper reverence or respect. Just listen to how people talk so disrespectfully or even hatefully about those in “the other political party.” Benjamin Franklin also said, “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”
Where are the days of the armor bearer who said to Prince Jonathan, “Do all you have in mind. I’m with you heart and soul,” even though Jonathan was proposing an impossible task? Or the loyalty of the men around David who heard him sigh about the water in Bethlehem, and they put their lives at risk to bring him a drink? This was even before he was on a throne, and yet they showed their loyalty to him. I fear that our lost culture of reverence for earthly leaders has eroded our reverence for the King of kings, and vice versa.
The first royal psalm (Psalm 2) practically open the Psalter. This psalm calls us to consider the differences between earthly kings and the King of kings.
Notice that earthly kings “conspire”—they angrily boast and rage. They plot (v. 1b) and scheme (AMPC). They take their stand together (v. 2).
Against Whom? Against the LORD (Jehovah) and against His Anointed One (the Messiah)!
Much like the fiercely independent people I described us as earlier, these earthly rulers want to call their own shots—they don’t want to take directions from anyone else because they think they know best (v. 3). But notice in v. 1 that the peoples have followed their leaders in their plot.
God doesn’t rage at them, but He laughs, He scoffs, He rebukes, and the people are terrified when they realize that they cannot overcome Him. In v. 1 we see their plots are “in vain.”
There is nothing men can do—no matter how powerful they may seem or how many of them “take their stand…together”—to thwart or even delay the plans of Jehovah.
All of History is His Story. Notice the phrase that God speaks, “I have … I will” (in vv. 6-7; c.f. Daniel 4:25).
In vv. 7-9 God speaks to His Son—the Messiah, the Anointed One, the King of kings. We hear this repeated in Acts 13:32-33 and in God’s own voice in Matthew 3:17. Then we see the fulfillment of this in passages like Philippians 2:9-11 and Revelation 11:17-18.
This royal psalm ends with an important conclusion: Therefore (vv. 10-12):
Be wise
Be warned
Serve the King with reverential fear
Rejoice with trembling
Kiss the Son with absolute loyalty and joyful reverence
Check out another “therefore” in Philippians 2:12-16. This is a call for righteous, reverent living for those who have acknowledged Jesus as their King. It’s only those who live this way who will know the blessed refuge in Him that is unshakable for ever and ever!
Follow along with our look at all of the royal psalms by clicking here.
If God said to you, “Ask for whatever you want,” what would you ask for?
God did ask Solomon that very question in 1 Kings 3:5. Here’s how Solomon replied—
“Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people who cannot be counted for multitude. So give Your servant an understanding mind and a hearing heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge and rule this Your great people?” (1 Kings 3:8-9 AMPC)
And how did God respond to this request? “It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this” (v. 10).
Solomon didn’t ask for things but for a greater intimacy with God—he wanted to know God’s mind. Sadly, we tend to reverse this, saying, “Because I have things, I bless God for them.”
Instead, our prayer should echo what Solomon prayed here in 1 Kings 3 and what Jesus taught us in His Sermon on the Mount: My desire is solely for Your glory and Your Kingdom (see Matthew 6:9-10, 33). When you pray this way, it will please that Lord that you had asked that!
Yet [in spite of the threats] they never ceased for a single day, both in the temple area and at home, to teach and to proclaim the good news (Gospel) of Jesus [as] the Christ (the Messiah). (Acts 5:42 AMPC)
On the one hand, the apostles were sent by God to proclaim the name of Jesus; on the other hand, the Sanhedrin commanded them not to proclaim the name of Jesus (vv. 20, 28).
Not only had the Holy Spirit empowered and emboldened these men to testify, but Jesus also said (in John 14:26) that at key moments the Spirit would remind them of His words. One word Jesus had given them, which the Spirit undoubtedly brought to their remembrance, was this: “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather be afraid of Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna)” (Matthew 10:28).
God is glorified when we give greater weight and reverence to His words than we do to the words of mere humans.
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David declared that the Holy Spirit inspired the words he penned. “The Spirit of the Lord spoke in and by me, and His word was upon my tongue” (2 Samuel 23:2).
Both Jesus and Peter affirm this in the New Testament as well when they make mention that David’s words were given to him by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 22:43; Mark 12:36; Acts 1:16, 4:25).
It’s not just the words of David, but all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21)! This is why we would be wise to pray before reading our Bibles to ask the One Who inspired the Scripture to illuminate our minds to understand it and guide us into its daily application (John 14:26, 16:13).
Jesus desired that we go even farther than this. His directive to His followers was for them to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. This initial baptism took place on the first Pentecost celebration after Jesus had ascended to Heaven. Luke records it this way—
And they were all filled (diffused throughout their souls) with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other (different, foreign) languages (tongues), as the Spirit kept giving them clear and loud expression in each tongue in appropriate words. (Acts 2:4 AMPC)
And in the subsequent verses Luke makes it clear that these were intelligible languages and intelligent words that served as a testimony to the worldwide visitors that were in Jerusalem—
And when this sound was heard, the multitude came together and they were astonished and bewildered, because each one heard them—the apostles—speaking in his own particular dialect. And they were beside themselves with amazement, saying, “Are not all these who are talking Galileans? Then how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own (particular) dialect to which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and the province of Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and the transient residents from Rome, both Jews and the proselytes to Judaism from other religions, Cretans and Arabians too—we all hear them speaking in our own native tongues and telling of the mighty works of God!” (vv. 6-11 AMPC)
In his sermon that followed this event, Peter states that the baptism in the Holy Spirit—with the physical evidence of speaking in tongues—is an evidence of Christ’s resurrection. “Being therefore lifted high by and to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promised blessing which is the Holy Spirit, He has made this outpouring which you yourselves both see and hear” (v. 33).
God answers their prayer powerfully! “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they continued to speak the word of God with freedom and boldness and courage” (v. 31).
The Holy Spirit gave us the Scripture, and He illuminates the Scripture to us.
The Holy Spirit assures us of our salvation, and He empowers us to share this Good News with others.
The Holy Spirit gives us words to speak, and He gives us the boldness and courage to speak them.
He speaks, He illuminates, He empowers, He emboldens! If your theology limits the work of the Holy Spirit to some obscure corner of your world, you are robbing yourself of the power to live a God-glorifying, Jesus-promoting life.
You may be interested in some additional posts and sermons where I discuss more about the initial physical evidence of speaking in tongues as the Holy Spirit empowers Christians—
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In his Gospel, John gives eyewitness testimony to the physical death of Jesus. “Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe” (John 19:34-35).
John was at Calvary to report this event as an eyewitness, and so were the women who had been so involved with the public ministry of Jesus.
Matthew, however, was not there. He ran away when Jesus was arrested. So in his historical account, he shares the eyewitness testimony of those who were there—
When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, ‘Surely He was the Son of God!’ Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for His needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons. (Matthew 27:54-56)
These details in both Matthew and John’s Gospels are what lends credibility to this whole event. I’m sure it was embarrassing to Matthew for him to admit, “I ran away and hid in fear.” I’m sure it pained him again and again when he heard John, the women, and the Roman centurion recounting their eyewitness testimony.
But this is what makes the reporting of this account real.
If Matthew and John were attempting to perpetuate a hoax on the world—if they were concocting a conspiracy to fool people about the resurrection of Jesus—they certainly would have told their stories the same way. Matthew could have inserted himself as personally there on Calvary. John and Mark could have listed the names of the other disciples as eyewitnesses. The disciples could have given falsified information to Luke for his Gospel. And all of them could have left out the part about the female testimony, since in their day women were deemed unreliable witnesses in the courtroom.
Details like these are just another factor in a long, long list of evidences that attest to the historicity of all that is recorded in the Bible.
Earlier in his Gospel, Matthew tells about the doubts of John the Baptizer (Matthew 11:2-6). John was imprisoned and sent his friends to ask Jesus, “Are You really the One?” Jesus sends John’s friends back with eyewitness testimony, and with these words: “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of Me” (v. 6).
The testimonies of both eyewitnesses and those who were embarrassed that they couldn’t give eyewitness testimony should bolster your faith in all that the Bible says. If you don’t stumble away from these testimonies, you can know the blessing of your faith in Jesus.
When there is a misunderstanding between the leader and a team member, insecure leaders want the other person to change. Secure leaders, however, take ownership and ask, “What do I need to do differently?” Check out more from The Craig and Greg Show.
In elaborating on the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:13 about Christians being the salt of the earth, T.M. Moore wrote, “In Jesus’ day, salt had three primary functions. Most people would have understood two of these, but only those raised in an Old Testament framework would have known about the third.” Read more about what churches should be considering about how they season the community around them.
In his “Look at the Book” series, John Piper expounds on the many ways Paul refers to Jesus in his second letter to Timothy. There are several ways, but Paul’s preferred way is “Christ Jesus.” Pastor John unpacks the Hebrew and Greek origins of these words and titles, and why he thinks Paul especially gravitated toward this title.
“Aerosols from penguin excrement may help trigger cloud formation, reducing solar heating and helping stabilize local areas of the Antarctic climate, study finds.” Hmmm, it’s almost like God designed His creation to take care of itself—because He did!
And an article in Science says, “According to secular models of Solar System formation, Earth, as an inner Solar System planet, should have little to no water.” And yet more than 70% of Earth is covered with water!
Aelred of Rievaulx wrote, “In friendship there is nothing more outstanding than faithfulness, which seems to be both the nurse and guardian of friendship. In all of life’s turns, in adversity and prosperity, in joy and sadness, in delightful and bitter circumstances, it reveals itself to be comparable to friendship, holding in the same regard both the humble and the exalted, the poor and the rich, the strong and the weak, the well and the infirm.”
Commenting on Aelred’s words, T.M. Moore observed, “Don’t we all want friends like that, who not only will provoke and prod us to grow in the Lord, but will stand by us in good times and bad, when we’re up and when we’re down? But if we would have such friends, we must be good stewards of their trust. This, again, is why spiritual friendships must be grounded in the Lord and focused on Jesus if they are going to bear the fruit of His indwelling Spirit.”
Evolutionary scientists claim to have made some steps forward in their understanding of the origins of life by using “the last universal common ancestor (LUCA).” But creationists like those at ICR observe that, “This mysterious LUCA is an unknown entity that existed from an unknown time ago at an unknown place by an unknown chain of unknown processes.” Clearly, the hypothesis that is the most straightforward and explainable is that God created the life in our universe just as the Bible states.
Along the same lines, Glenn Schrivener asks, “What do you think was there ‘in the beginning’—before peoples, planets, and protons? If you could hit rewind on the history of the universe and go back as far as possible, what would you find?” Then he gives us four possible things we may consider.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Here’s an interesting interaction between King Saul and David—
And Saul jealously eyed David from that day forward. … And Saul cast the javelin, for he thought, I will pin David to the wall. And David evaded him twice. Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul. (1 Samuel 18:9, 11-12 AMPC)
This exchange in this well-known story got me wondering. I was thinking howSaul had the position of authority over David and he had a javelin in his hand, but the Bible still says that Saul “was afraid of David.” Why would that be? I think even the most atheistic of people intuitively know there is something other-worldly about those in whom the Spirit of God abides, which makes worldly people lash out at them in fear.
But those who fear God—as David did—don’t fear mortals. Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, Who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28 NLT). This reverent fearlessness is what galls those who fear the unknown, so they try to silence confident God-followers.
In these attacks, Jesus tells us not to respond naturally, but supernaturally. “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you” (Luke 6:27-28 NLT).
Peter picked up those words from Jesus and instructed Christians: “Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when He judges the world. … For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in His steps.” (1 Peter 2:12, 21 NLT).
Although Saul feared the presence of God in David, he also had to acknowledge the success that came to David because of God’s abiding presence in him, and also, by extension, the success that came to Saul’s kingdom. On the one hand, Saul wanted David dead; on the other hand, he wanted David close by—
So Saul removed David from him and made him his commander over a thousand; and [David] went out and came in before the people. David acted wisely in all his ways and succeeded, and the Lord was with him. When Saul saw how capable and successful David was, he stood in awe of him. (1 Samuel 18:13-15 AMPC)
When Christians are supernaturally empowered by God, they never have to respond in natural fight-or-flight from those who lash out at them. Let your faithfulness to God be your testimony that points others to Him.
Jesus said, “If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would treat you with affection and would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world [no longer one with it], but I have chosen (selected) you out of the world, the world hates (detests) you.” (John 15:18-19)
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
After God created Adam, He said, “It’s not good for you to be alone.” That’s just as true today: God didn’t intend for us to journey on our own, but He gives us companions along the way.
Last week we saw that God has to sometimes cause us grief to get our attention when we are straying from His path. He sometimes puts people in our lives to do the same thing.
There’s a reason God puts the people in our lives that He does. We are called to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). But that sometimes means people will get upset with us (Galatians 4:16). “Real friends hurt each other. … Truth is the primary way faithful friends should wound each other—it is the help that hurts.” —Dick Brogden
The Corinthians thought they were super-spiritual, but Paul had to call them out on their foolishness (1 Corinthians 3:3; 5:1-2). Before Pauls’ letter, the Corinthians seemed happy. His letter caused them grief, but it was good grief that led to repentance and true joy (2 Corinthians 7:8-10).
To keep silent when a brother or sister is straying is not God-honoring. We are not to be the sin police, but we are to address sinful issues (James 5:19-20).
As King David flirted with the idea of how he could get something that he thought would make him happy, an anonymous attendant tried to get his attention. David ignored this and then tried to sweep it under the rug. In fact, he thought he got away with his sin (2 Samuel 11:1–12:7).
But God sent Nathan to speak a hard word to David. We don’t know when Psalm 141 was written, but we know that David did write it. Perhaps it was penned at the time of Nathan’s loving confrontation. He said, “Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness; let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head” (Psalm 141:5).
We do know that David wrote Psalm 51 after Nathan’s loving hard word, and in this prayer we see David’s confession, repentance, and a request for God’s joy to replace David’s grief.
So how do New Testament-era Christians use good grief to help fellow saints?
Examine yourself first (Matthew 7:1-5). Make sure you aren’t plagued by the same sin you have noticed in a brother or sister.
Cry before you confront, just as the prophet Samuel did before he had to deliver a hard word to King Saul (1 Samuel 15:10-11).
Confront in love with the goal of restoration, but make sure you are confronting someone who know you love them and who will receive your loving word(Proverbs 27:5; 9:8).
Pray that their grief will be turned to joy (Luke 22:31-32; Galatians 6:1; Psalm 51:12).
Friendships with fellow saints are precious and they are vital. We need iron to sharpen iron (Proverbs 27:17) so that we will all stand before the throne together for eternity.
Like Jesus, when we are full of and led by the Holy Spirit everywhere we walk is holy ground; every moment is a sacred moment; every work is worship to God because we are occupied about the Father’s business.
Craig T. Owens 