And Jesus responded and said to the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away. And He said to them, “Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?” And they could offer no reply to this.
The logic of Jesus is supported by the proof of His miracles and His knowledge of Scripture. This makes His arguments airtight so that none of His opponents can even respond to Him, much less refute Him.
We have the same things available to us:
(1) The Word of God which the Holy Spirit illuminates to our minds, and which He helps us use when critics attack.
(2) The example of our lives which have been changed by a personal encounter with Jesus.
(3) The logical connection of Scripture to the situation in which we find ourselves.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Have you ever been trying to finish a DIY project and you’re getting frustrated because there’s one part you cannot seem to complete? Then you phone a friend. They come over, look at the situation, pull the perfect tool out of their toolbox, and quickly fix the problem. You are amazed and they think, “It’s no big deal. I just happened to have the right tool for the job and the skill to know how to use it.”
We are all gifted, but in different ways.
God has uniquely prepared you for the situations you will face in your life. David declared, “All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16). That tells me that your loving Creator knew the challenges and opportunities you would have, and He has already placed the perfect tool in your toolbox that you will need to excel in that moment.
We have already talked about how your passion helps you discover your areas of giftedness. Finding out what thrills you and what fills you is one key step on this journey. There’s another aspect of this discovery process that at first seems almost the opposite, but I think they are actually two sides of the same coin.
If passion is what thrills me, then pain is what kills me. I think a good word for this is zeal. In the biblical context, zeal would be anger at the things that keep people from experiencing all that God has for them—things that keep them from knowing the fullness of God’s glory.
As Moses grew older, it killed him that the Jewish people were now enslaved by the Egyptians and kept from worshiping God in their own place (Exodus 2:11-12).
We see Moses’ zeal misapplied at first (I mean, he did commit a murder!). This about the differences between a river powerfully flowing within its banks, and a flood when the river overflows its banks. When we use our God-implanted zeal in ways that He hasn’t sanctioned, we make a mess like that flood. But when we use our zeal to glorify God, it is as powerful as a mighty river within its banks.
We see perfect zeal in Jesus. We see Him cleansing the temple so all worshipers could come close to God (John 2:13-17). We see his anger over the religious rules that kept people trapped in their disease( Mark 3:1-5; Luke 13:10-16).
If passion asks, “What is God passionate about that thrills my heart too?” then pain asks, “What breaks God’s heart that also breaks my heart?” or “What’s broken that I would love to fix?”
Zeal moves us to action!
When we move forward in our zeal, others may say we are meddling or we are sticking our nose in places where it shouldn’t be. But we simply cannot help ourselves.
In Moses’ initial zeal—without God’s commission—he committed murder and then fled to the wilderness.
Stephen says, “Moses was well educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action” (Acts 7:22). The word Stephen uses for “educated” means Moses was fully trained to interact success with is culture. And he also says Moses was “powerful” in speech and action.
So why does Moses say of himself that he is not “eloquent” and “slow of tongue” (Exodus 4:10)? Literally, Moses is saying, “I might make the same mistake that I made previously.”
Moses looked back on his initial stumble and was fearful he may misfire again. He was comfortable staying in his restricted comfort zone, but this attitude made God angry (Exodus 4:10-12).
Saul in his zeal for the rules and traditions of Judaism, persecuted the Christians. After he became a Christian, we see the same zeal—calling out Barnabas and Peter, and asking the Galatians who has bewitched them to stay entangled with meaningless traditions.
We usually discover our giftedness by looking backward. The devil would love for us to see our previous missteps as disqualifications for future service. But God says that He can use all of these things for His glory (Romans 8:28). We have to surrender our fears to Him if we want to soar out of our comfort zone and into our comfort zone.
Let me give you three things to consider:
What do you find yourself praying about more than anything else?
What do you move toward that others ignore or move away from?
What topic do you talk about all the time?
Here’s your homework: Think about the three things to consider regarding pain, and then consider where your passion circle and your pain circle may overlap.
If you’ve missed any of the messages in our series Living In Your Gift Zone, you can find them all here.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
After examining Jesus himself and then getting a report back from King Herod, Pontius Pilate announces to the crowd of religious leader, “I find no basis for a charge against Him. But…” (John 18:38-39).
The “But” signals the language of an unsure leader.
Pilate knew the truth. He knew the Roman law. He had soldiers around him to protect him from physical harm. No recrimination or rebuke would have come from Rome for letting Jesus go free. Yet Pilate wavered.
He was unsure of his leadership position. “Did I earn this position or did I manipulate my way into it? What will others think of me if I make this decision? Is there a way that I can keep everybody happy?”
Pilate gave himself an out: “…but it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Would you like me to release Jesus?”
Pilate was hoping to satisfy the fickle mob that was pressing in on him and pestering him to give in to their demands, even if it meant he would be perverting justice. Unsure leaders are always trying to find a way to navigate the current situation, just to get on to the next chapter of their leadership.
A godly leader who is sure of his calling can make tough calls while still preserving justice and maintaining truth.
A mark of anungodly leader is one who is bothunsure of his leadership authority andunstable in his leadership activities.
I talk more about a godly leader’s sure calling in my book Shepherd Leadership. And in this blog post, I give a three-word statement that can help godly leaders navigate through the toughest of decisions.
This is part 79 in my series on godly leadership. You can check out all of my posts in this series by clicking here.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
In the 40 days between His resurrection and His ascension, we read that Jesus was with His disciples “giving instructions through the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:2).
I think this word “instructions” in the NIV is too soft. The other translations say things like:
commandments (NKJV)
orders (NASB & NET)
instructed and commanded (AMPC)
The Greek word Luke uses in Acts 1:2 is entellomai and it is a word that carries weight. Throughout the New Testament this word is used to identify…
…the words of God (Matthew 4:6, 15:4; Luke 4:10; Acts 13:47; Hebrews 9:20)
…the words of Moses (Matthew 19:7; Mark 10:3; John 8:5)
…the words of Jesus (Matthew 17:9, 28:20; Mark 11:6; John 14:31; 15:14, 17; Acts 1:2, 13:47)
…the words of recognized leaders (Mark 13:34; Hebrews 11:22)
In other words, these aren’t just any words, but they carry an awesome authority with them. These are binding commands. They are not merely wise counsel or suggestions for godly living. They are indispensable to the Christian life.
Luke points out that Jesus gave these commands “through the Holy Spirit” because it is only through the Holy Spirit that you and I can understand them, apply them, and be empowered to obey them.
Jesus uses the same word entellomai in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:20) as well as in Acts 1:2. Clearly, the Scripture is telling us that we are powerless to understand and powerless to obey without the Holy Spirit’s daily empowerment. Jesus would never give us commands that we were unable to carry out, which is why He gives us instructions through the Spirit, and then the Spirit gives us the power to joyfully obey those commands.
Don’t ever think that you are on your own in trying to figure out what Jesus said, and how you are going to live it out.
I discuss the role of the Holy Spirit in a Christian’s life in much greater detail in my series called We Are: Pentecostal.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
There are some know-it-alls who want to tell pastoral leaders how they should have done things differently. Much like the “armchair quarterbacks” that seem to know all the right calls a team should make, even though they have virtually no experience.
Pastor, pay very little attention to those armchair quarterbacks that would speak into your life!
To put the quote that Jim shared from When Sheep Bite into context, here is the full passage—
Jesus is our perfect example of a Shepherd Leader. His example was to lay it all on the line, regardless of how the sheep were behaving or misbehaving: “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep” (John 10:11). By contrast, Jesus warns us that those who are not willing to put their lives on the line for the sheep are worse than armchair pastors—Jesus calls them mere hired hands: “The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep” (John 10:12-13).
If I am called to be a shepherd leader, attacks will come from both sheep and wolves. It’s what I do in those hard times that shows whether I am truly called or merely acting as an armchair shepherd.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
We’ve made it to the top step after a long climb. We’ve arrived! But arrived for what? Not for taking it easy, but for serving.
Jesus was at the top, and consider what He did with that position:
He laid aside His prerogatives as God to serve us—Philippians 2:6-8
He demonstrated this by becoming a servant of the servants—John 13:3-5
He said, “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as One who serves.” (Luke 22:27)
We strive for the top not to be served, but to serve. This is why the final Song of Ascent addresses those at the top as “servants of the Lord” (Psalm 134:1).
The first duty of the servants is to praise (2x in vv. 1, 2). The KJV actually renders this word “bless,” which I believe is a good way for us to think about this. The word means:
praise God with a reverential mind and
celebrate God on bended knee
In other words, both our heart and our body need to be in a posture of a praising servant. In the Septuagint, the word used for praise / bless is eulogeo, which means to say good words. In putting the two parts of the definition together, it mean we aren’t grumbling about our service (like “I have to do this”), but we are thankfully and worshipfully serving (as in “I get to do this!”).
These servants are called to “minister…in the house of the Lord [and] in the sanctuary” (134:1-2), just as the priests in the tabernacle (1 Chronicles 9:33; Leviticus 6:13; 24:2, 4).
This blessing and serving is itself a blessing which unlocks even more blessing. The final words of the final Song of Ascent is a prayer request (notice the word “may” in v. 3).
The word bless in this final is the same word translated praise in vv. 1-2, except here the form of the verb means “to be shown divine favor”!
We don’t get blessed by God because we have blessed God, but we bless God because He has already blessed us. I don’t command His blessing, but I bless Him in recognition of the blessing that continually flows from Him to me.
To word minister as in v. 1 means to:
endure all hardships
continue until the task is done
cause or help others to stand too
God loves to bless people who love to bless people!
As long as we’re here, keep blessing and serving others as your act of worship to God. Say good words to people about God and say good words to God about people. Lift up your hands, fall on your knees, sing out loud, or worship quietly in your heart. But keep on serving like Jesus. All of this blesses God.
Your final and eternal reward in the Heavenly Zion is coming and it is beyond compare—
It will be good for those servants whose Master finds them watching when He comes. Truly I tell you, He will dress Himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose Master finds them ready, even if He comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. (Luke 12:37-38)
In blessing others, we are blessing the God who has already blessed us and who longs to bless us for all of eternity!
If you’ve missed any of the messages looking at the fifteen Songs of Ascent, you can find them all here.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
God wants us to progress to the next level in our Christian walk, but we need to know what we’re ready for that. Just as a teacher in school prepares us for a test, administers the test, and then gives us the result of the test in order to promote us to the next level, so does our loving Heavenly Father.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
The religious leaders who should have known God’s Word the best were the ones who wanted Jeremiah killed for speaking God’s Word boldly.
The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. Yet when Jeremiah finished speaking everything that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You must die!” … Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, “A death sentence for this man! For he has prophesied against this city, just as you have heard with your own ears!” (Jeremiah 26:7-8, 11)
They did this to Jesus. The religious leaders shouted louder and louder, “Crucify Him!”
They will do this to me. Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12). And He said, “Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. On My account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles” (Matthew 10:17-18).
Holy Spirit, help me to speak only what You tell me to speak and do only what You tell me to do (Matthew 10:19-20). Help me to respond quickly to any wrong thinking, speaking, or action that You point out so that I may just as quickly repent of that. I want my life to point others to Jesus, even as I face persecution.
And Jesus responded and said to the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away. And He said to them, “Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?” And they could offer no reply to this.
Craig T. Owens 