The Journey Begins

Tom KaastraAs Tom Kaastra introduced our study of Ephesians he said, “There is no other book in the Bible that is as exalted in its thought and yet as earthly practical.” Our series is called Sit Walk Stand (three words that Watchman Nee gave to the overview of Ephesians), and Tom shared what those mean.

Sit—(1) to be in a place of authority (Ephesians 2:4-7; Hebrews 1:3); or (2) a rest from work. We sit down to enjoy what Christ has done for us, we don’t work to try to achieve it for ourselves. “God works and then He rests. We are invited to rest and then work” (Watchman Nee). Look at the Creation story: God’s seventh day of rest after working six days was man’s first day of rest before he started working.

Walk—an act of progression modeled by Jesus (Ephesians 4:1-3). A typical rabbi built a synagogue and invited people to come to where he was. Jesus always went to where the people were, and He invites us to follow Him in this walk. We cannot have a “just Jesus and me” mindset. If Peter wanted to walk with Jesus, he had to walk with Matthew too; there are no Lone Ranger followers of Christ.

Stand—firmly in place for spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:10-17). Ephesians deals with our warfare against satan more than any other book in the Bible. Sadly, George Barna reported that 60% of Christians think satan is a only a “force,” not an actual person. Paul uses this word stand as a military term to place our feet in a position ready for action.

ConclusionsConclusions:

  • Keep your head in the clouds resting in the embrace of Jesus, while you are
  • Keeping your feet on the ground walking with others, and
  • Keeping your feet on the ground standing against satan.

Join us next Sunday as we continue our look at this amazing book.

Sit Walk Stand

Sit Walk StandThis coming Sunday we begin a new series at Calvary Assembly of God called Sit Walk Stand: A Study In The Book Of Ephesians.

Why Ephesians? Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, who preached 232 sermons on this book to his packed-out church, said, “It is very difficult to speak of Ephesians in a controlled manner because of its greatness. Many have tried to describe it. One writer has described it as the crown and climax of Pauline theology. Another has said that it is the distilled essence of the Christian religion, the most authoritative and most consummate compendium of our holy Christian faith. What language! And it is by no means exaggerated.”

It is my desire that the congregation of Calvary Assembly of God be as biblically literate as I can encourage and resource them to be. So Tom Kaastra, a 38-year veteran pastor, is going to co-teach with me, and we’re going to spend the next 6-weeks mastering this powerful epistle. Then we’ll pick it up again around this same time next year, as we continue our way through the entire letter.

The name of our series—Sit Walk Stand—comes from Watchman Nee, who wrote, “Of all Paul’s epistles, it is in Ephesians that we find the highest spiritual truths concerning the Christian life. The letter abounds with spiritual riches, and yet at the same time is intensely practical.”

Please join us this Sunday at 10:30am.

Mere Humanism

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend among many of my pastor colleagues. I’m not sure if it’s an attempt to be “relatable” or unoffensive, but it is dead wrong.

The trend is to tell stories (even Bible stories) without using the Bible. To give people good thoughts from Scripture without actually opening the Scripture. To tell people how they should live but to never show them the passages of God’s Word on which those thoughts are based.

Are we ashamed of the Scripture? How can someone “preach” without pointing their audience to the authority for their preaching?!?

A.W. TozerA.W. Tozer warned us with these words—

“Any appeal to the public in the name of Christ that rises no higher than an invitation to tranquillity must be recognized as mere humanism with a few words of Jesus thrown in to make it appear Christian.”

Don’t just throw in some words of Christ; actually take them to His Word. This inspired Word is powerful, if we will just let people get their hands, and eyes, and hearts on it!

Links & Quotes

link quote

These are links to articles and quotes I found interesting today.

Some thoughts on creativity: 8 Creativity Lessons From A Pixar Animator

Tim Elmore on how to connect with others: Who Do You Connect With When You Teach?

“Thy poor prayer would have no force with Omnipotence if force were needed; but His love, like a spring, rises of itself and overflows for the supply of all thy needs.” —Charles Spurgeon

[VIDEO] Comedy from Ken Davis: Why I Don’t Have A Cat

Insight from Mark Driscoll: 5 Things To Look For In A Good Bible Teacher

“Don’t pray for sermons, let sermons come from your prayers. So, as long as I’m meeting with God, I will always have something to say.” —Chilly Chilton

Michael Hyatt’s excellent advice to leaders: 5 Reasons You Should Smile More As A Leader

Encouragement from Max Lucado: A Passion For The Forgotten

John Stonestreet on the dangers of pornography: The Root Of Sexual Exploitation

Only a little time left to download a free song from U2 and help end AIDS: Fight AIDS With (Red)

“The fundamental issue for any of us is to feel loved. If we feel loved by the significant people in our lives, we are more likely to reach out potential for God and good in the world.” —Dr. Gary Chapman

An interesting study on missionaries and societal success: The Truth About Missionaries

Praying ‘Round & ‘Round

There are lot of different ways to look at the function of prayer, but please allow me to share one more with you. Perhaps this prayer cycle will help you see the value of each aspect of prayer.

Prayer cycle

(To download a PDF of this file, click here → Prayer cycle)

Each step in this cycle helps facilitate the next step. If any step breaks down, the whole cycle of prayer can grind to a halt. But as any part of the cycle is strengthened, the whole cycle expands and grows in potency!

  • We need to be be assured that God’s Word is true when it says to come to Him in prayer.
  • Once we are assured that God’s Word is true, then the Holy Spirit will illuminate His Word to our present circumstance, giving us the mind of Our Lord. This is called discernment.
  • Having discernment will bring us the peace that knows God hears us, and that God is working on our behalf and for His glory.
  • All of these steps flowing together allow us to pray and live in greater boldness, which fuels the whole cycle again.
  • At the heart of this cycle is the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, who helps us at each step along the cycle of prayer.

Here are some Scriptures that correspond with the various steps in the cycle:

Assurance—If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. (John 15:7)

Discernment—But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:26)

Peace—Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)

Boldness—After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. (Acts 4:31)

Holy Spirit Empowerment—In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:26-28)

The only way I know of to learn how to pray better is to pray more! Don’t wait for a better opportunity to begin to pray … Start right now!

Next Sunday I am continuing our series on prayer. If you are near Cedar Springs, please join us!

Boomerang

BoomerangI was very hesitant to enter the pastorate. As I look back now, I see God had been preparing me for this all my life, but I was reluctant to take on such a heavy spiritual responsibility.

When I finally submitted, I made a covenant with God: “I never want to preach a sermon where my finger is pointed at the congregation, where I am saying, ‘You people better listen to this!’ But I only want to share what You have been challenging me to do and become. I want the congregation to hear an overflow of the work being done in me.”

I recently read a paragraph from Oswald Chambers that validates that covenant I made—

“It is an easy business to preach, an appallingly easy thing to tell other people what to do; it is another thing to have God’s message turned into a boomerang—‘You have been teaching these people that they should be full of peace and of joy, but what about yourself? Are you full of peace and joy?’ The truthful witness is the one who lets his light shine in works which exhibit the disposition of Jesus; one who lives the truth as well as preaches it.”

My pastor friend, don’t preach it if you’re not living it! Or another way: live it first, then preach it.

Prayer’s Empowerment

Prayer is not about insurance, but assurance. Prayer is not about figuring things out, but about getting God’s mind on a subject.

But how does the faith to believe for that assurance, and the faith to capture God’s discernment come to us? It comes through the Third Person of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit empowers us; He’s the central part of our prayer life.

Check out what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit’s role in your prayer life (see John 14:15-27).

EmpowermentAssurance—the Counselor [will] be with you forever (v. 16). The Holy Spirit doesn’t come and go, but He abides constantly. Jesus said I will not leave you as orphans (v. 18), but you will be loved by My Father (vv. 21-23). The Holy Spirit plays a vital role in bringing you into this intimate relationship (Romans 8:15).

Discernment—Jesus said a key component of your prayer life was if you remain in Me and My words remain in you (John 15:7). The Holy Spirit helps teach you what the Word says, and He will remind you of everything I have said to you (John 14:26). The more you can be reminded of God’s Word, the more you can pray and live with God’s discernment.

Peace—My peace I give you … do not be afraid (v. 27). One of the names given to the Holy Spirit is Comforter. The Amplified Bible defines this title as, “Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby.”

Boldness—when you have greater assurance of God’s Word, deeper discernment into the mind of the Lord, and a more tranquil peace because of prayer, you can pray and live boldly! Want to see boldness in action? Check out how the followers of Jesus lived and prayed after they were baptized in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8; 2:14; 4:8; 4:31).

Make no mistake about it:

How we pray is how we will live! 

Our prayers and our lives will be more assured, more discerning, more peace-producing and more bold when we let the Holy Spirit empower every aspect!

We will be continuing our series on prayer—If You Will Ask—next Sunday. I would love to have you join us!

Be The Sermon

Gregory The GreatIt’s not enough to just preach a sermon, my pastor friend, we must be the sermon, too.

Heed these challenging words from Gregory The Great (ca. 540-604)—

“There are some who investigate spiritual precepts with cunning care, but what they penetrate with their understanding they trample on in their lives: all at once they teaching the things which not by practice but by study they have learnt; and what in words they preach by their manners they impugn. …

“The ruler should always be chief in action, that by his living he may point out the way to those that are put under him, and that the flock, which follows the voice and manners of the shepherd, may learn how to walk better through example than through words. For he who is required by the necessity of his position to speak the highest things is required by the same necessity to exhibit the highest things. …

Every preacher should give forth a sound more by his deeds than by his words, and rather by good living imprint footsteps for men to follow than by speaking show them the way to walk in.” 

Smith Wigglesworth On Prayer, Power, And Miracles (book review)

Prayer, Power & MiraclesWhenever I need a booster shot of faith, or a challenge to believe God for even greater things, or just a unabashed reminder of the power of the Scriptures, I pick up a book by Smith Wigglesworth. By the time I got done reading Smith Wigglesworth On Prayer, Power, And Miracles compiled by Roberts Liardon I was totally fired up!

This book is a collection of sermons delivered by Wigglesworth and articles he authored for various Pentecostal publications. Every one of the chapters is simply saturated in Scripture and the anointing of the Holy Spirit! Each of the articles made we want to dig into the Bible more, believe God for more, and crave the empowerment of the Spirit more!

If you are tired of humdrum church-as-usual, or if you are ready for your faith to be stretched like it’s never been stretched before, pick up a copy of this book and strap yourself in. I promise that you will not think about the things of God the same after these messages have worked their way into your heart.

If You Will Ask

If [web]Prayer is powerful. Ask anyone who has ever had answer from God in prayer, and they will quickly tell you just how valuable and powerful that prayer was to them.

With that in mind here’s a simple question: why don’t we pray more? It seems like prayer is often the thing we turn to when everything else we have tried has failed. Or we pray after we have messed something up, instead of before we attempted it.

The Bible says this—

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14, emphasis added)

Notice that key qualifier: IF we will ask there is an incredible confidence in God’s answer. 

Prayer should be first and continual. That’s why l like beginning each year with a renewed emphasis on prayer. This Sunday is part one in our series If You Will Ask, where we will be exploring the mind-blowing things God gives to His children who ask Him … things like insight, patience, power and initiative.

Please join me at 10:30am this Sunday as we begin our reinvigorating look at the power of prayer.