Healing Like Jesus

In this worship gathering, we hear a message from Acts 9.32-43 about Peter’s encounter with Aeneas that resulted in healing from paralysis, and his encounter with Tabitha that resulted in seeing her rise from the dead. Can these things happen today? What does healing look like for the church today? Watch and find out! You can watch the message below, or the entire worship gathering below that. An audio-only podcast of the message can be found at the bottom.

Strategic Withdrawal

Have you ever considered the concept of “strategic withdrawal”?

It sounds like a mixed metaphor, or a contradiction in terms.  After all, in battle, they talk about the importance of strategic advance; if you’re going to win a battle, it’s not usually done by withdrawing from it.

But in the Christian life, there are times when strategic withdrawal is required in order to win the battle.

Every day, as a follower of Jesus, you fight a battle, whether it’s cultural, ethical, or even chronological:  by living out your faith in Jesus, you are paddling against the current.

Culturally, you’re choosing to dance to a different beat.

Ethically, you’re choosing to march to a different drum.

Chronologically – wait, what? – yes, chronologically, you fight a battle, too.  Whether it’s with your boss, your Netflix account, or your smartphone, you are fighting a battle for your time.

In a lot of cases, our work will try to claim as much of our time as possible.

Binge watching television or movies or documentaries will try to claim as much of our time as possible.

Our electronic devices will bing and beep and buzz at us, and will try to claim as much of our time as possible.

Hang on, Jeff.  These “things” don’t actually claim our time.

True.  But our actions allow them to usurp time.  We make choices.

Every day, we are faced with choices.  We need to work, but we can place boundaries on how much time we give to our employment, within reason.  We enjoy being entertained by television or movies or documentaries, but we can place limitations on how much time we devote to them.  Our phones are handy devices, and we wonder how we lived without them, but we can control how much time we spend with them.

Why does this matter?

It matters because, if we’re honest, when we run out of time, the first thing to go is not sleeping or eating or taking care of children or going to the bathroom:  the first thing to go is tending to our spiritual lives.

This is why strategic withdrawal matters.

Strategic withdrawal can happen with periodic retreats, with days of rest, and even with daily moments where we simply set aside time when it’s just God and us.

The world and Satan are trying to keep you from strategic withdrawal, but you know you need it if your walk with God is going to thrive and grow.

“Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5.16, NIV).  Be like Jesus.

P.S.:  My congregation, St. Paul’s Church, Nobleton, is looking for a worship leader to guide our praise team and congregation in worship of the Lord.  If you or someone you know would be interested, check out the job description and be in touch with me.  Thanks!

Blinded By the Light

In this worship gathering, we hear a message from Acts 9.1-31 about the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, and learn what that experience can teach us about our own experience of relating to God. You can watch the message below, or the entire worship gathering below that. At the bottom, you’ll find an audio-only podcast link for the message.

A symbol of sacrifice

The Christian season of Lent began this week with Ash Wednesday; ironically (or not), that happened to fall on Valentine’s Day this year.  As several online memes pointed out, you can’t spell “Valentine” without “lent”!

Lent is the longest-standing season in the Christian year, having been practised by many branches of the church since the fourth century.  It’s not something that’s biblically mandated by any means, but it was developed as a season of penitence and preparation for Holy Week and Easter.  That is, it was designed to enhance our celebration of both Jesus’ death and his resurrection through sacrifice.

My childhood (which was spent outside the church) carried virtually no memory of Lent, except one:  my grandmother, who was very active in the church, would come home from worship on the Sunday before Lent began each year with a cardboard folder.  That folder contained a slot for each day of the season of Lent; into every slot she would slide a dime, one for each day.  If I recall correctly, these donations would support the Leprosy Mission (now called Effect Hope).

It was a symbol of sacrifice.

Now, four bucks doesn’t seem like much of a sacrifice, though for a retiree on a fixed income in the 1970s, it won’t have been entirely insignificant.

These days, seasons of preparation don’t garner a great deal of popularity, even among Christians, because in western society, we have grown accustomed to waiting for nothing.  Easy credit is such that if we want something, we can have it now.  We don’t have to save up for it.

Saving to purchase big-ticket items used to be the norm.  The only time my dad bought a car without paying cash for it up front was one time when he was offered a car loan at zero percent interest; who doesn’t want free money?  But he paid it off, as was my dad’s custom, early.

That’s almost unheard of nowadays; it’s a different economy.

But sacrifice isn’t something we’re into as a people.  So Lent doesn’t garner much attention.  Oh, sure, some people will “give up” something for Lent, but I have to ask (and I often do) if that sacrifice is drawing the person closer to God.  If the answer is ‘no’, then what’s the point?

If you’re going to mark Lent, I encourage you to do so thoughtfully, prayerfully, sacrificially.  After all, it culminates in the greatest sacrifice ever made for you in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And it ends with his glorious victory over death in the resurrection.

As a postscript, I should say (as I have before) that Lent lasts 40 days, but if you count the number of days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, you get more than 40.  What’s the deal with that?  Sundays are not included.  That’s why we have Sundays in Lent and not Sundays of Lent.  Each Sunday, even in Lent, remains a celebration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.  So we don’t hide our “alleluias” and turn our smiles upside down in Lent.  Jesus made the sacrifice, and he beat it.

“You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
    You do not want a burnt offering.
  The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
    You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God” (Psalm 51.16-17, NLT).

What Prevents You?

In this worship gathering, we hear a message from Acts 8.26-40 about the encounter between Philip the evangelist and the minister of finance for the nation of Ethiopia. We learn how Philip gives us a model for one-to-one evangelism for God’s people today. You can watch the message below, the entire worship gathering below that, and you can listen to the audio-only podcast at the link below that.

Relationship matters

Earlier this week, I was enjoying an evening with a member of our congregation in a restaurant in the area.  It was obvious that he frequented the place with some regularity, as the waitress’ face lit up when she saw him.

She invited us to sit in a booth, where we settled in for a good conversation.  She took our order as my friend asked about her family life.  It was obvious that they had conversed about this before, as she opened up with him – even after he introduced me as his pastor.

She had pretty much the whole restaurant to look after, so she was busy with many other customers, but would stop by periodically to check if we needed anything, and to continue the conversation.

After we had solved the world’s problems, we were ready for the bill, and as we concluded our conversation with the waitress, I gave her my card, and offered to be of any encouragement I could.  I asked her name and the name of her daughter, who had been the subject of some of our conversation when she stopped by, and I promised to keep them in prayer.

With that, we left for home.

This experience illustrated for me just how important relationships are when we seek to share our faith.  As my friend introduced the topic of faith – by introducing me – there was no resistance on the part of the waitress to delve into a bit of faith-based conversation, because she had a relationship with him.  She felt safe to be in a conversation about Jesus, even though that was relatively unfamiliar territory for her.

Sharing our faith is important, but we won’t be successful if we just introduce it from nothing, as if we were trying to build a house on quicksand.  There needs to be a foundation, and that foundation is a relationship.  The relationship doesn’t need to be longstanding or profound, but it needs to exist and be friendly.

I have no idea whether that young woman will cross the threshold of our church building, but I do know this:  I will make a point of going back to the restaurant to follow up with her, in the hope of continuing that conversation.  

Was that seed sown on good soil?  It’s hard to say at this point, but next time, I’m bringing a watering can, just in case.

Ask yourself:  What relationships do I have right now into which I could introduce a faith conversation?  You’ve got nothing to lose, and the other person has eternity to gain.

The apostle Peter wrote, “if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it” (1 Peter 3.15b, NLT).

Misplaced Faith

In this worship gathering, we hear a message from Acts 8.4-25 about Philip bringing the gospel to the Samaritans, and the apostles’ encounter with Simon the Sorcerer. What can we learn from this story that applies to contemporary church life? Watch and find out. The message can be viewed below, and the entire worship gathering below that. At the bottom, you’ll find a link to an audio-only podcast of the message.

God’s work is often simple

In our congregation, we normally have two readings from Scripture in each worship gathering.  The first one, which is chosen to complement the Scripture focus, doesn’t always get a lot of attention.  This is okay, since God’s Word can speak for itself!

But I thought I’d take a minute to wander through that first reading that the folks at St. Paul’s Church, Nobleton will hear this Sunday.  You can read 2 Kings 5.1-27 for yourself if you’ll be in your own church this weekend.  It’s the story of the healing of Naaman.  He was the commander of the army of Aram, one of ancient Israel’s enemies.  He suffered with leprosy.

This was in the time that Elisha was the prophet in Israel, and Naaman was convinced to go and see Elisha to be healed.  Elisha didn’t even come out to meet him; he simply sent word for Naaman to go and wash himself seven times in the Jordan River.  By that act he would be healed.

Interestingly, Naaman was annoyed at this.  He was expecting some fireworks, something dramatic.  Going and washing himself in the Jordan seemed, well, boring.  Pedestrian.

Naaman’s officers convinced him to give it a try anyway, and behold, he was healed!

Naaman’s opinion had changed, and he and his men went back to offer a gift of gratitude to Elisha.  But Elisha refused.

The rest of the story goes on to tell how Elisha’s servant was greedy and wanted the gift that Naaman had offered, so he runs after Naaman and cooks up a story so he, the servant, could get some loot.  Of course, by the Spirit of the Lord, Elisha knows what happened, and the servant ended up with the leprosy that Naaman had.

There are a couple of lessons in this story.  The easy one is “don’t be greedy.”  But the one that may be more difficult to notice is this:  when the Lord acts, it’s not always flashy.  In fact, it’s not often flashy.

Naaman was expecting something more glitzy than just taking a bath.  But that’s what the prophet of the Lord told Naaman to do to be healed, and when he finally gave in and did it, it worked.

Many of us, if we’re asked if we’ve ever seen God at work, might respond with a hesitant “no”, simply because we haven’t seen the glitz and the glam.  But if we slow down long enough, and examine our lives closely enough, we will certainly find ways in which God has been at work in our lives.  Retrospect is especially helpful this way.  There are times when we may not notice God working in the moment, but when we reflect back, we see his fingerprints all over our lives.

Let me encourage you to do that today.  Take a block of time and review your life, looking for where God was at work. Consider journalling about this, so you have a record of God’s activity in your life on which you can look back when you need a lift in your faith.

“Search for the Lord and for his strength;
    continually seek him.
  Remember the wonders he has performed,
    his miracles, and the rulings he has given” (Psalm 105.4-5a, NLT).