Because I Am Yours

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!  1 John 3:1

Last week, while preparing for a sermon Romans 1:5, "The Purpose of the Gospel," I came a across this beautiful story of the amazing grace of God. I found the story on a blog written by Jerry Bouma, which you can find here. But the story itself is from a book called "PROOF: Finding Freedom through the Intoxicating Joy of Irresistible Grace" by Daniel Montgomery and Timothy Paul Jones. The book is available at Amazon. 

In the book, Timothy Paul Jones writes about how a trip to Disney with his adopted daughter taught him an incredible lesson on the gospel and God's amazing grace. Here is the story: 

“Because I’m Yours” 

I never dreamed that taking a child to Disney World could be so difficult — or that such a trip could teach me so much about God’s outrageous grace. 

Our middle daughter had been previously adopted by another family. I [Timothy] am sure this couple had the best of intentions, but they never quite integrated the adopted child into their family of biological children. After a couple of rough years, they dissolved the adoption, and we ended up welcoming an eight-year-old girl into our home. 

For one reason or another, whenever our daughter’s previous family vacationed at Disney World, they took their biological children with them, but they left their adopted daughter with a family friend. Usually — at least in the child’s mind — this happened because she did something wrong that precluded her presence on the trip. 

And so, by the time we adopted our daughter, she had seen many pictures of Disney World and she had heard about the rides and the characters and the parades. But when it came to passing through the gates of the Magic Kingdom, she had always been the one left on the outside. Once I found out about this history, I made plans to take her to Disney World the next time a speaking engagement took our family to the southeastern United States. 

I thought I had mastered the Disney World drill. I knew from previous experiences that the prospect of seeing cast members in freakishly oversized mouse and duck costumes somehow turns children into squirming bundles of emotional instability. What I didn’t expect was that the prospect of visiting this dreamworld would produce a stream of downright devilish behavior in our newest daughter. In the month leading up to our trip to the Magic Kingdom, she stole food when a simple request would have gained her a snack. She lied when it would have been easier to tell the truth. She whispered insults that were carefully crafted to hurt her older sister as deeply as possible — and, as the days on the calendar moved closer to the trip, her mutinies multiplied. 

A couple of days before our family headed to Florida, I pulled our daughter into my lap to talk through her latest escapade. “I know what you’re going to do,” she stated flatly. “You’re not going to take me to Disney World, are you?” The thought hadn’t actually crossed my mind, but her downward spiral suddenly started to make some sense. She knew she couldn’t earn her way into the Magic Kingdom — she had tried and failed that test several times before — so she was living in a way that placed her as far as possible from the most magical place on earth. 

In retrospect, I’m embarrassed to admit that, in that moment, I was tempted to turn her fear to my own advantage. The easiest response would have been, “If you don’t start behaving better, you’re right, we won’t take you” — but, by God’s grace, I didn’t. Instead, I asked her, “Is this trip something we’re doing as a family?” 

She nodded, brown eyes wide and tear-rimmed.
“Are you part of this family?”
She nodded again.
“Then you’re going with us. Sure, there may be some consequences to help you remember what’s right and what’s wrong — but you’re part of our family, and we’re not leaving you behind.” 

I’d like to say that her behaviors grew better after that moment. They didn’t. Her choices pretty much spiraled out of control at every hotel and rest stop all the way to Lake Buena Vista. Still, we headed to Disney World on the day we had promised, and it was a typical Disney day. Overpriced tickets, overpriced meals, and lots of lines, mingled with just enough manufactured magic to consider maybe going again someday. 

In our hotel room that evening, a very different child emerged. She was exhausted, pensive, and a little weepy at times, but her month-long facade of rebellion had faded. When bedtime rolled around, I prayed with her, held her, and asked, “So how was your first day at Disney World?” 

She closed her eyes and snuggled down into her stuffed unicorn. After a few moments, she opened her eyes ever so slightly. “Daddy,” she said, “I finally got to go to Disney World. But it wasn’t because I was good; it’s because I’m yours.” 

It wasn’t because I was good; it’s because I’m yours. 

That’s the message of outrageous grace. 

Outrageous grace isn’t a favor you can achieve by being good; it’s the gift you receive by being God’s. Outrageous grace is God’s goodness that comes looking for you when you have nothing but a middle finger flipped in the face of God to offer in return. It’s a farmer paying a full day’s wages to a crew of deadbeat day laborers with only a single hour punched on their time cards (Matthew 20:1 – 16). It’s a man marrying an abandoned woman and then refusing to forsake his covenant with her when she turns out to be a whore (Ezekiel 16:8 – 63; Hosea 1:1 — 3:5). It’s the insanity of a shepherd who puts ninety-nine sheep at risk to rescue the single lamb that’s too stupid to stay with the flock (Luke 15:1 – 7). It’s the love of a father who hands over his finest rings and robes to a young man who has squandered his inheritance on drunken binges with his fair-weather friends (Luke 15:11 – 32)…It’s one-way love that calls you into the kingdom not because you’ve been good but because God has chosen you and made you his own. And now he is chasing you to the ends of the earth to keep you as his child, and nothing in heaven or hell can ever stop him…

Beautiful, huh? Now go wipe your eyes, blow your nose and praise the Lord who loves you not because of what you do for Him, but for who you are to Him; and enjoy the rest of this blessed day!

Praying With Confidence

"This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." 1 John 5:14 (NAS)

Today I met with the Director of Missions for our church's association and a group of leaders from a local Hispanic church. David, our Director of Missions, asked me to meet with them to discuss the possibility of sharing our church facilities with their church. I thought I was just going to be meeting with their pastor and his daughter who translates for him, but there were actually six other leaders from their church, only one of which spoke a little English.

The Hispanic church is nine years old and they had been renting a little storefront building for the last few years. They shared that they had been having problems in the building because the air conditioning had gone out and the owner didn't want to pay the $2,000 fix it unless he raised their rent. They also shared that when it rained, water would come into their children's area and the church has been growing and they needed more space, but they didn't have resources to rent a larger space.  Over the past two to three months they had been praying earnestly for God to provide a place for them that would meet their needs and something they could afford.

We had a great discussion and I will be talking with our church about opening our doors to our brothers and sisters in the coming days, but what really touched me during our time together was their passion for prayer. They spoke of how they had been praying with confidence that God was hearing their prayers and that He would answer in His time. They were confident that He would provide a place that would meet all their needs they believed God had brought us together in answer to their prayers. I was also struck by their gratitude - each person individually expressed their gratitude that we would even be willing to consider allowing them to use our building (I told them that it is not "our" building, but it was God's building and He wanted it used for His work and His glory, whoever was using it).

When it came time to depart, David asked their pastor if he would pray for us. We stood, held hands in a circle, and I expected him to pray in Spanish and his daughter translate for me and David. What I heard though, was a chorus of Spanish voices praying passionately to our Heavenly Father with gratitude and confidence that He was not only hearing but answering their prayers. All of them were praying out loud at the same time, and it was beautiful. I didn't understand the language, but I felt the Spirit and the confidence they had in the reality of God hearing and answering their prayers was unmistakable. We have a ways to go before having an agreement to use our building, but if today was an indicator of how things are going to go, God will bring things together for us soon.

Something changed in me today - just being in the presence of the Spirit and of God's people praying with passion and confidence. I can't really explain the change, I just know I am different. Something about praying with my Hispanic brothers (and sister) has stirred something within me to pray with more boldness and passion, having confidence that God is hearing and answering my prayers. I can't wait to see what He is going to do next. I'm praying God spreads this change to those around me as well.

Spiritual Warfare: What You Really Need to Know!

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Ephesians 6:10 (NIV)

 We've been studying spiritual warfare for a few months now in our Wednesday night Bible study at church and for the past few weeks we've been studying the Armor of God. Before that we spent several weeks talking about our enemy - his nature, purposes and strategies. In a previous blog I wrote about the purpose of the enemy being to "steal, kill and destroy" (John 10:10) and what that looked like in my own experiences. For me, the enemy seeks to steal my joy, so he can kill my peace, and ultimately destroy my confidence and contentment in the Lord. He wants to move me from being unhappy, to unsettled, to uncertain. He's good at what he does because he's been doing it a long time.

But God has not left us defenseless against the attacks against the enemy. Ephesians 6 10-20 is the pinnacle passage on spiritual warfare (though not the only one). Lately our study has focused on the various pieces on the Armor of God, but the foundation to standing against the attacks of enemy is found in v.10 of that passage - "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power." The word translated "be strong" is written in passive form, meaning that it is something that happens TO you, not BY you. It literally means to be empowered by the Lord, or to be strengthened by Him. In other words, He doesn't just tell you to be strong in Him, He also does the strengthening. To be clear - this isn't about OUR strength and mighty power, it is about HIS strength and mighty power being manifest in us.

But how does He strengthen us? Does He just magically make us strong and powerful? That's not been my experience - in my life God has worked through the Holy Spirit to strengthen me through my obedience to His word. In other words, He tells me what I need to do and as I do it, His Spirit empowers me to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. It is a cooperative effort; He's doing the work as I am obeying the word. 

So how does He empower us to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power? Again, this is my experience and not an exhaustive study on spiritual warfare and how to defeat the devil, but this is how God has worked in my life when I'm facing the foe. This is how He has made me to be strong in the Lord. I'm strong in the Lord when ...

1. I rejoice in Him - As I said in the previous post, the enemy wants to steal my joy, because the joy of the Lord is my strength (Nehemiah 8:10). If he can rob me of my joy, he can weaken my confidence in God. Joy is a powerful weapon in the war against the enemy. That's why the Bible repeatedly tells us to "rejoice in the Lord." In fact, that exact phrase is used at least 12 times in Scripture (Psalm 32:11, 35:9, 64:10, 97:12, 104:34; Isaiah 29:10, 41:16; Joel 2:23; Habakkuk 3:18; Zechariah 10:7; Philippians 3:1, 4:4). When the Bible repeats something that many times, it is important!

My "life passage" is Habakkuk 3:18-19 - (Paraphrased) "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation, for the Lord God is my strength and He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me walk upon my (spiritually) high places." God gave me that passage more than 30 years ago, and when I've practiced it (rejoicing in the Lord), He has strengthened me and empowered me with His mighty power, and He will do it for you as well.

BTW - rejoicing in the Lord isn't a suggestion ("try this and see if it works"), it is a command from God. And it isn't something we do on our own, but something He does within us. When I choose to rejoice - choose to be joyful instead of fearful, frustrated, anxious, worried, discouraged, etc. God grows my joy and I am strengthened in the Lord. When we face attacks from the enemy, we may not FEEL like rejoicing, but OUR FEELINGS ARE NOT GOD - God is God and He is greater than our feelings and His commands are greater than our feelings. So do what God commands us to do - rejoice in Him because the joy of the Lord is our strength. (Jim Johnston has written an excellent article on "Why Are So Many Christians Unhappy?" on the Desiring God website; it's a great encouragement on this subject).

       Secondly, I'm strong in the Lord when ...
2. I obey His commands - This kind of piggy backs on the previous point, but it is important. When God elevated Joshua to the leadership of the Israelites after the death of Moses, He gives him clear instructions about what Joshua is to do to lead the people into the Promised Land. Twice in two verses (6&7) He tells Joshua to "be strong and courageous." Then, to drive home the point in v.9 God says, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid, nor be discouraged..." In other words, "Joshua, do what I am telling you to do! Be strong and be courageous!"

Honestly, for most of my life when I read or heard the word "commands" from the Bible, I thought of the Ten Commandments, and I generally thought of them as a list of "don'ts" - don't steal, don't kill, don't commit adultery, don't lie, etc. To me, obeying God's commands was about not doing bad things. But as I read the Bible and grew in my relationship with the Lord, I realized there were a lot more "DO's" in the commands of God, than there were "DON'Ts". Contemporary writer Eric Metaxas says, “Being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God's will.” When I actively obey God's commands, I grow strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

     Finally, I'm strong in the Lord when ... 
3. I rest in the promise of His presence - A tactic of the enemy is to isolate his prey and cause him/her to feel like they are alone, perhaps even that God has abandoned them. When we are experiencing trials, going through life storms, or if we have sinned against God, he (the devil) whispers things like "God has given up on you. If God really cared about you, you wouldn't be having such a hard time. He's abandoned you because you've failed Him again. If He loved you, you wouldn't have so many problems." His goal is to cause you to doubt God's presence and power in your life.

But multiple times in His word God says, "I will never leave you, or forsake you" (Deuteronomy 31:6,8; Joshua 1:5; 1 Chronicles 28:20; Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5 just to name a few). In Joshua 1, God gave Joshua his marching orders, commanded him to be strong and courageous, and then assured Joshua that He would be with him wherever he would go (Joshua 1:9). God's response to our every need and in every circumstance is "I am with you," and if God is with us, we can be strong in the Lord.

I've never served in the military, but I have a lot of friends and family who have and I am thankful for their willingness to serve our nation. One of the things I've picked up over the years is that being a good soldier is more of a mindset than almost anything else. As a soldier, you can have the strongest armor, the latest and most effective weapons, but if you don't have confidence in your commander, faith in your mission, and courage in your heart, you're probably not going to be very effective on the battlefield. You will make decisions based on fear instead of faith which will probably lead to your defeat.

I think there is a correlation to spiritual warfare - you can appreciate all the promises in the Bible, understand all the strategies of the enemy, and know all the pieces of the armor of God, but if you aren't first "strong in the Lord and in His mighty power" you're not going to be very successful in the battle. You will make decisions based on fear instead of faith, which will probably lead to your defeat.

The really GOOD NEWS is that the ultimate battle has been won by Christ, and if you are in Christ you ultimately win over the enemy. But if we "win in the end" shouldn't we also be winning the daily battles against the attacks of the enemy? Does God want us to live defeated, discouraged and disappointed lives until we die and go to heaven? I don't think so, or else why would He teach us so much about spiritual warfare in His word? Make no mistake about it, we won't live our "best life now" in this world - it is fallen and broken and is governed by the enemy (John 12:31-33, 14:13, 16:11; Ephesians 2:1-3, 6:12-13), but we also don't have to live our "worst life now." God has won the ultimate victory for us, and we can live in victory now as well! BE STRONG IN THE LORD AND IN HIS MIGHTY POWER!

Spiritual Warfare: What's Going On Here?

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy...  John 10:10 ESV

On Wednesday nights we have been studying Scriptures on spiritual warfare. Ephesians 6 tells us that "... we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." (v.12, NLT) The battle is real and the enemy is real. In John 10:10 Jesus tells us about the nature of the enemy and what his primary goals are in fighting against us; "The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy." (NLT) Our enemy is a thief, and he wants only to steal, kill and destroy.

Because everyone is different, the enemy attacks in different ways, and through different means, but his goal is always the same - steal, kill and destroy. Last Wednesday I shared how I have experienced his attacks in my life, following those three purposes.

1. He wants to steal our joy - joy is an incredibly important component in the Christian life. Jesus tells us in John 15:11 that He gives us His joy so that we can be full of joy. Nehemiah 8:10 reminds us that the "joy of the Lord" is our strength. We draw spiritual strength when rejoice in the Lord. That's why we are told repeatedly in the Bible "to rejoice," "to count it all joy" or to "rejoice in the Lord." Spiritual strength comes from rejoicing in the Lord.

So, in my experience, one of the primary ways the enemy attacks is to create situations, in my life where I am tempted to lose my joy. Sometimes these are big things like the loss of a job, the loss of a loved one, or a broken relationship. But often they're smaller situations like having a flat tire when you're late for work, losing your keys, staining your favorite shirt, or an argument with your spouse over something stupid like which way the toilet paper roll goes on the holder (BTW, the correct way is "over"). These are not major catastrophes, just little irritating episodes, and often one right after another; anything to cause us to become frustrated, unhappy or react with a negative attitude, anything to steal our joy, because the joy of the Lord is our strength.

2. If the enemy can steal our joy, he makes an easy transition to killing our peace. Once I've lost my joy, I become unsettled, anxious, worried and maybe even fearful. Peace is another wonderful gift that Jesus gives us (see John 14:27, and Romans 5:1), but when we've lost our joy, we almost always lose our peace as well. For me, a lack of peace is manifested in chronic worrying - I start mulling over negative situations in my mind, usually creating "worst-case-scenarios", wondering why "bad things" are happening, and how am I (emphasis on me) going to fix things. I stress, and fret, and overthink situations to the point where I become discouraged ore even mildly depressed. If I continue down that road, I start to withdraw and cut myself off from friends and family, which is just what the enemy wants - isolation, which makes it easy for him to transition to the next phase of attack...

3. He wants to destroy our confidence and trust in God. This is his ultimate goal. If you are a follower of Christ, he can't destroy your salvation (because your salvation isn't based on what you've done for Christ, but on what Christ has done for you), so he wants to cause you to doubt or question God's goodness, His love for you, or His sovereign grace in your life. You begin to think, does God love me? Have I done something wrong that has made Him made at me? If He is good, then why are these bad things happening to me? Can I really trust God? Does God even care about me or my situation?

Again, I'm speaking for myself, but in reflection this is how the enemy has often worked in my life - he causes or creates situations where I allow myself to become unhappy - sometimes big events, but usually a series of smaller, irritating episodes in my day or week. His goal is to cause me to lose my joy and when that happens I become anxious and unsettled (worried and stressed); and from there I begin to lose my confidence and trust in the goodness, love and sovereignty of God, and I become a pretty miserable person. He hasn't destroyed my salvation (because he can't) but he has stolen my joy, killed my peace and destroyed my trust in God. I've moved from unhappy, to unsettled to uncertain.

Unfortunately, I've allowed this cycle to repeat too many times in my life as a follower of Christ, but in the last few years God has been revealing the enemies strategies and showing me how to defend myself against his attacks, which I'll talk about next time ... but for now, "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8 (NLT) AND if you are experiencing spiritual warfare in your life right now and needing someone to pray with and fight alongside of you, please reach out to me, you can comment on this blog or email me at glmiller1965@gmail.com ... I'm not from the government, but I am here to help ( I know... not everyone will get that joke, 😁).

God's Perfect Timing

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19 ESV

Over the years I've seen the Lord's perfect timing several times; saw it again yesterday and today. Our church has a food pantry and clothes closet to help people in need. Our director Rachel told me yesterday that we had some baby food in the pantry that was going to expire at the end of the month so she was going to post on a community site to see if anyone needed it. Also yesterday one of our church members came by to drop off some baby clothes for boys that a relative had given to her. Some of them were brand new with the tags still on them.

This morning a lady contacted Rachel about the baby food and made an appointment to come by and pick it up. When she came in, she began to open up to Rachel about what was going on in her life. About four months ago she had moved to the area with her husband and six kids, age range from 16yrs to 3 months old (born here). Unfortunately her husband is an alcoholic and a few days ago he abandoned her and the kids with no money. She had run out of formula and had just started giving the infant baby food, but had run out of that too. Thankfully, we were not only able to give her baby food, but we had formula to give her as well. Rachel asked if she needed diapers, but she said she had plenty of diapers but could use some wipes, which we happened to have in our pantry.

As they were talking, Rachel asked her if they needed any clothes. The lady was hesitant and at first said she didn't want to take more than what had already been given to her, but she finally told Rachel that before he left them, her husband, in a drunken stupor had taken all of the babies clothes and burned them in a barrel behind their house. The only clothes the baby had were the ones he was wearing.

Of course we had received a large donation of baby boy clothes just the day before! (God's perfect timing). She was able to take a box of clothes for the baby and also food for the family. She and the kids are moving back to Illinois this weekend to live with her mom, but the food we provided would get them through the next couple of days. The woman was overwhelmed - she had come just expecting to get some baby food for her baby, but thanks to your generosity and God's perfect timing, she was able to leave not only with food and clothes, but with hope in a God that would supply all of her and her children's needs.

Thank you church for your generosity and for helping those in need. God is good ... all the time...

What Kind of Fruit Grows on Your Tree?

8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. John 15:8 (ESV)

Jesus said that a tree is known by its fruit - a good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit. (see Matt. 12:33) He also said in John 15, that His Father is glorified when we bear much fruit. Basil of Caesarea, a 4th Century church leader taught, "A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds." Since life has been figuratively illustrated as a tree, the question is, what kind of fruit grows on your tree? 

I don't know a lot about trees; I always had trouble identifying trees even by their leaves in middle school science class. When we moved from Knoxville to Jefferson City we had a number of fruit trees in our yard. My dad knew they were fruit trees, but we just didn't know what kind of fruit they would bear ... until spring when the apple trees bloomed and produced apples. Then, late summer we discovered that we also had peach trees. We knew what type of trees they were, simply by the fruit they bore. 

This is also true of our lives. Those around us know what kind of people we are because of the fruit that we bear in our daily living. What kind of fruit grows on the tree of your life? Most people are more interested in picking fruit than in producing fruit, ("it's easier to be a consumer than a contributor" John Maxwell), but Jesus calls us to bear fruit, so what kind of fruit grows on the tree of your life? 

Galatians 5:22 tells us that the follower of Christ will bear the FRUIT of the Holy Spirit, and then it gives nine qualities to that fruit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (is the song stuck in your head now?). We've been studying these nine qualities on Sunday mornings at Grace Point and this week we are looking at "goodness" - what is it? Where does it come from? and How is it seen in our lives? You can join us live (9am), join us on Facebook live, or listen to the messages at our website. 

But I want to talk briefly about bearing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. I think John 15 gives us three principles for bearing healthy fruit of the Spirit. God's Spirit bears His fruit in our lives when we ... 

1. ... Remain connected to the source of fruit
Jesus says in John 14:4-5, "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." Christ is the source of power that produces fruit in our lives; when we are connected to Him, He produces His fruit in our lives - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, etc. If those things are missing from our lives, the place to start is in checking our connection to Him. Some questions to think about - Have I ever been connected to Him? (Have you ever been saved by Christ?) Am I staying connected to Him through prayer, study of His word, fellowship with His followers, regular worship, obedience, etc.? When we are connected to the right source of Christ, He will produce good fruit in our lives. If those things that are listed in Galatians 5:22 are missing from our lives, we need to check our connection to the source of fruit. 

2. ... Are pruned and disciplined
Jesus says in v.2, "He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more." Fruit bearing is God's greatest desire for His children. Just like every parent wants their children to grow up to be mature, productive adults who contribute more than they consume, God wants His children to grow up to bear fruit that pleases Him. So to produce the most fruit in our lives, He sometimes cuts things away that hinder us from bearing the most fruit - we call this "being disciplined" by God. Sometimes things He removes from our lives aren't bad things, they're just not the best things for producing His fruit. You will be fruitful only as you become disciplined by God; pruning is the price for producing. Pruning can be a painful process, but when we remember that God's goal is to get the best fruit from our lives, we can endure and cooperate with His process. Finally ...

3. ... Realize the glory it brings God when we bear much fruit. 
Jesus says in v.8, "When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father." When our lives are abounding in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control God is pleased, He is glorified. When we bear the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, it is evidence that we are Jesus' disciples, God is our Father and He is praised, exalted and glorified. When the tree of our life bears His fruit, we are healthy and God is pleased. 

So what kind of fruit grows on the tree of your life? Is it the fruit of God's Spirit? Is it good fruit? Because a good tree brings forth good fruit. Are you connected to the Vine? If not, get in touch with me, I'd love to help you make that connection...

Blessed, Broken and Given

"He was known to them in the breaking of the bread."  Luke 24:35 (ESV)



We've had a number of storms in the U.S. this year. I was reading an article that stated that the number of tornadoes that have been confirmed from January through June of this year is 92. Some of them were in un-populated areas or didn't touch the ground, while others created significant devastation. There were other storms too,  such as hurricanes, winter storms and flooding that have affected lives across our nation. 

I was thinking about storms because I ran across a quote from a Japanese writer that touched a nerve with me. Haruki Murakami wrote: "When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person that walked in. That's what the storm is all about." I don't know if Mr. Murakami is a Christian or not, but I think there is some truth to his statement. All of us have gone through "storms of life" that have left their mark on us and caused us to be different than we were before they hit. 

This Sunday we will observe the Lord's Supper where we will sip the cup and break bread as the Lord has instructed us to do until He returns. One of my favorite stories in the Bible about "breaking bread" is in Luke 24:13-35. It's after Jesus' crucifixion and on the day of His resurrection. Two of His disciples have left Jerusalem and are journeying to Emmaus, about seven miles away. We're not told why they are leaving Jerusalem, perhaps out of fear that what happened to Jesus might also happen to them, and during the journey the resurrected Jesus joins them. Initially His true identity is hidden from them, but when they reach Emmaus, they ask Him to stay and eat with them. And the bible says that when He was at the table with them, "He took bread and blessed and broke it, and gave it to them." (v.30) Suddenly their eyes were opened to His true identity and their lives were changed forever. That night they returned to Jerusalem to affirm to the other disciples that the Savior was indeed alive. And in v.35 of that chapter it says, "He was known to them in the breaking of the bread."  Luke 24:35 (ESV)

Something about the breaking of bread caused them to realize who He was. They knew Him through the breaking of bread. There was something familiar about Jesus breaking the bread that arrested their attention and opened their eyes to the truth. He took the bread, He blessed it, He broke it, then He gave it. It was familiar to them because it was a pattern they had seen in Jesus before.

Luke 9 - People had been following Him listening to Him teach; they were hungry, but there was only 5 loaves, and 2 fish to feed the crowd. But Jesus took the loaves and the fish and He blessed them, He broke them, and then He gave them to the disciples to give to the people, and more than 5,000 people were fed.

Luke 22, He gathered with His disciples for a celebration of the Passover meal, the last meal before His crucifixion, and the Bible says He took the bread, He blessed it, He broke it, and He gave it to His disciples.

1 Corinthians 11 - Paul indicates this was the pattern that the early church had learned of Jesus - passing down what had been given to him, Paul says that on the night of His last meal with His disciples, He took the bread, gave thanks or blessed it, broke it and then gave it to the disciples.

It was a familiar pattern, and maybe there is a deeper, spiritual meaning to that pattern of blessing, breaking and giving. Maybe it was familiar because it is also the pattern that God often uses in handling His people. Don't we see this same pattern in the men and women God used in the Scriptures?

Don't we see this same pattern in the life of Abraham? God took him from his family, and He blessed him with land, and material possessions, and promises and finally a son Isaac, then He broke him when he told him to take his only son Isaac and sacrifice him; but then He gave him a ram to sacrifice instead and he gave Isaac to be the heir of the promise, and through him God would bring forth a great nation for His glory. 

And don't we see this pattern in the life of Joseph? God took him from his father and his family, and sent him to be a slave in Egypt in Potiphar's home; and then He broke him when He had him put in jail, but then He gave Joseph to be the second in command in all of Egypt, and He gave him to preserve his family when his brothers came seeking food.

Don't we see this pattern in the life of Moses? God took him as a little baby, sparing him from being killed, and he blessed him by putting him in the home of Pharoah, yet being raised by his mother. But then Moses tried to do things his way and take matters into his own hands and so God broke him and put him on the back side of the dessert for 40 years. But then God gave him to the people of Israel to be the one through whom God would deliver them from slavery.

And don't we see this pattern in the life of the disciples? Jesus takes His disciples when He calls them from their businesses and families and ordinary life, and then He blesses them with miracles and wonders, and words of life. But then He breaks them when He dies on the cross and they thought everything was over. But then He rose from the dead and He gave them the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and then He gave those 120 disciples to turn the world upside down!

Isn't this the pattern we see in the life of Jesus Himself? God took Him from glory (Jesus didn't consider being equal with God something to grasp onto, Philippians 2), and He took Him from the womb of Mary and He blessed Him with a fullness of grace and truth, and He blessed Him with purpose and ministry. But then He broke Him - in the Garden of Gethsemane His sweat became as drops of blood; and He broke Him with scourging and then crucifixion. But all that was done so He could raise Him from the dead and He gave Him to be the Savior of the world.

Isn't this indicative of the way God works in the lives of those He uses greatly? It's not just about the bread, it's about life. In your life, and in my life, this is the way God often works. He blesses us with life, and good things, then He breaks us, taking us through storms of life, trials, sufferings and such and in doing so He changes us. Then He uses us and our storm experiences to be an encouragement, a source of hope and healing to others in the storms. The storm changes us and God uses us for His glory. 

And when we celebrate the Lord's Supper we are reminded of Jesus, whom God took, and blessed, a broke and gave on a cross for your sins and mine, to be the Savior of the world.

I invite you to join us Sunday as we remember the one who was blessed, and broken and given...

Don't Lose Your Joy

I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! John 15:11 (NLT)

   This past Sunday I preached on "Complete Joy" from the verse above, John 15:11 (you can listen to the sermon here or watch the service at our FB page here). Part of the sermon is about what are some of the typical reasons people (including Christians) give for being "unhappy" or what I would call "joy-less." Here is part of my notes from the sermon on reasons we "lose our joy."

1. We look more at our problems than we do at Jesus. 

    John Piper gives this definition of joy - "Christian joy is a good feeling in the soul, produced by the Holy Spirit, as he causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the word and in the world." Notice in Piper’s definition of joy - it is a good feeling in our souls, “produced by the Holy Spirit as He causes us to to SEE the beauty of Christ in the word and in the world.” Seeing Christ produces joy from the Holy Spirit, but in like manner, NOT seeing Christ causes us to lose our joy.

Have you ever been discouraged? When you experience discouragement, what is usually on your mind? Are you thinking about how great God is and how glorious it is to know Jesus? Or are you thinking about how bad your problems are, how much your job sucks, or how your life never seems to get any better? When you are discouraged are you focusing on Jesus or on your problems? Discouragement doesn’t cause us to focus on our problems, focusing on our problems causes discouragement. But Likewise focusing on Jesus causes joy, it causes us to be encouraged.

2. We have unmet expectations.

We lose our joy when our expectations aren’t met - when things don’t go as we think they should or as we plan for them to go. Have you ever experienced disappointment because something you planned didn’t turn out like you thought it would? Maybe a person didn’t live up to your expectations, or maybe an event or an experience - those things happen to all of us. But how we respond to those unmet expectations makes all the difference in the world.  

Do you know why things don’t always go as you plan for them to? Because you are an imperfect, sinful, finite person living in a sin-filled imperfect world with other imperfect finite people. With all the imperfection in us and in the world, there is no way everything is going to go as planned all the time. That’s just reality. But how we respond makes all the difference in the world. Most people respond to unmet expectations with disappointment, frustration, anger - and if you do that enough it becomes a way of life and there is no joy in your life at all. You will lose your joy if you get mad every time things don’t go your way.

3. We have a Root of Bitterness in Our Heart

    In Hebrews 12 we read: 14 “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled…” The word translated “bitterness” means a harsh, resentful of acidic spirit. Describing someone who has become resentful or bitter because they have been hurt - a person who refuses to forgive and let go.
     As young boy we lived in the country and the neighbor had cattle. In some places his fence was electrified. There were always older kids around and one day we were all playing and one of the older kids convinced some of us younger kids to join hands and have one person touch the electric fence - telling us that the current would just pass through all but the last person and only the last person would feel the shock - guess what… that weren’t true. We all felt the shock and it was the person who touched the fence that felt the most intense shock, it passed through all of us but decreased with intensity as it went.
     So get this in your mind, because this is how bitterness works. Think of the person who you refuse to forgive, and you have them by the hand and then you grab the electric fence, thinking they are going to get the shock… and they do, but guess who gets the worst of it - you do, guess who gets blisters on their hands from holding onto the electric fence - you do. Unforgiveness, resentment, bitterness hurts you more than anyone else and it will cause you to lose your joy faster than anything else. Most Christians lose their joy because they are holding onto some anger, resentment, or unforgiveness and a root of bitterness has taken hold in their lives and it is robbing them of their joy.

 The good news is that God wants you to be joyful and He has plenty of joy to give you. He speaks to you through His word so that His joy may be in you and that your joy will be complete. We'll talk more about what this means later (or you can listen to the sermon), but for now, think about whether the things I've listed are some of the reasons you may have lost your joy.

Fear Doesn't Stand A Chance

Every morning for the last couple of weeks I have woken up with the chorus of this song stuck in my head. I'm thankful, (there are worse things I could have stuck in my brain, like "Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo..." See what I mean?)

This morning, while H.E.A.R. journaling through Matthew, I came to Matthew 8:23-27 where Jesus gets on a boat to get away from the crowds, and His disciples got on with Him. As they were on the Sea of Galilee a great storm blew up, (fairly common for that area) and the boat was taking on water. The disciples were frantically trying to keep the ship afloat, but Jesus was asleep in the boat. In desperation they woke Him up and asked Him to save them for they felt like they were about to sink.  Jesus gets up, not panicked at all; He speaks first to His disciples (perhaps in a “scolding” way), “Why are you afraid, where is your faith?” Then He speaks to the storm, and there was a great calm came over the sea. And those who were on the boat were amazed at Jesus wondering, “Who is this that even nature obeys Him?”

What a picture of life - I am following Jesus and thinking it will be smooth sailing because He is there. Then the storms of life hit (which He promised would happen) and I frantically try to keep the ship afloat, thinking I can do it if I just work hard enough, if I just have the right strategy or follow the right formula. Finally in desperation and fear, I cry out to Jesus for help, because my situation seems hopeless and it seems like I'm going down with the ship. And He responds by reminding me that I have no reason to fear, only to believe. Then He speaks and the storm passes, I survive, and all is well... until the next time, LOL. 

I've repeated this scene so many times in my life, you'd think I would have learned by now... and I am learning...slowly... it's a process. Fear and faith don't go together - one drives out the other - but I decide which one drives. So the Lord reminds me again, my fear doesn’t stand a chance when I live in faith and stand in His love, and so I ask Him (again) to forgive me when I forget to believe, and we're off again... 

Storms will come and go, but Jesus will always be there, and when we live in faith in Him, His presence, His love and grace, and His power ... our fear doesn't stand a chance!  

Don't Miss the Miracle

For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV)

Most people say they have never experienced a miracle, but the truth is, not a day goes by that we don't experience a miracle. For example, take this planet we live on - scientist tell us that Earth is spinning on its axis at a rate of 1,000 miles per hour while suspended in space. On top of that, this third rock from the sun is orbiting at a rate of about 67,000 miles per hour; that's about 87 times faster than the speed of sound, or 366 times faster than a race car at Talladega. And we did it all without noticing. On a Monday when it seems like you didn't accomplish much, remember that you traveled about 1.6 million miles through space

Not a big enough miracle for you? Then just look in the mirror. Every moment of every day your body is performing thousands upon thousands of functions you don't even notice. Every moment you are inhaling oxygen, metabolizing energy, digesting food, purifying toxins from your blood, directing muscles, processing data through multiple streams of information and much, much more. Your body is an incredibly complicated masterpiece of machinery. That 7lbs of brain in your head that runs everything in your body is making about ten quadrillion calculations every second. 

Ever feel like your brain is so full of information you have no room for more? That feeling is false! According to Northwestern University psychologist Paul Reber, the brain’s memory storage capacity is around 2.5 petabytes [1 petabyte ≈ 1,000 terabytes]. For comparison, if your brain worked like a digital video recorder in a television, 2.5 petabytes would be enough to hold three million hours of TV shows. You would have to leave the TV running continuously for more than 300 years to use up all that storage.

One more bit of "miracle" information - every individual person has a unique personal genome sequence that describes who you are. If your personal genome sequence were written out long-hand, it would be a three-billion-word book. By comparison, the King James Version of the Bible contains 783,137 words, so your genetic code is the equivalent of nearly 4,000 Bibles. No wonder the Psalmist wrote, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

Everyday you not only experience a miracle, you are a miracle. There never has been and there never will be another you. You are fearfully and wonderfully made - that's not a testament to you, that is a testament to the one who knit you together in your mother's womb. He is a God of miracles, just look in the mirror. And every day there are miracles happening all around you, so don't miss the miracles. As Albert Einstein once said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Live the miracle that is you and that is your life!

A Lineage of Grace

Last year I began H.E.A.R. journaling through the Gospel of Matthew. (H.E.A.R. is a Bible study method developed by Dr. Robby Gallaty and stands for "Highlight, Explain, Apply, and Respond." You can learn more about it here [or HEAR, lol]). This has been good prep for preaching through Matthew this year.

The first 17 verses is the genealogy of Jesus through Joseph, the man God chose to raise His Son. There are  names of a lot of the great men of the Old Testament like Abraham and David, but I'm always struck by the fact that Matthew lists four women in the genealogy of the Lord. This is unusual because women are rarely listed in genealogies in the Scriptures, but what is even more remarkable is the women Matthew chose to include:

• Tamar, who deceived her father-in-law Judah into sleeping with her and bore him twins (Gen 38).
• Rahab the prostitute of Jericho who spared the Israelite spies (Joshua 2). Rahab eventually married an Israelite, Salmon and they had a son named Boaz, who would eventually marry...
• Ruth, a Moabite widow who followed her mother-in-law Naomi to Bethlehem where she met and married Boaz (Book of Ruth) They also had a grandson named Jesse who becomes the father of Israel's greatest king, David. And David will eventually meet ...
• Bathsheba, not mentioned by name in the genealogy but is the woman with whom David had and affair and then kills her husband Uriah (2 Samuel 11).

Matthew reveals some the “skeletons” in Jesus’ family closet.

As I was thinking through the application, I was reminded that God OFTEN uses the least likely candidates to accomplish His plans and purposes. The genealogy shows that God is not limited by human perspective and understanding; His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts. God often uses people we would write off as disqualified. But the truth is that no one is beyond the reach of God's grace, nor beyond His ability to be used for His glory.

The "R" in H.E.A.R. journaling stands for "Response" which means - what is my response to what I learned from studying the passage. My response to the genealogy of Jesus: Don’t write people off because of their past sins or current circumstances. Don’t attempt to limit God’s ability nor His plan. God can accomplish whatever pleases Him through whomever He pleases. Don’t miss His work or His blessing by judging others or writing them off. Join God in seeing all people as valuable, beautiful and useful to the Lord and His work. This is something I have known, because God should have written me off a long time ago, but He has faithfully pursued me and called me back to Himself and to His ministry. I'm thankful for His faithfulness even when I am not, and for the reminder of His faithfulness through the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew.

Saved to Serve

“This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.” 1 Timothy 3:1

We are beginning the process of developing Ministry Teams and selecting Elders and Deacons for our church, so I've been reading on servant-leaders in the church. I’ve been working through Paul’s first letter to his apprentice Timothy. Chapter three really stirred me up. Paul begins saying, “This is a faithful saying.” It’s the equivalent to Jesus saying in the Gospels “Truly, truly or Verily, verily.” When Jesus said those words He was saying, “Hey! Pay attention! This is important!” That is what Paul is doing here as well. Then he says, “If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.”

The word “desire” really jumped out at me in this passage. It appears twice in my translation, but it is actually two different words in the Greek. The first word translated “desire” literally means “to stretch oneself” or “to reach out for.” The image is that of a child reaching out for his mom or dad. The second word translated desire means “to set your heart upon.” It has to do with the inward emotions and this word is also translated “covet” or “lust after.” So the Bible says, it is a good thing to "stretch yourself" and "set your heart" on a place of service for the Lord.

In the tradition I have grown up in, those who served the Lord were those who received a specific calling to serve. It’s still part of our tradition – you ask people about doing things in the church and you may get the response – “I haven’t been called to do that.” That is a legit response and we shouldn’t force people into positions they are not qualified for nor passionate about. But it is also a response that is often abused. The next question to ask is, “What have you been called to do?” and the answer may be, “I don’t know?” It seems it’s easier to identify what we’re not called to do than it is to identify what we’re called to do.

What do you want to do in/through the church? Many Christians don’t want to do anything; they don’t have the desire to serve the Lord. I want to say, “Do you believe Jesus died for you and saved you so you could do nothing for Him? Do you believe God brought you to a church so you could ‘do nothing’?" It’s good to have a desire to serve the Lord; it’s good to stretch yourself and reach for a place of service in the Body of Christ. Our general calling is to serve the Lord in some capacity; we are saved to serve. 

A God of New Beginnings

"God is a God of new beginnings!" I love that statement, and I love this time of year. For some, the New Year is just another day, but for me it symbolizes the opportunity to start over, fresh and new. I've always used this time of year to reflect on the past and plan for the future. I used to make "New Year's Resolutions" and I still do, but now I call them "goals;" things I want to go after in the coming year.

In Philippians 3, writing about his own spiritual life, the Apostle Paul wrote, "...But one thing I do; forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:13-14 (NIV) Paul was never content where he was in his relationship with God or his life, he was always pressing forward toward the goal and toward personal growth.

So, this time of year I set some "personal growth" goals:

1. Spiritually - Grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
I always desire to deepen my relationship with the Lord. Our theme verse for Grace Point this year is 2 Peter 3:18, "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen" (ESV) A goal without a plan is just a wish, so how will I accomplish this goal? By being very intentional in study, meditating, memorizing and obeying His word; by maintaining the discipline of daily prayer and being intentional about sharing my faith with others - just to name a few of the steps.

2. Physically - Become healthier
I've always struggled with my weight and two of my biggest problems are that I don't always eat the best foods and I tend to be too sedentary. So my plan is to make better food choices, eating smaller portions at a time, drinking plenty of water and being active for at least 30 minutes a day. It probably doesn't sound like much, but I've heard that small changes can make a big difference, and can lead to the ability to make bigger changes. I'll probably never run a marathon, but there are some trails in the Smoky Mountains that I'd like to hike again.

3. Mentally (attitude) - Be more positive
Near the end of each year I pray and ask God for a word or phrase that I can focus on in the coming year, and for 2019 the word I have sensed God giving me is "Believe." Faith, of course is a gift from God, but it is also an intentional mental/spiritual practice. The verse that God has highlighted is Mark 11:24, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." (ESV) I want to be intentional about not only believing IN God, but believing God - taking Him at His word and acting up on it. All of that starts in the mind, and having a more positive attitude toward God and in life in general.

4. Relationally - Deepen relationships with friends and be intentional to build new friendships
I am blessed to have many friends, and to have a few very dear and close friends. More than friends, I have men in my life that encourage, challenge and mentor me. Proverbs 27:17 says, "As iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another." I am thankful for the men who sharpen me. I also want to sharpen others. I currently meet with an accountability/prayer partner and a few different groups of men for discipleship. I want to deepen those relationships; but I'm also praying for the opportunity to develop discipleship relationships with some younger guys, and perhaps some couples. I have to be careful not to spread myself to thin, but we are called to make disciples and discipleship only happens in relationship.

5. Vocationally - improve as a preacher/pastor and teacher
When I was around 20, God made my calling clear - "Preach the gospel." Over the years I've sometimes drifted from that calling and got focused on the "busyness" of ministry (and life). Recently God has been calling me back to my original calling to preach the gospel (Acts 6 - the ministry of word and prayer). The plan is to focus less on developing church programs and activities, and focus more on proclaiming the word of God, and being myself as a pastor and preacher. Too often I slip into the "professional pastor" mode and pretend to be something I'm not just because I think it is expected with the job. God has to always remind me that He is my first calling, and He called me to be me, not what I think others think or want me to be. (I realize that may not make sense to the people reading it, but it does to me, so I guess that's what matters most, lol.)

There are a few other areas where I have some goals and am developing plans or steps to see those goals come to pass (finances, marriage, parenting, missions, etc.), but these are the "Big Five" areas. All of this is what I call a "Personal Growth Plan" and if you's like to talk about developing a growth plan for your life, I would love to spend some time with you - shoot me an email at glmiller1965@gmail.com, or a text - 865-236-4159. Thanks for taking the time to read this; as a reward for reading it all the way through, let me know you read it and I will treat you to breakfast or lunch one day in the coming weeks! (If you're a female reading this, my wife and I will treat you to a meal) God bless.