God's Plan is NOT Stopped by Our Choices

Photo by Xenja Santarelli

Scripture: Acts 13:46

Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.

Insights: Today’s verse gives me a great deal of comfort.  As we learned Monday, it is God’s desire for everyone to enter into a relationship with Him.  At the same time, however, we learned yesterday that He gives us all a choice to accept or reject Him.  Now that we have this foundation, let me explain why this verse is a comfort for me.  God had chosen the people of Israel to be His very own special people group.  He had commissioned them to share His love with a world.  The problem was the children of Israel never truly grasped what the Lord had wanted form them.  As a result, they became inwardly focused regarding their position and relationship with the Lord.  They thought God was for them only and they were unwilling to let others into their circle.  The sad part is in this particular passage that same sentiment is still being expressed.  What’s even sadder is that mentality is still present to this very day even though their Messiah has extended grace to everyone who will receive Him.  This last part of the preceding sentence is the point I am trying to express.  Even though the children of Israel were charged with proclamation and they did not accept that charge, God’s plan was not stopped.  He still sent His Son, Jesus.  He still drew on the Israelite nation, but He also used converted followers of Jesus to spread the message of grace to the Gentile world.  His plan had always been for the redemption of the world and no matter how many people try to stop this plan, it is going to happen in His timing and in His way.  This reality gives my heart a great deal of comfort and joy.  God is going to bring His plan to pass and nothing can stop it, praise the Lord!

Questions:

1. When you understand God’s eternal plan is not going to be stopped, what emotions does that evoke in you?

2. Have you been one who has at times attempted to thwart God’s activities?

Prayer: Father, it gives me great comfort to know You are going to accomplish Your plan in Your way and in Your time.  Help me to grow in this grace and trust You more for the completion of Your plan.  Amen.

If you have found this blog to be helpful, please forward it in Facebook or retweet it in Twitter.  Thank you.

God Gives ALL A Choice

Photo by Jimflix

Scripture: Acts 13:45

But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming.

Insights: This verse and verses like it break my heart.  These individuals had heard the good news and now were in the process of rejecting it.  I have shared the gospel with many people in my life.  Many have come to know Jesus Christ and their lives truly were changed and the evidence is still present to this day.  Others, however, rejected the gospel and their lives have shown the ever downward spiral of despair and toxicity that God never intended for them.  Yet God gives humanity the choice.  He is not a dictatorial god playing with the fate of humans.  His love is so grand He actually wants people to choose Him.  In other words, He does not coerce, force or manipulate people to enter into a relationship with Him.  He genuinely extends grace and continually draws on the hearts of humanity, but at the end of the day, He let’s us choose or reject Him.  I personally think this truth tells us a great deal about the Father and His amazing love.  It reveals to us that God is secure in who He is.  His identity and value is not based on our acceptance or rejection.  It reveals His transparency and vulnerability as well.  He is open and honest about His pain in our rejection, but He does not let that pain alter our choice.  He allows us to walk a path which will ultimately lead to eternal suffering and torment and the Lord, though not fine with this, will allow it to happen because He respects your choice.  If you are one who does not have a relationship with Jesus and you have rejected His gracious gift, then I would strongly encourage you to think through these truths I have mentioned about God’s character.  I would encourage you to think through the long term outcome of your decisions.  I, obviously, would encourage you to say, “Yes,” to Jesus and enter into that relationship.  I can promise you this: your life will still be full of problems and difficulties, but there will be one walking the journey with you who will stick closer than a brother.  Trust Him and see.

Questions:

1. Is your heart grateful or discouraged by the fact God gives us a choice to accept or reject Him?

2. Would you prefer for the Lord to have chosen a different way to invite humanity into a relationship with Him?

Prayer: Father, I am grateful You give us the choice to enter into a relationship with You.  May Your good grace continue to strive with humanity and may we delight in Your mercy.  Amen.

If you have found this blog to be helpful, please forward it in Facebook or retweet it in Twitter.  Thank you.

God Desires for ALL to Know Him

Photo by Roo Reynolds

Scripture: Acts 13:44

The next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord.

Insights: Visualize this week leading up to today’s verse.  We learned last week that some of the people who had heard Paul preach asked him to return the following week.  Verse forty-four picks this story up and in this verse we learn that nearly the whole city had assembled to hear Paul.  Let me walk you through the process I believe took place that week.  Remember it started the previous Saturday.  Paul preached and those who heard him were convicted by the Holy Spirit.  It is highly probable that those who would not leave Paul and Barnabas came to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Now, let’s keep walking the process out.  Guess what those who had heard the previous week did throughout the week leading up to this current Sabbath?  They were talking with people.  They were going around and saying something like, “You really need to come to church this week and hear what this man has to say.”  They were creating energy and excitement in the city.  They had been so impacted by the Holy Spirit that they could not help but share with others about what Paul had been telling them.  The key factor I want you to walk away with regarding this verse is the crowd.  God desired for this entire city to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus.  He used the people who had heard Paul the previous week to draw on new people.  The Holy Spirit then convicted those people to come to church and then on the Sabbath, they came.  This process is the very same process God uses today.  It makes us evaluate our lives.  We need to be willing to ask ourselves hard questions about our intentionality of sharing Jesus with others and our inviting them to church.  I am amazed at how many believers are unwilling to even invite someone to church.  I always am reminded of my backdoor neighbor Jim.  He asked my parents every week for almost a year to come to church with him.  I am so grateful for Jim.  I shutter to think what my life would have become if he had gotten tired of the consistent no week end and week out.  If he had given up on my parents, I very well may have never had the opportunity to meet Jesus.  Because Jim never gave up and for almost fifty-two times experienced a no, he finally one day got a yes and that made all of the difference.  Beloved, never give up.  Always be consistent.  If you don't know what to do, ask them to come to church with you.  Continue to invite and watch the Lord move.  He desires for all to come to know Him.

Questions:

1. What does the knowledge regarding God’s desire for ALL people to know Him do to the way you experience life?

2. What are ways in which you are helping people who do not know the Lord to enter into a relationship with Him?

Prayer: Father, grow my sensitivity to the lost state of humanity and then grant me boldness to share Jesus with them.  Amen.

If you have found this blog to be helpful, please forward it in Facebook or retweet it in Twitter.  Thank you.

You Want Me to do WHAT?

Photo by Trish Hamme

Several years ago I decided I wanted to read more books.  I had heard of people who would read four books a month, some who would read one book a week, and still others who would read a book a day.  Well, I set out to read four books a month.  I contacted my good friend, Randy Poe, and asked him how he selected his books each month.  He told me he would read one inspirational book a month, one biography /history a month, one business/leadership/self-help a month, and one fun book a month.  For years now I have followed his plan and have not really felt pushed to increase this ready schedule.  Quite frankly, I had forgotten about those individuals who would read a book a day.

Well just before 2016 started I listened to a leadership training by Nelson Searcy in which he shared that a book a day was his annual reading goal.  He also shared he had not yet reached that goal, but he is reading close to or at 300 books per year.  All of a sudden my forty-eight books seemed rather pale in comparison.  I am not ready to jump on Searcy’s goal yet, but I did feel compelled to increase my reading goal for 2016 to five books a month.  If I am able to maintain this reading speed, then I will have increased my annual book reading by twelve books.  We are now, for all particle purposes, two months completed for this calendar year and I am pleased to tell you I am on track.  In fact, I am a little ahead of schedule.

I have not written this blog to pat myself on the back.  I have written it because when I heard Searcy give the challenge to read more books it inspired me.  I am praying this blog post does the same for you.  Let’s say last year you read two books.  Could you read four or five books this year?  If you had read ten books, could you read fifteen or twenty this year?  My hope is you will be intentional about setting a reading goal each year and then strive to reach that goal.

Most of you know this about me already, but I am a bit retentive about some things.  My reading plan is no different.  I literally select my five books in advance of the next month and count up all of those pages.  I then divide that number by the number of days in that month and that tells me how many pages I need to read each day.  I then use two book marks.  The first book mark tells me where I am in the book.  The second book mark tells me where I need to get to at the end of that day.  When I reach that end page for that day, that second book mark becomes my first and I count out the pages for the next day and place the previous first book mark in that spot.  This plan is not rocket science, but it is the plan I use.

The reason I want you to read more is because I know that leaders are readers.  The more we read, the more we grow.  The more we grow, the bigger our influence is on other people.  The more we influence people, the greater opportunities we are often given to serve others.  The better we serve others, the more we are able to point people to the Lord.  The more we point people to the Lord, the more glory He receives and at the end of the day, that is what I desire most.  I desire to see God brought more glory.  So, you could say, I have a theology of reading because I want God glorified.

Do you have a reading plan?  If you do, or if you have a question you would like to ask me, just write it below in the comments section of this blog.  We would love to hear from you.  Also, if you found this post helpful, would you please retweet it or share it on Facebook?  I would appreciate your support and thank you.

The Gift of Encouragement

Photo by Lisa Creech Bledsoe

Scripture: Acts 13:43c-d

who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God.

Insights: The last point from Sunday’s sermon dealt with encouragement.  Notice in today’s verse it states, “who.”  The “who” here is referencing Paul and Barnabas.  Now, notice what they are doing.  They are speaking words of encouragement to the group of people who have followed them.  Remember, these people were hungering for the Word and for fellowship.  Paul and Barnabas were urging them to continue in the grace of God.  In other words, they were encouraging them to seek after the God and to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  I think we live in a world that is so fast paced we often miss the important task of encouraging those around us.  I will speak only for myself, but all too often I fail to speak words of kindness and compassion into peoples lives because I have to get here or get there.  I think one of the things our modern society has lost because of our technology is the ability to truly engage people on a deeper level relationally.  Encouragement, the ability to help someone recognize better opportunities, is a lost art among most people (again, at least in my opinion).  Let me encourage you (and myself) to slow down.  Smell the roses as the old saying goes.  Pause long enough to look intently into the eyes of another human being and share grace with them.  Be a light in the midst of the darkness and when people ask you why you are showing this kind of compassion and concern—tell them.  Tell them how Jesus changed your life and how He desires to change theirs as well.  Let them know of His amazing love and grace and encourage them to meet Him for the very first time.  They will be forever grateful for your faithful obedience to your great love, Jesus.  As a way of example: we at FBC Bowling Green just hosted our Carrying Christ to our Community (C3) event a few weeks ago.  This past Sunday, a young lady who has been coming faithfully since that C3 weekend prayed to receive Jesus into her heart.  Hopefully, this word encourages your heart to be a part of our next C3 event at FBCBG.  They are worth reaching the lost world.  Let me give you a second word of encouragement.  We are five weeks away from Easter.  Would you please join me in praying the Lord will double our attendance?  Would you pray His Spirit has complete reign and rule in that service?  Would you pray that many of them would return and eventually become faithful followers of Jesus?  Would you be one to invite people to our church in order to help us double?  I pray these questions have spurred your heart to want to see God do great things at our church this Easter.

Questions:

1. Are you in the habit of encouraging people in their walk with the Lord?

2. In what ways can you be a source of encouragement for others?

Prayer: Father, all too often I am insensitive to people and their needs.  Help me to recognize when others need a word of encouragement and grant me the wisdom to know what to say.  May my words be words of healing and help.  Amen.

Hunger for Fellowship

Photo by Eugene Phoen

Scripture: Acts 13:43a-b

Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas

Insights: Notice that some of these individuals longed for more time with Paul and Barnabas right then and there.  They were not content to wait a week to hear more from Paul.  I think there are two reasons for this hunger to follow Paul and Barnabas.  Firstly, they really were hungry for the Word which we discussed the past two days.  I think, however, there was a second reason as well.  They also had a hunger for fellowship with Paul and Barnabas.  I think there is a natural longing to be with individuals with whom our spirit resonates.  Jesus said it this way to his followers, “By this all men will know you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:35).”  When we have encountered Jesus and have surrendered out lives to Him by receiving Him as Lord and Savior, then we are promised that the Holy Spirit will come and reside within us.  When we have the Holy Spirit living within us, then we will have a supernatural love for people.  This love will be for all people, but there is, in my opinion, a special bond of unity found among fellow believers.  The reason for this special bond of love and unity is because we are a part of the same family.  We are all co-heirs with Jesus.  We are children of God’s household.  As a result, there is a natural bonding and longing among believers to be with other believers (at least there ought to be).  Because of this longing, we can see why Jesus said what He did.  Our world sees people fussing and feuding with each other all the time.  Christ-followers, however, are supposed to be different.  We are to be driven by love and unity which is expressed in fellowship.  So, these individuals in today’s verse are being drawn to Paul and Barnabas.  I think part of this reason is the Holy Spirit is drawing them to Himself and soon this particular group of people are going to be born again.  Beloved, we in the church need to put aside our differences and our preferences and start putting on the love of Christ.  We need to start showing and demonstrating, especially at FBC Bowling Green, that family truly is a core value that drives our church.  FBCBG family, we have an upcoming quarterly meal on March 6 immediately following the morning worship service in which we can show this kind of fellowship and love toward one another.  Let me encourage you to come and share in the bond of love with our brothers and sisters.

Questions:

1. Do you enjoy spending time with the body of Christ in fellowship?

2. In what ways can you help cultivate a climate of fellowship?

Prayer: Father, thank You for the gift of my real family, the body of Christ.  May I grow deeper in intimacy with them and may others truly know we are Your children by our love for one another.  Amen.

Core Values

Photo source www.gotcredit.com

Scripture: Acts 13:42

As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging that these things might be spoken to them the next Sabbath.

Insights: Before we move on this week into our next two points from Sunday’s sermon, let’s return back to our hunger for God’s Word.  There is another reason we need to hunger after God’s Word.  It is because God’s Word is the very tool He uses to reveal to us our core values.  At FBC Bowling Green (FBCBG) we spent twenty-one months working through a process to understand who we are presently and who God wants us to be in the future.  One of the tasks we had to work through was the determining of our core values and they were driven by the Word of God.  At FBCBG we have six actual values and three aspirational values.  We have a paragraph written for each of these values and four supporting Scriptures to explain our understanding of them.  For today’s blog, I will share only a brief sentence or two regarding each value.  FBCBG’s values in order of ranking and priority are:

1. Family - We value families, and we believe marriages between a man and a woman built through Christ-centered love, accountability and growth through discipleship in God’s Word result in strong families.  

2. Preaching -  We value Biblical proclamation of the Scriptures and believe God has called every Christ-follower to be an ambassador of the gospel to non-believers for His glory.  

3. Worship - We value real worship of the One and only God who is worthy of that praise.  We believe this worship flows out of a personal relationship with the Lord God and is manifest in the spiritual gifts He has given us.

4. Fellowship - We value fellowship of like-minded Christ-followers that nurtures a spirit of unity. We believe fellowship is a gathering of people bonding together through church, community and social events.

5. Tradition - We value Biblical traditions which have been passed down to us through previous generations.  We believe when man-made traditions superimpose themselves over the glory of God, we are compelled to create new traditions based on the Word of God.

6. World Missions - We value the call of God to preach the gospel in our city, state, nation and world.  We believe God has called us to share His Good News to all people and to cross racial, social and cultural barriers to fulfill that great commission.

7. Evangelism - We value evangelism as a specific command from God to share His love with the world. We believe the body of Christ is committed to the spreading of the gospel by public preaching or personal witness.

8. Prayer - We value prayer as the primary method to communicate with God.  We believe prayer incorporates praise to our Lord for who He is, confession of sin in order to restore a relationship with Him, expressions of thanksgiving to our Lord for what He has done, and intercession for those around us, as well as for our own needs.  

9. Obedience - We value obedience as an outward expression of our true relationship with God.  We believe immediate obedience proves His will is above all and prevents road blocks in our relationship with the Lord.

Questions:

1. In what ways does the Bible impact your core values?

2. Are you intentional about determining your values and letting them be your guiding principles for your life?

Prayer: Father, thank You that Your Word tells us how we ought to live our lives.  Help me to clear hear from You as to the values that empower my life for Your glory.  Amen.