Jump Off the Cliff of Indifference.

2 Timothy 2:1-9  Paul writes to Timothy, his son in the faith.  In these verses he admonishes Timothy to remain faithful to Jesus Christ.  In Chapter one of 2  Timothy Paul brings up the apparent "falling away" of some of the leadership within the household of faith, namely Phygelus and Hermogenes.  These two Asiatics deserted Paul and it causes him to reaffirm Timothy and make sure that his"son" doesn't have an "affair" with the world and all the civilian matters that can take you away from your purpose in Christ.  Civilian matters are important but should never be a priority for believers who are serving Christ.  The more we fill our life and time with everything but Jesus, the more it takes us away from our purpose as believers.  By the way, children should never be used as excuses for not serving and being faithful to Christ.  In our many travels in life Andra and I kept our children in mind when making decisions about where to serve the Lord but they never took the place of what God wanted us to do.  Parents that use their children as excuses for not serving the Lord need to remember who gave you those children and what God expects your priorities to be for them.  Your commitment to lifting up Jesus will be seen by them and their love and commitment to Christ will be a reflection of how much you value serving God faithfully.  I never wanted to put that "bulls eye" on my children of letting their wants take the place of my calling.  I always felt it was better to show them Jesus and then let their faith grow up seeing the ministry for what itis, a life of sacrifice.  The writer of Proverbs kept all this in perspective in Proverbs 19:20-12  Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise.  Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails."  

Yes, it IS all about Jesus after all.  Now comes the focus of Paul's instructions to Timothy in verses 3-4  "3 Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier."  Do you see that word "suffer?"  The one's who fell away were not willing to suffer for Christ any more and their desertion affected the Lord's work.  Paul warned Timothy to not let that happen to him and his commitment.  He told him to stay away from "civilian affairs."  Those affairs are very powerful and many times we will find we are too involved in them when we give every excuse to be a part of them, including not focusing and doing ministry as we should.  End result - FAILURE!!

I guess we have to weigh the effects and if it is worth it.  The Asiatics didn't have the ministry pressure any more and  they could get on with their "normal" lives.  The only problem is the life of a believer is everything but normal.  I have had people ask me what I would want as a minister if it was up to me.  I really have to think about that but it would probably be that I could stay in one community and have a good home base to build on.   I would invest in a home and stay long enough for it to actually make money instead of lose it, like we have almost always done when we agreed to go to a new location and then try to sell our home. I would get my little nest egg in the bank and have a church where everybody knows my name and thinks of me as the home town boy.  But that was not the lot God chose for me.  Mine was to live a life where I had to really stay open to going wherever God led, even when it was not where I necessarily wanted to go, but felt it was God's direction for me.  Some of those decisions might have been mistakes but I went about my work for the Lord with as good an attitude as possible.  I didn't desert the Lord when the going got too tough because my standard was filled with civilian type reasons for deserting.  I just didn't entangle myself in those aspirations because I didn't believe I could.  Everyday life wasn't my God.  God was my God and his call and purpose became mine, at the expense of my goals and my families goals.  Family is very important, but can never be more important than the Lord in my life.  Here is how Jesus said it in Matthew 10:37-39 37 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who has found his [a]life will lose it, and he who has lost his [b]life for My sake will find it.  I would have loved to be able to be at family functions and funerals, but many times I was too far away to attend and it always hurt my heart to have to miss, but thus it is the life of a disciple.  There was a point in my life when I said "this is it" and I jumped of the cliff of indifference and jump into the space of total commitment.  It has been worth it all, but it doesn't mean I don't think about what "could have been."  No regrets!!

I think back to Saving Private Ryan and the part where old James Ryan asks his wife "Tell me I have led a good life.  To which she says "what?"  Then he says "Tell me I'm a good man." To which she says "You are."  I hope I will never be considered one who deserts, but keeps on serving as a "good" soldier of the cross.  There have been many sacrifices along the way, but none will ever match the sacrifice that was made for me on the cross of Calvary.  So are you looking at jumping of the cliff of indifference.  Have you already jumped?   Are you going to jump?  JUMP....JUMP.....JUMP......It's not suicide, but it is sold out commitment.   No half commitment to the world and to the Lord.   Full out commitment to the gospel as only a good soldier would do.  It's worth it!!

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

What is Your Diet?

In Acts 10:9-23  Peter is still at Simon the Tanner's home, which was probably a very common home.  He finds himself on the rooftop of the house at noon and as he waits for his meal to be prepared below he sees a vision. Here is what the scripture says, "Get up, Peter.  Kill and eat." "Surely not, Lord. I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."  The voice told him not to call anything unclean that God has made clean.  Wow!!  This is huge for a Jewish man who has held to tradition for so many years and has honored it in every way possible.  This vision was life changing for Peter and he had to trust it was from God and that it was his "new way of life."  The way God showed Peter his new approach about eating was by a vision of a sheet coming down from above with all kinds of animals that were considered unclean and impure for Jews to eat, in accordance with scripture in Leviticus 11.  It is unclear whether this was the Lord preparing Peter to preach to a Gentile people group, but the implications are warranted in believing that God was preparing Peter's heart and mind to be able to freely take the gospel to a lost and dying group of people who, up to this time, had been bypassed by those  who were carrying the message of Jesus.  Apparently the message of Jesus was going to go into hyperdrive in coverage and Peter was a huge part of God's plan in sharing that message.  This falls into line with Jesus' teachings about life change and that it was for "whosoever."  Take a look at Peter's progression.  Called from his vocation of fishing.....called to follow Jesus......Denying the Lord....Reclaimed by the Lord...Compelled by Jesus to "feed my sheep"....Experiences the Spirit of the Lord at Pentecost.....Preaches and 3000 people are saved......Goes to Lydda and heals a lame man and sees Tabitha raised from the dead....  The entire town becomes believers....Sees a vision from God that all foods God has called clean are clean.....Is invited immediately as he is seeing this vision by some men to come to a Gentile's home....  God has a great plan and He puts us right in the middle of it if we are willing.  It's not necessarily for the super rich or super educated (Peter was an uneducated fisherman) and not only for the Billy Graham's of the world, but for all who will be faithful.

We see this attitude of comfort in modern day American churches.  We rely on others to tell us what to do and how to do it.  We also let them tell us what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.  Instead of relying on God's Vision for our lives we get fitted into what others might think we "should" do.  We ignore the unexplained and shy away from the radical.  We fall into a very "easy believism" that is controlled by people who may not necessarily be walking with God at all.  We have visions of God doing a mighty work but we fall away from that vision because we doubt if we can even be put in such a mighty place of change.  So, we fall away from what God is calling us to do because of fear.  Think about this.  Peter was held to a belief about food and overall lifestyle that was ingrained in his life.  His way of life was way beyond tradition.  It was who he was!!!  Praise God he had the Holy Spirit working in his life so powerfully or he might have stayed on that rooftop and just ignored the vision from God and believed it was indigestion.  He might have said no to those coming from the home of  Cornelius and sent them packing....empty.  But the Spirit of God WAS very powerful in his life and Peter trusted the Lord and the Holy Spirit in his life.  So he took the next step and as we will see in the verses ahead, impacted the entire world to be able to receive eternal life through Jesus Christ.  It all started with him being told by God to change his diet and start experiencing other foods and experiencing life change.

What is  your spiritual diet?  Are you willing to step out of your box and experience God in a whole new plane?  Some may say, "Oh you mean getting the Holy Ghost."  Just as a point of reference.  We get the Holy Ghost when we accept Jesus.  It could be living a life that is led by that Holy Spirit that should be controlling your life now.  Whatever it is for  you, if God is trying to change your spiritual diet, I would listen.  He may be making moves to upend your world and use you to spread his gospel in a whole new direction.  Those moves could include Him putting your name on someone's heart to contact and set you free to change your world.  At the same time he could be giving you a vision for your future that will require you to change your spiritual diet and start looking at ministry and the call of God in a totally different way.  It may not be a sheet coming down from heaven, but it will be something that God will challenge  you to do for Him because He wants to specifically use you and you alone.

Time to be willing to change your diet and start accepting God's vision for reaching this world in a whole new way.  Have you become fat on the traditions of other people or are you eating fresh, spiritual food that God has given you.  Do you have a hunger for God to use you in an extraordinary way?  Then let that spiritual hunger turn into action and make an impact on this earth while you still have breath.  He has a great plan for doing it and we just need to be faithful to follow that plan and get out of the diet of our past and accept new ways of doing the reaching.  God is doing a new thing and that new thing is ready for your participation.  Will you take on this new diet?  Souls are waiting to be changed.  One thing is for sure, you will need to be tuned in to God by spending strong, faithful times of prayer with Him to make sure you are hearing Him right.  THEN GO!  That begins now!!!

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

The Call of An Angel

Acts 10:1-8  Now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, 2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come in and said to him, “Cornelius!” 4 And fixing his gaze on him and being much alarmed, he said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5 Now dispatch some men to Joppa and send for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter; 6 he is staying with a tanner named Simon, whose house is by the sea.” 7 When the angel who was speaking to him had left, he summoned two of his servants and a devout soldier of those who were his personal attendants,  and after he had explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. 

Cornelius was a major player in the Roman Cohort and he wielded a big stick when it comes to power and prestige.  An angel spoke to him and told him God had heard him and that he needed to get some of his men to go get Peter, who was still at the home of Simon the tanner.  If an angel were to speak to me and tell me to do something,  I would do it.  So did Cornelius.  He explained everything to two of his servants and one of his devout soldiers and sent them on their way.  Can you imagine the conversation with those he sent to get Peter?  "An angel of the Lord came to me and told me to send some of my men to go get a man I've never met, by the name of Peter.  I want you all to go and get him and bring him here."  Cornelius wanted to do what the angel had said to do and didn't waste any time  trying to reason if it was truly an angel or an apparition.  He just believed and acted.

Oh, to have this kind of "flowing faith."  The kind that reacts to the Lord and recognizes his call to do a certain thing for Him.  That flowing faith is the kind of faith that comes from a very close relationship with the Lord, and by spending time with Lord.  It appears that Cornelius was a wannabe part of the Christian church, which up to this time had only been available to Jews.  His introduction into the spreading of the gospel to the Gentiles was a significant part of God's plan.    God took a man who had prayed and given alms for many years to the Lord in order to be a part of the whole thing.  He just didn't know how much more of a part he was about to be.  His reaction to the angel showed he was on "go" and ready to serve the Lord, whom He loved.

Sometimes we think, "Lord just give me a clear sign and show me what to do!"  In verse 3 the scripture says, "he clearly saw in a vision angel of God."  I don't think you can get any clearer than that and so it is.  The gospel is going to be coming to the Gentiles, which by the way is what I am.  I am so glad God sent an angel to clearly make a path to salvation for all, including me... and probably you.  Is God sending messages to you about a significant plan he is working out?  Is he about to begin an awakening and will he use you to  be a part of it?  If so, it is important for you to be in the Word and in prayer to the Lord so you don't miss that call.  You never know.  It may be the call of an angel.

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

Going....Going.....NOT Gone!!!

Acts 9:32-43   In these scriptures we find the actions of Peter as he is presented with two huge needs from two totally different people.  He came to Lydda and found a man by the name of Aeneas who was a paralytic.  He had been bedridden for eight years.  In verse 34 Peter says, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you.  Get up and take care of  your mat."  Guess what happened?  Aeneas get up immediately and walked off.  The next scripture in verse 35 is pretty amazing where it says, "All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord."  Now c'mon.  All is a very big word, so it means what?  ALL!!  In earlier scripture it tells of Peter preaching and 3,000 being saved and in many other places scripture records specific numbers.  Well, here's one for the record books of Outreach!!  No numbers, just the word ALL was used to denote who turned to the Lord.  WOW!!  ALL!!!

I have been in revival services where we felt like God's Spirit moved in an extraordinary way and five were saved.  We were doing backflips all the way home (metaphorically speaking) just to experience something like that!!  But it gets even more powerful in the days ahead in Joppa when Peter goes to a house where a disciple named Tabitha was laid to rest.  She was dead!!  Peter goes to the room where they have laid the dead body of Tabitha and finds the mourning crew doing their thing.  He orders them out of the room and  kneels beside her and prays.   Then he turns to her and says, "Tabitha, get up!"  Whoa!!

She opens her eyes and sees Peter and sits up.  She is alive!!  Wow, now some might have a problem with this scripture and the thought that she came back from the dead.  Or they might say she was just sleeping.  Truth is SHE WAS DEAD.  Deal with that!!  Those who had laid her body to rest and had prepared her for burial left the room seeing a dead person and then saw a very alive Tabitha walk out of the room.  POWERFUL!!

We might surmise from these scriptures that God's Spirit was working in an incredible way in the city of Joppa and it was not without purpose and effect.  God was working so strong that Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with Simon the Tanner.  All of this was amazing not only to the people, as they saw God do miracles in their midst, but it had to impact Peter in an incredible way also.  Peter surely began to believe there wasn't anything God could not do and his faith had to be so totally built up.

Which brings to mind.  What is your faith quotient like?  Do you believe God can do anything?  I would like to say, "of course."  I doubt too.  I read a scripture like this and try to reason that it was a "different time."  I find myself believing those who say "God doesn't work like that anymore." But does he?  If I can't believe that God doesn't work like that anymore, then it might make me believe that the salvation that was made possible by Jesus on the Cross might not save me anymore.   If I believe that, all hope is gone.  In my human reasoning I try to explain the unexplainable and deny the undeniable.  God is the same yesterday, and today, and forever, or at least that is what Hebrews 13:8 says.  It's either true or it isn't.  Boy, that sure shakes the apple tree when you make a statement like that, cause you never know what might fall out!  Why do we pray for God to heal someone?  Because we believe he can.  Why do we visit someone in the hospital and pray for them before they go into surgery?  Because we trust God to hear our prayers and work a great work.  Wow, our faith is so conditional.  Let me see if this scripture actually means what it says.  I looked at the Greek and the Hebrew and in that context it means "they were healed."  Wait.  Let me check with three commentaries.  They say, "they were healed."  Then comes my flawed "conclusion."  Maybe that didn't mean "healed."  What a wimp!!

Our attitude about faith, and our faith is going....going... and it is almost nonexistent in the present day Christian.  Perhaps there is a ray of hope left to believe God is still God and that He still moves as He did in scripture.  Perhaps a believer will do what they profess....believe!!  By the way,  God does still move.  He also heals and if He wants will raise people from death to life.  The question is "Do we really believe in Him?"  That jury is still out as we have "spiritual dumbed down"  our faith factor to the point of nothing.  Of course, I have seen the charlatans that have taken the faith thing to a level for personal gain.  Those guys were mentioned in the New Testament as well.  But, we cannot let some fakes take away our basic belief that what the Bible says is true.  All of it!!  So, we cannot let our belief in the Word of God go by the way of the skeptics.  We must stand on the grounds that it is all true or none of it is true.  IT IS ALL TRUE!!  We don't experience a lot of what we read about because our faith in it is not pure.  Our faith is conditional and is pressurized and beat down by a skeptical world of evil.  Time to believe in the purity of the gospel and believe God still reigns and begin to trust Him totally for our everything.  When that happens, God will show up and show others that He still lives and has it all under His control.  Believers will really be BELIEVERS, and the effect will be an awakening much like what happened in Joppa.  In the scriptures Tabitha came back to life when Peter prayed for her.  My hope is that believers will come back to life in their faith and that is my prayer.  We have been drifting and it seems like we are going.... going..... But we are not gone because God hasn't gone anywhere.  He is still God!!  We must believe in His great power and recapture the heart of faith.  Hebrews 10:23 says, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." Time to kick back the coffin lid and let your faith come alive.  Just like Peter said to Tabitha.  WAKE UP!!   I'm ready!!  How bout you?

The Pilgrimage continues.....

David Warren

The Advocate

Advocate (def) to publicly support or recommend.

Acts 9:26-31 - Saul goes to Jerusalem and news of his conversion is doubted by all the disciples.  They were still every afraid of him, so you can see his reputation was HUGE and his past dealings with the Jesus followers was causing them to doubt that he could really be saved.  Someone stepped forward and became an advocate for Saul and that man was Barnabas.  Barnabas went around with Saul and told Saul's story and put his name, and reputation, and life on the line by trusting what God had done in Saul's life.  The disciples in Jerusalem then trusted Saul's conversion and he was able to walk around Jerusalem freely sharing the gospel.  Then came the debates with the Grecian Jews.  God was so powerful in Saul's life that it intimidated all he debated with and they either came over to his point of view or they hated him.  Guest what happened next?  They plotted to kill him.  Duh!!

The Grecian Jew's intimidation was well warranted as Saul spoke to them, he spoke as a former hellenistic Jew himself and his connection to their past and present gave him a very favorable background for sharing the gospel from a position of wisdom.  As you can see Saul was a very wide ranging disciple and God was using his conversion and background to reach out to new converts who might never have been reached by others. This scripture from 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 really starts to make sense as Paul was writing to the established church in Corinth. 1 Corinthians 9:19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone,to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews.To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. 

So when Barnabas became an advocate for Saul, he was freeing Saul to present the gospel as the man God had changed and called, and present the message freely.  Saul used that freedom to reach many different people groups and the advocacy of Barnabas made that possible.  As you can see his debate with Jews of any persuasion would result in them hating him and his message.  That did not stop Saul though and he continued to preach Jesus and out of that message established churches in all the communities he traveled to.  At every turn Saul was confronted by those who were not believers and their rejection of his message only spurred him on to tell more and more people.  He built his resolve on their dismissal of the truth he was sharing and it grew his faith to huge proportions and boldness.

This is the lesson -   In an apathetic church world like we have today, the burning desire to share the message of Jesus has been dumbed down to a minimum participation by many believers because they don't want to offend anyone.  In truth, we are not the offending part of the message.  The message is the offending part and the offense begins at the point of conviction.  Conviction (def) - a formal declaration that someone is guilty of a crime.  No one wants to feel conviction or believe they are convicted of their sinful condition.  Conviction does cause a tumultuous sense of guilt and that guilt must be dealt with.  For those who hear and accept the message of Christ they hear that Christ will deal with that guilt for them.  For those that reject the message of Christ that conviction tears at their very being if they don't accept the forgiveness of Jesus.  Jesus crucified the guilt of the conviction that comes with sin, but the only way to receive the reprieve is by accepting Jesus.

Romans 6:23 - For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!  Saved from what?  The conviction of sin.  

For those who know Jesus, conviction becomes a different thing in our lives.  Conviction becomes the standard by which we live our lives.  We are no longer convicted for our sin condition, but we are convicted about our individual sins and the desire to leave those sins behind as  we live a righteous life.  1 John 1:9 says, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  The Holy Spirit being in our life compels us to deal with daily sins that creep into our lives in our desire to be more like Jesus.  The Spirit compels us to seek for answers from God's Word and through an ongoing aggressive prayer life.  As we seek God, we find Him, and doors of righteousness are opened to us.  Jesus spoke to this very thing when he said in Matthew 6:33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you."  The freedom Saul felt in Jesus compelled him to share the message of Christ to those who were on the fringes and that freedom landed him in many threatening situations because of the convicting power of the message.  The importance of the brothers in Jerusalem protecting him actually translated into protecting the message inside him.  In the Acts 9 scripture they found out about a plot to kill Saul and rushed him to safety in Caesarea and sent him off to  Tarsus, his home town.   But the work of God through Saul had been accomplished and in verse 31 it says, "Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace.  It was strengthened and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord."  The Holy Spirit grew them into a unified body of believers that were led by the Holy Spirit.  This only further brings into reality the work of the Holy Spirit as Jesus said  in John 14: 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. 

Are you an advocate for the ones who bring the message of hope to a lost and dying world, or are you a hindrance?  It's time for the Barnabas attitude to be seen in the church and to allow God and his messengers the freedom to preach Jesus and see the church once again have unified  peace in it's fellowship.  Are you that person and will you stand up and be an advocate for those that God has called to preach His message of hope.  Will you free them up and then see the Holy Spirit move or will you fight God like so many of the Grecian Jews of the day did?  Time to figure out who's side you are on and get on the right side of the faith.

The Pilgrimage continues......

David Warren

The Great Escape - The Great Basket Rider

Acts. 9:23-25 23 When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him, 24 but their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death; 25 but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket.

Saul was preaching Jesus wherever he went and it was causing quite a stir, so the Jews conspired to kill him and shut off this "movement."  Saul knew about their plan to kill him so he and his followers made a bold move.  They took him by night and lowered him through an opening in the wall in a basket to escape those seeking to kill him. He was a major thorn in the side of the Jews of the day.  Saul taught that Gentiles didn't have to do any of the jewish traditions to accept Christ and live for Jesus.  His teachings were contrary to what the Jews were teaching. Saul not only had to convince the Jews about what the Gentiles should and should not do, but the Gentiles who accepted Jesus also had to be taught the truth about God accepting them as they were.  The Jews of that day would not want to sing the hymn Just As I Am!

Many times when someone accepts Jesus we want to pigeon hole them into doing a certain tradition or rite of passage to be a full fledged believer.   The reason we put stipulations on a person is to conform them more to what we think, or believe, or what we were "raised" to do.  Those kind of practices and traditions were a constant hindrance to the furtherance of the gospel and they morphed into the state run church in the late 1400's and early 1500's.  The reformation of the Catholic Church was begun by men like Martin Luther, Jan Hus, Peter Waldo, and John Wycliffe to stand against the drifting of the church  to an institutional religion.  Luther was the most notable to challenge the teachings of the Catholic Church (which by the way was supremely powerful)  The very gospel that Saul and many others had taught openly for all to receive and live by was over a period of time watered down and molded into something mere men could use as a way to be power brokers of the faith.  There arose a schism or a major disagreement among church leaders about the Bible and the church's traditions that had long sense become outdated (like man's plans do).  The only way things could be made right was that schism becoming a movement of releasing those who held to the true teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ to spread their message throughout the world.  The battle against Protestantism was led by a counter reformation group.  But the iron clad commitment of Luther and many others held on and the reformation took place, even with a thirty year's war.  I tell you all of this to let you know that the war against Saul was nothing new, and his desire to share the gospel of Jesus intimidated those in power to the point of wanting to kill him and shut him up.  Over a period of time up to the 1400's the power brokers of the day molded the message of salvation into something unrecognizable and the Christian faith became a "religion" to many.  Those that perceived it that way could never fully understand what God wanted because they became their own gods and thus made the Bible do what "they wanted."'

Which brings us to the church of today.  Have we taken on so much of the state of religion, spurred on by unbiblical traditions, that it minimizes the gospel message and maximizes man's traditions?  I think so.  I'm not necessarily talking about any specific churches, but the evangelical church of America.  Have we become so institutionalized with worldly teachings that we no longer understand the significance of the power of the gospel?  All appearances would point us to think that our traditional denominational teachings have superseded the teaching of the Bible and it has landed us in a ditch.  Perhaps we need another reformation that brings back the teachings Saul and other believers fought so hard to preserve and share.  Teachings that exalt the name of Jesus and lift up His ways for reaching a lost and dying world without the weight of institutional religion to hold it down.  I have heard "we need to get back to the Word."  That would be a good place to start and then we would probably need to relook at what a church is and how it should function. It would be good to reestablish what the purpose of the church is and reorganize for that purpose.

What would be the result of such a movement?  The gospel message would once again be fresh and exciting to share and to hear.  Christians would begin sharing their faith wherever they would go.  The lost would be saved and discipled.  The world would be radically changed by the power of the Gospel.  Wow!  That would be awesome!!  But there would be those who live by tradition who would want to kill it and those preaching it.  Those who are seeking awakening would be chastised and shunned, much like a fraternity rejecting an unworthy pledge.  But it would be worth it!  Don't you think it was worth it for Saul.  I would like to know what he was thinking when he rode that basket down the wall as he escaped from "religious" people trying to kill him and his message.  Whatever happened that night did not stop him, but spurred him on to greatness.  We who defend the gospel of Jesus Christ need to stand up and present the true message of hope and God will protect us and empower us to keep sharing it.  Romans 1:16 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  

Here is the question I have for you.  Are you on the side of institutionalized religion or are you on the side of Christ?  If you are on the side of Christ, get your basket ready cause "it is on!"

Matthew 5:10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

Dr. Paul and Mr. Saul

Have you ever thought about something in your life you are doing wrong and you just want to change?  It may be your bad temper,  or aloofness, or even hatefulness.  So someone comes up to you and says, "You do this wrong."  You say, "Ok I will change "right now!" You change right there.  Time goes by and you catch yourself falling back into the way you were and before long you are worse than before in the lifestyle you are living.   Frustrating!!

As we looked at the conversion of Saul yesterday in Acts 9:1-19 we see an immediate, strong confrontation with Jesus on the Damascus Road and the effect is amazing as Saul is changed by the life giving Savior who met him on that road.  The scales fall from Saul's eyes and he sees life, real life, for the first time and then he was baptized.  In verses 19b - 22 we see the immediate effect this conversion had on his life.  In 19b it says, "Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.  At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God."  Did you get that.....AT ONCE!  Dr. Paul replaced Mr. Saul.  You probably know the old story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  It is the story of a mild mannered doctor who concocted a formula to turn him into a raving monster.  That monster would do evil things uncontrollably and as long as he was on the formula Mr. Hyde would appear in the man Dr. Jekyll.  He couldn't control Mr. Hyde once the formula kicked in and the evil would come out.

The opposite was true for Saul (Mr. Hyde).  Saul was, to use the Biblical terms, "breathing out murderous threats against all who proclaimed the name of Jesus."  Saul was totally out of control with his evil hatred against those followed "The Way."  When he met Jesus he was turned in to Paul (Dr. Jekyll) and immediately took on the changed life of a follower of Jesus.  As we see in verse 20 that he immediately started preaching Jesus...."in the synagogues!"  What a turnaround of a man so much against Jesus to a man so much FOR Jesus.  In fact, the believers were astonished at the change and said in verse 21b "Isn't this the man who raised so much havoc n Jerusalem among those who call on this name?"  

Saul didn't take a "formula" for the change.  Saul didn't change himself.  Saul didn't do anything but respond and believe and Jesus did the changing!  In the case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde the formula wears off after awhile and then he goes back to normal.  In the case of Saul, he was changed and never went back to his murderous lifestyle.  Which just goes to show, when you truly meet Jesus you will change and you will not go back to what you were after a short time. You are changed for good.

What was your Mr. Hyde life like?  What is your Dr. Jekyll life like now?  Was there an immediate change when you met Jesus?  Has that change been lasting, or have you reverted back to a life with no direction?  We all  still have to deal with a bunch of Mr. Hyde's who should be more like Dr. Jekyll.  I know that it is sometimes frustrating for believers who want to see God's TRUTH and lasting change be the dominant lifestyle in the church.  There is a church sign I see from time to time that says "Know Jesus, Know change...  No change, no Jesus"  That saying truly speaks to this very subject "a changed life."  Here is the effectual change that took place in Saul's life.  In verse 22 it says, "Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ."  Of course, the truth of God's Word shows that Jesus is the  Christ.  The changed lives of His followers shows how immediate and real that change is when it happens.  Time to give up the Mr. Hyde lifestyle and baffle those around us by the change that Christ has made in our lives.  It will best be seen by lives that pursue righteousness and preach Jesus in our churches and in the world.   Time to be Dr. Paul and grow more powerful every day.  Pray God will change our ugly, evil self into a beautiful, Christ-centered follower of Jesus Christ!!  Today's blog really makes 2 Corinthians 5:17 even more relevant where it says, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren