This is an amazing story of how Christ moves in mysterious ways. You simply never know the impact that your life will have on a lost and hurting world. Live it out, and let God weave together another beautiful story.
Author: Scott Chafee
Scott serves on staff at King’s Grant Baptist Church in Virginia Beach.
A Valley of Dry Bones
Here is a word for this generation, it is not a message given only to the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 37:1-10). Listen to the words as the Spirit of God speaks to your heart. Awaken your passion for God and his mission in the world. Become a part of proclaiming God’s message to those who have yet to hear.
These dry bones are your neighbors, classmates, friends, co-workers, golf buddies. The valley is at the grocery store, gas station, the racquet club, the golf course, the oceanfront, among the homeless and at your favorite restaurant.
Live in a way that is worthy of our calling as followers of Christ. How will you live differently today than any other day up until now?
What Prevents You From Serving?
Volunteerism – nothing much would happen at the church without volunteers, so why is it so difficult getting people to step up and lend a hand? Some studies suggest that people do not serve because they have not been asked? Not sure about how to respond to this one, because what part of the Great Commission are we leaving out? We don’t ask people to sell all they have and move to Africa for the sake of the gospel, we simply need people to set up chairs at 9:00 each Sunday, and care for children and preschoolers at 9:45 or 11:00.
I was reading Andee Mark’s article, The Un-Interview, today. She says we need more than an “interview” with potential volunteers, we need meaningful conversations with them. People will give many excuses for not serving, mostly because we all carry false assumptions (ideas and expectations) about ourselves and about others.
I believe one of the most destructive assumptions is that we are consumers at the church. We won’t admit it but I feel it is totally true. When it’s all about me, I want and expect others to do the work so I can just sit back and enjoy. It’s about customer service, I’m the customer so those around me are here to serve (me).
When people say they don’t have time for volunteering:
As ministry leaders, this is the excuse we most often hear from someone who is unwilling to serve in ministry. Rather than pull our hair in frustration, what if we view this as a clue to what God wants to do in that person’s life, and embrace it as an opportunity to engage in spiritual direction… that is, creating space for this person to grow in their understanding of God? (Andee Marks)
As a leader, we need to recognize wrong assumptions and start addressing them, in our own lives and in the lives of the people we serve with. In doing so, we can help people to grow out their consumer mentality. What about the following false assumptions that people may have about serving in the church?
- The church doesn’t need help.
- I have nothing of value to offer.
- There are other people more qualified to serve than me.
- Serving will require time or skills I don’t possess.
- I will be asked to serve in an area they don’t enjoy.
- I feel that I have already served enough, it’s time to step aside.
Talking about these openly and honestly will help others realize that God may have more in store for them than what they assumed.
The True Origin of Pizza
What do you think?
Overcoming Loneliness in Life
One of the toughest things for a college student to overcome is loneliness. They are in a new environment, perhaps away from home for the first extended period of time, and so many experiences are totally new. It can be overwhelming. It’s easy to get isolated because no one knows who we are. Being in a new area we might rather wait it out until we can make it back home to familiar surroundings. It’s difficult to establish “safe” places to meet friends, share concerns, doubts, or heartaches.We all struggle but it often feels like we are the only ones going through these issues.
One reason we have the capacity to feel lonely is because God made us to need other people. In other words, we don’t like to live alone because we weren’t made to live alone. The Bible teaches that, even when Adam was living in paradise (a perfect setting with no problems, no stress, no sin, and no one creating heartaches for others) God could see that it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone (Genesis 2:18).
God doesn’t want us to be lonely, and that’s why he offers us several ways to overcome the pain of loneliness while we are spending time of this planet:
God gives us a plan for life: You may feel nobody knows the depth of your loneliness, but God says this: “I made you. I put you on this earth for a purpose, and I created you. I care about you. I love you, and I have a plan for you and your future.” When you focus on God’s plan for your life, you don’t have a lot of time to feel lonely.
God gives us people in our lives: If you’re like many college students, you have plenty of acquaintances, but what you may not have are close friends. I’m talking about friends who really know you and walk beside you when you go through the inevitable crises of life. Enter, the church.
The church is the family of God, and one of its purposes is to provide us with the opportunity to develop real relationships. I’m not talking about ‘acquaintances’, but deep, close friends who will think about you and pray for you daily. If you don’t have a small group you meet with every week, take the initiative and get involved with a group where you can establish true, transparent, trusted friendships.
God gives us his presence: God created each of us to have an intimate, personal, and close relationship with him. As you go through life, this is our primary goal. Out of the overflow, we serve others in Jesus’ name. No person, no experience, no drug, no success, no possession, no fortune, no relationship, nor any fame or ideal job is going to fill that aching hole in your heart that God created for himself.
This means the most amazing remedy to loneliness is God’s presence.
I used to send missionaries all over the world, and in places like some cities in China, you can be surrounded by a million people and feel completely alone. Your college campus is no exception. We know that God is everywhere and there is no place on Earth where God is not. Knowing that can relieve you loneliness. When you understand that God is with you all the time, you can call on his help to conquer the loneliness in your life.
So, remember that God is right here with you. Jesus says, “I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 MSG).
How to Seek Guidance
People always want to know how they can tell what God wants them to do, the churchy question is phrased like this: “What is God’s will for my life?” You may be interested in reading more on the topic, I have a page covering several issues surrounding God’s will.
I discovered that there are only eight places in the Bible where the word guidance is used (in the NASB):
- But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance (2 Kings 16:15)
- Saul died because he was unfaithful to the LORD; he did not keep the word of the LORD and even consulted a medium for guidance (1 Chronicles 10:13)
- Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance (Proverbs 1:5)
- For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers (Proverbs 11:14)
- Plans are established by seeking advice; so if you wage war, obtain guidance (Proverbs 20:18)
- Surely you need guidance to wage war, and victory is won through many advisers (Proverbs 24:6)
- Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it.” (Habakkuk 2:19)
- And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:28)
We may seek guidance, but God provides something better, he provides himself.
The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. (Isaiah 58:11)
Many of us struggle to understand and discern God’s guidance for our lives. We ask questions like:
- Should I marry or not?
- Should I marry this person or that person?
- Should I have another child? Should I join this church or that one?
- Which profession should I follow?
- What job should I take?
- Is my present line of work the one to stay in?
Herein lies the major distortion of knowing and doing God’s will. Does God lead and direct in these areas? Yes. Does he come out and overtly tell us what to do? Rarely.
So how does God guide us? Consider these principles:
- God’s guidance concerns itself more with our steps than our overall journey.
- God’s guidance is more preoccupied with the present than with the future.
- God’s guidance has less to do with geography and more to do with morality.
- God’s guidance is more interested in our character than our comfort.
- God’s guidance is not insider information.
- God’s guidance is that we pursue the Guide more than guidance.
In seeking God, his plan will be revealed to us. His way will lead back through his Word. If the step is more critical than the journey, and the present is of greater consequence than the future, and the Guide more essential than the guidance, what is needed? We need to know the right step to take and to know what we must do in the present. That’s why we need to know the Guide.
God does not guide us magically; he guides us relationally. Therefore, the Bible must be studied so we may become acquainted with the ways and thoughts of God. God’s aim is that we become his companions who walk with him. He already knows us, so now he wants us to understand and know him. The more we understand him, the more real our relationship will be with him and the more likely we are to keep in step with him in the direction he is taking us.
Is God Good All the Time?
Last week in my Wednesday class we discussed the topic of being ransomed by God, out of Hebrews 9:11-28. To fully appreciate the work of Christ on the cross, we must understand the concepts of: satisfaction for sin, substitution for sin, propitiation, redemption, reconciliation, God’s love and holiness over against our human sinfulness that brings God justice and wrath.
God is love, yet cannot be in the presence of or condone our sin; so the wrath of God is consistent with his justice. This is the problem of forgiveness. God loves us and desires to forgive, but He cannot just let our sin go unpunished, which brings in God’s justice.
On the cross, God drew mankind to himself. Hebrews 7:25 states, “He (Christ) is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him” (NASB). The teaching of this verse is that Christ saves us to forever, not just in length of time, but in the concept of wholeness, perhaps meaning “completely” or “totally” or “fully.” Forever here can also refer to the function of Christ as the High Priest forever, as the writer leads toward in Hebrews 7:26. There is no longer a need for repeated sacrifices, Christ died once for all (Hebrews 7:27, 9:12, 26, 10:2, 10, 1 Peter 3:18).
But today, the question is, Christ saves us from what forever? I believe He saves us from being “cut off” from the kindness of God. Check out Romans 11:22 where the Bible says, “Behold the kindness [or goodness] and severity of God” (NASB). Paul goes on to identify in the very next phrase the people who are “cut off” from God’s kindness (“those who fell” or “disobeyed” – those who are not in Christ), and those who continue in God’s kindness (“to you” – those who are in Christ). He states point blank that there are two options, either to experience God’s kindness or to be cut off. Being cut off from God’s kindness is a very severe thing (Paul uses the imperative word behold).
In Zambia there is a popular saying that, “God is good, all the time” and “all the time, God is good.” I have come to realize that this is only a partial truth; God is good all the time … to those who come to Him by Christ. Those who refuse Christ are “cut off” from God’s goodness, (which btw, to be “cut off” from the goodness of God is the biblical definition of hell). Hell is not Dante’s version of a sadomasochist Creator who tortures sinners. Biblical hell is a prison where lawbreakers are cut off from the Creator’s goodness. Once goodness is removed, only evil remains.
So, where do you stand? Are you in or out? Are you experiencing God’s kindness or are you cut off?
Serve Before You Sit and Soak
I love the catch phrase, “Look for a place to serve before you look for a place to sit.” Once we find a place to sit, we tend to just sit there and soak it in. Since Jesus is our example of service, and he is the greatest example of servant leadership, we should be inspired to get serious about being proactive with our faith; to make an impact for the kingdom of God.
Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. (John 13:3-5)
Think about it: Washing feet was an act of service left to the lowliest hired servant or slave.
- How did Jesus’ bond with God affect how He treated others?
- Who would you nominate in our church for the “Mother Teresa” award, for selfless acts of service?
- What does Jesus know that the others did not (John 13:1, 3, 11)?
- How would foreknowledge of events have kept you from serving Judas?
- What are you holding on to, that which you don’t want Jesus to cleanse you (John 13:8)?
- How does being served help you become a servant?
It’s Almost Harvest Time
It’s cold in Virginia Beach this morning, it reminds me that it is almost time for the harvest. There will be harvest parties and harvest festivals, and while Thanksgiving is still weeks away, I thought about the spiritual harvest which is a reality of life.
It would certainly be a surprise if someone planted corn and pumpkins came up. It’s a natural law to reap what we sow, and it’s true in other areas, too.
- If you gossip about your friends, you will lose their friendship.
- If you spend time looking at porn, authentic relationship will suffer.
- If you cheat on your taxes, that attitude will creep into other areas of your life and you will cheat there as well.
- If you allow foul language from others into your mind, you will be more likely to use it yourself.
- If you tend to skip church on Sundays, your children will also follow in your footsteps.
Every action has results:
Don’t be misled–you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. (Galatians 6:7-8)
If you plant to please your own desires, you’ll reap a crop of sorrow and evil. If you plant to please God, you’ll reap joy and everlasting life. So, the penetrating question is, “What kind of seeds are you sowing?”
How to Handle Frustration
Here are five simple steps for dealing with frustrations in your life. (Rick Warren)
1. Ask yourself, “Did I cause it?” The Bible says, “A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7). Many things in life frustrate us because we brought them on ourselves, so we don’t have anybody else to blame. It’s frustrating to run out of gas on a trip, but if you didn’t stop to get gas before you left, or decided to push your luck, who’s to blame?
2. Ask yourself, “What can I learn from it?” Use the irritation as an opportunity to grow in character and become more like Christ. How does God produce the fruit of the Spirit in your life? He often places you in the opposite situation. If God wants to teach you love, He will put you around unlovely people. If God wants to teach you peace, He will put you in a situation of total chaos so you can have inner peace. If God want to teach you patience, He will put more frustration in your path to test your patience.
3. Thank God in the situation. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks.” You don’t have to be thankful for a bad situation, but you can be thankful in a bad situation. That frustration, that irritation, that inconvenience, that interruption, may be a blessing or an opportunity in disguise.
4. Turn the frustration into a funny, humorous event. The Bible says, “A cheerful heart is good medicine” (Proverbs 17:22). A sense of humor is God’s antidote for anger and frustration.
5. Ask God to fill you with His love. Why? Because 1 Corinthians 13:5 says, “Love is not easily angered.” Love is self-giving, not self-serving. We get irritated because we think everyone and everything has to revolve around us. Love concentrates on the other person.
Jesus faced constant frustrations in his life, but he always made time for people. We get so preoccupied with our own things; we forget that people are the priority in life.
“You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” (Isaiah 26:3)