God is Big

There's a Veggie Tales song entitled, "God is bigger than the boogie man!" Sometimes we forget that! And not only is He bigger than the boogie man, He's on your side if you're His child. He is interested in the things going on in your life. I love the way David talks about the Lord in Psalm 32, 6,8 "...let everyone who is faithful pray to You at a time that You may be found. When great floodwaters come, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; You protect me from trouble. You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance." And in verse 8, God says, "I will instruct you and show you the way to go; with My eye on you, I will give counsel." This week we welcomed a new baby into the world. Nathan and Susan Padgett were absolutely thrilled when Allie Faith was born Tuesday. What you may not know is that early during the pregnancy, they were told that the baby was most likely a Down Syndrome child, and told what options were available. Nathan told me that terminating the pregnancy was never an option as far as they were concerned. It wasn't easy to accept things the way they appeared to be but he and Susan prayed about it and chose not to have additional tests that would prove whether or not little Allie had Downs. In fact, he said that they simply trusted the Lord and decided that if He wanted them to have a special needs child, so be it. They felt blessed just to be parents. We all prayed that if Allie had Downs that she would be healed, and we asked God not to let her be sick at all. Well, God proves once again that he is far bigger than whatever we may face. Allie Faith does not have Downs Syndrome and she is entirely healthy. Makes you wonder how many pregnancies have been terminated based on a diagnosis that may or may not be the truth... you know? Way to go Nathan and Susan! I have a feeling that if you could peer beyond the veil into the supernatural, God was surrounding you with joyful shouts of deliverance when that little girl took her first breath!

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"What Do You Want Jesus To Do For You?"

Wow… what a time during these last three weeks! I’ve slowed down; forced myself to look deep inside my own heart; and even shuddered at some of the things I discovered. Has it been fun? Hardly… more like heart surgery. God has cut away layers of crud, lies I’ve allowed the enemy to speak into my head, shortfalls that I’ve experienced because I’ve tried to be god, and a bunch of other crap! I don’t think I’ve lost any weight, but I swear I feel like about 100 pounds has been carved off my heart. I feel fresh. I’m rip rearing to go. And I’m so excited to be pastoring such a loving, giving, Spirit-filled, awesome church like Mountain View. Over these past three weeks I’ve rediscovered that even if things look daunting all around, that’s when God is getting ready to do His best work. Think about that in terms of what we’re all facing. Even though the economy, the challenges, the budget may seem daunting, it’s time for us to watch what God will do as we trust Him. Even though we may feel quagmired in a wrong relationship or having problems with the kids or both. Jesus sees. Will your faith in Him make you whole again? Just like when Jesus called the blind man to him and asked, “What do you want Me to do for you?” Jesus is asking us the same thing. I heard a great sermon from Jim Cymbala on this passage of scripture. You can check it out at www.trbc.org Get ready for a life changing encounter with God! Are you ready? What do you want Jesus to do for you?

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He should have thought about that!

My dad sent this to me. I thought it appropriate for a Monday Morning.

Matt. 18:4-5 'Therefore,whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.'

Johnny's Mother looked out the window and noticed him 'playing church' with their cat. He had the cat sitting quietly and he was preaching to it.

She smiled and went about her work.

A while later she heard loud meowing & hissing and ran back to the open window to see Johnny baptizing the cat in a tub of water.

She called out, 'Johnny, stop that! The cat is afraid of water!'

Johnny looked up at her and said, 'He should have thought about that before he joined my church.'

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ONE WEEK TO LIVE

I took an ethics class many years ago where the teacher gave us an exam with only one question: “What would you do differently if you had only one week to live?” That’s a pretty interesting question; don’t you think? I remember some of the responses that were offered by the students ranged from traveling around the world, to calling old friends and reconciling broken relationships. How would you live your life if you only had one week to live? Would you do the things you’ve always wanted to do but were too afraid to do them? Would you take a whirlwind trip to parts unknown? Would you do some last minute sinning or maybe some last minute praying? How would you feel? Would you be angry with God? Would you be afraid? Would you be sad? Would you be full of hope or full of despair? What would you do differently?

Beginning in Chapter 13 of John’s Gospel, we read about the last week of Jesus’ life before He was crucified. It’s interesting to see how he spent the last few days of His life. John 13:1 says, “Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.”

Knowing that He would soon die, Jesus chose to demonstrate His love by becoming a servant. He washed the disciple’s feet; He comforted them in John 14 and assured them of their home in heaven; He encouraged them in chapters 15 and 16; and prayed for them in John 17. Then after He had spent His last week giving, serving, and ministering, He died for them on the cross. That was His purpose… That was the reason for which Jesus lived. We read His mission statement in Matthew 20:28, “...the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

I asked at the beginning of this blog, “What would you do if you had one week to live?” The truth is, we do have a week to live… we have this week… It may or may not be our last week, but regardless we should live as though it is. And we should live every week fulfilling our purpose… What is that purpose? Serving, loving, giving and ministering the grace of Jesus Christ…

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While we wait

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. - Rom 5:3-5

The Christian life would be easy if the space in time was small between when you first believe God's promises and when you receive what He promised. If you could read about it one day and get it the next, Wow - wouldn't that be great!?

But life's not like that.

The hard part is in the waiting between God's promise and His answer; and even harder, when the waiting comes with uncertainties.

Where's this going? Where am I going to end up? What's my future look like?

The reality is, we just don't know how circumstances will play out and it's this not-knowing that crushes us. We doubt because we don't know. We worry and despair because we don't know. We falter and sometimes fail - all because we don't know. If only we knew how this trial was going to end, we would be okay. But we don't.

We all have areas of uncertainty where we need to hold tightly onto what God has said while we wait for Him to work. I couldn't go forward another day if I didn't believe what He told me. So here's what we each must do: We must review His promises all the time. We must remind ourselves that our faith is in God and not in what He does for us. He knows what He has promised, He can't lie, and He can't forget. He will deliver on time, all the time. Who else can make promises like that?

God knows that it's hard for us to walk by faith. So He assures us, I'm not going to leave you wondering what I'm going to do. I don't want you to be overcome by fear. So I'm going to make some promises to you so that you can get through the difficult days. You don't have to take your view of life only from what you can see happening right in front of you. You're not imprisoned by the crazy talk someone is putting into your head that you know isn't true. Hang onto the things that I told you.

And while we wait, God builds our faith.

James MacDonald

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