Thursday, September 1

John 4:28-42 (selected)

Then, leaving her jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” They came out of the town and made their way to him.

(v. 39) Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony. “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers.

They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said, now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the World.”

My father did not grow up in a Christian home. But when he was about 16 years old a couple of things happened that changed the trajectory of his life. The first event happened on a date with a young lady that he had his eye on for some time. I won’t go into details – but just when he was about to make his “move” this young woman said, “You ought to know that I got saved last week – and there are some things that I don’t do anymore.” He remembers being somewhat disappointed – but also impressed with the change in this young woman’s life. A short time after that, a couple of his football teammates invited him to attend a Methodist revival meeting – and there my father gave his heart to Jesus and within two years was preaching in churches.

The story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman is similar in a way. The Samaritan woman, to this point in her life, is a spiritual failure. She has a string of failed relationships, and as a result, is likely ostracized from her own community. Yet, after meeting Jesus, she becomes the one who leads a whole town to the Savior! Read again the astonishing conclusion to the story:

“Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony. “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers.”

This is the power of the gospel – the grace of God through Jesus Christ - a spiritual failure becomes a powerful spiritual influence! We see this story happen over and over again. This weekend (last weekend by the time you read this) we will baptize almost 20 people at our annual FBCG picnic. Each person will share a portion of their “faith story” – and each story will be a little like the story we read in John 4. Each story will include spiritual failure to one degree or another; each will include an encounter with Jesus; and as the story is shared it will have influence on those who hear.

When was the last time you shared the story of when and how you met Jesus? You may feel like your story is nothing special; or you may feel like you aren’t very good at sharing your story – but remember the story of the Samaritan woman! She was lonely, stuck in a string of bad relationships, cut off from her family and friends, a spiritual failure in every way – yet God used her to reach a whole town with the good news of Jesus.

God is in the business of turning spiritual failures into spiritual influencers – how can he use you?

Pastor Brian Coffey

Wednesday, August 31

John 4:16-26 (selected)

He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

“I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

Jesus declared, “Believe me woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem…a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ), “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.”

I took a trip last week with my oldest son that took me back to the town where I spent the majority of my growing-up years, Armonk, New York (about 40 miles north of New York City in Westchester County). We actually spent a night in the church where my father was pastor from 1966-74. Of course, the trip brought back many fond memories – as well as a few embarrassing ones!

I remembered the time – when I was about 11 years old – that a friend named “Billy” brought cigarettes to Sunday School. Just before class began he took a couple of us aside and furtively showed us the contraband – a half of a pack he had found somewhere. At the end of our Sunday School time we always had about 15 minutes before we had to meet our parents for the worship service. So three or four of us snuck out behind the church parking lot to a wooded area where the church was building a new house for our family. We hid behind the framed-out house and Billy took out the cigarettes and some matches and lit one up. Overcome with curiosity and peer pressure, I took a puff when it was my turn. Within a few minutes, the excitement faded as the guilt took over! Overwhelmed with conviction over our profligate rebellion, we snuffed out the cigarette, buried all the evidence in the ground and prayed desperately for forgiveness – and that our parents would never discover our deed!

The woman in this story is also trying to hide her sin. When Jesus asks her about her husband, she evades the truth by answering, “I have no husband.” This is technically correct, but hides the ugly truth of 5 failed relationships as well as a current sinful relationship. But Jesus doesn’t allow her to continue hiding. He presses in – gently but firmly, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

While the woman has to be somewhat taken back by his intimate knowledge of her intimate life – she still finds a way to try to change the subject: “I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

As the conversation continues, Jesus explains what it means to worship God in spirit and truth – and reveals himself to be the Messiah. But something happens to this woman when her sin is brought out into the light – she is both forgiven and set free. She immediately returns to the community from which she is estranged and proclaims that she has met a man who told her everything she “ever did” – meaning, a man who knew her completely; who confronted and then forgave her sin. We know that she is forgiven because she is no longer hiding in shame but rather rejoicing in new life.

Jesus confronts this woman’s sin because she matters to him. Her sin matters to him because it is robbing her of the life he wants for her. The same is true for us. We matter to him. You matter to him. And because you matter to him – Jesus will confront your sin. All of us try to hide our sin – and when we hide we are alone. But Jesus confronts our sin; he calls it out into the light of his truth and love. We usually experience this confrontation as guilt, remorse or shame. But Jesus does not confront our sin to make us ashamed – he confronts our sin in order to set us free to new life and new joy.

Is there anything that you are trying to hide from Jesus? Is there some part of your heart and life that he would like to confront? Remember, Jesus always confronts in order to forgive and restore!

Pastor Brian Coffey

Tuesday, August 30

John 4:4-15

Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

I have had the opportunity, as have some of you, to travel to a number of countries in the developing world. And when I have visited places like Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, or Kenya, I have been reminded of the necessity and preciousness of clean drinking water. As I mentioned yesterday, every human being is thirsty – both spiritually and physically. We need water to survive. And while we grow up simply assuming that hot and cold running water is available to us 24/7 in our homes – most of the world does not enjoy this blessing. In fact, the constant search for – and retrieval of – water is one of the most important daily chores in the developing world. During perhaps 10 different trips to a rural area of the Dominican Republic I observed the same scene each and every morning. The Dominican women and children would leave their humble homes and walk to the local river carrying all kinds of empty buckets and water pots. They would fill them with precious water and then walk back to town carrying the heavy buckets on their heads. Because they did not have access to running water in their homes, life itself depended on repeating this ritual every day.

A few years ago I was reading this story from John 4 and I noticed an obscure but important detail for the first time. John says it was about the “sixth hour” when this woman came to the well seeking water. The “sixth hour” is roughly noon by the Jewish way of referring to time. So this woman is coming to draw water in the heat of the day – rather than in the morning when, presumably, all the other women from town would come to fetch their water. I wondered why? I think the answer is probably because she was not welcome with the other women. When we discover that she has had five failed relationships and is now living with a man who is not her husband – it starts to make sense. This woman had a reputation. She was probably seen as the town tramp – or worse. No one wanted to be seen with her – and she knew it – so she made the trip to fetch water alone in the heat of the day.

Notice that there are two people out of place in the story! This woman is at the well at the wrong time of day; and Jesus is in Samaria – where no self-respecting Jew traveled if he didn’t absolutely need to! What we see here might be called a “divine appointment.” Could it be that Jesus has walked all morning through a region where he and his disciples were neither welcome nor comfortable – just to meet this one lone Samaritan woman? Is it possible that Jesus cared so much about this one spiritual failure that he would go to such lengths just for one conversation? Yes, I think that is possible! In fact, I think it’s more than possible – I think that’s always what Jesus does! Jesus goes out of his way to find the spiritual failure. Jesus seeks out and pursues this woman because he knows she is thirsty for a kind of water she can’t draw from a well. And Jesus pursues each on of us in the same way.

Have you had a “divine appointment” recently? Jesus is waiting for you at the well!

Pastor Brian Coffey

Monday, August 29

John 4:4-15

Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Yesterday I stopped by the local high school to watch a few minutes of a high school football practice in which one of my boys was a participant. It was a typical mid-August day – Midwest hot and humid. I couldn’t help but notice that the coaches provided the players with a couple of water breaks during the relatively brief time I was watching – which was very wise, given the heat, but which was nothing like when I played high school football over 35 years ago! 

At the risk of sounding like an “old school” dinosaur (which my boys would argue that I most definitely am!), I have to say that conditions were much tougher when I played. I can remember times during two-a-day practices when our coaches actually denied us water breaks as punishment for poor play. Today a coach can be fired for a decision like that – but back then, it was a badge of manhood and a sign of toughness. I can remember being so thirsty at the end of practice that, once it was over, we ran straight into the shower room, turned on the cold water, and just stood there in full uniforms sucking down as much water as we could!

The truth is, everyone gets thirsty! This story starts with physical thirst – John tells us that Jesus is both tired and thirsty after a long journey on foot. The woman he meets at the well is coming to draw water to drink. But the story is ultimately about a different kind of thirst. The Samaritan woman who comes to the well is thirsty for more than water. She is thirsty for love – having been with now six different men. She is thirsty for forgiveness – for her sinful life has left her lonely and separated from her own community (which we will see later in the week). And she is thirsty for the God she does not know.

I think we all have known this deeper kind of thirst – even if we fail to understand it at different times in our lives. Science tells us we need water to live – that a human being can only survive a few days without water before dehydration takes its deadly course. But who can live without love? Is it not the thirst for love, acceptance, and approval that drive us at the very core of who we are? And so often we seek to slake our thirst from wells that do not satisfy – and sometimes even from wells that are toxic to our souls.

This story reminds us that there is only one love that meets our deepest thirst; only one love that is great enough to fill the emptiness we carry inside; only one love great enough to forgive our failures – and that is the love of God through Jesus Christ.

Will you take a few moments to simply sit down by the well and allow Jesus to pour out his love over you?

Pastor Brian Coffey

Friday, Aug. 26

Friday

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”  At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”  But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’  So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?  The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”  The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  – John 5:8-15

One of the most remarkable things about this passage is in verse 14, the text says that Jesus found this man (again) after he had been healed.  Why did Jesus go looking for him a second time?  He found him the first time at the pool of Bethesda and healed him and sent him on his way, shouldn’t that be the end of the story?  What else does Jesus want with this man?  John indicates that Jesus actually went looking for this man again. Jesus knew exactly where to find him, the Jewish law required a person that had been healed to go to the Temple and make a thank offering to God.  Apparently, Jesus was not through with this guy just yet.  When Jesus catches up with him, He says a very curious thing, “See, you are well again.  Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

There are some who interpret this passage to mean that this man’s condition was the direct result of his personal sin, and that God had actually afflicted him for 38 years until Jesus showed up and healed him.  Now there are some sins and behaviors that can and do lead to serious physical consequences, even death.  However, what we don’t want to do is assume that anytime something’s wrong it must be your lack of faith, trust or lack of belief. That’s a very dangerous thing to say. Jesus in fact balances this out because He makes it very clear that sometimes things happen and it’s no one’s fault.  In John 9, Jesus heals a man who had been born blind. “His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” 

Let’s be clear, Jesus is NOT threatening this man.  He is NOT saying that if this man steps out of line again, God is going to strike him down even worse than before, He is NOT saying that!

So what is Jesus saying?  First he reminds the man that he has been healed, “See you are well again.”  The word translated well actually means whole (in fact many modern translations translate it as such).  Jesus is telling this man that he has been restored, made completely whole physically, and spiritually.  The second thing Jesus is does is to give a rather strange warning to this guy, “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”  I can’t help but ask the question – what is worse than 38 years as an invalid?  I can’t think of too many things from a human point of view to be honest.  However, an eternity apart from God is infinitely worse than any fate you can imagine for any length of time on earth.  What is worse?  To separated from God for all eternity, that is worse!

Finally, Jesus is telling this man WHY he has been made whole.  Jesus has not just healed his body so that the man will have a few years of relative physical comfort.  Think about this for a minute, if Jesus had showed up at the pool that day and said to the man, “I forgive you”, but done nothing at all about his desperate physical condition, most people would think that pretty insensitive of Him.  But how much more tragic would it have been if Jesus only healed the man’s physical body, but done nothing at all for his soul?  So what if the man walks around for a few years, if he is headed for an eternity apart from God!?

This is never Jesus’ primary agenda!  Jesus is after a much deeper healing than whatever physical disease or disability this man had suffered from, He is after a healing of his soul.  Jesus is showing this man (and us) that the physical miracle is really a gateway to the greater miracle – a transformed heart!  This is the real miracle, because this is the real disease (sin) that disables us all.  This man has been made whole so that his life may be lived for the glory of God.

Jeff Frazier

Thursday, Aug. 25

Thursday

When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”  “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”  Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”  At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.  – John 5:6-9

Have you ever wondered why this man doesn’t just say “yes” when Jesus asks him if he wants to get well?  Instead of saying, “yes Lord, I want to get well, please heal me”, this fellow gives a rather strange explanation about his desperate circumstances and his false hope in the magic powers of the pool.  It almost sounds like he is defending himself or making excuses for his sad condition – “You don’t understand Jesus, things are really hard for me, and nobody cares about my situation.”

But Jesus does not even respond at all to any of what the man says about his circumstances.  He simply gives the man a clear and direct command.  He tells Him to “Get up!” When Jesus said to this man, “Get up! Pick up you mat and walk.” How can He possibly demand that he do something that’s impossible? It is because Jesus heals by the power of His spoken word. He commanded this man to do what he could not do before, but the command actually had the power of to enable this man to do it. Mark 3:5 gives us another example of this power. He told a man with the withered hand, “Stretch out your hand.” That’s exactly what this man cannot do. But when he tried, he was able to do it, and his hand was made whole. There is power in the word of Jesus then that actually makes the command possible. This is precisely the manner in which God created the universe, He spoke it into existence! 

This is really an analogy of the entire spiritual life. There is power in His indwelling life that makes the Christian life possible. You and I can’t live it on our own strength. We must invite Him to do it through His Word and His indwelling power. That’s what makes it possible for us.  We see then this beautiful portrait of a healing that takes place and then John underscores something.  John 5:9,  “At once, the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.” He underscores that the man became well not in gradually, but immediately, he did not begin a process of recovery, he was instantly strong and whole again - this is the power of Jesus!

Curiously, after Jesus tells the man to get up, He also tells him to pick up his mat.  Why does he tell him to do this?  Why not just leave it there and walk away?  I have thought a lot about this, and I think Jesus is giving us some very profound insight into the how spiritual transformation takes place.  Jesus is saying to this man (and to us) that there can be no going back from this moment on.  There will be no returning to the pool, to the place of false hope and desperation.  Jesus is calling this to leave His old life of disability and despair and to walk in the new life that God has for him, there can be no going back!  2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

There are some bridges in our lives that should be burned, that must be burned if we are to live the life Christ calls us to.

Proverbs 26:11 says, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.”  I have a dog, her name is Ivy and she is very cute, but I really cannot understand why she sniffs and eats her own…(you know).  We have wonderful and expensive dog food and doggy treats, but still she eats…(you know).  Spiritually speaking, God looks on His children and asks, why are going back to that?  Don’t you know what I have planned for you?  Don’t you realize what I am offering you through my Son?  Why would you ever choose to go back to such misery again?

Jesus calls this man to action – “Get up!”  He calls him to immediate and decisive action.  He does not debate with him, or explain why or how this is all going to happen.  Here again Jesus gives us profound spiritual and psychological wisdom.  There are moments when God gives us the opportunity to respond to His love and grace, and we must seize them, we must act.  As a pastor, I have seen many people who have been seemingly on the verge of some decision or action that God would use to transform their lives for His glory.  Too many waver or hesitate in that moment.  They think they need more time, or that they should wait and discuss it with someone else, or that they will always have another opportunity later.  You know what happens…the moment fades, and the person returns to their old life again. 

We are not guaranteed an infinite number of opportunities to respond to the call of God.  Some of you have had many moments where you have been close, but have shrunk back in fear or doubt.  If God is moving in your heart, then you must respond – now!  Don’t wait for a “better time”, there may not be one. God says to you, “Get up!  Start moving in the direction I am leading you, don’t wait, do it now!”


Jeff Frazier

Wednesday, Aug. 24

Wednesday

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”  At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”  But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’  So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?  The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”  The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.”  For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.   - John 5:8-18

This miracle of Jesus served to throw fuel on the fire of opposition from the Jewish authorities that was growing against Him.  In fact, this sets off the persecution.  Jesus had a running dispute with the Pharisees and the Jewis religious leaders over the keeping of the OT law, in particular they were upset about Jesus repeatedly breaking the Sabbath. 

In Luke 6, Jesus and His disciples gets into hot water for picking the heads of grain and eating them (of all things) on the Sabbath.  The Pharisees considered this harvesting, and therefore a violation the Sabbath law not to work.  Later in that same chapter, Luke tells us about a time when Jesus was teaching in a local Synagogue, and He healed a man’s withered hand.  Once again, the Pharisees got all worked up over this miracle “working” and Sabbath breaking.  Again and again, Jesus is making the clear point that He has authority over the laws and traditions of man. 

Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?  - Luke 6:9

The he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.  – Mark 2:27-28

So, here is this man, healed after 38 years of being and invalid!  He's just walking along (for the first time in 38 years!) carrying his little mat under his arm and the Jews see him and say, "Hold it right there, just what do you think you’re doing?  It's the Sabbath day. It's not lawful for you to carry your bed."  Now how is that for warmth and compassion?  Here's a man been sick 38 years and they don't care about his healing, they only care about his carrying this mat around. He answers them in the only way that he can, he says, “The one who healed me told me to pick it up and carry it, what was I supposed to do?” 

So they press him even harder and ask him just who this supposed miracle worker is.  I love the way the NIV translates it, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”  Notice that they don’t say “Who is the man who healed you?”  They would’ve choked if they had to ask that.  You can see they don’t want to even entertain the possibility that Jesus might actually be from God.

The point of this whole controversy over the Sabbath is the authority and identity of Jesus Himself. He is the one who commands the wind and the sea. Jesus does not have healing power, He IS healing power!  He does know the truth, He IS the truth!  He does not know the Father, He and the Father are one!  He is the Lord of all creation and the High King of Heaven.  He is the one who speaks and muscles that have not been used in 38 years become instantly strong again.  The Lord of the Sabbath does not need to rest, and the love and mercy and compassion of God never stop working!

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  – Colossians 1:15-17


Jeff Frazier

Tuesday, Aug. 23

Tuesday

Jesus healed lots of people that had been sick for a long time. He healed a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years (Mark 5:25). He healed a young man who had been going into demon-inspired fits from the time he was a small boy (Mark 9:21). He healed a man blind from birth (John 9:1).  To have simply walked up and healed this man, who had been suffering for thirty-eight years, would have presented no problem to our Lord.  And what's more, Jesus could have even healed the man from a distance. Jesus would not have even had to have the man in His presence. He could have simply commanded it, and it would have been done - just as He had done on another occasion for the servant of a centurion (Matthew 8:5-13).

But there was something unique about this man's situation. There was something particular that was going on in his heart. Look at what Jesus does in this particular case. He walked up and asks the man a surprising question: "Do you want to be made well?" (John5:6).

At first glance, that would seem like the most ridiculous question anyone could have asked!  Obviously, the whole reason the poor man had been at the pool for those thirty-eight years was so that he could go into the water and, perhaps, receive a miraculous healing!  But to appreciate this, you need to understand what Jesus was intending in His question. The Lord wasn't simply asking the man if he was interested in being healed. Nor was He asking if He may have permission to heal him.  He was probing the man's heart and making him search within himself.  He was making the man come to terms with whether or not he really, truly had the will to be healed.  He was basically asking him, "Do you genuinely have the will to be well?  After thirty-eight years of being an invalid, do you really want to stop being one, and to be made well?"

You see; not everyone who wants to be relieved of their misery necessarily wants to be relieved of all the other things that their misery might bring them.  I have been involved in pastoral work long enough now to know that this is very often the case.  Someone can suffer from something so long that, when faced with having that suffering alleviated, they are scared to death that they won't know what they'll do without it.  Sometimes, people can almost build a whole identity around their suffering.  Their suffering is how other people have come to relate to them.  Frankly, it's very often the thing that lets them off the hook in other areas of life. 

I believe we can see this in the man's answer to Jesus. When Jesus asked him if he wanted to get well, why didn't the man simply say, 'Yes'?  He didn't say anything even close to "Yes"!  Instead, he gave a strange explanation about his circumstances, it almost sounds like an excuse for his condition.  It's hard not to detect just a hint of personal pride in the man's complaint over the injustice of it all; and perhaps even the expectation of the sympathy it would evoke from others.  I can't really cast too much blame on him for this, though; because I believe I've done the same sort of thing at certain times. I'm afraid I'm as human as he was.

This reminds me of something from C.S. Lewis' classic book, The Great Divorce. It's a dream-like story of a group of people who were offered a trip to heaven.  In one part of the story, a man from earth stands face-to-face with an angel. On this man's shoulder is a horrible, disgusting lizard-like creature that keeps whispering things to him. In Professor Lewis' parable, the lizard is representative of "lust"; and it keeps chattering into the man's ear, while the man snarls at it and tells it to be quiet.

The angel asks the man, "Would you like me to make him quiet?"; and the man says, "Of course I would." "Then I will kill him," the angel says. But as the angel moves his hands toward the lizard's neck, the man backs off in horror. He didn't want anything as drastic as that! The angel tried to explain that it was the only way to deal with it; and so, he kept asking the man, "May I kill it?" The man offered all kinds of alternatives. "Let's do it later." "Don't bother! Look! It's gone to sleep." "I don't think killing it is necessary; I think a gradual process would be better." "I'd let you kill it; but I'm not really feeling very well today." "I'd really like to get a second opinion." Clearly, there was a sense in which the man loved having this lizard that he hated. But still the angel kept patiently asking for permission: "May I kill it?"

Finally, the man bursts out, "How can I tell you to kill it? You'd kill me if you did." The angel convinced the man that killing the lizard wouldn't kill the man; and so, with great fear and trembling, the man finally gave the angel permission.

The angel strangled the lizard and threw it off the man and onto the ground. And then, a wonderful thing happened. Freed from the thing that held him in misery, the man was transformed into a being almost as glorious as the angel himself. And what's more, the lizard itself didn't die; but was instead transformed into a glorious, white, shining stallion for the man to ride upon. And away he and the stallion rode in thankfulness and joy.

I believe that Jesus wants to set us free from all of the miseries and disabilities that bind us.  He is even able to turn the hopelessness of our misery into something glorious and good if we will let Him. But He first challenges us to truly want to be made whole and well by Him. He first makes us probe our hearts; and asks us, "Do you want to be made well?"


Jeff Frazier

Monday, Aug. 22

Monday

 1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.  5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” 8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.  – John 5:1-9

The setting for this encounter is a place called the pool of Bethesda (the word means house of Mercy).  For many years skeptics and scholars used this story as evidence that the New Testament accounts were not always historically accurate or reliable.  However, in the late 19th century, biblical archaeologists discovered and excavated this exact place.  The pool is located to the north part of the Temple Mount, near what is now called St. Stephen's Gate, which is, in fact, the site of the Sheep Gate mentioned here.

If you have any Bible other than the King James Version you will probably notice that Verse 4 is missing (see above).  Many versions include this verse in a footnote, which explains why all of these people were there at the pool. They believed in a superstition that from time to time when the water was troubled - when it would rise rapidly and then sink again - that this was caused by an angel who visited the pool, and the first man who got into it when it was stirred would be healed.

The facts, of course, are that the pool of Bethesda, like many similar pools in the Jerusalem area, is an intermittent spring. At times water is released in surges from hidden reservoirs in the hills around the city, causing these springs to rise and fall suddenly. This is what gave rise to the superstition about an angel troubling the pool.

So here was a great crowd of people - paralyzed, blind, lame, sick - all waiting for the water to be stirred. It is really a sad and pitiful scene when you think about it. All of these poor creatures waiting day after day, hoping for a miracle, scrambling and clawing their way to be the first into the water.  Out of that crowd Jesus picked one lone man. He did not empty the five porches, healing everybody. He did not invite them all to come down to line up for their free miracle. He went to only one man. The value of a story like this, and the reason it is in the Gospels, is to reveal to us who Jesus is, and to show us how God deals with human helplessness and weakness.

Undoubtedly it was the helplessness of this man that drew Jesus to him, and it was the compassion of Jesus that caused Him to seek this poor fellow out.

We all can see ourselves in a similar condition to this man (or at least we should be able to).  In a sense, this man is picture of the human condition apart from God; disabled, desperate, disappointed and defeated.  We all have problems we can’t fix on our own.  We all need help.  We all find ourselves disabled or paralyzed at times, unable to do the thing we want or ought to do.  We sometimes feel desperate and defeated by our circumstances.  We feel alone in a crowd, with no one to help us.

This story is included in the gospels in order that we might understand how God desires to help and to heal us through the ministry of His Son, Jesus Christ.


Jeff Frazier

Friday, August 19

John 13:7

As Jesus approached the time of his crucifixion, he withdrew to the upper room. He was surrounded by his disciples and scripture says, “so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” When Jesus arrives at Peter, he protests. Jesus responds to Peter saying, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

I feel like whole seasons of my life could be described by Jesus’ response to Peter. As we have discussed this week in these blog posts, there is much that I (we) cannot and will not understand, perhaps ever (or at least on this side of eternity). Most of our time together this week has focused on the heart-level steps to addressing our doubt, but as we conclude, I would like to offer a couple of thoughts on a practical component of dealing with doubt. (You can find more on this in the last chapter of Lee Strobel’s A Case for Faith and in Timothy Keller’s, The Reason for God: Belief in and Age of Skepticism.)

Here are a couple of thoughts:

1. Do I want to believe or not?

For me, this is often times a necessary question. I need to go through the work of checking myself to determine if my doubt is of my own making. Let’s be honest, choosing to believe comes with ramifications as well. It impacts the way I live my life and confronting my own doubt must begin with introspection— that simple and yet difficult prayer of David that says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart…”

2. Go where faith is.
During seasons of doubt and skepticism, my default reaction is to withdraw. I wrongly believe that if my faith is not strong and I am struggling to believe, then I need to wait until I am in a better place before reengaging the body of Christ. (On a side note, this is exactly the mistake that Thomas makes in John 20. When Jesus appears to the disciples following the Resurrection, Thomas is not there. He misses this moment of celebration and restoration and instead dives deeper into unbelief and doubt.) I have heard this expressed in a variety of different ways over the years but it is a common reaction.

Our response needs to be exactly the opposite. When doubt is at its worst in our lives, our need to be surrounded by the body of Christ is greater— a place where faith is strong. We will all experience moments when our faith is weak and we will need to be carried by those whose faith is strong. And there will be times when our faith is solid and we will support those who require sustainment during the desert of doubt.

3. Put your faith into action.
In order for God to validate our faith we need to act on our faith. This is often times a conscious act of our will rather than a motivation born out of desire. Again, this is contrary to the response that inevitably results from skepticism. In Psalm 34:8 David writes, “Taste and see that the Lord is good…” It is the tangible experience that comes from faith put into action.

As we conclude our conversation on processing doubt, I want to reiterate that everything we have discussed is just a part of the puzzle. Your experience of a journey in faith and doubt will be different than everyone else’s. What I do know to be is true for each one of us, is that doubt is not meant to be faced alone.

Pastor Sterling Moore

Thursday, August 18

Yesterday we tackled a difficult topic regarding the process of struggling through our doubt— confession. It is in every way counter-intuitive. I still wrestle with Job’s experience, God’s response to him and Job’s ultimate conclusion. Today however, we are going to look at a passage that might feel more relatable. David’s Psalm resonates to the very core of my familiarities with skepticism and the heart-level turmoil that results.

Read Psalm 13: 1-4:

A Psalm of David

1 How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? 3 Look on me and answer, LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, 4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

I love David’s honesty here. David is feeling forgotten and abandoned. The series of questions David asks in this Psalm have been uttered by me and nearly everyone else when in the face of doubt. For David, and I think for us as well, it is so important to be able to be real with God; we don’t have to pretend to be ok. It reminds me of the fact that God can handle it. He can handle my expressions of frustration, or anger or whatever other emotion my doubt may take. David is not being disrespectful or insolent— he is being transparent. It is real and it is raw and it is necessary. At some point in time, I have to get to the place in my relationship with God, where I, like David, lay it all before God and know that He can handle it.

This Psalm begs this question for me: how real can I get with my God? Do I put on a good show, pray the things that I think He wants me to pray, or do I bare my soul in transparency?

Now look at David’s conclusion to the Psalm (vs 5-6):

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. 6 I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me.

Now David, in the midst of the feelings laid out in the first 4 verses, does something important here. He returns to a point of affirmation, of certainty. David is not sharing what he feels; he is sharing what he knows or believes about his God. This belief in the “unfailing love” of God seems to transcend David’s current circumstance. It is a pillar or foundation that, despite being a place of feeling rejected and alone, David reminds himself of this simple truth: “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.”

Herein lies the balance— David is honest with God about where he is at and yet his faith is not defined by his circumstances. What he knows and believes about God has been set in place prior to this place of doubt. Now, David is able to be real with God and yet in doing so, reminds himself that “he has been good to me."

Pastor Sterling Moore

Wednesday, August 17

As we continue to journey through questions of doubt and more specifically, understanding how to re-orient our faith around the person of Jesus when in the midst of doubt, I want to suggest another component to this process. This may seem contrary to how we might naturally engage these issues. This element is confession.

It is important again to remind you that I am not seeking to offer formulaic answers on how to resolve our skepticism. I don’t have them. I only seek to share what, at times, has been (and indeed continues to be) fundamentally important for me. Confession seems unnatural in times of doubt because what lies behind our doubt is a sense of pain. The pain can stem from disappointment, the loss of a loved one, a promise from someone we trust that has gone unmet, or our general efforts towards obedience and faithfulness that result in hardship and pain. When I feel the pain associated with doubt I am typically more inclined to desire an apology, feeling I’ve been wronged. This is not meant to suggest that those of us who are struggling with doubt as the result of some abuse is somehow intrinsically our fault, and therefore needs to be confessed. That is not the sort of confession that I am referring to here.

I believe that confession for me is an acknowledgment of my own limits and a recognition that God is beyond limits. This whole discussion reminds me of the conversation between Job and God (Job 38-42). Job is described as “a man blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil” and yet his life meets with unspeakable calamity (certainly an ample source for understandable doubt). When I read the book of Job, I want Job’s experience to be justified. I want believe that my own experiences of pain and in a larger sense, the suffering I witness around me, is reasonable, explainable and fixable. I want to be able to answer the question of “why” and be reassured of the “what” that is to come. I want it to make sense and so did Job. It is in this place that God meets Job.

Look at Job’s conclusion… (Job 42:1-6)

1 Then Job replied to the LORD:  2 "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. 3 You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. 4 "You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.' 5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."

This is, in a sense, Job’s confession. When it is all said and done, God does not offer Job the reasons or meaning behind his experiences. After everything that Job has been through, he comes to the realization that for him an answer in not found in the justification of his pain, in a logical explanation of the “whys” or even in a glimpse of some ultimate good. After systematically exposing Job to that which he lacks, God now restores Job with the knowledge that He is sufficient. What Job does not know, God knows, what he cannot do, God does and who he cannot be, God is.

There is a freedom that comes from confession. Letting go in the midst of our fiercest doubt can perhaps be the part of the process in which our faith comes back into focus.

Pastor Sterling Moore

Tuesday, August 16

Yesterday, as we approached the subject of dealing with seasons of doubt, we focused on the importance of identifying our doubt and being honest about it with God. As I mentioned before, doubt isn’t resolved through a simple formula or easy answers. The reality is that it can be different for everyone. Regardless, we want to continue to explore some of what we find in Scripture that gives us insight to the struggle with doubt and provides us with the encouragement needed to overcome it.

Begin this morning be reading Joshua 4:1-9:

1 When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, 2 “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, 3 and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”

4 So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5 and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

8 So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the LORD had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. 9 Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.

Israel had just experienced something miraculous-- life changing. Joshua now has the foresight (or Divine inspiration) to recognize that there will be a time when Israel needs to draw strength from this moment-- to remember that their God was faithful. To do so, he creates a memorial from stones taken from the dry river bed to serve as a reminder for future generations and to draw strength in the moments when Israel would have cause to doubt.

As we think about the process of wrestling with our own moments of doubt, I am reminded of the importance of having a great memory—the ability to return to the moments when God tangibly showed himself faithful in our lives. These moments can be source of assurance in the dry places of our faith during that process of reorienting the source of our faith squarely back onto the person of Christ.

What would this look like for you? What are the moments in your life where God has shown himself faithful?

How can you create a memorial, something tangible, that will serve to remind you of the moments when God is nearest to help pull you through the times when He feels distant?

Pastor Sterling Moore

Monday, August 15

Mark 9:17-24

17 A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”  19 “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

20 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.  21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”  “From childhood,” he answered. 22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”  23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
 24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

I find the expression of the father relatable. It is simple, honest and authentic. “I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief.” The father of the possessed boy has come to Jesus for a reason. He has hope, a hope that Jesus will be able to do something about the spirit that has tormented his son, to return his child to him. He does believe and yet recognizes in himself that battle against unbelief.

When you think about your own relationship with Jesus, where do you find that prayer relatable? If you were to pray those words, “I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief,” where would God intersect with your place of struggle? The compelling thought behind this simple expression of a father seeking to help his son, is that our Father already knows that place of need in us. Yet when we come to him in faith acknowledging our need, praying that simple prayer, we invite Him to once again take what faith we can muster and turn into something life changing.


Take a few moments to mediate on where in your life you need God to help you overcome your unbelief and then some time in prayer inviting Him to do just that.

Pastor Sterling Moore

Friday, August 12

FEAR NOT!

2 Timothy 1:7 

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

Throughout the week we’ve been exploring the Zacchaeus Principle and various other insights toward REACHING or Evangelism with regards to the spiritually curious. But I am concerned that some readers are still either not convinced or simply still AFRAID!

I want to finish the week with a post that helps you recognize that I’m with you and understand. It can be extremely frightening or difficult to:

1. Expose yourself as a TRUE Christ follower.
Often times the World around us and even ourselves believe we are “Christian” because we are American. Yet I do trust you realize that this not the case. It’s possible you have to help people recognize who you really are in Christ, so that others KNOW IT and experience the new you! You might have to testify to the FBCG Women’s Ministry theme verse for this Fall.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 

II Corinthians 5:17

2. INVITE.
Asking another person to join you “in” ministry can be frightening at many different levels. In student ministry perhaps the hardest place to invite is to “church” on a Sunday morning, but that is why we have “easy invite” opportunities for students to introduce their peers to their ministry. For adults it’s probably not all that different regarding an invitation to worship.

But like Children’s Ministry or Student Ministry there are often times it may be an adult “ministry on-ramp” like a small group, TEAM (for men on Friday’s), a Women’s gig on a Thursday morning, Serving at a Project Serve or even a short term mission trip. And it always feels even easier when you make these “invites” with others. Work together with another peer or another whole family to start an “asking streak” that hopefully won’t break the 17 Asks Story I referred to in Worship last weekend.

Bruce McEvoy

Pastor of Family and Serving

Thursday, August 11

Matthew 9:37-38


Then he (Jesus) said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Matthew 28:18-20

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Luke 19:10


For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.

Yesterday we read some great statements from men and women to inspire us to, in FBCG “terms”, REACH! Certain passages from the WORD of God are special to me. The verses from above are clarity that the quotations from yesterday truly support God’s mandates.

The Scripture from above that I’d like to spend some time on today is from Matthew 9:38 – ASK! We are commanded to be “askers” for both workers to GO as well as for our friends who are in need of the Truth! I’m embarrassed that too often I think too highly of myself with regards to evangelism and FORGET to pray others onto the team. As the verse indicates, there is an abundance of “ripe” harvest and thus more women and men need to get off the bench and into the game. In the context of church, get out of the pew and into the World with the Good News.

Application

Pray Right NOW that another would join you in the “field” that God has placed passion for in your life: your neighborhood, children, students, your workplace, your sports team, camping cadre, weekend “cards” group, just to get you thinking!

Additionally, earlier in the week you might have wrote down a “name” who you wanted to SPEAK to. Honestly, if you haven’t done that yet it’s probably because there is importance to praying for that person FIRST and asking God to open doors and create “on-ramps” for those discussions to take place. Remember that God is sovereign with regards to drawing people to Himself. The Zaccheaus strategy is just that…a strategy that we hold onto loosely because God is in CONTROL!

Bruce McEvoy
Pastor of Family and Serving

Wednesday, August 10

Some might say I am taking a short cut on this 10 Minutes with God. I’d suggest, “I’ve just put the ball on the tee.” Now the rest of the devotion gets written by you!  As a comment to this entry, write which quote you like and why, or add one that has inspired you to be a beacon.

Seriously…lets set a 10 Minutes with God record with “comments”!

Quotations to Inspire 

"It is the duty of every Christian to be Christ to his neighbor."

– Martin Luther

"No one has the right to hear the gospel twice, while there remains someone who has not heard it once." 

– Oswald J. Smith

"The Lord of the harvest has directed us to the oikos [household, family, friends, neighbors] to spread the Kingdom of God. This is, in fact, the way of spreading the Gospel most often put forth in the New Testament. It appears that the Lord of the harvest has indeed set us up in a particular oikos to reach people who do not know him yet.”
– Neil Cole (Organic Church, Jossey-Bass, 2005, p. 164.)

“We must have his [Jesus’] life in us by the Spirit if we are to do his work and practice his teaching. Any evangelistic work without this is as lifeless as it is meaningless.” 

– Robert E. Coleman (The Master Plan of Evangelism, Revell, 1972, p. 60.)

"Evangelism that will introduce Jesus to this culture will flow from people who are deeply in love with Jesus." 

– Reggie McNeal (The Present Future, Jossey-Bass 2003, p. 82.)

"How deep is the faith you convey to outsiders? What type of depth are we asking our friends and neighbors to have? A get-saved approach ignores the fact that most people in America have made an emotional connection to Jesus before; now they need much more than a one-dimensional understanding of him." 

– David Kinnaman, (Unchristian, Baker Books 2007, p.76.)

“The early church teaches us three principles for evangelism in a secular/spiritual culture: we must be open to all; we are to preach, teach, enact, and live an exclusive Christian message; and we need to create a community that not only looks after its own but cares for the needs of the world.” 

– Robert E. Webber (Ancient-Future Evangelism, Baker, 2003 p. 57.)

"The salvation of a single soul is more important than the production or preservation of all the epics and tragedies in the world."

– C. S. Lewis

"Being an extrovert isn’t essential to EVANGELISM–obedience and love are."

– Rebecca M. Pippert

"The Holy Spirit can’t save saints or seats. If we don’t know any non-Christians, how can we introduce them to the Savior?"  

– Paul Little

“We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine.” 

– Dwight L Moody

“Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn.” 

– John Wesley

Add some comments!

Bruce McEvoy

Pastor of Family and Serving

Tuesday, August 9

Psalm 63

1 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.

3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.

4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.

If you read this 10 minute of God you just read four verses. Really good. But now go back and pray those verses back to your Father in Heaven!

WHY?

Why consider and apply the Zaccheaus Principle?

I mean God is in charge of drawing people to Himself. Does he really need us?

My favorite story from the Old Testament that inspires me to “want to want” to share the Good News is found in II Kings 7:3-11:

3 Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.”

5 At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there, 6 for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!” 7 So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.

8 The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank. Then they took silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.

9 Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.”

10 So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them, “We went into the Aramean camp and no one was there—not a sound of anyone—only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were.” 11 The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace.

I’ve heard this passage preached on both while in college, while at FBCG from Pastor Kevin Engel, and this summer Grant Diamond used it during Summer Impact with fifth and sixth grades. And yet I am amazed how few have discovered such an inspiring text in the Old Testament with regards to SHARING one’s great JOY, abundance, and good fortune. The four lepers get it! When one is fortunate to discover amazing fortune the reaction is to shout it out to others.

I’d suggest that if you won the LOTTO you wouldn’t rush home and hide out in your crawl space with concerns that someone will discover you. You’d tweet, profile update, text, email, phone friends, and probably be invited to share on the local news. You’d be telling OTHERS! Your joy would be oozing out onto others. Crack open a bit TODAY and ooze the joy out onto another. This IS the day that the Lord has made…REJOICE and tell someone else!

Bruce McEvoy
Pastor of Family and Serving

Monday, August 8

Luke 19

1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

This week might I ask you to pause and reflect on where you have influence and then on WHO you have influence.

Yesterday I introduced a strategy for evangelism and outreach called the Zaccheaus Principle – Jesus took three steps as he entered Jericho and encountered Zaccheaus. He SAW him, SPOKE to him, and ACTED (had dinner with him).As we dig together into this Zacchaeus Principle, be thinking of those places and people who you can speak TO and DO things for in order to join God in seeking and saving the Lost.

There is always a real challenge when preaching on a passage that seems to fit into the "Top 10 Most Famous Bible Stories." Honestly if one is critiquing, I didn’t follow the pattern to the summer series. I didn’t answer the question “What Would Jesus Say to the Spiritually Curious" - rather I shared a strategy from the life of a spiritual curious story on how to join God in seeking and saving the lost.

Who is within your area of influence that has already climbed up the sycamore tree and you only have to simply LOOK UP and recognize the person? That is, who do you know that is trying get a better look at how to change the course of their life?

So right NOW…WRITE DOWN at least one name of a Zacchaeus in your life and make a commitment to SPEAK to that person this week with an attempt to direct the conversation toward Jesus.

I’m not asking you to distribute a tract or confront the person with a megaphone and threats of going to … well you know. I’m simply asking you to acknowledge the individual who has already showed signs that he/she is interested in the peace, joy, and abundant life you possess.

But that is not all. Write down one more name. A name of someone who probably has NOT climbed up the sycamore tree of your life, but one you are hoping will. Write that name down and this week faithfully pray that you’ll recognize a change in that person and a willingness to begin the discussion of WHO Jesus IS.

FINALLY, I’m becoming more and more addicted to modeling Faith at Home. If you have been inspired to do any of the above consider leading your family in the same exercise around the meal table or before bed tonight.

Bruce McEvoy
Pastor of Family and Serving