For an audio version of this, click here.
John 14:16-18
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you."
A number of years ago I arrived home after preaching one Sunday and had a voice message waiting for me at my home. When I called back, the woman who had left the message apologized for calling me at home but said something had happened to her that day at church that she needed to talk to me about. So we arranged to meet at my East Campus office the next day.
She introduced herself, I offered to pray, and when I lifted my head she had already begun to weep. Through her tears she said something like, “I’m sorry, but this happens every time I come into this church. I’ve only been coming for about a month, but every time I walk into the sanctuary, every time I hear the hymns, and each time you start to speak, I start to cry – but I’m not sad! What’s happening to me?”
I said, “I don’t want this to sound spooky to you, but I think that’s the Holy Spirit of God speaking to your heart and drawing you into a relationship with Jesus.” After a little more explanation she said, “Yes, yes, that’s what I want!” and we prayed together as she opened her heart to Jesus in faith. I believe what she experienced that day was what Jesus promised:
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you."
Jesus promised that the Father would send the Holy Spirit to live with us and in us by faith. He is teaching us that one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to make him – Jesus - real and present to us. So when we open our hearts to faith in Jesus; when we sense the love, comfort, peace and joy of Christ in our hearts – those experiences are the result of the ministry and activity of the Holy Spirit.
As we have mentioned throughout this series, the Holy Spirit is often described by or compared to wind throughout God’s word. The Spirit, like the wind, is somewhat mysterious. We cannot see wind directly – only the effect or impact of the wind. Wind can be so gentle as to be almost imperceptible or it can be unimaginably fierce and powerful – yet the wind always moves things and creates impact. So it is with the Holy Spirit of God.
What that woman experienced years ago I believe was the Holy Spirit blowing gently on and in her heart. I cannot explain this clearly using human language – but I can point to the effect or impact of the Spirit’s activity. Her heart was opened to the truth and love of Jesus Christ and her life was then changed from the inside out. Thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit and ask the Spirit to make Jesus real to you.
Pastor Brian Coffey
Monday, October 31
For an audio version of this, click here.
Romans 8:1-4
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
This past August my oldest son and I took a trip to visit several Major League baseball parks on the east coast. Part of the plan was to visit Yankee Stadium in New York City. Unfortunately, our Yankee game got rained out and we were stuck with a whole day in New York with nothing to do. So we decided to improvise. Using my son’s cell phone GPS function, we made our way through the city to the site of the World Trade Center memorial – which was still under construction but very cool to see. Then we decided to continue our expedition through the concrete jungle to see the Statue of Liberty since my son had never seen it. Our goal was not only to see the Statue of Liberty, but to actually climb up the internal stairway all the way to the “crown” so we could get a view of Manhattan from that unique vantage point. I had remembered making that climb as a young boy (we lived about 40 miles north of New York City) and I thought it would be fun to experience that climb again with my son.
So we found our way to Liberty State Park where we paid $7 to park our car. Then we paid $13 each to ride the ferry boat out to Liberty Island, where the Statue of Liberty stands. Once on the island we made our way through a driving rainstorm to the entrance to the Statue – only to find that we didn’t have the right ticket to actually climb the stairway. Evidently our tickets only gave us permission to be on the island and to observe the Statue from the ground – tickets to climb the Statue had to be purchased on-line two weeks earlier. Keep in mind there were no signs at either the Liberty Island welcome center, nor on the ferry boat, nor at the Statue itself indicating this process – you only learned about it once you stood in line in the rain until you got to the entrance way where a uniformed security guy informed you that you had the wrong ticket!
Soaked and now thoroughly frustrated, I couldn’t help but think of the words engraved on a plaque in the Statue museum:
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” (a portion of the text of a poem engraved on a plaque in the museum in the statue’s base)
“Here we are,” I thought, “we are tired, we are $40 bucks poorer, we are homeless and tempest-tost,” and yet, because we don’t have the right ticket the great golden door is shut in our faces! I was not a happy camper!
Freedom: America was built on the dream of freedom and freedom is engraved into our DNA as a people. When we think of freedom, we think of political freedom and personal freedom; the freedom to speak our minds and do what we want – within the law. But the Bible talks about a different kind of freedom – spiritual freedom.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:1-2
Paul is saying that spiritual freedom is freedom from the “law of sin and death” and that the way to experience this freedom is through the “law of the Spirit of life” that is ours when we are “in Christ Jesus.”
What he is saying is simply that we are each held prisoner by the consequences of our own sin; by guilt, condemnation and eventually spiritual death. We are set free only when we trust that because Jesus has taken our place we are free from condemnation because we are forgiven. Furthermore, Jesus gives us his Spirit that empowers us to live in relationship with him rather than in fear of the law.
Becoming a follower of Jesus, then, is not only like having your ticket paid for by someone else – but it is having a ticket that guarantees you full access to the presence, power and promise of God himself! Thank God for the freedom you have in Christ; and ask him to help you to live more and more by the power of the Spirit that lives in you.
Pastor Brian Coffey
Romans 8:1-4
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
This past August my oldest son and I took a trip to visit several Major League baseball parks on the east coast. Part of the plan was to visit Yankee Stadium in New York City. Unfortunately, our Yankee game got rained out and we were stuck with a whole day in New York with nothing to do. So we decided to improvise. Using my son’s cell phone GPS function, we made our way through the city to the site of the World Trade Center memorial – which was still under construction but very cool to see. Then we decided to continue our expedition through the concrete jungle to see the Statue of Liberty since my son had never seen it. Our goal was not only to see the Statue of Liberty, but to actually climb up the internal stairway all the way to the “crown” so we could get a view of Manhattan from that unique vantage point. I had remembered making that climb as a young boy (we lived about 40 miles north of New York City) and I thought it would be fun to experience that climb again with my son.
So we found our way to Liberty State Park where we paid $7 to park our car. Then we paid $13 each to ride the ferry boat out to Liberty Island, where the Statue of Liberty stands. Once on the island we made our way through a driving rainstorm to the entrance to the Statue – only to find that we didn’t have the right ticket to actually climb the stairway. Evidently our tickets only gave us permission to be on the island and to observe the Statue from the ground – tickets to climb the Statue had to be purchased on-line two weeks earlier. Keep in mind there were no signs at either the Liberty Island welcome center, nor on the ferry boat, nor at the Statue itself indicating this process – you only learned about it once you stood in line in the rain until you got to the entrance way where a uniformed security guy informed you that you had the wrong ticket!
Soaked and now thoroughly frustrated, I couldn’t help but think of the words engraved on a plaque in the Statue museum:
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” (a portion of the text of a poem engraved on a plaque in the museum in the statue’s base)
“Here we are,” I thought, “we are tired, we are $40 bucks poorer, we are homeless and tempest-tost,” and yet, because we don’t have the right ticket the great golden door is shut in our faces! I was not a happy camper!
Freedom: America was built on the dream of freedom and freedom is engraved into our DNA as a people. When we think of freedom, we think of political freedom and personal freedom; the freedom to speak our minds and do what we want – within the law. But the Bible talks about a different kind of freedom – spiritual freedom.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:1-2
Paul is saying that spiritual freedom is freedom from the “law of sin and death” and that the way to experience this freedom is through the “law of the Spirit of life” that is ours when we are “in Christ Jesus.”
What he is saying is simply that we are each held prisoner by the consequences of our own sin; by guilt, condemnation and eventually spiritual death. We are set free only when we trust that because Jesus has taken our place we are free from condemnation because we are forgiven. Furthermore, Jesus gives us his Spirit that empowers us to live in relationship with him rather than in fear of the law.
Becoming a follower of Jesus, then, is not only like having your ticket paid for by someone else – but it is having a ticket that guarantees you full access to the presence, power and promise of God himself! Thank God for the freedom you have in Christ; and ask him to help you to live more and more by the power of the Spirit that lives in you.
Pastor Brian Coffey
Friday, October 28
For an audio version of this, click here.
Friday
Friday
Not long ago I came across an advertisement that caught my attention, this is how it read…“Start the major love affair of your life by spending a weekend with yourself. Take two days out of your life to spend just with you. To explore and discover yourself in ways you cannot do by yourself. Discover the most fascinating, wondrous, magnificent person you will ever know - yourself - in an experience you'll never forget.”
The ad was for something called “The Advocate Experience”. The reason that it caught my attention was that I had been studying and thinking about our series on the Holy Spirit, and the word Advocate is one of the words used to describe who the Spirit is.
If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. – John 14:15-16
The word Counselor is the Greek word ‘paraclete’, and it literally means “one who is called to be with” (para = to stand with, cletos = called or sent) Some English Bible translations use other words to try capture the meaning of this Greek word. The King James Bible uses the term “Comforter” for the Holy Spirit. Certainly the Holy Spirit does comfort us, but calling Him a comforter makes Him sound kind of like a quilt. Other translations use the term “Helper” or “Advocate”. The reality is that no one English word can convey the depth and richness of who the Holy Spirit is and what He does.
Even the word “counselor” is inadequate or incomplete. What kind of counselor are we talking about? Is the Holy Spirit like a camp counselor? Is he an older buddy to sing songs and roast marshmallows with? Or is He more like a therapist or marriage counselor, someone you go see when you are having a crisis? What kind of counselor are we talking about? The New Testament makes it quite clear that the Holy Spirit is much more than a camp counselor, a paid consultant, or a therapist.
Recently I went to observe the closing arguments of court case in which a friend of mine was representing two other good friends. It was fascinating to see my friend in action; to hear him cross-examine witnesses, present evidence, reason with the jury, and argue for what he believed was the truth. I know that lawyers are not often used as good examples in our society. However, as I sat there listening to my friend make his case before the judge and jury it occurred to me that this is a pretty good image of who the Holy Spirit is and what He does in the hearts of all believers. The Holy Spirit reasons with us. The Holy Spirit argues with us and contends with us for the truth. He advises us on how to proceed, or move forward in our lives. Sometimes He even puts us on the stand and cross-examines us! But the primary way that the Holy Spirit is a counselor to us is that He defends us before the accusations of our own hearts. Listen to the following passages that describe how the Holy Spirit works in us to help us see the amazing reality of our identity in Christ.
This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence, whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. – 1 John 3:19-20
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. – 1 John 2:1
Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” - Galatians 4:6
We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. – 1 Corinthians 2:12
It is one thing to know intellectually that you are forgiven and loved by God, it is quite another thing to experience the love of the Father. The Holy Spirit is working in you to help you experience the love of God in your life.
Jeff Frazier
Thursday, Oct. 27
For an audio version of this, click here.
Thursday
Thursday
When I was a boy, my parents’ would occasionally have important guests come over to our house to visit. I vividly recall how my mother would put us all to work cleaning the house from top to bottom in preparation for our guests. I never really understood why my mother felt the need to dust out of the way places that nobody ever saw, but then again, 12 year old boys aren’t much into dusting at all. Once the house was clean, my mother would remind us kids that we were to be on our “best behavior” when our guests arrived. I can admit that as a child I really did not get what all of the fuss was about. However, now that I am an adult, I understand that it was the significance of the one who was coming over that caused us to want to clean things up inside and out.
I realize that this is not a perfect analogy, but it is not unlike what the Apostle Paul means when he says in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
Paul is saying that as Christians we have a divine resident, a permanent house-guest in our lives, the Holy Spirit. Most people do not live as if we are not our own, most people live as if they are their own, and they are in charge of their lives. This is a basic Christian truth. This is something every one of us ought to remember every day of our lives. You have no final right to yourself. God has ordered things so that we should have decisions that we have to make, and only we can make them. He does not take away our right of choice. He does not turn us unto robots or automatons, but, he says, finally we will have to give an account for the decisions we make.
God always reserves the right, because he has bought us, he owns us, we are his by right of creation and of purchase at the Cross, to send us where he wants us to go. He reserves the right to take away from our life whatever he sees is harmful to us. It is the role of the Holy Spirit to impress this truth upon us, to bring us to the point that we can acknowledge that God can give us both blessing and trouble alike as he sees that we need each, and to guide us as a loving Father to the place where we recognize that he owns us, we belong to him.
If we really understood the significance of this, we would want to live differently. If we truly grasped the power of the one who lives in our hearts, just His presence alone would motivate us to pursue Godliness in every area of our lives. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives should be a powerful motivator us, but we have to be careful here not to make the mistake of thinking that the Holy Spirit is just a divine audience before whom we must perform well.
I have a good friend who is also a pastor and he says that many Christians are guilty of what he calls the “Santaclausification of God”. Too many Christians think of God like Santa-Claus; he sees you when you’re sleping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!
This is one of the most wonderful things about the Holy Spirit, He is not just watching to see if we are “good enough”. He does not wait for us to get our spiritual lives “cleaned up” before He comes in. No, He comes in the moment we trust Christ and He is the one who enables us to begin to clean things up inside and out!
Jeff Frazier
Wednesday, Oct. 26
For an audio version of this, click here.
Wednesday
Some people view the Holy Spirit like a kind of divine Magic 8-Ball. They turn to Him or “It”, when they need some answers or guidance and hope for some clear direction. Jesus is telling us that the Holy Spirit is the divine personal resident in the heart of every believer, and that He will lead, guide, teach, and counsel us as we follow Christ. When you place your trust in Jesus Christ, you are not filled with a Magic 8-Ball, you are filled with the Holy Spirit! I don’t know about you, but when I need counsel, I would much rather have a conversation with a wise and trusted friend than consult the magic 8-Ball.
Jeff Frazier
Wednesday
It is not uncommon to hear Christians talk about being “filled with the Spirit”, or “having the Spirit inside them”, but what does this really mean? Just how exactly does the Spirit fill us or live inside of us? Listen to the words of Jesus as He promises this very thing in John 14.
“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever - the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. - John 14:15-19
The good news for these men is that they would not lose Jesus when the Spirit came. He would remain by means of the Spirit, and he would stay with them. When Jesus says, "I will not leave you orphans." That was surely how they felt, like orphans. The One whom they had learned to love and trust was leaving them. But Jesus promises, "when the Spirit comes, I will come with him." Here he puts his finger on what is probably the most wonderful aspect about the coming of the Spirit: His primary work is to make Jesus real to his disciples. The mark of the Spirit-filled life is not signs, or wonders, or tongues, but an ever-deepening consciousness of the reality of Jesus Christ. That is the Spirit at work!
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” - John 14:20-21
Here Jesus expresses in the simplest words one of the most profound truths in all of Scripture - "You in me." This is our first experience when we come to Christ. We know we belong to another family; we realize that we now are children of God. We are no longer children of darkness, following after a false philosophy. We have been transferred out of the powers of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of his love. "You in me."
But there is another truth that goes right along with the first - that he is "in us." We learn that we are not required to demonstrate how much we can do for God, but what he can do through us! Many Christians take a long time to reach this level. There are far too many Christians toiling away trying to earn the favor of God in through their own efforts, they do not grasp the incredible truth that Jesus will be at work “in” them through the Holy Spirit.
Perhaps you are wondering what difference it really makes that the Holy Spirit lives in us. Is all of this just theological speculation? What practical difference does this make in our everyday lives? Well, if we believe that the Holy Spirit is a person, and not an impersonal force (see Monday’s devotional from this week) then when the Bible talks about being filled with the Spirit, it is telling us that we are filled with a Person, and This makes all of the difference in the world!
Maybe an illustration will help to make this point clear…
In the 1960s, the Mattel toy company came out with a new novelty toy called “The Magic 8-Ball”. It looks like an oversized 8-ball from a billiards table. To use it, you ask it a question, then you simply flip it upside down for your answer. On the bottom of the 8-Ball there is a little window in which various kinds of vague and non-committal answers appear. Answers like; “Most likely”, “Don't count on it”, “Cannot predict now”, and the always frustrating, “Ask again later”.
Jeff Frazier
Tuesday, Oct. 25
For an audio version of this, click here.
Tuesday
Tuesday
There are several places in the Gospels where Jesus talks about the coming of the Holy Spirit after He (Jesus) returns to His Father in heaven. Listen to the words of Jesus in John 14 where He promises the Holy Spirit to His disciples.
“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. – John 14:15-26
Right here in this text we have a picture of the Trinity in action; Jesus (God the Son) says that He is going to ask God the Father to send the God the Holy Spirit to be with His followers forever! Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, “another Counselor”. The Greek word for “another” means one that is just like the first. In other words, Jesus is saying that the Holy Spirit will come to us and be just like Him (Jesus).
One of the distinctive marks of the Holy Spirit is that He never draws attention to Himself, but He always points to Jesus! This is one of the reasons that I am always a little bit nervous about Christians who seem to over emphasize certain manifestations or expressions of the Holy Spirit. I can’t help but wonder if the Holy Spirit Himself isn’t saying, “Don’t focus on me, focus on Jesus! He’s the one that I want you to know and follow.”
When you get right down to it, the primary purpose of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to make Jesus real to us. At the very end of this passage Jesus tells us that the role of the H.S. is to teach us and remind about Him.
This is why Jesus says that the world cannot accept Him because it does not know Him. When Jesus uses the term “the world” He is not speaking about the planet, or every living being on earth, He is referring to those who do not believe in Him, in Jesus. So if the primary purpose of the Holy Spirit is to make Jesus real to us, then it is no wonder that Jesus says the world cannot understand Him – because they cannot understand Jesus.
This is what the Apostle is talking about when he wrote the following words to the Corinthian church…
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. – 1 Corinthians 2:14
It seems to me that our culture is increasingly antagonistic to the truth claims of the Gospel. The name of Jesus is less and less welcome in our schools, our courts, even our homes. We are bombarded daily on every side with messages of secularism, pluralism and materialism. It is not easy to cling to the belief that Jesus Christ is God and that He alone is the way to eternal life. This is why He is called the “Counselor”, because He contradicts all of the false counselors we see and hear in the world everyday, and He counsels us in the way of the One who is the Truth.
Jesus promises us that if we belong to Him, then we have the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth residing in our hearts, and that He will teach us and remind us of Him – Jesus Christ, the one who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
Jeff Frazier
Monday, Oct. 24
For an audio version of this, click here.
Monday
I don’t know what you think about when you hear the term “Holy Spirit”. Perhaps you grew up in a church where you didn’t talk much at all about the Holy Spirit and you were suspicious of anyone who did. Or maybe you grew up in a church that talked a lot about the Holy Spirit and you are completely comfortable with the idea of being filled with or led by the Spirit.
Francis Chan recently wrote a book about the Holy Spirit entitled “Forgotten God”. I don’t know if the Holy Spirit is forgotten or not, but I am convinced he is largely ignored by many Christians today. I think many Christians don’t really know what to think about the Holy Spirit and therefore they don’t think much about him at all.
In order for us to grasp the importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we have to answer the question; just who or what is the Holy Spirit? Is the Holy Spirit a spiritual force that we can tap into, like in the movie Star Wars? Is it just a way of talking about the activity of God? What really do we mean when we talk about the Holy Spirit?
Last week we learned that the primary word for Spirit in the Old Testament is the Hebrew word ‘Ruach’. The word can be translated as breath, wind, or spirit, and it literally means “moving air”.
Genesis 1:2 - Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Genesis 2:7 - the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Job 33:4 - The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
Psalm 33:6 - By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
The OT is full of references to the Spirit of God at work in the lives of His people. However, we really don’t begin to get a complete picture of the identity Holy Spirit is until we come the New Testament.
The H.S. grieves - Ephesians 4:30, And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
The H.S. envies - James 4:5, Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?
The H.S. can be insulted or angered - Hebrews 10:29 , How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
The H.S. loves - Romans 15:30, I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.
The H.S. can be lied to - Acts 5:3, Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?
The H.S. speaks - Acts 13:2, While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
The H.S. has fellowship - 2 Cor. 13:14, May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Clearly the Holy Spirit is not a force or an energy field, nor is it just a symbolic way of talking about the activity of God. The New Testament makes it abundantly clear that the Holy Spirit is a person. It is the 3rd person of the Trinity. It is the divine, personal resident in the heart of every believer. This is not just academic theology, it is incredibly important for those of us who are Christians. When the Bible talks about us being filled by the Spirit or led the by the Spirit, it means that we are filled and led by a person, not by an impersonal force!
Jeff Frazier
Jeff Frazier
Friday, October 21
For an audio version of this, click here.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Years ago my father participated in a ministry at a Kentucky state prison. One of the men who attended the meeting was serving a life sentence for first-degree murder. My father remembers that this fellow was the meanest, most violent-looking man he had ever seen. But to everyone’s shock and amazement, that man responded to the message that day and repented of his sin and gave his life to Christ.
A week later my father and the other ministers went back to that same prison to hold another meeting. This time the same prisoner stood up and told his story. He admitted his crime and his sin and then how, just the week before, he had suddenly realized that Jesus loved him and had died on the cross to pay the penalty for his sin. He said he asked Jesus to save him and give him the gift of eternal life. Then he finished by saying, “You men know the kind of man I have been, and I dare any one of you to say that over this past week I have not been a changed man!” My dad says that no one moved a muscle – for two reasons: First, they were all scared to death of this guy; and, second, what he said was, indeed, true!
This is what Jesus meant when he said:
“Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’” John 3:6
This is what Paul meant when he wrote:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
The Holy Spirit of God; the RUACH of God; the breath, the wind, the word of God is a power that both creates and re-creates! It’s a gale-force wind that blows into the rubble of a broken and twisted life and, rather than destroy, creates something of infinite worth and beauty.
At FBCG we call these “faith-stories” – and I wish I could share the dozens – no, hundreds – of stories I have been privileged to hear and see over the past 25 years! Perhaps none of them are as dramatic as the inmate my father encountered in that prison – but each one is the story of a life made new by the power of God through his Holy Spirit.
Thank God for the gift of new life through faith in Christ; and ask him to empower you by his Holy Spirit to live out this new life in a way that others can see!
Pastor Brian Coffey
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Years ago my father participated in a ministry at a Kentucky state prison. One of the men who attended the meeting was serving a life sentence for first-degree murder. My father remembers that this fellow was the meanest, most violent-looking man he had ever seen. But to everyone’s shock and amazement, that man responded to the message that day and repented of his sin and gave his life to Christ.
A week later my father and the other ministers went back to that same prison to hold another meeting. This time the same prisoner stood up and told his story. He admitted his crime and his sin and then how, just the week before, he had suddenly realized that Jesus loved him and had died on the cross to pay the penalty for his sin. He said he asked Jesus to save him and give him the gift of eternal life. Then he finished by saying, “You men know the kind of man I have been, and I dare any one of you to say that over this past week I have not been a changed man!” My dad says that no one moved a muscle – for two reasons: First, they were all scared to death of this guy; and, second, what he said was, indeed, true!
This is what Jesus meant when he said:
“Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’” John 3:6
This is what Paul meant when he wrote:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
The Holy Spirit of God; the RUACH of God; the breath, the wind, the word of God is a power that both creates and re-creates! It’s a gale-force wind that blows into the rubble of a broken and twisted life and, rather than destroy, creates something of infinite worth and beauty.
At FBCG we call these “faith-stories” – and I wish I could share the dozens – no, hundreds – of stories I have been privileged to hear and see over the past 25 years! Perhaps none of them are as dramatic as the inmate my father encountered in that prison – but each one is the story of a life made new by the power of God through his Holy Spirit.
Thank God for the gift of new life through faith in Christ; and ask him to empower you by his Holy Spirit to live out this new life in a way that others can see!
Pastor Brian Coffey
Thursday, October 20
For an audio version of this, click here.
Ezekiel 37:1-10
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”
So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood on their feet – a vast army.
Have you ever heard of the Chinchorro people of ancient South America? I didn’t think so – most people haven’t. I only know about them because I was watching the History Channel one day a number of years while riding a stationary bike at my fitness center when they ran a piece on this ancient group of people.
The Chinchorro lived between 5,000 and 3,000 B.C. in the region or South America that, today, is Chile and Peru. They were a typical ancient sea-side culture of the time – except for one thing. They made mummies. They developed an amazingly effective technique of basically drying out and then stuffing the remains of their deceased loved ones in a way that preserved them for centuries. But what makes the Chinchorro people unique among the mummy-making cultures of the ancient world is that it appears they kept the mummies of loved ones in their homes - sometimes for decades - before finally burying them!
Some of you may argue that you’ve lived with a mummified relative for years – but the Chinchorro people did it not in a metaphorical sense – but in a literal sense! This truth is - mummy may sit there for year after year – but lacks the power, the life, to actually do anything!
So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
But God does not intend for his people – people into whom he has breathed his new life – to be the spiritual equivalent of mummies! The prophet continues:
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood on their feet – a vast army.
Throughout the Old Testament we see the Spirit of God empowering people for some significant purpose or to accomplish some specific task. Over and over again, with figures like Moses, Gideon and David, we see the phrase, “and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him…” – and through the power of God’s Holy Spirit, these men led God’s people and accomplished God’s purposes.
In the New Testament many scholars see a subtle but significant shift in the activity of the Holy Spirit. Rather than “coming upon” certain leaders for specific purposes, we see that the Holy Spirit now indwells every believer through faith.
Paul says it this way:
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Ephesians 3:16-17
This means that God has made his power available to each one of us through his Holy Spirit dwelling within us. We can only assume that he has called us to new life; that he has invested his Spirit and his power in us; so that we might become his “vast army” to accomplish his purposes in the world.
Again, the words of Paul:
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7
Ask God to show you how he wants to use you to accomplish his purposes – in your life, in the church and in the world.
Pastor Brian Coffey
Wednesday, October 19
For an audio version of this, click here.
Ezekiel 37:1-10
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
Several years ago I was part of a team from FBCG that visited Russia to share ministry with “Transfiguration Baptist Church” – then our “sister church” - in a city called Samara. As part of the trip we were able to make a quick visit to Moscow for some sightseeing, including the opportunity to see Lenin’s Tomb in Red Square.
Now if you have ever visited Lenin’s Tomb you know that the highlight of the visit is not Lenin’s tomb – but Lenin himself! The tomb is small building – kind of like a small museum. But the centerpiece of the tomb is a glass coffin that contains the perfectly preserved body of Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. I remember recognizing immediately the bald head and pointy goatee from photos I had seen in history books. It was a little creepy, but I had to admit that he looked pretty good for a guy who had been dead for 70 years!
But, the truth is, he was still dead.
Read the word of the prophet Ezekiel again:
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” Ezekiel 37:1-10
The prophet is using a spiritual metaphor here, but his words prompt us to ask, “What kind of power makes a dead man live again?” “What kind of power causes a lifeless body to breathe again?”
In the New Testament we read:
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:4
The death being talked about here is spiritual death, and the life that is promised is spiritual life. The Bible teaches that spiritual death is caused by sin, and that because we all have sinned, we are all just as dead as Lenin’s corpse, spiritually speaking. We may look good on the outside – but we are spiritually dead nonetheless. The Bible also teaches that the only way for the spiritually dead to live again is through the breath, the wind, the power of God – which is available to us through faith in Jesus Christ.
By his own death and resurrection Jesus conquered the power of sin and made available to each one of us his life-giving Spirit. Paul writes:
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because though Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2
We can no more make ourselves spiritually alive than Lenin can resuscitate himself and climb out of that glass casket! We can no more forgive our own sin than a breathless body can give herself CPR! Only God can make that which is spiritually dead spiritually alive again. Have you recognized your need for his new life? Have you asked Jesus for his forgiveness and invited him to live in your heart through the Holy Spirit?
If so, thank him for the new life he has given and the eternal life he has promised! If you haven’t yet surrendered your heart to the life-giving power of Jesus – you can do so today!
Pastor Brian Coffey
Ezekiel 37:1-10
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
Several years ago I was part of a team from FBCG that visited Russia to share ministry with “Transfiguration Baptist Church” – then our “sister church” - in a city called Samara. As part of the trip we were able to make a quick visit to Moscow for some sightseeing, including the opportunity to see Lenin’s Tomb in Red Square.
Now if you have ever visited Lenin’s Tomb you know that the highlight of the visit is not Lenin’s tomb – but Lenin himself! The tomb is small building – kind of like a small museum. But the centerpiece of the tomb is a glass coffin that contains the perfectly preserved body of Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. I remember recognizing immediately the bald head and pointy goatee from photos I had seen in history books. It was a little creepy, but I had to admit that he looked pretty good for a guy who had been dead for 70 years!
But, the truth is, he was still dead.
Read the word of the prophet Ezekiel again:
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” Ezekiel 37:1-10
The prophet is using a spiritual metaphor here, but his words prompt us to ask, “What kind of power makes a dead man live again?” “What kind of power causes a lifeless body to breathe again?”
In the New Testament we read:
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:4
The death being talked about here is spiritual death, and the life that is promised is spiritual life. The Bible teaches that spiritual death is caused by sin, and that because we all have sinned, we are all just as dead as Lenin’s corpse, spiritually speaking. We may look good on the outside – but we are spiritually dead nonetheless. The Bible also teaches that the only way for the spiritually dead to live again is through the breath, the wind, the power of God – which is available to us through faith in Jesus Christ.
By his own death and resurrection Jesus conquered the power of sin and made available to each one of us his life-giving Spirit. Paul writes:
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because though Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2
We can no more make ourselves spiritually alive than Lenin can resuscitate himself and climb out of that glass casket! We can no more forgive our own sin than a breathless body can give herself CPR! Only God can make that which is spiritually dead spiritually alive again. Have you recognized your need for his new life? Have you asked Jesus for his forgiveness and invited him to live in your heart through the Holy Spirit?
If so, thank him for the new life he has given and the eternal life he has promised! If you haven’t yet surrendered your heart to the life-giving power of Jesus – you can do so today!
Pastor Brian Coffey
Tuesday, October 18
For an audio version of this, click here.
Acts 2:1-4
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what appeared to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
A couple of months ago – back in July – an unusually powerful storm from blew in from the west one morning. The storm was remarkable to me for two reasons; first, because it hit in at around 8:00 in the morning (which seems to me to be an unusual time for a summer storm to hit); and second, for what it did to one of the trees in our yard.
The morning was stormy to begin with – but then right around 8 am the wind really started to blow. Within a few seconds, it seemed, the wind was strong enough to make the table and chairs on our deck – and even the grill – begin to shake and dance. It felt like the back of our house was actually vibrating with the force of the wind. It was the kind of wind that you can hear – like a roar. My instinct was to tell everyone to get in the basement and take cover. Then, just as quickly, the worst of it seemed to pass.
I walked out onto our front porch and noticed what looked like a large tree branch lying in the middle of our driveway. I thought to myself, “That’s weird – I wonder where that came from?” Then I looked toward my left – and noticed that the tree at the corner of our porch – was gone. At least the top half of the tree was gone – snapped right in half. I realized that what was lying in my driveway was actually the top half of our tree!
We had that tree planted when our home was built over 8 years ago. It was about 20 feet tall and had a trunk about 8 inches thick – and that wind snapped that tree in half like it was a matchstick. When I tried to drag the top of the tree out of my driveway – it was so heavy I couldn’t budge it an inch. I remember thinking to myself, “What kind of power can do that?” Then, just as quickly, I realized I had only seen a fraction of what folks living in Missouri or New Orleans or the Bahamas have seen.
The power of that wind makes me think of the RUACH of God - the wind, the Holy Spirit of God. Only, instead of bringing destruction, the wind of God brings something miraculous!
Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what appeared to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Imagine a tornado ripping through a junk yard and leaving in its wake a new car lot! Imagine a hurricane howling over an impoverished island and, instead of wreaking devastation, leaving a beautiful resort city! That’s what we see here! A small group of confused and somewhat uncertain followers of Jesus are gathered together in one house when the wind of God – the Holy Spirit – descends like “the blowing of a violent wind” from heaven. The result is not destruction, but the creation of the church of Jesus Christ! More than that, the Holy Spirit of God blew through and filled the hearts of individual followers of Jesus so that they were empowered to bear witness to him in ways they had never imagined.
If you have put your faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit is not only available to you today – but lives within you. The Apostle Paul wrote:
Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit… Ephesians 1:13
Did you know the power of God through the Holy Spirit dwells within you? Have you experienced the “wind of God” in your life? Can you see evidence of the Spirit’s power to create change? Take time this week to quiet yourself and listen intently for rustling of the wind of God in your heart!
Pastor Brian Coffey
Acts 2:1-4
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what appeared to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
A couple of months ago – back in July – an unusually powerful storm from blew in from the west one morning. The storm was remarkable to me for two reasons; first, because it hit in at around 8:00 in the morning (which seems to me to be an unusual time for a summer storm to hit); and second, for what it did to one of the trees in our yard.
The morning was stormy to begin with – but then right around 8 am the wind really started to blow. Within a few seconds, it seemed, the wind was strong enough to make the table and chairs on our deck – and even the grill – begin to shake and dance. It felt like the back of our house was actually vibrating with the force of the wind. It was the kind of wind that you can hear – like a roar. My instinct was to tell everyone to get in the basement and take cover. Then, just as quickly, the worst of it seemed to pass.
I walked out onto our front porch and noticed what looked like a large tree branch lying in the middle of our driveway. I thought to myself, “That’s weird – I wonder where that came from?” Then I looked toward my left – and noticed that the tree at the corner of our porch – was gone. At least the top half of the tree was gone – snapped right in half. I realized that what was lying in my driveway was actually the top half of our tree!
We had that tree planted when our home was built over 8 years ago. It was about 20 feet tall and had a trunk about 8 inches thick – and that wind snapped that tree in half like it was a matchstick. When I tried to drag the top of the tree out of my driveway – it was so heavy I couldn’t budge it an inch. I remember thinking to myself, “What kind of power can do that?” Then, just as quickly, I realized I had only seen a fraction of what folks living in Missouri or New Orleans or the Bahamas have seen.
The power of that wind makes me think of the RUACH of God - the wind, the Holy Spirit of God. Only, instead of bringing destruction, the wind of God brings something miraculous!
Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what appeared to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Imagine a tornado ripping through a junk yard and leaving in its wake a new car lot! Imagine a hurricane howling over an impoverished island and, instead of wreaking devastation, leaving a beautiful resort city! That’s what we see here! A small group of confused and somewhat uncertain followers of Jesus are gathered together in one house when the wind of God – the Holy Spirit – descends like “the blowing of a violent wind” from heaven. The result is not destruction, but the creation of the church of Jesus Christ! More than that, the Holy Spirit of God blew through and filled the hearts of individual followers of Jesus so that they were empowered to bear witness to him in ways they had never imagined.
If you have put your faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit is not only available to you today – but lives within you. The Apostle Paul wrote:
Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit… Ephesians 1:13
Did you know the power of God through the Holy Spirit dwells within you? Have you experienced the “wind of God” in your life? Can you see evidence of the Spirit’s power to create change? Take time this week to quiet yourself and listen intently for rustling of the wind of God in your heart!
Pastor Brian Coffey
Monday, October 17
For an audio version of this, click here.
Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Psalm 33:6
By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
Way back in 1982 I traveled to China as a member of a Christian basketball team sponsored by a ministry called “Sports Ambassadors.” The purpose of the trip was to bring a Christian witness through the friendship and competition created by sports.
Besides playing against the largest athlete in the world at that time – a 7’7”, 400 pound mountain of a man appropriately named “Mu” – and besides finding ways to avoid eating a local delicacy, also appropriately named, “thousand year old eggs” (you don’t want to know!) – one of the experiences I remember most was a conversation with a young Egyptian grad-student.
We sat in the hallway of our Beijing hotel until 2 or 3 am discussing our respective faiths, Christianity and Islam. When I talked about God, he talked about Allah. When I talked about Jesus, he talked about the prophet Mohammed – and mentioned that where Jesus left no writings behind, Mohammed left extensive written material. When I talked about the Bible, he talked about the Koran – which he claimed was not written by many different authors in many languages (as was the Bible) but rather by one single author. When I talked about salvation by faith in Christ, he talked about the “five pillars of Islam” – a kind of system of religious rules to live by – praying 5 times a day, the fast of Ramadan, pilgrimage to Mecca, giving to the poor and so forth.
But then when I asked him how a Muslim could know with certainty he or she would receive salvation, he said simply, “We hope we have done well enough and Allah is pleased.” I countered with something like, “As Christians we know through faith in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and the assurance of the Holy Spirit …” He looked up at me and said, “Holy Spirit? What’s that?” After I did the best I could to explain, he shook his head slightly and said, “No, we have nothing like that in Islam.”
Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Psalm 33:6
By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
Way back in 1982 I traveled to China as a member of a Christian basketball team sponsored by a ministry called “Sports Ambassadors.” The purpose of the trip was to bring a Christian witness through the friendship and competition created by sports.
Besides playing against the largest athlete in the world at that time – a 7’7”, 400 pound mountain of a man appropriately named “Mu” – and besides finding ways to avoid eating a local delicacy, also appropriately named, “thousand year old eggs” (you don’t want to know!) – one of the experiences I remember most was a conversation with a young Egyptian grad-student.
We sat in the hallway of our Beijing hotel until 2 or 3 am discussing our respective faiths, Christianity and Islam. When I talked about God, he talked about Allah. When I talked about Jesus, he talked about the prophet Mohammed – and mentioned that where Jesus left no writings behind, Mohammed left extensive written material. When I talked about the Bible, he talked about the Koran – which he claimed was not written by many different authors in many languages (as was the Bible) but rather by one single author. When I talked about salvation by faith in Christ, he talked about the “five pillars of Islam” – a kind of system of religious rules to live by – praying 5 times a day, the fast of Ramadan, pilgrimage to Mecca, giving to the poor and so forth.
But then when I asked him how a Muslim could know with certainty he or she would receive salvation, he said simply, “We hope we have done well enough and Allah is pleased.” I countered with something like, “As Christians we know through faith in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and the assurance of the Holy Spirit …” He looked up at me and said, “Holy Spirit? What’s that?” After I did the best I could to explain, he shook his head slightly and said, “No, we have nothing like that in Islam.”
The Holy Spirit is arguably the most mysterious and difficult to understand part of the Christian faith. The Bible clearly teaches that God exists eternally in three “persons”; God the Father; God the Son, Jesus Christ; and God the Holy Spirit. We usually think of God the Father as the creator of all things; we know Jesus as God incarnate, who was born, died and rose again from the dead to bring salvation to the world; but who is the Holy Spirit and what does the Holy Spirit do?
The Hebrew word most often used for the Spirit of God in the Old Testament is “RUACH” – and it carries a root meaning of breath or wind. The Greek word used in the New Testament is “PNEUMA” – also carrying the meaning of breath or wind. Jesus described the Spirit in this way:
“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” John 3:8
In other words, the Holy Spirit of God is like wind in that we can see and hear the result of the wind – but we cannot see or fully understand the wind itself. Notice that the whole Bible begins with a description of the activity and power of the Spirit of God:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Genesis 1:1-2
The ancient writer of the Psalms says simply:
By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
As we study God’s word in the coming weeks we will learn about the person, work and life of the Holy Spirit - but our understanding of the Holy Spirit begins with the truth that the Spirit is the very breath, word and power of God that created the universe and is now present to each one of us by faith.
Thank God for the gift of his Spirit, and ask him to make you more and more aware of the presence and power of the Spirit in your life.
Pastor Brian Coffey
The Hebrew word most often used for the Spirit of God in the Old Testament is “RUACH” – and it carries a root meaning of breath or wind. The Greek word used in the New Testament is “PNEUMA” – also carrying the meaning of breath or wind. Jesus described the Spirit in this way:
“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” John 3:8
In other words, the Holy Spirit of God is like wind in that we can see and hear the result of the wind – but we cannot see or fully understand the wind itself. Notice that the whole Bible begins with a description of the activity and power of the Spirit of God:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Genesis 1:1-2
The ancient writer of the Psalms says simply:
By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
As we study God’s word in the coming weeks we will learn about the person, work and life of the Holy Spirit - but our understanding of the Holy Spirit begins with the truth that the Spirit is the very breath, word and power of God that created the universe and is now present to each one of us by faith.
Thank God for the gift of his Spirit, and ask him to make you more and more aware of the presence and power of the Spirit in your life.
Pastor Brian Coffey
Friday, October 14
For an audio version of this, click here.
2 Corinthians 9:6-11
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
As it is written,
“He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”
Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
One of the quiet ministries of FBCG is something we call “Compassion in Action” – or “C.I.A.” for short. C.I.A. is the side of our compassion ministries that helps people from the surrounding community who are not formally connected to FBCG. Completely funded by the generosity of the FBCG congregation, C.I.A. offers over $50,000 of help each year – for everything from rent to medical care to counseling to gas and electric bills.
A few weeks ago the woman who oversees the C.I.A. ministry of FBCG, Erin Wise, shared a story with me. One of the ways FBCG helps those in need is through gift cards from Meijer (a large local store that sells everything from groceries to gas), and people from the FBCG congregation regularly donate Meijer cards, or money to purchase Meijer cards, to be given to families or individuals in need. A few weeks ago, Erin said she went to Meijer to purchase some of these cards when she ran into a person that the C.I.A. ministry has helped over the past year due to some severe health issues. But this day, that person was helping an elderly woman get some groceries. During their brief conversation, Erin learned the elderly woman and her husband were destitute and Erin felt God nudging her to give her some Meijer gift cards. When she did, she said the woman’s face lit up like she had just won the lottery.
But the story wasn’t over. When Erin returned to her office at FBCG she received an email from the person who was helping the older woman. It turns out that the gift cards had sparked a conversation about the goodness and grace of God; which led to an explanation of God’s love and forgiveness and an 89 year old woman had a chance to understand the gospel for perhaps the first time!
Do you see the ripple effect of generosity? You (the congregation of FBCG) give generously; your gifts become the C.I.A. ministry and Meijer gift cards; those cards become encouragement to a person struggling with illness; that person reaches out to help a poor elderly woman; and that becomes an opportunity to share the gospel! This is what the apostle Paul meant when he wrote:
You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
What can you give this week that God could use to create a ripple effect of generosity? Maybe you can write a check; maybe you can give a vehicle; maybe you can give away all the clothes in your closet you haven’t worn in two years; maybe it will be something far more creative and far more generous than any of these. The point is – we serve a generous God who calls us to generous living because he can use our generosity to produce ripple effects that can do more than we can ever imagine.
Pastor Brian Coffey
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
As it is written,
“He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”
Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
One of the quiet ministries of FBCG is something we call “Compassion in Action” – or “C.I.A.” for short. C.I.A. is the side of our compassion ministries that helps people from the surrounding community who are not formally connected to FBCG. Completely funded by the generosity of the FBCG congregation, C.I.A. offers over $50,000 of help each year – for everything from rent to medical care to counseling to gas and electric bills.
A few weeks ago the woman who oversees the C.I.A. ministry of FBCG, Erin Wise, shared a story with me. One of the ways FBCG helps those in need is through gift cards from Meijer (a large local store that sells everything from groceries to gas), and people from the FBCG congregation regularly donate Meijer cards, or money to purchase Meijer cards, to be given to families or individuals in need. A few weeks ago, Erin said she went to Meijer to purchase some of these cards when she ran into a person that the C.I.A. ministry has helped over the past year due to some severe health issues. But this day, that person was helping an elderly woman get some groceries. During their brief conversation, Erin learned the elderly woman and her husband were destitute and Erin felt God nudging her to give her some Meijer gift cards. When she did, she said the woman’s face lit up like she had just won the lottery.
But the story wasn’t over. When Erin returned to her office at FBCG she received an email from the person who was helping the older woman. It turns out that the gift cards had sparked a conversation about the goodness and grace of God; which led to an explanation of God’s love and forgiveness and an 89 year old woman had a chance to understand the gospel for perhaps the first time!
Do you see the ripple effect of generosity? You (the congregation of FBCG) give generously; your gifts become the C.I.A. ministry and Meijer gift cards; those cards become encouragement to a person struggling with illness; that person reaches out to help a poor elderly woman; and that becomes an opportunity to share the gospel! This is what the apostle Paul meant when he wrote:
You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
What can you give this week that God could use to create a ripple effect of generosity? Maybe you can write a check; maybe you can give a vehicle; maybe you can give away all the clothes in your closet you haven’t worn in two years; maybe it will be something far more creative and far more generous than any of these. The point is – we serve a generous God who calls us to generous living because he can use our generosity to produce ripple effects that can do more than we can ever imagine.
Pastor Brian Coffey
Thursday, October 13
For an audio version of this, click here.
2 Corinthians 9:6-8
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
For the first five years of our marriage I kept the checkbook. But accounting really wasn’t my strongest suit, so I just managed the checkbook the same way I had as a single guy – I estimated. Yep, that’s right, I estimated. When I wrote a check I simply rounded it off to the nearest dollar in my records – and figured it would all come out even in the end. And when I received our monthly bank statements – I didn’t bother looking at them – I simply stacked them neatly, and unopened, in a box. For some reason, five years or so into our marriage, my wife needed to know something that required her to open one of our bank statements. She ended up going through all five years of unopened statements and discovered that we had $700 of interest in our account that neither of us knew about! I told her, “See, my system works!” But from that day on, my wife handled our checkbook!
Now, even though it was completely accidental, that story does illustrate what could be called “The law of the harvest.” The law of the harvest is, simply put, “you reap what you sow.” It’s a law that every farmer knows. You sow corn, you reap corn. You sow a lot of corn, you reap a lot of corn. The law of the harvest tells us that you can’t sow corn and expect soy beans. Neither can you sow a few seeds of corn and expect to reap a bumper crop. It just doesn’t work that way.
The same is true in our personal and spiritual lives. If we sow kindness and love, we tend to reap kindness and love. If we sow financial discipline we tend to reap financial security. And, as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, if we sow generosity we tend to reap God’s generous blessing.
Most of us have some kind of “investment strategy.” We may invest in retirement funds; we might invest in college funds for our children; we might even invest in the stock market – but most of us invest in something. We do so because we believe in the law of the harvest. We invest our resources in all these different ways because we believe that our investments will grow over time – and that the more we invest, the more we will eventually receive.
But do we think of generosity as an investment? If I am honest with myself – there are times when I think of generosity as a kind of “loss” rather than an investment. When I give money or other material resources, I am tempted to see my gift as a loss that I will never get back. But God is trying to teach me – and us – to see that the exact opposite is true. It is when we hold tightly to what we see as our money and resources that we actually forfeit his blessing; and it is when we give generously that we guarantee ourselves an abundant return!
Read these verses again:
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
God has promised to bless our generosity with his abundance. Are you willing to trust his promise? Ask him to teach you to sow more generously that you may experience his grace and abundance!
Pastor Brian Coffey
2 Corinthians 9:6-8
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
For the first five years of our marriage I kept the checkbook. But accounting really wasn’t my strongest suit, so I just managed the checkbook the same way I had as a single guy – I estimated. Yep, that’s right, I estimated. When I wrote a check I simply rounded it off to the nearest dollar in my records – and figured it would all come out even in the end. And when I received our monthly bank statements – I didn’t bother looking at them – I simply stacked them neatly, and unopened, in a box. For some reason, five years or so into our marriage, my wife needed to know something that required her to open one of our bank statements. She ended up going through all five years of unopened statements and discovered that we had $700 of interest in our account that neither of us knew about! I told her, “See, my system works!” But from that day on, my wife handled our checkbook!
Now, even though it was completely accidental, that story does illustrate what could be called “The law of the harvest.” The law of the harvest is, simply put, “you reap what you sow.” It’s a law that every farmer knows. You sow corn, you reap corn. You sow a lot of corn, you reap a lot of corn. The law of the harvest tells us that you can’t sow corn and expect soy beans. Neither can you sow a few seeds of corn and expect to reap a bumper crop. It just doesn’t work that way.
The same is true in our personal and spiritual lives. If we sow kindness and love, we tend to reap kindness and love. If we sow financial discipline we tend to reap financial security. And, as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, if we sow generosity we tend to reap God’s generous blessing.
Most of us have some kind of “investment strategy.” We may invest in retirement funds; we might invest in college funds for our children; we might even invest in the stock market – but most of us invest in something. We do so because we believe in the law of the harvest. We invest our resources in all these different ways because we believe that our investments will grow over time – and that the more we invest, the more we will eventually receive.
But do we think of generosity as an investment? If I am honest with myself – there are times when I think of generosity as a kind of “loss” rather than an investment. When I give money or other material resources, I am tempted to see my gift as a loss that I will never get back. But God is trying to teach me – and us – to see that the exact opposite is true. It is when we hold tightly to what we see as our money and resources that we actually forfeit his blessing; and it is when we give generously that we guarantee ourselves an abundant return!
Read these verses again:
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
God has promised to bless our generosity with his abundance. Are you willing to trust his promise? Ask him to teach you to sow more generously that you may experience his grace and abundance!
Pastor Brian Coffey
Wednesday, October 12
For an audio version of this, click here.
Acts 4:32-37
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all, there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Acts 4:32-37
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all, there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
There’s an old story about a young girl who needed a kidney transplant. I don’t know if the story is an actual true-life story – or a kind of parable – but in either case it makes a point. As the story goes, the girl had a big brother – the boy was only about 12 years old – who was a perfect match for her. Doctors were hesitant to take the little boy’s kidney at such a young age, but the situation was desperate. The family agreed to the procedure and the boy was prepped for the surgery. Just before putting him under anesthesia, the doctor gave the boy some final words of encouragement, and the boy responded with a question, “So,” he said, “when do I die?”
Somehow in all the explanations of what it meant to donate one of his kidneys to his little sister, the boy had misunderstood. He thought that in the process of giving his kidney – he would also be giving his life – and he was willing to do so out of love for his sister.
It’s hard not to be touched by the sacrificial generosity of that little boy, whether the story is fictional or real. We are always moved by gifts motivated by genuine love.
And so it is with the generosity of God. Read the famous words of John 3:16 again – this time from the perspective of generosity:
Somehow in all the explanations of what it meant to donate one of his kidneys to his little sister, the boy had misunderstood. He thought that in the process of giving his kidney – he would also be giving his life – and he was willing to do so out of love for his sister.
It’s hard not to be touched by the sacrificial generosity of that little boy, whether the story is fictional or real. We are always moved by gifts motivated by genuine love.
And so it is with the generosity of God. Read the famous words of John 3:16 again – this time from the perspective of generosity:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
I have known this verse probably since I was five years old. But only recently have I noticed the little four letter word that almost goes unnoticed among all the other more “theological” words. I typically focused on words like “God,” “Son,” “believes,” and “eternal life” – and rightfully so. But it is the simple word “gave” that gives this verse such power.
I have known this verse probably since I was five years old. But only recently have I noticed the little four letter word that almost goes unnoticed among all the other more “theological” words. I typically focused on words like “God,” “Son,” “believes,” and “eternal life” – and rightfully so. But it is the simple word “gave” that gives this verse such power.
To give something requires an intentional decision. To give something of value requires both love and a willingness to sacrifice. This verse tells us that in Jesus God gave a gift of intentionality; in Jesus he gave a gift of great love; and in Jesus he gave a gift of ultimate sacrifice. This verse tells us that God is, at his very heart, generous beyond imagining.
I think that’s why – in the midst of the description of the early believer’s sharing and generosity – we read:
With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all…
That tells me the fuel of their generosity was the story of Jesus – the great generosity of God!
Ask God to remind you often of his greatest gift and to cause your generosity to grow in response to his!
Pastor Brian Coffey
I think that’s why – in the midst of the description of the early believer’s sharing and generosity – we read:
With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all…
That tells me the fuel of their generosity was the story of Jesus – the great generosity of God!
Ask God to remind you often of his greatest gift and to cause your generosity to grow in response to his!
Pastor Brian Coffey
Tuesday, October 11
For an audio version of this, click here.
Acts 4:32-37
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all, there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
Psalm 24:1
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.
I recently read a story about a celebrity movie star who bought his own island. For a mere $15 million, he purchased an island called “Mago” in the Fiji chain of islands in the South Pacific. It turns out, however, that there is a tribe of 500 native Fijians who believe the island actually belongs to them because their ancestors lived there before being forced off the island. The movie star now faces a possible lawsuit challenging his ownership of the island.
Now, I have never had the desire to own my own island, but I do know what it is to think of things as “mine.” I live in “my house,” drive “my car,” watch “my T.V.,” and spend “my money.” My guess is that one of the first words we learn to say as children is “mine!”
Notice what scripture says about the earliest Christians:
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had.
“No one claimed any of his possessions were his own.” Now that’s an amazing statement! It’s hard to imagine a more counter-cultural notion in our modern world. From the time we are old enough to speak we are taught to think in terms of “ownership.”
This toy is yours; that toy is not yours.
This is our yard; that is their yard.
We are taught, and rightly so, to protect what is ours and to respect what belongs to others. But the notion of ownership is often quickly followed by materialism, selfishness, and fear. When we begin to own things, we tend to want more things. When we own things, we begin to fear losing our things. And sometimes the more we own the less we want to share.
But what if we were able to see our “stuff” through the eyes of the ancient writer of Psalm 24:
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it…
Acts 4:32-37
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all, there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
Psalm 24:1
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.
I recently read a story about a celebrity movie star who bought his own island. For a mere $15 million, he purchased an island called “Mago” in the Fiji chain of islands in the South Pacific. It turns out, however, that there is a tribe of 500 native Fijians who believe the island actually belongs to them because their ancestors lived there before being forced off the island. The movie star now faces a possible lawsuit challenging his ownership of the island.
Now, I have never had the desire to own my own island, but I do know what it is to think of things as “mine.” I live in “my house,” drive “my car,” watch “my T.V.,” and spend “my money.” My guess is that one of the first words we learn to say as children is “mine!”
Notice what scripture says about the earliest Christians:
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had.
“No one claimed any of his possessions were his own.” Now that’s an amazing statement! It’s hard to imagine a more counter-cultural notion in our modern world. From the time we are old enough to speak we are taught to think in terms of “ownership.”
This toy is yours; that toy is not yours.
This is our yard; that is their yard.
We are taught, and rightly so, to protect what is ours and to respect what belongs to others. But the notion of ownership is often quickly followed by materialism, selfishness, and fear. When we begin to own things, we tend to want more things. When we own things, we begin to fear losing our things. And sometimes the more we own the less we want to share.
But what if we were able to see our “stuff” through the eyes of the ancient writer of Psalm 24:
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it…
What if we understood that everything we have – we have on loan from God himself. What if we thought of ourselves not as owners of our own property – but as stewards of God’s property? Would that change the way we think about our stuff? Would it increase or decrease our generosity? And what would the “ripple effect” be in the world around us?
We see a hint in the Book of Acts:
With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all, there were no needy persons among them.
Imagine! Ask God to help you to see ownership through his eyes; and ask him to make you more and more willing to share that which belongs to him!
Pastor Brian Coffey
We see a hint in the Book of Acts:
With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all, there were no needy persons among them.
Imagine! Ask God to help you to see ownership through his eyes; and ask him to make you more and more willing to share that which belongs to him!
Pastor Brian Coffey
Monday, October 10
For an audio version of this, click here.
Acts 4:32-37
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all, there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.
Several years ago our family attended a 4th of July parade while visiting family in North Dakota. It was a typical small town parade, complete with fire trucks, farm machines, high school bands, pick-up truck floats and people tossing bucket-fulls of candy to the children who lined the streets. The results were predictable! Children screamed, “Here! Here! Throw it to me! Candy! Candy!” A kind of “candy frenzy” developed with kids scurrying along the curb to pick up as much loose candy as they could get their hands on. They stuffed tootsie rolls into their plastic bags like they were $100 bills!
Amidst all this joyful chaos I noticed one little girl who was sitting on the curb with an empty bag. As I watched, it became apparent that she was just too shy and timid to get out there and fight the other kids for candy. Even when it was tossed in her direction, other kids would run out and snatch it up before she could bring herself to reach out for it.
Then, just as I was thinking to myself, “Well, that’s kind of sad, but it is the way the world is – you snooze, you lose!” I saw something I have not forgotten since. Another young boy – about 10 years old – approached the little girl with his bag of candy. He reached into his own bag and took out a handful of his own hard-earned candy – and dropped it right in front of the little girl so that she could pick it up and put it in her own empty bag.
In all the fun and grabbing for candy, he also had noticed this little girl – a complete stranger - and responded with an extraordinary expression of generosity.
As I read the account of the earliest believers in the Book of Acts, I realize that what I witnessed at that parade was the same kind of generosity that allowed the church to survive.
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all, there were no needy persons among them.
Notice the connection between generosity and grace. There were no needy persons among them because they shared whatever they had; and they shared whatever they had because “much grace was upon them all.” The root meaning of the word “grace” is “gift” – and even more specifically an “undeserved gift.” So the early followers of Jesus were generous because they understood that they were already the recipients of God’s grace.
Just as that young boy at the parade was generous because he knew that the candy in his bag was grace - a gift - so also we become generous when we understand and experience the grace of God in our lives.
Thank God for the undeserved grace of his gift to you and ask him to use his grace to grow his generosity in your heart.
Pastor Brian Coffey
Acts 4:32-37
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all, there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.
Several years ago our family attended a 4th of July parade while visiting family in North Dakota. It was a typical small town parade, complete with fire trucks, farm machines, high school bands, pick-up truck floats and people tossing bucket-fulls of candy to the children who lined the streets. The results were predictable! Children screamed, “Here! Here! Throw it to me! Candy! Candy!” A kind of “candy frenzy” developed with kids scurrying along the curb to pick up as much loose candy as they could get their hands on. They stuffed tootsie rolls into their plastic bags like they were $100 bills!
Amidst all this joyful chaos I noticed one little girl who was sitting on the curb with an empty bag. As I watched, it became apparent that she was just too shy and timid to get out there and fight the other kids for candy. Even when it was tossed in her direction, other kids would run out and snatch it up before she could bring herself to reach out for it.
Then, just as I was thinking to myself, “Well, that’s kind of sad, but it is the way the world is – you snooze, you lose!” I saw something I have not forgotten since. Another young boy – about 10 years old – approached the little girl with his bag of candy. He reached into his own bag and took out a handful of his own hard-earned candy – and dropped it right in front of the little girl so that she could pick it up and put it in her own empty bag.
In all the fun and grabbing for candy, he also had noticed this little girl – a complete stranger - and responded with an extraordinary expression of generosity.
As I read the account of the earliest believers in the Book of Acts, I realize that what I witnessed at that parade was the same kind of generosity that allowed the church to survive.
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all, there were no needy persons among them.
Notice the connection between generosity and grace. There were no needy persons among them because they shared whatever they had; and they shared whatever they had because “much grace was upon them all.” The root meaning of the word “grace” is “gift” – and even more specifically an “undeserved gift.” So the early followers of Jesus were generous because they understood that they were already the recipients of God’s grace.
Just as that young boy at the parade was generous because he knew that the candy in his bag was grace - a gift - so also we become generous when we understand and experience the grace of God in our lives.
Thank God for the undeserved grace of his gift to you and ask him to use his grace to grow his generosity in your heart.
Pastor Brian Coffey
Friday, October 7
For an audio version of this, click here.
That phrase “ever-widening circles” sounds a lot like "ripple effect" doesn't it? This is the ultimate goal of all Christian service, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ would expand out into the world in ever-widdening circles!
Jeff Frazier
Friday
This week we have been examining the role of serving in the life of the early church. It is clear to anyone who reads the first few chapters of the book of Acts that these early Christians were remarkably compassionate and willing to sacrifice in order to serve those around them. It is also clear that this is one of the qualities of the early church that God used to make such a significant and lasting ripple effect in the world.
However, we have to admit that Christianity is not the only world religion or faith system that teaches the value of serving others. In fact just about every major world religion teaches that we should do good to others and care for the poor. Even atheists, those who do not believe in any God at all, will sacrifice for the good of others. We have to admit that Christianity does not have exclusive claim to the practice of service to others. So, what makes Christian service so unique? What distinguishes Christian service from any other kind of service or humanitarian efforts?
Elizabeth Elliott tells the story of an African legend about Jesus. Understand, it is not in the Bible. It is only a legend. But I there is a strong lesson here for all of us about what it means to serve in the name of Jesus.
"One day Jesus said to his disciples: "I'd like you to carry a stone for Me." He didn't give any explanation. So the disciples looked around for a stone to carry, and Peter, being the practical sort, sought out the smallest stone he could possibly find. After all, Jesus didn't give any regulations for weights and size! So he put it in his pocket. Jesus then said: "Follow me." He led them on a journey. About noontime Jesus had everyone sit down. He waved his hands and all the stones turned to bread. He said, "Now it's time for lunch." In a few seconds, Peter's lunch was over. When lunch was done Jesus told them to stand up. He said again, "I'd like you to carry a stone for Me." This time Peter said, "Aha! Now I get it!" So he looked around and saw a small boulder. He hoisted it on his back and it was painful, it made him stagger. But he said, "I can't wait for supper." Jesus then said: "Follow Me." He led them on a journey, with Peter barely being able to keep up. Around supper time Jesus led them to the side of a river. He said, "Now everyone throw your stones into the water." They did. The he said, "Follow Me," and began to walk. Peter and the others looked at hi dumbfounded. Jesus sighed and said, "Don't you remember what I asked you to do? Who were you carrying the stone for?"
The difference between Christian service and any other kind of service may not be in the act of service itself, but in whose name and for whose sake the service is done.
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? - James 2:15-16
James has a good point here doesn’t he? But for the Christian, this principle works the other way around as well. Think about it, what good would it do for us to feed, clothe, visit and care for those in need, and never tell them Why? We might succeed in keeping a person from starving physically, but what about the hunger in their soul? Ultimately what good is it if we keep a few more people from going hungry, but we do not tell them about the one who said that He is the “Bread of Life”? Christian service does not involve less than meeting the physical needs of others, but it always involves more – because it is done in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ!
Listen to how Acts describes the results of the compassion and service of the early church.
God’s message was preached in ever-widening circles. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too. – Acts 6:7 NLT
Jeff Frazier
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