Friday, July 31st

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Friday

But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.  He prayed to the LORD,  “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.   Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”   - Jonah 4:1-3

For the second time in this story, Jonah prays.  In the first part (Jonah 2) he prays when he's desperate, when he's in the belly of the fish, in the depths of the sea, and it looks like he's going to die, and he wants to live. "Oh, God!, help me. Let me live. Forgive my disobedience." and God hears him and gives him grace.  

In his first prayer, Jonah's going to die and he prays, "God, let me live." This time he's in the middle of this amazing triumph of life, he prays, "God, let me die."  At this point, he doesn't really want to die.  This is like an adolescent. "God, I want my own way, and I want it to be the destruction of the Ninevites." "Please," he says twice in this verse. This is not a polite please; this is an annoying two-syllable please that kids use when they are whining - “Puh-leeaase!” 

Notice that Jonah says in his prayer, "is this not what I said when I was still at home? "  Now, in fact, Jonah didn't say anything like this back home in the first chapter.  The truth was that he said nothing at all, he just ran away out of fear.  Now he conveniently remembers himself as the champion of justice. "I saw this one coming." He claims he always knew God was going to go soft.

There's something else going on in this prayer that would be very apparent to its readers. It's important for us to see this to get the tension. Jonah says, "I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God." He's quoting here one of the most famous confessions of God's identity in the history of Israel.

Exodus 34:6 - And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming,  “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

God is revealing here, not just His reality, not just His power, but His character...His heart. This was so sacred to Israel. This was the most prized revelation of God's identity in the history of their people. Any devout Jew knew these words by heart.  They knew these words like we know the words to the song, Happy Birthday.  Only Jonah leaves something out. This would be glaringly obvious to any Israelite reading this text.  Let’s compare the two texts...

Exodus 34:6 - the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

Jonah 4:2 - I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love,

What word is missing?  “faithfulness” 

What is going on here?  Did Jonah just make a mistake?  Was this simply an innocent omission?  I don’t think so.  Jonah is intentionally impugning the character of God.  He is saying (in effect) “Oh sure God, You abound in love, but what about faithfulness to Your Word?  You said You were going to punish Nineveh....well?  What about it?”

How does God respond?

God is so patient with Jonah. Jonah goes on this tirade and impugns God's character, and all God says in return is, "Is it right for you to be angry?"  Jonah doesn't give any answer. Jonah gives God the silent treatment.  (it may seem ridiculous to us, but don’t we often do the same thing when we ignore the clear Word of God?)  

In the next part of the story we are told Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city, and waited to see what’s going to happen. I think Jonah's still hoping...forty days...Nineveh is going to get blasted.

Then there's this odd little part of the story. If you've ever read through the book, you may have wondered about this. It is such a strange account. Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. (4:6) That word "provided" is going to recur here, same word as provided a great fish back in the first chapter. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. (4:7)  That seems like a dirty, little trick, doesn't it?  When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said,  “It would be better for me to die than to live.” (4:8)

But God said to Jonah,  (Here is that question again) “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”  “I do,” he said.  “I am angry enough to die.” (4:9)

Does that seem a little immature to you?  (me too)  It's like God's dealing with a five-year-old here. You understand there's something here going way, way deeper than Jonah just worrying about getting a sunburn or something.

God is trying to teach Jonah about His heart for people.  It's a funny thing, God seems to have have a harder time saving Jonah than He does saving Nineveh.  When Jesus came, the people that Jesus had the hardest time with were not the people that everybody considered the big sinners...not the prostitutes, not the tax collectors, not the people that you'd obviously associate with a place like Nineveh. The people Jesus had the hardest time with were people who considered themselves the spiritually mature. They had these superior, judgmental, unloving hearts. It's a funny thing.

People matter to God. The jobless person. The homeless person. The wealthy and successful person. They just matter to God. God is not like you & me. God doesn't look at categories like we do, and think, People in this category, they’re my kind of people. I like these kinds of people. But people in that category over there, I can let go of them without much pain. People matter to God. Depressed people. Educated people. Divorced people. People with different politics than yours. They all matter to God. Conservative people and liberal people. Muslims. Atheists. New Age people. Every color of skin. Asian people. Hispanic people. Caucasian people. African American people. Gay people. Old people. Young People.  All People matter to God. Every one of them!  And they should matter to us too.

Jeff Frazier

Thursday, July 30th

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Thursday

Yesterday we saw how Jonah obeyed God (even if he did not have the purest of hearts) and God used his act of obedience to reach the great city of Nineveh.

On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed:  “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.”  The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.  - Jonah 3:4-5

The point of the story is people of Nineveh are overwhelmed by an awareness of their sin. It's not because Jonah gave this eloquent sermon. It's just God. It's just the Spirit of God falling on people. Their hearts are broken, "Oh, God, we've been so far off track. We've been so wrong." They repent the best they know how...the best they know how.

God looks at this poor miserable people... We're told later on, when God talks about Nineveh, that this is a people who do not know their right from their left. That's a way of talking about people who do not know right from wrong, a people who are totally morally lost.  God, being God, is filled with compassion when He sees the Ninevites repent.

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.          - Jonah 3:10

He has mercy on them and gives them His grace. He says, "I forgive."  They have turned away from their violence and their aggression and their sin, and they are repenting.  They are receiving grace. Now the story could end happily ever after, except for one tiny little problem (can you guess what it is?) - Jonah.

Jonah looks at all this... Now, you would think he'd be thrilled. This is the greatest spiritual achievement of his ministry. It is a whole great city of Assyrians, and they are brought to God through his preaching, and his wasn't even preaching wasn’t even any good; because when God moves it's not about human effort.  He has never been used by God like this. 

But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.  - Jonah 4:1

Jonah can't take it.  He thinks, “This cannot happen!  This should not happen!”  He looks at Nineveh repenting and being forgiven by God, and he says, "This is terrible, this isn’t right!"   The Hebrew text actually implies that Jonah saw it as “evil”.  Think about this for a moment, what is great to God, Nineveh being forgiven and receiving grace...appears evil to Jonah.

Jonah was okay when grace was being given to him, but now it's going to Nineveh.  Now Jonah is not okay.  Now Jonah is really mad.  Ann Lamott writes, "You can tell you have made God in your image when it turns out He hates all the same people you do."

I imagine Jonah thinking to himself -”C’mon God, You said You were going to blast them, and I took you at Your Word. I told them, 'Forty days, Nineveh and it's Sodom and Gomorrah time...you’re all gonna get it!   Now it's not going to happen?  God, I'm going to look like a fool.  What’s worse is I'm going to go back to Israel, Your people, and it's going to look to Your people like I like the Ninevites. I don't like the Ninevites, God. I thought You didn't like them either.”

At the start of the book...to any Israelite reading it...to you and me, we think God's big problem in this book is, "What are you going to do about Nineveh?"  That is sin city.  Those people are degraded and vile.  We think God's big problem is, "What are you going to do about Nineveh, about those evil people over there?”

That's not God's big problem. God's big problem is, What am I going to do about Jonah?  What am I going to do about the man of God with a smug, superior, resentful heart?  What am I going to do about my own children who lack compassion and grace?  That's God's big problem.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be one of God’s big problems.

Jeff Frazier

Wednesday, July 29th

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Wednesday

Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying,  “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.”  So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth.  Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”   - Jonah 3:1-4

We should stand and give Jonah a round of applause at this point, because it’s the only time in the story that Jonah gets things right. Everything else gets mixed up in his disobedience, his running away, and his stubborn pride.  But here, in this brief moment, Jonah finally obeys.  Now I want to pause and reflect on this for just a moment, because I know that we all get stuff wrong a lot of the time.  Like Paul says in Romans 7, we do the things we don’t want to do and we don’t do the things God wants us to do.

But amidst our struggles and failures, there are moments... moments when we get things right.  Moments when you resist the temptation to talk negatively about that person. Moments when you feel frustrated with your spouse, but you hold back your sharp tongue.  Moments when you might act lustfully or impulsively... and you resist.  It is important to know that in those moments, when we obey, even if it seems small  (even if it’s just one verse in the whole book of Jonah) it pleases God.  We need to know that our obedience matters... because it does. If Jonah didn’t obey God, if he didn’t go, we wouldn’t see what we are about to see happen in Nineveh.  So Jonah obeyed God and went to Nineveh.

But just because we obey God doesn’t mean the circumstances are going to be any less daunting. As soon as Jonah arrives in Nineveh, the reality of this situation sets in...Jonah travels one third of the way into town and stops (remember that the text says it would take 3 days to travel through the entire city).  He’s probably already frustrated; he’s probably seen more sin and evil than he can stand. And so he stops and gives what may be the shortest sermon in human history. It’s 8 words long—only 6 if you read it in the original Hebrew.  A six word sermon!?  

And Jonah’s message is incredibly vague. It lacks all the characteristic features of Old Testament prophecy. There is no word from the Lord, there is no naming of sins, there is no appeal for the victims of injustice.  And most importantly, there is no mention of God. What happened to “Go and proclaim the message I give you?”  What’s going on here?

Several Biblical scholars scholars think that even though Jonah obeys, he still has a prideful and stubborn heart, and he is unable to see any possible good coming out of this situation.  But as we have seen throughout this story, whenever we think things are heading down, God is up to something great!  (even in places like Nineveh)  After Jonah’s one day march and six word sermon, the text says, “And the people of Nineveh believed God.” - Jonah 3:5a

The people farthest away from God. The people least likely to believe come to believe in God. And not just some of the people, it’s all of the people, even though Jonah is only 1/3 of the way through town.   And they didn’t just believe in God...

“They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.”  - Jonah 3:5b

Sackcloth was an abrasive covering made of goat hair that was worn in public as a sign of repentance. Does that sound like something a respectable person would do? Is that something you would do?  Well here, even the people of privilege and power are doing this. Think of Donald Trump publicly fasting. Think Paris Hilton putting on sackcloth. These are public acts of conversion made by all the people of Nineveh.

“The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.”   - Jonah 3:6

The king of Nineveh, of whom the prophet Nahum wrote,

“Nothing can heal you; your wound is fatal. All who hear the news about you clap their hands at your fall.”

And here this brutal dictator gets off his throne, takes off his royal robes, and falls to his knees before the mercy of God. Now you might be thinking, “Okay, this is getting a little ridiculous.” But God is just getting started. God didn’t just reach the people, the nobles, and the king, God reached the very laws of the land.

And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything.  Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.  Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”   - Jonah 3:7-9

The point? - Never underestimate what God can do with one simple act of obedience!

Jeff Frazier

Tuesday, July 28th

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Tuesday

The book of Jonah (which we are studying this week) is unique in that it is not primarily a record of the prophets words, but of the prophets interactions with God.  It is a story told in four parts/four chapters.  In chapter 1, Jonah runs from God because he does not want to go to Nineveh.  This chapter ends with Jonah being thrown overboard during a terrible storm at sea, and being swallowed by a great fish (sent by God).  In chapter 2, Jonah prays.  In fact, there is no plot action at all in this chapter, it is just Jonah’s prayer, but what a great prayer it is!  He cries out to God from the belly of a fish in the depths of the sea...and there in the depth, God hears Jonah.  He hears him and loves him and refuses to let him go.  So God causes the fish to spit Jonah back onto dry land, and Jonah is rescued from his own sin and death.  

God is up to some great things in the life of Jonah, so it shouldn’t be too hard to imagine what Jonah must now be thinking.  “Ah-ha! I’m alive. I’m covered in fish vomit, but I’m alive. God heard my prayer and he saved me. I should do something about this. I should write this down, I should write my spiritual memoirs, I’ll call it ‘Tuesdays with Jonah.’ But heck, why stop with just the story. I should build a church, right here where God delivered me, on the beach. Beautiful location, there’s lots of parking— wouldn’t that be a miracle. I’ll call it the Church of Whales, because that won’t be at all confusing.  And we’ll do baptisms by throwing people off boats, and we’ll have testimonies from pagan sailors,” and on and on and on...

It’s not hard to imagine that Jonah wants to get started on his new life. He wants to forget about all his past disobedience and move on to the bigger and better things, which is where we pick up our story from Jonah ...Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”   - Jonah 3:1-2

Does that sound like God has moved on to bigger and better things?  Not at all.  God has not moved on.  God is not going to just forget it.  God calls Jonah a second time, “Jonah, I want you to go to the great city of Nineveh.”  Do you notice that the focus in the call of Jonah is not really on the message (yet), it is on the word “GO”?  

Unfortunately, all too often we focus solely on the opposite word, “Stop.” I know too many Christians who think God’s primary focus is for them to stop doing this, stop doing that, stop, stop, stop. I hear this all the time when people tell their story of coming to faith, and they say something like, “I gave my life to Jesus and then I stopped...” and then give me the list of sins they’ve tried to put off.

Don’t misunderstand this, it’s a really, really good thing to put off habits and behaviors that are sinful or harmful or not of God. But the heart of Christian discipleship is not the word stop.  If it was, we’d all be better off just staying home and hiding in the basement. The heart of Christian discipleship is the word “GO.”

When God calls Abraham, he says, I want you to leave behind your city, your family, your stuff.... and “Go.” When God calls Moses, I want you to stop being a shepherd in Midian and “Go” back to Egypt.  After his resurrection, Jesus told his followers, “Just as the Father sent me, I am sending you.”  In other words, “GO!”

At the heart of Christianity there is a movement, an outward focus, a going that we can easily forget as we face the demands of our lives, but God doesn’t forget why he has called and saved Jonah... to go...And where is Jonah called to go?  To Nineveh, which, as you know, is not a good place to be going. 

God says, “That’s where we are going.” And when you get there, God says, I have a new message for you. If you remember back to the first time God called Jonah, he told him to “Go to the great city of Nineveh” and what... “Preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

And Nineveh, indeed, was a horrible place. This is the empire whose armies ravaged the northern tribes of Israel and left the dead bodies piled up along the roads. If any city in the world at that time deserved judgment from a holy God, it would be Nineveh.  But now God says, “Go to the great city of Nineveh” and what... “Proclaim to it the message I give you.”

Now I don’t think this means God is getting soft on sin. But God is telling Jonah, “I still want you to go to the Nineveh, but when you get there I want you to stop and listen closely to me, because I have a particular message for the people of Nineveh, one that you might not expect... one that you might not come up with on your own... one that might surprise you... because God is up to something great.  

And so Jonah goes...and so we too go where God leads and speak the message God gives us - The Gospel!

Jeff Frazier

Monday, July 27th

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Monday 

The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai:  “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”  But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.   - Jonah 1:1-3

Jonah was a prophet; he was not a priest. Priests served in the temple. They offered sacrifices. They led worship. A prophet was different kind of character altogether.  A prophet was a reformer, an activist.  Prophets were often asked to do and say hard things, and they were rarely ever appreciated for their role.  Israel always had a lot of priests, but generally just one prophet at a time because that was all Israel could stand.

One day the Word of the Lord comes to this prophet Jonah. Life is not easy when you are a prophet. The Word comes to Jonah and says, "Go to Nineveh." When you hear from God, and sometimes you will, it may be just three little words, but they can change your life. "Go to Nineveh." Jonah was a prophet, but he was a prophet to Israel, for crying out loud.  Why should he go to Nineveh?  If God wanted him to prophesy against that wicked city, why couldn’t he just do it from Israel?   But the Word of the Lord comes to him, "Go to Nineveh and preach." It's very striking how this is expressed.  Not go to Nineveh and preach to it; go to Nineveh and preach against it, the text says.  This is a very daunting task.

Nineveh was the capital of Assyria. In the seventh and eighth centuries BC, Assyria was the great world power. It chewed up and spit out countries right and left.  It would put the populations of countries that it defeated on death marches.  It practiced genocide basically as state policy.  When Israel was split into two sections, there was a northern kingdom, ten tribes up there, and the southern kingdom, just two tribes. The northern kingdom, those ten tribes, was captured and basically obliterated, by Assyria.  the southern kingdom had to pay tribute to Assyria and they would have made those payments directly to the city of Nineveh.

Assyria was hated so much...this is what a prophet named Nahum said about Nineveh, which is the capital, kind of embodied Assyria, "Woe to Nineveh" (Nahum 3) "woe to the city of blood...full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims, piles of dead." Now think about this, "...bodies without number, people stumbling over corpses...your injury is fatal."  Nahum here is predicting the fall of Nineveh. "...your injury is fatal. Everyone who hears the news about you claps their hands at your fall, for who has not felt your endless cruelty?"  Nineveh is so hated. Not just cruelty, but endless cruelty. When it is destroyed Nahum says, people are going clap; they are going to stand up and clap.

If you want to understand how an Israelite felt about Nineveh, think of Al- Qaeda, think of Nazi Germany, think of a power that killed your children, enslaved your brother, brutalized your sister. Nahum said very, very strong condemning words about Nineveh, but where do you think Nahum was when he said those words? He was in Israel. He was a long ways away from Nineveh.

Then the Word of the Lord comes to Jonah, "Go to Nineveh."  Learn to speak Assyrian and tell them face to face that they're facing judgment. Jonah says, "Lord, Nahum got to taunt them from a distance. Couldn't we like send them a telegram or something?" "The Word of the Lord came to Jonah, 'Go to Nineveh.'"

How did the Word come?  Was it a burning bush?  Was it a still small voice?  Was it an angel?  Was it a vision?  Was it a dream?  Was there room for doubt or discussion?  The text doesn't say.  Was there a Mrs. Jonah?  If so what did she think about all of this?  The text doesn't say.  It just says the Word of the Lord came to Jonah, "Go to Nineveh."

Nineveh was not at all in Jonah's comfort zone.  What do you do when God asks you to "Go to Nineveh."? Nineveh is the place God calls you to where you do not want to go. Nineveh is the person you don’t want to face.  It is the issue in your life that you don’t want to deal with.  How do you respond?  Because God will say that to you.

We know how Jonah responded, he ran, he ran away from God.  This is really a pretty ridiculous thing to do when you think about it...God is omnipresent!  Where is he going to go? 

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.   - Psalm 139:7-10

But Jonah knows this about God, he knows that he can’t really get way from Him.  He is running to get away from his own awareness of God’s presence in his life (do you ever do this?), so he heads in the exact opposite direction, for the city of Tarshish.   Nineveh is located in Northeastern Iraq today, Tarshish was a wealthy seaport in Spain!  This was the opposite end of the known world!  Tarshish was well known for it’s prosperity and wealth through trade.  Perhaps Jonah thought he was running to a place of security and comfort...but what often seems safe and secure from a human perspective, turns out to be trouble.  

Jonah will eventually learn that the only truly safe place in this life is in the center of God’s will!

What do you do when God calls you to "Go to Nineveh."?  Do run toward Him or do you run away?

Jeff Frazier

Friday, July 24th

Luke 6:38

“Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. For by the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

We’ve all heard bad lottery stories (see the entry for July 13) – but have you ever heard a story like this? In November, 2010, a retired Canadian couple named Allen and Violet Large won $11.3 million in a lottery.

What do you think they did with their new found mega-wealth? What would you do? I would like to think that had I won such a lottery, I would have considered a number of charitable donations – church, missions, etc. But I also think I would have probably looked to upgrade at least a few elements of my personal life – home, car – and a few toys!

But Allen and Violet did the almost unimaginable. They gave it - all of it - every last cent – to charity. They gave their lottery winnings to the churches, hospitals and fire departments of their community as well as to the Red Cross and to the Salvation Army. In explaining their decision, Violet said, “You don’t miss what you never had.” Allen said, “The money we won is nothing; we have each other. It makes us feel so good to be able to do these things.” 

The story of Allen and Violet Large is striking for many reasons – primarily because giving that much money away seems, at first glance, to be – well, crazy! And that’s because of the “gravitational attraction” of money that we talked about a few days ago. Money is powerful. A lot of money is very powerful. And we struggle to keep our balance in the face of such power. But the Larges kept their balance. Their hearts were not “bent out of shape” by $11.3 million. They understood where their true “treasure” lay – and so they were free to use their money rather than allowing it to use them.

The story of the Larges illustrates the truth that the most effective antidote to the power and lure of money – is generosity. In fact, I believe that generosity lies at the heart of everything good God wants to do in us and in his kingdom. For example; you cannot love and serve money while simultaneously expressing God’s love and grace through great generosity. Conversely, you cannot love and serve God while simultaneously loving money. It might also be said that the kingdom of God is not built with good intentions! The kingdom of God is built as those who love and serve God put their lives and their resources into his service!

You and I will never be free from the power of money until we can be generous with our money. Money cannot seduce your heart when you keep giving it away. And when we are generous with our money - especially when we give our money to purposes that please and honor God – money serves us and not the other way around. And when money becomes our servant – it can accomplish great things for God’s eternal kingdom.

Ask God to keep your heart free from the love of money – and ask him to grow your heart in generosity!

Pastor Brian Coffey

Thursday, July 23rd

Matthew 6:19-21

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Shortly after each of our four sons was born, Lorene and I began a college savings fund for each boy. While we could not afford to put much into those funds, we hoped that what little we could invest would be able to grow over time. And it did! This fall our second son, Jesse, will head off to college – and while his fund covers only a fraction of the total cost of his education – it certainly will help. The interesting thing is that, from the time we started investing in college funds, I never resented the reduction in our expendable income that those investments represented. Where I hated spending money to make car repairs, exactly the opposite was true when it came to our college funds. I enjoyed making those investments because my heart and treasure were both committed to my sons!

Here Jesus is, in a sense, offering us a unique kind of investment strategy. Notice that the issue is not our “treasure” – Jesus assumes that we will each possess treasure, or money. Rather, the issue is where we store up our treasure – or where we invest our treasure. Most of us invest our treasure in homes, cars, clothing, retirement, college funds and more. But Jesus is inviting us to invest in heaven! What does it mean to “store up treasure in heaven”?

Obviously, we store up treasure in heaven when we accept God’s gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. We also store up treasure in heaven when we serve others here on earth in the name of Jesus. But I think Jesus is also saying that we store up treasure when we put our wealth – our money - in the service of his kingdom and his purposes. When we give as an act of worship – we store up treasure in heaven. When we contribute to the material needs of others – we store up treasure in heaven. When our generosity results in the good news of God’s love and salvation being shared with others – we store up treasure in heaven.

So, let me ask you – how’s your investment strategy going? If there is an account with your name on it in heaven – is that account healthy and growing? Do you make regular deposits in the only account that is guaranteed to grow forever?

We all invest our treasure in many ways – and many of our earthly investments are necessary and important. Jesus is reminding us, however, to make sure that a heavenly investment strategy is an intentional part of our portfolio – because only that which is invested with and for him will endure for eternity. Everything else we gain or accomplish in this life will simply fade away.

Ask God to help you trust Jesus at his word – and to help you establish your own eternal investment plan!

Pastor Brian Coffey

Wednesday, July 22nd

Luke 9:25

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his own soul?
Luke 12: 16-21

And he told them this parable:

“The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I w ill tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Have you ever heard of William “Bud” Post? If not, his story is one to remember. In 1988 Mr. Post won $16.2 million in a lottery – and while most of us would think that from that time on he had it made – exactly the opposite happened. Even though he tried to keep his friends and family happy, within a few years one of his brothers tried to hire a “hit man” to kill him because he hoped to inherit some of the money. Other family members convinced him to invest in their business ideas – which all failed. His ex-girlfriend sued him for some of the winnings. And Mr. Post himself eventually did time in jail for firing a gun at a bill collector. Eventually he accrued so much debt that he filed bankruptcy and ended up living on his Social Security checks.

Now this is a rather dramatic example – and most of us would say, “Wow, I’m glad I’m not that foolish!” Most of us assume that we would handle $16.2 million better than did Mr. Post! But Jesus encourages us think a little more deeply before we assume we would be any different. In this parable of the “rich fool” Jesus basically describes what most of us would simply call the “American Dream.” If you have a good crop, if you earn more than you need – simply build a “bigger barn” and store up all the treasure you can! What’s wrong with that?

If you read Jesus’ words carefully, he doesn’t say there is anything wrong with harvesting a good crop – or with building bigger barns. The danger is in doing so without considering the condition of your soul.

As we talked about yesterday, money is powerful and can rival God himself for the affection and devotion of our hearts. And when money becomes “god” – not only do our priorities become inverted – but we can also lose our souls in the process.

I read where Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and one of the wealthiest men in the world, once said that he doesn’t attend church on Sunday morning because he doesn’t find worship to be a “cost effective use of his time.” While it is true that if he engaged fully in the worship of God for an hour, he would not be able to use that time for the creation of another computer product – it is also true that, if there is a God who not only created everything but who will someday judge the living and the dead, then money is not the main point of this life and Bill Gates couldn’t be more wrong.

Someday, the Bible says, we will all stand before an almighty and holy God to give an account for our lives. On that day it won’t mean very much to say to the one who created all things by speaking the universe into existence, “Well, I sold a lot of computers!” or, “I had a million dollars in the bank!” or “I had 10 years of crops stored up in my barns!”

On that day the only thing that will matter is whether or not we have entrusted our hearts, minds and souls to the one who gave himself for us. Ask God to help you grow rich toward him.

Pastor Brian Coffey

Tuesday, July 21st

Matthew 6:19-24

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

A number of years ago I was on my way to a hardware story to pick up something and I decided to swing by my band to pick up some cash. I used the drive-thru ATM machine – and requested $10 using my bank card (back when you could still withdraw $10 at a time). I was in a hurry – so I took the cash and the receipt without really looking at it – and slipped it into my shirt pocket. A couple of minutes later I reached into my pocket to pay for something small at the hardware store and noticed that I pulled out a $20 bill. After paying for the item – I went to my car and checked the receipt from the ATM because I was pretty sure I had asked for $10, not $20. Sure enough, the receipt said $10 – but I had pulled a $20 bill from my pocket. “That’s odd!” I thought to myself, “I wonder how that happened?” So I drove back to the bank and to the same ATM machine – and used my card to ask for $10 again – just to, you know, be sure. And this time, with me paying very close attention, the machine once again gave me a $20 bill.

I thought to myself, “God works in mysterious ways!” Just kidding. Seriously though, I have to confess, all kinds of things started to run through my mind. I thought about the seemingly endless ways my bank found ways to charge fees. I thought about times when I came through the drive-thru only to find the machine out of service. I wondered how many times I could press the $10 button and get $20 in return? But I knew what I had to do. I went inside and informed the bank management that their machine was being overly generous. At first they were incredulous, “That’s impossible,” they said. But when they checked they found the machine had been loaded improperly – with $20 bills in the $10 slot. Furthermore, they said that the machine had been loaded at 5 am, and I was the first person who reported to problem – and it was after 9 am.

This little story illustrates the truth that money is powerful. Jesus says it this way:

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

In other words, our money – our treasure – has the power to capture our hearts. When and if money captures our hearts – it then has the power to establish our priorities and make our decisions. Money exerts a kind of “gravitational attraction” on our lives. First it attracts our hearts; then it bends our values and behavior. That’s what was happening to me as I pressed the $10 button at the ATM. That’s what happens when we consider taking a job that will uproot our family because it pays a few dollars more. That’s why our culture tends to be fascinated with celebrity athletes and entertainers – their wealth exerts a gravitational attraction on our attention!

Money is so powerful, Jesus says, that it can function like a god in our lives and hearts. It can draw our attention, affection and even our devotion. And once money captures our hearts, it becomes our god – and money is a lousy god! Don’t misunderstand me – money can accomplish many wonderful things (more on that later this week) – but money, like gravity, is powerful and can be very, very dangerous. That’s why Jesus says,

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

Ask God to show you if there is any way in which money has captured your heart – by drawing your affection, by bending your values, or by causing you great anxiety. Ask him to help your heart to become free from the love of – or servitude of money and free to worship and serve him above all.

Pastor Brian Coffey

Monday, July 20th

Matthew 6:19-24

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

Sometimes truth is indeed stranger than fiction. The other day I came across a news story that just begged to be part of our current sermon series, “What Did Jesus Say?” – and, in particular, part of the sermon I am currently working on, “What Did Jesus Say About Money?”


The story was about Californian named Lou Balducci, who took a cushion off a weathered wooden rocking chair in his back yard and found Jesus. Actually, he found a knot-hole that he thought looked like the face of Jesus (see the photo below and decide for yourself!).

By his own admission, Mr. Balducci was “not very religious,” so he began to ask other family members and friends about the knot-hole. Many of them agreed that the knot-hole bore a vague resemblance to what they pictured Jesus to look like – and several indicated they thought it might be a “sign from God” – or that the old chair might have spiritual or healing powers. 

So what did Mr Balducci do? He thought about it for a couple of months – then put the chair up for sale on ebay for $25,000.

Whatever else we might make of this story – it does introduce us to the issue of Jesus and money! So what did Jesus say about money?

Scholars tell us that Jesus had as much to say about money as almost any other topic. And in most of the places where he talks directly about money he simply assumes that money is necessary. Money – or some form of it – has been around from the beginnings of human civilization. From what we know of Jesus’ early life, he worked as a carpenter with his father, Joseph. We can assume that they were paid for their work. When Jesus left his carpenter’s shop to begin his full time ministry, his group of disciples had a treasurer (Judas) who was responsible to keep their funds. So, even for Jesus himself, money was necessary.

In this text from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks of “treasure.” By “treasure” Jesus means money or material wealth. We all have treasure. We may have $100 million, or we may have 10 cents, but we all have treasure. The questions Jesus wants us to think about are: Where do we invest our treasure?

How is our treasure connected to our hearts? And, what does our treasure do to us?

With these questions in mind, thank God for the treasure he has entrusted to you and ask him to teach you how to manage that treasure for his purposes.

Pastor Brian Coffey

Friday, July 17th

This week Pastor Ali Kalkandelen from Turkey will be guest-blogging on 10 Minutes with God. There will be no audio this week, but we please enjoy Pastor Kalkandelen's posts!

Friday

REPENTANCE MEANS SUBMITTING GOD FULLY
Repentance is also a journey of transformation that requires complete surrounding, submission to God. Submission is “act of referring to a third party for judgment or decision” says a dictionary. It is act or fact of obeying.”

The Satan’s biggest and the most important plan was to convince Adam and Eve that they can have their own Kingdom. They can become their own gods. They can know, and they do not need God. Therefore, they don’t need to submit to God. However, when they believed Satan and acted on what he told them they destroyed their lives.

Submission can be very sensitive act for many. People submit others and they get hurt. Authorities over us, like our parents and teachers can hurt us because they carry an EGO or a self in them that seeks for satisfaction by power, achievement, control. And It results becoming a rebel against higher authorities, even rebelling against God. However God does not have an EGO that seeks for power, or achievement or control. He doesn’t need those because He already has a power that greater than any other power, He achieved things that nothing can achieve; and He has control over everything no one can take over. His ultimate reason is not His EGO but His love, his care. And his love is pure and divine yet humble, His discipline is powerful yet delicate, His control is mighty yet sensitive; His orders are ultimate yet caring.

Submission is complete surrounding of the self to God; living under his rulers and standards. Submission to Him is not 10%, 50% or even not 90%, but 100%. It’s 7/24 thing. Paul talks about himself and says “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”

Submitting God is not bad, not bad at all. He is not like our parents or other people that abused our trust, our weaknesses, and our vulnerability. Nahum 1:7 “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust Him.”

Fully submitting to God is not easy. People will make fun of you. They will say you are narrow minded. They will reject you, won’t become a friend with you. Jesus says “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.” Mat 5:11

So, therefore brothers and sisters let us not look at the world and compromise but trust in Him. Let us be obedient to His word.

“Have you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary; His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint; and to him who has no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but those who wait for God shall renew their strength; they shall month up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:28-31).

Pastor Ali Kalkandelen

Thursday, July 16th

This week Pastor Ali Kalkandelen from Turkey will be guest-blogging on 10 Minutes with God. There will be no audio this week, but we please enjoy Pastor Kalkandelen's posts!

Thursday

A REPENTANT DOES NOT HOLD AN EGO. 
It seems that Nineveh was the symbol of the earthly power, security, richness, and might.  They had one of the greatest army of the day.  They had the best merchants and merchandise.  They achieved everything that man could achieve in that day.  They had a great trust in themselves and what they had achieved.  They were, now, trusting in themselves, their power and glory.  But the Lord say: “Behold Nineveh, I am against you”.  I’m against your power and your numbers; I’m against your walls and your soldiers; I’m against your cities and your king.”

In this world we are so much thought to be motivated for achievement and success.  Individuals work hard to get what the world offers them. They work hard to earn their  security, success and happiness.  They also look for others for approval and affirmation.  Most of the time those achievements and successes that we get through our own work and approval of the others, draw us away from the Lord.  We look at marriages, parenting, church planting, mission, pastoring or any other spiritual work, even the relationship with God from the same perspective: are they successful or failure.  

However, SELF, our egos, can be the greatest enemy of mankind.  It’s a false god.  It’s a god that created in the Garden of Aden by despising God’s word.  Adam and Eve gave themselves to the SELFS that created in there by Satan.  It destroyed them, their relationship with one another; their relationship with God; and their relationship with the earth.  

However, God offers another way that we can have both a life in Christ and achievement and success in this world.  In Matthew 6:31-34, Jesus says: “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  … For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things…” 

This is God’s way of success and achievement.  For Him, our achievement is not in the things of this world, but how much we follow His Lordship.  It’s not in how successful our marriage is but how much our marriage glorifies Him.  It’s not in how good parents we are, but in how much we seek to please and glorify Him as family.  It’s not in how big our ministry is but how much we serve Him.  It’s not in how well we preach but in how much the Spirit confirms with power.  

Our EGOS are noting.  But the world tells us that they are everything.  If we believe in what the world tells us we find ourselves wrestling with the world and try to get approval from others by our “doings.”  If we let our EGOS be our god, it will destroy us.  It’ll destroy our relationships with the creator God, our relationships with others, and our relationship with the earth.  

Let us repent if we are one of those who works for the self fulfillment, self achievement, and self glory.  And humble ourselves before God.  Let us acknowledge that He is the only one to deserve to be glorified, worshiped and admired.  Let’s acknowledge that His ways are the best ways.  And though Him we can have our souls satisfied only.  2Pet 1:3 says “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness …”

This is what Psalm 91 says:

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”
Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence.
He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Not of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side, And the thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.
Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked. 
Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.
In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”

Amen and Amen!  

Pastor Ali Kalkandelen