Fear

Mark 6: 49-50 But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid."

We all have it. Fear grips us at times of doubt, at times of distress, at times of uncertainty, at times when we least expect it and at times when we find ourselves in the midst of the storm. Fear is part of life; we can’t escape it or ignore it. What we are called to do is face it.

This is easy to say but difficult to do. Fear has many forms to it that at times are overpowering. For instance, fear is disabling, forcing us into inactivity because of the unknown. We cower back because we don’t want to become exposed to the circumstances that face us. Fear causes us to postpone the very things we need to do in order to move forward, thereby causing us to miss the reality of being all we are called to be.

Fear steals our ability to think clearly and to act with decisive motions to achieve the goals set before us. Fear causes us to hide feelings and emotions and to miss out on the joy that can be found in relationships and life. Do you have fear? Of course you do. We all do. Do you know how many times that the words, “Fear Not,” appear in scripture? According to the movie "Facing the Giants," it is somewhere close to 365 times, one time for every day. In reality, however, there are over 100 references to this phrase contained in the Bible.

Why do you think God puts such a high priority on this idea? It is because God has a better plan. You see, most fear is generated in our unbelief of the power and presence of God in our lives. It’s easy to get caught up in fear tactics if we are unfounded in our belief that all things belong to God and that God is sovereign in all He says and does. It’s normal to believe the worst about circumstances if we don’t live in the reality that God is in control. If I did not live in the belief that God loves me and that God has a plan for my life, I would live in constant fear. As it is, I have fear enough to last the day.

So what does Jesus say? “Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.” He said this to his followers who were in a boat in the midst of a storm at sea. But this message is also for us. In the midst of the storms of life, we have the promise of the presence and power of God, not to remove us from the storm but to walk with us in the midst of that storm.

Yes, life has fear, but God has all of life in His hands. Don’t be afraid; believe.

Blessings, Rip

Listen

Mark 4:2-3 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: "Listen!”

Let me get right to the point of this idea. We have a problem with listening, well, at least I do. My problem is multi-fold. First off, I don’t always want to hear what is being said. It may be that I don’t like the application of instruction I am receiving, or I think I know better than the one speaking, or perhaps I just don’t care. Are you like that as well?

Perhaps you’re the type of listener that lets it go in one ear and out the other. I am at times being polite enough to stand there, but my mind is already ahead to what I am going to say next so that the force of the words being spoken to me lose their effect. On the other hand, you might find yourself here--a listener who is only there so that he can get something, some dirt on the other person to use against him/her at some future time. You see the problem is not in the hearing; it is in the listening.

Hearing is easy. There is a lot of noise in our world today; just flip through the channels of the television and you will hear all kinds of stuff from ultra-conservatives to screaming liberals. Each one of them is calling out for your attention. It is easy to hear them and sometimes to be blinded by their words and emotion, but have you stopped to listen to what they are actually saying?

Hearing is the ability to receive words into our mind; listening is the ability to make sense of the words we hear. This may surprise you: NOT every word you hear happens to be good. The ability to listen enables us to decipher between words that are profitable and words that need to be discarded. So there is the problem. What determines in our life the difference between the good and the bad?

I think it is interesting that the parable, which Jesus uses here, is dealing with good seed and bad seed and the gist of the parable is the suitability of the soil, which is the listener’s ability to understand or accept the good seed. This is true in life. If our spiritual soil is good soil, nurtured through the power of God, then we can make sense of the words we hear and turn them into instruction for the living of life.

Jesus said at the end of this parable these words, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." What are you listening to today?

Blessings, Rip

Sabbath Day

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

I don’t guess that I have ever considered this idea before. The Sabbath was made for man. I get caught up in the ritual of Sunday and church attendance, all of which is important and beneficial to my maturity and growth in Christ, but I forget that this day was made for me--a day set aside for my renewal.

In God’s divine wisdom, this day was set aside for us. WHY? Well, I think the answer is this. Unless we take time away from the ordinary rigorous events of everyday life, we will lose sight of the things that are really important. I tend to get caught up in the stuff of life and so often this stuff controls me. It affects my sleep, my waking day and even my eating habits. Unless I can get away and allow God to have control of me, I usually will end up in a tragic mess.

All of us cope with stuff everyday; some of us use other stuff to dull the pain; some of us withdraw inwardly; and some of us act out our stress in negative ways. The list could go on, but the point is this. We need a day (time, event, process etc.) to get in touch with that which is really important.

I am a big proponent of weekly attendance at church. It’s a good habit and faithful practice; however, it too can become less than meaningful unless the purpose is clear. The purpose must be this interaction between my human condition and the redeeming restoring power of God in my life. There must be the moment of awe, where God intrudes into my stuff and reveals what is untimely important. This happens when I set aside that day, or journey, or process which connects me with God.

You see, the day is not made for my self-indulgence but for my self-recreation. That’s the problem. I tend to treat these days as fulfilling my wants and needs, when in reality it is about filling my heart and mind with the power of God’s purpose in me. You don’t discover “God-purpose” by happenstance. It grows through diligent practice and constant renewal of our minds. A day for me, God said, is for that purpose.

And who is Lord of this day? Jesus is. So Jesus is giving me this day, and in essence, every day to come to a deeper relationship with Him. What are you doing with this day?

Blessings, Rip

According to Ability

Matthew 25:14-15 "For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.”

So what are you doing with what God has given you? That question always convicts me because I have been given so much and often times I try so little. Notice I said try. It is not about how much we accomplish; it is always about how much we try. I think sometimes we get that backward. We think we are only successful when we are achieving great goals and successes. WRONG! God is the one who brings about the fruit of our efforts; our responsibility is to be faithful.

That, my friend, is the problem. We have this thing all mixed up. We have fallen into the trap of thinking that it is all about us, when in fact it is all about God. That’s why we have such a difficult time being involved in anything of real lasting significance. If God is the one responsible for the success, then it is dependent upon Him. Our responsibility is faithfulness, which keeps us moving forward because of who He is--not based upon who we are.

Great ability does not mean a great difference; what it means is great responsibility. To whom much is given, much is required is true because the responsibility is based upon that which God has entrusted us to do. Faithfulness is what we can offer; success is what God accomplishes in His power.

Our ability determines the talent. I have discovered as I grow older that I have learned to have more ability. I have grown in wisdom (I know some would dispute that), and I have grown in the area of faithfulness learning that if God is at the center of everything then everything revolves around God. Even this growth was not something I accomplished by myself. It was only through God stretching me in faithfulness that I began to realize how faithful God is to me. My talent then becomes the ability not to accomplish more, but the ability to believe more.

I confessed at the beginning of this message that I get convicted. This is why: my ability does not measure up to faithfulness; it is often seen in thinking I can make it on my own. Lord, forgive me when I come to this futile thinking; set me free to be faithful according to my abilities.

Blessings, Rip

God’s Stuff

Matthew 22:21-22, "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s."

I’m not a great fan of paying taxes, never have been and never will be. However, I do enjoy the benefits of the governmental services I receive so I will continue to do my part regardless of my feelings about taxes.

It is amazing to me that so often this passage of scripture is talked about regarding our civic duty and not regarding our responsibility to God. It is quite clear to me that the gist of this passage is giving to God what is God’s. I think, and I have God evidence about this, that everything belongs to the Lord. We are stewards of all that is given to us by our Father in heaven.

Civic duty is fine as long as it is kept in perspective. Last week I found myself glued to the television watching the returns for a primary election, which in many ways has no effect upon me personally. In fact, I did not even bother to vote. Why was this so important to spend even a few moments of my time watching and even hoping a particular person would win?

It’s so easy to get caught up in things, which have little meaning on eternity and forget about the things that will last for eternity. I feel that this is what Jesus is hinting at in this passage. Go ahead and give to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar, but give also to God the things that belong to God.

I guess the question is this: how do I deal with God’s stuff? How do I treat the things and opportunities which are afforded me through the grace and love of my God? I realize that I can give my tithe, but there is more in this than the simple 10% formula. This is about coming to a point in my life where I discover that everything--let me stress that-- everything is vitally important in God’s economy. When I give to God what is God’s, I am giving myself.

So here is the challenge. As I live my life, I must do so in full understanding that it all belongs to God. Let us give to God that which is God’s. That might be a new way to live for some of us.

Blessings, Rip

Leadings

Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

I’ve had many types of leading in my life that I know were prompted from the Holy Spirit. These promptings have enabled me to help others in times of need, to speak words of encouragement and conviction in the messages that I have preached, to pray for people who I felt directed to pray for and to sense God’s call in my life for ministry. The leading of the Holy Spirit is necessary if we are to live the Jesus Walk in its fullness.

It’s no accident that we are reminded here in Matthew chapter 4 that Jesus Himself was lead by the Spirit at the beginning of His ministry. What words of encouragement these are to us who follow the Lord. Jesus was lead by the same Spirit that leads us. Now granted, He heard the Spirit much better than us, but we are called in the same way to follow the leadings.

If you look closely at this passage, you can notice an amazing fact. The first leading from the Spirit was into a time of testing. Jesus was lead into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Many times in my own life as I have followed the leading of the Holy Spirit I have discovered that the devil was there waiting to test me and tempt me from doing that which I was lead to do.

We get a description of the tempting of Jesus in the following verses. Jesus was tempted in many ways to give in, give up and give away the call of God in His life. The same is true for us. In our leadings, the devil will come at us from many fronts to try and steal away our faith in the leading. Words fill our minds like: “You’re not wanted, let someone else do it, it’s too hard, I don’t have the money,” and so forth goes the battle in our minds concerning this leading by the Spirit.

So here is the key. The only way to get to the heart of the leading is to be led. Jesus went into the desert, was tempted, relied upon God, was triumphant and in the end accomplished the course. The same can and will be true for us; however, the beginning point is to hear the call of the Spirit, to respond to that call, and to face what difficulties will come because of the call. Be assured if this leading is from God, it will lead you into a time of testing.

God leads us by His Spirit to transform us into the people He wants us to become. It only happens when we are led to follow where He leads. Where is God’s Spirit leading you today?

Dreamers

Matthew 1:24-25 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

How big is your dream? I mean how big is the idea that God has given you? What effect does it have in what you do and how you act and live? How does this God-dream change how you see life and your future and literally everything? Or has your dream not affected you? Or has it not set the goal in front of you so that you know the direction you need to go in order to fulfill that to which you have been called?

That’s the real question isn’t it? Sometimes dreams have a life-changing effect, and sometimes dreams are pushed out of the way for the more practical. In Joseph’s case, the practical course of action would have been to “get away as fast as possible.” I feel that at times with my God-dream. Sometimes it is too difficult and too hard or taking way too long. At other times, I fear that the money or resources won’t be there, and the dream will die. Sometimes I just don’t want to follow the dream; the cost is too high. All of this must have gone through the mind of Joseph. I can assure you that these thoughts go through my mind about my dream all the time.

So what do we do with these dreams, these God ideas? I believe the answer lies in what Joseph did. There are three actions which he followed, and perhaps we can gain some insight. The first thing he did was to wake up. As easy as that sounds, it is the first step in following the dream. Getting a clear picture of what we have been called to do is like waking up. Wake up dreamer so that the dream journey you have been called to can begin. It’s like getting out of bed on a cold morning. Once you make the first step you know what to do next.

The second was that he did what the Angel of the Lord commanded him to do. He was faithful to the call of God in his life. Perhaps he had a plan or perhaps he did not. What he did, however, was to follow the dream set before him. We know that he took Mary to be his wife. Unpractical as it was and facing the criticism of his family and friends, he followed the dream that was given. Can you think of others like him who decided to follow as well?

The last thing he did was to wait. I can relate with that one very well. I have been waiting for a dream now for at least a year. Not a long time when you put it into perspective, yet waiting is difficult. It’s hard to keep the dream alive when time passes and the prospects look dim. Yet that is what we must do. Persist in believing, continue hoping, and keep on doing!

How big is your dream?