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Pentecost and Transformation Power – VOTD.05.30.17

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 seemed 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. Acts 2:1-4

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Acts 2:37

This coming Sunday many Christians will celebrate Pentecost. In the Old Testament, Pentecost was a Jewish feast day celebrating the agricultural harvest. But in the New Testament, Pentecost celebrates an entirely different kind of harvest: It was on this day that the Holy Spirit was poured out on 120 followers of Jesus who were gathered in Jerusalem (Acts 1:15). The result was thousands found Jesus as their Lord.

Pentecost is the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:15ff)— it happened fifty days after His resurrection. (more…)

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Restoring that Which was Lost: Acceptance – VOTD.05.23.17

Always be completely humble and gentle, patiently putting up with each other and loving each other. Ephesians 4:2
With compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bear with each other and forgive one another Colossians 3:12-13

The New Testament has an amazing number of passages about accepting each other. I could have picked from dozens of verses about acceptance. Paul wrote, “Accept one another just as Christ accepts you” (Rom 15:7). We must accept others even though they have faults and sins—just as God accepts us even though we have faults and sins.

To fail to accept each other is sinful, itself, because God is no respecter of persons and shows no partiality with any of us (Rom 11.2)…If we don’t accept each other, we are setting ourselves up as their judge and that is God’s job, not ours (Rom 14:4).

Acceptance is the first ‘A’ in honoring the people around us. People we live with. People we work with. People we church with. Neighbors, friends, extended relatives…wait-staff, the guy at the gas station, the list goes on. Obviously, we have more opportunity (and authority) to honor some of those around us than others, but the characteristics I’m sharing, fit no matter who we find ourselves in contact with.

These people around us all have legitimate, God-given needs for “the 4 a’s” we talked about last time: Acceptance. Affection. Attention. Affirmation. Jesus intends for His followers to receive them from each other, laying a foundation of a healthy sense of their individual identity in Him and their place in His Kingdom. This is how we honor each other. Nothing will kill honor faster than seeing it as a one-way street. (more…)

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Judgment vs. Restoration – VOTD.05.22.17

Heaven was opened, and (Jesus) saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17

We saw last time that love does not stratify the value of people. Judgment depends on that kind of stratification. The person judging is often seen as or wants to be seen as having a higher status than the person being judged. The need to be seen as or consider oneself as above or below others feeds this stratification and further judgment.

And it is to this that James refers when he writes that Christians must not show favoritism (2:1). The brand of favoritism he speaks of is wealth and most of us have seen that kind of favoritism in our local churches and perhaps in our own lives. But we’ve all seen the same thing in regards to any number of other judgments. (more…)

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Fake News: Judgment vs. Love – VOTD.05.16.17

Mercy triumphs over judgment. James 2:13

One of the issues of our day is Fake News. Now, there’s nothing new about fake news. It’s just exposed in our day that your fake news is interfering with my fake news. So the realization that there’s fake news out there becomes unavoidable.

Fake news annoys people because we want to believe that our positions and decisions are based on facts rather than hype and spin. When we’re forced to admit that any news we hear or see is possibly, even likely, to be fake at some level, it makes us uncomfortable. And that’s exactly why our judgments of each other are so dangerous.

Our judgments of others is based on fake news; incomplete information; spin and assumption based on biases that fit in with our preconceptions. We don’t know all the facts; we make assumptions about why people are behaving the way they are with unreliable and sketchy data. Therefore the one we judge can’t even get a fair trial in our minds or hearts/attitudes.

So it’s no wonder Jesus drew His followers’ attention away from judgment and toward love. You might think Love and Judgment don’t have much to do with each other, but they are close opposites, so they have more to do with each other than we might think. (more…)

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The Judgmental and the Judge – VOTD.05.015.17

Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. Romans 14:4

Do you remember the prophet, Jonah? He was unwilling to spread God’s word of impending doom against the people of Ninivah, because he was afraid they might repent, and then God would have mercy on them and not bring the calamity He warned of.

Maybe that’s the problem. Like Jonah, we’re afraid God is going to be too lenient on those we scorn, so we have to judge them for ourselves. We can’t trust Jesus to judge them harshly enough. That may not be the motive in every case, but I’m pretty sure it is many times. We judge others because we don’t trust God to do it right.

And that makes some kind of sense, since in today’s verse Paul tells us that those of us who Jesus judges are going to stand. Not, by-the-way, because we are innocent. We’re not. Not one of us is. But because God is able to make us stand.

If we’re judging others, that’s bad news. But if we’re on the receiving end of judgment—in which case, today’ verse is really good news. Other’s are going to judge us. But rather than defend ourselves and judge back, we trust God to act and judge in our behalf.

The amazing thing that today’s verse tells us is that if we were to judge as Jesus judges, those we judge would stand. They would be acquitted…on the basis of Jesus shed blood atoning for them. That sort of changes the picture, doesn’t it? (more…)

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Policies vs. Values – VOTD.05.01.17

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’” (an expert in the law described the two greatest commandments).
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied to him…
But the man wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Luke 10:27-29)

A few weeks ago, a major airline had a catastrophic public relations nightmare as a passenger was forcibly removed from their aircraft while other passengers caught it all on video. The images went viral as they were shared all over social media and the news. As a frequent flier of that airline, I received a letter last week from their CEO that was undoubtedly crafted by some of the best damage-control experts in the industry. I mean, it was a work of art, among those of us who work in communication.

But one line near the beginning of the letter struck me, particularly. You see, I immediately thought of us Christians when I read it:

The incident “happened because our corporate policies were placed ahead of our shared values. Our procedures got in the way of our employees doing what they know is right.” (more…)

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On Navigating the Presence of God – VOTD.04.24.17

You make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. James 4:8

Last time we asked the question: Why don’t more Christians experience God’s Presence? The first reason was that we don’t know or believe it’s available. Today we’ll look at the second reason: We don’t know how to get there.

Once we know and believe that the presence of God is something that is available to us, the obvious question is “How do I get there? How do we plug in and experience it for ourselves?

According to today’s verses, God, Himself makes that known to us. “You make known to me the path of life.” So what we’re really asking is how does God reveal Himself—How does He make Himself known? How can we position ourselves to receive the revelation God of Himself?

There are obvious answers like reading the Bible, Prayer, Fasting, etc. And there’s plenty of ‘formulas’. Often believers stumble into something that works for them; they latch onto it because it has greatly impacted their life. And they surround it with a Bible verse or two and begin to teach others.

Don’t misunderstand me…It is wonderful when any believer gets a revelation of the presence of God that changes their life—that opens up for them an entire new dimension of intimacy with Jesus. I totally rejoice for them and their experience. (more…)

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