Doing What You Think You Can't Do

As we looked at Acts 9 yesterday, we talked about the feeling of “I can’t do this,” and learning to press into the grace and power of Jesus in those times in our lives.  One of the things that I love about the book of Acts – one of my favorite books of the Bible – is that it’s full of moments like this.  Ordinary people called by an extraordinary Savior to do extraordinary things.

Today’s reading from Acts 10 is a great example of God doing through us something that we could never imagine ourselves doing on our own.  The story begins with a soldier (a centurion in charge of 100 other men) named Cornelius, who lived in Caesarea.  Cornelius was a Gentile, and not yet a follower of Jesus, because the Good News had not yet been preached to the Gentiles – Greeks, Romans and people of other ethnicities outside of the Jews.  But Cornelius had a seeking heart and a desire to know God.  We’re told that he prayed and that he gave gifts to the poor.  God saw in Cornelius the desire to know Him, and so God chose him to be a follower of Jesus. 

Immediately, God used Cornelius to call Peter, who was in Joppa about 30 miles from Caesarea.  Peter is at the center of action in the first several chapters of Acts.  You might remember that Jesus told Peter that he would be the rock upon which He would build His church.  Peter was preaching to the Jews who had not yet trusted in Jesus; performing miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name; and discipling and teaching Jews who had decided to trust in the salvation of Jesus. 

But Peter had a problem.  He was a Jew, and he was repulsed by Gentiles.  All of his ministry, since the day of Pentecost, had been to the Jews.  In his mind, although he knew that salvation would be for the Gentiles eventually, he could never have started to wrap his mind around the fact that God would use him to also reach the Gentiles.

But in Acts 10, we see God breaking him down and preparing to do what he never imagined he could.  When God tells Cornelius to call for Peter in v.v.5&6, we learn that Peter is staying with Simon the tanner.  Most of us would skip right over that, but it's important.  Being in the presence of a tanner would have been an absolutely revolting thought for a Jew.  They worked with the skin and carcasses of all kinds of dead animals – many of which were unclean when alive, and all of which were unclean for a Jew after they had been dead for a certain period of time. 

And then God really breaks it down for Peter in the vision that He gave to Peter in v.v. 9-16, where God revealed to him in an incredible and beautiful way that under the new covenant with Jesus, uncleanliness wasn’t a matter of flesh and bones, but a matter of the heart.  God was showing Peter not only that it was time to include the Gentiles in His plan of salvation, but that Peter would be the first to intentionally take the message of the Gospel to the Gentiles. 

And in v.28, Peter expresses to Cornelius and the others what God has revealed to him in the vision: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.”

Those are a whole lotta words to say this: God has shown Peter that he absolutely HAS to do something he never thought he could do. 

And today is about more than getting through a difficult time of “I can’t do this.”  Today is about moving beyond that and joining Jesus on his mission through The Church – reaching the world with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

I find a lot of hope and encouragement from Paul’s words in Romans 8:28 – “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[i] have been called according to his purpose.”  This verse has so many implications for the life of a follower of Jesus Christ, and in learning to do some of the things we never thought we could do. 

One of them is NOT that God will give you everything that you want. 

This verse is about God using our trials and the things that frustrate us and wound us in a redemptive way to form us into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ.  Just as God used a trial and struggle in Peter’s life to prepare him to see the greater glory, grace and power of Jesus, so he uses these things in our lives to prepare us for mission and ministry so that we would see His greater glory, grace and power.  Also, please make sure you know that this verse is for PEOPLE THAT LOVE JESUS.  Not those who reject him or walk in determined disobedience to him.

So if you love Jesus and have staked your life on living for him and giving him everything – as Peter did before God opened his eyes in Acts 10 – you can know that everything you’ve experienced to this point in your life is preparing you to do what God has planned for you to do.

I think one of the biggest practical lessons that we can learn from Acts 10 is that God has made salvation and righteousness available to EVERYBODY who would repent of their sins and trust in the person and work of Jesus.  This is hard for me to remember, let alone live out, sometimes. 

When Christians who love Jesus and desire to see people walking and living in righteousness and truth look around our culture, it can be very difficult to feel love and compassion for those we see and know that are rejecting Jesus and living in defiance of God.  This was Peter exactly before Acts 10!  He loved Jesus.  He desired to see people living in righteousness and truth.  And he struggled to love them and care about them.  To him, they were all outsiders.

But because of God’s power and kindness in his life, Peter was changed from the inside out.  As Jesus loved the enemies of God (including you and me) and gave his life for them to reconcile them (us) to God, so Peter began to love who he viewed as the enemies of God and began to give his life in service for Jesus so that they would be reconciled to God.

And we see that God was faithful to do through Peter what he had prepared Peter to do.  In v.44, it says “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.”  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, these Gentiles were saved and reconciled to God!

Is there a person or group of people in your life that you can’t stand?  Is there a person or a group of people in your life that you think is beyond the grace of Jesus?  First, ask God to change your heart towards them.  Ask him to let you see them as he sees them – as precious and valuable (see Luke 15 if you’re having trouble imagining how God sees lost people).  And ask God to give you love and truth to share with them. 

Even if you think you can’t do it.  If you think you can’t do it, you’re right.  But God can do it through you, just like he did with Peter!  Press into his power and his grace, and watch him use you to change the world around you – one person at a time. 

I Can't Do This

There have been times in my life and ministry where I just get that feeling of  “I can’t do this.”  It’s not a feeling of wanting to quit or give up on the responsibilities that God has given me as a husband, dad, friend and pastor.  It’s just a matter of sometimes feeling so overwhelmed with the calling in those areas of my life that God has placed on me.

I spend a lot of time with people who are hurting and broken and need redemption and healing through Jesus.  In some cases, I journey with people for months through the dark places in their lives – prolonged illnesses, marriage and family problems, overcoming addictions – and the feeling of “I can’t do this,” creeps in. 

There are times in my life – just like other people with job responsibilities – when I neglect my relationship with my wife and kids and let my work consume me.  Being in ministry is a little different than other work, because it’s so difficult sometimes to find the Off Switch.  There are always needs, and always ministry opportunities.  I often find myself consumed with empathy and sympathy for others to the point where I just kind of shut down emotionally and physically at home.  There is repair work to do.  Sometimes it takes days.  Sometimes it takes weeks.  The feeling of “I can’t do this,” creeps in. 

It’s not that I hate my life or ministry.  I love both and I am incredibly blessed to have the family I have and the church that I pastor.  But when God gives us a burden to do something – whether it’s to be a godly husband or wife, or mom or dad; to be a leader and servant in The Church; or to walk with people through difficult and dark times in their lives there are many times when we just get that feeling of “I can’t do this.”  I know I’m not alone in this, because I hear the same thing from many other people.

In today’s reading from Acts 9, I was reminded of this kind of burden when reading verses 15&16.  Acts 9 is a pretty dramatic chapter where Jesus knocks Saul and his butt and begins the process of changing him from the inside out.  The first few verses give us a glimpse of Saul’s life – he was the Pharisee in charge of persecuting Christians. 

In v.v. 15&16, God begins to lay out the plans that He has for Saul as he speaks to the disciple Ananias: “But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."

These verses show us that being a disciple of Jesus carries a great burden – even suffering – for the sake of carrying the Good News.

Saul was a guy that had it made.  He was the cream of the crop of the Pharisees, and from a financial and influence standpoint, he was probably set for life.  In his mind, he was doing the right thing by upholding the Law of Moses, and punishing those who had been swept up by the grace and mercy of Jesus.  His job was easy – he could sit back and call the shots and men would carry out his plans.  He had no burden for people who were far from God.  His only burden was making money and destroying those who needed God the most.

When we live for ourselves, like Saul, we don’t understand the burden of the Good News.  But all that changed for Saul on the road to Damascus when Jesus took him apart and claimed him for Kingdom work.  If there was anything that Saul would hate, it would be loving Gentiles (non-Jews) and sharing the Good News with them.  Not only would the emotional and spiritual burden on Saul be too much for him to do, but Saul – soon to become Paul – would experience great physical suffering for the cause of Christ.  Imprisonment, beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, homelessness and much more.  I’m sure that as Paul began to see what God had in store for him, there were incredibly agonizing moments of thinking, “I can’t do this.” 

Like Paul, when we are faced with these moments of “I can’t do this,” we are in exactly the place God wants us to be!  These moments and seasons of life are opportunities for God to display his glory and power in our lives, and do the things that only He can do. 

In 2 Corinthians 12, as Paul is many years into his ministry of preaching the Good News to the Gentiles, he tells his friends at the Church in Corinth about the thorn in his flesh that God has given to him.  Scholars have debated for centuries about the nature of this thorn – whether it was physical or spiritual – and the evidence is good for either one.  In v.8, Paul tells of pleading with God to take it away from him, but God allowed it to remain as a reminder of grace.  In v.9, Paul tells of the answer he received from the Lord: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

This is certainly a backwards way of thinking in our culture that places a premium on strength and self-sufficiency.  We’re conditioned from an early age to live for pleasure and a life free from burdens and pain.  We’re encouraged to medicate or self-help our way through those “I can’t do this” moments.  But God’s Word tells us something different.  The “I can’t do this” moments and seasons are the times when the grace of Jesus becomes more precious and more powerful in our lives.  His power is made perfect in our weakness.  When we find ourselves feeling weak and powerless, and feel like giving up, we must learn to press into the grace and power of Jesus at work in our lives. 

In my message this past Sunday on Joshua 2, I ended by sharing a little bit of the story of Rick Warren, the pastor of Saddleback Church in California and the author of The Purpose Driven Life.  A few months ago, Rick and his wife Kay, lost their son Matthew to suicide.  Rick grieved very publicly through Twitter and Facebook, sharing brutally honest thoughts and feelings as he and Kay began the healing process of losing one of their three children.

Last week, he shared these words that give us great hope in those “I can’t do this” moments of life: “Give it to God - He transforms your test into a testimony, your mess into a message, and your misery into a ministry.” 

No Room for Gloating

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you know that I've posted quite a few articles and thoughts about the trial of Kermit Gosnell, the abortion "doctor" who was convicted yesterday of 3 counts of First Degree murder.

The Gosnell case is chilling and disturbing to me on many levels.  First and foremost is because there are few things in my mind more ghastly and wretched than abortion.  I'm staunchly and firmly against any and all abortion, and I believe that every follower of Jesus Christ should be.  I just can't fathom how we can read God's Word and come to the conclusion that life doesn't begin at conception.  I can't even fathom how we could study biology and embryology and conclude that life doesn't begin at conception.  Every human life is sacred, and every person is created in the image of God.  To somehow think that because a life that has been created and ordained by God is inconvenient or unwanted is the height of arrogance and ignorance.  

I'm also deeply disturbed that we live in a country in which a first degree murder charge is defined by a matter of inches.  Literally.  If Gosnell had snipped the spines of babies in the mother's uterus or cervix, he would have just been performing a "medical procedure."  We have a grave problem in our culture when first degree murder is a matter of inches.  

And can we dispel with the foolish notion that keeping abortion legal means that it will be safe and rare, i.e. the mantra of the pro abortion crowd?  For whom is abortion safe?  It's certainly not safe for the baby.  Have you ever considered what a baby experiences in abortion?  A baby with a fully, or even partially, formed central nervous system that allows it to experience pain, just like you and I experience?  No matter what means are used in abortion - whether chemical or mechanical - that baby feels tremendous pain.  I once heard Abby Johnson, who used to work for Planned Parenthood but is now a born-again, pro-life crusader, talk about her first hand experience in seeing this cold, hard truth.   And abortion is hardly rare, when it happens over a million times a year in our country.

As I followed the Gosnell case, which was largely ignored by the media and our lawmakers, I mostly felt rage and disgust.  It's appropriate, and even good, to be outraged and disgusted by sin and carnage.  Jesus was.  Outrage, anger and disgust with sin brings us to repentance and magnifies the grace of Jesus in our own lives.  I was thankful that the jury in the Gosnell case reached the verdict that it did, and that earthly justice will be served in this case.

But there have been times when I, and other Christians I know, have forgotten about the grace of Jesus in this case.  In my human nature, I've thought, "There's a special place in hell for people like Gosnell," or "I hope he experiences just a fraction of the pain and carnage that he's inflicted on untold thousands of women and babies."  Earthly justice, as outlined in Romans 13, has been, and will continue to be, served.

But grace.  What do we do with it?  It's a tricky thing, isn't it?  Uncomfortable to think about in situations like this, when we cry out for justice to be done.  I was reminded yesterday of Paul's words to the young leader Timothy about the greatness of God's grace.  Look at what Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:15&16 -  Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

Paul is a guy who got grace, and understood it's unfairness and the discomfort that it can cause when our hearts cry out for justice.  I think many Christians tend to forget Paul's past in an effort to sanitize grace.  When Paul says that he was the worst of sinners before he met Christ, he meant it!  This isn't some emotional soapbox where Paul is trying to garner sympathy or empathy points with his audience.  This is real life.  Things as they are, not as we want them to be.

Until Jesus knocked Paul on his butt in Acts 9, he was responsible for things that were as morally repugnant and reprehensible as Kermit Gosnell.  Paul oversaw the persecution of followers of Jesus.  In his position of power and authority, he paved the way for the murder of many - hundreds, if not thousands - Christians.  Crucifixion.  Stoning.  All kinds of treacherous and wretched acts.

"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."  Christ Jesus came into the world to save the worst of the worst, and to forgive the worst of the worst.  Christ Jesus came into the world to heal and redeem people who were enemies of God, and to make them the friends of God.  For those of us who, by worldly standards, haven't been as far gone as Paul the mercy and grace of Jesus makes us uncomfortable.  But let's face the facts of what God's Word says in Romans 5:10 - For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

When we know this and understand it, there is no room for gloating when earthly justice is served.  We can be thankful for it.  We can even hope and pray for it.   But earthly justice is just a reminder of the broken and depraved world that we live in.  Earthly justice should always cause us to press into and appreciate more the grace of Jesus Christ, because earthly justice is a stone, cold reminder of the justice of our holy and righteous God that cannot and will not tolerate sin in His presence.

I don't like to talk about God's justice, because it forces us to deal with the realities of hell and what it would be like to be separated from God for all eternity.  Jesus used many metaphors to describe hell - fire, a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, a great darkness, a place of torment.  Whether the pain of hell is literal and tangible, or the pain of hell is purely spiritual and emotional, it's real.  Jesus said it is.  And while the sinful man inside of me wants to gloat about people receiving justice, I know that the desire of Jesus in every person's life is to display mercy and his unlimited patience and to save them from hell.

So what do we do?  As hard as it is, we have to pray for Kermit Gosnell.  We have to pray for people in the abortion industry.  We have to pray for murders and rapists and the worst of the worst.  We have to pray for their salvation.  We have to pray that Jesus would draw them into repentance and reconciliation with the Father.  Because whether we care to admit it or not, spiritually, we were all in the same place once before Jesus saved us.  For people who have received grace from Jesus, and have experienced his unlimited patience in drawing us to repentance, there is no room for gloating when earthly justice is carried out. 

Listen to this plea from Abby Johnson, who I mentioned above.  She was once where Kermit Gosnell was.  She was once where Paul was.  She was once where you and I were:  
 We will be judged for our words and for hate in our hearts. Christ says that hate in our hearts is equal to murder. To wish death or harm on someone is a sin, and makes us no better than those who do murder. We are all deserving of death. Sometimes in these situations it is hard to remember...but Christ died for Kermit Gosnell, too. If you feel hate in your heart or wish him harm, I suggest you spend some serious time in prayer and say nothing...to protect your own soul. We are ALL created in the image and likeness of Christ. 

Who Is Jesus?

There's a very strange thing you should know about me.  I absolutely LOVE it when the Jehovah's Witnesses come to my door.  Most people I know dread it, but not me.  I love to talk theology, and you could even say I like a good argument once in awhile.  Not a name calling, knock down kind of argument, but lively intellectual debate.

Just this morning, a Joho (my shorthand name for the Jehovah Witnesses) came to my door.  I didn't get too excited though, because it was an older woman who was alone, and I knew she wouldn't stick around long to talk to a man.  She offered me a Watchtower and I politely declined, explaining I had read them before.  But I did invite her in for coffee and said, "Let's talk about who Jesus really is because I think you've believed a lie about him."  Of course she politely declined my invitation, as I expected she would.

The only time a Joho has stuck around to talk with me for an extended length of time was about 7 or 8 years ago on a bitter cold February day when the temperature was in the teens with a brutal north wind blowing.  I was outside chopping firewood for my woodburner (the old fashioned way with a maul) so I was nice and warm.  A car pulled into our driveway and out popped a young man and a young woman, probably in their early 20's.  "Fresh meat," I thought as I saw them make their way down my driveway with some watchtowers and a Bible in hand.  

We made some small talk, and I invited them in.  Of course they refused, so I grabbed the Greek New Testament out of my truck - doesn't everybody carry one of those in their car? - and said, "Let's talk about who Jesus really is because I think you've believed a lie about him."  This young couple stood shivering in my driveway - he in just a suit and she in a dress and overcoat.  We looked together at the Gospel of John and I showed them some important differences in the Greek Text that their New Kingdom Translation had wrongly translated.  

I must have invited them in at least 10 times as they shivered and wiped snot from their noses and tears from their eyes because of the biting wind, but they refused.  We talked about Jesus and about who He claimed to be in the Scriptures, and I could tell that they were unsettled by what I was showing them.  I told them to come back any time, and bring some elders or leaders from their Kingdom Hall and we could talk more.  But I'm certain they told their leaders to stay away from that crazy preacher on O'Hara Road that talks about Jesus with a Bible in one hand and a wood maul in the other, because they never came back.  

So what exactly did we talk about?  We talked about today's reading from John 14, specifically in v.9 where Jesus responds to Phillip's request to see the Father by saying, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!"

Who is Jesus?  He is God in human flesh!   You see, the Johos don't believe this.  They believe that Jesus is a created being, and that He is not eternal and not God in human flesh.  When a Joho shows up at my door, it's always my hope that we can talk about this because it's so important.  

Why is it important?

If Jesus is a created being, he is subject to the fall, just like every other part of creation.  And if Jesus is subject to the fall, then his substitutionary death on the cross is not sufficient to remove the stain of our sin because he is not a sinless, perfect sacrifice.  If Jesus' death on the cross is not sufficient to remove the stain of our sin, then we are still stuck in our sin and no satisfactory payment has been made for our sin.

In v.6 Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one can come to the Father except through me."  When many people hear these words, and think about the implications, their immediate reaction is, "That's not fair!"  Just as the Joho's on that bitter cold day were unsettled by the truth of who Jesus is, many people are unsettled by the truth of who Jesus is. 

But in a way, I agree with them.  It's not fair.  It's grace, and grace isn't fair.  Because of grace, we get what we don't deserve.  Because of grace, God comes to us in Jesus to rescue us and to save us from our sins, and doesn't wait for us to get our act together on our own before we come to Him.  The fact that God comes to us in Jesus gives us great hope and security.


When we believe that Jesus is who He says He is in the Scriptures, and trust in His power to transform our lives and bring us into friendship - not just fellowship, but friendship - as the sons and daughters of God and to guarantee through His Spirit the inheritances and promises of God, nothing could be more fair than this.  Despite our sin, despite our guilt, despite our shame, and despite our hostility towards God, God came to us in Jesus to restore what our sin has broken.  

In v.7, Jesus speaks these incredible words of hope and promise to his friends: "If you had known who I am, then you would have known who my Father is. From now on you know him and have seen him!"

We have hope when we believe Jesus because in Jesus we see the incredible love and grace of The Father who loves us.  When we sin and screw up, we look at Jesus and see that The Father welcomes sinners and that heaven rejoices over our repentance (see Luke 15).  We see that we have a Father who loves us passionately and fully.  We see that we have a Father that would give everything for our redemption and healing.  When we look at Jesus, we look at The Father. 

Is this the Jesus you know?  Or do you know a Jesus who is less than God in human flesh?  If you know a Jesus who is anything less than this, you know a Jesus who is limited in power; you know a Jesus who is impotent to do anything about your sin; and you know a Jesus that isn't really Jesus. 

A Rant to Keep My Head From Exploding

Deviating a little bit today from the daily reading plan, which has us in John 11 and the story of Lazarus.  If you go to the ALIVE! Community Church website here and click on the sermon player tab, you can listen in to 6 or 7 weeks worth of stuff on Lazarus and John 11.  Or go to Amazon and order the book The Lazarus Life by my friend Steve Smith.  A great read.

Today is one of those days where my head feels like it is about to explode again, and it's time for a good rant.  If you don't like rants, you can quit reading now.  Don't say you weren't warned.  

I'll admit it, I read some alternative news sources that most Americans don't.  The Blaze.  The Drudge Report.  Fox News.  I like real news, not what the mainstream media wants me to believe is happening.  I'm not into conspiracies and I don't wear a tinfoil hat - well at least not around other people. 

I've read quite a few things this week that have greatly troubled my spirit.  First of all, as a Christian.  Secondly as an American.  As a Christian, I don't expect it to be easy to live my faith in a culture that is at best indifferent to the message of the cross and its foolishness.  I don't expect every person in America to believe in Jesus or to embrace his message of salvation and eternal life.  I don't expect people to have the same values that I do, or to believe the same truths that I do.  This is one of the great things about America - we are free to believe whatever we want to believe and we are free to live our lives as we see fit, within certain parameters to protect public safety of course.  

But more and more, I see a presidential administration and state and local governments that are slowly, but deliberately, usurping our First Amendment rights.  The First Amendment protects our rights as Americans to freedom of thought, speech and conscience.  Go here and here for two recent examples of how President Obama and like minded politicians are becoming increasing hostile towards Christianity.

Before I go on, let me say this: This isn't persecution.  This is.

But we're getting there in this country.  And what I read this week is the strongest proof yet.  You see, this administration's Pentagon officials have been meeting with an extreme anti-Christian activist, Mikey Weinstein and are now set to make it a punshable offense for a member of our military to talk about their faith.  We're talking possible court martial or dishonorable discharge.  Not just publicly.  But in private conversation.   Read this article if you don't believe it.  

This is a week in which President Obama has become the first sitting President to address the national gathering of Planned Parenthood, and in his address concluded with these words: "Thank you Planned Parenthood.  God bless you.  God bless you."  I can't think of anything more disgusting for a President to do than to ask God to bless an organization that was responsible for the murder of 300,000 innocent babies in the last year, can you?  

This is a week in which President Obama called Jason Collins, who was the first active NBA player to announce that he is gay, to congratulate him on being a hero.  This picture sums it up well:

I believe that we are a nation, led by the words and actions of this presidential administration, that is inviting the judgment of God to fall on us.  Isaiah 5 says this:

 20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. 22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, 23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent. 24 Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel. 25 Therefore the LORD's anger burns against his people; his hand is raised and he strikes them down. The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised. Darkness and distress; even the light will be darkened by the clouds.  

Scripture is clear in Romans 13 that government is one of the ways that God can bring blessing or woe to people.  This isn't about donkeys and elephants.  If a Republican or Libertarian or Tea Partier was doing the same things, I'd be ranting about it.  This is about people who have been elected and chosen by other people to represent them.  This is what we have chosen.  We have chosen leaders who call evil good and good evil.  We have chosen leaders who think they are smarter than they really are, and have no fear of God's wisdom.  We have chosen leaders that have no regard for the most innocent of our citizens.  
And because we have chosen this, we will see decay and rot in our country because we have chosen leaders who have not only rejected the law of God, but are trying to eliminate the law of God from having any bearing on individuals and institutions in our country.  It's not a pretty picture that God's Word paints in Isaiah for the nation that rejects God and chooses our own foolishness over his wisdom.

Rants without solutions are useless and hopeless.  The solution is not going to be found in more government.  The solution to cultural decay and rot is The Church of Jesus Christ.  We may not have the power or influence to change an entire culture or the direction of a government, but we have the opportunity and the power to change the lives of individuals.  Our current leaders will try to silence us through legislating away our freedom.  Our current culture will try to silence us by saying that we are bigots and intolerant.  But Jesus made a promise about His Church.

Jesus said these words to Peter in Matthew 16:18:  "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."

Jesus doesn't make that promise about anything else.  He doesn't promise that the gates of hell won't prevail against governments or nations.  He doesn't promise that the gates of hell won't prevail against civic and service organizations.  He doesn't promise that the gates of hell won't prevail against even as great a nation as America.  He only promises that the gates of hell with not overcome His Church.

The gates of hell are pressing in on us on all sides, Church!  Do you see it?  Do you care?  Sin and evil are rampant in our culture and government.  Sin and evil are rampant in our lives, and we are sitting idly by pretending that everything is OK.  I don't know about you, but it makes me furious.  I'm furious that we're losing our religious freedom.  I'm furious that our culture is awash in evil and sin.  But I'm more furious that I could be doing more to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.  If we remain silent as The Church, we are complicit in the woe that is being brought upon us by our leaders and our culture.  

The gates of hell are pressing in on us on all sides.  Do you care?  Do you care about people that are hopeless without Jesus?  Do you care about people that are on the path to destruction?  Do you care about people that don't know the love of Jesus?  Do you care about the fact that God wants everybody to repent and trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

In Luke 15, we see a powerful picture of the heart of God towards sinners and the lost.  Jesus tells 3 parables about things and people that are lost.  The greatest joy of heaven is when ONE sinner repents and trusts in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.  Is this your greatest joy, Christian?  It should be!  

Although the gates of hell may press in, they will not prevail.  We don't win the battle of evil through more politics and boycotts or violence.  We win the battle of evil with love, with prayer, and with the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God!  It's time Church!  It's time to rise up and raise our voices about the greatness of Jesus and His love and truth!  The proclamation of the Gospel with the motivation of love is the greatest tool that the Church has to beat back the gates of Hell.  If you are in Christ, you are in the battle.  You are a part of his means to change the world, one life at a time!  

We are not helpless!  We have a Savior who has conquered sin, death and Hell!  This is why the gates of Hell will not and cannot prevail against His Church!  He is still alive.  The tomb is still empty.  Raise your voice against sin and evil!  Raise your voice of love and truth!  Raise the banner of our conquering, living King!  
 

Why Isn't God Blessing Me?

One of the greatest promises - I think, anyway - that Jesus makes is found in today's reading in John 10.  In v.10, Jesus says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

Let's focus for a minute on the promise in the second part of that verse, and not the warning in the first part.  "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

Ask yourself an important question today: Is my life full?  Is my life abundant?  Many of us would answer, "Yes, it's bursting at the seams with responsibilities and activities and all kinds of hustle and bustle.  If it was any fuller, I don't know how I could even find time to sleep!"

Unfortunately, that's not the kind of fullness Jesus is talking about here.  What he's talking about is a life of spiritual abundance - blessing, joy, peace, love, truth and grace in abundance.  Busyness and lots of activity isn't the abundant life, in fact it's often quite the opposite.  One of my friends and spiritual mentors, Steve Smith, told me once that the Chinese character for busyness is a combination of two characters: heart annihilation.  They got it right, I think.  Jesus didn't come to annihilate our hearts.  He came to breathe into them the absolute fullness of life that flows from heaven.

A busy life is a life dominated by the thief, Satan, that Jesus talks about.  Our busyness and our constant going and doing are distractions that the thief uses to steal, kill and destroy our hearts.  A spiritually abundant life is not a life of doing nothing, like a desert monk.  We can find abundance in our work, our activities, our hobbies and interests and in family life.  But when those things dominate the rhythm and focus of our lives, we shrivel up and die inside.  

As we unpack and dig more deeply into John 10, we will see that the abundant spiritual life comes from trusting, listening to and being obedient to the Good Shepherd Jesus.  It's not accidental that Jesus uses the metaphor of a shepherd and his sheep here, although many in our day and culture - including me - don't fully understand the relationship of the shepherd and sheep.

In v.3, Jesus talks about the sheep not only hearing, but recognizing and trusting the voice of the shepherd.  I don't know how this works, because I've never spent much time with sheep, but I do know it's true of my black lab, Hank.

Hank is a hunting dog that I got in 2006, and I've trained him since he was 7 weeks old to listen to my voice and follow the commands that I give him.  Some of my friends who have hunted with Hank and I for ducks or pheasants are impressed with Hank's work.  But teaching him to retrieve ducks and to flush and retrieve pheasants wasn't really all that hard.  It was a matter of consistently training him to listen to me, trust me and be obedient to me.  Hank can be on a full out sprint, and I can make him sit on a dime.  If he is running towards me, all I have to do is point at him and he will stop and sit.  If he is running away from me and can't see me, all I have to do is yell "Sit," or blow a whistle and he'll stop and sit.

With my wife and kids though, it's a completely different story.  They have had some frustrating moments with Hank because he simply doesn't recognize their voices as voices of authority.  They can yell all they want - "Sit!"  "Come!"  "Fetch!" - but more often than not, he is not obedient to other voices.  Only mine.

You see, this is the secret to the full life that Jesus promises.  It requires not just hearing, but listening and obedience.  Hank hears the commands of my wife and kids, but he doesn't listen and obey.  Anybody can read the words of Jesus in God's Word, but are you really willing to listen to them - to internalize them and build your life upon them - and to be obedient to his voice?  

If you're finding that you're not living a life of spiritual abundance - a life of blessing, peace, joy, love, truth and grace - you're probably not listening and being obedient to Jesus.  These signs of the abundant life don't necessarily mean an absence of trouble, trials or hardship.  This abundance can be ours even in the midst of life's trials and challenges.  The letters of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament are full of encouragement and abundance even though Paul suffered through immense trials and hardships.  Read the book of Philippians and note the encouragement and abundance in this letter.  This was a letter that Paul wrote to his friends while he was imprisoned!  

In my life and ministry, I've dealt with too many people that can't understand why God isn't blessing them and why they're not living a life of abundance.  It's simply this - they're not surrendered to The Good Shepherd.  When we trust other voices - whether it's the media, science, academia, other people, our own voice or even voices that are clearly of Satan and the forces of darkness - we are not trusting the voice of Jesus.  When you live for yourself and until you decide to listen to and obey the voice of Jesus, you will never have a full and abundant life.  We may have lives full of activities and busyness; we may have lives full of money and the best toys; we may have lives full of titles and 'atta boys; but those things don't bring spiritual fullness and abundance.  They bring death and destruction.  Only the voice of Jesus - The Good Shepherd - leads us to the fullness and abundance of life that He promises to those who listen and are obedient.