Pastor Ken’s Thoughts on a Thursday
Stinking Irony
Hi this is Pastor Ken and these are my thoughts on a Thursday…Stinking Irony.
I took a trip this past week that traversed seven states to purchase a motorcycle, and yes before anyone asks…it was still a good deal when I included the gas it took to go get it. However, this podcast isn’t about motorcycles or the price of gas though I am sure I could make some connection between those things and some biblical truth. This episode is about something I stepped on while stopping at one of the many rest stops I visited on my trip. As I walked along one of the concrete sidewalks that led to the bathrooms at one particular location, I stepped on a round metal lid placed in the concrete. Cast into the iron lid were the words “Sanitary Sewer”. I have seen these words many times in the past. Prior to entering full-time ministry I worked for a heavy equipment construction company that placed many of those particular lids in sidewalks and streets during my tenure there.
For those of you who may not know there are two kinds of sewer lines underground. There are “Storm Sewers” which are conduits made of concrete, metal or plastic which convey rainwater runoff from impermeable surfaces like buildings, parking lots and roadways, ultimately to places where it can be introduced safely into natural bodies of water. The other kind of sewer lines are called “Sanitary Sewers” and they are anything but…sanitary. These are the lines that carry the sewage from our sinks, showers and toilets to the waste water treatment plant. When I was in the business of installing new portions of these so called “Sanitary Sewer” lines to existing infrastructure I was always somewhat amused by the name stamped into the manhole covers. “Sanitary sewer” just seemed like such an oxymoron to me. It is a “Stinking Irony” indeed.
As I stepped on that manhole last week and read those words cast in iron, “Sanitary Sewer” it made me think of a few verses I had been reading recently in my devotional time. In his Epistle, James, the half-brother of Jesus wrote about a “Stinking Irony” that we all need to be aware of lest we find ourselves reeking of that very condition. In James 3:7-11 we read the following from the New King James Version. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. 8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? I also really like the way Dr. Tim Jennings put it in his paraphrase The Remedy there it says; 7Humans have tamed all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea,8but no one can make their words harmless. The mouth speaks venomous words, expressing the chaos and evil within the heart.9One moment we praise God our Father, and the very next moment we curse the very men and women created in his image.10Think about it: Out of the same mouth come both praises and curses. My brothers and sisters, this is wrong, and it must stop.11Does a spring bring forth fresh water one moment and sewage the next?
Last week in this podcast I eluded to what I am talking about today. If we are not ever vigilant about the condition of our hearts, we risk acting out of selfishness. When you mix selfishness with the most difficult thing in all humanity to control…the tongue…the risk of stinking irony rises dramatically. James says that 9One moment we praise God our Father, and the very next moment we curse the very men and women created in his image. This can happen in so many ways and seemingly in the blink of an eye. As I noted last week we can be singing along to the Christian radio station in the car one minute and be yelling at the person who so irreverently cut us off in traffic the next. While that may be an easy one for many people to relate to, it certainly isn’t the only example. What about when we smile and say “Sure thing boss!” to our employer and then take every available opportunity to tell our co-workers what a jerk the boss is? How about spending Sunday morning in quote-unquote “Worship” and then gossiping all the way home about others in church and all of the inconsistencies we perceive to exist in their lives? How about the way we use our moral high ground as Christians to justify verbally crucifying our political opponents? The fact of the matter is that these examples I have noted simply scratch the surface of all of the ways we come up with to fulfill the verse above and praise God out of one side of our mouth while we curse His creation out of the other.
I think James was right to ask us to consider this uncomfortable truth about our “Stinking Irony”.10Think about it: Out of the same mouth come both praises and curses. My brothers and sisters, this is wrong, and it must stop.11Does a spring bring forth fresh water one moment and sewage the next? None of us would be willing to go down into a sewer manhole, fill a cup and drink its contents. No one among us would consider it no matter how sanitary the manhole lid said it was. You can’t get fresh water from a sewer. Nor can pure water come from a place that allows even a little bit of sewage in. If I had a 5 gallon bucket of water and added only one cup of raw sewage into it…would you drink it? I hope not. Because even a little sewage allowed into the water contaminates the whole bucket.
What can help us overcome allowing sewage to contaminate our spring meant only to produce fresh water? Conforming to the image of Christ. One of the things we know about Jesus is that though He was reviled…He reviled not. That means that though he had every justification in the world for lashing out, for having bad things to say about His own stinking creation beating, torturing and finally executing their own Creator, (Talk about stinking irony) He didn’t do it. Jesus didn’t think or act selfishly, He allowed His outward thinking to selflessly lead Him to the cross. The bible says that for the joy set before Him, in other words for the opportunity to pay for our sin once and for all and to be able to set all of His creation right again, He endured the cross. (Hebrews 12:2)
So now, removing the sewage from the stream where only fresh, clean, clear water is supposed to flow…Go Be Awesome!
Choose Life!
Hi this is Pastor Ken and these are my thoughts on a Thursday…Choosing Life
In past episodes of this podcast I have occasionally shared lessons I learned from experiencing cancer. I say that I experienced cancer because the disease did not cause me all of the pain and difficulty I have witnessed it cause others. Lynn and I have a dear friend who is at this moment battling cancer in a way I never had to, she is literally fighting for her life. When you pray today…please pray for Leasa and her family. As I said, the fight I had with cancer was not as intense as hers and others have been, so I feel it unfair for me to categorize my struggle with theirs.
Unfortunately, my cancer was not discovered until it had already engulfed my prostate. The cancer had a rather aggressive nature and according to my doctors should really only be treated by a complete removal of the affected organ. Other treatments were discussed but only as options for those where the cancer was less aggressive or the disease had not progressed to the extent mine had. Though each alternative treatment was explained, it was made abundantly clear to us that surgery was really the only way to go…if I wanted to live.
With that information in mind, my wife Lynn and I made one of the easiest, weighty decisions we ever have…I would have the surgery. It was weighty because any decision to have an organ removed, even a diseased one, should come only after a healthy dose of consideration. It was easy because choosing to keep the cancerous organ, would lead to death, while choosing to have it removed, would lead to life. When given the opportunity to choose life…choose life!
I have been spending some time reading in the book of James lately in my personal time with the Lord. In James 1:12-17 it says this in the New King James Version: 12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
The spiritual decision before all of us is really no different than the one Lynn and I faced in that hospital room. To make one choice will lead to death, to choose the other will result in life…abundant life.
We are all tempted from time to time. In our current state, we are still subject to being called out to by our own evil selfish desires. We may even know that certain things are not good for us…and yet we can sometimes crave those very things. We can be fully aware that to act in one way toward another would be godly and selfless but still struggle to not look out for number one. We can, as James goes on to write about later say that we love God and even sing aloud his praises flowing into our cars via the Christian radio station…and then curse His creation out of the other side of our mouths when we get cut off in traffic. Examples abound, though I don’t think it necessary to name each one here. The fact of the matter is that when we are faced with those choices and others, it is a life and death decision. Don’t misunderstand. I am not saying that a Christ follower who momentarily exercises poor judgement is in danger of hell-fire. What I am saying is that when given choices like those I mentioned a moment ago, we are making a choice bigger than the particulars of the one at hand.
According to James, if we endure the temptations and make the right choices, the loving, selfless ones, we are blessed, become approved and can look forward to the gift of life, promised to those who love God. He goes on to say that we should understand where the choices come from in the first place. God does not implant in us a longing to do the wrong thing, it would go against His righteous nature. Temptations come from our own selfish desires, and if we give into those cravings, they become sin in our lives. Practicing sin, or in other words, making sinful action a regular and accepted way of life for us, brings death if it is not dealt with. We are all born in a fallen state, and that means we have a sin-nature that has to be controlled. Thank God He has provided the Holy Spirit who offers the ability to apply self-control to our sin nature.
When James says that every good gift, and every perfect gift comes from the Father, he is reminding us that God is good and therefore only offers to us what is good. In fact, He gave us the perfect gift, Jesus, who as the Lamb of God was the only sacrifice sufficient to forgive us of and erase the record of our sinfulness. James wanted us to know that this good, good Father never changes His position, He always loves us and always wants to give us everything we need to be able to choose life.
God is life. Choosing God’s Son, Jesus as Lord and Savior is the only choice that can bring life by eradicating and curing the cancerous sinful condition we all suffer from. James said it and I’ll say it again. When given the opportunity to choose life…choose life!
So now, choosing to live for Jesus because He died for you to cure your sin sickness…Go be awesome!
Where’s My Phone !?!
Hi, this is Pastor Ken and these are my thoughts on a Thursday…”Where’s my phone!?!”
The other day I got up and did all of the things I do on any other day. I dressed, went downstairs and let the dogs out into the back yard. While they were outside, I started a pot of coffee, put food and water down for them and then let them back in so they could eat their breakfast. Finally, it was time for my wife Lynn and I to settle into our chairs with our steaming cups of coffee and our bibles. We spend this time the same way every morning. We really enjoy getting to see each other invest in our personal relationship with Jesus. Beyond the confidence and spiritual intimacy that instills in our marriage, it offers us the opportunity to share with one another what we are reading about and learning from God’s word. We rarely find that we are reading in the same places in the scripture. As a result, the ability to share with one another what we are personally learning affords us the gift of encouraging each other before we begin our day, each of us going our separate ways to meet daily responsibilities.
As that sweet time came to its unavoidable conclusion that morning, I arose from my chair, filled my travel mug with its prescribed dose of coffee, grabbed my keys and headed out the front door toward my car. I got in as I have done countless times before, turned the key and backed out of the driveway. I was nearly halfway through the 20-minute drive to church when I thought of something I wanted to check on and reached into my pocket for my cell phone…it was not there. I patted my other jean pockets…not there either. I put my hands on my jacket pockets expecting I had simply deposited it there as I grabbed my keys on the way out the door…nope. Surely, it had to be there somewhere. Right? A quick scan of the console and front passenger seat confirmed my suspicions…I had left my cell phone at home.
I felt somewhat unsure what to do. Should I return home to retrieve it and simply be late for work? I decided that wouldn’t be possible because I had a meeting scheduled as soon as I arrived and needed to be there on time. I decided to continue on to my office, email Lynn that I had left it behind, and ask her to bring it to me later in the day.
In the past, I have observed people discover their cell phone missing. Some become perturbed or frustrated without it, knowing that necessary tasks will be more difficult minus their phone in hand. I have watched others exhibit signs of full-blown separation anxiety at the realization that they are detached from their phone. They show visible signs of concern that quickly turn to worry and sometimes even verge on panic that their electronic device is not in their immediate possession. On occasion, I have seen this displayed to the point that you would think the person in question had left some life saving device behind!
Why do we react in those ways when we find that our cell phones are missing albeit temporarily? I believe we have become so dependent upon them that no matter the level, most of us feel some sense of discomfort when we become disconnected from our phones. Many daily activities have become intertwined with the presence of a cell phone. We make and take calls, send and receive texts. With smartphones we have access to social media, news and weather forecasts for literally anywhere on the planet. Just today, I used my phone to play games, take pictures, create a PDF, send emails, listen to a book, look something up in a bible commentary, and check on the prices of a plane ticket to Orlando, Fla. We use our phones for nearly everything. They have become such an integral part of our daily lives it is no wonder we want them close at hand.
The bible talks about something we should be even more careful with than we are our cell phones. Something that we should be far more certain to never let out of our sight and consideration. Interestingly, the way that it speaks about it, one could almost imagine in our day and age that it is in fact, a cell phone that is being referred to. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 reads as follows in the Good News Translation: 4 “Israel, remember this! The Lord—and the Lord alone—is our God. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 Never forget these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Teach them to your children. Repeat them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working. 8 Tie them on your [hands]and wear them on your [heads] as a reminder. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.
These verses speak of the most important thing we can remember to keep nearby at all times…and it isn’t our cell phone. Verse 4 reminds us that there is only one God, and He is supposed to be our Lord. Understanding full well I risk offending someone, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take today, I have a question. This isn’t a public challenge, and no one but you will know how you answer, so be honest. What would you say your actions indicate is more important to you, your bible or your cell phone? Which do you pay closer attention to? Which would you be more anxious if you didn’t know where it was for a full day? The answers to those questions beg the next. Who is your God? Is it the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or the god of At&T, T-Mobile and Verizon?
I like the way this scripture covers all of the bases. It reminds us that there can be but one god in our lives, and He ought to be The Lord God. It tells us how we will know who our god is, because who (or what) we love with ALL our heart, ALL our soul and ALL our strength will identify that. Verse 6 gives very important instruction as to how to keep putting God in His rightful place in our lives. We must always remember His instructions to us. We are to find every way possible to remind ourselves daily how He wants us to interact with Him and with those around us. In verse 7 we’re told to teach His ways to our children. We pass on to our kids many things. We illustrate regularly through our words and actions the things we think are most important, and what they should find important as well. The things we give the greatest value to, they will as also. If we want our kids to find God most important, we have to make it evident that nothing could be more important to us than God is in our life.
It goes on to say God’s praise and instruction should always be in the forefront of our conversations. Everywhere and all the time. When we are at home or when we are away. When we are at work or taking it easy. There is no time or place inappropriate to consider what God would have us do. I especially like verse 8. It says we should tie or bind God’s word to our hands and our heads. I like this because it is intended to be symbolic of attaching His written direction to our actions (the hand) and our thoughts (the head), and how we should let Him guide both. However, it is a bit amusing that it is prophetically analogous of the contemporary competition for our attention. Our cell phones are seemingly always either in our hands or held up to our heads.
Finally, in verse 9 we read the closing suggestion. Write them on your doorposts and your gates. This concluding statement is meant to indicate that we should allow God’s word to both define our homes as well as be the reminder of who and whose we are before we leave there each day.
So forget your cell phone from time to time…the world won’t come to an end, that was proven earlier this week while I was a work and mine was at home on my chair. But, don’t go anywhere without the One true God…He holds your world in the palm of His hand.
So now, with God’s word continually on your mind, heart, and lips…Go be Awesome!
First Steps – March 9th, 2023
Hi this is pastor Ken and these are my thoughts on a Thursday…First Steps
At the very least, I have paid close attention to well over a dozen people’s first steps. As a father and a grandfather, I have watched and celebrated many first steps. When I think of the term first steps, several things come to my mind. There are the first steps I just mentioned. We might call those a child’s very first steps. They could be described as the tenuous actions of a toddler who has a desire to move from one place to another in a more efficient manner than can be managed on hands and knees. They begin taking steps while maintaining balance holding onto firm objects with their hands. I remember when my son took the first of those steps “cruising” along the front of the couch or making laps around the coffee table or ottoman. Eventually he let go of the security of his props, extended his little foot out and away from safety, and headed toward whatever had caught his attention. First one foot, then the other and he tottered in his chosen direction one step…a first step…and then found himself sitting on the floor. Had he reached his destination upright? Not at all. Was it a success worth joyous celebration? Absolutely!
Those weren’t his only first steps, and they wouldn’t be the last ones that presented him with challenges. There would be his first steps into a preschool, a kindergarten class, middle school, high school and then college. There would be others as well. Steps into his first job, as well as subsequent new ones. First steps as a husband, first steps as a father where he has had opportunity to watch his own children take their first steps. None of us run out of opportunities to take first steps, and no first steps come without challenges.
Didn’t I recognize when my children or grandchildren took those first steps that they were difficult? Did I not realize that it would be easier for them if I would simply pick them up and take the steps for them as I have done so many times before? If carrying them had been successful to that point, why not just continue? Certainly it isn’t because I don’t enjoy carrying a child…I absolutely love doing that. Some of my fondest memories as a dad and a papa are of carrying my children and grandchildren. In fact, I do recognize their difficulty in taking their own steps. They know it’s hard too, and sometimes have sat down and cried out in frustration when it wasn’t all working out according to their plans. I deny my desire to hold them, and I let them take their own steps, in spite of the challenges that loom because I know those very trials will strengthen them and allow them to move freely. Carrying them might be satisfying for me, but seeing them go through life with underdeveloped muscles and the disabilities that would surely follow, would break my heart.
The book of James opens up talking about the challenges we face. When a child begins taking first steps there are trials and it is easy for the child to look at them as negative experiences. However, that outlook may not be accurate, and I think that is what James wanted to share with us. James 1:2-4 say this; My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing. (NKJV) I also like the way my friend Dr. Timothy Jennings writes it in his paraphrase The Remedy. There, those verses read as follows. My brothers and sisters in God’s family, I want you to rejoice and keep a positive attitude whenever you face troubles of various kinds, because every trial exercises your trust in God–which overcomes fear and selfishness–and builds a confident, steadfast application of the Remedy. And this steadfast engagement in God’s treatment must be completed so that you may be fully healed, mature, and like Christ in character–not lacking anything.
This scripture has caused challenges of its own for more than one Christ follower. The idea of “Counting it all joy when we fall into various trials” is a difficult idea to embrace. It almost seem to be non-sensical. It is not. I believe James is in fact trying to tell us that we need to keep a positive attitude about what we perceive to be negative experiences. Why? Because every experience we consider negative, is not necessarily so. We often deem an experience to be negative if it doesn’t turn out the way we wanted it to, or if the result of it are emotions we don’t enjoy. My son did not enjoy it when he lost his balance and fell to the floor while trying to navigate his way toward his favorite toys. At times, he fell against other objects, sometimes hard objects, that left him temporarily sore and uncomfortable. He never liked those experiences, and yet, as a result of the frustrations, bumps and bruises, he now walks freely and uses that skill daily to accomplish almost everything of value that he does. They were not negative experiences…only unenjoyable ones. If he would have had the foresight, he could have taken joy in those trials knowing they would produce an amazing and useful skill! James is trying to help us understand what we may not in the moment…these experiences are all meant to be good for us!
As Christ followers we not only need to know how to walk, we need to be able to trust the one who leads and guides us on the journey. Dr Jennings says it this way. I want you to rejoice and keep a positive attitude whenever you face troubles of various kinds, because every trial exercises your trust in God. As those who follow Christ, hopefully we have already come to the conclusion that God is good. Not sometimes…not once-in-a-while…He is always good. Therefore, He is always being good to you and to me. If that is so, and it is…then anything He allows into our lives He has a perfect plan to use for our good. Romans 8:28-29 declares that to be true. I think that sometimes we want to look at all of the negative experiences we have and claim they are the work of the devil. Undoubtedly, some of them are, but let’s not give Satan total credit for all of the experiences we want to call negative. Certainly, God will never cause evil to take place, His word is clear, He never tempts us or anyone else to do evil…It would go against his very nature to do so, and as a holy God full of integrity that would be impossible for Him to do. But, consider that some of our so-called negative experience may be intended by God to allow us to grow and become strengthened. The fact of the matter is that in either case, His word promises that He will use all of our experiences, the good, the bad…and the ugly to make us more like Christ if we will trust Him to do so. Every trial exercises our trust in God.
As our trust in God or faith as the New King James Version puts it is tested and developed it produces patience, or in the words of Dr. Jennings, “overcomes fear and selfishness–and builds a confident, steadfast application of [Christ’s] Remedy” [in our lives]. When we take the position of total faith in God, we can rest in the fact that His goodness to us won’t allow for any experience to result in our destruction. In fact, we can trust that if we accept His desired work in our lives, every experience will be utilized to increase us. We no longer need to try to maneuver situations to work out to our benefit; we can trust Him to do that. We no longer have to live in fear that our experiences will tear us down…He desires to use them to build us up. Trust Him, that in whatever you may be facing today…He is being very, very good to you.
Finally, James instructs to let patience have its work. Let it do what it is designed to do. Let your trust in God perfect you. When will you know that perfecting is well under way? When you can have a difficult experience, even an excruciatingly painful one, and still know that God is going to use it to develop your faith muscles and strengthen you…and you will stand and step forward lacking nothing.
The perfecting process is an interesting one indeed. It does not mean that the outcome of our circumstances are going to look perfect…It means God will utilize our circumstances to make us look more and more like Him every day. First steps come with challenges. Those very challenges are awesome tools for perfecting us as Christ followers.
So now, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience…let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing …and go be awesome!
Sometimes You Just Need A Bigger Funnel
Hi, this is Pastor Ken and these are my thoughts on a Thursday…Sometimes you just need a bigger funnel.
Lynn and I have been doing a lot of canning lately. If the empty store shelves just a few years ago showed us anything, it illustrated that when our grandparents told us to save for a rainy day, they knew what they were talking about. Both of our grandmothers canned fruits and vegetables. My mom canned even more than that. Lynn and I have decided that those ladies knew what they were doing. They enjoyed the convenience of going to the store to buy what they needed, but they had each, as we recently did, lived through times of restricted access to many of those conveniences. In wisdom, they chose to preserve enough to get by in times of less-than-plenty.
My thoughts today are not about being prepared, though as I say that I recognize there is no shortage of spiritual truth that could be illustrated by putting food up in jars. They are also not about storing up things of value now to be enjoyed later, though that could also be easily extrapolated from the illustration. On this Thursday my thoughts are about the funnel my mom used when she canned. You should have seen it, it was huge! As we have been taking our turn preserving the skill of canning, I have wished on several occasions I had some of the tools mom used when she “put food up” as she used to describe it. Most of all I wish I had her canning funnel. It would fit into both regular and wide mouth jars at the bottom, but in my memory, it was about a foot across at the opening. I actually purchased a funnel of my own to accomplish the same task, but it isn’t the same. It is cheap plastic and is not made small enough on the narrow end to fit inside the rim of a regular mouth mason jar. I really wish I had a sturdy bigger funnel, like the one mom had. More on that later…after all this is supposed to be a podcast to help increase faith, not one on canning talk.
Let’s talk about faith then shall we?
Mark 6:4-6 (NIV) Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.
I now live a little more than five hundred miles from my hometown where I remember mom doing all that canning. Hometowns are an interesting phenomena. One can live far away for many years and yet…somehow…return decades later and be instantly transported back in time to a plethora of memories from yesteryear. I don’t return to that town in Western New York State very often, but when I do, and drive by the old “homeplace” I am once again a teenager talking to mom in the kitchen while she canned, baked fresh bread or did any number of things she practiced as a part of her daily life in our home.
Our scripture this morning is of a homecoming of sorts. Jesus returning to His hometown with His disciples in tow, found a different reaction to memories. Not of His memories, but rather those of His former friend’s and neighbor’s. They marveled at His wisdom and powerful works, but couldn’t get past their recollection of who they had always thought Him to be. They marveled not at the wisdom, and the works…but at the fact that it was Jesus displaying the wisdom and performing the great deeds they were hearing about. After all, wasn’t this the same guy that was a simple carpenter when He left town? Wasn’t this the same Jesus they had watched grow up among them?
Jesus understood it was because they quote-unquote ‘knew’ Him so well that they had such trouble ‘recognizing’ who He really was…The Son of God. Because of that He said, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.”
Their treatment of Him was not surprising, actually, it was somewhat foreseeable. A common reaction even in our day to those returning home from lesser professions than Christ’s ministry. Our attitudes are similar when a writer, athlete, actor or some other person of notoriety returns home…”Isn’t that the guy that…?” or “I remember when he was just a kid who…”
That perceived familiarity resulted in a dismissal of knowledge. Those Nazarene’s had the same potential to know Jesus for who He really was as did the people from any other town. Jesus wanted to do miraculous things for them and display the very Power of God in their lives, but they dismissed what they were seeing because of what they had seen in the past…a young boy playing with all the other young boys. They saw a skillful carpenter who could create things; but they didn’t see The Creator who could redeem people both physically and spiritually. Their view of Jesus was incredibly limited…by them, and we must be careful not to do the same thing today. The bible tells us that because of their self-imposed limitations…He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. It says, He was amazed at their lack of faith.
Enveloped in this scripture is an important spiritual truth. God can only do for us what we believe He can. Don’t mistake what I am saying…God is omnipotent and is not restricted in any way in terms of what He has the power to do by me, only in what He can do for me. I like to think of it like the power the electric company has in regards to my house. The utility company has nearly immeasurable amounts of power surging past my home in its transmission lines. I have a home in need of electricity. I can plug into that power source if I choose to, but how much power they can transmit into my home will be directly impacted by the size wire my home is connected to their lines with. Many older homes must ‘upgrade’ their electric service connections to handle their greater need for power. My faith is to God’s power, what the size of the entrance wires of my home are to the electric company. I don’t restrict the amount power God has, only the amount of it He can share with me.
The above verses illuminate that spiritual truth. So what power of God’s do you need to see displayed in your life today? Are you believing Him for it? Are you praying expectantly? Are you looking at that huge need you have as a big thing or a little thing in comparison to Almighty God’s power? Too much focus on our problem’s size tends to cause a distorted perception of God’s ability. Look too closely at the difficulty and God seems smaller. However, with spiritual eyes correctly positioned on God, it is the adversity that pales in comparison.
So what do you need God to do for you? What power do you need Him to display in your life? Is there disease? He wants to bring healing. Is there difficulty in marriage? He wants to bring reconciliation. Is your family in need of restoration? He wants to make that a reality. He has the power to do these things and more. Jesus said, “With God all things are possible”. I don’t know about you, but I want Jesus to marvel because of the presence of my faith…not the lack of it. God can only do for you what you believe He can do for you and as the apple of His eye…He wants desperately to give you what you need.
When I think about it, it seems like faith is the funnel by which God is able to pour His power into our lives. Aside from wishing I had some of mom’s old canning tools, sometimes I just recognize I need a larger funnel…how about you?
So now, asking Jesus to give you the largest faith funnel possible while trusting Him to provide you with all that you need, thank Him in faith-filled advance for His goodness to you and…go be awesome!
New Kid In Town – February 9th, 2023
Hi, this is Pastor Ken and these are my thoughts on a Thursday…New Kid In Town
In December 1974, I was 8 years old and in the 3rd grade. Even at that young age I was experienced at what I was doing that cold morning, and didn’t like it…not one bit. That day I was starting at yet another new school. This would be the fifth different one I had attended, my third in the space of just two years. I am and have always been, an introvert, consequently being the new kid in school was always a nerve-wracking experience for me.
The setting for that particular ‘first day of school’ was in a small town nestled in the eastern Pennsylvania coal-mined mountains. Our home, the church parsonage, was at the bottom of the hill the town had been built on. The school was on the upper end of town about ten blocks from our newest address. Dad decided to walk my brother and I up to the school that morning to get us registered and into our new classrooms. I hated everything about that morning. My stomach was in turmoil, my mind imagining a yet unseen classroom filled with students who didn’t know me and probably wouldn’t want to. Then my thoughts turned to my new teacher. Would she be kind, or find a new student to be bothersome? Those concerns and others held me captive in a considerable state of worry.
Undoubtedly, dad could see the worry on my face, and probably noticed the resistance in my step as well. He began to sing. Immediately I hoped we were walking through a deaf neighborhood, and that no one would pay any attention to us…but I doubted seriously that anyone didn’t notice that weird man singing as he walked his boys up the hill. He lifted his voice, “Don’t worry when you can pray…Trust Jesus, He’ll be your stay. Don’t be a doubting Thomas…Just lean upon His promise. Why worry, worry, worry, worry…when you can pray?” Now I was nervous and mortified! Thanks dad, that helped a lot!
That day turned out to have its share of troubles, most do, but in the end I slept in my own bed even if in an unfamiliar room. We would go on to live in that town for four more years, I would make lots of friends, enjoy not one, but two years learning from the best school teacher I ever had before or since, and I would come to hate leaving that town more than I had disliked moving into it. The point of this story isn’t being the new kid in town as much as it is about that goofy song dad sang that morning.
That experience and especially the final line of the song dad seemingly was belting out that morning, “Why worry, worry, worry, worry…when you can pray?” has overtaken my memory countless times in the nearly fifty years since. Dad has offered a good bit of advice and counsel over those five decades, some I remember, much I have forgotten. So why has that memory never been too far away when I have been susceptible to worry? Perhaps it is because I found it so embarrassing. Probably not, I am sure my dad embarrassed me on other occasions I have since let go the memories of. I think…it is because of its biblical truth.
Philippians 4:6,7 (NLT) says, Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
That boyhood experience of mine occurred as it did because I was the new kid in town, headed for yet another new school, and I was afraid I wouldn’t fit in. As Christians we are not living in our hometown either. This world is not our home, and it isn’t always comfortable to reside here. Christ followers inhabit the same flawed bodies as everyone else. We traverse the same ground, we even encounter many of the same troubles and adversities that those who do not know Him do. And when we live just like everyone else does, and worry about what’s around the corner, we rob ourselves of the peace that ought to be ours. And we cheat others out of a real-time testimony as to what living in Christ could be doing for them.
Why did Paul write from a Roman jail cell to the Philippians and instruct them not to worry about anything, but rather to pray about everything? Because he understood what it meant to reside in prison, but live in Christ. Living in Christ means that we look to Him for our value, our standing, our provision, our comfort, our joy, our very state of mind. Living in Christ means that we believe that we are upheld by a power and authority greater than any here on earth. Therefore, no matter what people may do to us, no matter the circumstances they try to manipulate, no matter what conditions might be imposed on us, we are Christ’s. He takes care of us. He bolsters our spirit and sustains our minds and hearts. He is always above our trouble and wants us to know that if we live in Him, we can rise above it too. Paul wrote to the Philippians (and us) that we should not worry because when we do, we become distracted by something the world focuses on, the problem at hand, and that is not the faithful viewpoint of someone who lives in Christ.
Paul wrote that as those who live in Christ, when we are tempted to worry about some problem in our life, we should pray instead. Because we know Christ is greater than any difficulty we face and has the power to minister to us as we go through it. So when trouble comes…and it does, just ask any new kid in town, do what Paul suggests…ask the One you live in…to give you what you need…to rise above whatever you are experiencing…as the two of you walk through it together.
Paul went on to remind us to thank God for what He has already done. Why? Because when we are purposefully grateful for what God has done in the past, it reinforces our faith for the future. When we ponder the fact that He is the Beginning and the End, we can pray expectantly knowing that whatever is on our hearts and minds He has already considered and made provision for. In that sense, we can thank Him for what he has already done about the things we still must go through. Prayer and thanksgiving offered in advance of the move of God is evidence of our faith, and the catalyst for experiencing His power.
What is the result? An amazing peace that God is going meet the needs we bring to Him. It’s a peace so great that it often exceeds our own understanding and according to Paul, it guards our hearts and minds against worry as we live in Christ Jesus.
So the next time you find yourself worrying about a situation you’re faced with, put Paul’s instruction into practice. Pray about it expectantly, trusting that God can and will see you through. Thank Him for all of the other times He has provided in the past, and then enjoy some awesome peace.
So now, forget your worries, be grateful for things God has done, pray about your present condition and then experience His perfect peace…and go be awesome!