May 24, 2014

“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”  I Corinthians 11:23-26

I am thankful for a good memory and I am very thankful for good memories! The older I get the more I realize how important it is to make as many lifetime memories as you can.

But I also realize there is a reason 6,005,000,000 post-it-notes are sold every year! We are afflicted with the aggravating tendency to forget what we should remember and remembering things we should forget.

After all, that is the reason for the holiday of Memorial Day - to remember those who fought and died in foreign lands in order to defend our freedoms! We NEVER want to forget those brave heroes!

Communion is a spiritual equivalent of Memorial Day, each time you observe Communion it is a reminder of a Spiritual Warrior Who died to deliver you from the Enemy. When you remember it causes you to be sorry over the suffering you caused Him but thankful for the love that inspired His suffering.

Or, in a more practical sense, you could think of Communion as God's "post-it note" to remind you to remember Christ's love and His suffering that saved you from sin.

When we lose touch with God's grace we can become prisoners to our painful memories.

Memories are powerful because they recall not only experiences but emotions.

I spent many days being cared for by my Great Grandmother Snyder. My sister and I loved going over there to stay when our mother went off to her job. We have many pleasant memories of those days spent during our early childhood. In her neighborhood there were some mourning doves and that is where I first remember hearing their soulful cry.

Nearly every time I hear a mourning dove I remember Grandma Snyder and reconnect with the feelings of being with her.

So, memories can be very pleasant or they can be very painful – some are both. Because they are painful and pleasant or both, they become very powerful!

To a great extent your life will be dominated and defined by your most powerful memory. Communion is given to be a frequent reminder of how much God loves us and the price He paid to save us from our sins.

Taking the bread and drinking the cup helps us reconnect with our emotions of when we first experienced His salvation. When we can remember how much we are loved and how blessed we are it puts our own pain and suffering in perspective. His suffering becomes our dominant memory during  the Sacrament of Communion, as it should be!

May 23, 2014

"For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying,“This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes." I Corinthians 11:23-26

The big idea in these verses is, memories are so powerful they can shape the reality you live in if you allow them to. Memories are one part event and one part emotion. When the event is traumatic enough and the emotions painful enough, and when they are repressed, rehearsed   or relived, they can define your life.       

For example:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Mark Twain said, "A cat who sits on a hot stove won't sit on a hot stove again! But it won't sit on a cold one either!"

A painful experience will attach a bad memory to your conscious mind that will process into fear or caution the next you face that situation.

Some painful memories reside in the subconscious and manifest themselves in the form of phobias or irrational fears.

For instance:

I have stated that I have a fear of heights, but I really think it is a fear of falling because I can sit by the window in a jetliner 35,000 feet above the ground and it doesn't bother me at all. But standing at the edge of a cliff near the Blue Ridge Parkway or on a roller coaster (Scooby Coaster included) it's SWEATY PALMS time!

Where did that come from? I could never figure it out. That is until my Mother explained that when I was just a few months old - much too young to roll over - she turned away for a moment while I was laying on my changing table and I rolled off the table falling to the floor and hitting the toilet on the way down. (I know, that explains some things, right?).

I don't consciously remember that happening but does my sub-conscious?  Probably!

Because I don't want subconscious fears defining my life, I defiantly boarded the Scooby Coaster with reckless abandon and rode it - TWICE!

Whatever your painful memories, whether conscious or not, you don't have to allow them to define your life nor do you have to give into the fear. You can learn the difference between a hot stove and a cold one!

Jesus calls you away from your fears and phobias when He calls you to Communion! Gathering in His presence surrounded by His people to remember His love, His grace, His atoning death for your sin, and His promise that there is a perfect painless place in your future!

When you take the bread and the cup and enter into His suffering, He steps into your pain!

May 22, 2014

"For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying,“This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes." I Corinthians 11:23-26

I don't know about your memory but the trouble with mine is this - I remember things I should forget and forget things I should remember!

Apparently, Jesus was aware of that tendency because he gave us a way to be reminded of how much He loves us and the radical way He proved His love. We call it Communion.

Our Founder understood the importance of Communion as a spiritual Sacrament and a constant spiritual reminder:

"...if we consider the Lord's Supper as a command of Christ, no man can have any pretense to Christian piety, who does not receive it (not once a month, but) as often as he can." - John Wesley, The Duty of Constant Communion, (section 21)

How often do you need to be reminded of God's grace?

Taking the bread and the cup reminds you of His grace toward you (God's Riches At Christ's Expense)!

How often do you need to be reminded that you are forgiven?

Taking the bread and the cup reminds you that Christ took the penalty for your sins so you can be forgiven!

How often do you need to be reminded how ugly your sin is?

Taking the bread and the cup reminds you of the horrible suffering caused by your sin.

How often do you need to recall the thrill of that day when you trusted Christ and experienced the joy of salvation for the very first time?

Taking the bread and the cup reminds you of that wonderful day when salvation came to you!

How often do you need to remember your total dependence on Jesus for......well.....EVERYTHING!?

Taking the bread and the cup reminds you of your TOTAL dependence on Christ!

How often do you need to remember the hope of someday sitting at the table with Him at the Great Banquet?

Taking the bread and the cup reminds you of the hope of Heaven!

Since these important realities often get smothered by the pain and pressures of life, being often reminded is important.

"do this in remembrance of me....." 

Take, eat and remember - often!

May 21, 2014

"He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." Revelation 21:5

Shakespeare once said, "Brevity is the soul of wit."

That being true, John the Revelator, is a genius! He says a lot in just this one brief verse.

Let's take a few minutes to reflect on what he tells us.

Our God is seated on the throne!

What does that mean to us? Everything!

It means He is sovereign - fully in control. He is large and in charge! Nothing happens in this universe without His permission or approval. When the world seems chaotic - like now - it is controlled chaos because He is omnipotent!

If you know Him as your Father and if you are committed to Jesus as your Savior, you don't have to worry! God has given you an abundant life now - His grace, His guidance, and His guardian angels! And He has guaranteed you an eternal life! The best part of the eternal life is that He will be there and in control!

Our God is making everything new!

How do you improve on perfection? God can! And He does! In Revelation 21 we see that God makes a new Heaven and a new earth! This is the REAL new world order!

Our God is so great and so dynamic and so intelligent and so creative that, though He never changes, He is always getting new ideas and better ideas and has the power to tweak and improve His creation! That is why we can spend eternity and never get bored!

So that tells us that as good as it is now - it will only get better! Always!

For you and me, the best news of all is that He made us new and He renews us every day!

Third, God is trustworthy and true!

Wow! It is good to know that Someone as powerful as God is trustworthy. We know in our world power corrupts. We are accustomed to leaders who become corrupted by power once they are trusted with that power by their people. God is not like that! Praise His Name!

What that means is that you can depend on Him - always! It means you can hope in Him - always! It means that you can commit to Him - safely! It means what was true yesterday will be true today - and tomorrow! There is a constant in the universe! There is an anchor - a sure foundation for all of time and eternity!

Get your heart and mind around this little piece of good news! Rejoice in this knowledge of God! Give Him praise and honor today! Walk in peace, and confidence and security today. Live in hope of tomorrow!

God is on the throne!

May 20, 2014

"The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites."  Exodus 3:7-8

God prepared Moses for a call to ministry by placing in his heart a "holy discontent" or, as I referred to it in my message yesterday, "a Popeye moment". Popeye reached a point where it was "alls he could stand he couldn't stands no more"!

When God wants to launch a new ministry He often does it by planting a "Holy Discontent" into the heart of His servant. From that sense of "this isn't right" or "something has to be done about this" or "I can't stand this anymore and something has to change" a vision for change begins to formulate and a passion to change it ignites the soul.

That's how it happened for Moses and it will likely will happen that way for you!

As I was meditating on this and how it applies to the ministry at FredWes, I realized that is how we add ministries. We don't find a program and then look for a person to lead it, when we see a need we pray that God will lay it on some person who will see the need, feel the "holy discontent" and become impassioned to lead the development of a ministry to meet the need.

When God raises up a leader and a ministry, that leader is much more effective at designing the ministry and developing it than if a pastor or lay leader were to try to recruit him into a ministry.

Just yesterday I passionately shared a ministry opportunity that has presented itself recently and challenged someone to allow God to stir up a "holy discontent" within them for this ministry. Following the service I had four of our young ladies come up to me with great excitement to inform me God was calling them to assume responsibility for this ministry!

They were thrilled and I was thrilled and I believe God will be honored and souls will be saved through this new ministry! They will serve with passion because God has stirred them and called them to this new vision for outreach!

Is there something stirring in your spirit? 

If there is no unconfessed sin in your life, that stirring isn't conviction from the Holy Spirit. And if it isn't conviction, it may be a calling from God to serve Him in an area He has been preparing you for!

May 19, 2014

"Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat." Matthew 8:24

Have you ever been so frightened that you physically shook?

I have and it is an awful feeling. It takes a powerful fear to bring that sort of reaction.

From what I see in this story, the disciples might have been shaking with fear.

Interestingly, the Greek word for "fierce" used here is "seismos". You might recognize it in conjunction with "seismology", the study of earthquakes or "seismograph", an instrument for measuring the intensity of earthquakes. So, this was a storm that literally shook the waters! And it got them shaking as well.

Another insightful fact about this word is that it is only used two other times by Matthew in his Gospel.

Once is in Matthew 27:51-54 in reference to Jesus' death on Calvary, "At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people. The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

The other use occurs in Matthew 28:2 - "Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it."

So, God knows how to shake things up! He shook the waters and He shook the earth! People noticed and people changed!

Has God ever shaken your world? Is He shaking it now? What is your response? Is it fear? Maybe He is trying to shake the fear out of you!

The message of the storm is, "Fear not when Jesus is in your boat"! He is stronger than the storm.

The message of Calvary is, "Fear not, Jesus has conquered your sin"! His holiness is stronger than your sin!

The message of the Resurrection is, "Fear not, Jesus has conquered death!" His life is more powerful than death!

God's earth-shaking message is, "Fear not! I have overcome the storm, the sin and the sentence of death!"

So, why should you be shaking? If there is a storm in your life right now, or if something has shaken your world, maybe it is God's "seimos" sent to shake the fear out of you and remind you that Jesus is in your boat! Fear not! Speak to Jesus and let Him speak His power to your fear!

The one who should be shaking is the devil!

May 18, 2014

“One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven. “ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?  But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.” Luke 5:17-26

I love this story! Apparently the Apostles did, too because it is recorded in three of the four Gospels. It is both inspiring and challenging.

I want to draw on it as a picture or an illustration of how FredWes can “carry on” from a year of good growth to a year of greater growth and outreach.

Briefly, I want to highlight four admirable traits modeled by these four friends who were so desperate to get their needy friend to Jesus they carried him with their own hands!

Moving forward into this new ministry year 2014-15, here is how we can carry on in effective ministry:

These guys were not willing to be unconcerned - “Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat”

Concern is seeing someone who is in need and being willing get involved in helping that need get met. One of the reasons FredWes grew this year is because we became concerned for needs outside of the church walls. We raised money for a well, we sent people to Guatemala, we sent a team to Hephzibah, and we met needs at EconoLodge and carried some folks to the feet of Jesus!

In this coming year let’s carry on in our concern for the needs of others!

These guys were not willing to be uncommitted – “and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus”

Probably most people have concerns over needs they see around them, but very few commit to meeting those needs. Concern is expressed through commitment. You can’t be truly concerned without responding to those concerns. These guys demonstrated their concern for their paralyzed friend by picking up a corner of a cot and carrying it to where Jesus was.

To carry on the growth that we experienced last year, let’s remain committed to getting people to Jesus!

These guys were willing to be uncomfortable – “they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd”

Carrying a paralyzed man across town is uncomfortable! It’s hard work! It’s heavy work! On a Summer day it is hot work! But they weren't concerned about their own comfort, they were committed to their friend being touched by Jesus. Once they finally arrived, they had to carry him around and through a crowd of people.

Growth is exciting but it is also uncomfortable. This year we ventured out of our comfort zone on a few occasions. To carry on our growth we will need to get used to being uncomfortable and venture further outside of that comfort zone.

These guys were willing to be Unconventional – “they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus”

I love these guys! They were so committed and so desperate to get their friend to Jesus, when they couldn't get through the crowd they formulated another plan. Climbing up to the roof while clinging to the cot, they decided proceeded to rip a whole in the roof, tie ropes to the corners of the cot and lowered him right in front of Jesus! They would not be denied!

These guys valued the Master and His message more than they valued their traditional methods!

You know the seven last words of the church don’t you? They are, “We have never done it this way before!” To carry on with the growth we have enjoyed this year, we must be open to unconventional ways of reaching people and bringing people to Jesus!

Their concern and commitment and discomfort were rewarded when their friend found salvation and healing at the hand of Jesus!

God, give us what these guys had so we can see people saved and healed in 2014-15!