March 10, 2015

"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 intrument 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 "seismos" 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!

March 9, 2015

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God." I John 4:7

It would be nice to be able to do a flying 360 slam dunk. But that's impossible for me.

How great would it be to play Michael Jordan one-on-one and whip him? That's not going to happen.

I would love to be able to play in the Master's Tournament at Augusta National next month. But it is an impossibility.

It would be a dream come true if I could play catcher for the New York Yankees for just one game. That will not happen.

I think it would be a rush to drive a NASCAR stock car for ten laps around Daytona, but that is impossible for me.

These are a few of many impossible dreams that have rattled around in cranium over the years. None of those will ever happen because I just don't possess the ability to accomplish any of them.

What does this have to do with anything? Where am I going with this?

As impossible as these scenarios are, they are no more impossible than fulfilling God's command to love my wife with an unconditional love. That is way above my capabilities. I have about as much chance of winning this year's Master's Tournament as I do loving Barbara with an unconditional love.

Here's the good news - "For nothing is impossible with God...."

Here's the good news - "love comes from God....."

What is impossible with me is possible with God. He never intended me to love Barbara with my own love. He expects me to respond to His love, to submit to it, to receive it, and to allow His love to flow through me.

I can never be a world-class athlete. I will never be able to perform at the highest level in any of the sports I enjoy. BUT I can be a world-class lover of my wife! I can be a godly husband who pleases God and meets the needs of my wife.

All of these dreams are equally impossible. But one of them IS attainable. Fortunately, that is the one that counts the most!

How about you? Are you chasing some impossible dreams? Why not focus on the one that God has called you to? Why not let Him love your spouse through you? Why not accomplish one impossible dream in your lifetime?

March 8, 2015

"Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown! Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm. The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!” Matthew 8:23-27

I have been in a small boat in the middle of a little lake when a big storm blew through. When the wind is blowing and the waves are tossing and the thunder is rolling and the lightening is flashing - it is frightening! I love to fish with a bobber but I don't want to be the bobber!

I didn't have Jesus in my boat but I certainly was having a conversation with Him! So, I can identify with the angst of the apostles in this storm. I have never felt so helpless and vulnerable. Rowing got me nowhere and I was totally at the whim of the waves. It was not a ride I would care to repeat.

Remember that several of these guys had been professional fisherman who were comfortable on the water and familiar with storms, but even they were scared by this one!

Why were they so freaked out this time? Was the size of their fear in direction proportion to the size of the storm? Fear arises when we sense we are out of control and in danger and they were both.

That is when someone remembered that Jesus was in the boat! That was a game changer! They discovered what you and I can only discover in the midst of a storm, life is bigger than us and more powerful than us and it can threaten us - BUT, Jesus is bigger than the storm! 

We don't need to be in control when Jesus is in the boat. We just need to be under His control!

Are there storm clouds on your horizon? Are the winds kicking up? Are the waves tossing around you? Are you leaning on the oars just to stay afloat? Here's the deal, take what you learned from the last storm and let it help you deal with the next one. Storms are bigger than you, but Jesus is bigger than storms! Speak to Jesus until He speaks to the storm.

March 7, 2015

"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me." John 15:4

The purpose of coming up to home plate in baseball is to connect with the ball.

I will never forget my first time coming to the plate for my first at bat in college. It was a moment I had imagined and dreamed about for years. When I was playing pick-up games with my buddies on a vacant lot I would pretend I was in college.

But when that moment actually came I was a nervous wreck. My knees were quivering and my hands were shaking and I just hoping no one would notice the twitching.

Adding to the pressure of the moment was the fact we were playing against one of our fierce rivals, Grace College. And Grace College is located in my home town so I had family members there.

And oh, one more thing, the bases were loaded.

The walk from the on deck circle to the batter’s box seemed like a mile. I kept taking deep breaths and letting them out slowly hoping it would relax me.

When I finally got to the batter’s box I stopped before I stepped in and looked down to the third base coach to get my sign. Since bases were loaded and only one out I wasn’t expecting anything other than “swing away”. I tried to envision myself hitting a line drive out into the gap and clearing the based. But when I looked down to the coach he gave me the bunt sign. My mouth went dry. I knew that the bunt sign with a man on third meant it wasn’t just a bunt sign it was a suicide bunt.

A suicide bunt meant that as soon as the pitched released the ball the runner on third would be heading down the third base line at full speed. If I were to make contact with the ball and lay down the bunt he would cross the plate and score. But if I missed the ball he would be a dead duck tagged out by the catcher at the plate.

No pressure.

The pitcher threw the pitch. I squared around to bunt. As I squared to bunt I saw the runner coming out of the corner of my eye and thankfully I saw a waist high fastball also headed my way. At that point my instincts took over and I laid down a perfect bunt.

I had connected with the ball and my teammate connected with the plate and those connections earned me some love from the coaches.

As memorable as that connection was at home plate, it pales in comparison to the thrill I get when I connect with God by faith! The love that comes with that connection is beyond comparison!

In the Home Run life, home plate is where the connection with God happens. Home plate is where everything begins and ends.

And God never gives you the bunt sign! He always says, “Swing away!”

March 6, 2015

“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.  You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.  Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:1-6

Barbara and I are very eager to see our great-granddaughter in person. Work schedules and bad weather have prevented us from getting down to Roanoke. It is driving us nuts!

We enjoy all of our grandchildren but this will be a new experience for us! What a blessing!

This week-end will provide me another memorable experience when I travel to Las Vegas to meet a group of spiritual grandchildren!

Sunday I will be the guest speaker at Sin City Church in Henderson, Nevada for their first anniversary celebration.

A year ago, Randy and Rhonda Baker were part of a group that launched this church plant committed to the mission of loving people to life. For the past year they have been doing exactly that!

Randy Baker attended the youth group at Princeton Wesleyan Church in Princeton, IL during the ten years I was privileged to lead that church. Randy met a young lady named Rhonda and began bringing her to church. It wasn’t long before she accepted Christ as her Savior. It was my joy to baptize her and lead her through New Believers Class.

Several years later I united them in marriage.

I moved on to another church in the Chicago area and they began their family and stayed very active in their church. After they finished raising their two godly sons, Rhonda began sensing a calling to pastoral ministry. After much prayer, she answered the call and enrolled in seminary. When she received her Master of Divinity Degree she sent out resumes to various churches for a ministry position.

She was offered a top position in the Women’s Ministry at Central Christian Church in Las Vegas. It is a large multi-campus megachurch where she received great training and enjoyed much success in ministry. About a year and a half ago I got an email from Rhonda asking me to pray for her because she was sensing a stirring in her spirit that God had something else in mind for her to do. So I began to do so. A couple of months later she told me that God had put it in her heart to plant a church in the Las Vegas area and there was a group of people who wanted to be part of that faith venture. So they began Sin City Church for the sole purpose of loving people to life. For the past year they have done exactly that!

Since I am their “spiritual father” the people they have loved to life in Jesus can be considered my spiritual grandchildren!

I ask for your prayers as I travel and then as I challenge them with a message God has laid on my heart.

God is indeed faithful to bear fruit through us when we abide in Him!

March 5, 2015

"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me." John 15:4

One of the big differences between baseball and the Home Run life analogy comes in this area of making the connection at home plate. 

In Major League baseball a batter who connects for a hit 3 times out of ten at bats will be and all-star. And if he does it over the span of his career he will be a candidate for the Hall-of-Fame!

But in the Home Run life, connecting with God three days out of ten will make you a weak Christian!

God doesn't call you to be a hit and miss follower. Jesus made that clear in His teaching expressed in John 15. When you made a faith connection with Christ He expected you and expects you to remain connected to Him.

A branch that disconnects from the vine is unproductive and worthless according to Jesus. Anyone who is familiar with a grape vine knows that is true.

What would happen to a Major League hitter if he went a whole season swinging the bat but never connecting with the ball? How long would he remain in the big leagues?

In the same way, how can you remain unconnected from Christ and still consider yourself a Christian? Claiming you are a Christian doesn't make you one. Being connected to Christ through faith and maintaining that connection through obedience to His Word is what makes you a Christian.

Baseball is a game. Being a Christian is serious business! You might even say it is life or death serious. Not to be overly dramatic you could say it is a matter of eternal life and death.

Many people choose not to play baseball and still have a very productive and meaningful life. But the same is not true with faith. You need a relationship with God through Christ. And the relationship with Christ needs spiritual connection with God and a commitment to remain connected with Him.

As in hitting a baseball so it is in your faith, the more you commit to practicing the more you will connect at home plate.

Are you connected to Christ this morning?

Will you remain in Him?

What will that require of you today?

March 4, 2015

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

When I swung and connected with the baseball, I knew it and everyone in the ballpark knew it. And when I swung at the ball and missed it, everyone knew that as well.

In baseball hitting the ball is clearly and literally a matter of hit or miss!

Back when I played baseball I hated not connecting with the ball. I couldn’t stand it when I struck out. So, I figured out the best way to help me make contact with the ball on a regular basis. I widened by stance to shorten my stride. That kept my head level as I swung at the ball. I also shortened my swing so I could wait longer on the pitch and get the bat into the hitting zone quickly.

That worked so well that I rarely struck out. In fact, my first two seasons of college ball I didn’t strike out at all. But neither did I hit many long balls. Catchers are supposed to be power hitters and I was hitting line drive base hits.

Being a contact hitter wasn’t a ticket to the big leagues but it felt better than striking out.

But in the spiritual sense, I am happy to be a contact hitter. The more I connect with God the better I like it! And as long as I remain connected to Him I will never strike out!

Spiritually speaking, I know when I have connected with God and when I haven’t.

You can know that, too!

The reason you swing and miss is because you try to strike out on your own instead of connecting with Him and continuing in Him.

You too, can develop a way to be a “contact hitter” spiritually.

Hitters are happiest when they are hitting. They are most unhappy when they are swinging and missing.

Believers are happiest when they live connected with God through Jesus who promises, If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Connect with God today. Call on His Name. Submit to Him. Not only will you have the thrill of contact but you can also take it deep!