God Chooses Unlikely Candidates to be His Messengers

If you saw her backstage you never would have imagined what fame was soon to come her way. She walked out on the stage in a frumpy dress. Slightly mussed up hair. Bushy eyebrows. Seemingly a bit old and odd for the competition. But the moment she began to sing on Britain’s Got Talent she took the world by storm. By the final note she was receiving a standing ovation from the crowd and a broad smile from Simon Cowell. The video of her performance immediately hit YouTube and within a week had been viewed 66 million times. She eventually won second place in the competition but that did not stop her. An album was released in November of 2009 and by the end of the year she had the top selling record world wide of any releases, selling a total of 8.3 million copies.

 You probably would never have picked him either. One first century writing describes him this way:“Bald-headed, bowlegged, strongly built, a man small in size, with meeting eyebrows, and a rather large nose.” 1 Appearances aside, he had been spending his days with a singular purpose: persecuting Christians. Pulling them from their houses. Throwing them in prison. Even having some killed. And yet God chose him to take his story to the Gentiles.

Jesus arranged a face-to-face meeting with Saul while he was on his way to Damascus to persecute his followers (Acts 9). Jesus slammed on the stadium lights and Saul began to see the light. And by the end of the encounter his name is changed from Saul to Paul as he is given a new purpose and a new lease on life. The rest is history. This persecutor of God’s church becomes God’s primary messenger. “Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel.” Acts 9:15 Paul, a Jew, took the gospel message to the Gentiles. Paul, the “chief of sinners”spoke as a gracious firsthand recipient of God’s mercy. Paul, the well-schooled expert on the Law, became the most outspoken voice for the principle of grace.

And aren’t you glad he did? Most of us would not know Christ had Paul not traveled the world telling others about him. And most of us would not know Christ if some modern-day “Paul” had not walked across the cul-de-sac or the cubicle or the classroom to introduce him to us.

Now the question is who is going to take the message of Jesus to your world? God is always moving His story forward and you are His plan for telling your friends and family His Story. God wants to use you to take his message to your world. Your street. Your workplace. Your school. You might not think he’d choose you either. But you might just need to think again.

1 The Acts of Paul and Thecla, written in the 2nd century

You are God’s Search and Rescue Plan

Plan William Pilkenton was one month away from turning eight years old. His family had traveled from Bellingham, Washington, to Tofino, British Columbia for a vacation. He and his father were walking up from the beach when his father turned to look for him and realized he was gone. When children go missing, fathers start looking. And so did this one. Before long, the entire community was helping him search for this missing child. Search and rescue crews scoured the area. Search coordinator Garth Cameron said, “I don’t think there’s a square foot in this town that doesn’t have footprints.” 1

 When children go missing, parents go looking. And that’s what God has done. There’s not a square

foot on earth that doesn’t have His footprints. He began searching for them the moment Adam and Eve made a choice and lost their way. His search and rescue plan had three stages. First He sent the nation of Israel looking. They were His chosen people; chosen to accurately reflect Him in their world and to reveal His plan to rescue the lost. His second stage involved His Son, Jesus Christ. He sent his Son to “seek and save what was lost” (Luke 19:10) and “to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

 The third stage involves His church- you and me. Before Jesus returned to heaven He laid out Hs search and rescue plan (Acts 1:8) “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Jesus sent the disciples into the middle of Jerusalem and told them to wait- to wait for the gift promised by His Father; the gift of the Holy Spirit.

 While they were waiting a crowd gathered for Pentecost. Some estimate Jerusalem swelled to over one million people during this time. The Holy Spirit came on them, Peter preached, and the church swelled from 120 to over three thousand. It didn’t stop there. The devoted themselves to “the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). That first church in Jerusalem grounded its people in the Word, in deep community, to sharing meals and sharing Christ, and to prayer. They had to. The task at hand was too big for them to accomplish on their own. They needed each other. Mostly they needed God, they needed His promised gift, His Holy Spirit.

 That hasn’t changed, has it? We still have the same commission to be witnesses for Jesus in our world, our circle of influence. We are still called to the Word, to love each other, to share life, and to prayer. And we are still searching for those who have lost their way. We are called to accurately reflect Jesus and to reveal His plan for rescuing lost people. We are still searching because the Father still has children who are missing. So live it and share it and God will bring you power as you do. Let’s not leave a square foot without our footprints.

1 Official search for missing 7-year-old ends in Tofino, B.C. at http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/02/18/bc-missing-boy-tofino.html

“Risen or Stolen?”

Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion and Easter Sunday the resurrection. What about the Saturday in between? Well, the Saturday in between commemorates desperation. On that Saturday it seems that Christ was totally defeated as his body lay utterly dead in a rock tomb. Death was absolute. No one was betting on a resurrection. That first Easter the followers of Jesus were confused, sad, disappointed, desperate-

Desperation Saturday-the day before the resurrection was a no courage day.  The disciples hid in every corner in Jerusalem for fear of a cross that would bear their name. Saturday was a no hope day. It could have been a day of hope, considering all the times Jesus promised big things would happen on the third day. But the disciples did not trust Jesus’ promises of a resurrection. Saturday was a no plans day. They didn’t plan on seeing a Risen Savior on Sunday morning. They didn’t plan to talk to him – they planned to embalm him.

Mark 16:1-3 “When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could embalm him. Very early on Sunday morning, as the sun rose, they went to the tomb. They worried out loud to each other, "Who will roll back the stone from the tomb for us?"

In their lower story, it may have been Sunday morning, but the disciples were in a Saturday state of mind. They were stuck on Saturday.

Sunday—resurrection day—is a day of eternal love, life and hope. But it didn’t start out that way. There was some serious concern over the body being stolen. His enemies feared His followers would steal the body and His followers feared His enemies had stolen the body.

His followers had no expectation of a resurrection; so when they discovered the body missing, they thought it had been stolen.
John 20:1-2 “Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

Stolen not risen.
No hope, no courage, no plans- in their lower story, He’s gone, the body has been stolen; they were looking for a body not a Savior.

But the Upper Story reality is His Risen not stolen.
Matthew 28:5-6 “The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where His body was lying” NIV

The empty tomb points to a Risen Savior not a stolen body. A risen Savior; a body alive not missing. It makes all the difference. The disciples had a Risen Savior but they were living life with a missing body; for them the tomb was empty and the body stolen; no courage, no hope, no plans.

Risen or stolen? It determines how you live life; how you face life’s challenges, how you walk out the desperation Saturdays of your life. It affects how or if you share His life giving truth with others.

Empty tomb- no courage, no hope, no plans, no power. It all changes with a Risen Savior. Fear filled cowards, cowering in the Upper Room became courageous witnesses; disappointed, grief stricken disciples, became dynamic missionaries of their Risen Master; doubters of His promises became declarers of His truth.

Risen not stolen!

Risen not stolen changed their entire life. Fifty days after the resurrection, Peter, the same Peter who had denied even knowing Jesus, stood in the public square and risked his life preaching boldly in Jesus’ name. No stolen body could have caused that; no stolen body could have led the disciples to be tragically martyred for their faith.

Don’t let Easter be a religious ritual, don’t commemorate an empty tomb. He’s risen not stolen; Let the reality of a Risen Savior change your life. Live the Easter Sunday reality every day. Every day you can do life with a Risen Savior; every day the life giving promises of God are yours; every day the indwelling Spirit of the Risen Lord empowers you for everything and anything He has for you.

We all have Saturdays in our life; desperation Saturday is sure to show up. But, for Jesus followers, Saturday will always be followed by Sunday. Weeping may go on all night, but joy comes with the morning (Psalm 30:5)

Saturday was the last day of death- Sunday was the first day of life- which day are you living in? It makes all the difference- now and forever.

Eliminate the Shanks From Your Life Swing

Butch Harmon, who has instructed professional golfers from Fred Couples to Tiger Woods, tells the story of the club member who was having problems with the shanks. That is, a poorly played golf shot. He spent 20 minutes trying to get him to work his stance, his weight transfer, his wrists, his arms and shoulders, his chin. He tried everything but the man still shanked every shot. He went into the pro shop and told his father the problem. Claude Harmon went out to the man, watched him swing one time, and told him to keep his clubface square. Five minutes later the guy was hitting the ball down the middle of the fairway.

Butch asked him how he knew what the problem was after one swing. Claude said, “I knew what he was doing before I stood up from behind my desk. . . . A shank is a shank. I knew the guy was hitting it with a shut clubface before I walked out here. The only question left was, what did I need to tell him to get him to stop?” 1

Jesus already knows what is causing the “shanks” in your life. He knows why your life “swing” is off. And he knows the solution before you even know to ask for help. He knows because he corrected your problem on the cross. It is there he uttered these words: “It is finished!” “With that he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30).

 On the cross Jesus paid a debt that was owed by those (us) who were unable to pay it. He finished the work of satisfying both the holiness of God and the love of God. The fact that God is holy is foundational to Scripture. Holy means he is “above,” he is “higher than.” He is not just better. He is not just an improved version of us, but that he is “set apart.” Way apart. “Holy” means something that is set apart from us. And this difference is manifested in the way he views sin. He sees it differently than we do. He can have nothing to do with sin. It has to be punished.

 But God also loves. The fact that God is love is foundational to Scripture. So he put our sin on his Son and punished it there. In doing so, he took care of sin and he took care of you and me when we embrace him as Savior. And with the “shanks” eliminated, your swing should be full of new life.

1 The greatest father: Claude Harmon wisdom and lessons still show the way, Golf Digest, June, 2006 by Butch Harmon at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HFI/is_6_57/ai_n26885507/?tag=content;col1