Living a 220 life

My Message is About Him (by Max Lucado)

I really enjoyed this little devo from Max Lucado. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

My Message is About Him

The request came when I was twenty. “Can you address our church youth group?” We aren’t talking citywide crusade here. Think more in terms of a dozen kids around a West Texas campfire.. I was new to the faith, hence new to the power of the faith. I told my story, and, lo and behold, they listened! One even approached me afterward and said something like, “That moved me, Max.” My chest lifted, and my feet shifted just a step in the direction of the spotlight.

God has been nudging me back ever since.

Some of you don’t relate. The limelight never woos you. You and John the Baptist sing the same tune: “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less” (John 3:30 NLT). God bless you. You might pray for the rest of us. We applause-aholics have done it all: dropped names, sung loudly, dressed up to look classy, dressed down to look cool, quoted authors we’ve never read, spouted Greek we’ve never studied. For the life of me, I believe Satan trains battalions of demons to whisper one question in our ears: “What are people thinking of you?”

A deadly query. What they think of us matters not. What they think of God matters all. God will not share his glory with another (Isaiah 42:8). Next time you need a nudge away from the spotlight, remember: You are simply one link in a chain, an unimportant link at that.

Remember the other messengers God has used?

A donkey to speak to Balaam (Numbers 22:28).

A staff-turned-snake to stir Pharaoh (Exodus 7:10).

He used stubborn oxen to make a point about reverence and a big fish to make a point about reluctant preachers (I Samuel 6:1-12; Jonah 1:1-17)

God doesn’t need you and me to do his work. We are expedient messengers, ambassadors by his kindness, not by our cleverness.

It’s not about us, and it angers him when we think it is.

We who are entrusted with the gospel dare not seek applause but best deflect applause. For our message is about Someone else.

A Love Story pt.2 (audio message)

Here is part 2 of a 2 part message given by Jeff while in Iraq.
A Love Story pt. 2

A love story part 1 (audio message)

Here is the first of a two part message I delivered while in Iraq.
A Love Story pt.1

The blessing of persecution

“Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” (Acts 8:1)

In many American churches, believers are outraged by the persecution against the church in other countries. We find this blatant abuse of religious freedom very foreign to our world view and social construct. Whether we take action or not, a typical American reaction is an intense desire to do something to stop the persecution. Our American minds jump immediately to the need for ‘justice’; justice as we know it.

My friends, I have news for you: Our view of justice and doing the right thing isn’t always the same view God holds. Please don’t get me wrong, God doesn’t desire people to be tortured or beaten in any way, however, He uses it for His glory when it does happen. Consider Acts 8:1. Saul, as the leader, had just put Stephen to death when a ‘great persecution arose against the church’. This persecution scattered the believers throughout the regions. You see, the believers were living in close fellowship and weren’t spreading the Word outside their geographical comfort zone. Then this great persecution arises, the believers are scattered, and we come to Acts 8:4, “Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the Word” and verse 6, “and the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Phillip”

Friends, we must always be conscious of our need for a paradigm shift. Do we see the world through American eyes or do we see the world through the Lord’s eyes? Is it more important to rid our world of persecution and pain or is it more important to spread the Word and Love of God? Why is martyrdom such a tragic event for the believer? Are we not all going to die anyway? Yes, I understand the un-timeliness can be tragic, but ones death for the Lord is an amazing blessing that will be honored for eternity.

We as believers must begin to see the blessing that lies in persecution. It can often be difficult to see when it’s happening to you, but draw your attention back to the numerous blessings that have come through persecution in scripture. As your world view shifts closer to that of the Lord, you’ll begin to see that all things can work to bring glory to our Lord. I pray that every day I grow closer to a Godly world view and see the blessings of persecution. AMEN!

Impacting your world for Christ 4

“Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:44-47)

I’ve heard it said that all people desire to be loved by someone. I can’t speak for all people but I can testify that it is, in fact, wonderful to be loved by others. I’ve also heard, all too often, that people just wish they had at least one good friend. Unfortunately, most haven’t found that good friend and spend a majority of their time secluded within their own house and family. Christian fellowship is desired by so many yet pursued by so few.

My friends, as we see in the early church (Acts 2:44-47), fellowship was an integral part of their Christian lives. The early believers didn’t consider fellowship to be a “hang out” time but rather a way of life. They understood that when they entered the body of believers they intertwined their lives with the lives of all other believers in Jesus. Consider this: verse 45 says they sold their possessions and divided them among all. Fellowship for these believers was more than casual friendship with other believers;no, fellowship was a deep, intimate, family.

If we wish to impact our world for Christ we must open our lives to other believers. We must love one another with a true and sincere love. (John 13:34-35) Step out of your comfort zone and begin spending time with other people. Open your heart and allow your ‘family’ to grow. When we begin to love one another we will be seen by non-believers and we will impact our world for Christ! AMEN!