Missions Paul

“In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach” Acts 1:1

Luke has written his gospel (his former book) and is now writing further.
There is more. Your experience of Jesus in the past, no matter how amazing, is just a part of what can be fully experienced. There is more. Write again. God hasn’t finished with you yet.

No one fully knows who Theophilus was. Many have speculated, but Luke knew.
Tell the story to someone specific. Target someone again. Find your Theophilus. His name means ‘beloved by God’. It is easier to share your life with someone when you know God loves them.

Luke writes of what Jesus began to do and to teach.
Jesus began and now you must begin. You must carry on where Jesus has left. Let your “do” and your “teach” match together. It is your calling.

Where is God in suffering?

What of God’s mind? What is He thinking about?
So many people know!
“This is what God would do, not do, think and not think”.
“What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him, 28but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the Feast, or to give something to the poor”. (John 13:29)

What of God’s mercy? It is the active desire to remove the cause of distress in others.
His mercy falls on Israel and not Palestine, on USA and UK and not Iraq. Doesn’t it??!
Paul reminds us what God said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

What of His might?
We are so confident in His power.
To people who rejected Jesus the disciples asked, “Shall we call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” (Luke 9:54) Jesus rebuked them.
We have searched and found the God of victory, the God of plenty, of healing, of abundance and of resurrection. What about the God in defeat, in hunger, in sickness, in lack, on the cross? Do we know where God is?

Where is God? He is with the poor and needy. He is one with them. If we do unto them we do unto Him, why? Because He is there as one of them.
There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy….Deuteronomy 15:11
Where is God? He is with those in trouble.
This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. Psalm 34:6
Where is God? He is with the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Psalm 82:3

Are you too important?

So you will have read yesterday’s blog for this to make sense!

My dog deposit story didn’t end with me doing what I should have done.
After I had cleared the mess I went back to prayer and I became convinced that God was saying to me, “I know you want to tell someone what you have done, but don’t!”.
That was indeed a difficult one! But I made the decision not to.
But I think this town dog was from God.
Because for years and years every Sunday morning when I was there in the early hours praying the dog deposited something for me on my arrival! Sometimes on the same side steps, other times on the front steps. It became my routine to walk around with my little spade looking for the deposit. After awhile it didn’t even enter my head to tell anyone, it was just part of my life, my preparation for prayer.
When people ask me what was it that caused the growth of the church? Was it my preaching? The leaders? The evangelism and community outreach? Prayer?
With regards me and my input, I believe the greatness from God was had because I got a spade, bent my back and picked up the deposit so that others didn’t have to.

John 13: 12-17

Now I am not advocating for a clean up your streets campaign.
But yes let me challenge you:
Let’s think less of ourselves.
Let us pick up the rubbish.
Open the door for others.
Be the first to pick up the phone or to write that letter of thanks.
Volunteer for jobs in your community and yes in your church.
Open our eyes for every opportunity to help someone.
Your work colleague, your neighbour, your friend, help them.

Don’t be in the group of people who push themselves forward, who are demanding, who speak about themselves continually, who do not roll their sleeves up.

And do this for 6 months and then think about greatness. It will be on you!
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WASH FEET or clear the dog deposits!

John 13

Jesus and his disciples are going for dinner.
The roads are dusty, their feet are dirty. No one wants to be near smelly feet. No one wants someone’s feet to be anywhere near their food. On these low dinner tables that is exactly what would have happened without the foot washer.
Every home had a foot washer.

Many years ago, I led a church into a building into the centre of the town. I loved this church, people and building! Every Sunday morning I would go down to the building very early to pray over the pews (later the chairs!) as if I was praying for the people themselves, they usually sat in the same place so it was easy to visualise!
One of the very first Sunday mornings I went to the church and approaching the side door noticed a town dog had deposited something not very nice on the step! I duly stepped over it deciding that prayer was more important. I went into the building and began petitioning God for the people, wanting a great day, wanting God to move etc. But I couldn’t get this picture of the deposit (not sure what to call it in a devotional blog!) out of my mind. I kept trying to press in with prayer but it was just there on the step of the church. I had thought about leaving it for my assistant to clear it (good training I thought!). But I was beginning to hear the direction of God to go and do what I should have done when I first entered. So I did.

When Jesus enters the room and starts eating the meal he notices no one has stooped down to become great.
So he does what they should have done.
Today, do what you should do. Become great.
Tomorrow, I will tell you more.

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IT IS STILL POSSIBLE

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:27

Mark 1: 12-13 You may be in a dry and barren place and you cannot find a way out, but it is still possible.

Mark 2: 3-4 You may face one obstacle after another to receive your miracle, but it is still possible.

Mark 2: 14 You may feel you are the unlikeliest person God would use, but it is still possible.

Mark 4: 37 You may be about to go under in the biggest storm of your life, but it is still possible you will survive.

Mark 5: 26 You may have given and done everything but your situation is unchanged and in fact it is worsening, but it is still possible.

Mark 5: 35 The desire of your heart may be over, but it is still possible.

Mark 6: 37 You have been called by God but you feel totally incapable, but it is still possible.

Mark 7: 32 There may be a physical diagnosis of disability made on you, but it is still possible.

Mark 8: 24 You may only be part healed, but it is still possible.

Mark 9: 18 You may have failed to be successful in the works of God, but it is still possible.

Mark 9: 22-24 You may be battling with doubt and unbelief, but it is still possible.

Mark 9: 38 People who should know better may try and stop you serving God, but it is still possible.

Mark 10: 14 You may be hindered in your pursuit of Jesus, but it is still possible.

Mark 10: 23 It is hard for the rich to be saved, but it is still possible.

Mark 10: 27 What is impossible for some does not mean it’s not possible for you.

ALL THINGS

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My God blows my mind!

Isaiah 9:6-7

Let us just take one word, the first one …. WONDERFUL.
It means amazement, surprising, astonishing, awesome, fascinating.
WONDERFUL.
This is the God you will talk to today.
He calms the storm – “The men were amazed and said ‘what kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!’
He walks on the water – ‘Then those who were on the boat worshipped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’
He preaches – ‘All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips, ‘isn’t this Joseph’s son?’
He is wise – ‘He said to them, ‘Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.’ When they heard this they were amazed.’

I cannot work Him out, I cannot get a hold of Him.
I carry a contradiction in my life of seeking to see someone invisible; of knowing one who is unknowable; of understanding One who is beyond understanding; of being satisfied and dissatisfied at the same time, like Peter wanting desperately to follow Him and be a disciple but at the same time crying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinner.”

He blows my mind! He is WONDERFUL.

The Apostle Paul wrote the great doctrines of faith, justification, righteousness, adoption, sovereignty of God, surely He has understood God, surely He has it all worked out. But immediately after these doctrines, he writes:
Oh the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God;
How u searchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out, Romans 11:33.
At one time he tells Timothy, “I know whom I have believed’ but also says to the Corinthians, “I know in part’ and to the Philippians, ‘I want to know Christ’.
There is so much more.
HE IS WONDERFUL.
Let’s not rule out the wonder of God. I’m all for restoring this. For He blows my mind!

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HE IS MARCHING ON PARADE

My God is nearer to me than sometimes I realise.

Psalm 68 tells us God is never dormant.

HE IS MARCHING, v7 is the time when you feel like giving up.

He is making a way before is so that we follow.
The march is a walk of dedication. This walk is only for the desert times. Determination is for when it is tough, when you want to give up.

But it is a march for the future, with a promise:
v9 a march of refreshment and abundance for you
v10 a march of establishing you
v10 a march of provision for you.

It is not a hidden march:
v24 He is revealing Him in you.
v25 it is loud!
v27 it is always led by the least likely, the smallest tribe. But those willing to praise, to lay their lives down.

Join Him in this march, learn how to usher in His presence through constant praise in your life.

A victim of the Holocaust scratched a Star of David on a house wall in Germany:
I believe in the sun – even when it does not shine.
I believe in love – even when it is not shown.
I believe in God – even when He does not speak.

My God is nearer to me than sometimes I realise.

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HE IS RIDING

My God is nearer to me than sometimes I realise.

Psalm 68 tells us God is never dormant.

HE IS RIDING, v4-6 is the time of the presence of clouds.

The clouds of life are the vehicles for carrying His presence.
v5 The clouds of having no one to guide and instruct you and you feel vulnerable and unprotected.
v6 The clouds of loneliness and of feeling trapped.

But the presence of clouds is not the condition for our praise, but the confirmation of our praise.
We praise because of His name, ‘The Lord’, which is the name in Exodus 3:15 when Moses stands before the burning talking bush and hears ‘I AM’. It is hard to understand the meaning of this name. But to know that ‘I will be all that I AM in every situation’ comes close.

HE IS NEARER THAN YOU THINK.

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HE IS RISING

My God is nearer to me than sometimes I realise.

Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? Psalm 10:1

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? Psalm 22:1

When God seems not to be there, He may be the nearest He has ever been.

Psalm 68 tells us God is never dormant.

HE IS RISING, v1 is the time of the presence of an enemy provoking you.
You need to pray ‘God arise in my situation’. Not ‘my’ enemies but ‘his’.
It is not what opposes ‘me’ but ‘Him’ that is important.
Some enemies are important, they need to stay. We need to know which.
For the presence of an enemy in your life can be the greatest means of GRACE ever experienced.
2 Corinthians 12:7-9 “You do not need anything more to deal with the enemy that I am never going to remove.”
“My unconditional love, kindness, Grace is enough.”

The presence of an enemy in your life can be the greatest means of POWER ever experienced.
2 Cor 12: 9 being too weak to remove an enemy is the time when you are the strongest.
So why do we pray God arise (Psalm 68:1)? It is because the things that should not be there are removed and what He wants there remain.
Therefore the focus of our praying is not to get the enemy out, but to get God in.
HE IS NEARER THAN YOU REALISE!

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HE CAN CHANGE MY SITUATION

My God always can do what I sometimes think cannot be done.

Exodus 14

They were trapped between the sea and Pharaoh. Do you know this situation? You cannot go forward and you cannot go back. So often we try to escape.
God says ‘Move on!’.

We all know God will make a way where there is no way.
But what some don’t know is that though God opens the way for a change in your situation, you need to walk in it.
Walking through a miracle can be a frightening experience. It takes great faith.
Problems will still be in front of you and if you want to continue to see a God who can you will need to face those problems.
Many do not move forward because they think they cannot.
But that is only in your mind.
You serve a God who can.
Some will say the timing is not right.
But that is used often because we think it is too difficult or our mind says it is impossible.

What do you think cannot be done in you or your situation?

HE CAN!!!

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