Finish the Race!

Good morning to all on this glorious spring day. As I write this blog entry, the birds are chirping and the smell is very fresh. Waine and I are in Thomaston but are preparing to go to church in Atlanta. This new minister at  Providence is very inspiring and uplifting and we steel away to Atlanta every chance we get. We are so looking forward to this weekend with Freddie, Tracy, Kai and Hailie come up to be with us. Aleron also promises to come up so we will have some of our children and grandchildren about us. Kai has passed to 1st grade so he is growing up. It is so amazing how these kids grow up. Even kids in my practice that started with me are walking and talking. I am so amazed at how a little pea pod can develope into this person that continues to amaze you at every turn.

I am continuing my journey in Acts 20 verses 1-38 "When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said goodbye and set out for Macedonia. He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, where he stayed three months. Because some Jews had plotted against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia. He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. But we sailed from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined the others at Troas, where we stayed seven days. 

On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted. 

We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot. When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene. The next day we set sail from there and arrived off Chios. The day after that we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day arrived at Miletus. Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost. From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia.  I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.  I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. 

Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood.  I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. Now I commit you to God and to the Word of His grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.  I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions.  In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the Words the Lord Jesus Himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship." Amen and may the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word.

These accounts of Paul's ministry to the Greeks in Asia, Macedonia, Rome and all area outside of  Jerusalem and the immediate provinces that Christ preached in were recorded by Luke. Luke is telling us first hand what Paul's ministry was like and the miracles which were performed and the opposition that Paul ran into. Luke also gives us  a glimpse into the character of Paul. Remember Paul was both a Roman and Jew. He was a tax collector for the Roman government. He was a learned man and had not faced the oppression Jews suffered at the hands of the Romans. He was very comfortable in the company of both Jews and Gentiles so when we was converted God truly knew what He was doing in selecting Paul. Paul was very familiar with the customs, the ways of thoughts and mannerisms of the people we was sent to minister to. Paul was also at Pentecost and understood 1st hand the Power of the Holy Spirit. He was led by the Holy Spirit in all things and he trusted the Holy Spirit to guide him in this new ministry. He felt the love and power of God through the Holy Spirit. His faith was all that was required to even raise people from the dead. Remember Luke was a physician, so he tells us here that Paul embraced the young man who had fallen three (3) stories and died; this young man recovered and lived. Christ often told His disciples that they could and would do more greater things than He did because of the Holy Spirit--the same Holy Spirit that lives in each Believer now. Paul's heart was heavy because he knew he would not pass their way again. These were young Christians whose faith would be tested--Paul probably reflected on his own faith being tested so he encouraged them to rely on the Holy Spirit and to care for one another in the Love of Jesus the Christ who sacrificed Himself so all of us could LIVE. He admonished these young believers to FINISH THE RACE by bringing others to Christ.

Truer words were never spoken. It is when it is the "darkest" in your life that you should look up and focus on the Cross of Jesus the Christ. Not the winds and waves that may assail you but to keep your eye on the Cross of Jesus. There are many distractions in life; Satan uses all kinds of false tricks to scare us into thinking that God has lost site of us. God never loses site of us. He allows things to happen to us so that we turn from ourselves and look to Him. These testing times are when we should remember, as Paul did that it is our job to finish the race. This is when you get your second wind; you bear down, grit your teeth and proclaim the victory that is in God through Christ. Hallelujah! Victory is ours not because of anything we do but because of the love of Christ which was manifest by His sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary. What ever race you are in today, be encouraged and finish it.

To know God is to love God. To love God is to serve God. To serve God is to love you. Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Cross references:

1. Numbers 6:24 : S Ge 28:3; Dt 28:3-6; Ps 28:9; 128:5
2. Numbers 6:24 : 1Sa 2:9; Ps 17:8
3. Numbers 6:25 : Job 29:24; Ps 4:6; 31:16; 80:3; 119:135
4. Numbers 6:25 : Ge 43:29; Ps 25:16; 86:16; 119:29
5. Numbers 6:26 : Ps 4:6; 44:3
6. Numbers 6:26 : Ps 4:8; 29:11; 37:11, 37; 127:2; Isa 14:7; Jer 33:6; Jn 14:27

Stephanie

 

You are a Blessing to Others!

Good morning to all on this glorious Sunday morning and Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's in the house. I have thoroughly enjoyed being a mother and I have been blessed to share my joy with four wonderful children. Aleron is at the house with us this weekend and there is something about having you children around you that gives you a sense of wholeness. Waine and I are both motherless children but remember our mother's often. We were blessed to have Hisako and Violet in our lives.

I am continuing my journey in Acts 19 verses 1-41 " While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" "John's baptism," they replied. Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all. Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the Word of the Lord. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds.  A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.  In this way the Word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. After I have been there, he said, I must visit Rome also.  He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed in the province of Asia a little longer.
     

About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in no little business for the craftsmen. He called them together, along with the workmen in related trades, and said: "Men, you know we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all. There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty." When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia, and rushed as one man into the theater. Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater. The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there. The Jews pushed Alexander to the front, and some of the crowd shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people. But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: "Men of Ephesus, doesn't all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven? Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to be quiet and not do anything rash. You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess. If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges.  If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly. As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of today's events. In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it."  After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly." Amen and may God bless the reading and hearing of His Word.

As I go through the Acts of the Apostles and read of their accounts through Asia it strikes me that before he, Paul, brought the Gospel to the world of Asia, the people of these nations had a lot of Displaced Spirituality--they had beliefs and customs and were faithful to them. They worshiped idols that had their own histories; they were possessed with evil spirits who recognized the name of Jesus even when the people themselves did not. These folk were looking to believe in something greater than themselves. This is the nature of man. We have to and do believe in something greater than ourselves. I have not met anyone in my 60 years of traveling on this earth that was devoid of beliefs. They may not believe in God but believe in something. We are all hard wired in that regard. We may believe in our own power to be moral and upright, To be fair and kind. More and more of us get caught up in the dark spirits and believe in the power of hate and self indulgence. We all believe in something. As Christians our belief is in the Power and Majesty of God through Christ. We then are filled with the Holy Spirit whose main job is to allow us to live in faith so that others can come to know the love and power of God through Christ. The world, just like the people of Ephesus, is looking for something to believe in. The world is almost willing to believe in anything -- you hear it in the news daily. The world is thirsty to quench the void that fills lives without Christ. Just like Paul and his disciples it is our job to present the Gospel to this sin sick world. Like them we will not always be accepted because dark spirits want to retain their hold on the lives of the confused and lost. It at times may be dangerous and physically harmful to us but the rewards are so worth it. To know Christ and His Power through our own sacrifice is a SWEET TIME for all that know Him. To watch Him work through circumstances that you thought were impossible and to change lives right before your eyes makes it all worth while. I am a believer in the Power of Christ and the Holy Spirit. I am a Believer in the majesty and glory of God. I am at peace with the knowledge that God works through me and  my faith so that others can come to know and love Him. As long as we stay humble to His calling more will come to know Him.

Don't get wrapped up in the circumstances you may find yourself in. God doesn't care about your circumstance. He just wants you to proclaim in faith what you know to be true--that God loves you and cares for you and that Christ died to set us free. Such a simple story--so much Power exists because Christ went to the Cross for you and me. To know God is to love Him. To love God is to serve Him. To serve God is to love you.

Now may the LORD bless you and keep you. May the LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Stephanie

Don't Waste Your Time! Just Sow.

Good morning to all on this 1st Sunday of May. Waine and I are in Thomaston and are preparing to leave for Vancouver tomorrow so please pray for our traveling mercies. Spring has finally SPRUNG in Georgia. It is consistently in the 70's during the day and it doesn't get dark until 7:30 PM which means I can come from the office and still enjoy some day light. Ms. Bertha is chomping at the bit to get her garden planted but some of the renovations we are doing to the house is interfering.

I am continuing my journey in Acts 18: 1 -28 :After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.  When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized. One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.  For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God. While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment.  “This man,” they charged, “is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.” Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to them, “If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you. But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law—settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things.” So he drove them off. Then the crowd there turned on Sosthenes the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the proconsul; and Gallio showed no concern whatever. Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken. They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. But as he left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus. When he landed at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah." Amen and may God add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word.

As you can see, Paul had enough of these Jews you continued to deny the existence of Christ and he made a conscious decision to begin to preach the Word to the Gentiles. This was God's plan all along and God works through people like Paul and like you and me. All of the disciples were Jews looking for their Messiah. They understood the Mosaic laws and understood that they were the "seed" through lineage that was promised and fulfilled through Abraham. God had a MUCH GRANDER plan however. God's plan was that all would come to benefit from the salvation made possible by the sacrifice of Christ and He had to use the believers who were at hand --which is this case were Jews for Jesus. God's plan was to use the belief of the Jewish Christians to lead the Gentiles to the same salvation through Christ. God's timing is always impeccable and His plans are far in away more advanced than our tiny  minds can even comprehend. What He is also telling us is that we should not waste our time with folk who continue to deny the power and majesty of God. It is our job to preach the Gospel and its the job of the Holy Spirit to convict and convince which He cannot do until the Word of God has been provided to the blind and unknowing. So we are the SOWERS and once we sow the seed we are not to quarrel  and once we sense that we are preaching to the closed hearted, we are to move on. It is a privilege to be part of the Body of Christ and we don't have to beg or plead for others to come to know the God we love and serve. Everyone of us will have a day of atonement and reckoning. It hurts my heart that some of my loved ones have rationalized that there is no God when the evidence is all around them. That is just what Satan wants. When all else has failed continue to pray for the lost and then move on which is what I do daily. God is able to soften hearts and change minds; He is able to humble even the most proud and arrogant if the seed of His Word as been planted. Be Sowers today for this lost world we live in.

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Stephanie