Stand Fast in the Lord! - June 7th, 2011

 ¹ Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved. ² I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. ³ And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.
⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
⁵ Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:1-6 (emphasis added)

History and Context:

These scriptures are how Paul begins to finish his letter to the church in Phillipi. The church in Phillipi was one of the first churches in Europe. This means these are some of the first believers in what we now know as the "Western World". He visited them around 49-50 AD and then at least two more times after that in 56 and 57 AD. One of the first Christians in Phillipi was the jailer who was assigned to guard Paul and Silas (and the other prisoners) when they were thrown in prison. God used an earthquake to set them free and to convince this jailer of His reality. (Acts 16:25-34) This letter was written in response to the church sending Epaphroditus to Paul to help him in his time of need.

The Text:

Here, in these verses, we see one of the most complete, yet condensed, descriptions of how to live as Christians. He begins with a general statement to Stand fast in the Lord but then describes what that looks like:

    1) Help those who labor in the Gospel

    2) Rejoice in the Lord always

    3) Be gentle to the point that you are known for it

    4) Don't be anxious 

    5) Pray and Intercede

    6) Give thanks

    7) Make your requests known to God

    8) Let the peace of God guard your heart and mind

How many of us are doing these things? If each individual in the church would follow these eight simple points, how different do you think the church, and in response the world, would be? But instead we see the church fillled with people who fight each other, grieve continually, are fierce in gossip, continually worry, don't pray, always complain, and then they wonder why they don't feel the peace of God in their lives.

The Challenge:

When you look at this list you probably see a few of them that you can honestly say you are good at, but you probably also see at least one or two which you are weak in. My challenge to you is not to take the whole list right away, but pick one or two. Look at the list and prayerfully consider which point you need the most work on and focus on that point today. For example, if you realize that you are always complaining, make it a point today to find things that you are thankful for. I can guarantee you that they are all around you. But maybe it's not that one. Maybe God is challenging to find someone that is laboring who you can support and help. Only you can say which one you need to work on. Then if you want to share a testimony of how today was different because of focusing on that area.

The Prayer:

Lord, we want to learn how to stand fast in you. We want to learn what it really means to live for you. Help us note those areas in our lives in which we are not truly living for you and help us to make them right. Help us to glorify you today in our words, our actions, and even in our thoughts.

  

The Triumphant Entry

Today is Palm Sunday. This is a day that we tend to pass over. We take it simply as a reminder that Easter is coming in a week, but there were significant things happening on this day. Read Matthew 21. Read the account of Jesus and His triumphant entry.

We see the people praising Him as king. We see prophecy fulfilled in the fact that He rides in on a donkey. We see that "out of the mouth of babes" He receives His praise. But the thing that hit me just now was what happened in chapter 22.

In Matthew 22 we see what Jesus decided to do first after He entered as king. He cleans out God's house! This is probably the most violent passage about Jesus. He goes into the temple with a whip, throws over tables, and chases all the people out who were disrespecting God's house.

When reading this passage God gave me a challenge that i want to pass on to all of you. We are now all "temples of the Holy Ghost"! In other words, we are God's house! What is in your life that is defiling God's house? What in your life needs to be chased out with a whip? What in your life needs to be flipped over.

This year, in this week as we prepare for Easter, let us join Jesus in cleaning out the House of God! Let us join Jesus in chasing the impurities out of God's temple, out of us!

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Pursuing Your Dream

Sorry I haven't written lately. I've recently started school and with working, being a youth pastor, and going to school something was bound to drop out. But this is still something that I feel was God's idea for me to do, so I may not write as often as I was, but I do still want to write.

As I mentioned, I recently began school. I am in my first semester of a general transfer associate's degree at the local community college. But my plan is to eventually be certified as a teacher. God brought me back to the same word from Him that I mentioned in my first post Undeveloped Dream. The first thing I ever heard from God was 'You are to be a preacher, teacher, and a writer.' Now it's interesting how we try and explain things in our own term. When I first heard that I was twelve years old and I was certain that the 'preacher' and 'teacher' were separate callings. People would say, "maybe that means a preacher and teacher of the Word", but I was sure that the 'preacher' was referring to the Word, and the 'teacher' was referring to a school setting.

Well over the years I have done my best to follow God in each step that I have taken. I went to Bible school right after high school, then I worked for a year, then God led me to Germany for four years with YWAM. The further along in life I went, the more I looked at that Word that I received so many years ago, and began to redefine it. Even in my post, that I linked to above, I told you that I had developed my preaching and teaching skills and the only one left was writing. Well since then my wife and I started talking about school. We began talking about how nice it would be for us to go back and get our degrees, and as I prayed about it, guess what I remembered; this Word. I remembered God speaking to me fourteen years ago, and I remembered what the immediate interpretation was.

Did God give me a heart for full-time ministry? Yes of course! But He also gave me a heart to teach, to help develop young people in their education. Help them to find their passion and inspiration. This is something that I can and will fulfill as a youth pastor, but now God has put me in a place to receive the training and the skills to do it in a school setting.

There are still a lot of questions as to how this dream will be fulfilled. Will I be teaching full-time or part-time? Will I teach in a Christian school, where I can also use my Bible knowledge to inspire young Christians to make a difference? Or will I teach in a public school in which I can be a positive Christian role model while having to be careful what I say? Will I teach in the United States, Ethiopia, Germany? I don't have it all figured out yet, but God has provided my wife and I what we need to be in school right now and if there is one thing I know about God, it is that He will make the right path clear, at the right time. Until then, He leaves us in suspense!