"And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season (for a long time), because he had heard many things of Him; and he hoped to have seen some miracles done by Him."
This incident took place at Jesus' trial when Pilate sent Jesus to Herod for judgment. Herod was glad to see Jesus for he hoped that Jesus might put on a magic show for him. He did not realize that Jesus' miracles were not a show, but acts of God to actually do good in the world and to reveal His power. Herod wanted to see Jesus do God's work for his entertainment and leave his own life untouched. This leads me to a thought that I have about people in the world today. Like Herod, many want Jesus to perform for them, but they also want Him to leave their lives alone. They want Jesus and his power without the responsibility of following and obeying Him. There are people who do not accept Jesus because they think He has done nothing for them. They forget about His dying on the cross for them. They see His miracles and His claims of Sonship as myths foisted on the world long ago by His disciples. They do not realize that to experience God's power in their lives, He has to actually be present in their lives through the Holy Spirit. Jesus is not interested in putting on a magic show for us, so that we can applaud Him. He is more interested in our putting our faith and trust in Him, giving our lives to Him and living in obedience to Him. Serving Jesus is more than getting favors from Him. The appeal of some preachers is to follow Jesus because of all that He will do for you and all that He will give you. To be sure He has given us all of His "riches in glory," but the impulse to follow Him should not be because of all that He will do for us, but for all that we can do for Him when we love Him and live in obedience to Him. I am not trying to convince you that Jesus does not do great things in our lives. What I want to convince you of is that Jesus wants what He does for us to make a difference in our lives - and in the world. He wants what He does for us to be a witness to the world of His power to save. In other words, don't be like Herod and expect Jesus to perform for you and never touch your life. What Jesus does in our lives is not a performance but an act of love from a powerful, loving, and all-knowing God. For that reason, we should follow and obey Him. Think about this today! Bro. Joe
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“Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him: and He shall bring it to pass.”
“And the things you have heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. 3. Thou therefore endure hardness (hardships), as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4. No man that wars entangles himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him that has chosen him to be a soldier.”
Paul gave Timothy examples of the types of people who would be faithful in their service and who were able to teach others. He gave three examples: a soldier, an athlete and a farmer. I want to use the “good soldier” as an example of the type of life that we should live as Christians. What makes a good soldier will also make us more effective servants of Jesus. First, he mentioned the soldier’s endurance. To endure means to “keep on keeping on” in spite of whatever hardships that might be encountered. If one thinks that he, or she, can serve Christ without some hardship, he, or she, is in for a rude awakening. The fact that churches are comprised of human beings ensures that there will be hardships. Also, the temptations of Satan have to be dealt with. Once we commit to serve Christ, Satan picks up his activity. Just like a good soldier, we will encounter hardships that will limit our service if we are not committed to endure in spite of any obstacles that we might encounter. Do you endure hardships or do you give in to them. Second, he mentioned the soldier’s disentanglement from the affairs of the world. In His parable of the soils, Jesus mentioned the thorny ground, where the thorns entangled the person in things that made them unfruitful. This doesn’t mean that we can’t any interests outside of the church. It does mean that we do not let everything in the world keep us from serving Christ, whether in the church or in daily life. Satan is effective in entangling us in things that will hinder our service and witness in the kingdom of God. Think of some of the things that you are involved in, are they keeping you from serving Christ as effectively as possible. If you want to be a good soldier. Third, he mentioned the earnestness of the solider in pleasing Christ is in His, or her, service. This means that the good soldier is not only interested in being a soldier, but is willing to obey orders and to prepare for whatever his involvement might be. Soldiers do not just go about their work in any way they want. They always serve under orders, and with a plan. How earnest are you in your service. For example, how much time do you spend in Bible study and prayer. Do you take advantage of the education offered by your church or denomination that will enable you to be a more effective servant of Christ? Above are the three things that will make you a good solider of Jesus Christ. Well, based on these things are you a good soldier? Bro. Joe "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into to the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.”
The question that our title asks came to me the other day and I thought about what the Bible reveals to us to answer the question. There are three things that stand out in scripture that answers what God wants for you. First, He wants to save you from sin. Sin is the big problem in the world that began with Adam and Eve. Romans 3:23 tells us that “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Our text tells us that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…” Christ Jesus has either saved you from sin, or He desires to save you from sin. The big decision that people need to make is what have they done about Jesus? What is their answer to God’s act of love of sending His Son into the world, to die on the cross and rise from the grave to save them from sin? What is your answer? The main thing that the Lord wants for you is that you accept His Son, Jesus Christ, into your life to save you for all eternity. Second, the Lord wants to sustain you. This means that He wants to send the Holy Spirit into your life to sustain you daily. Jesus did not just come into your life to take you to heaven; He comes into your life to make your life better. He wants to give you His love and His leadership that will give you what Jesus called “abundant life.” The Lord doesn’t want to take anything from you; rather, He wants to give all of the blessings that He has in store for you through His Holy Spirit. He gave you His church to give you the joy of sharing the abundant life with others who have received, or need to receive, the “abundant life.” He inspired His word, the Bible, to offer leadership and guidance in your life. The Lord wants to give you the quality of life that only He can give. Third, the Lord wants you to serve Him. In John 20:21 Jesus said to His disciples, “Peace be unto you: as My Father has sent Me, even so send I you.” The Lord saves and sustains you in order for you share what He has given you through His love. Someone wrote: “The fruit of a Christian is another Christian.” This means that you take the “abundant life” that the Lord has given you into your daily. If Jesus has saved you, you are His servant and He wants to use you in His church and in the world to be His witness to the world. There are many other things that the Lord wants of you, but these are three of the most important things that He wants for you. Has He saved you? Is He sustaining you? Are you serving Him? The answer to these questions has eternal significance in your life. Bro. Joe “And whosoever of you would be chiefest shall be servant of all. 45. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many.”
Jesus’ disciples had been arguing about which of them would be the greatest in the coming kingdom. Jesus gave them a message that also applies to us. Jesus used Himself as an example of servant hood: “For even the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.” Paul gave an example of Jesus’ service in Philippians 2 when he described the mind of Christ: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus…..(He) made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” (Verses 5 and 7) If the Son of God could refer to Himself as a servant, we should also consider that we have also been called to serve. The “mind of Christ” will not seek to rule but to serve. Think about this for your life. If we want to be effective servants of God, we must humble ourselves as Jesus did. 1 Peter 5:6 reminds us of this: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty of hand of God, that He might exalt you in due time.” When we surrender ourselves to His power and might, we are then ready to effectively serve Him. We do this when we surrender to, and depend upon, the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We need to humbly seek His guidance and power in whatever form our service takes. The Lord not only called us to serve, He has given us gifts of the Holy Spirit to give direction and purpose to our service. You need to prayerfully seek the guidance on the Holy Spirit as to what your gifts for service are and go about doing them. Your gifts of service are not just for “church work” but for living daily for Christ. If you will just surrender your life to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, He will show you what your gifts are. For example, I knew that I was called to preach and teach God’s word, but as I looked back on my service, I realized that my chief gift was the gift of encouragement. My life experience with the Holy Spirit taught me what my chief gift of service was. It can be the same with you. Seek His leadership through prayer and Bible study on a daily basis. If you are a Christian, you are a servant of God. He wants to use you to witness for Him and to be a blessing to the people around you. If you really want to be a good leader, first be a good servant and obey the call of God to humbly serve Him. Bro. Joe “And there came there certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing that he had been dead. 20. Howbeit, as the disciples stood around about him, he rose up and came into the city; and the next day he departed with Barnabas for Derbe. 21. And they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch…”
Acts 14:19-21 takes us into the middle of Paul’s first missionary journey. He and Barnabas had just come through a rough time in Lystra, where their adversaries had stoned Paul and left him for dead. Well, that took care of that – right? Well, no it did not. When Paul got up, he and Barnabas continued to do what they had been sent out to do – preach the gospel and start churches. This is where today’s title comes from: “Why Do We Serve?” Those who stoned Paul thought that they taught him a lesson that he would never forget, and that he would stop this preaching about this Jesus. It didn’t happen that way. Paul got up and kept going. Which leads me to some questions for us? What does it take to make us quit in our service to the Lord? I have seen people quit under all kinds of circumstances. I have known people who quit serving the Lord because their feelings were hurt. We are living in a time when our “feelings” are obviously the most important things in the world. It has gotten to the point that we can hardly mention the name of Jesus without offending somebody. Don’t put your feelings ahead of Jesus and your service for Him. I have known people who have quit serving the Lord because they thought the church did not appreciate all that they had done. Did they do it for Jesus or for themselves? The saying today is: “It’s not about us, it’s about Jesus.” If it really is about Jesus, then we will get up and keep going when our feelings get hurt, or when our work seems unappreciated. If we quit, who will do what God wanted us to do? Think about this for a moment. God has saved us, given us gifts of the Holy Spirit, and sent us forward to use those gifts for the purposes for which he called us. This means that God is counting on us to do His work on earth, to be His hands, feet and tongues. If we do not do what God has willed us to do, will it get done? Good question: how will you answer it? Bro. Joe “And whosever of you will be the chiefest, shall be the servant of all. 45. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and give his life a ransom for many.”
There is much that could be written about this text, but I want us to notice that as Jesus came to serve, He has also called us to be servants. If you are a Christian, you are a servant of Christ. What are some of the qualities of Christian service? The first quality of Christian servant hood is obedience. All of the apostles, minus Judas, were obedient servants, and because of their obedience they were put in prison and were even killed for their faith. We should be aware of what Jesus wants us to do in our Christian service and when we understand it…do it! Our obedience is not likely to lead to death, yet, but it can lead to unpopularity. (We might even be considered to be "phobics" of some kind.) Do you think that you are presently being an obedient servant of Jesus Christ? No one knows that answer better than you! The second quality of Christian servant hood is loyalty. When Jesus told His disciples that He would be arrested, tried and crucified, Peter said, basically, that He would put a stop to Jesus’ arrest. You know what happened. He was not as loyal as he thought he would be when he found himself outnumbered and accused of being a follower of Jesus Christ. He claimed not to even know Jesus. Are you a loyal servant of Jesus when you find yourself outnumbered and being called a bigoted phobic? Well? But Peter ended up being a good example of Christian servant hood when He repented and proved his loyalty all the way to his death. We need to ask ourselves if we would really be loyal to Jesus when loyalty could lead to persecution…… The third quality of Christian servant hood is that he, or she, is well-informed. When we stand up for Jesus, we need to know what we are talking about. This is actually why we have Sunday School (or small groups if you prefer). This is why we need to systematically read the Bible on a daily basis. We need to spend some time prayerfully meditating on the four gospels. You will be amazed what a difference it will make in your life and in the quality of your Christian servant hood, when you spend time in the Bible. There are also a lot of good Christian books that we can read that can inform us. Think about your own Christian servant hood! Are you an obedient, loyal and well-informed servant of Christ. Bro. Joe “The thief comes not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
There is a lot to share in this verse but I simply want to share with you my thoughts on it. What is this abundant life that Jesus came to give us? First, it is a life of faith and trust. We enter into this abundant by putting our faith and trust in Christ and by inviting Him into our hearts and lives. When we come to Jesus by faith, he actually saves us and sends His Holy Spirit to live within us. The life is abundant because we enter into relationship with Him and have access to Him at all times. He is a friend in whom we can trust at all times, but this friendship will be especially precious to us when we come to the hard places in life. I know that this friendship has meant a lot to me. We can also trust Him to remind us and to discipline us when we stray. That has meant a lot to me too. He disciplines us but we can also trust Him to forgive us. Second, it is a life filled with opportunities to serve Him. When Jesus saves us, His Spirit gifts us for service. We normally think of the call of God as being a call to church ministry. He certainly wants to use us in His church, and He gifts us for that. But He also gifts us to serve Him in our homes, at work, at play, etc. etc. and etc. We will not really experience the fullness of the abundant life until we see ourselves as His servants. He wants us to use what gifts and talents that we have to glorify Him. If you can sing, sing for Him whenever you can. If you can teach, use that gift to teach. If you can encourage other people by visiting with them and sharing with them, make it your purpose to do that. I cannot enumerate the ways that Jesus wants to use you in His service, but if you will just ask Him what He wants you to do, He will lead you to do whatever it is that He wants you to do. Finally, abundant life is eternal life. We have fellowship with Jesus here and we will have fellowship with Him hereafter. It is through faith and trust in Jesus that we go to heaven. We have the great promise in John 14:3: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; what where I am there you may be also.” This abundant life is available for you. If you have it praise Him. If you don’t have it, claim it now. Bro. Joe (I reached back in the archives for this one. I hope that it will bless and encourage you.)
“Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and love which you have for all the saints, 5. for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel…” The idea for this post came up when I heard a gospel song by the same title. It is true that “everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.” If we really believe that there is “hope laid up for us in heaven,” why would we not want to die to get there? After all, Jesus said of heaven, “That where I am there you may be also.” It is in heaven that we will spend eternity with Jesus. Paul wrote: “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” Why wouldn’t we want to be absent from the body? I think that I can explain the reasoning behind this dilemma – if that’s what it is. In the first place, life on earth is a gift from God. When God created Adam and Eve, “He breathed the breath of life into (their) nostrils.” In other words, this life that we have here and now was given to us by the breath of God Himself. This is why we reverence life. I think that the people who enjoy this life more than anyone else are those of us who recognize that we have life in the first place because of the will of God. Every breath that we take is a gift from God. All of the great Old and New Testament saints had a reverence for life on this earth and they lived life to the fullest. It is my opinion that I enjoy life because I know that it is God’s gift to me. In the second place, we are not given life on earth just to take up space. We are born into this life for a purpose, or for the purposes of God. At this point you might be thinking: “But not everybody realizes or cares about God’s purpose for their lives.” That’s not God’s problem. Not every person in the Bible lived for God’s purpose, but that doesn’t mean that God didn’t have a purpose for their lives. Jeremiah had a unique testimony about God’s purpose for his life: “Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying: "Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet unto the nations.” Another example of this would be the Apostle Paul. With all that he did before becoming a Christian, do you think that God did not have an ultimate plan for Paul's life? Even while he was persecuting Christ’s people, the call of God was upon his life and it came to fruition on the Damascus Road. Could Paul have gone his own way? I’m sure that he could have, but he didn’t – thank God. Moses was eighty years old before he realized God’s purpose for his life. Seeing what his ultimate purpose was –to lead the Israelites out of Egypt – it probably took God eighty years to prepare him for that task. Moses didn’t just take up space on earth to tend his father in law’s sheep. There was a purpose for him in the heart of God. That leads me to challenge you to consider what God’s great purpose for your life might be. It could be that He wants you to be the best doctor, insurance agent, lawyer, factory worker, farmer, or the best husband, wife, father, mother, etc. that you can be and lead people to the Lord. Life will have more meaning when you know that you are realizing God’s purpose(s) for your life. In the third place, life here is but a prelude to what we have in store for us in heaven. That is for those who have put their faith in Jesus. There is another eternity to deal with, but our purpose is to deal with what God has in store for believers. The Bible promises life after this life, but it does little to describe it for us. We couldn’t understand it if the Bible did try to fully describe it for us. It is enough for me that Jesus has prepared a place for each of us and that He will be there. The fact is that we have to have life here and now to have life by and by. That’s why I say that this is a prelude. It is my prayer that you have given your present life to Jesus in order to have the eternity with Him that only He can give, and that you are realizing God's purpose(s) for your life here and now. Bro. Joe “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me ; 27. And you shall bear witness (testify), because you have been with me from the beginning.”
In these verses, Jesus was preparing His disciples for His ascension. This is His promise of the sending of the Holy Spirit. The word “comforter” is the translation of the Greek word Paraclete. There are three applications of this word that can describe the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. First, it can be translated “Counselor.” The Holy Spirit is our counselor, which means He is our source of wisdom. When we serve the Lord, we do not serve in the wisdom of the flesh; rather we serve in the power of the Holy Spirit. We do not innately have the wisdom that we will need in our service, but He will furnish us with the wisdom of God. Also, as our counselor, He will give us our direction. This means directions of how we should serve Him, based on the gifts that the Spirit gives. He also gives us the direction of where we should serve. There are many different ways, and many different places to serve the Lord. Seek His counsel for your life so that you will do the right thing in the right place in your service for the Lord. Second, it can be translated “Intercessor.” This is our source of comfort in our service for the Lord. Here is what Paul told us this intercessory ministry in Romans 8:26-27: “Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: But the Spirit makes intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered. 27. And He searches the mind of the Spirit, because He makes intercession for the saints (all believers) according to the will of God.” Again, we are reminded that we are not in this service alone, for we have been given the wisdom, power and accompaniment of the Holy Spirit. Third, it can be translated “Helper.” This is our source of victory. Just before He ascended back to the Father, Jesus gave them this promise in Acts 1:8: “But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." He told them in John 15:27 that they would testify for Him under the power of the Holy Spirit. This did not end with Jesus’ original followers. It is also a promise to us. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, is your counselor, your intercessor and your helper. Rejoice! And pause now and thank Jesus for the promise of the Holy Spirit. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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