GGCF Reopening Letter

Dear GGCF family,

Though we have not seen each other physically much over the last 2 months, I have received cards, emails and texts from many of you, and have spoken by phone and visited as well. I hope all are well and prospering in the Lord.

I'm encouraged by hearing how you have been able to engage the online and physical community during this time with the message of hope. 

Thank you for looking out for each other and for those in need. That attitude goes well with the scripture in Philippians 2:3-4, " Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others."

I would like to update you on things that are taking place, or will be taking place soon:

*A reopening team is meeting to discuss the eventuality of gathering together again here at the building in Silver Spring. Once restrictions are eased, we will not be able to go back to business as usual, but we will gradually open up with common sense.

*Outdoor services are part of the plan. Weather permitting, for the first few weeks we will hold our Sunday morning services on the lawn of the church.. This is what is recommended in the governors guidelines. If  bad weather is forecast, then we will, most likely, add an early service to keep the numbers down. The GGCF chapel is permitted to hold 155 persons.
The guidelines of the State of Maryland, for the time being, are that we must limit the chapel to half capacity.

*We will require all attendees to wear face masks for now indoors, and we will encourage appropriate distancing indoors and outdoors.

*The church already has hand sanitizing stations, but we will add helpers at the door with spray sanitizing solution.

*The building, including restrooms, flat surfaces, chairs, etc. will be sanitized before and after services.

*There will be no food and beverages served, but we will have bottled water available at no cost.

There are still a few details to be sorted out such as seating and children's ministry. We will communicate on those and other subjects soon. 

If you have any suggestions or would like to help with the physical preparations, let us know. Please communicate through our email, Answers@ggcf.info.

I know we're all looking forward to those "elbow bumps" and virtual hugs. Stay healthy and know you are cared for.

Pastor Shibley

Is God A Liar?

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:32

In the quoted passage, the Apostle Paul is saying something astounding.
God gave up His Son for me! That’s a huge thing.
It seems, as we read this passage, that to God, my life is as important as His Son Jesus’ life. 
That is EXACTLY what He’s saying, and it is repeated many times in His Word.

Some get confused though, because they are blind to the goodness of God in their lives.
People ask, “Where’s my stuff? or why did this happen to me?”
Perhaps we have this mindset because we tend to be spiritually nearsighted.

Many believers were subjected to great difficulty BECAUSE they followed God,
rather than because they didn’t. Look at Jesus’ followers in the New Testament.
Look at the major and minor prophets of the Old Testament.
They had trouble. I mean real trouble.
God has a way, through the writers of both the Old and New Testaments, of showing
the reader the truth about what it means to be a believer.
It means that God won’t lie to us.
It means that if I’m going to be a disciple, I must understand that God might use me in a way
that will make me very uncomfortable, or worse. Joseph went to prison.
Paul went to prison. Peter was crucified. James was thrown from the temple roof and stoned.
They, among many others, were used to advance The Kingdom of God, but there was a price to
be paid for their obedience.

What does that mean for us? It means, look out! It means, forget the
“God owes me something I want” attitude.
Forget the thought that God is going to give you everything you ask for. He won’t. 
He gave up His own Son. We are now his sons. He’ll give us up too if it means bringing
the knowledge of Him to the world.

God is honest. His Word is filled with people who took His path but found it to be very
difficult. We are told, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that
leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life,
and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13-14.

So yeah, feel free to blame your difficulties on God.
Joseph did when he said to his brothers, “you meant evil against me,
but God meant it for good.” Genesis 50:20. In other words, God let it happen for His higher
purpose. At least He won’t lie to you. He puts the truth right out there for you to see.
This is how He shows His love for us. He treats us as  sons to whom He'll tell the secrets
of the kingdom. This means that we must learn to be responsible to carry this message of love
to people, even though the cost to us might be high.

The question that remains is a question of faith. Is God for me, or is God against me?
Despite the hard times the people in the Bible faced, the record shows again and again that
God is for us. He demonstrated His love by sending Jesus, His own Son, to die for us while we
were still sinners.

He doesn’t make it easy, but He will never lie to us. Men turn the truth of God into a lie
according to Romans 1:15, but Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”

God is a “Man of His Word.” Be a person of trust and obedience.
Look to the finish line and see what things await you when you arrive.

Cross Vision

Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. Philippians 2:14-16

 

The Apostle Paul in the few words above describes what it is to live the cross life.

Jesus made Himself of no reputation, meaning no notoriety, no far reaching fame, no long-term credit for the things He did. He lived with a stain on Him. He was smeared and slandered as a disgrace and received reproach from His own people.

All this was acceptable for a greater cause. It was the cause of cross vision. Everything Jesus did took Him one step closer to His divine mission; wholehearted commitment to death on a cross.

No one could deter Jesus from His vision. Peter tried when he rebuked Jesus for stating plainly that He would be killed. Jesus in turn “rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”” Mark 8:33

Everything would come against Jesus, but He would hold fast, never wavering, in His commitment. In the end “He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Philippians 2:8

Here we are in the middle of a “crooked and perverse generation” being called on to “shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life.” Paul’s exhortation is to hold on. It is to look at Jesus’ obedient example and make it our own, not letting the vision of the cross escape us because we were blinded by the cares and distractions of the world.

Let God continue to work what He wants and work out the things that hinder you from moving forward in His cross vision for your life.

Who Am I?

                                                                             

So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone. 1 Samuel 17:50

Overlooked

   David was doing his job watching the sheep when suddenly there was a shout from his oldest brother Eliab. “David, come! The prophet Samuel is here with father and he wants to meet you!”

David quickly scampered down the hill and to his father. All his brothers were standing before the old man, the prophet Samuel. Samuel moved toward him. In his hand was a horn filled with oil which he promptly emptied on David’s head. He had been anointed by the great prophet Samuel in front of his father and all his brothers. “Had they been anointed too?” He thought. “No, only he had, and the others were looking at him disapprovingly.”

David would find out later that his father had called all his brothers, except for him, and they had all been looked over by The Prophet but none had been chosen to be anointed. He was neither angry nor surprised that he’d been overlooked by his father. After all he, was the youngest of the brothers and as such had the least natural right to be picked by Samuel. He was content with who he was. He knew God. What more could one ask for in life?

Have you ever been overlooked? It’s a terrible thing to know that you have the skills to do a job but someone else was selected over you.

Years ago, God began to impress his calling upon me to be more active as a minister. Our church was approaching the time of our annual international convention, when many missionaries and pastors from churches in the U.S and overseas would return home to Baltimore, MD. It was the biggest event the church hosted all year. I decided to take the week off to assist the head pastor. “He would need my help” I thought, and I would be there for him at his side. I let him know of my availability. A week later one of the chief organizers of the conference said to me, “I hear you are available to help for the week of the convention.” “Yes, I said.” The organizer then replied, “We were hoping you could run the convention bookstore for the week.” I said I would consider it, knowing the whole time there must be a mistake. I had a higher calling. I was certainly meant to be by the pastor’s side helping him. I called the pastor and told him what had transpired. I was shocked when he said, “It shows how highly that you are thought of to be asked to fulfill such an important role.” Right then I realized it was most likely the pastor who, knowing I was available for the week, suggested the organizer ask me to run the bookstore. For a moment or two I felt overlooked, but then I decided to embrace the idea. I said yes and began right away to organize a team. Finding cases upon cases of books storage in closets, we pulled them all out and along with the existing stock sold all the books, tapes, t-shirts, CDs and every other thing that was there. We pulled in thousands of dollars on good discounted merchandise that blessed the conference attendees, and helped the church budget.

Feeling overlooked is nothing new. It happens often. When it does, let it pass over you like a flying dodge ball. Never leave it up to someone else to discover your strengths, gifts and talents. It may never happen. When you see something that needs changing, change it. Be ready to be used by God because you don’t know when your time will come. It’s your job to be encouraged by the Lord, to shine and be motivated by the fact that He knows who you are and what you can do. After all, He made you.

 Misunderstood

   David brought food to his three brothers and to their captains who were engaged in battle against the Philistine army. When he heard the insults of the Philistine champion, Goliath, he wasn’t pleased, and he noticed an intense apprehension among the soldiers. Everyone backed away when Goliath spoke his curses. Fear was thick like smoke in the air. David heard some soldiers say, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely, he has come up to defy Israel; and it shall be that the man who kills him the king will enrich with great riches, will give him his daughter, and give his father’s house exemption from taxes in Israel.” (a) The boy quickly picked up on these words. “Can you repeat that?” He said.  His brother Eliab was not happy. He saw his brother as a punk. He wondered why Samuel had anointed him, the youngest of the brood. He accused the shepherd of being prideful and just wanting to come to see the battle. He misunderstood his inquiry.

Though David was interested in the battle and was asked to bring news to his father about it, there was much more to this lad. Wanting to defend himself to Eliab he realized it was no use, so he ignored him and went on asking questions. “It’s not right for the army of Israel to live in fear” he thought. He just wanted to help.

I have watched more than a few Hallmark movies sitting next to my wife with a box of tissues on our living room couch. It seems although there are many variations, that the basic formula for each movie is about the same. Boy falls in love with girl. Girl falls in love with boy. Girl sees boy with another girl and assumes boy is in love with that girl and not her. A break-up ensues. All is lost and we are destined for a sad ending to the movie. But alas something happens to cause the hurt and disillusioned girl to realize that she had misunderstood the situation. Boy is not in love with the other girl. All is not lost. Boy and girl realize they are still in love. Wedding bells are ringing in the distance. The end.

Being misunderstood and having people question your intentions is a hard thing to endure, but be ready for it. Not everyone will trust you, and many will question your motives as did Eliab concerning his brother’s inquiries about what the king had promised for the one who would kill Goliath. It’s interesting to note that none of King Saul’s mighty warriors had volunteered to go out and fight the daunting foe, even with such a booty awaiting them if they won. “The race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong.” 

Underestimated

   Eventually David’s words caused a stir in the Israelite camp. King Saul heard them but quickly looked at David and assessed that he was not able to defeat Goliath who was a “man of war from his youth.” But David fought back. He made an argument for going. He placed all his trust in the Lord. Saul could not stand in his way. Even though no one thought David could beat Goliath, and most were getting their running shoes on for a fast retreat, David would not be underestimated. His question was, “How can God lose?” David didn’t feel slighted because he was underestimated by his king. Instead he was undeterred and had an expectation that God would help him win the battle.

At this juncture in his life, Saul is a picture of failure. Here is the man who stood head and shoulders above every man in Israel. He was the natural leader, yet he was crushed under the weight of indecision and fear. Saul’s faith had left him because he didn’t keep God as his strength. He was more interested in numbers and strategy for he thought those were the things that would bring victory. He would observe a boy that day who was much more of a man then he was, not because of his strength, but because his mind was thinking right.  These were David’s thoughts: “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” (c)

The faith that we see in David is not unfounded. It’s based on his experience with God. David drew on that experience. The Lord helped him defeat the lion and the bear. When he tried on Saul’s armor it didn’t feel right. Saul’s strength did not translate to David. Though we appreciate the mentoring and help we receive from others, there comes a time where we must walk with God alone. This was that time for David. That time will come for you. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” (d)  Be willing to speak in faith. Believe the impossible. Testify to what God has done in your life. He was the same God then as He is now. He never changes.

Mocked

   David took his familiar staff, the same staff he used to herd his father’s sheep, and knelt to take five smooth stones from a brook. He put them in his shepherd’s bag. He also had his sling. Nothing he brought to the battle was unfamiliar. They were the tools he used every day. He then ran toward Goliath. It would not be a battle of sword and shield, but one of faith and confidence.

The mockery began as Goliath, who was used to mighty men running from him, marveled at the sight of little David running toward him. “How stupid are these Israelites sending this child to fight me.” He thought. “I will eat him for a snack!” He poured out insults at David and at Israel. It seemed to him and probably to everyone in the Philistine army, and most, if not all in Israel’s, that his mockery was merited. Really Saul? You’re going to let this kid fight a mighty man of war? What about you? You chicken!

Boldness becomes the child of God. When your life is intertwined with the Word of God you live in a new reality. It is a reality that can’t be mocked. It is a truth unseen by most believers and unbelievers alike. Don’t miss it. God will give you opportunities to let his light shine through you. Let Him shine. Close your mouth and let Him speak. Lift your hands and let Him work. Move your feet and run at your enemy. All the mockery thrown at you will come to nothing. Let the world spit. Let those closest discourage you. David took Goliath’s own words and used them against him. Do the same! Let the  mocker be mocked. Move toward Goliath with no fear and watch him fall. Your enemy will become irrelevant in the face of faith.

David was overlooked by his father, misunderstood by his brother, underestimated by his king and mocked by his enemy. Though he suffered through it, trying to be understood, he in the end prevailed because he knew who he was. He was a child of God.

You may feel overlooked, misunderstood, underestimated and even mocked. Do what David did. Look to the Lord for your identity. Then build yourself up in the truth of what God’s own words say about you. When the Devil mocks you in whatever form he presents himself, mock him back!

Freedom

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Luke 23:34.

As Jesus suffered on the cross, suspended by three nails, He cries out this prayer to His Father. The man who was rejected by Israel was pleading their case to God. Jesus was not only rejected by the nation but when His life was offered to be spared by Pontius Pilate, the crowd chose Barabbas to be released and Jesus of Nazareth to be crucified.

All the disciples He chose scattered. Only one even tried to defend Him at His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. One of them betrayed Him to the High Priest who was looking for a reason to have Jesus killed. The Lord’s brothers and sisters were nowhere to be found. The Roman soldiers mocked and beat Him, and the religious crowd did the same in their high mindedness. None but His mother, John and some other women seemed to be concerned with His suffering. In fact, by the accounts in the gospels they showed callousness without pity.

Yet Jesus forgave. He forgave before anyone had a chance to understand. He forgave them before they realized they needed forgiveness. They shouted crucify, while he plead for their pardon. 

Indeed, Jesus is our great example. In Forgiving Jesus was free from any burden, any anger, free from grudges He might hold against those who hurt Him.

What about you? Are you free from the emotional weight of retribution? Are you waiting for the day that the one who hurt you gets their punishment? Are you praying that they will feel the pain that you are in?

Jesus let it go. You can let it go too. It’s not easy but you have the example of Jesus. It wasn’t easy for Him.

 “And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.” Luke 11:4.

 Freedom is found in forgiveness.

A New You

Used Up

Years ago I found a wooden podium next to the dumpster at the Middle School we rent for our church services. It was used up, broken and ready to retire to the dump. Without hesitation I grabbed it and put it in the church van with the idea to revitalize and use it back at our office.
One of my assistants was a carpenter and I asked him to fix it, but it never happened. I think he didn't have a vision for it. I asked a man in the church who I knew had skills and he said he would do it but he never did. He must have thought it was a lost cause and not worth the bother. So it ended up in the attic of our office building.

New Life

A while later I remembered the broken podium and I said to myself I can repair it. So I brought it to my house. At the lumber store I bought some wood to trim the corners and a piece of plywood to put a new bottom on it. I sanded off the old stain, then cut the trim and nailed it. I even made a cross out of some one inch pieces of flat pine. I found some plastic wheels so we could roll it around. After a few coats of stain I varnished it and brought it back to the church office. The podium was reborn as a Christian preacher's pulpit.

Out of the Closet

It still didn't get used much and it was sometimes in the way. It often ended up in the storage closet.
One day I noticed that my church pulpit, the one that was made by a very skilled carpenter, had some severe damage. It must have gotten banged up while it was being moved to our trailer at the end of a Sunday service. Did I mention we have a mobile church that meets in a school?
We had to temporarily retire it. I tried to use a music stand, a small table and a tall table as a pulpit but nothing seemed to be just right. After about five weeks I thought "Why don't I use the pulpit in the Church office?" Since then we've been using it in church. The wheels squeak a bit, but over all it serves the purpose. It holds my Bible and notes just fine. This podium that was a day away from the trash heap and then languished for several years in the attic now had a new mission; a holy purpose.

Worthless to Invaluable

In the letter to Philemon, Paul describes Philemon's runaway slave Onesimus as unprofitable. He was not a good slave. He didn't do for Philemon what he was supposed to and he fled to Paul in Rome. Paul, in prison, led Onesimus to the saving knowledge of Jesus.He then sent him back to his owner and told Philemon to treat him right because he was not just a slave but now a brother in Christ. Philemon was to receive him as a such. Paul even said that if he owes you anything, he, Paul, would pay it.
Onesimus was taken from the trash heap. He was useless to his master; broken because of his situation, but now he was more than refurbished, he was made new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says it like this, "Therefore if anyone be in Christ he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things become new." He was now an invaluable member of the body of Christ.

Religion Can't Do It

We were in the dumpster of sin before we knew Christ. People gave up on us and we may even have counted ourselves out. Religion tried to refurbish us. It strove to clean us up but there is no cleaning something that is dead. Ephesians 2:1 says we "were dead in trespasses and sin." Religion for a dead man is like putting lipstick on a corpse. It might look better, but it's still expired. Morality cannot revive, it cannot change, it cannot be fruitful. Religion can only give the appearance of life. Jesus makes us alive! He gives us new life. In Him we are born again. We are not just re-purposed. We are brand new!

Remember you have a new life in Christ. Live as free women and men who are not tied down to a list of rules and regulations. According to Galatians 5:1, that is a tangled web of slavery.
You are new, fresh, children of God, living with all the privileges of your Father's mercy and grace. You might feel like you are not being used right now; that you aren't needed. Be patient. Be faithful. Be a follower. The day will come when you see your purpose, then a door will open and God will reveal the plan of His new creation in you.

Church is Home

 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.  And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:23-25

Consumers or Members

In a church you should never be a number.

You should not be marketed to.

You should be loved, cared for, listened to, prayed for and visited.

You are a brother, a sister, a family member, a member of the body of Christ.

I once heard a nationally known preacher say that when he preached on Sunday morning he was making product. After each of the 4 Sunday services someone would critique and change the message to make it better based on the reaction of the congregation and other factors. This type of production does help market to vast audiences and sell many copies of a given series, but as Christians do we want to be seen as consumers or church members?

Who's Your Pastor?

When you listen to preachers on the radio and television you are
often hearing good teaching, but don't elevate the teaching or the preacher above the pastor who is caring for your soul;

the one who preaches the Word at your church,

the one who led you to Christ,

the one who calls to see how you're doing,

the one who visits you when you're sick,

who cried with you when you were steeped in sin and wanted out,

who dedicated your kids,

who counseled you about marriage,

who baptized you,

who taught you the principles of the faith.

Not a Customer

Our life with God is a relationship not a commercial transaction.

Our relationship with the church needs to be the same.

You're not a customer to God.

The pastor is not the proprietor of the business.

Dinner With The Family

Worship is not like going to an Italian Restaurant one week and to a French Restaurant the next to experience the different flavors of each.

Sunday worship is coming home every week for dinner with the family at Mom and Dad's.

Impossible yet Possible

Have you ever been in an impossible situation? The account of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath shows us a lot about how we should respond when placed in difficult or truly impossible circumstances.

            

Looking for Lunch          

In the account of 1 Kings 17:8-16, Elijah was fresh out of water because the brook he was drinking from dried up. It dried up because he, Elijah, pronounced a 3 ½ year drought on Israel. “And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”” 1 Kings 17:1. Then God sends the prophet to stay by the Brook Cherith to have a source to drink from and to be fed by ravens, by whom He sent food for Elijah. Of course because of the drought the brook dried up. It was then that The Lord directed him to the widow saying, “I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”

Hunger, Meet Hopeless

I wonder if Elijah was shocked to see the woman who, along with her son, was starving to death. The man of God did not seem to be phased. He told her to bring him a piece of bread and she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” 1 Kings 17:12.

If you were Elijah what would you be thinking? “God told me to come here and get food. This woman is obviously in complete despair without any provisions. She’s given up and is backed into a corner with no one to help her and no supermarket to run to. Why am I here again?”

To hear her act out in frustration is totally understandable. The widow had a physical and a spiritual need. She’d lost hope for herself and her son. Death to her would be better than the struggle they were enduring.

A Hidden Blessing

In 1982 when I was called to the Bible Speaks’ mission team in France. The team leader, Pastor Louis DeMeo, was promised by one of his contacts the use of a house in Auxerre France for a year. The team was to rendezvous in the south of France for two weeks to evangelize with a church group there, and then return to Auxerre to begin church planting.

On his way to the south Louis decided to stop at Auxerre to check out our new home. To his surprise someone was living in what turned out to be a 2 room house, and they had no plans to leave! We truly felt like the Lord called us to France but when we got there the comfort we had expected quickly disappeared.

God still had a provision for us. What seemed like a handful of flour and a slow death turned into a mighty provision that sustained us. With the help of gracious French Christians we got our footing in France . We were given a place to live for free for several months and then we were able to rent a large house for what amounted to about $200.00 per month. I don’t recall hearing a word of complaint to God for putting us in a situation where we had to trust Him and His people. Both came through when we needed them.

Just the Facts

These are the facts that confronted Elijah:

He was given a precise command to go to and live in Zarephath.

A widow there was to provide food for him.

The widow he was sent to was starving and had but a few ounces of flour and a few drops of oil.

The promised provision was not out in plain sight but hidden.

The situation seemed hopeless.

The Just Shall Live By Sight?

 A big problem in the 21st century church is spiritual starvation because of a lack of dependence on God. We’re used to having what we need and having it when and where we want it.We can’t miss our coffee break let alone experience famine! Many walk by sight and not by faith, appreciating the professionalism of the church and the nice amenities it has to offer. Like the Laodicean church of Revelation chapter 3, many are rich in Christian platitudes but lukewarm in their faith.

As  disciples we have to be careful not to fall into a life that never experiences need. Much of the Christianity we see on TV, hear on the radio and live in our congregations seems to be religion without a cross, where we are not God’s servants, but He is ours. Some churches have monetized faith, exhorting believers to speak material blessings into being, as if The Lord was a genie waiting to grant our every wish. And why not think that way? Huge ministries abound, advertising all the answers we need from how to raise the perfect child, to experiencing an awesome sex life, to never lacking money to pay a bill, or growing a mega-church in three easy steps.

This is why we can’t get too caught up with celebrity ministers; as good as they look and sound. They are all about their ministry, whatever that is. I mean, they are good! They look good and sing well and are phenomenal preachers. Some are so cool their messages are like Ice Cream Sundaes with whipped cream and a cherry on top.

Small Screen Faith

Your call is to your neighborhood, city, state and country, your continent and to parts of the world you’ve never been to. You aren’t called to serve a personality on a screen. You are called to love your neighbor and lay down your life for your friends. Don’t trust the purveyors of Big Screen Churchianity. They seem more interested in flying their private jets, speaking about the positive influence the Bible can have on your health, or how God doesn’t want you to struggle in life. The message usually lacks commitment and sacrifice and minimizes sin. We can’t make light of sin because in doing so we diminish the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.” 1 Peter 3:18.  Never devalue His sacrifice, for without it we are all lost. If we don’t tell people the truth, who will? Ours is a small screen faith; meeting people at the place of their need and teaching them to depend on Jesus.

You’re Kidding Right?

What went through the mind of the widow when Elijah spoke to her?  “Here I am ready to eat my last piece of bread with my son and along comes this so called Man of God asking me to feed him first. Earth to Elijah, what part of “a hand full of flour” don’t you understand?” It’s not that the widow wanted to die, or didn’t want to believe, she just needed a reason to believe. She needed a word spoken to her that would nourish confidence.

When God comes to us and asks for something we don’t have, what do we do? What kind of God would ask me for a third of my last dollar? What kind of Lord would tell me to share something when I don’t have enough for myself?

Ministry calls us to faith. Our need is what we need most. The widow feared until she began to walk in obedience to the words of the Man of God. Ultimately Elijah needed to be put in a place of faith, and the woman needed to see his faith in action. A little water and a piece of bread sounds like nothing, except when it’s all you have.

“And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son.  For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’” 1 Kings 17:13-14.

“Do not fear,” Elijah said to the woman. Here’s a lady that was barely holding onto life, and the Man of God said “do not fear.” What is the Man of God saying to you today? Are you willing to be obedient to the words of a man who is obedient to the Word of God?

A History

Elijah was obedient to God to go to Zarephath

He met a widow who had given up hope for her and her son and wanted to die.

The widow was asked to give and to trust that God would give her back what she needed.

The Lord made a promise through Elijah to the woman that she would have all she needed.

She acted in faith, trusting the words of the prophet, and God kept His promise.

The Giver Gives

God gives us what we need when we need it. We may feel thin in the gifts department. We may not be confident that the time we spent on earth was useful. You might even think you can’t affect the world. The truth is that you need to give God some of what you’ve got and let him make it into an everlasting source of nourishment for you and those to whom you minister the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

None of us have all the gifts. Some of us don’t even know what our gift is. It doesn’t matter. If you are questioning your call and are ready to quit, reflect on the promise Jesus made to the Samaritan woman, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:13-14.

The widow, though she objected at first, obeyed and served Elijah. As a result she was blessed with bread for as long as the drought lasted.  “So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.” 1 Kings 17:15-16.

Your Turn

One day someone was obedient to God and came to you with a message. At that time you were dead in your trespasses and sins. You were instructed to believe the words of the Man of God. Jesus made a promise that if you gave Him your trust you would receive what you needed. You did, and you acquired His gift of everlasting life.

Now it’s your turn. The world is waiting for a real prophet to come with words of hope that will spur people to trust and obedience. Be that prophet.

Kim Anthony Shibley

Real World Bible

The Bible contains many accounts of people like us. You would think that those written about in the Bible would be people with no faults who overcame every temptation and obstacle in their path. The truth is that from the third chapter of Genesis, where Eve and Adam fail to obey God’s command, to the book of Revelation, a large portion of the Word is about people, or groups of people, whose lives crashed and burned. Scripture is full of accounts that describe those who could not get along without help from God. These were real people like us, not fictional characters.

A Great List of Failures

Noah obeyed God and was saved from the waters of the flood, but then planted a vineyard and got so drunk that he lay exposed at the door of his tent.

Abraham offered his wife twice to two different kings to try to save his own skin.

Jacob conspired with his mother to steal his brother’s blessing.

After Jacob worked for seven years for the right to marry Rachel, his father-in-law Laban substituted Leah for her sister Rachel on the wedding night so that Jacob would be wed the oldest daughter first. He then made Jacob work another seven years to pay for his union with Rachel.

Reuben slept with Bilhah, one of his father’s wives.

Judah sold his brother Joseph into slavery and slept with his deceased son’s wife who was masquerading as a prostitute.

Moses murdered a man and hid him in the sand.

David lusted after Bathsheba, got her pregnant, had her husband killed, and then took her as his wife though he already had multiple wives.

Paul persecuted Christians and cheered on at the stoning death of Stephen.

Peter denied the Lord in the face of fear.

All the disciples forsook Jesus in His time of greatest need.

Then there was Samson and Job and Gideon to name a few of our best-known losers.

The Bible is replete with the woes and sins of men and women in their relationship to one another and to God.

Failure, a New Beginning

What speaks to us is that many of these misadventures don’t end in complete fiasco. Some individuals came to understand that the grace of God was greater than their sin and its resulting defeat.

An old hymn puts it this way:

“Grace, grace, God’s grace,

Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;

Grace, grace, God’s grace,

Grace that is greater than all our sin.”

Grace Through the Work of the Cross

God’s grace is the one thing that we can count on. Bigger than our weakness is Jesus Christ. He is the one who took all these characters and placed them at the foot of the cross to receive a new life and forgiveness for their personal sins. Was it because they were able somehow to redeem themselves by paying back the debt of their sin through their positive actions? No, they became winners because in the end they did not let their sin control their relationship with God. They overcame their own failures through receiving grace and forgiveness, allowing them to have an impact on their generations. They believed God. They trusted in His unfailing love for them.

Down but not Out

If you’ve been defeated remember God’s grace. He died for us when we were still sinners. He didn’t wait till we cleaned ourselves up. Many try to get sanctified before they get justified. The problem with a religious frame of reference is that we feel we must make ourselves presentable to God before He will accept us. We need first to accept Christ’s payment for all our sin and repent.

Then allow Him to change us through the power of His shed blood. Just as He forgave and then used the men and women of the Bible for His purposes, He wants to use us to be reflections of His marvelous grace. Ephesians 2:4-7 says it well, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Non-religious truth

The Bible then is different from other religious texts in that it recognizes and condemns sin, but gives mercy and a way out for the sinner. The sins that the people committed were indeed grave, but so are ours. God’s work of mercy continues in us. He doesn’t require perfection on our part, just dependence on Jesus’ work for us. The Bible then is not just a religious text that gives us a goal to shoot for, but a book that has answers for the real problems of real people in a real world.

Kim Anthony Shibley

Jesus Takes Care of Our Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

Hebrews 13:8

The more I get to know who Jesus is, the more I see that He’s the same. The consistent nature of the Savior is the thing I can hold onto when all that’s around me is changing.

Life is constant change. It changes biologically, relationally, emotionally, and spiritually.

I know that Jesus’ blood shed on the cross paid for my past. My sins were forgiven the moment I believed. That’s a truth I can hold onto. I don’t need to pay for the things I did, the words I said or the thoughts I thought.

What about now? Now I am a Christian what happens when I sin and make a mess of things and fail to put into practice the things I’ve learned?

Jesus is still the same. His love is the same. His mercy is the same His compassion is the same. His forgiveness is the same. He is the same Savior now as He was then. I may change, but Jesus doesn’t.

The future is before us.  We look forward anticipating marriage, kids, tuition payments, supporting a family, retirement, health issues, loss of loved ones and we naturally worry. What are we going to do? We will trust in the One Who never changes. His plan includes all these things in our lives. We need to experience them and trust in Him along the way that He will never leave us or forsake us.

Seeking

Seeking the lost is what Jesus came to do as He descended to the world below leaving his majestic throne. I once lost my keys and looked everywhere but couldn’t find them. I realized at one point that I must have thrown them in the trash with some things from my car when I got home. I went out to the trash can and started looking in the filth to find my lost keys. There they were! I was so happy. This is what Jesus did when He came here. He looked for us in our heap of trash and found us. He was so  pleased that He rejoiced with everyone.

It doesn't matter where you are today or what mess you’ve gotten into. Jesus loves you more than you can imagine.

“And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.””

Luke 19:9-10

Rahab Was His Mother

The stories in the Old Testament are some of the most interesting the world has ever known. The people described are so treacherous, evil, thieving, jealous, hateful and selfish, you would think they were our contemporaries.  
The truth is that sin is in everyone’s heart. Different ages and cultures, rather than revealing how different we all are, show instead how much we’re the same. The ancients were no better than us, and we are certainly no better than them. The constant for mankind since the day Adam fell is spiritual death, which causes a relentless search for fulfillment and meaning.
Another thing we see through these narratives is that God proudly displays His purposes in sinful people.
When the Israelites in the book of Joshua wanted to defeat Jericho, the center of idol worship of its day, they sent some spies to check things out. The men were discovered and hid in the house of a harlot, a prostitute, a hooker if you like. The woman’s name was Rahab. She risked her life to save them and asked in return that she and her family be spared from the destruction to come. She said, " Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof,  and said to the men: “I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you.  For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.  And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.  Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father’s house, and give me [c]a true token,  and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death” Joshua 2:8-13. The spies agreed and she was saved. She and her family, Canaanites all, integrated into the nation of Israel. This woman of disrepute became a believer in the Lord. She was accepted as part of the redeemed of God.
Rahab even got married to an Israelite by the name of Salmon. That fact would just be a small part of history were not the son of Rahab a man named Boaz who married a Moabite convert named Ruth. Why is that important? Ruth and Boaz had a son named Obed who was the grandfather of famous King David. The Messiah would be born from one of David’s descendants.
Some may ask, “How could it be that the lineage to Jesus would be through people so tainted by sin?” The very point of the Bible is to show how redemption is only possible through the saving work of grace. One common denominator with every person involved in Jesus’ line is that they were sinners. Everyone is not just tainted by sin but totally depraved by it.
In the business I used to work in we are called to replace drainage systems below floors in basements. The stones and pipes get “mudded up” over time with sediment and eventually clogs the system. Often when I recommend to the customer that our company needs to remove and replace the system with all new components they say, “No that costs too much, just replace that parts that are leaking water now.” In this case the problem is that even the areas we replace will eventually clog again because they are connected to the parts contaminated with mud. That same mud will eventually pollute the new system because the source of the problem has not been removed. Man in his natural state is completely hopeless and destined to failure without the loving actions of God.
Rahab’s life is a picture of how God saves us, includes us and uses us for His divine purpose in Grace. Why would Matthew mention not just that Boaz was one of Jesus direct ancestors but that Boaz’s mother was Rahab, if it were not to make the point that all who come to Him by faith are accepted?
This is why Ephesians 2:4-5 says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).”
The constant nature of man is sin and failure, but the eternal nature of God is love, forgiveness, redemption and inclusion into His family.