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God Is Watching
“And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age”
Matthew 28:20
Errol Dominique admits to being a people watcher. There is a lot to learn from watching the activities of people as they go about their daily routine. On a visit to a shopping mall, Errol watched as a toddler took his hand from his mother’s hand and began to walk disconnected from her. He walked aimlessly among the people and played with different objects that caught his attention along the way. That is until he gained the uneasy feeling of being alone in an environment to which he was unaccustomed to. Finally, his uneasiness turned to frantic crying. Errol had to admit that while his attention was on the boy, he thought, “That is a shame that child’s parents allowed him to wander around unnoticed and unprotected.” However, Errol soon noticed the boy’s mother, who was not too far away move. The baby could not see her, but she could see him. And when it appeared that he had enough of his independence, she came to his rescue.
I suppose it’s that way for many of us from time to time. We think we’re ready for independence in the marketplace of life, only to experience the unsettling of being left alone in a mean cruel world of strangers who could care less about us or our well beings. But isn’t it good to know that there is one watching over us, and just when it becomes too much to bear, He shows up to rescue us?
Rev. George Champion gave an interesting illustration about church growth. He learned this lesson when he was barbequing. To start the fire he put the coals in the grill with some chips. He then saturated the coals with lighter fuel. He let it set for a while and then lit the coals and let them burn for a few minutes. When the fire was burning well with the coals he began to put the ribs and chicken on the grill. However, a few minutes later, the coals began to smoke, and the fire died out. He was frustrated. “What happened to my fire?” he said. In the middle of his frustration he asked his wife, “what happened”. He told her when the fire was burning well with the coals he put the meat on the grill. She said, “No, honey, you don’t barbecue with the coals in the fire, you wait until the fire is in the coals, making them red hot.”
Most of us would like to a attend church where the pastor is on fire or the choir is on fire. We enjoy the Pastor or the choir praising God, worshiping God or ministering to those in need. But much like the illustration, real revival and church growth can not happen watching the pastor or the choir be on fire for the Lord. Most church members, like the coals, enjoy being in the fire but never get the fire in them.
Real church growth and revival can not happen until each and every member decides not to just be in the fire but have the fire of the Lord in them. A fire that feeds the hungry. A fire that clothes the naked. A fire that ministers to the sick. A fire ministers to those in prison. A fire that gives good news to poor. A fire that heals the brokenhearted. A fire that sets the captives free. A fire that seeks to save those that are lost.
Once this fire is in us, from the pulpit to the door, the church can not help but grow. The question is, “ Are You On Fire For The Lord.”
“The Lord inhabits the praise of his people”.
Psalm 22:3
Charles Adams shared with his congregation a recent CNN story about how a poor black woman saved enough money to purchase herself a home in Silicon Valley. She loved her new home. She kept the inside clean and the lawn mowed. In an effort to get unwanted people out the neighborhood, the neighborhood association got together with the local bank and establish a law that allowed a home to be foreclosed if the owner did not pay their association dues.
For some reason or another, the black lady did not pay her $200.00 dues. As a result the bank foreclosed on her house and sold her house which was well over $100,00.00 for $10,000.00. The new owners threw her stuff out the doors and windows into the yard. She became homeless and had no place to go. Though she became homeless CNN showed the woman in church that Sunday praising God. She danced up a storm. She danced so until her dancing disturbed the minds of nine brilliant lawyers. The lawyers took her cause to court and they got her property restored.
Praise changes things. For a woman who lost her house , praise changes things. For a nation at war, like Jehosophat, praise changes things. For two men , Paul and Silas, locked in prison but supernaturally released, praise changes things. Praise supernaturally releases the power of God into your life. Praise God!
No More Crayons
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man I put away childish things. I Corinthians 13:11
There are some things and some people you can’t take with you to the next level. For a young boy named Eugene Gibson it was never more clear than when he entered the seventh grade. Even though he was very excited to be leaving elementary school and entering junior high school, he was still upset. Horror came upon his face when he looked at the supply list for his classes. To his dismay, crayons were missing from the list. He had been through kindergarten and grades one to six and every year crayons were on the list. He had always enjoyed drawing in class, but now in the seventh grade crayons, weren’t needed. He asked his teacher, “Why were crayons not on the list?” And she said, “ There are some things you need to leave down there if you want to make it up here.”
When God takes us to another level in our walk with him there are some things and some people we need to leave. Some relationships we need to let go, some dreams we need not follow, some ways of thinking we need to forget, and some places we used to visit that we need not visit again.
God wants us to let the childish things go so we walk in Christian maturity with him. No more Crayons! No More Crayons! NO MORE CRAYONS!
On 9/11, Rev. Portia Lee’s sister-in-law had a meeting in the Pentagon at 8:30 that was scheduled to be over at 9:30. At 9:30, her meeting still was not over, and she looked down at her watch at 9:40. But before she could lift her head again, all hell broke loose. The Pentagon was hit and she was buried underneath debris. She laid there because she assumed that she was dead, wiped-out. When she realized that she was not dead, she began to climb out from underneath the debris. She said that it was dark underneath the debris; but it was even darker when she climbed out. Marilyn knew that there had to be a light that would show her the way out.
She began to crawl. As she crawled, she bumped into people who were trying to escape too. She told them to get behind her and follow her. They continued to crawl, and it seemed they would never get out. Just about when they were ready to give up all hope, she saw a pin-sized speck of light, which indicated that there was a window ahead. Initially, they shouted for joy! Then, they realized that the window was a bulletproof window. They threw a computer at it, a fax machine, and they beat on it, but they could not break it. Marilyn thought to herself, “God I cannot believe that you brought me this close to freedom to let me die.” The very next moment the window did not break, but the window frame did. They were able to pull out the pane and escape.
When you are in the rubble of life. Be courageous, God is on the way. When you can’t see your way out. Be courageous, God is on the way. When you can’t break the unbreakable. Be courageous, God is on the way. When the world is trying to hijack your life. Be courageous, God is on the way!
Buying Ugly Houses
I heard a preacher say that as he drove down the street one day he noticed a sign that read, “We buy ugly houses.” He began to wonder why anyone would want to buy an ugly house. Yes, who in their right mind would want to live in an ugly house? He said this perplexed him until he found out that an investment company specialized in purchasing unsightly houses that needed repairs. Once purchased, the company takes their resources and works on the houses until they are transformed into beautiful and desirable homes.
At that point, he cried out that he is so glad that Jesus is like that company. Over two thousand years ago, Jesus hung on a cross with a sign over his head that essentially said, “We Buy Ugly Houses.” Before we met Jesus we were ugly houses filled with pride, jealousy, envy, anger and hatred; clearly in need of repair. We were purchased by his blood, repaired by his love and transformed by his spirit into beautiful and wonderful homes or temples for the Holy Spirit.
Thanks God for buying this ugly house!!!!
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.”
John 11:25 is a resurrection announcement to a distraught and grief stricken sister, who is in the midst of her own “Good Friday” experience of pain and contradictions. Martha and Mary had sent word to Jesus that their brother, Lazarus, was gravely ill. Jesus does not rush to the bedside of this one he “loves.” Instead, Jesus says that death will not have the last word on Lazarus’ circumstance, but that the glory of God would be on display and that God’s Son would be glorified through it. When Jesus finally makes his way to Bethany, he is greeted by the heartbroken sister, Martha. She tells Jesus, “if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Death has painfully closed a loving chapter on the relationship she shared with her brother. Death has removed her hope that an alternative possibility for Lazarus exists. Jesus had shown up too late and, now, Lazarus and his sisters are incarcerated by the impossible. They are suffering in their own “Good Friday” tomb. The outcome of this excruciating experience would have been different if only Jesus had shown up on time, Martha maintains.
Jesus responds with a revelation of who he is and a declaration that death can’t defeat. “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.” This revelation and declaration provide the basis for our “Easter Faith in this Good Friday World.”
In this Good Friday world of painful contradictions, Easter reveals the person and power of Jesus in the midst of the worst the forces of death can muster. Jesus reveals himself as “the resurrection and the life” to a sorrowing sister whose candle of hope had been blown out by the chilly winds of death. Our “Easter faith” celebrates the fact that God operates best and unveils God’s self in a “Good Friday world.” (African American Lectionary)
Palm Sunday: Hope In Dangerous Places
The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. (v. 13) So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!” (v. 14) Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: (v. 15) “Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” John 12:12-15
Palm Sunday brings us to the close of Lent, a season of denial and sacrifice, and ushers us into Passion Week (Holy Week) with all of its hope and expectations of liberation and salvation. Palm Sunday on the Christian calendar coincides with the week leading to the Passover celebration on the Jewish calendar. These days remind Christians of our connection with the Jewish faith and how both faith traditions look for God’s in-breaking in human affairs by the Messiah. Palm Sunday demonstrates how no amount of oppression can dash the hopes of a people who believe that their king will come.
The entry of Jesus into Jerusalem is not only Jesus going to a place of danger but it involves Jesus engaging in dangerous activity. Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem leads to a crowd that was present in the city for Passover going out and meeting Jesus while waving palm branches and shouting Hosanna. The actions of the people clearly point to their expectation that Jesus would use his power to liberate them from the foreign oppression of Rome. Rome had killed more than its fair share of those who presented a threat .
The church is sometimes called upon to engage in dangerous activity, whether it is speaking out on issues of injustice or providing theological clarity about the church’s purpose in a culture that craves entertainment. Palm Sunday is more than another day of celebration by the Christian Church as it awaits Easter. It is also a day of reflection on how the presence of believers in dangerous places can transform them into places of hope. Palm Sunday is God’s reminder to us of what can be done when courage, humility, love and hope coalesce and enter places of danger and what can happen when those filled with these character traits engage in dangerous activity—this all leads to salvation.(Excerpted from Rev. Ricky Woods, First Baptist Church of Charlotte).
The Hundredfold Blessing
“Peter said to him, ‘ We have left everything to follow you.’ ‘I tell you the truth, Jesus replied, ‘ No one who left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brother, sisters, mothers, children, and fields-and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.” Mark 10: 28-30
One of the many difficult things in this Christian walk is letting go of relationships. Whenever I am in South Philadelphia I often see many people that I grew up with. I might have went to school with them or played basketball with them or just hung out. Some were like brothers to me. When I see them all the memories come back of our times together. But I also see the lifestyles that they live and know because of that we can no longer walk together. We had to separate.
In this scripture, Peter cries out to the Master that he left everything to follow him. While he discusses homes and fields and wealth, the most fundamental thing that he left were the precious relationships of his life. Jesus responds with an incredible statement. That in fact Peter had not lost or left anything to follow Jesus. But in fact, had gained a hundred times as much in relationships and in wealth for following Christ.
How can this be? When we look at our own Christian lives and see who we call brother and sister and father and mother, we open ourselves up to that hundredfold blessing. For even in a small church how many new brothers and sister in Christ we have because dare to follow Him. As you are in worship take a look at the people around you for they are the hundredfold blessing that God promised.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who builds his house on a rock”.
Matthew 7: 24
In John Bevere’s book The Bait of Satan, he explains that trials and tests locate a person. He says that it determines your spirituality and reveals the true conditions of your heart.
How we react under pressure is how our real person or our true character reacts.
To give illustration to this principle Bevere used two different types of houses. We can have a house built on sand that is five stories high and beautiful, decorated with the most elaborate materials and craftsmanship. As long as the sun is shining, it looks like bulwark of strength and beauty.
Next to that house you can have a single story plain house. It is almost un-noticeable and possible unattractive compared to the beautiful building next to it. But it’s built on something you can’t see-a rock.
As long as no storm strike, the five story house looks much nicer. But when it encounters a severe storm, the five story house collapses and is ruined. It may survive a few minor storms but not the hurricane. The plain, one story structure survives. The larger the house the harder and more noteworthy it’s fall.
Many Christians are like the five story house. They look nice, they say all the right things, and they seem so spiritual. But when there is a major storm in their life they are shaken and fall away from the faith. Many other Christians are like the one story plain house, they don’t have flashy spiritual gifts, they are not in front of the congregation all of the time, and they don’t seek the spotlight; but they never waiver in their faith. What kind of house are we depends on how we react to pressure.