Ramblings by James

Have you ever faced a task which seemed too big? A mountain of work to be done so daunting that you doubted you could ever complete the task? How do you face that?

I sometimes feel that way when thinking about the great commission. There are so many in need of the Lord. There are so many around us who have real needs to be met. How do we can we make a difference? I came across this quote by Ryan Romeo in my devotions one morning, “Not every church makes the same impact, but every church carries the same significance. From Outcry deco for church leaders,” Every church has a part to play in carrying out the mission.

We sometimes may ask, what difference can we make? The answer is we can do our part. Jesus gave us our marching orders in Matthew 28:19-20 when He said, “19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” We aren’t responsible to win everyone in the world by ourselves. We are called to do our part. As we partner with brothers and sisters around the world, we add our impacts together and can reach more. We are judged by our faithfulness with what God has entrusted to us, not the impact we make globally.

That is why we partner with other churches in supporting ministries like Lifeword. Lifeword shares the gospel in many languages around the world. They have adapted as technologies have changed and now have the Lifeword cloud to present the gospel and discipleship tools in the heart language of people around the globe via the internet. We do our part in our community and have a larger impact as we pool our resources with sister churches.

Have you ever seen Karate Kid. The Master agrees to teach the student karate. Danny shows up ready to go and instead is made to paint the fence, wax the car, sand the floor. In frustration he complains he is doing chores and. It learning to fight. Miraculously, it is revealed that each move he was doing was part of the karate and had built muscle memory. The point was a lesson we all need to learn in our walk with God, trust and obey.

Joshua and Israel learned that lesson at Jericho. God gave them strange marching orders. Instead of attacking or laying a long siege, Gus told them to march aprons the city silently every day for six days. One thing seventh, they went around seven times. Notice the outcome:

“On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city.” Joshua‬ ‭6:15-16‬ ‭ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

God granted Joshua and the Israelites success because they faithfully sought His instruction and then obeyed it. And God will do the same for you and me as we seek and obey Him. We must remember that obedience to God is always a prelude to success

When we stick to God’s plan success as He defines it is guaranteed.

We all want to be successful in life. Success looks different in everyone’s opinion. Google defines success as “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose:” I think that sums it up quite well.

The key is to aim at the right target and have a good purpose. If your goal is to wake up, congratulations, you made it! But waking up isn’t accomplishing much. The Bible gives us advice on being successful. Notice what God says through Joshua 1:8. “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” ESV

Joshua’s purpose was to lead the nation of Israel into the promised land. War awaited him across the Jordan river. God pointed him to the correct path by pointing him back to the Word of God. How can we have the right aim so that our “success” is meaningful? Following the same advice. The word of God must be in thoughts and on our tongues day and night. We should be careful to do all that is written in it.‬‬‬‬ That takes study and dedication. As we live by the principles in God’s word we will fulfill the most noble purpose of all, the glory of God.

Not ashamed

Have you ever been ashamed? I sure have. One time was when I received my first, and only, speeding ticket. I was coming home late at. Isn’t from a JBC game and was in a hurry. I was following a friend with a radar detector which apparently didn’t warn us. Daddy had taught us to respect the law and keep our record clean. I knew he would be disappointed and I was ashamed of it all. I survived and learned some valuable lessons.

One definition of ashamed is to be reluctant or unwilling to do something out of embarrassment. I think that is what Paul if in Romans when he wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1:16‬ ‭ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

http://bible.com/59/rom.1.16.esv

There is nothing about the gospel for which we should feel embarrassed. Jesus took the Shane when He does in payment for our sins in the cross. Why are we embarrassed to share that? Why are we concerned with how the lost will perceive us when we attempt to share the good news with them? In our selfish embarrassment, our silence is what should really make is ashamed. We are watching them die without hearing the good news and call to repentance because they might laugh at us.

Like Paul, let’s get over ourselves and boldly share the love of God with all around us. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost and passed that mission on to us.

It is football season in Texas! Friday nights find us out at the various stadiums cheering for our teams. I love the thrill of seeing our boys take the ball and run through all the defenders as they return a kcik off for a touchdown. In all of my years of watching football, I never tire of seeing that. As I think about it, I don’t recall a single time that the fans just sat there passively and watched it happen. Spontaneously we all jump to our feet and begin to yell. We can get excited and cheer with abandon when a great play happens.

However, when it comes to our worship, we seldom see such spontaneous praise. I wonder why that is? In worship, we are showing reverence and adoration for God. Worship is to be a part of our daily walk with Him. As we read the Scriptures, we come across many examples of worship. Many of the Psalms are hymns of adoration for God. One of my favorites is Psalm 95. Hear the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 95:3-7

“For the LORD is a great God,

and a great King above all gods.

4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;

the heights of the mountains are his also.

5 The sea is his, for he made it,

and his hands formed the dry land.

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!

7 For he is our God,

and we are the people of his pasture,

and the sheep of his hand.”

In these few phrases, God is exalted. He is acknowledged as King above all. His supremacy over all creation is declared. The Psalmist calls us to worship and bow down before our awesome God.

When was the last time you broke out in spontaneous praise? When did you last see God’s hand at work in the world or in the word and it lead you to worship? My prayer is that God would open our eyes and hearts and we would worship with abandon. When God is at work, it is for more worthy of celebration than the greatest play in football.