Skip to main content

Are We There Yet?

This week at Crossings...

We read:
  • Acts 9:1-31


  • Saul made the most dramatic turnaround ever. One day he's killing people who follow Jesus and then after a dramatic encounter with God, the hunter becomes the hunted. God told Ananias that Saul would have to learn to suffer. He didn't take long to start Saul's lessons. How ironic that a group of men, who he would have stoned just weeks before, had to help him escape being stoned.

    Paul would be the most prolific writer of the New Testament. He would circle the known world, heal sick, raise the dead and start and disciple churches. But in between hating Jesus and becoming a dynamo for Jesus, Saul had to have a time of waiting. He isn't heard from again in the book of Acts until chapter 13. Did he just sit and wait? No, He hung out with the Apostles. He preached when given the chance. He made a friend of Barnabas who was a follower of Jesus.

    Other great men in the Bible had to learn to wait. Abraham had to wait for God to give him a son. David had to wait in the wilderness before he could become king. Moses had to wait 40 years tending sheep before he could lead the Israelites out of Egypt, and even Jesus had to wait until after a 40 day fast in the wilderness to start His earthly ministry.

    What did all these have in common? They were patient and waited on God's timing. They were faithful over the little things and did what they could while they waited. They prepared themselves for a day when God would use them to do great things.

    God has a plan for you to do great things. Wait on Him. Be faithful to Him. Get to know Him.

    Peace.

    Comments

    Popular posts from this blog

    Watch Your Back

    A few years ago, I designed a T-shirt for a children's ministry at a traditional church where I worked. Even though the idea wasn't original, the design was and I thought it was hilarious. It had the reference, Ephesians 6:10-20 , a cartoon of a gladiator and the caption, "Don't Fight Naked." Apparently the church was more conservative than I thought. I showed the design to a few people and immediately began receiving phone calls. Apparently the word "Naked" is offensive to some people. Who knew? The armor of God is a great visual. Everybody has visions of Russell Crowe fighting gladiators and becoming a Roman hero. I remember the scene where he gets new armor from his owner. It would help him in his fights ahead. Even if you are perfectly equipped with salvation, righteousness, truth, God's Word, faith, and a message there is still more to gain if you follow the analogy of a Roman Soldier. The Roman soldier had nothing to protect his back. OK, this ...

    The Gathering We Didn't have

    OK, so I have some form of Russian Monkey Death Flu or something. The bad part of having a small pioneer church is that when the pastor goes down, it's kinda hard to have a meeting at his house. Anyway, here is the passage we would have read: Matthew 2:1-12 There are many myths about the wise men. One myth is that there were three men. The Bible doesn't say how many there were. Another myth is that they were at the Nativity. But if you read the passage closely, a period of approximately 2 years had passed by the time they found the child in a house. We do know that the wise men were scholars from a far country. They would have had a knowledge of science as well as the books of prophesy concerning the Messiah. They also were probably wealthy. The gifts they carried were expensive and were meant to be presented to a King. The star was their vision. They believed so strongly in that vision that they held to it for at least two years while they searched. The baby they found wasn...

    Creativity

    So many times I have heard someone say, "I'm just not creative." I think it is more likely that they haven't unlocked their creativity. Follow this logic with me. 1. A Creator created everything. If you are an evolutionist, this is where you skip down to the next post. But if you believe in a Creator, then maybe Genesis Chapter 1 will remind you of God's awesome work. 2. Mankind was created in the image of the Creator. He actually made us to be His self-portrait! We are His masterpiece . 3. If a Creator created us and we are His self-portrait, then logic demands that we were created with the ability to be creative. Keep in mind that creativity goes beyond the artistic. Creativity is also the ability to find a new approach to a problem. An accountant can be just as creative as an artist. So how can you develop your creativity? Ephesians 4:15 says that we can become more and more "like Christ." If we are creative because our Creator is creative, the...