Headlines vs. Hope

You know, some days it just doesn’t pay to get up! These are a few of the news items that made headlines yesterday morning: Gasoline hit a national average of $4.00 a gallon; People in 16 states have gotten salmonella food poisoning from uncooked tomatoes; Severe weather and flooding has plagued the Midwest for several days now; and although Big Brown was favored to win the Triple Crown at Belmont last Saturday, he finished the race dead last (that in itself a record!). Add to these any variety of personal tragedies, and one might understand why some folks hold out little hope for the future. I’ve never really understood why people cannot accept the idea of Intelligence beyond us, but I do see the hopelessness in life without a Savior. However, our hope doesn’t stop here. Paul said it well in I Corinthians 15:19, “If our hope in Christ is good only for this life, we are worse off than anyone else.” You see, Paul realized that even though we put our faith in Christ we will still face struggles, and some of those struggles will be massive. But that’s alright because our reward awaits us at the end of our race. We can rest assured that regardless of tomorrow’s headlines, Christ still sits on the throne and our true hope lies in our eternal future with him.

Adopted

As most of you know, our fourth daughter, Anna, is adopted. Now she is legally entitled to an equal share of any inheritance Jill and I might leave behind. But even more important, we claim her as our own…there is no difference in our eyes between Anna and any of our natural children. When we come to Christ, God not only forgives us, he also adopts us. We go from condemned orphans with no hope to adopted children with no fear. It’s really remarkable…we come before the throne of grace, rebellious and sinful. Because of God’s justice he cannot dismiss our sin, but because of God’s love he cannot dismiss us. Then, in an act that stunned all of creation, God punished himself on the cross for our sins. God’s justice and love are equally honored, and we are forgiven! Still, that is not the end; it would be enough had God simply cleansed us, but he does more. We have been adopted, given God’s name: because of Jesus, we are now children of God!

Shift Happens!

Starting with Acts chapter 2, Bishop Ough urged the members of the IGRC Annual Conference to not only anticipate, but to invoke the leading of the Holy Spirit as together we “write the next chapter in the Book of Acts.” After watching the video, “Now What?” which explained many of the ways that we are living in an ever changing world and that “shift happens,” Bishop Ough charged us with transforming the church as we pen the 29th chapter of the Book of Acts. We ended the day celebrating the 12 years of leadership by Bishop Christopher in our conference. As we reflected on how far we have come together, I realized how she has impacted my own journey. Bishop Christopher baptized my daughter Anna and granddaughter Isabella. She comforted Jill and me as we grieved the tragic loss of our eldest daughter, Emily. And at conference last year, she presided over my ordination as an elder in full connection. I praise God that Bishop Christopher has been obedient to God’s calling and has shared part of her journey with us in the Illinois Great Rivers Conference and for her many influences upon my journey.

Good Morning Sesser!

Greetings from Annual Conference! In my devotion this morning Max Lucado spoke of power. One of his observations spoke to me here at Peoria. “When you stand at the top—if there is a top—the only way to go is down. And the descent is often painful…” As I witnessed the inevitable positioning and wrangling yesterday at Conference, I was blessed by the emphasis of making disciples for Jesus Christ. We were able to dismiss and get by some of the bickering that usually goes on, and instead start with communion and our examination of Wesley’s general rules: Do no harm; Do good; stay in love with God. Unfortunately we need people at the top…we too are like sheep without a shepherd…but more importantly we need people to be workers in the field. We need people willing to do no harm, to do good, and to love God. I am looking forward to the address from Bishop Ough today. Pray with me that he is anointed with the Holy Spirit as he speaks to us.

God Help Us

I am leaving this morning for our Annual Conference in Peoria. It is a time I look forward to, but it’s also a time when I see a tremendous amount of resources spent, not in the making of disciples for Jesus Christ, but in the maintenance of a monstrous machine. Some of our business is necessary, but some is asinine. We do not make disciples at Annual Conference; I am not even sure most of the business we conduct equips the churches to make disciples…but is it wasted time? No personal or church situation is too hopeless for the all-sufficient power of the Holy Spirit. God is no more eager to act in Sesser or Springfield than he will be to act in Peoria. God waits for us to take his promises seriously and go boldly before the throne of grace regardless of where we are and what we are about. Pray with me that the Holy Spirit will anoint Annual Conference…that each delegate, clergy and laity, will be infused with the Spirit…that God will take control of this conference and that his will be accomplished. If I have Wi-Fi access, I will be posting blogs from Peoria on Thursday and Friday morning, letting you know what has been going on…if not, I will be back on Monday.

Supernatural Assistance

I was visiting with someone recently who is fighting a tremendous battle which has gone on for several years and now they are battling discouragement. They shared that they no longer know what to pray for. My mind immediately went to Romans 8:26: “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” Most of us have been there, that place where we don’t know how to pray. It’s a place where the sentences we string together to sound like prayer make no sense at all. It’s a place where the effort to pray seems futile. It is there that we need prayer born of the Spirit. This is another dimension of calling upon God; it’s where the Holy Spirit supernaturally assists us. This is not a worked-up emotionalism, but a powerful promise of help from God himself! What we need to remember is that we have this tremendous power available to us. We can, even in a state of hopelessness, reach out to God with the promise his Holy Spirit will intervene on our behalf.

What You Waiting For?

There are several people praying for revival in this community and in this church. And while we are not able to ‘force’ God’s hand, it seems to me that God acts whenever and wherever his people slow down long enough to give him their total attention. Said another way, we’ve got to rid ourselves of those worldly distractions and focus solely on the Almighty. That’s really all it takes…easy huh?  No it’s not, but it becomes easier when we practice faith-filled prayer, praise, and worshipful waiting. God can and will transform our lives, invade and bless our churches, and use us to do things beyond “all we (could) ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20). He can and will transform us, if we yield ourselves totally to the Spirit of the Living God…but not until. That’s the catch…God will not force us. This is scary, but on our own, we are able to delay the work that God wants to accomplish in us, our church, our community, even our world. That’s a sobering thought that causes me to remember we are accountable for our actions…all of them. Do you long for God to move? Are you an accomplice or an obstacle?