Life with the Faith of a Child

I came across some interesting quotes this week regarding children.  Here are a few that you might find as intriguing as I did.

You can learn many things from children, how much patience you have, for instance.

Children are unpredictable.  You never know what inconsistency they're going to catch you in next.

Children seldom misquote.  In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn't have said.

There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child.  There are seven million.

While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.

Jesus said in Mark 10:15 that “Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.”  Scholars have debated the question of having faith ‘as a child’ and how that statement is manifested in our adult lives.  I am certainly no scholar, but I think sometimes we try to make things more complicated than Jesus intended them to be. 

For instance, children don’t debate the existence of God nor do they question Him or His ways.  They just believe in Him and trust Him.  They don’t argue about His will for today and the future for their lives, they just trust Him.  They don’t worry about tomorrow and if everything will be all right, they just leave tomorrow to Him.

Another thing I have noticed about children is that they do not dwell on whether God loves them and if He is a loving God or not.  They see Jesus exactly as He is, a loving savior who loves them and all people.  They have a tender heart toward others and all of God’s creation.  They can be broken over a sick person and an ailing pet at the same time without letting it depress and discourage them.  They just trust God to make it all right.

One last thing I have noticed about children.  They don’t seem to separate and divide this life and the one to come from reality.  Heaven is just as real to them as the life they live in today.  Last week a father was in the hospital for a few days and his children were missing their daddy terribly and wondering when he was coming home.  Their mom called the hospital and had the children talk with their dad on the phone.  After ending the conversation, his daughter asked if daddy was in heaven?  No, her mom answered, daddy was not in Heaven, and he would be home in a couple of days.  I thought about that and realized that to this little girl heaven was not some far away distant place, but a real place that her daddy would be in one day.  She just thought the time had already arrived.

Heaven is real to them.  Children believe in heaven because they believe in a loving God who they can trust.  Our job is to teach them about the Son of God who came to show us what they already know.

What God is doing in Brazil

I am copying this from an email Rob Patterson sent to me.  As most of  you know, I partnered with a team from Eastwood Baptist Church in Bowling Green to travel to Brazil back in February.  When Rob sent this I rejoiced in what God is doing there and how He used our feeble, tired efforts for His glory.

Here's is Rob's email to the team.

Dear Eastwood Team, 

I pray this email finds each of you well & thriving in the Lord. Our family arrived back in Belém last night from an encouraging time in the field. Three teams were working in three different Quilombos Saturday: Mangabeira, São Benedito & Umarizal.

I wanted to share with you the wonderful results we're seeing in Umarizal. We've now completed all of the studies that were initiated during your time here, and we've seen more than 30 people make professions of faith in Christ…including Deonata (the lady who hosted you guys in her home in Umarizal)! Services are taking place on a regular basis in Boa Vista, and Saturday, May 25, will be a special day as the church building in Umarizal will be inaugurated. 

Please mark this day for prayer. As you will remember, your team plugged into a partnership among two Brazilian Baptist churches. The Ituquara church, alongside of which you served, has been sending teams for evangelism. The Baptist Church in Vila Permanente has supplied the resources for the construction of a church building and is now investing in training for Dinaldo & Maria. On May 25 the Baptist church in Vila Permanente is sending TWO buses of volunteers to conduct street dramas, social ministry & evangelism. Meanwhile, Ituquara will be sending over a literal "boatload" of people for additional evangelism.

Please pray that God will be honored & many more will come to know Christ during this landmark weekend!!!!

You'll be excited to know that both churches are currently planning on launching out into two new Quilombos in August! The Kingdom is advancing. Thank you once again for your willingness to join God in what He is doing in Umarizal. I know that it was tough, but your sweat…and sometimes nearly tears…have impacted eternity.

For His Glory in the Amazon,

Rob Patterson

Continue to pray for Rob, Jenny, Hannah, Haley, and all the Brothers and Sisters in Christ as they labor for His Kingdom.

What is This World Coming To?

When I look at the news on the internet or turn on the TV and see the latest catastrophe I shudder.  School shootings that began a few years ago in High Schools have now migrated down to elementary schools and kindergarten.  Bombings that were occurring at the entrances or inside public buildings have now found their way to the streets where runners innocently are enjoying a distance competition.  Explosions and disasters whether they are natural or man-made seem to capture the headlines daily.  What is this world coming to?  Or maybe we should ask what God wants us to do in such turbulent times.

Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:13-15 But evil men and seducers shall grow worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. 14 But continue in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them; 15 And that from a child you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Notice what Paul advises young Timothy to do in the face of evil growing worse and worse and men being deceived into believing that killing others will somehow benefit them. He tells him to continue to follow God’s word and obey it.  In such an unstable world we are to stand on His truth. The word of God will stand safe and sure (1 Peter 1:25). 

Notice he admonishes him to have faith in Christ. Christ is our rock and redeemer.  He alone can withstand and calm the storms raging around us.  There is not a headline that catches Him by surprise.  There is never a news report that He didn’t already know about before it happened.  He knows the evil residing in men’s hearts that will erupt in more death and violence.  We must trust Him in these darkening times.

Lastly, Paul tells us in his letter to Titus in chapter 2 verse 13 to “Look for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;” He is coming again and He is going to fix our world. As we see men’s hearts continuing to darken can we pray with earnest, “even so, come Lord Jesus”?  He is our hope.  What is this world coming to?  It’s coming to Jesus!  Look up, for your redemption draws near!

Revival and Restoration

Webster’s Dictionary defines the word revival as:

1.    Restoration to life, conscientiousness, vigor, or strength.

2.    Restoration to use, acceptance.

3.    An awakening in a church or community, and interest in and care for matters relating to personal religion.

We just concluded our Spring Revival at Second Baptist which could be defined as a series of meetings for the express purpose of bringing about the above definitions of revival.  Did we see these things evident in and following the meetings in our individual lives?  I can give a hearty “amen” to that question!

Which brings me to a question Brother Mike posted on our Facebook page, “Is Revival over or has it just begun”.  Good question.  I would like to think it has just begun for our church, but a church is made up of individual members, so really we have to ask ourselves personally to get a true answer.  So I ask you, have you experienced a restoration to life and strength in the Lord?  Are you sensing a restoration to use or acceptance to the Lord’s work?  Have you felt an awakening to interest in and care for matters relating to your personal walk of faith in Christ?

If you have not, why not?  What will it take?

Vance Havner made this statement years ago, “Revival is the church falling in love with Jesus all over again.”

There’s a song by Shane and Shane that has the following lyrics:

When I think about the Lord
How He saved me, how He raised me
How He filled me with the Holy Ghost
How He healed me to the uttermost

If we start to really dwell on what Jesus Christ has done for us the love of God really does well up in our hearts for Christ.

Brian Edwards said, “In revival, the minds of people are concentrated upon things of eternity, and there is an awareness that nothing else really matters.”

That should be true of us.

Anyone Going Fishing?

In Luke chapter 5 verses 1-6 we find the account of Jesus giving instructions to the disciples on catching fish.  They’re washing their nets when Jesus approaches because they’re finished for the day.  They’ve fished all night and caught nothing.  Keep in mind that they are professional fishermen.  This is how they make their living.   

Fishermen in Jesus’ day used big corded nets that were easily seen by the fish in the daylight hours.  The fish could not see the net falling down around them at night and were easily trapped. Here it is now daylight and He wants them to try again.

At His urging they go back out and cast their net into the sea.  Quickly the net was filled with fish to the point of breaking.  They are amazed and marvel that this carpenter turned Rabbi would know more about catching fish than them.  Do you and I realize He still knows more about catching fish than we do?  There are some simple lessons in this story for you and I about fishing today.

One, take the time and prepare.  They were cleaning their nets when He approached.  If a net wasn’t kept clean it would rot in a very short time.  Trying to pull in a net full of fish with a rotten net would surely lead to losing the catch.  The analogy for us is that we need to keep our nets clean too.  How’s our prayer life, are we studying His word daily to make sure our hearts are clean?  As the old preacher said, “we need to be fessed up, prayed up, and charged up to reach people for Christ”!

Second, we need to go where the fish are.  I haven’t been on any fishing trips where the fish just jumped in the boat while it was still in the garage!  We have to go where they are.  We can’t just hang out an ‘Everyone Welcome’ sign and expect folks to jump in our church.  Last time I checked, fish don’t want to be caught.  As a matter of fact, they will try and avoid you.  Jesus told them where to throw the net.  We need to ask the Holy Spirit to lead us to where the fish are.  He knows.

Thirdly, a fisherman has to cast his net.  Fish just don’t jump into the net while it’s in the boat.  We’ve got to throw it out.  That may mean passing out flyers, going door to door inviting, sending mail outs, making phone calls, or giving personal invitations to those we know.  It can mean taking out newspaper ads, running radio spots, or posting flyers at local businesses.  Whatever it takes we’ve got to do it.  He told us to!  Let’s go fishing!

Call a Timeout!

Whew!  Do you ever just want to call timeout?  Stop the world for a little while until you could get your thoughts back together?  Just pull off the road and park your little self until you’re ready to continue on with your journey?  Do you ever think, “Who do I see to call a timeout”?

In the sports world, when one team begins to overwhelm the other, the coach, or one of the players, will signal the referee that they want a timeout.  They take the time allotted to regroup and settle themselves so that they can continue the contest without being embarrassed.  Now I know God is not to be compared to a referee, but like the referee who has the authority to stop or continue the game, God is in control of our lives.  But also like the referee who doesn’t call a timeout for the players, God leaves the calling of timeouts in life up to us.

How many times in the Gospels do we see Jesus ‘calling timeout’ in His life and the lives of the Apostles (Matthew 14:13, Mark 6:31-32, Luke 4:42, Luke 9:10)?  Maybe we should stop (call a timeout) and think about that for a little while.  But we would say, “I can’t, there too much going on in my life!  All these things won’t get accomplished if I stop doing what I’m doing!”  But ponder that for a minute (short timeout).  Maybe that is part of the problem.  Maybe we’re so busy we can’t even catch our breath.

I read of a pastor who decided to take one day off (Friday) and not do anything.  No cell phone, no email, no contact with the world.  Just about drove him crazy at first.  Waves of guilt, depression, worry over things that he was supposed to do, just plain anxiety over not doing anything.  WOW!  But he’s no different than me or you, pastor or layperson, doctor or lawyer, or Indian chief.  But you know what, instead of continuing to go nuts, his life began to calm like the waves after a storm has blown through.

You say, “I can’t do that.”  Really?  Try this, cut a few things out of your schedule that aren’t that important.  Take a little time to be with yourself (and God, He’s there).  And most of all listen for the noise to die down around you as God gives you His peace.

Vance Havner, an old Baptist Evangelist of yesteryear, said this, “We need to come apart before we come apart”.  Wise words aren’t they?  Just go ahead, do it, call a timeout.

2013 – What Does It Hold?

What’s coming in 2013? With the tragedy and turmoil that we saw in 2012, I just have to ask what 2013 will look like. Let me share a story that helps me to look to the future.

Back in 1999 Payne Stewart was a professional golfer who lost his life in a plane crash.  I won’t go into all the details concerning it, but 4 others lost their lives along with him.  One of those who died was Robert Fraley.  Robert was one of Payne’s agents and had played quarterback for Bear Bryant at the University of Alabama.  Robert, along with Payne, and maybe some of the others, were Christians. 

When reading about Robert and his life, I discovered that he was a health and fitness advocate.  Nothing unusual there, but then I read a comment that he had made at some time in his past.  It was this, “I plan my life each day as if I am going to live for another fifty years, but I live each day as if it is my last”.

Those words have echoed in my heart from time to time over the years, and I have never forgotten them.  It forces me to ask myself a question and I ask you to ask it of yourself as we enter 2013.  The question is this, “If this was my last year on earth what would I do”?

Here are some things I think we all could benefit from as individuals and as a church in 2013.

 1. Love people as Christ loves them.

     John 3:16 says He loves the world, shouldn’t we?

     He loves people as they are that they become what He wants them to be.

     We are called to be His Ambassadors.

2. Forgive others as Jesus forgives them.

    If He could forgive from the Cross, who are we to hold onto grudges and 

    offenses?

3. Help all I can as I may not get another opportunity.

    We only get one shot at life, don’t waste it.

4. Look for every window we’re given to tell someone about Jesus.

    Our words may be the difference between someone spending an eternity in 

    Hell or Heaven.

May this be my heart, your heart, and the collective heart of our Churches in 2013, its Christ’s heart, let’s be His people.