By Gobel Brockman
I have a confession. When I was a Pastor, there were three Sundays I always struggled with: Mother's Day, the Sunday before Christmas, and Easter. Why? Because everyone coming to church on those days comes knowing what the message will be about. (The virtues of motherhood, the Virgin Birth, and the resurrection of Christ.) The challenge is trying to find new and interesting ways to tell stories that people already know. I faced that same challenge this week in thinking of what to write for this devotional. What new story or illustration could I come up with? Perhaps a little gem in Scripture that would cause people to say, "I never saw that before!"
Then a simple thought hit me - a perfect story needs no help. The Easter story is a perfect story with a perfect ending. Yes, I dare say everyone reading this already knows the Easter story:
Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, then willingly laid down that life for us by dying on a cross. The blood He shed purchased our salvation. Then three days later, He was physically raised from the dead by the Holy Spirit, forever defeating death. In His death and resurrection there is newness of life for all who will believe.
Tell me - what can I say or do that will make that story any better than it already is? Jesus's death on the cross purchased our salvation, and His resurrection defeated death for us all. There is hope and newness of life for all that will put their faith and hope in what Jesus did. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. One day every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. And He has given us - He has given you - the opportunity to do that on this side of the grave and be saved.
Usually I end these devotionals with a story or an attempt at humor. This week I end it the best way possible, the Word of God: "...Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen..." (LUKE 24:5-6)
Rejoice - JESUS IS ALIVE!!
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Regrets
By Gobel Brockman
There's a story of a young man who grew up in a devoutly Christian home. As he approached his High School graduation, he asked his father for a car. His father told him, "I'll see what I can do." So graduation came, and at his party his father gave him a wrapped box. The young man opened it and found...a Bible. The young man was furious. So much so that a few short days later, he moved out, never to speak to his father again. A few years later he received word that his father had passed away. After he had returned home from the funeral he found the Bible his father had given him. For the first time he took it out of the box and opened it. Something fell out and landed by his feet. He picked it up. It was a blank check, and in the memo section it said, "Car for Graduation."
There are so many directions we could go with this story. Putting things ahead of people. Greed and selfishness. The danger of making assumptions. Regret that stays with you for the rest of your life. The undeserved heartbreak of the father that stayed with him for the rest of his life. Most of us have never done anything to this extent, but we all have regrets. We've all hurt people with our selfishness, and been hurt by the selfishness of others. We've all jumped to conclusions, only to find out later we totally misjudged someone. I know I have. I can think of many times where my selfishness and moodiness have brought pain and discouragement to the people I love the most. What do we do in these times?
I believe the best answer is in Philippians 3: "I do not consider myself to have reached the goal. But this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind me and striving for what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal of the prize of the high calling of Jesus Christ." I can't count all the things in my past I would go back and change - if I could. If we CAN make amends, we need to. But it's not always possible, and sometimes the past can't be fixed. All we can do is leave it there in the grace of God and ask His help in not making those mistakes again. And I know "He's faithful and just to forgive my sin, and cleanse me from all unrighteousness."
Have you messed up - badly? Feeling like God can't forgive you and you can't forgive yourself? Take heart; God's not done with you yet. I told you all of this to tell you that regardless of your past, God can still do amazing things in your life. People can still see the goodness of God because of what He does in you. I close with a story of another young man that grew up in a Christian home. In his youth he began drinking and smoking pot, soon progressing to LSD and other drugs. His life became a mess. But God loves taking messes and giving them new hope. This kid is now a mailman in Franklin, a worship leader at a church, and the writer of a somewhat boring but well-intentioned devotional.
There's a story of a young man who grew up in a devoutly Christian home. As he approached his High School graduation, he asked his father for a car. His father told him, "I'll see what I can do." So graduation came, and at his party his father gave him a wrapped box. The young man opened it and found...a Bible. The young man was furious. So much so that a few short days later, he moved out, never to speak to his father again. A few years later he received word that his father had passed away. After he had returned home from the funeral he found the Bible his father had given him. For the first time he took it out of the box and opened it. Something fell out and landed by his feet. He picked it up. It was a blank check, and in the memo section it said, "Car for Graduation."
There are so many directions we could go with this story. Putting things ahead of people. Greed and selfishness. The danger of making assumptions. Regret that stays with you for the rest of your life. The undeserved heartbreak of the father that stayed with him for the rest of his life. Most of us have never done anything to this extent, but we all have regrets. We've all hurt people with our selfishness, and been hurt by the selfishness of others. We've all jumped to conclusions, only to find out later we totally misjudged someone. I know I have. I can think of many times where my selfishness and moodiness have brought pain and discouragement to the people I love the most. What do we do in these times?
I believe the best answer is in Philippians 3: "I do not consider myself to have reached the goal. But this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind me and striving for what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal of the prize of the high calling of Jesus Christ." I can't count all the things in my past I would go back and change - if I could. If we CAN make amends, we need to. But it's not always possible, and sometimes the past can't be fixed. All we can do is leave it there in the grace of God and ask His help in not making those mistakes again. And I know "He's faithful and just to forgive my sin, and cleanse me from all unrighteousness."
Have you messed up - badly? Feeling like God can't forgive you and you can't forgive yourself? Take heart; God's not done with you yet. I told you all of this to tell you that regardless of your past, God can still do amazing things in your life. People can still see the goodness of God because of what He does in you. I close with a story of another young man that grew up in a Christian home. In his youth he began drinking and smoking pot, soon progressing to LSD and other drugs. His life became a mess. But God loves taking messes and giving them new hope. This kid is now a mailman in Franklin, a worship leader at a church, and the writer of a somewhat boring but well-intentioned devotional.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
There's Power When God Speaks
By Gobel Brockman
And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
This passage has caused many questions over the years. It's the only recorded time that Jesus had to pray for someone twice. Did the blind man not have enough faith? Did Jesus Himself have a sudden 'lack of faith'? The answer is easier than that. Before this story happened, in Matthew 11 Jesus is speaking to communities where He had performed many works, but yet that had not repented. He said, "Woe to you Chorizin! Woe to you Bethsaida..." The village where our story took place had judgement pronounced on it for their unbelief. That's why the first thing Jesus did was "...take him by the hand and lead him out of the village..." Then the judgement He had pronounced was so strong that He Himself had to pray twice to break through it. Which says something both very simple and very profound to us:
There's power when God speaks.
We see it in creation. The Bible says in Genesis repeatedly, "And God said, 'Let there be..'. And there was. Jesus raised a dead man by simply saying, "Lazarus, come forth!" And He's still speaking today. By His Spirit and by His word. We need to recognize the power in those words. There's a Scripture that says that "God is not a man that He should lie, or the son of man that He should repent..." What He speaks, He means. When He says "Behold, I am with you always" we can trust it. When He says "The soul that sins shall surely die" we need to heed it. What I'm saying is this: most of us have a book in our homes. For a few it's nothing more than a dusty coaster on their coffee table. Don't let that be you. There's hope, healing, correction, warning, and ultimate victory contained in its pages. Why?
There's power when God speaks. Listen to Him.
And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
This passage has caused many questions over the years. It's the only recorded time that Jesus had to pray for someone twice. Did the blind man not have enough faith? Did Jesus Himself have a sudden 'lack of faith'? The answer is easier than that. Before this story happened, in Matthew 11 Jesus is speaking to communities where He had performed many works, but yet that had not repented. He said, "Woe to you Chorizin! Woe to you Bethsaida..." The village where our story took place had judgement pronounced on it for their unbelief. That's why the first thing Jesus did was "...take him by the hand and lead him out of the village..." Then the judgement He had pronounced was so strong that He Himself had to pray twice to break through it. Which says something both very simple and very profound to us:
There's power when God speaks.
We see it in creation. The Bible says in Genesis repeatedly, "And God said, 'Let there be..'. And there was. Jesus raised a dead man by simply saying, "Lazarus, come forth!" And He's still speaking today. By His Spirit and by His word. We need to recognize the power in those words. There's a Scripture that says that "God is not a man that He should lie, or the son of man that He should repent..." What He speaks, He means. When He says "Behold, I am with you always" we can trust it. When He says "The soul that sins shall surely die" we need to heed it. What I'm saying is this: most of us have a book in our homes. For a few it's nothing more than a dusty coaster on their coffee table. Don't let that be you. There's hope, healing, correction, warning, and ultimate victory contained in its pages. Why?
There's power when God speaks. Listen to Him.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
It's a Mystery To Me
By Gobel Brockman
Yesterday (as I write this) I ran into a retired pastor at lunch. We had a short but very interesting conversation about ministry. We were both saying that when we started, we felt like we had all the answers, and now that we're older all we have is questions. He said something very simple yet very profound:
"I've learned that there are three truths in life:
1) Birth is a mystery.
2) Death is a mystery.
3) Everything in between is a mystery."
True words indeed. It seems like as soon as you get the answers in life, someone changes the questions. That doesn't work well for people like me who like predictability and generally dislike surprises. But it got me to thinking about something. Let's say for the sake of discussion that you spoke with someone who had the gift of prophecy (see I Corinthians 12), and could tell you everything that God had planned for your future. Would you want to know? My immediate answer would probably be yes. But here's the problem with that - it leaves no room for faith and trust, and the Bible says in Hebrews 11 that it's impossible to please God without faith. Where there's no mystery, there's no need to trust God to see us through it.
It reminds me of the story of Joseph. Here's a guy who did nothing wrong, yet his life went into absolute turmoil. Sold into slavery by his own brothers. Accused of attempted rape when he refused the advances of his master's wife and thrown into prison. Yet in every circumstance he maintained his integrity. God then used him to let all of Egypt know that terrible times were coming, and now was the time to prepare for it. For his wisdom, Pharaoh promoted him to second in command of all Egypt. Years later, the very brothers who had sold him into slavery arrive asking for help. In time, Joseph tells them, "What you did to me, you meant for evil, but God meant it for good..." Slavery and false imprisonment were meant for good. Talk about mystery. To our minds there's nothing fair about that at all. But God spoke through the prophet Isaiah and said, "As far as the heavens are above the earth, my thoughts are higher than yours..."
You may be in a 'Joseph' situation right now. You're in a place of mystery, with no clue what you did to cause it. If so, remember Joseph. What happened in his life was not because God was angry with him, it happened so Joseph could save literally millions of lives down the road. God just took him on a mysterious journey to get him there. So let's enjoy the journey, even when we have no clue where we're going. In the words of a song by Michael Card:
There is a joy in the journey
There's a light we can love on the way
There is a wonder and wildness to life
And freedom for those who'll obey
Yesterday (as I write this) I ran into a retired pastor at lunch. We had a short but very interesting conversation about ministry. We were both saying that when we started, we felt like we had all the answers, and now that we're older all we have is questions. He said something very simple yet very profound:
"I've learned that there are three truths in life:
1) Birth is a mystery.
2) Death is a mystery.
3) Everything in between is a mystery."
True words indeed. It seems like as soon as you get the answers in life, someone changes the questions. That doesn't work well for people like me who like predictability and generally dislike surprises. But it got me to thinking about something. Let's say for the sake of discussion that you spoke with someone who had the gift of prophecy (see I Corinthians 12), and could tell you everything that God had planned for your future. Would you want to know? My immediate answer would probably be yes. But here's the problem with that - it leaves no room for faith and trust, and the Bible says in Hebrews 11 that it's impossible to please God without faith. Where there's no mystery, there's no need to trust God to see us through it.
It reminds me of the story of Joseph. Here's a guy who did nothing wrong, yet his life went into absolute turmoil. Sold into slavery by his own brothers. Accused of attempted rape when he refused the advances of his master's wife and thrown into prison. Yet in every circumstance he maintained his integrity. God then used him to let all of Egypt know that terrible times were coming, and now was the time to prepare for it. For his wisdom, Pharaoh promoted him to second in command of all Egypt. Years later, the very brothers who had sold him into slavery arrive asking for help. In time, Joseph tells them, "What you did to me, you meant for evil, but God meant it for good..." Slavery and false imprisonment were meant for good. Talk about mystery. To our minds there's nothing fair about that at all. But God spoke through the prophet Isaiah and said, "As far as the heavens are above the earth, my thoughts are higher than yours..."
You may be in a 'Joseph' situation right now. You're in a place of mystery, with no clue what you did to cause it. If so, remember Joseph. What happened in his life was not because God was angry with him, it happened so Joseph could save literally millions of lives down the road. God just took him on a mysterious journey to get him there. So let's enjoy the journey, even when we have no clue where we're going. In the words of a song by Michael Card:
There is a joy in the journey
There's a light we can love on the way
There is a wonder and wildness to life
And freedom for those who'll obey
Sunday, March 3, 2013
No Excuses
By Gobel Brockman
I want you to imagine that you're driving on an interstate. The speed limit is clearly marked at 70 MPH, yet no one is observing it. Everyone's doing 90 - except you. You're only doing 80. Now imagine that there's a police officer hiding behind the "Eat Here and Get Gas Cafe" sign beside the road. He totally ignores all the people doing 90 and pulls you over instead. You lose it, saying, "Everyone's going 90, I'm only doing 80, and you pull ME over? I'm the slowest driver out here!" The officer replies, "Perhaps, but I didn't pull them over, I pulled you over, and you just admitted that you broke the law. Have a ticket, and have a nice day!"
For me that story is the perfect answer for people who try to excuse their lives by comparing it with others. And I think we all do it sometimes. It's amazing how we are so quick to judge others while excusing ourselves. When others mess up, it's because they're horrible people, but when we mess up, we just mess up, but at least "our heart was in the right place." It's easy to forget that we have a sinful nature, prone to doing what we shouldn't do. I'll give you an example of what I mean:
A father took his 2-year-old daughter to a basketball game. He told her, "See that line on the floor? You can't cross it." When he put her down, she ran to the edge of the court, turned around and looked at her Dad, then put one foot over the line, smiling as she did it. Here's the question: did someone have to teach her to do that? No, we're seeing the sinful nature in action with a little one who doesn't even understand what sin is yet. And it's something that's in all of us. And it's something we all have to deal with.
I have a very simple point this week: You're guilty. You may only be doing 80 while the rest of the world's doing 90, but all that means is you're guilty. So am I. So is all of humanity. The Bible puts it simply: "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Which means we all need a Savior. Fortunately, Jesus paid all of our fines for us at the cross. All we have to do is receive it. The Bible also says that "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Which simply means this: we can't pay the fine ourselves.
So let's accept His gift, stop comparing ourselves with others, and maybe watch the speed limit signs a little closer.
I want you to imagine that you're driving on an interstate. The speed limit is clearly marked at 70 MPH, yet no one is observing it. Everyone's doing 90 - except you. You're only doing 80. Now imagine that there's a police officer hiding behind the "Eat Here and Get Gas Cafe" sign beside the road. He totally ignores all the people doing 90 and pulls you over instead. You lose it, saying, "Everyone's going 90, I'm only doing 80, and you pull ME over? I'm the slowest driver out here!" The officer replies, "Perhaps, but I didn't pull them over, I pulled you over, and you just admitted that you broke the law. Have a ticket, and have a nice day!"
For me that story is the perfect answer for people who try to excuse their lives by comparing it with others. And I think we all do it sometimes. It's amazing how we are so quick to judge others while excusing ourselves. When others mess up, it's because they're horrible people, but when we mess up, we just mess up, but at least "our heart was in the right place." It's easy to forget that we have a sinful nature, prone to doing what we shouldn't do. I'll give you an example of what I mean:
A father took his 2-year-old daughter to a basketball game. He told her, "See that line on the floor? You can't cross it." When he put her down, she ran to the edge of the court, turned around and looked at her Dad, then put one foot over the line, smiling as she did it. Here's the question: did someone have to teach her to do that? No, we're seeing the sinful nature in action with a little one who doesn't even understand what sin is yet. And it's something that's in all of us. And it's something we all have to deal with.
I have a very simple point this week: You're guilty. You may only be doing 80 while the rest of the world's doing 90, but all that means is you're guilty. So am I. So is all of humanity. The Bible puts it simply: "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Which means we all need a Savior. Fortunately, Jesus paid all of our fines for us at the cross. All we have to do is receive it. The Bible also says that "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Which simply means this: we can't pay the fine ourselves.
So let's accept His gift, stop comparing ourselves with others, and maybe watch the speed limit signs a little closer.
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