Do Not Fight Against God

One day driving home from a job around a curve, seeing a road crew repairing the highway and a man with a flag standing right in front of them. I got off the road on the right trying to come to a stop, when Jack the flagman ran in front of my truck thinking I would come back on the road. He landed on the truck hood and slid into the ditch, not moving. I ran around the truck, knelt by him praying “God please help us.” I then ran across the highway through an open door grabbing the nearest phone and called for the hospital’s EMTs. The man lived, but I came home feeling very defeated and angry that God had allowed me to be involved in this accident. It had a devastating effect on me. I was in my shop telling God that I was very upset with Him for not helping me avoid this accident. Suddenly God spoke to me and said, “what if I had let this man die? I heard your prayer and only let two of his leg bones break.”  It was then I realized that fighting against God would get me nowhere except into defeat. It was time for me to get my focus off of the size of my problem and onto the greatness of our God, who specializes in things that are “impossible” to us.

~~~We must stop telling God how big our storm is and start telling our storm how big our God is~~~

In II Chronicles 13 the King Abijah’s 400,000 soldiers was being attacked by King Jereboam’s 800,000 soldiers. Abijah told Jereboam that even though they had more soldiers, they would not succeed against him because the Lord was with Judah. Israel would actually be fighting against God if they fought against Judah.

“…do not fight against the LORD, the God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed.”

II Chronicles 13:12 NLT

King Jereboam had twice the number of soldiers that King Abijah had, but he was still defeated…because God was on Abijah’s side. When will we learn that it never pays to fight against God or the people who belong to Him? God knows how to take our “impossible” circumstances to show His awesome ability to make good come out of what seems devastating at the time.
It is not as if God and Satan have been in pitched battle for thousands of years, with God’s forces sometimes sustaining losses and Satan’s forces sometimes sustaining losses and now, through Jesus Christ’s death, God has finally won…but it might have gone either way. Some people believe that. They might not say it like that, but they believe that when bad things happen it is because Satan is winning and when good things happen God is winning.
But God’s victory has never ever been in jeopardy. Satan has never once won a single battle against God. Though he is against God, Satan has never been a threat to God, his power or his work.
Even Jack, the flagman in my truck accident, became my friend as I visited him while he was healing from bruises and two broken bones. On one of those visits, he asked me, “How can a person know if he is a Christian?” God had won again. God has taught me that it always pays to cooperate with Him.  I have also learned the hard way that it has never paid off once to fight against God.

Al Yoder

4/25/2011

When We See Jesus

In heaven, the Lord is going to have to help us get comfortable with His proximity. Even John, the apostle whom Jesus loved dearly, when He saw Jesus again at the beginning of his revelation, fell down before Him as though dead. He didn’t run and embrace Him, though He had known physical closeness with Jesus. I believe we are mistaken if we think that our first instinct when we see the Lord will be to embrace Him as a friend.  Our first and correct instinct will be to fall down before Him in total, surrendered worship and adoration.

When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead.  But He laid His right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and last, and the living one.  I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades" (Revelation 1:17-18).

But just as Jesus touched John and said, “fear not,” we know that the Lord will touch us. He will personally wipe away the tears from our eyes and teach us how to live with Him forever, as we were meant to do. We will come to love Him even as we are loved.  Can you imagine seeing Jesus in person?  Will we get to see the scars in his hands, feet, and side?  Won't we realize how those scars were for us in a way that is so far beyond what we have known here!  How everything will change when we finally get to see Jesus! 

Sunrise Service

Please come join us for a sunrise service this Sunday, Easter Sunday, at 7:30 a.m.  Weather permitting, we will be outside for singing and scripture reading, then we'll share a pitch-in breakfast.  At 9:30 we'll be having our normal worship service, though a bit abbreviated in order to allow everyone to get home and spend the day with family.  Hope to see you there!

Friend of God

My friend Steve called this morning to check up on how I was doing and to report about his week end in prison. He was there as a part of a ministry that reaches out to prisoners with the message of hope and salvation in Jesus Christ. He reported that the team seemed to really care about the Lord and it paid off in a wonderful response from the incarcerated men. Some testified at the end that they had mainly come for the good food, but that they had found Jesus to be even more meaningful than the meals.  My friend talked about the real life challenges and joys he was experiencing and then we prayed together before hanging up the phone. Friends have a powerful effect on our spiritual journey as well as on our enjoyment of life.

Real friends don’t just do things together. Real friends also enjoy just being together. Real friends don’t just say what they think their friend wants to hear. Real friends say what is really on their heart and mind, even if it’s hard for their friend to hear. A real friend:

--will help you when you are sick

--will help you up the hill when you are sliding down

--will defend you when others speak evil of you

--will believe you are innocent until you say you are guilty

--will say behind your back the same as he says to your face

--will shake your hands in public even when you wear patches on your clothes.

God called Abraham a real friend in at least three Bible passages, first in II Chronicles 20:7, second in Isaiah 41:8, third in James 2:23.  What a powerful thing to have God say about a person. To be called the God of Abraham placed high esteem to him even though God knew his weaknesses. To have God call Abraham his friend was a very high honor.

“Israel, you are my servant. I chose you, the family of my friend Abraham.”

(Isaiah 41:8)

There are times when we realize the infinite worth of a true friend, then other times when we are very disrespectful and unappreciative of what our friend’s contribution to our well being. A high school student tells how he saw a group of young people run into Kyle, a new student knocking his books out of his hand. They then kicked his feet out from under him, landing him in the dirt. Kyle’s glasses went flying, landing in the grass about ten feet away.  “I felt sorry for Kyle and went to help him back on his feet and we became the best of friends. For four years they did things together and graduation day arrived. Kyle was valedictorian of his class and was nervous about his speech, so I smacked him on his back and assured him he would be great. Little did I know that he would thank parents, teachers, coaches, but mostly friends who had helped him through the “tough moments” in high school. I listened in disbelief as he went on to tell the story about the first day we had met, and how he had made plans to kill himself that week end. He had cleaned out his locker, so he mother would not need to do that afterward, and was carrying his stuff home.  He then looked at me and said with a little smile, Thankfully I was saved… my friend saved me from doing the unspeakable. It was not until that moment that I realized the powerful impact my small gesture of friendship had with Kyle.”

Never underestimate the power of your actions. One small gesture of kindness can impact that person for the rest of their life.  Now back to the relationship of Abraham and God. God called him friend. Could God call me his friend? Do I look at God as my friend?  Are you a friend of God?  Do you respect Him, honor Him, love Him, and confide in Him?  I can’t think of a higher honor than for it to be said of me, “Alvin…friend of God.” We will never find a more faithful, kind hearted, and loving friend than Jesus. Who else would lay down his life for you?!

Selah…

Al Yoder

3/30/2011

Who Switched the Price Tags?

I was reflecting on how quickly our children grew up and now some our grandchildren are graduating from High School. It only seems like a few short years ago we were starting our own family and soon our grandchildren will be starting theirs. When the children were young we were working so hard to buy a house and vehicles and groceries and educating them, that we didn’t always value those moments like we could have. Have you ever felt like maybe you missed some valuable moments with family because we were so influenced by the world we lived in to make money to have more things?

Tony Campolo shares in his book, “Who Switched the Price Tags.” In his childhood neighborhood in Philadelphia the night before Halloween was named Mischief Night.  One year he and his best friend devised what they thought was a brilliant and creative plan. They imagined breaking in to the local five-and-dime store. They didn’t plan to rob the place; instead they planned to change the price tags on as many items as they could. The next morning when people came into the store and discovered that radios were selling for a quarter and bobby pins were priced at five dollars each. In his book Tony applies this story to the evil one who “has broken into our lives and changed the prices tags on things.” He says that too often we treat what deserves to be handled with great care as though it was of very little value, and conversely make great sacrifice to do things that have no lasting value.

“He (God) chose what the world looks down on and despises and thinks is nothing,

 in order to destroy what the world thinks is important.”

I Corinthians 1:28 GNB

The world’s way is to love money and use people to get it.  God’s way is for us to love people and use money to help others.

It’s so easy for us to get our values messed up. Why do we do what we do? Why do we so easily throw away our integrity, and then go all out to do things that only have temporal value.  Why do we place such high value on our body and so little value on our soul? Our world says we are valuable if we are pretty or handsome. Our world says we are valuable if we can produce.  God says people have an amazing destiny.  He says he is preparing us to become the bride of Christ. God says people really count with Him. He plans for us to rule and reign with Christ.

What a privilege to belong to the KING of Kings and the LORD of Lords.  Let’s not expect the world to understand why we do what we do.  Let’s be content in knowing that God places high value whenever we invest time and money into helping people. Let’s remember that payday is not today for us Christians, but Jesus said He is on His way to pay us.  He has an awesome retirement plan. Yeah, it’s beyond this world.  Let’s switch the price tags back where God placed them again.

Jesus said, "Yes, I'm on my way! I'll be there soon!

I'm bringing my payroll with me. I'll pay all people in full for their life's work.”

Revelation 22:12  MSG

Selah…

Alvin Yoder

3/28/2011

Hebrews Study: Running the Race

We are coming down the home stretch in our study in Hebrews.  We have been inspired to run the race marked out for us, even though we've been reminded that those who have gone before faced many trials.  But they had seen in the future something that made temporary hardship seem tolerable in light of the reward ahead.  God blesses us with a vision of Himself and of His plan for our lives which can inspire us to heights previously unimagined.  We are learning, in our studies, to value Jesus more and more, and to be supremely and totally confident in His Lordship and in His saving power.  The faith that transforms us is a solid thing, a promise that is sure and built on an unmovable foundation put in place by the Great God of creation.  

Below you'll find the links to the study notes.  I apologize for not being more timely with posting them, if in fact anyone has been following along.  You are still invited to come join us as we finish up our study in Hebrews.  We meet every Wednesday night at the Agape building at 6:30.  I'd also be interested in hearing suggestions about what we might study next.   
 
Chapter 9.1
Chapter 9.2
Chapter 10.1
Chapter 10.2
Chapter 10.3, 11.1
Chapter 11.2
Chapter 12.1