Fall Retreat This Weekend!

This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be our annual fall retreat at Wonder Valley Christian camp.  We will be arriving at 5:30 Friday evening to begin the fabulous good time.  I hope you're planning to attend.  This is always a great time of relaxed conversations, good food, prayer, sharing, and Bible teaching.  It is, perhaps, a little glimpse of heaven in the way that we are able to spend time with each other without the concern for watching the clock quite as much as usual.  If you are unable to come to the whole retreat but intend to worship with us on Sunday, you'll need to drive out to the camp.  We'll have morning worship at the normal time, 9:30 a.m., with lunch to follow.  I hope to see you there!

Saved from Death by Amazing Grace

We recently studied John chapter 8 in our Wednesday night Bible study (a study to which you are invited, every Wednesday night at 7:00 at the Agape building).  The beginning of the chapter is the the familiar story of the woman caught in adultery.  As she was drug into the temple to be thrown at the feet of Jesus, you can almost picture the smug looks on the faces of the men, those Pharisees and scribes who wanted so badly to see Jesus make a misstep.  You can hear their chauvinism as they say that the law requires that "such women" be stoned.  We know they weren't interested in justice at all.  John tells us they had ulterior motives.  But consider this woman who became the unwilling byproduct of the hatred these men had for Jesus.  In her experience we are reminded of the wonderful grace of Jesus.  

Can you imagine this woman’s situation?  She had just been caught in adultery and dragged into the temple by these ruthless men.  She was probably guilty of having just been involved in an adulterous relationship, possibly moments before.  Then to be drug before this teacher, hearing that this crowd of men intended to stone her, can you even imagine the horror that went along with contemplating this kind of death sentence?  From historical records, it seems that this type of execution was seldom carried out in Israel during the time of Jesus, but it was not unheard of.  It is still practiced in far flung areas of the world today.  But then, while trembling in fear and contemplating a painful end to her life, she hears this teacher respond calmly to the angry mob.  He says a couple of sentences after writing in the dirt, and gradually the crowd disperses.  Then Jesus says the words that are so amazing: “neither do I condemn you.  Go and sin no more.”  What an amazing grace she experienced that day!  She literally saw herself go from horrible death to abundant life.   

Should it be any less amazing for us that Jesus has made the same pronouncement over us?  As we come to Him for salvation, He tells us that He removes the condemnation of sin from us, the just verdict of which meant our everlasting death.  He tells us that we are forgiven.  We deserve His mercy no more than this woman did.  We are just as guilty, and the just wages of sin are death.  But God, in His infinite mercy, pronounces us, "not guilty."  And we are credited with the righteousness of Christ.  We go from condemned sinner deserving death to innocent, righteous child of God in the instant that God does His saving work, through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus.  I want to remember always the enormous weight that was lifted from me, just as palpably as this woman felt the incredible relief that came from the crowd dispersing and Jesus giving her His pardon.  Lord, help us to be always amazed by Your grace!

But we must not forget His parting words to her: go and sin no more.  This is what we are called to as well.  Realizing, in all of its fullness, what our salvation from death means, how can we not embrace a sinless life as the goal of our lives, to live to glorify God in every part of our lives?   We owe more than we can possibly repay, and that is not what God asks of us.  But our joyful obedience to Him is what He has set us free for.  We know that we are unable by our own strength to do this, but God has provided what we need to do this in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and His promise that He will always be with us.  Let us go out in joy from being released from death, and let us go out with the intention to live a holy life for Jesus!

Are You a Knocker?

Many years ago I tried to sell things door to door.  I soon found out that my gift did not lend itself to that type of selling. I would go up to someone’s door and be scared to knock…afraid someone might come to the door! At other times I would knock and could hear people inside moving around but they would not answer the door.  It takes courage for people to walk up to a door and begin knocking, but it is such a rewarding thing to go past the fears we have and discover how many wonderful people are out there in our world. However, sometimes we knock on a person’s door and they open and say, “What do you want?” with a very serious and rough tone of voice. Others open the door with great enthusiasm and invite us in with open arms.  In this world we will have some challenging times when we step out into new territory. However with God, he opens many doors to those who are knockers.

“Everyone who asks will receive. The one who searches will find, and for the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

(Matthew 7:8) GW

Some people go around knocking everything all the time.  They complain about this and they complain about that.  They can never think of anything good to talk about. But, that is not the kind of a knocker Jesus talked about in this story of a woman that wanted bread. When we go around knocking everything and everyone, it’s a result of too little faith. A person of faith will persevere though anything.  The winds and the rains may beat on our house, but genuine faith will never quit knocking. It always believes and never gives up because it is convinced the door will one day open.

During World War 2, some escaped prisoners of war hid for some time in a cellar in Cologne, Germany. They wrote on the wall this inscription:
I believe in the sun, even when it is not shinning.
I believe in love, even when feeling it not.
I believe in God, even when He is silent.

Friend, don't stop knocking - faith will open the Door if you just continue knocking! Keep on knocking!
Faith will help you make it through the darkest time of the night! Ask, seek, and knock.  This has the idea of: ask and keep on asking; seek and keep on seeking; knock and keep on knocking. EVERYONE who does these things will see doors open up!  Do you want a door to open for you? Be this kind of knocker.

Selah….

Al Yoder

10/8/2011

The Lord Appeared in a Dream

Over and over the Bible makes the statement, “The Lord appeared in a dream”. The Lord appeared in a dream to Gideon, to Joseph, to Daniel, to Jesus earthly father Joseph, to Paul, and to prophets. Do you think God still appears to people in dreams? The word appeared could also be translated “showed” or “to lighten”. In other words God revealed His will to them in this unique way. He showed them things they were in the dark about. Rose and I have lost something and looked everywhere we could think of with no avail. A number of times after we asked God to reveal the location, in a dream during the night the places were revealed to us. In the passage of Matthew concerning Jesus earthly father Joseph, again and again the Bible says God appeared to him in a dream. Joseph always responded with instant obedience and God rewarded him with safety and blessing as a result.

“While he was thinking about this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife. For it is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived.”

(Matthew 1:20)

A married couple from India moved to Canada so the husband Bhupinder Singh could work for a major bank as an Information technology professional. One night, after praying and reading their Sikhi scriptures, his wife Mona had a dream. In this dream, the Lord Jesus himself came to her and told her about what she has been praying for. At that point, they had never read the Bible or knew much about the Lord Jesus or gone to any church. She immediately realized that the Lord Jesus is the true, real & living God. “That’s why He knows what I have been praying as per my Sikh scriptures. She immediately accepted the Lord Jesus. Bhupinder thought, I have got everything from my own Guru / religion, so why do we need a new God?" Bhupinder began to seek out the truth about his wife¹s new revelation. He called a local church and spoke with a pastor. Bhupinder asked him,"Do I have to change my religion or my dress code to come to your faith?" He was told that Christianity is not a religion but a direct relationship with God and that whatever kind of dress he wore, it was okay. "I wanted some proof that what the pastor told me was correct". So I asked him to give me a Bible. He gave me a copy of New Testament. ”

After I started reading the New Testament, all my questions were answered in the first hundred pages. I soon realized that all the books I¹ve read earlier are just derived from the Bible. Now I am reading the original book.” "My wife and I started studying the Bible seriously," Bhupinder says. "Soon we stopped reading and following other scriptures. We started doing everything according to the Bible. Our entire life has changed. We spend a lot of time reading the word of God. We meditate on it and use it in our day to day lives." "The Lord has also blessed us. He is using us to bring lost souls to Him in our social circle & South Asian Communities”, says Bhupinder. “We are seeing a big change in their life through physical and most importantly spiritual healings, answered prayers and quick resolution of issues by blessings from true & living Lord.”

Whether through dreams or through His Word, God is still speaking to his people. Will we hear his voice and respond with instant obedience like Joseph did? God’s power and presence will flood our lives when we respond in this way to His voice. Joseph was an ordinary man, but God used him in extraordinary ways because of his obedience. When God appears to you and me, will we respond like that? God still used ordinary people to do extraordinary things when we are eager to obey Him.

Selah,

Al Yoder

9/15/2011

Brothers and Sisters Loved by God: Assurance Even in Suicide

For we know, brothers loved by God, that He has chosen you.  1 Thessalonians 1:4

Do you need some good news today?  Some encouraging word to get you started in the morning, or maybe something positive to counteract the overwhelming negative attitude that pervades the culture outside of Christ?  How about this statement from 1 Thessalonians.  What better news can there be than that the all-powerful God of the universe loves you?  In fact, not only does He love His children, He has chosen them as His children.  We are not His children because we chose Him, but because He chose us.  That is good news indeed.  If it depended upon my choosing Him, I might fall away during a low time in my life.  I might question my status as a child of God during a time of discouragement.  If it depends upon my complete and unquestioning faith in God, then I'm afraid I'd be in and out of a right relationship with Him depending upon my attitude and ability to think correctly.  But God has made it clear that He has chosen us, and He sustains us even in the worst of times.  His love breaks through any circumstance.  

In Romans chapter eight, Paul lists a whole host of things that we are tempted to think can rock our world and take away all of our hope.  But he says that none of these things, in fact no thing at all, no part of creation, can keep us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.   

He begins His list by saying that neither life nor death can separate us from God.  Do you know someone who has committed suicide?  Have you been taught that suicide is an unpardonable sin?  This teaching is nowhere to be found in scripture.  To be sure, suicide is a sin, it is a terrible sin.  But our sins have been forgiven in Christ.  His sacrifice and atonement are the antidote for sin once for all time.  Christ's one-time sacrifice atoned for sins into the past and out into the future, both to Old Testament believers and into the future to us.  It was a once for all time sacrifice, not one that must be repeated every time that we sin.  When a believer dies, there is not some necessity of a final confession before he passes on.  That is a theology taught by our Roman Catholic brothers and one with which we disagree.  Confession is important in overcoming sin, but it is not the thing which forgives us of our sin.  Christ's atoning work overcomes sin, and that work is complete.  And God chose us for Himself, and neither life nor death can separate us from His perfect love.  Once we are His, we are always His.

And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.  Phil 1:6

Has God begun a good work in you?  The promise is that He will bring it to completion.  Did He begin a good work in a loved one who took his or her own life?  Be assured, be certain because nothing is more sure or certain than the Word of God, that God will bring His good work to completion in that loved one, even though their life may have ended in a tragic way.  There is little that can be said at a tragic time like this that can take away the pain.  We grieve rightly because it is a sorrowful thing to lose someone.  But we must never bring question into a situation in which there is no question.   God loves His children, He has chosen us and He will finish the work He began in us.  Thank God for the assurance we have in Him, that our salvation is sure not because of our perfect behavior and right thinking in the matter, but because God has chosen us, He loves us, and He will not let us go once we are His.  

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.  I and the Father are one.  John 10:27-30

The Whole Picture

Some people read the Bible by opening it at random and without looking point his finger at the page. They look at that as God’s word for them for the day.  Sometimes that works positively, but other times it has a negative effect because it is taken out of context. Such was the case of the man who said, “Lord, show me what you want me to do”…using that method. His Bible opened up to the scripture that said, “Judas went out and hung himself.” He than closed the Bible and reopened it pointing to, “Go and do thou likewise.”  That’s why it is unwise to not compare scripture with scripture to get the whole picture. At times we communicate with people by only giving them a small part of the whole picture. Yet we expect them to understand where we are coming from. It’s not fair to the person who wants to be our friend. It’s also not fair to the Holy Spirit when we try to interpret what he is saying based on one verse of scripture.

“These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”

I Corinthians 2:13

A Texas teacher was helping one of her kindergarten students put on his cowboy boots. She could see why he had asked her for help, because even with her pulling and him pushing the little boots still didn’t want to go on. She had worked up a sweat by the time the second boot was on. The little boy said, “Teacher, they are on the wrong feet.” She looked, and sure enough they were.  It wasn’t any easier to pull the boots off than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as they worked together to get the boots off and back on the right feet. Then the boy announced, “These aren’t my boots.”  Once again, she bit her tongue and struggled to help him putt the ill-fitting boots off his little feet. No sooner had they gotten the boots off when he said, “These are my brother’s boots. My mom made me wear them.” Now the teacher didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. But she wrestled the boots back on the little boy’s feet again. As she helped him into his coat, she asked “where are your mittens?” He said, “I stuffed them in the toes of my boots.”

Sometimes, like the little boy, we only give people bits and pieces of information. Yet, we expect them to understand what we need from them. If the little boy would have shared more information with the teacher up front, the job would have been much easier for both of them. If we allow God to share more information with us up front, we will see the whole picture and our lives with be infinitely more balanced and meaningful. Comparing scripture with scripture is treating God fairly and it makes our life easier because we see the whole picture.

Al Yoder

9/7/2011

God Sent Me

When life’s circumstances seem to slam us around and we feel mistreated and misunderstood, how should we view these things? Are we just the random product of this world with unexplainable experiences? Or, is there a God who is divinely orchestrating things to make us a more effective part of His vast plan to save people? In Genesis 45, Joseph had been treated horribly by his brothers and unfairly thrown into jail by an angry owner. Yet, when it was within his power to kill his brothers and his former slave owner, he showed them mercy and pled with them to not be angry with themselves. Joseph said “God sent me to save lives”.

“God sent not his son into the world to condemn us, but that the world through him might be saved”. (John 3:17)

‘Then Jesus said to them (his disciples) again, Peace to you. As My Father has sent Me, even so I send you.” John 20:21

Joseph said, “Don't worry or blame yourselves for what you did. God is the one who sent me ahead of you to save lives.”    Genesis 45:5   CEV

Leslie Perrott tells about an experience that made her appreciate the power that grace had on her life when her husband showed her mercy. “We all have those days where things go wrong. Like the day I was on my way to the grocery store when I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw my five-year-old had fallen fast asleep. My mind sifted through the possibilities . . .I could wake John up when we get to the grocery store . . . but then he’ll be really crabby, and once he’s awake, he won’t go back to sleep. Or I could just turn around, take him home, and tuck him into bed since Les is working there. I could grocery shop just that much faster. I knew Les was hard at work on a book deadline, but it was more likely that John would sleep at home than in the grocery cart. So I returned home, carried John into the house, tucked him into bed, and told Les that he’d be in charge of our little one for a while. I sped back to the car with the kind of urgency that only a mom trying to fit in multiple tasks during a child’s naptime can entirely identify with. I jumped into the driver’s seat, and as I backed out . . . the open car door smacked against the side of our garage completely ripping the door off the car. I’d forgotten to close the door when carrying John into the house. The ripping and tearing sound brought my husband Les flying down the stairs out of his study, which is directly above the garage. He was wide-eyed as he saw me crying, sitting there behind the steering wheel. The cause of this one-car accident was obvious. I gripped the wheel, bracing myself for what Les was about to say. But he didn’t yell. He didn’t lay blame. He kissed me on the cheek and said, “I was thinking we needed a new card door, so this is perfect.”

Of course I didn’t deserve that kind of grace in that moment. My thoughtlessness not only cost us money, it meant we wouldn’t be driving the next day on our long-awaited ski trip. But instead of guilt, condemnation, and anger, I got grace. Why? As Les said that evening over dinner, “If I were in your shoes in that moment, the last thing I would have needed from you was to be scolded.”

Can we see how God sends us into difficult circumstances to help people we would have never reached out to in any other way. Les was sent into the garage where her wife had just ripped the door right off their car to reassure her of his love.  Joseph was sent to Egypt where he experienced rejection and prison in order to save his family & many other people. What painful experience have you and I been a part of? Can you see that God perhaps sent you there to equip you to help many other people?

 God did not send Jesus into the world to condemn us; but to save (heal) us.  Jesus told us as his disciples ”… as my Father sent me,  so I send you.” That means we have a divine mandate to stop condemning and to begin helping people heal. When this truth gets a hold of us, we can say with Joseph…GOD SENT ME.

Al Yoder

8/23/2011