God has made it very apparent, now, what to study in my Bible; and that’s Acts. I had been struggling to find a real focus of what to read in the Bible since the inception of 2010. I started going through a couple little reading plans, but none of it was really speaking to me. Then I offhandedly decided, “I haven’t read Acts in a while. That would be good.” Which lead me to study out the progression of acts of service and compassion in the early church. But now I really have the wind in my sails, as Don announced last night at our men’s midweek service that a 72 day study series on the book of Acts is available on our church’s website.
Acts is short for Actions, you know? What better example to follow for a year of Faith in Action than by the Scriptural example of the early church.
We are also engaging the spiritual war by remembering that we are in one. We were reminded that an allegiance with Jesus gives us an automatic birthmark target for evil attacks. Watch out!
Jesus clearly came to the aid of those in need. But how did the early church serve and who did they serve? The book of Acts is well know for it’s bold evangelistic campaign on the known world to spread the Gospel. I’m going through, step-by-step to see how their “acts” of service and compassion played out, as people were transformed by the message of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus and the living Holy Spirit.
The first concrete example I see is that they served each other first. In Acts 2:45 they began, “Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.” They focused on taking care of each other. They looked for the needs among their own and addressed them.
MLK Day weekend is here! We did our part to serve the community yesterday. Our Sacramento HOPE worldwide Chapter rallied the forces of 71 volunteers from our church, the Red Cross, Americorps, CERT, and a few Navy Cadets. We descended upon the South Land Park and Meadowview neighborhoods to distribute vital fire and disaster preparedness info.
I hesitated in getting this info up on by blog; so this info comes to you in the way of a report as opposed to an invitation. Since this blog journal currently takes a back seat to the comics I’m featuring here I don’t find it too useful in updating the world. It’s pretty much tucked away.
However, the theme this year is Faith in Action, and on that note I intend to do and share more of this action with the world. In the very near future I’ll get the Blog aspect of this site up as the Welcome/Headline page and still give you clear notification on the arrival of new comic strips.
Stay tuned.
Yummy!
Jesus promises that our heavenly Father will give us an abundance of Holy Spirit if we just ask for it. Doing this strip gave me that realization. I think this verse has the common misconception that God will give us whatever good things we ask for. He might! But that is not the lesson being taught here.
When a child is hungry they will ask for bread or eggs, or milk or cheese. Some children choose to become cranky and frustrated before they come asking for food. Like those little ones, many of us neglect to come to the Father and ask Him to satisfy our most basic Spiritual hunger. If you just ask He will give you a full plate of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Ask away & Eat up!
Hey! If we’re doing good shouldn’t we tell people? Jesus has some different guidelines; in case you were wondering. Jesus wants our entire life to overflow with his love. He wants to firmly embed his tap of living water into our hearts so that we may poor good things out to others. God’s goal is not that we simply ‘do acts of righteousness’. God’s true desire is that we act righteously because of our loving bond to Him and our desire to please Him by imitating the love He’s shown us.
So, why shouldn’t I tell anyone when I’ve done good? Jesus teaches us that God is not simply concerned that we are down here, acting right and doing good. He’s showing us that our Great Father in Heaven is just as concerned with the motives of our hearts and the things we do in secret. Our worst and darkest thoughts and habits are typically the things we do ‘in secret’. Since Jesus teaches us to be transformed and live holy lives it makes sense that he would call us to do good deeds in secret. Replace those old, evil secrets with righteous and helpful ones; and don’t even tell anyone. Don’t even create a circumstance for your heart to be anything less than pure.
Feelin’ the pressures? It can be the weight of responsibilities, unforeseen tragedy, some deep inner turmoil…
Whatever it is, whether we’re crying out loud or just keeping it to ourselves, our soul knows we are desperate for “HELLP!”. A lot of times when I pray, the first words I utter are, “Lord, help me…” And many times I’ve stopped and questioned myself, “Why do I always start my prayers this way?” I believe that on a subconscious (or sub-Spiritual) level, the Spirit living within me knows better than I do that I need to cry out to God for help. Crying for help is not easy, mostly because it comes up when we’re in deep need and the crushing fears of failure are not far away. These three Psalms each illustrate a basic struggle that we encounter when we go to God for help:
1. The burden of faith… It takes a certain level of trusting in God’s mercy and His supreme ability to help us, while refining us, through some of our most challenging times. We must believe He’s there, He’s listening, and that it’s in His best interest to help us if we’re going to ask for the help, right?
2. The pressures of the flesh… When things get really tough we’re tempted to “throw in the towel”. We feel like we’ve prayed enough, we’ve trusted enough, we’re too tired and it would just be easier to compromise or accept the failure.
3. The bitter struggle of lonely abandonment… Sometimes we can miss the point completely that challenges, responsibilities, or frustrations are the very things that God is using to discipline us. But it is all too easy for us to turn back to God and say, “See God!? I’m failing! There’s no answer, no one to help, and no even cares!” Yet we fail to see that this burden in your heart shows you that you care, and if it seems like no one else does… well that’s really not the main concern. God wants you to ask Him for help to gain the proper perspective in the lessons He’s giving you.
Hope that HELPS! See the comic strip.
I never can resist putting double-meaning emphasis on the Scriptures that refer to “drawing”. It actually gives a whole new dimension of meaning that, for me, makes total sense. I mean the whole motivation behind doing these comics is to share the “better hope” found in the New Testament and its connection to the Old, and I can only do that by “drawing near to God”. So this is a little self-portrait fun, mixed in with one of my tongue-in-cheek interpretations of Scripture. This isn’t exactly what my studio looks like, but on a really good day it feels this way.
There is nothing there to be seen, yet we believe there is. That is what having faith is all about. This is the approach God used to make the universe, the Earth, you, everything…
if you have faith He did of course. This is the approach that scientists, inventors and explorers use when they set out on, what could be, a new breakthrough. Faith precedes any discovery. Faith is the seed of thought that determines what major actions or choices we may or may not make.
God wants us to live by faith. In fact, He wants us to experience faith so badly that he has set up life in such a way that we cannot even see, obey, or please God without having it. Our faith in Him can stem from the promise of living eternally in heaven. It could start from our desire to know the peace of God and live a spiritual life. Or maybe one, single, powerful life experience sparked a faith so strong that you cannot deny God’s existence. Whatever it is that got your faith off the ground and into heaven with God, your challenge is to keep that faith airborne.
A faith-following life in this world will always be a challenge because with faith, no matter how hard you try, you just never can be totally sure that anything will ever appear; and when it does you won’t need faith anymore. Enjoy it while you can!
In chapter 29 of Jeremiah the Israelite people find themselves in exile, enslaved to the Babylonians. God delivers them a promise, through his prophet, that if they seek Him they will find Him, and in Him they will find restoration, protection, prosperity, and all the goodness that is found in the living God. But there’s a catch: they must seek God with ALL their heart. I don’t think the Lord meant this as a general sentiment to make His message sound sappy. I think He was careful to include this instruction because, though we may set out to search for the Lord, until we’re ready to offer our whole self (heart, mind, and soul) we won’t truly find Him. This means we have to come to Him in true humility. This humility may only come through battling the prison of addiction, hard financial struggle, a string of broken relationships, unceasing physical ailment, or (in this case) exile to Babylon. In this way we will approach God with the willingness to trust and obey His will and forsake our own.
So if you feel frustrated in your pursuit of God’s good graces, or if you have formed a negative perspective of God through awful religious experiences or interactions with folks who call themselves ‘God’s people’ yet clearly fall far short of obedience, then go search again!! Only this time remember this requirement; that you MUST seek the Lord with ALL your heart.
Have you ever been around a drunkard with a thornbush in hand? It’ll make you walk in the opposite direction. Especially when they start to get rowdy and belligerent. Sadly, there are fools brandishing proverbs in an angry, belligerent way doing more damage than good to themselves and others. Their zeal without genuine love and understanding becomes a spiritual repellent… especially to soul-searchers who have yet to be fully introduced to the teachings of Christ.
A real life example, of foolish use of Scripture, that keeps coming to mind is when these vans, armed with loud speakers, covered with signs proclaiming, “THE GAYS WILL BURN IN HELL!” role out and encircle the capital building in the heart of downtown. Their message may be true when we really sit down and investigate what the Scriptures teach. But is this message being conveyed in a way of love that it may be received and understood? I would like to see the stats on how many people are moved to know more about the love of God by campaigns like this.
Those who want to proclaim the truth of God’s teaching will have to say things the world doesn’t want to hear, but it can be said calmly and personally in a way that people will be open to accepting it. Let’s not ruin the seriousness and depth of spiritual teaching by angrily proclaiming partial verses that make God and his people seem angry and bigoted. Be responsible. Teach wisely.
