“Then the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing...Acts 11:12 NKJV
As a child growing up I have always been challenged with the idea of taking risks in life - that there is no mountain too high or any obstacle too big. My parents instilled into my siblings and I to always follow God’s Spirit no matter where it would take us.
So, here I sit in a cafe in Costa Rica thinking, reflecting, feeling blessed that I have always followed my dreams and have left nothing on the table. I have laid it all out there and have followed God’s leading which has taken me around the world and has allowed me to pastor many wonderful people in my journey of life.
I like the saying that “the journey is the destination.” It is that feeling of being blessed and content no matter where I am or what I am doing.
I have to admit that there were times when I was waiting for my ship to come in or for my lucky break or for my next assignment. To be honest - this is a frustrating place to be. It is not the way God intended for any of us to live our lives.
I have taken many teams to many countries around the world, and often (this present team is an exception - they are awesome happy servants of Jesus) people start complaining about the food, or not being what they are used to, the beds being too hard, the pace too much, the weather too hot, etc.
I always try to encourage everyone who comes with me to enjoy the journey, to experience the blessings of being in another country, to make themselves available to hear God and allow Him to make some needed alignments in their life. I encourage them to ask God to help you see the world as He sees it and for God to increase your love for people.
In the classic novel: “Alice in Wonderland,” Alice comes to a fork in the road. One path leads one way, and the other path leads the other… and she asks the Cheshire Cat for advice:
“Would you tell me please,” she asks “which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the cat.
“I don’t much care where,” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
There are a lot of people who (just like Alice) don’t seem to know where they’re going. They just kind of drift thru life. For all intents and purposes it looks like they’re not going anywhere… and they are not really doing all that much with their lives.
But if you were to ask them, I think most would say they really want to do more with their lives. They’d like to believe that there’s more to living than just “getting by”. They’d like to believe they have a reason to live.
And, you know, that’s natural, because God has built that yearning into our hearts.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men…”
He has set the belief (in your heart and in mine) that there’s more to life than just “living”. It’s like He’s created this big hole inside of us… this feeling that we’re meant for more than just surviving in this life.
But many people aren’t quite sure what their purpose in life might be.
The problem for most people is they don’t know where they’re going and they’re not sure they ever will.
Dan Baker, a Medical psychologist and the author of “What Happy People Know: How the New Science of Happiness Can Change Your Life For the Better”...
He interviewed 1000s of people in the US who were age 100 and better and he discovered:
“What these folks have in common is a general sense of optimism, an ability to deal well with loss” In great part because of their spiritual beliefs eased emotional burdens.
These were people that had learned that the LORD was their shepherd. That He would never leave them. Never forsake them.
But there is a catch: There is something that we must do in order to have this kind of assurance in our lives. There is something we
must be willing to commit to in order to have God as our shepherd.
We’ve got to let God BE the shepherd. We’ve got to be willing to let Him take over.
We’ve got to follow the Spirit without doubting. We need to walk by faith and just go.
That’s not easy for many people. In fact while there are plenty of people who say they would like to serve God – they only want to do so in an advisory capacity.
In other words… they don’t want God to be the shepherd. They don’t want God taking over the direction of their lives.
WHY? Because God might not get it right… He just might mess it up.
We walk with a lot of fear and as a result we never step out of our comfort zone.
One of my favorite stories is about a famous actor was once the guest of honor at a social gathering where he received many requests to recite favorite excerpts from various literary works.
An old preacher was amongst the audience and he asked the actor to recite the twenty-third Psalm. The actor agreed on the condition that the preacher would also recite it as well.
The actor stood and began to recite the famous Psalm and it was everything you could expect from a polished thespian. The phrases were elegant, his voice rose and fell to give each thought it’s proper emphasis. And when he finished, the crowd broke into a lengthy applause.
Then the old preacher rose. His voice was rough and broken from many years of preaching, and his diction was anything but polished. But when he finished there was not a dry eye in the room.
Later, when someone asked the actor what made the difference, he replied "I know the psalm… but he knows the Shepherd."
If you really know “The Shepherd” today you will not fear about where and when God puts the “go” into your life.
Lay it all out there today and just “go” - doubting nothing. You will be glad you did.
“Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.” Luke 24:30-31 NKJV
I was in a meeting yesterday with those going with me to Costa Rica this week when someone mentioned where they are with the Lord right now. They simply said, “I am in a place where I need to listen to what God is saying to me.”
It was like a light bulb went off in my heart saying “That’s where you need to be also.”
Do you ever have times like that when God just opens your eyes to some thought or action that needs to be done in your life? I think all of can relate to this is one way or another.
Our scripture today describes an incident where a couple of people were walking home to the village of Emmaus. The Crucifixion was a few days ago. We don’t know if it was two men or a man and a son or perhaps a man and wife. We do know one was named Cleopas, a man’s name. It tells us they were discussing all that happened, when Jesus joins them. It adds that they were kept from recognizing Jesus.
Have you ever wondered why they were kept from recognizing him? Why would Jesus want to keep his identity from these believers? Perhaps we guess that it was to be a teaching experience. He wanted to teach the scriptures and not have them distracted by that amazing fact that he was alive.
I have a fear that Jesus or an angel or some other divine messenger will come to me and I will fail to recognize them. If I miss it, I hope that the identity was hidden from me and it is not just my lack of vision or closed minded nature that keeps me from noticing.
Jesus asked, what are you discussing? And they stop and look depressed and ask Jesus if he is just passing through and not heard all the news…
What news?
They tell him about Jesus of Nazareth, how great a prophet he was, and how the authorities had arranged his death. They also express that they had thought he was to be the one who redeemed Israel. Then they shared how the women found an empty tomb and others verified it.
Jesus calls them foolish because they don’t understand or expect the descriptions of the messiah to come true in their hearts. And then over the next few miles he explains from Moses through the prophets and how they relate to Jesus the Christ.
Jesus reminds them about the scripture related to the prophecies of the Messiah. If Jesus was recognized or revealed who he was he would have been explaining scriptures with his personal authority. He would have been speaking as the son of God, which would be pretty powerful.
However, he did not let them know who he was.
These two believers were probably not too different from any of us. They were in a time when God did not make sense. They probably wanted to scream questions at the top of their lungs. Why did this happen God? How could you do this to such a good Man? What are we going to do now?
I would say that these people were at one of the lowest points in their lives. Just days ago they were on a mountaintop and now they are in the darkest of valleys.
I thinks it is safe to think that most of us have had questions for God, that we wondered why me, or us? Wondered why this good person suffered so much or died so young.
I imagine there have been times when we gave up and headed the wrong way until something, or someone came alongside to redirect us.
We all are all traveling down life’s road. Depending on where we are sometimes our hopes and dreams are broken and prayers are unanswered. When it seems the worst Jesus comes along and joins us where we are. We walks beside us and encourages us and he never leaves us alone.
I don’t know about you, but I often don’t recognize him and his actions until I have reached the end of my trip.
Our travelers reach their destination and Jesus keeps heading down the road. They invite him to come and stay with them.
Jesus never presumes that he is invited into your life. He does not act as if he expects an invitation; he never hints or asks to be invited. He only enters your life if you freely invite him.
The travelers basically insist that Jesus join them. And he readily agrees. You never have to ask Jesus to enter your life twice for him to respond.
The light meal is quickly prepared and they sit down for dinner.
Vs. 30 says, " When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight."
All this time they had been with Jesus, looking at Him, but never seeing Him. Now suddenly, as they eat together, their eyes were opened and they actually saw Him for who He was.
After He left, it says that they asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"
We sang a song yesterday in church with these lyrics -
“So set a fire down in my soul
That I can't contain and I can't control
I want more of You God, I want more of You God!
There's no place I'd rather be
There's no place I'd rather be
There's no place I'd rather be
Than here in your love, here in your love
I watched as the words resonated with those singing them. We sang the song well and we captured the moment and prayed that God would help us to want more of Him.
I’m sure that for some that their eyes were opened but to be honest - for many, it was just another song.
As I’m pondering about this passage this morning - I have a prayer resonating in my spirit - “I want to know you more.” “I want my eyes to be opened.” “I want to hear God and be one with Him.”
It’s interesting - our church staff met this last week to plan out 2017. Our theme is going to be “EYES WIDE OPEN.” This message has been resonating with me since then and I truly can say that my heart is wide open for whatever God wants to do in and through me.
How about you?
“Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—” Mark 13:35 NKJV
A film crew was on location deep in the desert. One day an old Indian went up to the director and said, Tomorrow rain...... The next day it rained.
A week later, the Indian went up to the director and said, Tomorrow storm The next day there was a hailstorm.
This Indian is incredible,said the director.
He told his secretary to hire the Indian to predict the weather for the remainder of the shoot.
However, after several successful predictions, the old Indian did not show up for two weeks.
Finally the director sent for him. I have to shoot a big scene tomorrow, said the director, and I am depending on you. What will the weather be like?
The Indian shrugged his shoulders. Do not know, he said........My radio is broken
Appearances are deceiving.
When I was younger, I remember hearing a deluge of sermons about the last days and how Jesus is going to return soon. Those preaching and the people listening actually believed that the second coming of Christ would be within their lifetime.
I have to admit, so was I. I also had an anticipation of the imminent return of Christ.
It’s not that the message died - it just became “ho-hum” in that Christ did not come in their lifetime.
But if you look through history - it seems like every generation was looking to the return of Christ at some point or another - some generations were more extreme than others.
But here we are - 2016 and we are still waiting for the return of Christ.
I’ve heard many teachers who try to place a date of His return but they all have fallen short because the Bible says “no man knows the hour” (not even the Angels).
Nobody really knows when Christ will be returning - but we need to keep watch - always. We can never let our guard down.
So… How Do We Prepare For The Return Of Christ…
1. Don’t let him find you sleeping
Jesus said, you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.
All four of these times have something in common - they are all times that we are sleeping or want to sleep.
Jesus is warning his disciples to be alert and self controlled when he tells them not to sleep (spiritually). Even though Christ has not returned yet - we must not lose our spiritual edge. We must keep watching for His return.
2. Do your assigned task
Jesus said, It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
Jesus said that “each one has his assigned task.” He draws a picture of a rich landowner with many different duties that need to be done. One might need to mow the lawn, another water the plants, another vacuum the rug, and on and on. Each duty is different. Yet each is important. That’s how God wants you to regard yourself - you have an “assigned task.”
What has God called you to do. Whatever it is - do it with all your heart.
I remember my dad often saying that he thought Christ was going to return during his lifetime. To be honest, I was a little disappointed when He didn't return at that time.
Yet, I still live my life as if Christ could return today. It could happen in my lifetime - I really believe that. We live in a very crazy world right now - wars, corruption, politics, etc.
Christ said that when we see these things to look up for “our redemption draweth nigh.”
It could be tonight, tomorrow or the next day. We don’t know. But whenever it is - I choose to remain waiting and ready!
How about you?
