GIVING TESTIMONY – Part 2 of 2

“Jesus said, ‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’”  (Acts 1:8 NIV)

The women returned early in the morning of the first day of the week with the amazing word of an empty tomb and the astounding news, "He is risen!"  The actors playing the disciples remained true to their assigned parts, expressing disbelief and confidence that this news from the women was but an "idle tale."

But then the script called for three members of the congregation to stand up and give testimony, to bear witness in court as it were, to the truth of the resurrection. "I know He is alive," each one was to begin.  The first was Angie.  "I know that He is alive," she said, "because He is alive in me."  She then told how she was abused by her father, how she fell into despair and alcoholism, and became HIV-positive. But then she responded to the welcome of the church, then she started attending worship, then a Bible study, and bit by bit she rose from the grave of her life. Now she is a seminary student, studying to be a pastor. "I am now alive because Jesus Christ lives in me and through me," Angie said, her face aglow. "I am a temple of the Holy Spirit."

The two other witnesses stood in turn, each reciting the assigned part of the script: "I know that He is alive."  Then that portion of the play was done, and it was time to move on. But the testimony would not stop. Others in the sanctuary began to rise spontaneously. "I know that He is alive," they would say, "because He is alive in me." Homeless people, addicts now clean, the least and the lost, stood one by one. Nothing could stop them. "I know that He is alive," they shouted, all giving corroborating testimony to the witness of Jesus, adding their own word to the great witness of Easter, telling the truth about what they had seen, heard, and experienced.

-- Excerpted from “Testimony: Talking Ourselves into Being Christian” by Thomas G. Long

#6344

VICTORY OVER DEATH

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit.”  (1 Peter 3:18 ESV)

So many things in this world are private or restricted. You can be turned away because you don’t have a ticket, a membership, a reservation, an important friend, a recognizable name, the proper clothing, or a couple of C-notes to bribe the doorman. Not long ago, I showed up at a prestigious country club for a round of golf and was told that because I was wearing denim shorts, I’d have to come back some other time.

But when it comes to our Lord’s victory over death, there are no goons standing at the door to keep people out -- only Jesus to welcome us in. Hebrews 7:25 (NLT) says, “Therefore [Jesus] is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through Him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.”  

--  Adapted from “Free Refill: Coming Back for More of Jesus” by Mark Atteberry

#6290

A BEAUTIFUL NEW LIFE

“Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17-18 NLT)

One day as I was lying in a canoe, a big black beetle came out of the water and climbed up into the canoe. I watched it idly for some time. Under the heat of the sun, the beetle proceeded to die. Then a strange thing happened. His glistening black shell cracked all the way down his back. Out of it came a shapeless mass, quickly transformed into beautiful life.

As I watched in fascination, there gradually unfolded iridescent wings from which the sunlight flashed a thousand colors. The wings spread wide, as if in worship of the sun. The blue-green body took shape. Before my eyes had occurred a metamorphosis -- the transformation of a hideous beetle into a gorgeous dragonfly, which started dipping and soaring over the water. But the body it left behind still clung to the canoe. I had witnessed what seemed to be a miracle. Out of the muck had come a beautiful new life. And the thought came to me, that if the Creator works such wonders with the lowliest of creatures, what may not be in store for the human spirit?

-- Cecil B. DeMille, as quoted by Leonard Sweet in “A Cup of Coffee at the SoulCafe” 

#6186

THE GIFT OF “BUT GOD”

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions -- it is by grace you have been saved.”  (Ephesians 2:1–5 NIV)

The good news is that we are not just changed, but we are forever changed!... The transformation that God is capable of doing in your life and mine is radical and it is eternal. When we make our lives an altar and choose each day to surrender, we will forever be changed.

Paul is quite direct with his words in this letter. He tells the believers that they, like him, were deserving of wrath. That’s the nature of humanity. We were sinners and we are sinners. But God. That can stand as a powerful sentence on its own. But God did not leave us as sinners to receive the punishment we deserved. But God did not turn His back on us. But God who is rich in mercy, perhaps better translated as abounding in mercy, saved us. And this is a mercy that meets us again and again as we surrender through confession and obedience to God…

What does Paul say God does because of His mercy? He makes us alive with Christ. The beauty of being alive, just like God’s mercy, is that we can experience this daily. In another of Paul’s letters he calls it walking “in newness of life” (Romans 6:4 CEB). And all of this comes as the gift of grace we have received because Jesus surrendered His life on a cross for us. It is the only reason we can be forever changed… Rest in the “but God” that has changed us from being dead in our transgressions to alive with Christ. 

-- Susan O. Kent in “Altar’d: The Transforming Power of Surrender”

#6070

SOMEONE TO SURRENDER TO

"For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for Me and for the gospel, you will save it.”  (Mark 8:35 GNT)

G.K. Chesterton wrote, “When a person has found something which he prefers to life itself, he for the first time has begun to live.”

Jesus in His proclamation of the kingdom told us what we could prefer to life itself. The Bible ends by telling us we are called to be a people who could say, “Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20), who could welcome something more than business as usual and live in God’s Big Picture. We all have to ask for the grace to prefer something to our small life because we have been offered the Shared Life, the One Life, the Eternal Life, God’s Life that became visible for us in this world as Jesus.

What we are all searching for is Someone to surrender to, something we can prefer to life itself. Well here is the wonderful surprise: God is the only one we can surrender to without losing ourselves! The irony is that we actually find ourselves, but now in a whole new and much larger field of meaning. 

-- Adapted from “Preparing for Christmas with Richard Rohr”

#5800

RISK AND REWARD

Amid the many facets of the American dream that contradict the core of the gospel, one ideal Americans have embraced coincides subtly with the words of Christ. As James Adams was coining the phrase “American dream,” Franklin Roosevelt was emphasizing how Americans will postpone immediate gratification and even endure hard sacrifices if they are convinced their future will be better than their past. Americans are willing to take great risks, he said, if they believe it will accomplish great reward.

In similar words Jesus said to His followers, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39). Jesus clearly acknowledged that following Him involves risking the safety, security, and satisfaction we have found in this world. But in the end, Jesus said, following Him leads to a radical reward that this world can never offer. This begs a question from each of us: do we believe the reward found in Jesus is worth the risk of following Him?

The Apostle Paul answered that question: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  (Philippians 1:21 NKJV) 

-- Adapted from David Platt in “Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream”

#5696

LOVED IN CHRIST

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”  (Romans 3:23-24 ESV)

God’s love to us is in Christ. Just as God’s love to His Son cannot change, so His love to us cannot change because we are in union with the One He loves. God’s love to us can no more waver than His love to His Son can waver.

We are occasionally tempted to look within ourselves to seek to find some reason why God should love us. Such searching is, of course, usually discouraging.  We usually find within ourselves reasons why we think God should not love us. Such searching is also unbiblical. The Bible is quite clear that God does not look within us for a reason to love us. He loves us because we are in Christ Jesus. When He looks at us, He does not look at us as “stand alone” Christians, resplendent in our own good works, even good works as Christians. Rather, as He looks at us, He sees us united to His beloved Son, clothed in His righteousness. He loves us, not because we are lovely in ourselves, but because we are in Christ. 

-- Jerry Bridges in “Trusting God”

#4864

PERSEVERING IN DISCIPLESHIP

"You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised."  (Hebrews 10:36)

Perseverance does not mean “perfect.” It means that we keep going. We do not quit when we find that we are not yet mature and that there is a long journey still before us.

For perseverance is not resignation, putting up with things the way they are, staying in the same old rut year after year after year, or being a doormat for people to wipe their feet on. Endurance is not a desperate hanging on but a traveling from strength to strength. There is nothing fatigued or humdrum in Isaiah, nothing-flatfooted in Jesus, nothing jejune in Paul. Perseverance is triumphant and alive.

-- Eugene H. Peterson in “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction”


#4714

AN INSIGHT INTO GRACE

“Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions -- it is by grace you have been saved.”  (Ephesians 2:4,5 NIV)

The comics sometimes have a way of expressing great and deep thoughts through the use of humor. For example, I discovered an interesting insight into grace in one of the “Dennis the Menace” cartoons. As you are aware, Dennis is indeed a menace and pest to his neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. Yet Mrs. Wilson continues to be kind and gracious to Dennis. In this particular cartoon, Dennis and his little friend Joey are leaving Mrs. Wilson’s house with their hands full of cookies, and Joey says, “I wonder what we did to deserve this?” Dennis answers with great insight, “Look, Joey, Mrs. Wilson gives us cookies not because we’re nice, but because she’s nice.”

God loves us and seeks us not because we are lovable but because God is love. That’s grace! 

-- James W. Moore and Bob J. Moore in “Lord, Give Me Patience!... And Give It to Me Right Now!”  


#4459

ALIVE AND ACTIVE

“For the Word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”  (Hebrews 4:12 NIV)

We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior.

-- John Stott in “Authentic Christianity”

#4388

THE ABODE OF CHRIST

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”  (John 15:4 ESV)

We rest in Christ, find our nourishment in Him. His roof of grace protects us from storms of guilt. His walls of providence secure us from destructive winds. His fireplace warms us during the lonely winters of life. We linger in the abode of Christ and never leave.

-- Max Lucado in “Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World"

#4345

PREACHING CHRIST

“You see, we don't go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus' sake.”  (2 Corinthians 4:5 NLT)

The One we preach is not Christ-in-a-vacuum, nor a mystical Christ unrelated to the real world, nor even only the Jesus of ancient history, but rather the contemporary Christ who once lived and died, and now lives to meet human need in all its variety today.

-- John Stott in “Between Two Worlds: The Challenge of Preaching Today”

#4101

KNOW YOUR ENEMY

If you struggle with an addiction -- be it substance abuse, or pornography, or gambling, or whatever -- you certainly know by now that making a turnaround is not something that happens overnight. It takes a true change of heart and usually a good long time. Nothing easy about it.

But one of the changes that needs to occur is your ability to see these temptations for what they really are. The rush that draws you to want a drug or a drink or a wide-eyed drive on the Internet is not coming from a friendly camp. Yes, these alluring appeals show up with claims of sweet relief. They feel like something you want and need. But actually, they are more like an "arrow that flies by day," like a "pestilence that stalks in the darkness," like a "plague that destroys at midday" (Psalms 91:5-6). Whenever they show up -- morning, noon, and night, or all of the above -- they are hired killers. They are sent to destroy.

Read all sixteen verses of Psalms 91 with this kind of focus and mind-set. See if you don't spot some new names, accounts, and descriptions of what your battle is like every day. And see if you don't find hope in the powerful protection of your Lord and Savior, who can enable you to "tread upon the lion and the cobra . . . to trample the great lion and the serpent" (Psalms 91:13).

Know your enemy. Trust your God. Live your victory.

Prayer: Lord God, expose the teeth and sharp edges of every temptation that comes my way. Help me see them for what they are, and realize that I can only stay safe by stepping out of their path. Amen. 

-- Joe Gibbs, from “Two-Minute Drills with Coach Joe Gibbs"

#3966

A MUCH BETTER LIFE

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”  (Galatians 2:20)

I turn my life and will over to God.  I seek to obey the best I can.  You lose a life, but you gain a life -- a life much better than the one you lost.  In the end, it turns out that nothing you lost was really worth keeping anyway.

-- John Ortberg in The Me I Want To Be

#3925

COMMUNION WITH CHRIST

"So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!"  (2 Corinthians 5:17 NRSV)

The primitive Christians were accustomed to speak, in a language which was older than Christianity, of being "in the Spirit" -- as though Spirit were an ethereal atmosphere surrounding the soul, and breathed in as the body breathes in the air.  Paul, too, used this expression, but he placed alongside it a parallel form of words, "in Christ" or "in Christ Jesus".  Where we find these words used we are being reminded of the intimate union with Christ which makes the Christian life an eternal life lived in the midst of time.  The deeper shade of meaning would often be conveyed to our minds if we translated the phrase "in communion with Christ". But, Paul's Christ mysticism is saved from the introverted individualism of many forms of mysticism by his insistence that communion with Christ is also communion with all who are Christ's.


-- C. Harold Dodd in The Meaning of Paul for Today

#3776

LIVING BY GRACE

At the beginning of our life with God, we are aware of a gap between God and us, separation from God because of sin.

We come to understand that we cannot bridge this gap by our efforts or good behavior.  We cannot earn God’s love and forgiveness; it comes only by God’s grace.  Salvation is given by the grace of God, achieved through the power of God, offered through the Spirit of God, and made secure by the promise of God.  And so we commit our life to God.

But there is still a gap.

Now the gap is between the me I am right now and the me I’m meant to be -- “current me” and “sanctified me.”  But here’s the problem:  People think it is our job to bridge that gap by our effort.  But we can’t.  This gap, too, can only be bridged by grace.  Self-improvement is no more God’s plan than self-salvation.  God’s plan is not just for us to be saved by grace -- it is for us to live by grace.  God’s plan is for my daily life to be given, guided, guarded, and energized by the grace of God.  To live in grace is to flow in the Spirit.

-- John Ortberg in The Me I Want To Be


#3499

SEEING GOD IN YOU

"To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.." (Colossians 1:27 NIV)

I am weary of celebrity religion. I have had my share of honors, but when I die, unless my family can say, "There is something of God in that man," then I will have failed.

-- Stephen Olford


#3406

A LASTING RELATIONSHIP

If God wanted us to just have religion, He would have stayed up in heaven and not come here to sacrifice His very life for you and me. He wanted us to have more than religion. He wanted us to have a relationship with Him which will last forever. He is extremely serious about it. What about you? How determined are you about living for Him? 

-- Dan Delzell


#3013

ALIVENESS IN GOD

"We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." (Romans 6:2-4)

Once we've tasted being alive, we can't go back to being dead. Aliveness in God is addictive.

-- Nancy Groom

 
#2795