The Face of an Angel

It’s so hard when we are challenged in some way to not let it show in some way. In Acts chapter 6 a man named Stephen was selected with six others to care for the needs of some of the widows who were not being helped. The qualifications for the six in being chosen were that they had good reputations, full of the Spirit and of wisdom. Additionally, we read that Stephen was also full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.

As we move on to the rest of chapter 6 and then all of chapter 7, we learn Stephen was also full of grace and power. We find that beyond caring for the widows, he also was actively speaking about Jesus Christ in the synagogues of non-native Hebrews or Hellenists, and that the Spirit of God was working miraculous signs and wonders as proofs of God’s sending him. As this was happening, we learn that the leadership in one of the synagogues challenged him. When they could get nowhere in their debate, they then hauled him before the greater Council of leadership who listened as false charges were brought against him. When his accusers had finished the Council turned their attention to Stephen. This is what we read in Acts 6:15, “And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel.”

Imagine that, having the people you had worshipped with growing up now coming against you because of your faith in Christ. Add to that the entirety of the Jewish leadership. Yet, this man as he sat before them and they observed him even in disagreement, had a countenance that could be spoken of as comparative to how one would imagine the face of an angel.

We all have challenges in our lives and things that might tend to rock our boats. Stephen demonstrated for us how a firm faith in God, knowing His security in Christ and living according to the power of the Spirit made all the difference. 

Sherman County eNews Spiritual Matters - 08/16/2019

Go, Stand and Speak

In Kent and Grass Valley we have been working through the book of Acts. In the early chapters Luke moves back and forth between glimpses inside the new and quickly growing body of believers that we know as the church and snapshots outside where the Spirit is working miraculous things as people are being healed and hearing the whole message of salvation in Christ in response. But as the message spread, the leadership in the temple began to feel threatened, not because of any signs of uprising, but because the apostles were gaining favor in the sight of the people and responding by belief in Christ. The leadership, we read, had become jealous of what was going on inside the walls they oversaw.

In Acts chapter 4 Peter and Paul were apprehended and commanded by the ruling Council not to speak of Jesus anymore. Then they were threatened and released. In Acts 5, after continuing to speak, all of the apostles were then arrested. Once again after having been released from prison in the middle of the night by a messenger of God and being told to “go, stand and speak” the whole message of Life, and the subsequently then rearrested they were threatened, beaten, and then released (lot more to the story – Acts 5:12-42).

It seems that for fear of the people the ruling Council could not take any significant action yet against these followers of Christ, though things would quickly change. For the time being, their tactic was intimidate to eliminate with the hope that by exercising enough resistance and threat they would give in. The interesting thing in studying these early believers is that even when faced with these things and even death, they responded with respect while always being clear about who they were compelled to serve knowing that their trust and hope was in God and His strong hand. We can trust Him still today.

Sherman County eNews Spiritual Matters - 08/09/2019

Boldly Shaken

“And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31)

After being arrested for proclaiming salvation in the name of the risen Jesus Christ, Peter and Paul were threatened and warned to not speak again of Him in public. They responded that they could not abide by this directive, but that they were compelled to continue proclaiming Christ. Unable to take action against them, they were released and told their companions all that had happened. The group then went to God in prayer to worship Him as not only the creator of all things but the One who continues to keep them even in this resistance which they were told would come. As they prayed, they did not ask for the trials to stop, but rather that they would have boldness to continue despite them. It was at the conclusion of the prayer that this verse occurs as God demonstrated He had heard their prayer and was powerfully with them such that they then continued to do what they had been sent to do which was to speak boldly the good news of salvation in Jesus and Jesus Christ alone.

Their response in the face of a life-shaking event was to go to God who moved in them in such a way that they could then go forward with unshakable confidence. It is the certain confidence of God’s presence and His strong hand in our struggles that enables us to rest when everything else seems to be moving way to fast or in a direction that we would not have chosen. God’s goodness isn’t measured by Him keeping us from trials, but in His faithfulness to bring us through to the other side.

“I have set the LORD continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” (Psalm 16:8)

Sherman County eNews Spiritual Matters - 07/19/2019

The Hope of Perfect Health

Acts chapter 3 tells us of a forty-year-old man being healed who had been lame and unable to walk from birth. He was well-known in Jerusalem because he had asked for help at the temple gates for years. So, you can imagine the excitement that burst forth when people saw him leaping and dancing before their very eyes.

When the apostles Peter and John approached the temple gate, they stopped to respond to this man’s plea. Peter told the man that they had no silver or gold to give him, but what he did have he would. With that he told the man in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene to “WALK!” The immediately Peter reached down and grabbed the man, and as the man was being pulled to his feet, his ankles were strengthened such that he could do the very thing that amazed the masses.

Peter then challenged the gathered crowd to repent or change their minds about Jesus, speaking of the example of the man…. “And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.” (Acts 3:16, NASB95) The “perfect health” spoken of was not found in his new-found physical condition, but in his being eternally made whole by faith in Jesus who had done both.

In this life everything fades. But when something happens to us or someone we love; many find themselves challenged to their very core and struggle in knowing where to turn.  But in Christ we have great hope. Our God can and does heal according to His perfect will, but more than that He has promised to all who believe through His Son eternal wellness or perfect health that goes far beyond our temporary. God is good. He is our help, and He will not fail. (See 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

Sherman County eNews Spiritual Matters - 07/12/2019

Unchanging in the Face of Change

The prophet Isaiah wrote and is quoted in the New Testament these words, “All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:6–8, NASB95)

We live in a time where truth is viewed by many as relative and the Bible is held to be outdated or archaic. That position stands in stark contrast to what the Bible says about itself. While everything around us changes as we see demonstrated in the annual process of farming wheat or raising livestock. They all have their season and we in response move on from one to the next. We even see this in our own lives and our families. Much of Sherman County stands on generations of hard-working people who have gone before those who are now as their descendants continuing these cycles of work.

All that we see around us is temporal, and it is so easy to then think that even that the unseen must be changing as well. But God and His Word stand in stark contrast. While the wheat might mature and be harvested and our loved ones go before us, God and His Word stand enduring and unchanged. This unchanging-ness means that the truths of His Word are reliable and applicable, that His promises are the same today as when they were made, and the hope of which it speaks is not wishy-washy but certain. The question for each of us is, “How are we going to respond?” This includes the salvation it declares as only being found by faith in His Son—Jesus Christ and the hope that endures for those who believe.

This was originally posted in Sherman County eNews Spiritual Matters on June 21, 2019

Happy Father’s Day

“For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” (1 Thessalonians 2:9–12, NASB)

In this passage as Paul is writing to the Thessalonian believers he expresses as a spiritual father many of the traits that we treasure in our own fathers and to which end fathers can seek to be with their own children. No longer in their presence, Paul reminded them of the example of labor and struggle as he put in the time both night and day to do what was necessary for their benefit. In this case, Paul labored for his own provision, but in the case of the father and his family it pictures the diligence that is necessary to tend to the needs of the family as he sets an example of work and perseverance.

There is also the example of teaching. As Paul taught them about God and how to walk before Him, so does the father in the family have the privilege and responsibility to pass on what he has learned to train up his own children both in life and hopefully in their lifelong relationship with God.

Lastly, there is the example of exhortation as a father to a child who encourages them to walk in a manner worthy of who they are and the God who loves them. Fathers have the awesome privilege of setting a pattern for life and encouraging their children as they move forward in the path set before them. We also have a heavenly Father in God who desires we seek Him as He does this for us.

This was originally posted in Sherman County eNews Spiritual Matters on June 14, 2109

“Quick to Hear”

“This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:19–21, NASB95)

Verse 19 is a favorite verse of mine in counseling because it works in two incredible ways. The first, and primary one, is in relation to our hearing from God before responding to others or even trials in our own lives. When we take the time to listen to Him and reflect on His truths hidden in our hearts (Psalm 119:1,11), we recognize in that moment how good, loving, powerful, faithful and wise He is. It is in looking to Him for His wisdom and trusting in His strong hand that we then can rest in Him in any situation, respond in His ways, and rest in His peace. It is this peace of His that we receive that calms our hearts and holds back our own anger. It is in relying on Him and what we know of Him that He works in us to lift our worries, bring the healing to our bodies and the refreshment to our bones that we read about in Proverbs 3:8 or the rescue which gives rest for our souls.

Of course, we also know that the wisdom of verse 19 works in our human relations as well. When we take the time to really hear not only what is being said but also pay attention to the heart, then we are better prepared to respond in a right and proper way which heads off the likelihood that the situation will lead to further exasperation and heightened anger on our part or others.

This was originally included in Sherman County eNews Spiritual Matters on May 17, 2019