Satisfaction

Years ago, before my time, the Rolling Stones had a hit entitled "I Can't Get No Satisfaction." Though I do not know all the lyrics, it went something like "I can't get no satisfaction. I can't get no satisfaction. And I tried and I tried . . . but I can't get no satisfaction." Perhaps some of you remember the lyrics better than I do, but I think you get the idea. At the risk of being disrespectful I wonder if Jesus sings these words occasionally? Can't you see Him looking down on us and saying "I can't get no satisfaction?" What led me to think on this idea was my reading in Mark 15 today. Mark 15 is the story of the crucifixion of Jesus. He was led before Pilate to be sentenced and Pilate knew that the Jews were envious of Jesus. He knew that Jesus had committed no crime and was an innocent man. However he was afraid of public opinion and "wanting to satisfy the crowd" (Verse 15) he allowed Jesus to be crucified. Now I realize that Jesus was preordained to die for our sins, but this phrase caused me to think of my situation. How often am I prone to satisfy the crowd even when I know it is not the right thing to do? I preach a sermon that will step on toes, so I decide to change the idea so that I will satisfy the crowd. I make a decision about the direction of the church, but yet it is not popular so I decide instead to satisfy the crowd. Consider your own situation. You are around the coffee pot at work refreshing your cup of coffee when a crude joke is being told. Instead of walking away you say nothing or you join in. Why? Because you want to satisfy the crowd. Or perhaps you are in a business luncheon and everyone is ordering drinks so instead of abstaining you choose to join in. Why? You want to satisfy the crowd. All of your friends are having a cookout before the football game, which will mean you need to miss church, and you choose to satisfy your friends? You can probably think of any number of scenarios to consider. While we are here trying to satisfy the crowd, Jesus is saying "I can't get no satisfaction . . .I tried and I tried . . .but I can't get no satisfaction." Just a thought and I hope that you are not offended. But then again I am not trying to please you as much as I am trying to get you to think if you satisfying Jesus with your words and actions. There is an old hymn that says it well. "I am satisfied. I am satisfied. I am satisfied with Jesus. But the question comes to me, as I think of Calvary, is my master satisfied with me?" What do you think?

Are we really different?

I was reading in Mark 14 again today. I have been taking my time reading through this chapter because it is moving me through the last week of Jesus' life. It is holy ground and I do not want to gloss over it, but spend time allowing God's word to speak to me. I cannot imagine what Jesus went through during this time. I believe there were three battles that Jesus fought during this time. I believe He fought the spiritual battle, the emotional battle and the physical battle. Perhaps it represents the three components of our lives, but whatever they were real. Today I focused in on the emotional battle that Jesus had to endure. In three different events, this fact is revealed. First Jesus had no one to support Him in prayer. He told his disciples, in particular Peter, James, and John "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death . . .stay here and keep watch." He later told his three closest disciples to keep watch and to pray. But yet they were sleeping. He needed them to be praying for Him, but instead they could not do what they were asked. I believe it tore His heart up to know that He was doing the battle alone. The second incident is revealed in the betrayal of Judas. Jesus knew it was going to happen, but He still loved Judas. How it must have grieved His heart when Judas called Him "My teacher" (Rabbi) and then kissed him on the cheek. Can't you feel His heart breaking as this one that He loved turned Him over with a kiss. The final event is revealed when all of his disciples deserted Him. It is true that Peter stepped up and cut off the ear of one of the guards, but as soon as they discovered that Jesus was not going to fight, they all ran off. He was alone. No one to stand with Him and no one to walk the road with Him. I know that it happened so that Scripture could be fulfilled,(See Mark 14:27) but still don't you wish that one of them would have stood with Jesus? What an encouragement it would have been if John or Peter, or James or Andrew would have stood with Him and said "Jesus I am with you." But that was not the way it was planned. The writer of the great hymn expressed it well when he said "He died alone for you and I." So what are we to glean from these little snippets from the book of Mark? My question is are we really different? I believe we abandon Jesus every day. We do not pray like we should. You need an example, examine your own prayer life, but specifically examine your prayer life with other brothers and sisters. Second, how often do you call Jesus Lord and Master, but then your actions betray what you say? I probably do not need to say much more with that statement. Finally, how often when the battle gets really hard, you decide to turn and run? I have been guilty of this in my own life, but I have also witnessed it in the life of others. We like to think that we would do a better job than the disciples, but most of the time our actions give us away. But the good news of this story is that we know that Jesus will use this same group of ragtag disciples to change the world. I find encouragement in that fact. Even though I have messed up so many times and disappointed my Lord and my Savior, He chooses to still use me. I am overwhelmed by this fact. Am I any different than these disciples? No, just as God used them, He can still use me. Have you allowed your past failures to control your life? Do not give into your past, because Jesus still wants to use you for His glory and purpose.

His timing

Years ago when I was in Navy boot camp I was thrown into the water with 80 other guys and basically told to sink or swim. Well not really, they actually told us to tread water until they told us to get out of the pool. I do not know how long it was, but I was always pretty good about staying afloat. However, as the minutes got longer and my body became more tired I realized that we were not on the same time frame as I thought we should be on. Slowly people began cramping up and pulling themselves to the sides. They were saying "I can't last any longer. I need to get out." They eventually let us all get out of the water and it was then that I realized that the instructors (instructing us how to drown I guess) were trying to weed out the non swimmers from the swimmers. Those that could not tread water for eternity were placed in a special class that would teach them how to swim and tread water. It really was a pretty good idea, because I imagine if a Sailor can't swim it might be a problem later on. The point is that the instructors had a plan that I knew nothing about. Their time schedule was not my time schedule. I did not know that until later on after I had endured the test. Most of the time we do not know why God is working the way He is working. We often think that God should be on our timetable, but we should remind ourselves that God's ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. And just for good measure, remember that His time is not our time. I was reminded of this again while reading Mark 14. It was the last week of our Lord's life on this earth. Mark 14:1 states that the religious leaders were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. However, verse 2 reveals that they were going to wait until the feast was over. In other words they were going to wait one week before they arrested Jesus. They had a plan, but they did not know that their plan was not God's plan. He had been planning this since the beginning of time. The chapter continues with Mary the sister of Martha anointing Jesus with some expensive perfume. It seems to be an insignificant event. She was showing her love and devotion to Jesus, but she did not know she was preparing Him for His burial. This part is an important piece of information. According to custom a body was anointed with spices after their death with the exception of a criminal. Jesus would not have been anointed after His death because He would have been considered a criminal. So she was performing a service that she knew nothing about. She did not know that Jesus was about to be crucified, but God knew. Finally, we see in verse 10 that Judas went out to the religious leaders to betray Jesus to them. They of course were delighted that one of His own followers would betray Jesus. This action would allow them to escape the public scrutiny because if one of His own betrayed Him it gave them credibility. The thing about the story is that their plans were not God's plans. Their time was not God's time. This little event reveals to us that God's plans cannot be thwarted by man. God is moving things toward His ultimate purpose and there is nothing we can do about it. But we can decide to join Him in what He is doing. God is still in control even when it looks like things are pretty chaotic. He has a plan. He has a purpose. And He has a time frame. Just because we do not understand does not mean He is not working in our midst. He is working to do something greater than we can even imagine. I believe sometimes God moves quicker than we might want Him to, but most of the time I believe we move slower than God might want us to do. The time is coming when there will be no time left to accomplish the task, so therefore we must be prepared now to do what God has purposed to do. He will accomplish His task, but the question is will we join Him or will He move on to another. Think about that idea for awhile and decide if you want to sink or swim. I can't speak for you, but as for me and my house we choose to swim and trust God that He is working to reveal His ways to those who earnestly wait upon Him.

Sleeping on the job

We all know that we should not sleep on the job. As a matter of fact we know that if we sleep on the job that we would probably be fired from our job. Imagine how that would look on your portfolio or what you would have to say to your next employer. We would never think of sleeping on the job for fear of what our employer might do to us and the consequences it would have to those nearest to us. Yet I want to submit that most of us are guilty of sleeping on the job. Jesus in teaching his disciples on the second coming makes some interesting comparisons. He states a man goes away and leaves his servants in charge of his house. Each one is assigned a certain task and are told to be alert. They know that the owner will be back, but they do not know when he will be back. They do not know if it will be in the morning, evening, or at midnight or even when the sun rises, but they know he is coming back. Then Jesus states "If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping." Jesus came to this earth to accomplish a task, to provide access to God through His sacrificial death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. Before He left this earth he gave a charge to His followers to do what He had been doing. He told them to make more followers of Him. The disciples passed on what they knew and what they were taught to others who passed it on to others who passed it on to still others, until it eventually reached us. We have been given an assignment, a task to perform and according to Jesus we each have an "assigned task" (Mark 13:34). I wonder if I am guilty of sleeping on the job? To be honest, if it were up to me I would of fired myself a long time ago. But I am glad that I am not the boss, because Jesus is far more merciful that I would be. He gives us second, third, fourth, and multiple chances to try again. How about you? Are you guilty of sleeping on the job? Don't beat yourself up over your sleep habits in the past, but start afresh today to change your sleep patterns. When Jesus comes I hope and pray that He will find us actively involved in the task assigned.

When will Jesus Come?

There are many people that understand a lot more about when Jesus will come than I do. These individuals have worked out elaborate time lines and have even provided charts to assist us in our understanding of the end times. They have developed seminars and even websites dedicated to their understanding of the end times and when Jesus will come. Then there is another group of people that have developed an elaborate understanding of the end times to counter what the other group is teaching. They too have developed seminars, written books and created websites to refute what the others teach. If you read and compare what each group says you will come away convinced that both of them are right. Obviously they can't both be right. Could they both be wrong? As I was reading Mark 13:1-23 today I tried to understand what Jesus was saying about the end times and when He would come. I purposefully kept my study short so that I could eat the elephant one bite at a time. Maybe in my study I could come up with a third proposal, write a book, develop seminars, and even create a website that would espouse my views and challenge the views of others. I could have a great following and people would call me their guru and maybe even consider themselves Bruceites or something like that. Of course then I came back down to earth and realized that the teaching is not that clear about the end times. I think Jesus purposefully kept it vague, because He knew something about humanity. That's a no brainer! He knew that if we understood the signs and the times, we would invest all of our interest in interpreting and explaining those things and we would lose track of what is important. Perhaps Satan has latched on to this idea as well. As I examined the passage today I saw two clear things that Jesus wanted us to know. First, watch out for false teachers that will deceive us. Second, watch out for false signs that will divert us. There is also one solid teaching that will help us know when Jesus is coming. In fact it is the most definitive statement in the Bible about the end times. The gospel must first be preached to all nations then Jesus will come. Mark's gospel does not say it as clearly as Matthew's gospel but the teaching is still there. When will Jesus come? I have no idea whatsoever. But I do know that the gospel has not been preached to every nation and if we are honest there are probably pockets of people in our towns that do not know as well. Maybe instead of looking at the end times and trying to discern when Jesus will come, we need to be looking at our times and tell people that Jesus has already come and we can have life in Christ. What do you think? Does this sound like a solid solution to the end times discussion?

Demonstrating love

Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart and to love people. The condensed version is love God and love people. Sounds simple, but most of the time we can't even get it right on the most basic areas. Two examples are provided in Mark 12 that illustrate this truth. The first one is from the religious leaders. Do not be hypocritical and give a sigh of relief that you are not one of those religious leaders, there is more of us in them than we would like to admit. The religious leaders of Jesus' day liked to make themselves look better than they really were. The point is that they sought the praise of men over service to God. Jesus talks about how they dressed to draw attention to themselves. He talked about how they loved to sit on the front row so that everyone else could see them. When a celebration or a party was taking place they always had to sit in the seat of honor. In other words everything they did was about them. They even went as far as taking advantage of the less fortunate so that they could maintain their position or status. Perhaps these words might be a little harsh for which to compare ourselves, but there is some truth in these words. Do we seek positions of service for ourselves or God? Do we draw attention to ourselves or to God? When people see us do they see God or do they us? At any time any one of us can be guilty of puffing ourselves up just like the religious leaders did in Jesus' day. In so doing we demonstrate to others that we love ourselves more than we love God. A second illustration gets a little more down and dirty. As a matter of fact most people do not want to hear about it and will turn a deaf year to it. I wonder what that reveals about us? Anyway, the next episode had to do with people giving money. The wealthy people were giving their spare change. The idea is that after they had provided for their personal needs, had paid some bills, and made sure they had adequate money in their 401k and of course money in the emergency fund and the college fund and the vacation fund they then dropped some change in the offering plate. The next individual came by before any bills were paid, not knowing how she was going to pay her light bill, how she was going to get gas in her car, how she was going to buy bread from the local bread store and she dropped in all she had even if it was a small amount in comparison. Which one demonstrated their love for God and their love for man? How often are we more like the first than we are the last? We need to make sure that we do not give God our left overs. We should instead give to God first and then live on what is left over. God will honor that, but more importantly we will be demonstrating in a very small way that we love God and we love people. How does it show we love people you may ask? By giving to our local church it enables the church to pay their bills and meet the needs of people. For the most part churches struggle to pay their bills and have little opportunity to meet the needs of people. But in a church that loves God and loves people this tendency will never be the case. Lets work together to make sure that our love for God and love for others is not just words, but with deeds as well. These are just a couple of small examples, yet I think they reveal much about ourselves. My prayer is that we will all demonstrate our love for God and for others in a way that God will receive the glory.

Painting is not enough.

Yesterday I was driving down highway 34 on my way to Yorkville and noticed that the highway had fresh yellow paint. The yellow paint made the lanes much more obvious and it was clear that someone had put forth a lot of effort to make sure the lines were straight. It was much easier to determine where we could pass and where we could not pass. However, as I drove a little further I could not believe what my eyes saw. There in the road a squirrel had met its demise and was lying dead in the road. It apparently could not decide rather to cross the road or go back because it was lying in the middle of the yellow stripe. But then I noticed something that I had to look twice to be sure I was seeing it correctly. That dead squirrel had a perfectly drawn yellow stripe across its body. Two things immediately crossed my mind. First, how lazy a person must have been to paint over the squirrel (must work for the government?) The second thought that came to mind was how revealing it is of the human condition. We have this condition in our lives that we want to just paint over and it will look great to the casual observer. Instead of removing this problem that we have we try to cover over it and hope that no one will notice. The Bible calls this condition, sin. It is a deliberate rebellion against God and His standard. We try to cover over the sin problem by doing a lot of good deeds. Our thinking is that if we can just keep doing good things then no one will notice the condition inside us. We might try to cover up the condition within us by going to church and singing loud and talking very spiritual. By blending in with others they will not be as likely to notice that we have a terrible condition. There are other things that we try to do to disguise our condition, but the problem is that everything we do is just paint. It might look good, but it does nothing to rid us of the problem. Jesus talked about people that painted over their inward condition. Jesus stated "You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness." Pretty strong words from Jesus, but something that we need to hear. Until we get rid of the condition within us, no amount of paint is going to cover up the truth. We need someone to perform some serious surgery on our inward condition. Jesus can do that if we will trust in his finished work on the cross. He will come into our lives, clean up the filth and remove the sin that dominates our life. Don't try to cover up your inward condition with a bunch of outward deeds. Get rid of that squirrel! Ask Jesus to come into your life and cleanse you from all unrighteousness and then live your life to bring glory to Him. He will wash away your sin and paint it white as snow. Then the good news is that He will be able to use you to point people in the right direction on the road of life. Why not do it today!

Do we believe?

Have you ever prayed and did not have any kind of answer to your prayer? Perhaps you have never had this problem and God always answers your prayers. If so I would not continue reading today's post. This post is intended for those who have prayed and not seen anything happen with their prayers. You know all the Sunday School answers as to why your prayers are not answered. One of my favorites is "God did answer your prayer, you just did not like the answer." Ever heard that one? Another good one is that "God did not answer your prayer because it was not according to His will?" I heard that one too, have you? And another one is "God did not answer your prayer because you were not sincere enough or your motives were wrong?" Heard those as well. Perhaps all of these are legitimate in some form or another, but perhaps the best reason I have is that we just do not really believe that God wants to answer our prayers. Jesus stated in Mark 11:24 "whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Perhaps the problem is not with our prayers, but with our belief? When we pray we are sincere with our request, but then we go on as if we never actually prayed that God would hear or answer our prayers. I remember hearing a story about a student who was talking to Charles Haddon Spurgeon the great preacher of the 1800s in England. The student told Spurgeon that no one ever came forward to receive Christ when he preached. Spurgeon asked him if he believed that someone should get saved everytime he preached? The student replied he did not. Spurgeon then replied "that is why no one gets saved." Perhaps we have the same problem with our prayers as well. I know that there have been times when I did not sense that God answered my prayers. I looked to see if there was unconfessed sin in my life. I examined to see if my prayers were aligned with the will of God. I even questioned if my motives were pure and my prayers were not for selfish gain. Yet still I had no answer from God. Maybe the failure was that I just did not believe. My failure to believe was revealed in the actions I took or did not take. If we truly believe that God will answer our prayers then we must do our part to receive the answer. For instance if we are praying for a job we still need to do our part and look for the job, believing that God is going to provide us with a job. If we are looking for opportunities to minister to someone then we must keep our eyes open for when those opportunities arise. We must live our lives in the belief that God will answer our prayers. One more story to illustrate the truth. Hudson Taylor was on his way to China to serve as a missionary. The boat on which he was sailing had not had a steady breeze for several days and basically was dead in the water. The captain of the ship realized Hudson Taylor was a godly man and came to him with a request to pray for wind. Hudson Taylor responded: "I will pray for wind, but you must set the sails." The captain responded but there is no wind. Hudson Taylor stated "I will pray for wind, but you must be ready to receive the answer." The title of this post is appropriate "Do we believe?" Do we believe that God will answer our prayers? Then my challenge to you is to set your sails and be ready for the answer. God wants to do mighty and marvelous things through us if we will just believe. We should not allow our failure to believe to keep God from doing what He truly wants to do. Let's partner together to be people of belief as we pray. I can't wait to see what happens. I look forward to hearing your stories of answered prayer.

Nothing but leaves

Several years ago my parents planted some fruit trees in their back yard. I would say it was around 10 years ago that they planted several different kinds of fruit trees. The knew it would take several years for them to produce fruit, but they waited patiently for them to begin producing. They looked forward to enjoying some peach and plum preserves as well as some fig preserves. Over the next several years the trees grew and the leaves became full, but there was no fruit of which they could enjoy. The birds liked the trees and they did look pretty from the backyard, but they did not provide any fruit. They were fruit trees that did not produce fruit. A similar event happened in the life of Jesus as revealed in Mark 11. Jesus was on his way to the temple when he became hungry and decided to grab some fruit from a fig tree. The tree was full of leaves and looked like it would be a good fruit producer, but nevertheless when Jesus looked for the fruit, it had none. Jesus cursed the fig tree and said it would never produce again. A fig tree is supposed to produce figs, not just leaves to look pretty. Jesus continued His journey to the temple area and discovered people utilizing the place of prayer and worship as a marketplace for commerce. Animals were being sold, money being exchanged, and people were using the area as a short cut to the other side of the city. It was crowded, noisy, and stinky. The smell rose up to God and Jesus drove everyone from the area and stated that God's house was to be a place of prayer. I do not want to get into all the teachings of this passage, but I do want to reveal a truth that we need to apply to our lives and to our churches. The temple had become nothing but leaves. It appeared to be alive, but it was not producing what it was designed to do, which was to draw people into a relationship with God. Think of your own life. When people look at you do they see nothing but leaves? You know, you look good and you sound good. You appear to have your act together. But upon further examination you are not producing any fruit that will help another person draw closer to God. It is really more about you looking good for others than providing anything that will help them. What fruit are your producing that helps others come to know Jesus. Another question that we must consider is what about the church we attend? Are we are a leaf producing church or a fruit producing fruit. There are many churches that look alive and they may even appear to be vibrant and full of energy, but the key is are people being drawn into a loving relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ? Think about these things and examine your life and even take time out to examine the church you attend. Are you guilty of nothing but leaves? By the way, there was one tree that finally produced fruit at my mom and dad's house it was called a Bruce plum tree. I have never considered this tree as a compliment to me, but rather a challenge to make sure that I am producing fruit as God intended. Perhaps God allowed that tree to produce fruit so that I would be reminded every time I saw it to ask myself if I am a tree of leaves or a tree of fruit?

Improving our Serve

I was reading in Mark 10 this week about the time John and James asked Jesus if they could have positions of power and prestige in His kingdom. It was a selfish request and Jesus was not able to honor their request. But Jesus took this opportunity to teach a valuable lesson. Basically His lesson was that if we want to be great it will be achieved through humble service to others. We should not seek greatness by striving to be top in our field. We should not seek greatness by reaching for some position of power. We should not strive to be great by being boss over a lot of people. Instead Jesus said true greatness is found in being a servant to other people. Jesus stated this principle with a simple illustration, "For even the Son of Man did come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many." Here He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the last and He is saying that we should live our lives in humble service to others. I remember years ago the Seminary where I attended was building a new building at the school. We were able to purchase bricks that would be used around the walkways on which we could inscribe our name, a verse or some other message upon it. The church where I served as pastor purchased a brick in my honor and I put my name and Mark 10:45 underneath it. I had made this verse my life verse and I thought it reflected well my simple beliefs. Yet I wonder if I have lived up to that verse? There have been some times in my life where I have not emulated the words of this verse. There have been times when I have been self-seeking and wanting to be first and not last. I have at times succumbed to the very thing Jesus told us not to do. Of course I find comfort in the fact that I am not alone. There are probably others who have had the same struggles in their lives. Obviously as I reflected on this verse today I asked myself How is my service? One thing for sure it can always improve. For the most part we do not like the idea of serving. We think it is beneath us and that we are too good to serve another person. Yet we have before us the example of Jesus and we should bow our heads and weep that we are not willing to do what our own Lord and Savior did. I know that I must improve my serve. My simple mission statement is to love God, love others and serve the world. I realize everyday that it cannot be a simple slogan that sounds spiritual, it must be something that encapsulates my life. Think about yourself. How are you serving? Do you need to improve your serve? If you are a part of a fellowship of believers, start this week serving in simple ways. If you are not a part of a fellowship believers, I would challenge you to find a church home and begin serving today. Make the coffee, open doors, smile at strangers, shake some hands, greet the people, give a gentle touch, worship with enthusiasm and love the people. Everybody can do these things and I am sure you can find some others things to do as well. And just think about it, as you are doing these things Jesus is saying "you are great!" So why not start improving your serve today.

Mountains and valleys

I was reading in Mark 9 today about the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountaintop. Three disciples experienced this event, Peter, James and John. What an experience it must have been for them. They got to see and experience things that no one else had and no one else would. Not only did they see things, but they heard the voice of God speak. It was a mountaintop experience in their life of faith. Of course the disciple with a foot shaped mouth (Peter) wanted to stay on the mountaintop. I do not know if he wanted to stay permanently or just for a short time, but the fact that he wanted to build some shelters suggests a little longer than a day. Peter forgot about the people that waited in the valley below. As we examine the next part of the story we see that there was much need in the valley. There were people who were hostile to Jesus and were arguing with his disciples. Evil was running rampant in people's lives. There were people hurting that needed help. There was unbelief and there were others struggling in their faith. There were still many who did not understand and that included the disciples of Jesus. They needed the message of the mountain to be brought to them. Yes it is true that Jesus told the disciples not to talk about what they saw, but still the truth should have been evident in their lives and their ministry. They should have had a renewed passion for Him and for His message. I think the lesson for us is clear. We will often have a mountaintop experience with God. Hopefully it will be in a worship service, but it could just as well be through our quiet time with God. It could be through some event that God has orchestrated in our lives to reveal Himself. The point is that we all have those experiences that draw us closer to God. The problem is that we want to keep it to ourselves. We want to maintain that closeness and we forget that we are to share what we know with those in the valley below. There are those who are enemies of the gospel and they needed to be challenged with the gospel truth. There is evil present and we must overcome evil with good. There are those who are hurting and we must minister to them with the love of Christ. There are those who are unbelieving and we must help them to believe. There are those who are struggling in their faith and are doubting and we must be there to strengthen their faith and help them overcome their doubts. There are those who do not understand the truth and we must teach them the truth. Some of these people are our family, such as Peter's brother Andrew who was not a part of the mountaintop experience. Others are our friends, such as the other 9 disciples. But all of them are people for whom Jesus gave His life and whom He loves. We must come down from the mountaintop and deliver the message of hope to a valley that is in deep need of the message we have to share. Have you been to any mountain tops lately? More importantly have you been ministering in any valleys? Both exists and we need to make sure the message from the mountaintop is shared in the valleys below.

How many miracles does it take?

This past week a group of us from the church cleared out the church sand volleyball pit to prepare for a youth cookout and volleyball game. It was great to see so many there pitching in as we cleared the weeds and set up the net. It took 4 of us to set the net up and it took about 2 - 3 hours to do so. There were no directions, the cord was bunched up inside the netting and we had never put a net of this type together. The joke was how many people does it take to set up a volleyball net. We finally got it up and it even stayed up overnight and during the games as well. We accomplished our task and the teens had a great time. There are times it takes a lot of people to accomplish a task. There are also times that we require many different demonstrations before we will actually believe something to be true. The religious leaders in Mark 8:1-21 revealed a tendency that we too often emulate in our own lives. Jesus had performed the miracle of feeding the 4000 when the religious leaders tracked Him down and asked Him, what miracle will you perform so that we can believe in you? Jesus knew their hearts and that they would never believe so He refused to give them a sign. I was thinking in my head, why didn't he just zap them with leprosy, then they might believe. But thank goodness Jesus does not operate that way. They had seen Him perform miracle after miracle and had heard of numerous others and they still refused to believe. They never would and Jesus knew their hearts were evil and full of contempt for Him. Jesus took this opportunity to teach His disciples a valuable lesson. He basically told them to not allow doubt and unbelief to creep into their lives because it will begin to impact everything they do. It would be like a little yeast in bread. He told them that they had not only witnessed two miracles but were participants in two of them. They had all they needed to believe in Him. Jesus wanted people to believe in Him because of the truth He taught, not because of the miracles He performed. Yet I think many times we are the same way. We want one more demonstration of power before we will believe. We want one more answer to our prayers before we will really step out on faith and live the life God has called us to live. We would love it if God would do one more thing to prove to us that He is in control. And the question I keep asking is "how many miracles does it take?" When will we decide to just take God at His word and be obedient to what He has told us to do without Him performing some miracle to assure us? Perhaps the miracle that God performs is getting us just to step out on faith without any verification from Him. It could be that God is wanting to perform a miracle in someones life by using us to minister to that person. I guess the point that needs to be made is that if we keep waiting for some miraculous sign from God that He is with us, then we may never venture to do anything for Him. I think this fact is too evident in far too many of us. I don't want to live my life waiting for some miraculous sign from God. I know that I would never be content with one, I would always want another. I think instead I will just try to serve Him the best I can and if a miracle happens, I will rejoice and give Him praise. I learned a long time ago that God will never do by a miracle what we are to do by obedience. The greatest miracle has already been done. Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and He is alive in heaven right now. How many more miracles do you need before you will believe? Trust Him and step out on faith and you will see God do great things.