Monday, January 30, 2012
Superbowl Sunday Service Time
This coming Sunday, 2/5/12, is Superbowl Sunday. Our 5pm service would have spilled into kickoff time, and as a result, many in the church would not be able to attend services this Sunday. Because we can, we are moving the service up this Sunday only to 2pm, so now you can do both: worship the Lord and . . . not worship your favorite team, because one cannot love both God and mamman, right? Ok, enough making you feel guilty. I look forward to seeing everyone at this Sunday's 2pm Superbowl Sunday Service, where we will not discuss the Superbowl.
Knowledge + Love
You've heard the phrase, “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing?” How true is that statement, especially when it comes to politics. It's true when it comes to religion, too, but whereas there seems to be no cure for the dangerous politico, there is a cure for the dogmatic. Love.
Knowledge of God is not a bad thing. Our Psalm tonight even expresses this, Psalm 111: Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them. Knowledge of God, his kingdom, and his works, are very important in the Christian life. Jesus tells us in his prayer of John 17, that knowledge of God IS eternal life. Not that it GETS us to eternal life, or that it is the ROAD to eternal life. Or a tool to eternal life, or an element of eternal life. No, knowledge of God IS eternal life. Studying God is the best of things.
But in 1 Corinthians 8, Paul explains to us that knowledge of God may be eternal life for us, but knowledge of God without love for our neighbor may be death for our neighbor. Consequently, that is death for us, as Christ says, “Woe to you who causes one of your brothers to stumble.” As Paul says, knowledge puffs up but love builds up. Knowledge helps our walk with the Lord, but love helps our neighbor's walk with the Lord. Just as when James tells us that faith helps our walk with the Lord but works helps our neighbor's walk. Faith without works is dead faith, because works is the proof of faith. Just so: knowledge without love is dead, because love is proof of knowledge.
As Paul says, anyone who claims to know something does not yet have that necessary knowledge. But when that same person loves God, his knowledge becomes more complete and helpful to his neighbor. I read a scenario by a commentator about this chapter in first Corinthians. Three Christians sit down to eat, and the first Christian asks the host if the meat has been sacrificed to an idol. The host responds, “yes.” The first Christian stops eating and lets his two friends know. The second Christian, having the knowledge that there are no gods but the one true God, laughs and continues eating. The idols are empty, they connect to nothing, no gods. The meat is not tainted, and so there is no harm in eating it. The third Christian has the same knowledge as the second Christian. There is not harm in eating the meat, BUT he has love of God in his heart, in addition to his knowledge, and so he stops eating, too, so as to keep the first Christian from stumbling. Because the first Christian believes that the idols are attached to gods.
Belief is as strong power. There are many times that if we believe we are cursed, then we suddenly notice strange things happening to us. Things that seem like the curse is real. There's a really interesting movie called Skeleton Key, and it's about hoodoo, which is like voodoo, which is bunk, but in the movie, the main character believes, and so the curses that are put upon her WORK. She is a captive to the curses, because she believed that they would have effect.
Outside of a movie, the curses work because of belief. There are many people who walk about in Haiti—whose national religion is voodoo—who believe they themselves are zombies—whose souls are possessed by others. Their belief has such a powerful hold on their consciousness, that they actually become zombies.
Well, this sounds psychosomatic. As Paul writes, “for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” This is reality. There are no other gods. They do not exist. Idols are connected to nothing. So belief that causes effect seems like a psychosomatic symptom.
As Paul writes, “Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.” In other words, some people have become so drastically brainwashed, that they cannot escape the false realities of how the world works. As Christians, we know how the world works, but there are Christians who believe the occult has power, and therefore are profoundly effected by occult practices.
Now the scene twists again, for although Paul is telling the truth and there are no such things as Gods, and all idols are false idols, here is some more knowledge to muddy the pool: there are unclean spirits. In our gospel passage, Jesus frees a man in the synagogue from an unclean spirit. Is this psychosomatic? Did Jesus practice some quick therapy on his brainwashed, deluded mind? Did he have a powerful concoction on hand—the earliest anti-depressant—that he slipped the guy, and he was cured? No. The scriptures don't lie. There was an unclean spirit. Not a chemical imbalance, an unclean spirit.
As a pastor once told me: a totem pole is just a piece of wood, but if you bow down to it, every evil spirit in the universe will race to attach itself to that pole. There are no such things as gods, but there are such things as spirits. In a way the first Christian is right. Even though there are no gods but God, there are evil spirits out there that try very hard to hinder all of our walks with God.
As C.S. Lewis writes, we should definitely be aware that demons and the devil himself exist, but we should not give them too much unwarranted attention. Let's not give them more power than they deserve. As it says in Mark 1:26, “And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.” The unclean spirits all listen to Jesus, so it may as well be that they do not exist. Demons should be seen as a minor annoyance. They may be a frustration, but they are not impossible for us to handle, because we have Christ. So, we've gone from the first Christian being wrong, because of lack of knowledge, to being right, because of the knowledge that unclean spirits exist, to being wrong again, because of the knowledge that the name of Jesus Christ is so powerful against unclean spirits, that they may as well not exist.
Christ called out the unclean spirits when he was among us, and so too, with the Holy Spirit now in our hearts, we, too, can call them out. In the name of Jesus Christ, I cast you out. Go back into the darkness from whence you came, and do not come back. In our collect today we prayed, “Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth.” God is in charge. We need to remember that. God is in charge. Knowledge of God without love of God puts us in God's place, we become puffed up, and we cause our brother or sister to stumble. Knowledge of God with love of God puts God back in charge. The knowledge is there so we know when to call upon his name and help our brothers and sisters in Christ through the trials and tribulations in their lives, even though they may not be OUR trials and tribulations. We know the nature of reality by studying God's word, and then build God's community on earth, here and now, through love.
Notice in the Mark passage that before the healing, Christ is teaching “as one with authority.” There is still some doubt as to whether he has the authority by the word “as.” After the healing, everyone is amazed. He teaches with authority. There is no “as.” He has the authority—there is no doubt. Knowledge plus love equals the authority of God. As we embrace the two aspects of true religion—knowledge of God and love of neighbor—let us remember that one of these without the other is empty, and both of them together contains the visible and understandable authority of God.
Knowledge of God is not a bad thing. Our Psalm tonight even expresses this, Psalm 111: Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them. Knowledge of God, his kingdom, and his works, are very important in the Christian life. Jesus tells us in his prayer of John 17, that knowledge of God IS eternal life. Not that it GETS us to eternal life, or that it is the ROAD to eternal life. Or a tool to eternal life, or an element of eternal life. No, knowledge of God IS eternal life. Studying God is the best of things.
But in 1 Corinthians 8, Paul explains to us that knowledge of God may be eternal life for us, but knowledge of God without love for our neighbor may be death for our neighbor. Consequently, that is death for us, as Christ says, “Woe to you who causes one of your brothers to stumble.” As Paul says, knowledge puffs up but love builds up. Knowledge helps our walk with the Lord, but love helps our neighbor's walk with the Lord. Just as when James tells us that faith helps our walk with the Lord but works helps our neighbor's walk. Faith without works is dead faith, because works is the proof of faith. Just so: knowledge without love is dead, because love is proof of knowledge.
As Paul says, anyone who claims to know something does not yet have that necessary knowledge. But when that same person loves God, his knowledge becomes more complete and helpful to his neighbor. I read a scenario by a commentator about this chapter in first Corinthians. Three Christians sit down to eat, and the first Christian asks the host if the meat has been sacrificed to an idol. The host responds, “yes.” The first Christian stops eating and lets his two friends know. The second Christian, having the knowledge that there are no gods but the one true God, laughs and continues eating. The idols are empty, they connect to nothing, no gods. The meat is not tainted, and so there is no harm in eating it. The third Christian has the same knowledge as the second Christian. There is not harm in eating the meat, BUT he has love of God in his heart, in addition to his knowledge, and so he stops eating, too, so as to keep the first Christian from stumbling. Because the first Christian believes that the idols are attached to gods.
Belief is as strong power. There are many times that if we believe we are cursed, then we suddenly notice strange things happening to us. Things that seem like the curse is real. There's a really interesting movie called Skeleton Key, and it's about hoodoo, which is like voodoo, which is bunk, but in the movie, the main character believes, and so the curses that are put upon her WORK. She is a captive to the curses, because she believed that they would have effect.
Outside of a movie, the curses work because of belief. There are many people who walk about in Haiti—whose national religion is voodoo—who believe they themselves are zombies—whose souls are possessed by others. Their belief has such a powerful hold on their consciousness, that they actually become zombies.
Well, this sounds psychosomatic. As Paul writes, “for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” This is reality. There are no other gods. They do not exist. Idols are connected to nothing. So belief that causes effect seems like a psychosomatic symptom.
As Paul writes, “Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.” In other words, some people have become so drastically brainwashed, that they cannot escape the false realities of how the world works. As Christians, we know how the world works, but there are Christians who believe the occult has power, and therefore are profoundly effected by occult practices.
Now the scene twists again, for although Paul is telling the truth and there are no such things as Gods, and all idols are false idols, here is some more knowledge to muddy the pool: there are unclean spirits. In our gospel passage, Jesus frees a man in the synagogue from an unclean spirit. Is this psychosomatic? Did Jesus practice some quick therapy on his brainwashed, deluded mind? Did he have a powerful concoction on hand—the earliest anti-depressant—that he slipped the guy, and he was cured? No. The scriptures don't lie. There was an unclean spirit. Not a chemical imbalance, an unclean spirit.
As a pastor once told me: a totem pole is just a piece of wood, but if you bow down to it, every evil spirit in the universe will race to attach itself to that pole. There are no such things as gods, but there are such things as spirits. In a way the first Christian is right. Even though there are no gods but God, there are evil spirits out there that try very hard to hinder all of our walks with God.
As C.S. Lewis writes, we should definitely be aware that demons and the devil himself exist, but we should not give them too much unwarranted attention. Let's not give them more power than they deserve. As it says in Mark 1:26, “And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.” The unclean spirits all listen to Jesus, so it may as well be that they do not exist. Demons should be seen as a minor annoyance. They may be a frustration, but they are not impossible for us to handle, because we have Christ. So, we've gone from the first Christian being wrong, because of lack of knowledge, to being right, because of the knowledge that unclean spirits exist, to being wrong again, because of the knowledge that the name of Jesus Christ is so powerful against unclean spirits, that they may as well not exist.
Christ called out the unclean spirits when he was among us, and so too, with the Holy Spirit now in our hearts, we, too, can call them out. In the name of Jesus Christ, I cast you out. Go back into the darkness from whence you came, and do not come back. In our collect today we prayed, “Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth.” God is in charge. We need to remember that. God is in charge. Knowledge of God without love of God puts us in God's place, we become puffed up, and we cause our brother or sister to stumble. Knowledge of God with love of God puts God back in charge. The knowledge is there so we know when to call upon his name and help our brothers and sisters in Christ through the trials and tribulations in their lives, even though they may not be OUR trials and tribulations. We know the nature of reality by studying God's word, and then build God's community on earth, here and now, through love.
Notice in the Mark passage that before the healing, Christ is teaching “as one with authority.” There is still some doubt as to whether he has the authority by the word “as.” After the healing, everyone is amazed. He teaches with authority. There is no “as.” He has the authority—there is no doubt. Knowledge plus love equals the authority of God. As we embrace the two aspects of true religion—knowledge of God and love of neighbor—let us remember that one of these without the other is empty, and both of them together contains the visible and understandable authority of God.
The Holy Spirit and Sin
In the sermon, "Do I Have It?," I wrote, "Our sin cannot be in the same room with the spirit—it cannot be in the same body. The weaker one is burned away, and the Holy Spirit is not weak." Now, because of Adam's original sin, we are inherently sinful. Even St. Paul said in Romans 6 that he himself is sinful by nature and does what he does not want to do. How can the Holy Spirit inhabit our sinful bodies if they are full of sin and the Holy Spirit cannot be in the same "room" with sin? No one is free of sin. The answer lies with grace. Just as when the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts through God's mercy and grace, so, too, the Holy Spirit remains in the same body with sin, constantly forgiving and constantly repairing the damage we do to ourselves through God's mercy and grace. When the Holy Spirit is in us, we are not immediately sinless, and we will never be completely sinless until the next world, but the transformative power of the Holy Spirit is working throughout our lives. As, I wrote earlier in the same paragraph: "The Holy Spirit is a transforming spirit. It is not merely enlightening or comforting. The spirit changes us into the image of God. We thirst to be like him and to cast off sin. When we get the Holy Spirit, our destructive lifestyles are cast away." This not an immediate or complete transformation, but it is noticeable. As John says in his first letter, if we say we do not sin, we are liars, but also if we say we love God and our lives are just depraved and rotten as they were before we met Him, then we are liars, too. We are not going to be perfect by any means, but there will be noticeable fruits of our walk with God, and noticeable fruits of the indwelling Spirit working on destroying our sins as we commit them and forgiving them.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Romans Bible Study: Tuesdays at 7pm starting 1/31
"I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change that God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ--Christ alone for my salvation. And an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins and death." - John Wesley
God used the book of Romans to save a man, and this man was to go on and to touch the world. John Wesley, after he was saved, went on to be used by God to start a revival in the New England colonies of America that began to be such an inferno of revival--the blaze was so great that it's still known today as the "Great Awakening." And hundreds of thousands of people were saved. The awakening went over to Europe. One of the most amazing we see as we study the history of the Church--the past 2,000 years of Church history--is that most if not all of the great revivals and reformations and spiritual awakenings of the Church of Jesus Christ can be traced back to the book of Romans. That's significant. All through history when the Church has fallen into spiritual error and deadness, the Lord Jesus has brought the book of Romans to somebody's attention, and the result is that the Church bursts into life. Great spiritual awakenings have occurred whenever this book has been dusted off, opened, read, and understood. The power of the book of Romans is not just something that worked 2,000 years ago. The power of the book of Romans is something that can effect our lives today. If you're spiritually dry or dead, this book of Romans can quicken you, can cause you to come alive. If you're not a Christian, the book of Romans--if you read it and listen to it--you can't stand not being a Christian. You will become a Christian, if you listen to the book of Romans, and you begin to understand it.
Join us Tuesday nights, beginning on January 31, at 7pm at Grace Lutheran By-The-Sea for an in-depth study of the Book of Romans, and bring anyone you know who may have never heard St. Paul's letter and is in need of a spiritual awakening.
Board Game Friday at the Front Porch Cafe
Each Friday from 3:15pm until closing, a group of board gamers meets at the Front Porch Cafe in Nags Head to go head-to-head on many different kinds of abstract strategy games. These games are in the same vein as chess, but some are obscure, original, and all are quite fun. We have card games like Lost Cities, German games like those from the GIPF project, and beautiful wooden games like Cathedral and Quoridor. Don't expect to roll dice and press your luck. This is pure strategy, and it is a great opportunity for young people to develop their strategy minds with these brain-burners, especially in the winter months when “there's just nothing to do.” Please come to the Front Porch Cafe in Nags Head (Milepost 10 1/2, S. Croatan Highway) and join in the fun!
Toler's Treasures - Jan 2012
Did you know that the biggest pizza ever made was in Tallahassee, FL and it fed 30,000 people? You didn’t? We’ll, how about the fact that Coke was first bottled in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1894? Here’s one more. The longest sand sculpture (over 10 miles long) was built on Myrtle Beach in 1990. Oh the things you can learn after spending over 3,000 miles in the car…with 2 kids!
We pray that you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Thank you so much for praying for our family on our tour of the Southeast. It was such a blessing to reconnect with friends and family during the holiday season. As we settle back in to life here in Dallas, we look forward to our next semester of classes. We will be taking Second Language and Culture Acquisition, Cultural Anthropology, Field Methods, and Field Data Management. Once again, prayers are greatly appreciated! We continue to pray for you and thank God for your partnership in this ministry.
Please enjoy our attached January Newsletter.
In Christ Alone,
Kris and Susan Toler
Click here to read the January Newsletter
We pray that you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Thank you so much for praying for our family on our tour of the Southeast. It was such a blessing to reconnect with friends and family during the holiday season. As we settle back in to life here in Dallas, we look forward to our next semester of classes. We will be taking Second Language and Culture Acquisition, Cultural Anthropology, Field Methods, and Field Data Management. Once again, prayers are greatly appreciated! We continue to pray for you and thank God for your partnership in this ministry.
Please enjoy our attached January Newsletter.
In Christ Alone,
Kris and Susan Toler
Click here to read the January Newsletter
Monday, January 23, 2012
What Do I Say?
One of the biggest hurdles to evangelism, the thing that turns us away from doing anything the most, is when we think to ourselves, “What do I say?” When we think of opening our mouths to someone and preparing that perfect opening line, that icebreaker to evangelism, we lock up. We avoid confrontation altogether, even though it may not be confrontation at all. We are conditioned to think that any talk of religion is confrontational, so we don't even try. However, Jeremiah said the same thing to God in his first chapter. And God responded that he would give Jeremiah the the words to say. Be not afraid.
Jonah is commissioned twice by God to go to Nineveh. I want to compare the first commission of Jonah with the second commission, and see if we can get a better idea of how God gives us the words to say. Here are the two commissions:
Go at once
to Nineveh
that great city
and cry out against it
for their wickedness has come up before me
Get up
Go to Nineveh
that great city
and proclaim to it
the message that I tell you
The first commission is before the storm and the fish. The second commission is after the fish. What's so special about the fish? That's where Jonah repents of his sin, trying to run away from God's plan for his life. In the fish we hear the following in Jonah's prayer: “Then I said, “I am driven away from your sight; how shall I look again upon your holy temple?””
So the second commission has the additional words, “get up.” Jonah was probably in temple on his knees when he got the second commission. We think that he was spit out by the fish and immediately dragged his stinky, fish-smelling self over to Nineveh. I think God gave Jonah some time to repent and get back into a routine of being a servant of the Lord, on his knees in the temple.
Nineveh is still a great city, but in the first commission, God lets Jonah in on the details of what he wants him to do: cry out against it—and the WHY: for their wickedness has come up before me. The second time, the Lord is not giving Jonah so much details. Like Jeremiah: when you get there, I will fill your mouth with words. Proclaim to it the message that I tell you. Jonah just needs to go and be God's mouthpiece, and he needs to not think so much. He needs to be in a more subservient role. He cannot know the details this time, because we have seen what he does with too much information. He runs away.
So, we, too, must not be too involved in the management of our evangelism. We know we are called to evangelize, and that is really all we need to know. God gives us the words to say when we get there, when we are face to face with our subject. If he gave us the what and the why before we set foot outside our homes, we probably would never leave our homes. We would stay in bed with the covers over our heads—our own personal Tarshish.
When Jonah gets to Nineveh, God gives him the message to say: “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” The effect is astonishing. The whole city repents, including the king. Never has anyone been able to produce such an effect in a single day. This could only come from the power and grace of God. A SENSE of God filled the city. The simple phrase that Jonah spoke became a contagion—a virus that spread throughout the whole city until everyone was infected.
When we talk to someone in public, we shouldn't worry about what we say. When God's power and grace are behind our words, they will spread like a contagion. In our gospel reading, Jesus knows this, because he does the same thing: he merely says to them, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” That is not a very potent phrase in itself. I don't think I would be successful with that phrase in a coffee shop. People would just stare at me—or would they? If the power and grace of God were behind that phrase, perhaps I would be able to build up a following. It's all about having faith. Jesus knows the will of the Father, and he had no problem saying a mere, “follow me,” to Matthew. He didn't even include the second part of the phrase for Matthew. What would it have been? “And I will make you a taxer of men?” Matthew was already a taxer of men. All Jesus said to Matthew was two words: follow me. The power and grace of God did all the rest. Everyone immediately drops their nets or leaves their tax booths. They leave the stuff right there. They aren't worried that the stuff is going to get stolen. Sometimes Dad is left behind, too. Standing with the net in his hands, watching his sons run off with some guy. This is drastic stuff, and we aren't capable of making it happen. Only God is capable. He makes it happen, and when we have faith in him, he will give us the perfect phrase to say.
I was talking to a young man the other day, and I just couldn't figure out what to say to him. What do you do? He answered homework, and left it at that. Suddenly, it just popped out of my mouth: do you like music? Yes. What do you listen to? The Beatles. Me, too. The face lit up, suddenly he was accessible. Music is easy, but when was the last time we asked someone what their spiritual life was like? Do you believe in the supernatural? Do you believe in God? Sometimes just a phrase like that might be the opening. Maybe we should try that this week. Ask one person this week if they believe in God—obviously where you don't know what the answer will be—and see if the power and grace of God come rushing through the one phrase and leads the conversation into a contagious flurry that brings someone closer to Jesus.
Jonah is commissioned twice by God to go to Nineveh. I want to compare the first commission of Jonah with the second commission, and see if we can get a better idea of how God gives us the words to say. Here are the two commissions:
Go at once
to Nineveh
that great city
and cry out against it
for their wickedness has come up before me
Get up
Go to Nineveh
that great city
and proclaim to it
the message that I tell you
The first commission is before the storm and the fish. The second commission is after the fish. What's so special about the fish? That's where Jonah repents of his sin, trying to run away from God's plan for his life. In the fish we hear the following in Jonah's prayer: “Then I said, “I am driven away from your sight; how shall I look again upon your holy temple?””
So the second commission has the additional words, “get up.” Jonah was probably in temple on his knees when he got the second commission. We think that he was spit out by the fish and immediately dragged his stinky, fish-smelling self over to Nineveh. I think God gave Jonah some time to repent and get back into a routine of being a servant of the Lord, on his knees in the temple.
Nineveh is still a great city, but in the first commission, God lets Jonah in on the details of what he wants him to do: cry out against it—and the WHY: for their wickedness has come up before me. The second time, the Lord is not giving Jonah so much details. Like Jeremiah: when you get there, I will fill your mouth with words. Proclaim to it the message that I tell you. Jonah just needs to go and be God's mouthpiece, and he needs to not think so much. He needs to be in a more subservient role. He cannot know the details this time, because we have seen what he does with too much information. He runs away.
So, we, too, must not be too involved in the management of our evangelism. We know we are called to evangelize, and that is really all we need to know. God gives us the words to say when we get there, when we are face to face with our subject. If he gave us the what and the why before we set foot outside our homes, we probably would never leave our homes. We would stay in bed with the covers over our heads—our own personal Tarshish.
When Jonah gets to Nineveh, God gives him the message to say: “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” The effect is astonishing. The whole city repents, including the king. Never has anyone been able to produce such an effect in a single day. This could only come from the power and grace of God. A SENSE of God filled the city. The simple phrase that Jonah spoke became a contagion—a virus that spread throughout the whole city until everyone was infected.
When we talk to someone in public, we shouldn't worry about what we say. When God's power and grace are behind our words, they will spread like a contagion. In our gospel reading, Jesus knows this, because he does the same thing: he merely says to them, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” That is not a very potent phrase in itself. I don't think I would be successful with that phrase in a coffee shop. People would just stare at me—or would they? If the power and grace of God were behind that phrase, perhaps I would be able to build up a following. It's all about having faith. Jesus knows the will of the Father, and he had no problem saying a mere, “follow me,” to Matthew. He didn't even include the second part of the phrase for Matthew. What would it have been? “And I will make you a taxer of men?” Matthew was already a taxer of men. All Jesus said to Matthew was two words: follow me. The power and grace of God did all the rest. Everyone immediately drops their nets or leaves their tax booths. They leave the stuff right there. They aren't worried that the stuff is going to get stolen. Sometimes Dad is left behind, too. Standing with the net in his hands, watching his sons run off with some guy. This is drastic stuff, and we aren't capable of making it happen. Only God is capable. He makes it happen, and when we have faith in him, he will give us the perfect phrase to say.
I was talking to a young man the other day, and I just couldn't figure out what to say to him. What do you do? He answered homework, and left it at that. Suddenly, it just popped out of my mouth: do you like music? Yes. What do you listen to? The Beatles. Me, too. The face lit up, suddenly he was accessible. Music is easy, but when was the last time we asked someone what their spiritual life was like? Do you believe in the supernatural? Do you believe in God? Sometimes just a phrase like that might be the opening. Maybe we should try that this week. Ask one person this week if they believe in God—obviously where you don't know what the answer will be—and see if the power and grace of God come rushing through the one phrase and leads the conversation into a contagious flurry that brings someone closer to Jesus.
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