Scripture: Acts 8:26-40
Abiding in Christ is to hang out with Christ, or to be His friend. This is my ultimate goal to be a friend of God and to encourage others to be also. I guess I am in the right worship community since I’m in the Friends Church. That being said intresting things begin to happen when your relationship with God deepens. You begin to have strong desires to do things you previously would not have done.
In this scriptue we read about Phillip, he is told to head out to Gaza and along the way he encounters a Ethiopian eunich. There are several things about this man that would make him unacceptable according to the laws of Moses: one he is a gentile, and secondly he is a eunich. Yet he is sitting in his charriot reading scripture, with a strong desire to understand what it is talking about. Along comes Phillip.
I often sit wondering about things. I identify with this Ethiopian guy because some scripture is pretty hard to understand. I also really want to know God, intelectually as well as relationally. I have often sat wondering things when somone enlightened me, sometimes they did not even know they did.
Phillip listened to the Spirit of God and followed His leadings. There is nothing to indicate he was on this road for any other reason, he went to walk and to be obedient. By doing so he had the opertunity to spread the gospel of Jesus to another land. I wonder if Phillip was wondering why he had to walk to Gaza as much as the Ethiopian was wondering about the passage he as reading?
One thing I know, Phillip wated to serve God. He was named as one of the decons of the church. He was given a ministry to serve others. I can see why God would use a man whose ministry was to serve the needy to reach out to a servant (slave) of another land. I wonder if I am as obedient as Phillip?
Over the past few days I have entered into several random conversations, many of these eventually turned toward a spiritual disscussion. It is not that I purposfully directed the topics, it just sort of happened. I happened to be on a road to Gaza, when someone needed or wanted to talk. These random conversations tend to become the highlights to my day, the more I have the more excited I get. At times these talks spill into my next break or even the next day.
I would not realize these opertunities if I were not abiding in Christ. If I did not spend time drawing closer to Christ, I might have missed a chance to see God’s kingdom advance. As you pray remember a time you were like the eunich, wondering about an aspect of faith and having someone meet you just when you needed it. You might want to spend some time praying blessings to that person. Maybe you are seeking answers, I would encourage you to ask for assistance and be open to the Spirit of God’s teachings wherever they come. Maybe you are abiding and chilling with God and feel like you need to take a trip to Gaza, be open to this explore it a bit and be obedient. Who knows you just might meet a person God wants to use to expand His kingdom into a new age.
Enjoy you trip!
Scripture: John 15:1-8
Abide… its a strange word. One I’m sure you haven’t used today. I know I wouldn’t have if I was not writng this post. We do not use abide much in today’s language. Which is probably why it struck me so much as I was praying with this scripture. Jesus says Abide with me and I will abide with you. Clearly it is something people who follow Jesus would want to do.
What is abiding? In my personal definition it would reflect hanging out, or spending time. In college I would abide with my roommates. Of course there really was not much choice in the matter since we occupied a room together. In our dorms two rooms would share one bathroom, and all four of us got along pretty well so we moved all the beds to one side and made a room just to hang out in. In this room all of our friends would come to just hang out and abide. We would talk, watch movies, and play video games late into the night. (We might occasionally do homework but only when we absolutly had to.
This is a picture of abiding. It is being with others, sharing life. We do not often consider our life with God in the same manner. We often deligate our spiritual life into one corner of our existance and only pull it out on certain days or when we have extra time. Jesus wants us to hang out though. He wants t be in he same room when we are laughing at rediculous movies, he wants to argue with you over who gets the top bunk, he would even like to assist you when you are having trouble with work or a relationship. Jesus wants to hang out with you.
I find that strange, that God would want to hang out. I’m ok with Him wanting a day where we sing songs to Him,I’m ok with giving money to the church for ministries that help others. It is hard for me to picture Jesus wanting to kick off the shoes and chill with me while playing the latest video game. Yet it is what happens as we draw closer to Him. We get more comfortable our discussions get deeper and deeper till eventually we can tell what each other is thinking.
Often in the dorm room we would all get hungry and would pile into a car to get food. We’d enter a restraunt as a group and everyone there would know we were from the college. (I’m sure the various t-shirts from the bookstore had something to do with it). Many places got to know us so well that we would not have to show the school ID to receive the college discounts. We would go together and abide together.
When we are hanging out with Jesus we beging to recoginze His voice, we begin to know when a suggestion to do something is one to actually act on or think about. If we were not abiding we would never know the difference. As we abide with Christ people beging to notice that there is something different about us. Just like the people at the local restraunt can pick out the students.
What does abiding look like for you? Do you have a space that makes abiding easier? How often are you there? Abide with this scripture again and just enjoy some time hanging out with Jesus.
Scripture: John 10:11-18
What is the real work of a pastor? Some would call them the shepherd of the church, but I do not fully agree. As a pastor I do not really want to be the shepherd. I do have a role to play as does everyone else in the church. But to be honest all of us are just the help. I cannot save anyone, I cannot forgive anyone, to be honest I can only pray for other and direct them to deepen their own relationship with Christ.
Some may say that I am wrong and that’s ok. Just think it through for a moment. Who is the one we follow? If we are followers of Christ we cannot follow anyone else but Christ. If a pastor takes the role of Christ then we do not follow Christ but that person. The pastor may be a really go person, but Christ is greater.
I love being a pastor. I love to encourage people, I love to teach about Christ, I love to assist people in their times of need. I love to tend the “sheep” but I as a pastor must remember that they are not my sheep, I am the help. If trouble comes to the Meeting that I am a pastor of, I can leave, and where would all the people be? I could go across the country enter into ministry in another Meeting but the people of the current Meeting I am at will remain where they are. I am the help, I can only encourage people to listen to the Shepherd.
I need to remember this as a pastor and a follower of Christ because it is important to be honest. Honesty is important to the Christian faith. It is important to realize that we are sheep in need of help. Wolves will come into our lives and we will be left vulnerable, unless we trust the shepherd.
As we pray today interact with Jesus. Imagine the scene that He is setting up. Imagine yourself as a sheep wondering around the wide medow. Who are you hearing? Is He calling to you to follow? As you wonder farther away in the medow you hear a noise and smell something different something sinister. What will you do, where do you turn? Who is there to help you?
The people around us can help to a point, but only to a point. Even the best pastor in the world can only do so much, because they too are sheep needing help. Prayer is where we interact with Christ, hear his voice, and can respond.