Giving

You can't out give God! There are many lessons to be learned in the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand (see John 6), but my favorite lesson comes from the little boy. The boy's presence reminds us that Jesus fed more than 5,000 men that day. Women and children were also present.

We don't know how Andrew found the boy or if the boy perhaps offered his lunch to the disciple (John 6:8). I would like to think that the little boy offered his lunch to Andrew when he overheard Philip's answer to Jesus' question, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" (6:5) I am certain of this: Andrew didn't force the boy to give up his lunch to Jesus.

Children view problems in very simplistic terms. I remember the time I was having a discussion with my wife about some monthly bills. One of my younger children overheard the conversation and quickly offered to use his own money to pay for the bill. He really didn't understand how much the bill cost, but he was willing to help -- in that moment that's all that mattered to him and to me!

I wonder how often we look up to God with the heart of this little boy. We see a problem or a need and say to the Lord, "I don't have much, but here's what I have!" I really think that is the kind of heart that God is looking for in us. He's not waiting for us to solve the problem, he just wants to know if we are willing to help, willing to believe. He will work the miracle with the little we offer him.

Some people miss this, but one of the most amazing parts of this miracle is not the feeding of the 5,000 plus people, but the fact that there were 12 baskets of bread left over. I wonder who they gave the bread to? Remember what Jesus said, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." (6:12)

I think the disciples gave the 12 baskets back to the boy who gave up his lunch. So imagine yourself as the little boy. Your family has been wandering around following Jesus for the day. Mom had put together a lunch for the family that morning. Then a big surprise - you offer the family lunch to Jesus to help feed the crowd. Wow! What a moment! Then comes the bigger surprise. You gave two fish and five loaves of bread but you got back 12 baskets full of food.

What is God asking you to give up to him in your life today? I hope you have the heart of the little boy in John 6. Because you can't out give God. Giving is really not about money at all; it's about your heart. If you give God your heart, you won't have any problem giving him your time, talent, or treasure.

Whatever you give will be blessed and multiplied. This is especially true when we offer our lives to the Lord to serve him and others. Jesus said, "Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap." (Luke 6:38)

I want to encourage you to be like the little boy in John 6. Be a giver and enjoy the blessings of God in your life. See you Sunday. Pastor Tom

Brokenness and sin

Brokenness . . . . Jesus met many broken people during his ministry. Some were broken physically, others emotionally, and some socially or economically. All were broken spiritually.

Years ago when I was just getting started in ministry, I worked at a church in Branson with a homeless shelter in the basement. I was the youth pastor, but every staff person had the opportunity to help in the homeless shelter. It was my first real experience trying to help people who were down on their luck in life. The interesting twist on this particular homeless shelter was it's location -- Branson. Back in the early 90s, Branson was a big draw for dreamers and musicians of all types. But some of these dreamers ended up in the homeless shelter broken and down on their luck. Here's a simple truth I learned from working with guys in this homeless shelter -- There is a strong human tendency towards blaming others when we are down on our luck or when life disappoints us. It can't be me; so it must be that life has been unfair or I've been mistreated in some way.

In John 4 and 5 Jesus encounters two broken people in need of a miracle. As I read the stories I am reminded of our human tendency to look for someone or something besides ourself to blame when things go wrong in life. In both of these stories, Jesus pinpoints this tendency. Take a look.

The first story is the record of the official's son who is sick and close to death (some type of fever). Jesus heals him with only his word, saying, "You may go. Your son will live." But the point of the healing seems to be more than just bringing the official's son back from the doorstep of death. Jesus is concerned about the Galileans' lack of faith and he wants the official to trust in him. He says to them, "Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe." (John 4:48) You can sense the frustration in Jesus' voice as he points out what so many of us lack -- faith!

The second story unveils the spiritual brokenness that we often hide beneath our physical or emotionally brokenness. John 5 tells us the story of the man at the pool of Bethesda. The title "Bethesda" means "house of mercy". It is at the pool of Bethesda that Jesus reveals the beauty of God's mercy to a man who had been an invalid for 38 years. But first he asks him a question!?!

When Jesus encounter this physically broken person, he asked him a politically incorrect question. He says to the lame man,"Do you want to get well?" Why would Jesus ask such n insensitive question? Of course, he wants to get well?! Right?!

Obviously Jesus perceived something about this lame man. His response to Jesus confirmed what Jesus had suspected. The lame man had "excuses". In those days, an angel would come down and trouble the waters of the pool. The first person in the water would be healed. The lame man had never been able to make it into the water before someone else. so in his mind, others were keeping him from begin healed.

When Jesus came along and said, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk", he was asking the lame man to re-focus on his own lack and place his faith in God. Later, Jesus adds insult to injury by connecting the man's former lack of faith with sin. Jesus says to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." (John 5:14)

Both of these stories remind me of three important truths: 1) we are broken and need the touch of God's mercy in our lives. Jesus offers us God's mercy. 2) We are most often broken because of our own lack of faith in God and ourselves, not because of our circumstances. 3) Spiritual brokenness or sin is our greatest lack. Sin is the unwillingness to believe God and the tendency to go our own way.

Brokenness . . . It's something we all experience in life. Brokenness is loss, disappointment, failure, sadness, and sinful disobedience. Let me encourage you to take a look at the brokenness in your own life. How can you get whole? do you want to get well? Are you willing to get up? Are you willing to believe? No life is not fair, and we have all faced difficulties and disappointments. But if we will believe, god will show us the beauty of his mercy.

Have a great week and see you Sunday! Pastor Tom

Jesus as the living water

Jesus was a master at taking everyday situations and teaching us deeper spiritual truths. That's the story in John 4. As the story begins we find Jesus at a well in Samaria. Apparently he is thirsty, but he also has something other than thirst on his mind.

To begin the conversation, Jesus asks the Samaritan woman for some water. The story is full of interesting details. For instance, why was the woman coming to the well at noon? Why was Jesus talking to a woman or a Samaritan? Apparently, Jesus had a plan for the woman's life that included more than helping her get some water from Jacob's well at Sychar.

I see three important truths in this story that we can apply to our lives. One, Jesus is willing to cross barriers to communicate God's love and life. Two, Jesus is the only true source of spiritual water on the planet. And three, Jesus had one great purpose in life. Let's try to break these down and apply them to our lives.

#1: Crossing barriers -- Bill Hybels wrote a book called "Walk Across the Room". In the book Bill suggests that all we need to do as Christians is walk across the room and make ourselves available to others, if we want to share our story of God's love and his grace in our lives.

Jesus is a great example of this in John 4. He not only walked across the room, he crossed some major barriers. First of all, no Rabbi in that day would have been caught dead having a spiritual discussion with a woman. Jesus overlooked this artificial barrier. Second, the Jews and Samaritans hated each other mostly for good historical reasons (come to the Sunday gathering and I'll explain). Let's just say that the Samaritans were illegitimate as far as the Jews from Judea were concerned. But Jesus ignored this barrier as well. Third, this woman was not an "upstanding citizen" (maybe that's why she was drawing water at noon). This woman had experienced brokenness and failure in her life and most likely was an outcast. This didn't stop Jesus either.

Jesus didn't allow man-made barriers to keep him from sharing the good news of God's love with others. We shouldn't either. When is the last time, you walked across the room to tell someone else about God's goodness in your life. Go for it!

#2: Jesus is the only true source of spiritual water on the planet. The overarching point of the story in John 4 is Jesus' identity as "living water". There is a passage in Jeremiah (2:13) which condemns God's people because they have forsaken "springs of living water" and turned to "cisterns made by hand". This is still true today.

The human condition has one common denominator - pain, misery, disappointment, and failure and the desire to get away from it! Call it Murphy's law or original sin, we've all experienced it. And we are all looking for something better. We want to live a satisfying and full life. But there is often just one problem. We tend to look in the wrong places or crate our own artificial wells.

To the woman at the well who was still depending on her spiritual father Jacob to quench her spiritual and physical thirst, Jesus offered himself and a relationship with God as "living Water".

#3: Jesus had one great purpose in life. How many purposes do yo have in your life? Do you have a purpose? Jesus had one. He wanted to fulfill his father's will for his life and proclaim the good news of God's kingdom (John 4:34). Jesus never veered off this course.

How about you? Are you wandering or are you on course? Join us this Sunday morning as we take a look at these three truths and experience the beauty of Jesus as the "living water". See you Sunday!

Blessings, Pastor Tom

Jesus - the Love of God

LOVE! It's what we all want; it's what we all need. But, what's it all about? What is love? What does it look like? There's no doubt our culture is in real trouble when it comes to defining love. We understand romance, sexual attraction, getting what we want. We understand adultery, broken relationships, unfaithfulness, sleeping around, or making commitments and then breaking them. But true love and the ability to offer it to others escapes most of us. It certainly escapes our culture. We are living in an increasingly selfish and hedonistic culture in which people think of themselves first and others only if their behaviors make the morning newspaper.

What does love look like? Love is faithfulness, loyalty, commitment, fidelity, integrity, and selfless behavior. do you see love at work in your life? 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 provides us the best possible definition of love. Let me quote it for you, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." All of us fall short of the Bible's definition of love. Our failings speak of our need for God's love and his help in sharing it with others.

In John 3, John's gospel presents Jesus as the revealed love of God. Probably the most famous verse in the Bible is John 3:16. The verse teaches us that God is a lover, a giver, and a forgiver. Because he loves, he took action for us, not for himself, by sending His Son to die a criminal's death as the lamb of God. Because he loves, he gives to us what we need to overcome our lack. In christ Jesus, god gives to us a new life and the promise of eternity. Because he loves us, he forgives us our failings so that we will not perish from our own destructive ways.

Everything about God speaks of love -- His character, His loving actions, and His willingness to offer us love, even though we don't deserve it. Most of us can show some type of kindness to those who love us, but only Christ-like love can show kindness to enemies or to those who have hurt us.

This Sunday, we are going to explore how we can invite the love of God into our daily life. Jesus suggested to Nicodemus a "new birth" experience (John 3:3). Too many of us try to go it alone, falsely believing we can make ourselves better people or at least convince others that we aren't really bad people after all. Jesus taught that we need an infusion of God's love and God's Spirit.

I'm praying for you, for your family, and for nation. We desperately need the love of God in our lives and our relationships.

See you Sunday at the ARC (10:15 AM). Pastor Tom