23

Jump Start # 2434

Posted on September 23, 2019 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2434

 

Philippians 3:13 “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.”

 

In our last Jump Start we looked at a passage from Peter where some brethren had forgotten their purification from their sins. They forgot where they came from. There are some things that we should never forget. Remembering our blessings helps us to be thankful, appreciative and good stewards. In writing those thoughts, it occurred to me that there are some things that we do need to forget. Remember some things and forget other things.

 

Our verse today shows Paul forgetting what was behind. He chose to forget some things. This was not a bad memory, but rather a purposed mind. Some things we need to hold on to. Then there are things we need to let go of. Paul’s accomplishments as a Jew were no longer important to him. Who he was is not something that he wanted to hold on to. Now, it was a matter of who he is and where he was going.

 

There are some things that you and I need to forget:

 

We need to forget the hurts that others have caused us. Like a scab, as long as we keep remembering those things, we pick and pick and that wound never heals. We can forget a compliment but it seems we can remember the harsh things people have said to us. Some can remember, decades later, the mean things that some said to them. Some can remember church problems as if they happened last week, but they didn’t. They happened years ago. Every new face is told those sad stories. Over and over those things are remembered, retold, and relived. And, the sad truth is, many of those sad problems happened a generation ago. People got mad. Some left. Time moved on. People don’t really know or understand what the problems were, but they know they are not to like, accept, or fellowship those in that other group. A good ole’ fashioned memory loss would do a lot of good. It is here where children shine better than adults. Kids can get mad at each other and say the meanest things to each other. They can run to their rooms and slam the door and even verbally declare that they hate the other person. But in just a short while, those same children can be seen playing with each other again. Forgotten. Moved on. Better to play with someone than to play by yourself. Children are good at that. Adults can’t do that. We have to end relationships. Switch congregations. De-friend someone. Cut all ties and never, ever again be with that person. It would do good just to forget some things.

 

We need to forget our forgiven sins. That’s hard. Sometimes we wonder if we are forgiven and what’s holding us back is the fact that we can’t forgive ourselves. God can. Others can. Be we won’t. We remember. We feel like we do not deserve God’s blessings. We want our names removed from serving in the church, not for a short time, but forever. We feel second rate and second class. We continue to believe that God is angry with us. We refuse to believe that we are forgiven. We hold serious doubts in our minds about Heaven for us. Part of the problem here is refusing to trust and accept the grace of God. Part of the problem is demanding perfection in ourselves. Part of the problem is failing to see that God loves us and is ready to use us in His kingdom.

 

We need to forget many of the accomplishments we have made, even spiritually. Our progress ought to be evident to all, the Scriptures tell us. Growth opens doors for us. People ought to recognize the roles we play in teaching, leading and encouraging souls to the Lord. That’s all good. However, if we start listing all the good things we do, it sure sounds like bragging. And, bragging has a way of squeezing God out of the picture. The way some talk, you’d wonder how the kingdom survived this long without them. They’ve done this and they’ve done that. And, because of them the church has doubled in size. And, because of them more became elders. It seems to be that Paul planted and Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. The glory goes to God. Heaven remembers the cups of cold water that we have given to others. We don’t need to keep track and we certainly do not need to tell others. Bragging has a way of making it seem that I’m better than you are. That’s never the truth. I may do things you can’t, but you can do things that I cannot. And, together, neither one of us can do much without God’s help. The five and two talent men did what they did for the master. The talents belonged to him, not them. They were simply stewards and servants in the kingdom. And, that’s our roles as well. I knew this guy who preached his whole life. His work was always with a small group. From an outside perspective, it sure seemed like he wasn’t doing much. The group he worked with never seemed to grow. In our times today, we’d tell him to move on or do something else. The results simply weren’t there. However, this preacher is viewed as a great hero. His name happened to be Noah. THE Noah. Not much to brag about when it came to his preaching. Doubt if he were alive today that he’d be called to hold many meetings. Yet, he is among God’s hall-of-fame. Righteous. Obedient. And a man of faith. Holding a bunch of Gospel meetings doesn’t mean really anything. It doesn’t even mean a guy is good. And, how easy it is to compare the number of meetings, the size of the congregation, the number baptized as a measuring rod of success and a determination that one is better than others. God doesn’t do that. Do your work. Give it your best. Pour all your energies into what you are doing, but don’t be bragging to others about how much you have done. Just do it.

 

To forget is to let things go. It’s to not dwell on things. It’s to focus your attention elsewhere. It’s to direct your thoughts to where God wants them to be. Sometimes we just need to open the windows of our minds and toss out stuff that doesn’t belong there. It cutters our thoughts and fills our hearts with things that are not helpful. Forgetting what lies behind, as our verse tells us, is a choice. You can do that or you can decide to keep things right before your eyes.

Clutter in our homes ought to be pitched out as well as the cutter in our minds. It does good to forget some things.

 

Roger

 

20

Jump Start # 2433

Posted on September 20, 2019 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2433

2 Peter 1:9 “For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.”

Having forgotten—those are the words we find in our verse today. Forgetting is an interesting concept. I doubt we’ve heard many lessons focused upon that topic. We all tend to remember certain things and we tend to forget certain things. The older one gets, the more one tends to struggle with remembering. We see faces that we recognize, but we can’t recall a name. For my wife and I, it’s takes both of us to tell a story anymore. She forgets parts that I remember and I forget parts that she remembers. But together, we can pretty much get the story told.

 

In our passage today, Peter concludes the list of what we call “Christian virtues” or “Christian graces.” These qualities are strung together and connected by the word “add” Add to your faith, moral excellence. Add to moral excellence, knowledge. And on and on it goes, covering eight qualities of the heart that God wants His children to manifest. These eight are not options, like at a fast food restaurant. “I’ll have some of number one, hold the second one, and just a little of number four.” No, it doesn’t work that way. We need all eight of these. In fact, these seem to be in a certain order, as if stair steps. One leads to the next.

 

Now, having gone through that, Peter comes to our verse. If you don’t have these qualities you are short-sighted and have forgotten your purification. The reason some would not have these qualities is because they never “added” them to their faith. These are choices. All Christians ought to have these, but all Christians do not. Why not? Some have never developed as they should have.

 

It is in this atmosphere that we find the idea of forgetting. Here, as Peter uses it, it’s not a good thing. There are some things we should never forget. Don’t forget where you came from.

 

When we say this, we are not talking about ancestry and our family history. For me, my family came from Indiana. Before that, North Carolina. Before that, Saxony, Germany. Back and back one can trace their family history. The Jews did that. The Bible does that in many places. Genesis five does that. The beginning of Chronicles does that. The opening of Matthew does that.

 

Don’t forget where you came from, means, don’t forget what life was like before Jesus came into your life. We need to remember:

 

First, don’t forget what it was like to be lost. To realize that we were once guilty and not right before God is something that helps keep us from sin. Do you remember those few moments, or for some, those days and weeks, before you were baptized into Christ? You knew. You knew you were a sinner. You knew that if you died, Heaven wasn’t going to be yours. You knew that you had to open your heart to God. You knew that Jesus was right. You may have been scared. You may have wondered what others thought. But that feeling, that place you were in, wasn’t a good place. You were not happy. You were not living life to the fullest. You realized that sin had crushed your relationship with God. Sin had ruined your life. You outlook was selfish. Your heart was dark. Your attitude was sour. Your words were often blasphemous. And, now, you realized that the world wasn’t the place to be. You had offended God and broken His commandments. You needed the mercy, grace and forgiveness of God. Until you received that, you were not in a good place. Remember?

 

Second, don’t forget what it was like to be saved? Do you remember the day you came to Christ and was baptized? What a glorious feeling that was. How right and how clean you felt. How you realized that you have done something right in your life. How great it was to sit in worship, to take the Lord’s Supper and to realize that God saw you as His child. Do you remember how great it was to leave worship, feeling like you truly worshipped the Lord and how wonderful that was. Remember?

 

Peter’s direction is that the reason some have not developed as they should have and the reason some have not added to their faith is that they forgot. And, something sad happens when we forget. We tend to take things for granted when we forget. We can take our marriage for granted. We can take our blessings for granted. We can take our health for granted. We can take our wonderful congregation for granted. And, so often is the case, it takes losing something precious for us to realize how wonderful things were. In the moment, we didn’t give it much thought. In the moment we weren’t very thankful. But now that a mate has passed away…now that we move away from a congregation…now that we don’t have the wonderful tools before us, it is then that we realize that we forgot to be thankful and appreciative.

 

Don’t forget. Remember where you came from. Remember, you are a reformed sinner. Remember, without Jesus, Heaven wouldn’t be possible. Now, there are some things that we need to forget. We will address those in our next Jump Start. And, so often, we remember what we ought to forget and we forget what we ought to remember. This mixed up thinking gets us mixed up.

 

Remember where you came from. You don’t want to go back there.

 

Roger

 

19

Jump Start # 2432

Posted on September 19, 2019 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2432

Romans 10:1 “Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.”

 

Our verse begins with the expression, “my heart’s desire.” We could call that Paul’s dream. Paul’s wish. Paul’s hope. You and I have such things. Every time a birthday gets near, someone asks, “What would you like for your birthday?” The other day my wife and I watched Disney’s Aladdin. A magic lamp. A genie. Three wishes. It got me to thinking, what would I wish for if I had just three wishes. Those thoughts can quickly become materialistic, vain and selfish. Living in a large castle, my own private golf course and a Duesenberg to drive would be mighty fine. But that didn’t last long. I thought about some of the college football games I saw over the weekend. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a stadium full of Christians who loved and followed the Lord? Not just one stadium, but every college stadium. Packed. Standing room only. All Christians. Preaching. Singing. Making an impact for the Lord. Wouldn’t that be amazing!

 

Paul’s wish was for his people, Israel. The Jews. He was one of them. He knew them. Now, he was preaching a message that upset them. He wanted them to follow him. He wanted them to be saved.

 

Now here is something we see about spiritual wishes, dreams and goals. Every church ought to have some. Every Christian ought to have some. If we don’t have challenges and goals, it’s easy to drift. Without any specifics, we tend to settle for whatever comes along. Imagine a guy who wants to lose weight. You ask him what is his goal. He says, “lose some weight.” You ask, “how much and how soon.” That’s a definite goal. Ten pounds a month? Now, do the same spiritually. I’ve done this with groups before. You ask, “What’s your goals for this church?” The answers are generally all about the same, “Get as big as we can.” “Great. How are you going to do that?” Silence follows. Lose weight isn’t very specific nor driven. Grow as a church isn’t very specific nor driven.

 

So, here’s a few thoughts:

 

First, put prayer behind your wish. Paul wanted Israel to be saved. He’s prayed that by the time you get to Romans ten. He’s given God his ideas. He’s laid out his plans on Heaven’s table. As we end a year, it’s not only a time to reflect and be thankful, but it’s time to pray and plan.

 

Second, put some action behind your wish. Paul wanted Israel to be saved. He’s been preaching and preaching that. Romans is but one way he’s been trying to accomplish this. His journeys. His reasoning in synagogues. His effort and energy, even after he became an apostle to the Gentiles, illustrates this. You want to get strong in the Lord. How are you going to do that? What’s the plan? What are you doing about it? Watching TV every night until you fall asleep won’t get this done. You want the church to grow. Awesome. What’s the game plan? What energy are you putting behind your dreams? Are you just waiting for someone else to accomplish these things?

 

Third, put some persistence behind your wish. Stay at it. Stay with it. Things take time. Change and growth don’t come over night. Keep plugging away. Keep reading that Bible. Keep taking notes. Keep inviting everyone you know. Keep pushing things out on social media. One drop in the bucket doesn’t seem like much. But if those drips keep falling, after time, that bucket will be overflowing.

 

Fourth, put your wish on paper. Isn’t that what we have with our verse today. This wasn’t a secret wish that Paul had. This wasn’t just between Paul and God. The Holy Spirit had Paul put this on paper. This is how we know about this. Got a spiritual goal? Put it on your frig so everyone can see it. Put it on a bulletin board in the church building so all can see it. Put it on paper. There it is before your eyes and the eyes of anyone who passes by. Putting goals on paper has a way of making it permanent and absolute. It’s harder to change or stop those goals once others have seen it. Making it visible also reminds us. This is what we are after. This is what we want. Having a goal visible keeps these other points before us.

 

Fifth, prepare for resistance. It always happens. Satan will try to keep you from accomplishing your spiritual goals. You decide that you want to start reading a chapter of the Bible every morning before you head out to work. Great goal. You set your alarm clock a little bit earlier than normal. You can’t wait. But in the middle of the night, one of the kids gets sick. Or, the kids miss the school bus and you have to take them to school. Or, the car won’t start. Or, the toilet overflows. Now, your extra time is gone. Now, you are rushing just to make it out of the house to get to work on time. Now, your mind is filled with all kinds of stress. Your plan just got sidetracked. This happens. Don’t let it be enough to destroy your goal. Just breathe. Find that time to read later in the day. Maybe at lunch. Maybe in the evening. Similar distractions can happen to a church. Great plans can be sidetracked by issues with the church building or a death in the congregation or a couple of fussing brethren. Suddenly, the theme of the year is trashed. The goals are forgotten. And, we are drifting along, just like last year. Just breathe. Keep your focus. Get back to what is good and right.

 

Paul’s heart desire. What’s yours? See your family members come to Christ? See elders appointed in the congregation? See the church grow so much that you have to add on? See yourself appointed as a shepherd some day? Preach the Gospel?

 

What are you doing about these “heart’s desires?” What’s the difference between these and rubbing a magic lamp or finding a four leaf clover? Paul’s wishes included God and they included action on his part. How about you? Are you doing anything with your heart’s desires?

 

Roger

 

18

Jump Start # 2431

Posted on September 18, 2019 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2431

 

2 Kings 5:11 “But Naaman was furious and went away and said, ‘Behold, I thought, he will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cured the leper.”

Oh, Naaman! A victorious commander, the theme of multiple sermons, was greatly disappointed with Elisha. Naaman faced his greatest battle and this one he couldn’t win on his own. He had leprosy. Deadly, contagious, painful and nothing Naaman could do to stop it’s advancing through his body. Naaman’s position, his wealth, his past victories, none of that could stop death from coming. But there was the voice of a girl, a servant girl, a foreigner. She tells about the prophet Elisha. He could heal. Word is sent and Naaman shows up with chariots, ready for a grand display. He’s got this all worked out in his mind. Elisha will appear, dressed like a prophet. His arms will wave in the air. He’ll call to God, likely with a loud thunderous voice. The clouds might gather. Maybe even a clasp of lightning and thunder. Then the leper would be cured. It’ll be awesome. It’s going to make the news. Nothing like this has happened and Naaman was going to be right in the center.

 

There are times in our lives when we face great events. Weddings are like that. Funerals are like that. Surgeries are like that. We think through those events before they happen. We anticipate what things will be like. Those thoughts swirl around in our minds at night. They keep us up at night. For Naaman, he had it all figured out. But none of it happened the way he thought. Elisha didn’t even show himself. There was no waving of the arms. No one even called upon the name of God. How was he going to be cured if God wasn’t called upon? And, then to be told to go to a dirty river and dip seven times? That’s not impressive. Where is the pomp? Where is the power? Where is the grand demonstration? God’s name isn’t even brought up. Will this work? Is Elisha brushing him off?

 

Now, what we find here is a grand disconnect that often takes place. Our expectations and reality often are far apart. This happens when we go to a movie. A lot of hype about a new movie. We go. We’re excited. The movie was a dud. It wasn’t what we were expecting. The expectation and the reality didn’t match.

 

For Naaman, his disappointment wasn’t about a restaurant or a movie, but with God. More specifically, it was with the people of God. He was really disappointed with Elisha. The prophet wasn’t very prophet-like. And, today, there would be some who would use the occasion to tell Elisha a few things. He should have at least came out and explained why dipping in the Jordan river works. He should have spent a few moments with Naaman. This certainly wasn’t good PR. Naaman was a foreigner. He was a visitor. The rudeness of Elisha, some would say, may have caused Naaman not to come back again.

 

And, here is the bridge for you and I in this passage. We have expectations about God, church and the leaders in the congregation. We have it in our minds how things ought to be. At every surgery, the preacher and the elders need to be sitting throughout the entire surgery in the waiting room. It’s not that the surgeon will step out and ask for their advice, but ‘it’s what they are supposed to do.’ And, when it doesn’t happen, we blow a gasket like ole’ Naaman did. We become disappointed. They let us down.

 

When a visitor drops in on a Sunday, we expect all the leaders to rush over there, make a big deal about them and make them feel special. Visitors sometimes have that expectation. If that doesn’t happen, shock waves run through the building and especially in our minds. What are they doing, we think? Isn’t this their job? Great disappointment fills the air.

 

I’m not sure where Naaman got the idea that Elisha ought to appear, waving his arms in the air and calling on God’s name. Maybe that’s how the Syrian prophets operated. The Syrian prophets couldn’t heal Naaman. The Syrian prophets followed fake gods and had no real powers. And, sadly, the same happens today. A visitor may walk in expecting to leave with gift cards, cash in hand, and coupons for a free car wash. Maybe that’s what they got down the street at another church. What they find is that worship isn’t about us, but it’s about God. Truth is taught. God is honored. We all bow our hearts and our wills to Him. There is no popcorn. There is no coupons. There is no gift bags filled with items to take home. What a disappointment, some think. What they find is godly people who love, connect and follow truth. What they find is real hope through a risen Savior. What they find is real answers to real questions. The cotton candy churches provide pretty band-aids for problems. The band-aids look nice on you but the real problems linger below the surface. God’s word, the truth, plain vanilla as it is, is our Jordan River today. It works. It cures sin. It connects us to Jesus who forgives. It changes our hearts. It molds us into being better people. The plain-Jane Bible works, just as the muddy Jordan worked for Naaman. It may not be what you were wanting. It may not be what you were expecting. But, it works. It always has.

 

The prophet didn’t show and the preacher may not come. No waving of the arms and no special treatment given to you. No loud calling on the name of the Lord and no crowds gathered around you telling you what a great person you are. But when Naaman finally got down to that river and humbled himself and dipped seven times, he was cured. And, when you and I humble ourselves and open that Bible and start doing what it says, we too get cured. Not of physical illnesses, but of spiritual ones. Hatred. Prejudice. Unforgiving. Selfishness. Greed. Pride. Envy. Gossip. Go to the Bible. Do what it says. Those things will be removed from your heart. You don’t need a special class booklet. You don’t need a special 13-week class. You don’t need a sermon just made for you. What you need to do is go to the Bible and do what it says. You don’t even need a preacher to tell you. It’s there. It’s not hard to understand. It’s a matter of your expectations meeting the reality of what God does.

 

Things to think about…

 

Roger

 

17

Jump Start # 2430

Posted on September 17, 2019 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 2430

1 Corinthians 3:18 “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.”

Our verse today is set in the larger context of what the world considers to be wise and what God considers to be wise. The two are not the same. In fact, the world thinks believing in a resurrected Savior is foolish. The world has no patience, nor any room, for faith, righteousness and goodness. It’s all about self and it’s all about now. To be wise, in God’s way of seeing things, then one must embrace and follow the steps of the Savior. I think of a young man who devotes his life to preaching. What a waste the world thinks. He could make more money in business than he ever will in preaching. He could skyrocket to the top, have a nice home, fancy cars, wear designer clothes and be the envy of his peers. He could, but he won’t. That’s all selfish, vain and of little good. He’d rather preach the pure message of Christ. He’d rather strengthen brethren and save souls. Outside of the fellowship of believers, he won’t be known. His clothes, his cars, his home will reflect the humble heart that he manifests. And, when this ole’ world is over, he will be rewarded by God for being “wise” in Heaven’s perspective.

That’s the message of our verse. It begins with the expression, “Let no man deceive himself.” Deception isn’t nice. It means to trick, fool, or be dishonest with someone. More bluntly, it means to lie. It is to make promises that one cannot deliver on. It means to hide the reality and the consequences of choices. It is hurtful, wrong and dangerous. Our eyes must be wide open. We must be watchful and on alert. Eve was deceived by the serpent. He didn’t just hand her the forbidden fruit. He played with her mind. He got things jumbled up in her thinking. He lied to her. She was deceived.

The point that stands out in the expression from our verse today is “self” deception. Here’s a person who has deceived himself. It wasn’t a serpent. It wasn’t a false teacher. It wasn’t a corrupt friend. He did it to himself. He talked himself into things that are not true. He lied to himself and he believed those lies. He paints a picture that is better than what things really are.

For instance:

In marriage: here is a person that wants to believe that his marriage is solid, strong and fine. Yet, the communication between husband and wife is shallow and infrequent. The addiction to porn supplements the lack of intimacy. Every night, they sit in chairs staring at the TV in silence. Both are hurting and lonely on the inside but nothing changes. They live and even believe the lie that they are presenting to others. Everything is great, but it’s not.

In congregations: here is a church, much like we read about in the book of Revelation, that believes it is strong, solid and doing well. In Revelation, the curtain of deception was pulled back to reveal that the church was dead. But the folks don’t believe it. Nothing ever changes. Week after week, it’s the same. Lifeless sermons. Empty prayers. Shallow conversations. Little direction. No shepherding. No plans. People shuffle in and after an hour, they shuffle out. Unchanged. Unmoved. Indifferent. Playing church and telling themselves that all is fine.

In our hearts: here is someone who has deceived himself. He doesn’t see himself as a former sinner who is daily in the need of Jesus Christ. Faith doesn’t really drive his decisions. His world is filled with the here and now. His conversations are totally secular. Ballgames. Eating. Politics. Money. Those topics dominate his thinking, his conversations and his world. Outside the church building, you won’t find this person talking about Jesus. It doesn’t cross his mind. Once in a while, he’ll open his Bible, but usually because of guilt not desire. He doesn’t guide his family spiritually, because he doesn’t think spiritually. He is convinced that all is good, because he goes to church on Sunday mornings. But his life is missing so much. He only has one toe in the kingdom.

All three examples illustrate how a person can deceive himself. He believes his own lies. He fails to see things as they really are. And, the worst part of self deception is that such a person will never see the need to get help, improve or change. Why should he? All is fine. Just ask him. But the components of faith are missing. There is no evidence to support his deception. It’s all fog and smoke. Truth isn’t on his side.

There is a real danger of deceiving ourselves. How do we keep it from happening?

First, look in the Scriptures. Read. Develop humility. Pride stands with deception and pride keeps one from being honest and from changing. Read aloud passages. Listen carefully to what you hear.

Second, drop the excuses. Excuses are nothing more than deception in a pretty box. We justify ourselves by excuses. I’m too busy now. This isn’t a good time. I’ll get to that later. Those excuses keep us right where we are and they keep us from being honest and from growing. Reading Scriptures and then examining ourselves ought to begin an honest journey back to God.

Third, stop being satisfied spiritually. Stop thinking Sunday morning is enough. It’s not. It’s not intended to be the totality of our spiritual journey. Sunday worship is not a vitamin that provides 100% of my daily spiritual needs. It’s not meant for that. It has a place. It has a purpose. But my faith and my Lord need more than just Sunday morning. Like that deer that pants for the water, or, like that hungering and thirsting for righteousness, long for more. You do that when you put your mind to it. Think about things spiritually. Be curious. Ask questions. Dig deeper. Lower the nets. Have a passion for God. What more could you be doing?

Those things will help you overcome the lies that we tell ourselves. They will help you to be honest, true and pure before the Lord.

Roger