The Chief of All Sinners

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15 NKJV)

The Apostle Paul

The great evangelist, the Apostle Paul, viewed himself as the chief of all sinners.  Identification with the transgressor will lead many to Christ.

In my days as a school teacher, I had a colleague who had a moral failure.   He had gotten sexually involved with a female student.  He was tried and convicted of the crime.  We were told by our supervisor that we should dissociate ourselves from this teacher.  In my earlier years, I had learned a great deal from him concerning integrating technology into the curriculum. I ignored my supervisor’s warning. He had helped me, should I not reach out to him in his time of need.  I visited him before his trial and after he was incarcerated. One day as I spoke to him over a phone through a glass partition, I thought to myself, but by the grace of God there go I.  Maybe not his sin, but many others.  That day I realized, spiritually speaking, I should have been on the other side of the glass.  God in his goodness, not mine, had freely pardoned me.  I had reached out to my teacher friend because God had previously extended forgiveness to me.

My supervisor did not think this teacher deserved forgiveness, and she was right, just like you and I did not merit our salvation.  Paul, the chief of all sinners, became the greatest of all evangelists.  Identification with the transgressor is more effective in reaching them than just pointing out their sins.  On which side of the glass do you deserve to be?

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

Got Any Beer? A Thanksgiving Message

For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.

Samoset at Plymouth Colony

 (2 Corinthians 4:15 NASB)

God often helps his people in unexpected ways.  The first Thanksgiving may never have happened if the Pilgrims had not received help from an unanticipated source.

Samoset was the first Native American to contact the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony.  On March16,1621 he startled the colonist by walking into their compound unannounced and greeted them in English and asked for beer.  Samoset had some dealings with English fishermen in Maine and had acquired a taste for their English brew.  Believe it or not, the colonist did bring some beer with them, but it was long gone.  They were a bit hesitant about Samoset’s visit as they viewed Indians as savages, as the literature of that day indicates. Yet, they gave him food and let him stay overnight.  He returned a few days later with some other Indians, one of which was the famous, Squanto. He taught the Pilgrims how to grow Indian corn, fertilize it with fish, and was a liaison between the Massasoit, the Chief in that area.  Without Squanto’s help, Plymouth Colony may not have survived.

God goes before us to help us accomplish his will, yet because of theological, cultural, or racial differences, we can miss God’s provision.  At times, God offers us help from people who look, think, or act differently from us. God looks at the heart, not outward appearances.  What cookie-cutter mentality of how God works has limited God providing for you.  Gratefulness for God’s help, no matter how it is packaged, may facilitate the unity of spirit they had at the first Thanksgiving.

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

Hearing God's Voice

 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.(John 10:3-4 NASB)

In the world today, followers of Christ are deemed somewhat strange when they say that they have heard God’s voice.  Even other believers in Christ can be skeptical. In the Bible, it is unusual when godly people do not hear his voice.

Thomas Szasz, a psychiatrist, once said, “If you talk to God, you are praying; If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia.”  I am not sure if Szasz was being sarcastic, but this is how people many people think.  Communication is always a two-way street.  This is an accepted norm except concerning God.  

Of course, at times Christians think they hear weird things from God.  Sometimes we misunderstand what God is saying.  I say things that sometimes people do not understand.  We do not stop speaking with each other, we clarify to understand each other better. Such is the communication process. From Abraham to Moses, to David, and Paul and the Apostles, it is a given that they spoke to God, and God to them.  God’s Word is the primary way we hear his voice, but not the only way.  It is the yardstick by which we judge what we hear from God.  God never contradicts his Word.

How can you have a relationship with someone where the conversation is a monologue rather than a dialogue?  If you are not hearing from God, maybe it is because you are not listening.  And possibly, you are not paying attention because you believe God is not speaking.

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs:  http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

        http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

Justice and Mercy

The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings. (Psalm 145:17 RSV)

Justice and Mercy

Have you ever tried to be just and yet kind and merciful at the same time?  Humanly speaking, it is a tall task. In the Cross of Christ, God has found a way of being just and merciful at the same time.

If you have ever been a parent, you have most likely grappled with this balance between justice and mercy.  When your children disobeyed, and you disciplined them, you still felt a little guilty because you felt sorry for them.  The saying, this is going hurt me more than you, is sort of true.  On the other side, when you overlooked a transgression to show them mercy, you still felt guilty because you were afraid that you were teaching them that it is ok to break the rules.  Oh wretched parent that I am, no matter what I do I am wrong. Jokingly, I have often said, parenting is like trying to be a cross between Mother Theresa and Attila the Hun.

God is a good Father, and he instructs us through Cross.  The penalty for our sin was paid, yet it was given to us freely.  Justice and mercy were both parts of the transaction. Justice without mercy teaches us that we can do nothing right, the opposite leads us to believe we can do nothing wrong.  Neither path alone will make us a true disciple of Christ. Justice and mercy are attributes of God.  Skew them one direction or the other, and you have distorted the character of God.  Our redemption being free to us but costly to God reminds us that God is kind and just simultaneously.

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

Full Assurance

And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence ^[a]so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, (Hebrews 6:11 NASB)

There are times in our Christian walk that we can just get tired and spiritually lazy.   Paul reminds us that the good works we did, in the beginning, should continue to the end.  Diligence ensures the full assurance of our hope until the end.

The Bible in this section speaks about a higher measure of hope.  Matthew Henry has written, “Full assurance is a higher degree of hope; assurance and hope do not differ in nature, but only in degree.”  This full assurance is only achieved by persevering to the end.

In this world, people will disappoint you, even our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Paul exhorts us toward good works done for the right reason.  “For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints” (v.10).  Our love for Christ should be the motivating factor in our ministering to the saints, and unlike people, God never forgets.  If we are treated poorly by people, and we lose our hope, we may be trying to please people by serving God, rather than pleasing God by ministering to man.

At the very top of the mountain, the climb often becomes the steepest.  Paul was concerned that the saints would lose their hope and faith in the end. Disappointment or just age can cause us to be sluggish (v. 12).  Paul directs us to imitate those among us or who have gone before us, who through faith and patience have inherited the promises of God. Victory comes for those who persevere to the end.

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

Spiritual Groupies

 Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,^[a]” or “I follow only Christ.”(1 Corinthians 1:12 NLT)

Paul had planted the Church in the great city of Corinth.  He got reports that they had started to divide into groups based on the preference for leadership.  If your fondness for a spiritual leader separates you from the rest of the Body of Christ, you may be on the path to becoming a spiritual groupie.  

We all have a preference for how a pastor or minister leads, yet if we compare our group with others, and consider ours better, we may be following a person rather than Christ. Paul zeros in on the problem in v. 13 when he asks, “Can Christ be divided into pieces?  Was I, Paul crucified for you?  Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul?  It is apparent that the Church in Corinth had started to substitute mere men for the role that Christ should have had.  We should honor, respect, and reasonably submit to our spiritual leaders, yet when our commitment to them rivals our loyalty to Christ, all kinds of spiritual problems arise.  Christ, alone, is our one unifying factor.  That is why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2: 2 that he wanted only “to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” 

Paul, Apollos, and Peter were undoubtedly good examples of Christian leaders, yet none of them were good enough to take the place of Christ. Each represented part of God’s character, but none of them his totality.  If we elevate our pastors and spiritual leaders above what they really are, imperfect servants, we are on the road to becoming spiritual groupies, dividing the Church, Christ’s Body.

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com