Johnny Carino's!!

Monthly Archives: October 2009

0

Getting the Boot to Samaria

Oct 30, 2009 8:31 am by Paul Jenkins in Culture, Evotions

Acts 8:4
Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

Declaration of IndependenceSo, there I was, minding my own business, when Parker, one of the 11 year-old twin-wonders who belong to me, asks me if I want him to say the Declaration of Independence. Not typically what you’d expect to hear as you finish up a bowl of brown sugar and maple syrup oatmeal, so I said sure. You can image my face as I read along and heard my son say it, word for word, line by line, all the way down to the part about “throwing off such government.” It was pretty impressive.

Of course, something else caught my eye as I was reading along, and it was the line that says “…all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer…than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.” Wow! There it was, in black and white (and the yellow highlighter that Parker had been using). Even back in 1776, people did things – even things that made them suffer – because it was more convenient than change. Shoot, they might as well have included the line “because we’ve always done it that way” in there, too!

People don’t like change. Acts chapter 8 tells us that the early church was no different. They had received the Holy Spirit, had seen thousands of souls come into the kingdom, and were enjoying a nice little round of applause for their brand new church growth paradigm. We don’t know for sure, but I suspect that they may have even been in the early planning stages for a church growth conference at which Peter would have been the keynote speaker delivering “3 Steps to Adding Thousands to Your Church Daily.” Everything was going along as planned, when suddenly, persecution broke out. Not just any persecution, mind you, but a great one. And not just against anybody, but against the church. It was massive and it was direct, and I’m sure it left the planning for that conference in shambles.

Not far removed from the heyday of Peter’s pentecostal altar call, the leaders are now burying Stephen and hearing the screams of men and women being dragged off to prison. Verse 4 tells us how they responded to it: they preached the word. It didn’t matter to them where they were dragged, because they were preaching the whole way to the people doing the dragging. Verse 1 tells us that this great persecution drove them all to Judea and Samaria, places that Jesus had already told them to take the gospel way back in chapter 1, verse 8. It kind of begs the question, doesn’t it? If they had gone willingly to those places in the first place instead of planning that conference, perhaps a persecution wouldn’t have been needed to get them there?

At any rate, these first century believers had a lot in common with the guys writing the Declaration of Independence, didn’t they? And we have a lot in common with all of them, too. Because of our propensity for the status quo, sometimes a little kick in the pants is what it takes to get us preaching again. That’s not great news if you think a kick might be coming, but it’s wonderful news for those of us who are under a bit of attack and think that maybe we missed a turn on the way to that conference about how the faith is all butterflies and rose petals.

So, if you went to bed in a good place and woke up in a bad one, take heart! There’s a little scattering in the forecast for you, but God is in control and He will put you right where He needs you to preach, because you’ve got something that someone you haven’t met yet needs to hear. You can find hope, too, in knowing that you’re not alone. There’s a whole bunch of us getting the boot to Samaria with you!

Let’s meet up and do some tag-team preaching. I’ll see you there.


0

Pimp My Rickshaw

Oct 29, 2009 2:00 pm by Paul Jenkins in Culture, Evotions

Acts 17:30b
…but now (God) commands all people everywhere to repent.

Motorized rickshawPeople are the same the world over. We don’t always dress the same, or drive the same, or speak the same (this last distinction once played a role in me unknowingly cussing out a group of school children in Rio, but that’s another story!), but at the core of who we are, there isn’t much difference in mankind in California or Calcutta. I realized this on a recent ride through the busy streets of Delhi, India, as I prayed for God to spare my life while clinging to the back of a motorized rickshaw.

It wasn’t the NASCAR-worthy driving that made me realize it. Nor was it the way the driver seemed to grin the more we groaned. It wasn’t even the numerous rickshaws that held 2-3 times the number of people it was built for. Nope, it was none of those. What made me realize that people are the same the world over were the rickshaws that passed us that were decorated in all kinds of crazy ways. Some had flowers, some had flashing lights. Heck, I even saw (and heard) one that had a sound system in it! Apparently “Pimp My Rickshaw” is quite the show over in India!

Just like back here in the land o’ grits, people there felt the need to try and stand out from the crowd. They wanted to show that they were just a bit different from the other drivers commanding rickshaws with other passengers praying, smiling, or groaning. It made me think of all the drivers here in the States who – in an attempt to be different – have adorned their vehicles with everything from fuzzy dice to bobble-head figures to Calvin peeing on whatever make of car they don’t like. Funny, though, that everyone else has the same stuff so they will stand out, too. Of course, in the end, it just shows how alike we all are, and that’s probably a good thing.

God commands all men everywhere to repent, because no matter where you go, men everywhere need to repent. This isn’t rocket science. People everywhere want to feel better about who they are, but the only way for that to really happen is for us to all meet at the same place: the foot of the cross.

So, no matter what you’re driving – plain rickshaws or pimped rickshaws – you need to park it long enough to acknowledge your need for a Savior. The light He gives will be more than enough to make you stand out.


0

When Money Gets in the Way

Oct 28, 2009 7:16 am by Paul Jenkins in Culture, Evotions

Acts 3:6
Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”

Silver and gold coinsOn our last day in India, we were able to to a bit of shopping. The streets were packed with vendors offering deals, but the lady who caught my eye was the one who held the baby and kept sending her small son to our group to hold out his hand and beg. It was a bit awkward, especially since they wouldn’t go away. It seemed that every time I turned around, the three of them were there, asking me with open hands and big, sad eyes for 5 rupees, which, in US dollars is about a dime.

We had been warned before shopping by the nationals that we should not give any money to the street beggars because many of the beggars don’t even keep the money. The system in India is so corrupt that they are often working for someone else who will not use the money collected to benefit the small child who moved your heart to give. In fact, some children are even purposely disfigured so that foreigners will be more likely to give. Of course, everyone on our team found it impossible to not give something, and when we loaded up in our vehicles and compared experiences, it seemed that we’d all given this boy and his mother rupees. It was at that point, sitting in a crowded car in the crowded markets of Delhi, that the Lord brought this passage to my mind, and I realized that my money had gotten in the way. Let me explain.

For most of us, our first reaction to any situation is to give what we have most accessible. The boy wanted money, we had money, and so we gave money. In Acts, the beggar wanted money, Peter and John had no money, so they gave him what they had, too. The difference is that they had Jesus. We give what we have, and for those of us in America, that is typically money. It’s quick, relatively painless (outside of the pain of missing another trip to Starbucks), and makes us feel like we helped someone. But God wants us to give more. He sends us to a world that needs healing, hope, salvation, and so much more that is found in Jesus alone. Perhaps it would do us good to reach into our pockets and find them empty. Maybe that would cause us, like Peter, to give away what they really need.

We give what we have, but when we have a lot, we’re guilty of giving what is the easiest. My prayer now, though, is that God will help me to give what is best.

Only then will people walk away with more than change in their pockets.


2

Into the Valley

Oct 27, 2009 4:38 pm by Paul Jenkins in Evotions

Luke 9:37
The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him.

ValleyWe are consumed with mountaintop experiences. We travel for them, pay for them, even leave one church to join another in hopes of finding more of them. We spend time and money in some counselor’s office trying to find a way out of valleys for them, and if we can’t afford a counselor, there’s a million books at the local bookstore written by a smiling author telling us that God’s got more of them and wants us to have them. This theology, of course, only works in America where we need to have pleasure in our faith. It wouldn’t fly in other countries where a believer’s mountaintop experience is often just not being persecuted or killed for their faith. Ahh, the pleasure of simple things like life!

Our passage today tells the story of what happened as Jesus came down from the high place where His glory had just been revealed to some of His disciples. You may recall that Peter wanted to stay on the mountaintop, just like most of us, but Jesus said no. He knew that the reason for the mountain was so that He could receive what was needed in the valley, and so down the mountain they went. As it usually goes after we’ve had a great experience with the Lord, there is no lack of needy people waiting for them in the valley. It is interesting to note that we have misunderstood the relationship between the mountain and the valley. We write songs and preach sermons about how we must pass through the valley in order to get to the mountain, but Jesus saw it in exactly the opposite way. For Him, there was a need to go to the mountain in order to get to the valley, or at least to get to the people in the valley.

Lots of things happen in valleys. Jesus ministered there, David defeated a giant there, Joel saw multitudes making decisions there. Of course, there is also a lot of unpleasantness there, which explains why we don’t like the valley. There’s the endless need, the feeling of claustrophobia as the crowd presses against us, the longing for the goosebumps instead of the sweat. I’m not saying we shouldn’t like the mountaintop, but I am saying that we should leave them with something to take to the valley.

Peter saw the Lord’s glory revealed. He saw the hope of a Savior just before he walked down into the despair of the lost. His experience on the mountaintop had provided him with exactly what the crowd needed, and yet he failed to give away what he’d received. In desperation a boy’s father asked Jesus why His disciples couldn’t help his son, and in exasperation Jesus asks His disciples how long He’d have to put up with them being slow to learn the lesson that what they’d seen on the mountain was what they’d need in the valley. Maybe Peter couldn’t help the boy because he was still looking back at the mountain. Maybe the boy’s need was more of a nuisance than a ministry opportunity. Whatever the reason, Peter got the mountain-valley relationship wrong, and we need to make sure we learn from his mistake.

It’s time to see the valley as the destination, not the mountain. It’s time for the mountaintop to become the filling station on the journey rather than something to be chased, hawked, or hyped. The real ministry is in the valley, and when we become less consumed with getting out of them, we’ll find ourselves bringing more hope into them.


0

Torches and Old Paint

Oct 26, 2009 6:30 am by Paul Jenkins in Culture, Evotions

Psalm 62:1-2
My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

Stripping paintI spent a number of years in my life as a painter. Not as an artist, mind you, but as that guy who shows up dressed in white that you hope doesn’t make a bigger mess while he recolors your den. There were a lot of things about painting that I didn’t like, but there was only one part that I hated, and that was stripping old paint. I can still remember standing on top of scaffolding 2 levels up holding a torch in one hand and a scraper in the other on cold winter days. I’d heat the old paint until it bubbled, scrape it off, and then repeat the process a couple hundred million times or so until all that was left was the bare wood. In fact, nothing new could be added to the surface until only the wood remained, or else the new finish wouldn’t look as good.

I thought about this a lot during my recent trip to India. As I watched the believers there, I realized that the environment in which they live has actually done for them what that torch did to the paint, and now they have been stripped down to the place where all that is left for them is hope in Christ. They would have a very different reaction to these two verses than I do. I read it and wonder if all my hope is in God because I am surrounded by so many things that are good at offering some hope, some of the time. But they would read it with a strong conviction that the word of God speaks truth because they are living it every single day. They literally have nothing else to cling to but God.

There is something unnerving and yet thrilling about the stripping process. There is the pain of the heat on our lives, and yet the freedom of seeing another unnecessary layer removed. Though we feel that we are losing, we are in fact gaining; less truly is more. The tendency in western Christianity is to add, but the process of stripping is all about subtraction. He must increase, and that only happens as we are stripped away.

I don’t know how we got this so wrong in our faith here in the west. Admittedly, our faith looks quite a bit like the rooms that have 5 coats of paint on them. We know they need to be stripped and redone the right way, but the amount of work required makes it easier to simply add coat number 6. It looks good for a while, but all the imperfections on the surface eventually show up again, and we find ourselves searching for the next coat so we feel new again. Perhaps it is time to give the torch to the Lord and allow Him to start the process of stripping away what should never have been there in the first place.

You and I won’t look better overnight. In fact, we may look worse for sometime. Stripping paint is messy, and sometimes seemingly endless, but keep the faith. When the old is gone, a new strength will come – one that cannot be shaken because it will be in the only One Who has been stable all the way through.

Let God strip you back to the bare wood of the cross. It is there that you will find the power of the victory that Christ won for us there.


Page 1 of 41234