Saturday, September 26, 2009

Discouragement

And let us not grow weary while doing good,
for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
Galatians 6:9
The Bible instructs us to not get weary, but that is one of the most difficult challenges of the Word of God. I feel weary and a little discouraged right now. Not because things are going bad, but just because even doing God's will becomes difficult and taxing. So when I read a verse that tells me to not be weary, I get more discouraged, because I think that I am failing God in some way. However, I really dug into this word "weary". I found out that it did not mean what I was interpreting it to mean. It literally means to not let the evil of discouragement so overtake you that you give up and quit. That makes a lot of sense if you think about it. Did Jesus ever get discouraged? With that group of disciples you bet He did. Did Paul ever get weary on his journeys? A cruel beating followed by a rat infested prison would cause anyone to lose heart. Did Peter ever feel like giving up? That is an easy one. How do you think he felt as he bitterly wept after denying Christ? When I stop and think about it, I am in pretty good company. I may feel a little discouraged today, but I am not going to allow it to make me give up and quit. My eyes are on the author and finisher Jesus Christ. As long as He is holding me up, I'll keep standing for His glory!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Where did that come from?

I think that it is odd how a word or group of words that you have rarely heard of suddenly become a regular part of your thinking. A few months ago, someone introduced me to the term "emergent church". Now, everywhere I go I hear someone talking about this term. Every book or magazine I read seems to mention this term. It is probably not everywhere, but I guess I am just simply more aware of it. That made me start thinking about the presence of God. How aware am I that God is in my life every day? I know that He is there, but I think that I am just not fixed on that thought and therefore some days I can seem to pass through without acknowledging Him like I should. God is so much there that He is at work in every part of my life. It would do me some good to wake up and acknowledge Him so as to yield to Him in every area. By the way, I brought up the emergent church. Every once in a while I am going to write about some things that I have learned about this group. I find it interesting. You can share with me what you think.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Serving on Foot

I have been thinking alot lately about pastors that I have met while on missions trips. People like Jose Luis in Jimenez, Mexico; Pastor Sopa in Dapong, Togo; Pastors Frisnel and Luke in Mirebelais, Haiti; all come to mind. These men will probably never be known by most of the world during their lifetime, but I know that their Heavenly Father knows them well. These men of God many times have walked from place to place to serve God. While in Mexico, Jose Luis gave up his car for a week so a visiting missionary could use it. Pastor Sopa has walked or ridden a bicycle to six different churches every Sunday for years.
With that in mind, I woke up the other day and decided to walk to the church (only about 5 miles away) and pray for them while I walked. As I was walking and praying, a rain storm rolled through and drenched me to the bone. There was no shelter, trees or building, within a mile or so. As I was running to get out of the rain, I wondered how many times these men had been miles away from their home and in the same situation. I was suddenly very humbled to be called their brother and fellow servant in Jesus Christ. It wouldn't hurt most of us to do some walking and to pray for our brothers and sisters all across the world that serve on foot.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Looking Ahead!

Forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth unto those things which are before…
Philippians 3:14
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…
Hebrews 12:2

I tend to do what I guess is normal for many of us. I look back at my life and allow the circumstances of my past to control my future. For example, the times in my life that have been successful encourage me to push forward. However, those same successes can easily cause me to settle in and get comfortable. In the same way, while I could look at my defeats of the past and determine to change those things in the future, I find it easier to get discouraged and pull the covers over my head in the morning. Someone may argue: “Well, that is just human nature.” They would be right, but I am not supposed to be living by that old nature any more. I am a child of God! He has given me a new nature so that I can now live for Him each and every day. Every runner knows that he sets his eyes on the marks ahead of him. This keeps him from looking back. No wonder we are encouraged to keep our eyes on Jesus, because He is not only the beginning of this journey of faith, He is the at the finish line as well. How true the statement is: “I do not know what tomorrow holds, but I do know who holds tomorrow!”

Arise!

Why seek ye the living among the dead?
He is not here, but is risen.
Philippians 3:2
There are moments of awe within the Word of God. Can you imagine what it would have been like to have a cosmic front row seat to see God create everything?! How would it have been to stand on the shores of the Red Sea and watch the waters roll up to make a passageway for the children of Israel? Wouldn't you have loved to watch a young boy walk up to a giant of a man and with no fear take the giant down with just one stone? Can you fathom the thrill of the shepherds that watched the sky fill with a host of angels proclaiming the birth of their Messiah? Or, how grieving would it have been to stand helplessly at the foot of the cross as Jesus breathed His last? All of these events would have left us completely in awe, but I know that none of them would have mattered if it were not for the celebrated Easter Sunday! In a quiet garden, with only Roman guards as a witness, the ground shook and the stones gave way as Jesus ended His three day assault on and victory over death and hell. And just as suddenly as He had once spoken all of creation into being, He stepped out of the darkness that could not hold Him into His Father's glorious light. Praise God our Savior is risen! He is risen indeed!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

What Next?


But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of,
knowing from whom you have learned them.
2 Timothy 3:14

Many of us have had the opportunity somewhere in our lives to learn from individuals that have imparted great wisdom to us. I could give you names of people that I have learned from firsthand and even from afar: Whetsel, Shafer, Pope, Nee, and my father, Jimmy Hudson. All of these men have taught me from both their words and experience. I am also grateful to say that I have a Godly wife that God has used to strengthen my walk with Him as well as bless my life.
While I am grateful for what they have each taught me, the truth is that their teaching only does me good if I apply it. We can learn a great deal in our years on this earth, but if we do not do anything with what we have learned we have profited nothing and wasted valuable resources. I remember standing in the backyard pitching a baseball to my father while he taught me how to do it correctly. I thought of that many times when I stood on the mound during a high school game. I often try to follow the example of loving the unlovely that I learned from a colleague named Charles Whetsel. My devotion life was taught to me through the example of my wife. All of us can learn, but we must decide what we are going to do with what we learn.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Guilty As Charged

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Romans 3:19

We often think of being guilty of something as a negative in our life. To hear a judge declare us to be guilty in a court of law would surely be a fearful moment. However, the entire Word of God points out that we as sinful individuals are guilty before a holy God. Because of our sin, we are separated from God and living in condemnation. So, where is the positive in all of this? It is only when we see that we are guilty that we see that we need a deliverer, or better yet, a Savior. Many individuals live their lives considering themselves to be “pretty good” people. How many times have you heard someone say about a person that he is a “good man”? While that might be true by the moral standards of man, by God’s holy standard every man falls short. However, most men are not looking at God as the standard by which they compare themselves. They are simply looking at their neighbor and feeling justified in the fact that they are better than them. I would like to challenge you to take a good look at God’s Law for a moment. Do you measure up to His standard of righteousness? When you realize that you do not, then you see why the price Jesus paid on the cross was so precious. You were guilty. He was not. Yet, He willingly took your place. What a Savior!

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Where in the World Is Comoros?


Ye shall be witness unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea,
and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Acts 1:8b

Every Wednesday night we pray for different countries that are considered “restricted” or “closed” nations. In many of these countries the individuals there have their freedoms either stripped away from them or they are so oppressed that they cannot worship God freely. As Christians here in the U.S., I believe we have two major responsibilities when it comes to this area of the persecuted church.
First, we need to thank God for our freedom to worship as we wish, and with that we need to take advantage of it. Our lack of assembling together for worship, lack of Bible reading, lack of prayer, and failure to witness on a regular basis are all evidence of ingratitude for the freedoms that God has given us.
Second, we need to be proactive in what we do for the persecuted church. It begins with prayer. Prayer is not a second option. It should always be our first option. We can also get involved in some physical or financial way. There are plenty of things that you can do for the Lord in these regions of the world. There is everything from signing petitions, donating money, or making items available for use in these parts of the world. For more information find www.persecution.net or .com. While you are there, find Comoros.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Never Sit on the Sidelines!


Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize?
Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
2 Timothy 2:2

If there is a game going on, I cannot stand to be sitting on the sidelines. Call me competitive or whatever you like, but I detest sitting still when everyone else is running around. I suffered a major ankle injury while in high school that kept me off the basketball floor for several weeks. Sitting at practices and games watching my teammates was more excruciating than the injury itself.
I realize that there is a time to be still, but so many individuals choose the wrong times to be still or they choose to be still way too long. God did not save us so that we could just sit on the sidelines. I have often said that if God saved us just to go to Heaven He would have taken out of this world at the moment of our conversion. God saved us so that we could serve. Jesus even told His followers to pray that His Father would send out workers into the fields. Some people have a false idea even of Heaven. They believe that we are all going to lounge around on clouds while playing our harps and singing to one another. We are going to be ruling and reigning with Christ. When God created Adam, He gave him a job to do (tending to the Garden). I would like to challenge all of us to get in the race and run it with a desire to win!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Hearing Voices


The things that you have heard from me among many witnesses,
commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
2 Timothy 2:2

We are often challenged to learn, but we must be sure of the source of our learning. I often have the opportunity to get my hands on good books that have been either given to me or recommended to me. In these books I am able to glean from others what they have learned about life and especially about the times of life in their spiritual walk. Biographies are my favorite, because it is a glimpse into the life of an individual that we do not often get to see. We live in an age where resources are readily available. I listened this week while on the internet to two great Christians that served our Lord and literally gave their lives for Him: Corrie Ten Boom and Jim Elliott. It was incredible to hear their voices and at the same time to hear their hearts. The real challenge however comes at the end of hearing their sermons, the last page of the book, or the final words of the biography. What will I now do with what I have heard and learned? It is not enough to hear the lesson. There must be an acknowledgment of what is learned so that we can pass it on to someone else. Timothy was benefiting from what Paul had learned, but Paul challenged him to pass it on. May our voices be heard by the next generation!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Search the Scriptures

These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
Acts 17:11

If ever there was a model for what the modern day church ought to be doing, it was the church at Berea. These individuals felt that it was absolutely important to make sure that what they were being taught had its basis in the Scriptures. I often find that there are many people within the church that do not know why they believe what they believe. They have simply taken someone else’s word for it. If you were to ask them to back up their beliefs, they would not know where to start. This is an absolute shame when there is so much Scripture to confirm the beliefs of the church. Why is it this way? I believe that it could be for a couple of reason. 1) The church has not always done a very good job teaching people. We have expected people to sit and listen and never question what is being taught. How awesome it would be if every church member started questioning their beliefs and comparing them with Scripture. 2) I also believe that some questions have just become too lazy. They do not want to have to dig through the Scriptures. They believe that is the pastor’s job. The church must begin taking ownership of their faith and get to the place where they could defend it without shame.