Focus 40: Day 19

Come Out of Hiding

Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus…asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body…With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus by night…they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. —John 19:38–40

After the conversation Nicodemus had with Jesus by night, we don’t hear his name again until this scripture. Jesus had told Nicodemus he must be born again, and in this moment of supreme grief and loss something came alive inside of Nicodemus. He went public with his faith. Throwing caution to the wind Nicodemus and Joseph come out of hiding and identify themselves as disciples of Jesus. They had to go to the very one who ordered Jesus’ death. They received the body of Jesus and took it to Joseph’s tomb. They performed a shortened version of embalming because the Sabbath was approaching. And a Roman guard was commissioned to guard the body. There was no turning back. They risked everything.

Can you believe it? This tomb became the place where the greatest miracle in the history of the world took place! Year after year people from all over the world flock to see the empty tomb. What a turnaround! Two disciples come out of hiding and God uses what they have to offer to change the world forever!

I hope that encourages you as much as it does me. I think of people I know today who may believe, but they are secretive about it. For whatever reasons, they explore faith outside of the public eye; but don’t write them off. They could be one decision away from making a choice that God will use in a history-making way. What chain of events could be started if they would come out of hiding? Keep praying for your friends, relatives, neighbors, and co-workers. Their eternal destiny is at stake. It could change in a single choice to act on what they already know to be right.

I get excited when I think about people putting the pieces together. Something clicks in their head and their heart goes all in. I’ve seen it happen to my friends. Keven became the dad and spiritual leader Robin always hoped he would be. Glynis restored her marriage on a Sunday when she knew it was her time to choose. Eugene said yes at a pizza restaurant when I drew the bridge illustration on the paper table cloth and he’s never looked back. One choice, one step to cross the line of faith, and everything changed. Transforming Hearts…Transforming Lives! Don’t give up on your friends. Keep praying. Keep believing. Keep looking for opportunities to share your story and his story. The change may be closer than you think. In fact, go ahead and let yourself get excited about it now in faith. God is at work. Things will change. The tumblers will fall in place and your loved one will trade hiding for faith.

Lord, thank you for the privilege of helping people find their way back to God. Don’t let us grow weary while we wait for your timing and preparation in their lives. Give us your words and courage to keep sharing until they come out of hiding.

Ø  Rev. Gary Kendall, Lead Pastor, Indian Creek Community Church, Olathe, Kansas

Focus 40: Day 18

“Yes, I Still Have My Joy!”                                                                  

Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God’s Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. —Philippians 1:3–5 msg

In 1978, my husband and I moved to Anderson, Indiana, to attend the School of Theology. For the next four years I had the privilege of taking classes from Dr. Gilbert Stafford, whose teaching influences my preaching even today. The first thing I noticed about Dr. Stafford was his sheer joy in his personal life and in his professional life. I still smile when I remember having to give an impromptu eulogy and having difficulty getting started. Dr. Stafford pulled up two chairs in front of the class and stretched out on them and folded his hands as if he were the deceased. I cannot remember what I said, but I remember his sense of humor and his infectious joy. In the Introduction to Philippians in The Message, Eugene Peterson said that Paul’s letter did not tell us we can be happy, nor did he tell us how to be happy. Paul was simply and unmistakably happy. That quality is what students and colleagues saw in Dr. Stafford.

Years later, Dr. Stafford was speaking at a ministers’ retreat. Our family had been through attack after attack on our family and our ministry. One pastor left us a message on our answering machine that he was praying for us while we were “under this siege.” That was a true description of our experience. I attended the retreat so I could hear Dr. Stafford. After his morning conference, he greeted me and we walked outside to sit and talk on the benches out under the trees. He got right to the point and said, “I’ve heard about your situation. What’s going on?” I related the circumstances of being under siege, and he listened intently. At the end, I shrugged my shoulders as if that is just how it is and there is nothing I can do about it. Dr. Stafford said, “Do you still have your joy?” Up until that moment, I had not thought about joy. I was hanging on by my fingernails. Suddenly, the heaviness lifted from my heart, a smile came to my face, and light filled my eyes. I responded, “Yes, I still have my joy.”

That was a turning point in my life. By August of that year, God allowed me to start on a dream I had set aside to fully participate in my husband’s pastoral ministry and to raise a family—I was one out of 150 people accepted at Mississippi College School of Law. I began to practice “being happy” and found that the witness of joy is one of the most powerful tools a Christian can use. People are drawn to happy people. People want to know what makes you happy, what makes you able to weather the storm. Another significant period of time passed and we were at the International Convention of the Church of God. Dr. Stafford was in charge of a healing service. People moved to the aisle all over the auditorium to stand ready to pray for whoever needed prayer. My husband and I gravitated to where Dr. Stafford was standing. He laid his hands on both of our heads and prayed a prayer of blessing on our lives and our ministry. “Yes, I still have my joy!” Transforming Hearts…Transforming Lives!

Lord, I choose to be happy. Just like Paul wherein none of his circumstances contributed to his joy—he was in jail, attacked by people with bad intentions, tired, sick, and weak. Let me experience joy from the inside out. Amen.

Ø  Rev. Mary Bruce Fuller, Minister and Attorney, Florence, Mississippi

Focus 40: Day 17

Interruptions That Turn to Blessings                                               

While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.

Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”

Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment.

When Jesus entered the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. News of this spread through all that region. —Matthew 9:18–26

Jesus was interrupted two times in a few minutes. While he was teaching, a ruler interrupted him, asking him to come to his home to heal his daughter who had just died. Jesus healed her. While he was on the way to the ruler’s home, a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years interrupted him when she touched his cloak and was instantly healed. Many would be upset with those two desperate people for interrupting Jesus in the middle of his important business. Not Jesus! He turned interruptions into opportunities for healing hurting people.

Several years ago, during my recuperation following knee surgery, I had set up a study in our home. Early one Sunday morning, while I was making final preparations for the morning worship service, I heard a gentle, quiet, little knock at my door. It was my little girl Janelle, who was seven years old. She had come in earlier to get a phone book from my desk, and Sandie had told her not to bother me because I was preparing my sermon for the morning service, but this time she came over close to me and said, “Daddy, I just came in to hug you and give you a kiss, and tell you I love you!” After she gave me a hug and a kiss, she stepped back, with a big, beautiful smile, and said proudly, “You know what? I’ll bet I’m more important than your sermon!” I pulled her up on my lap, gave her a big hug, and said, with a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye, “You sure are, honey! You’re more important than anything to me!”

As she walked out of the room with a proud That’s-my daddy-kind-of-smile on her face, I paused to reflect and thank God for the special gift he had given me in that little girl. Sometimes we get so tied up with the things we’re doing, the goals we’re trying to reach, that we forget the most important relationships we have: God, children, wives or husbands, friends. It’s important that we set our priorities in proper order. Then we need to be open and responsive to the spontaneous interruptions from God that are some of his finest blessings. It’s about Transforming Hearts…Transforming Lives!—investing love, prayer, listening, modeling the Christ-follower lifestyle, sharing the Word, and mostly, just being there, leading those we love on the path home to God. Today, Janelle is a godly Christ-follower, wife, mother, and teacher. As we’re open to God’s will and plan, we will be recipients of constant blessings and joys that no amount of planning or money can achieve.

Lord, thank you for those little interruptions that turn into huge blessings. Help me to always recognize and cultivate them, to recognize them as opportunities to renew and strengthen those precious relationships. Enable me to keep my priorities in order in my relationships with you and others who are especially important in my life. I love you, Lord, and I praise you again for another gentle reminder of how blessed I am to be surrounded by people I love and who genuinely love and respect me. Thank You! Amen.

Ø  Dr. Sam Bruce; President, Sam & Sandie Bruce Ministries; Pastor, Hope Point Church, Pearl, Mississippi; Online Instructor, Mid-America Christian University, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Focus 40 Fourth Sunday's Message

March 11, 2012

Colossians 4:2-6

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.  At the same time pray for us as well that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison, so that I may reveal it clearly, as I should.  Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time.  Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.

The Church is to be devoted in prayer, alert to opportunities to give thanks to God, and connected with the work and life of those sharing the message of Christ.  Three simple directives connected by a common thread.  Each directive points people to God.  The goal of a congregation isn’t to just get along.  It isn’t to be isolated and focused only on the small picture of what God is doing in that one place.  Instead, the church is called to be connected across all barriers because God crosses all barriers to be united with His people.  There is a larger work going on.  Paul directs this church to be involved in his sharing of the message.  He directs this church to engage and speak with outsiders.  He directs this church in how to do those things.  Will this church hear these directives?  How willing are we to come together with God and all the believers to do what God has called us to do?

Paul is clear about the task God has given him to do.  He seeks opportunities to share the message of Jesus Christ.  He expects this task to continue even through his imprisonment.  He expects all believers to share this task.  How clear are we on God’s task for us?  How much passion are we willing to put into pursuing it?  What if we came together…across all barriers…in God’s Spirit?  God changed the world with the passion of a few people.  One church can change a community.  May we be united in our passion for God and others.

Focus 40: Day 16

Are We Listening?                                                                              

“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” —Genesis 18:17

Often prayer is more about listening. Early in my ministry, a group of five persons visited the church I was pastoring. Three of the individuals were siblings of a lady whose immediate family was long-term members. A few days later, I was informed that one of the guests had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and was hospitalized for treatment. This family that had visited our church had spent their lives living on the edge. “You name it, and they had done it” was an apt description of their lifestyles.

After hearing of the lady’s diagnosis, I determined to visit her at the hospital. As I was about the leave the office for the visit, I heard what I sensed was the Lord saying, “Pray for Jane (not her real name), she will give her life to me today.” First, I asked “Lord is this really you?” Then, I thought of possible distractions from family members that may be present. Finally, I prayed that if this was really from God that he would clear the way and fulfill what he said.

As I entered the room, sure enough, some family members were present. They quickly excused themselves. As I approached Jane’s bed I said, “I have some good news for you.” She replied, “Good, I could certainly use some good news.” To which I responded, “Jane, God loves you and wants you to spend all eternity with him.” That brief conversation began one of the most beautiful transformations I have ever witnessed. The next eleven months she radiated with God’s love and was instrumental in leading those other family members to Christ. During the following months, transformation after transformation occurred throughout that family. I have often thought back on this incredible time. Here are some lessons I have learned from this experience.

§  God is at work in the world, even when it seems he is not. God had been preparing this family to receive his gracious love in Christ while the external evidence looked bleak.

§  We are never first in other persons lives; God is! God had already prepared Jane to receive him. He just told me what he was doing and sent me to tell Jane. She accepted his invitation and was forever transformed. Helen Keller, the famous American author and activist, contracted a disease at nineteen months of age that left her blind and deaf. It is said, when someone communicated Jesus Christ’s love to her, she exclaimed, “I have felt him for a long time, but I never knew his name.”

§  If we will listen, God will direct us and use us in his transforming work. God is going about his transforming work in this world. If we tune in, we can hear his voice and be directed by him in his work. I have discovered that is much more fruitful than me attempting to direct my own efforts.

Father, we are thankful that you are working your plan in this world. Forgive us for not listening as we should, and deliver us from our attempts to direct you in your work. Help us to maintain sensitive hearts and ears that we may hear clearly when you speak. Amen.

Ø  Dr. Charles Wright, Regional Pastor and Overseer for Kansas and Oklahoma Panhandle

Focus 40: Day 15

Didn’t Our Hearts Burn?                                                                    

“They said to each other, ‘Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?’” —Luke 24:32 nlt

Sometimes you need a change of perspective to hear what God is saying. There were two guys who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection. He walked with them, but they didn’t recognize him. He asked them a question, and they replied, “You must be the only one in Jerusalem who doesn’t know about these things”. That must have seemed ironic when they thought about it later. They thought they were going to enlighten the stranger, but they were in line for the surprise of their lives.

Jesus in resurrected form walked with them but was hidden to them. He explained the Scriptures from Moses through the prophets. They saw the events, but they didn’t understand what was going on. As they got into the Scriptures their hearts began to burn. It started to make sense. They began to put the pieces together, and the more they learned, the more they wanted to learn.

When they got to where they were going, Jesus was going to keep on walking, but they implored him to stay and eat so they could continue the conversation. In the process of breaking bread, Jesus revealed himself to them. They were so excited, they turned around and went back to Jerusalem that same night to tell the others Jesus was the risen Messiah! Can you imagine? They were some of the first to see the risen Savior!

How long has it been since your heart burned within you as you discussed the Scriptures? It started because they were willing to talk about their faith with a stranger. It is amazing what can happen when you give God a chance to show up in your conversations. Remember that when you bring the Word of God up in a conversation, it is a living Word. If you give God a chance to show up in a discussion, it is an opportunity to watch truth reveal itself. It can change the perspective of everyone in the conversation.

Why is it that we pray for opportunities to share Christ with others and then talk about things like the weather, traffic and everything but the Scriptures? The Bible promises that God’s Word never returns void, but it accomplishes God’s purpose. So why don’t we talk more about it? When we do it is powerful and life changing just like it was for these disciples.

Will you commit to study God’s Word, not just for yourself, but also for those with whom you will cross paths? When you get into conversations, will you bring up God’s Word? If you do, you might just feel your heart burning with new passion and insight. You might experience the Holy Spirit giving you new insight even as you talk. And you might find yourself breathless later as you tell your friends about how Jesus showed up in the conversation. Do you need a change in perspective? You don’t study the Scriptures for yourself but to share them with others. It’s about Transforming Hearts…Transforming Lives!

Lord, meet us today as we study the Scriptures. Make them come alive in us and give us the courage to share them with others. Show up in those conversations and make the truth burn with us. Thank you.

Ø  Rev. Gary Kendall, Lead Pastor, Indian Creek Community Church, Olathe, Kansas

Focus 40: Day 14

We Just Need to Get Together and Pray!                                      

God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. Glory to God in the church! Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus! Glory down all the generations! Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes! —Ephesians 3:20–21 msg

When I was visiting in Madera, where I formerly pastored, I attended Ken’s wedding. After the ceremony, his mother, Ann, told me that she had not told me before we moved. Soon after Tom and Ann began attending our church, they learned that Ken had gotten in some trouble with the U.S. Army in Germany and was going to be court marshaled. Ann and Tom requested prayer for Ken repeatedly, in worship services and men’s Bible study. Ann and Tom went to Germany to help Ken through the crisis. He could be imprisoned for a long time. It was the night before court martial; the three of them were sharing a motel room. In the wee hours of the morning—during a time of extreme turmoil and agitation—after Ann had fallen asleep, she said that my face appeared in a dream In the dream I said to her, “Ann, remember, I’ve told you that we just need to get together and pray about these things. Pray together.” She awakened from her sleep, woke Tom and Ken, and said, “Pastor Sam said we just have to get together and pray about these things!” So the three of them stood in a circle holding hands and prayed for guidance. God answered their prayers. Next day, in the court martial, things turned out in ways they could not have imagined. After just a few months of incarceration, Ken was back home in Madera. But the awesome good news is that during the ordeal, in the midst of intense intercessory prayer by the church family, Ken invited Jesus into his life! When he returned home, he began attending church and our men’s Bible study. He met and married a lovely Christian lady. Ken served on the church board for some terms, and he and Susan are involved in various ministries. But that’s only part of the story.

Ann wrote the following letter to me: “You know how many years we have been praying for our daughter and her family to come to know our Savior? Well this last year has brought the realization of our prayers. Our children, their spouses, and all six grandchildren call Fourth Street Church their house of worship! Maybe no one else can understand what that means to us, except you, having been alongside us through some of the worst times in our lives. Ken and Susan are very active in various programs, Tom has just started helping with the Truck Stop Ministries, we are both attending a Bethel class, AND Susan and Jeremy are teaching their second Sunday school class. I hope you understand that I am not trying to toot a horn, only to show you how much their love for the Lord has grown. I feel so peaceful even with all the anguish around us. I just really thought it was time that I took a moment to thank you for your advice to never give up!”

That’s the awesome power of God-fired intercessory prayer, Transforming Hearts …Transforming Lives! That is cause for rejoicing! Prayer can melt the hardest heart, remove the toughest obstacle, cleanse the worst motives, clear the hardest conscience, and mend the severest broken relationships, both with God and with other persons. Prayer can accomplish what we know humanly to be impossible.

Thanks, Lord, for the power of intercessory prayer and letting us partner with you in it. You can do anything, far more than we could ever imagine or guess or request in our wildest dreams!

Ø  Dr. Sam Bruce; President, Sam & Sandie Bruce Ministries; Pastor, Hope Point Church, Pearl, Mississippi; Online Instructor, Mid-America Christian University, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma