our great god

What do you do when a woman interrupts the worship service, uses inappropriate language and claims the church is persecuting her?

Unfortunately, I don’t have the answers. I mean, I can tell you how I tried to handle that situation at church this morning, but it didn’t work very well. She wouldn’t calm down, wouldn’t listen to reason and refused to leave. The congregation watched in stunned silence. The woman was obviously agitated and very confused.

Praise God that a woman in the audience came to my aid and eventually coaxed her to leave the auditorium. Despite the bizarre circumstances, we continued to worship. The worship team soldiered on admirably despite the unnerving development.

After making sure the woman had someone to talk to, I returned to my seat. It was then that everything began to take its toll on me. What in the world just happened? How can I possibly preach after that?

Ignoring the worship leader’s call to sing, I bowed my head and prayed until it was time to preach. My emotions swung back and forth, praying for the Lord’s will to be done and for me to have the full armor of God on. This was spiritual warfare, pure and simple.

On the other hand, I felt absolutely terrible for the woman, knowing how confused and delusional she was. Part of me wanted to run after her and comfort her.

Regardless, I sure didn’t want to preach anymore. Those around me had seen me crying and praying, and a woman encouraged me with a pat on the back when it was my turn to preach. Knowing I had to get up and do my thing, I did.

The rest is pretty much a blur. After admitting I didn’t want to preach, I led a prayer for the woman and then delivered what God had put on my heart. To be honest, I’m not sure what I said, and if it was even close to what I had prepared.

And now, here I am, alone in my office, writing this blog entry. And I’m still stunned by what happened. Was it real or a dream? Did a woman really stand up in the middle of the worship service and say all those things in front of all those people? Did it really happen?

But when I peel back the emotions and really think about this morning, the most amazing thing is how great our God is. He took a preacher who didn’t want to preach, couldn’t preach, and preached for him. He took a broken man who was upset and under attack and delivered a message to His people.

Make no mistake, our God is a great God, the only God, Creator God. I praise your name, Jesus, I praise your holy and powerful name!

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”1

1  Ephesians 3:20-21

hugs

I need a hug sometimes. Maybe you do too.

Because of that, one of the things I’m known for as a pastor is hugging people on Sunday mornings as they leave. I don’t hug those who don’t want to, of course, and pride myself on respecting people’s personal space, but regulars know that if they need one I’ve got one waiting for them.

Just hold out your arms and I’m your guy.

I wasn’t a huggy kind of guy until my first part-time ministry. The more I got to know folks and found out how difficult life was for them, the more hugs made sense. And when I considered some of the elderly widows in the congregation, it just seemed like the right thing to do.

And so, pretty much over night, I began hugging people. Mostly women, as you might imagine, although if a guy wants one that’s cool. Of course, they get a “man-hug,” not a “woman-hug.” There’s a difference, you know.

I don’t want to be overly dramatic, but I’m convinced people need the touch of another person on a regular basis. That’s especially true in our fast-paced, Facebook and texting culture. There doesn’t seem to be time for face-to-face conversations or human interaction anymore. And there are some desperately lonely people out there, even in the church.

Because of that, here’s your assignment: Hug somebody today (Your spouse or girl/boy friend don’t count.).

Two words of caution, however: First, we’re talking (of course) about a holy hug, not a passionate one. The purpose of these hugs is to encourage and support people, not an expression of lust. I know it may seem obvious, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point it out.

Second, be cautious and use common sense who you hug and when you hug. Since the person and any observers may misinterpret what’s happening, don’t do anything foolish or obviously inappropriate. And always—always—use extreme caution when hugging someone of the opposite sex. In fact, if you have any doubts at all, then don’t do it. Just don’t.

All that said, who’s it going to be? Somebody at school? At work? A neighbor? A family member?

Who do you know that needs encouragement? Who do you know that’s depressed? Who is having a tough time of it?

“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”1

One of the best ways to encourage each other is a well-timed and holy hug.

Take my word for it, hugs are good medicine.

1  Hebrews 10:25

a little help, please?

The news was tragic: A psychiatric patient had pried open a window with a butter knife and then fell to his death. The news was particularly bad for me: It was my job to accommodate the media  and also do my best to protect the reputation of the hospital, my employer.

As I walked down the hall towards the auditorium packed with reporters and TV cameras, my boss, amazed at my composure, said, “Are your veins full of ice water? Don’t you ever get nervous?”

The answers, respectively, were “No” and “Yes.”

What she didn’t know was I had just spent the last ten minutes sitting in a bathroom stall praying my heart out to God, telling Him how nervous I was and how much I needed Him in this moment.

Now refreshed by the Lord, I entered the auditorium, walked up to the podium jammed with microphones and tape recorders and did my thing.

How’d it go? Well, I was as forthcoming as I could be, answered everyone’s questions the best I could and, perhaps best of all, wasn’t fired.

Why do I share this story? Because I’m betting some of you are facing something in your life today, something so intimidating, so big, and so impossible that you need divine help. Without supernatural help, it’s not going to happen. Or if it does, it won’t go well. And you know it.

So what are you waiting for? Why not pick up your heavenly cell phone and give Him a call?

Nervous? Don’t be. Just follow Jesus’ model prayer:

"This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”1

·         By saying “hallowed be your name,” you’ve shown respect and honor to your heavenly Father.

·         By saying “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” you’re acknowledging that His will trumps your will, and that includes whatever you need help with.

·         By saying “give us today our daily bread” you’re showing your dependence upon the Lord to meet your basic needs.

·         By saying “forgive us our debts” you’re admitting you’ve sinned and need His forgiveness.

·         By saying “as we also have forgiven our debtors” you're saying you’ve forgiven those who have sinned against you.

·         By saying “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” you’re asking for His divine protection from Satan and from falling into sin.

Once you’ve prayed this prayer—and understood and meant what you’ve said—then you’re ready to tell your heavenly Father about your problem. And don’t forget to thank Him for listening and caring about you.

Then? Well, go on with your life and do what you need to do, confident the Creator of the universe loves you and knows about your situation.

How will it all turn out? I have no idea. But know this: When your trial or decision comes to a head, guess who’s on your side?

The Lord God almighty.

Pretty cool, huh?

1  Matthew 6:9-13

reaching our potential

Ever wonder why you should read the Bible? Oh, sure, your pastor wants you to read it, but he’s paid to tell you that. Why take his word for it? Isn’t that a conflict of interest or something?

Give me one good reason why I should bother to read that dusty, 2,000-year-old book sitting on my coffee table.

Okay. Here goes: God uses the Bible to accomplish His purpose in our lives.

“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”1

Rains does what it’s designed to do, right? It waters the earth so things grow. In the same way, Scripture accomplishes God’s purpose when we read it: we grow. Spiritually, that is.

Take me, for example. I used to be a total idiot. Now I’m just a partial idiot. To God be the glory!

Seriously, I was about as far away from God as one could be, and now I’m a pastor. What’s the deal with that?

The deal is this: God has a plan for us. But until or unless we spend time reading the Bible, He won’t be able to bring it to fruition. Translated, we’ll never reach our full potential.

So what will it be? Will you settle for whatever you can do with your life or with what God can do with your life?

If the Lord can take me—a total idiot—and do a complete makeover, what can He do for you?

Scripture. Read it.

“(My words) will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

1  Isaiah 55:10-11

god's will

Seven years ago yesterday my life changed forever. That’s the day a 49-year-old man who had worked in the business world all his life was chosen to become the full-time pastor at a church in Indianapolis.

What in the world was God doing? And why in the world was I going along with it?

Who abruptly changes careers at 49? Who uproots his family from St. Louis, the only home they had known, to go to another state?

For that matter, what in the world was the church thinking?

Who hires a pastor with no Bible college or seminary degree? Who hires a businessman who’s never had a full-time ministry to be its pastor?

Thinking back, none of it should have happened. But it did.

And why? Because we were all convinced this was God’s will. The jolt to the Little family was too enormous to describe. And the jolt to the church was no doubt equally large, considering my steep learning curve.

Why did we do it? Because we were all convinced this was God’s will. It’s just that simple.

Which inevitably leads to the question, “How did you know God’s will?” While I can’t speak for the church, the following verses were my guiding light.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”1

Sounds simplistic, but I believed that by earnestly seeking the Lord, by trusting Him with all of my heart, that He would—somehow and someway—lead me in the right direction.

And then there was my life verse at the time:

“Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.”2

To the best of my ability I was delighting in the Lord, truly seeking His will, no matter what it may be. Thus, I believed that His desires would become my desires.

So…how did I know God’s will? You probably won’t like the answer: I just wanted to do it. Put another way, it just seemed like the right thing to do.

Yeah, I know, no neon signs, making fleeces or casting the lot. Even though the thought of moving my entire family and entering full-time ministry was an intimidating thought, it was the right thing to do. It seemed right back then and it still seems right.

I’m sorry if you expected something a little more “spiritual” or insightful. It’s just that sometimes I think we over-complicate how to know God’s will. If we’re trusting in the Lord with all of our heart and delighting in Him, I believe we’ll find the yellow brick road for our decision.

So how about you? Are you seeking God’s will on something? If so, I encourage you to re-read and meditate on the verses above.

But, if you’re really serious about finding God’s will, then follow this link to an article I wrote on how to know God’s will. It will give you more insights into how to discern your heavenly Father’s will for your decision.

http://windowtotheword.com/biblicalstudies/various03.asp

One last word: When you discover God’s will, please have the courage to follow through on it. If you think this middle-aged man wasn’t scared to death seven years ago you’re wrong. But you know what? Everything worked out fine. And it’ll work out fine for you, too.

God’s will be done!

1  Proverbs 3:5-6

2  Psalm 37:4

trapped

I hope nobody saw me do it, and hope even more that there aren’t any negative repercussions. But the bottom line is this: I did it and would do it again. Guilty as charged.

I let a possum out of my neighbor’s trap this morning. It had been in there for at least two days and I hadn’t seen a car in the driveway since last week.

Right or wrong, I concluded the possum would die without food or water, so I let it out. I don’t have a problem with trapping nuisance animals and releasing them elsewhere, but letting an animal die a slow and painful death in a trap is a no go for me.

Interestingly, it didn’t seem to want to leave. I opened the trap’s door but the possum stayed at the other end, baring it’s teeth at me.

“Hey, I’m you’re rescuer, stupid!”

I finally succeeded, but had to resort to tipping the trap on its side and shaking it until the possum came tumbling out. Fortunately, the thing didn’t bite me. Rabies city, I’m sure.

As I walked home afterwards I couldn’t help but think about Jesus, looking down at us humans and concluding we were trapped because of our sins. And like the possum, we would eventually face a gruesome end unless somebody came to our aid.

So what did He do?

“Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross!”1

The analogy was even more vivid to me since I was like the possum and refused to be rescued for awhile, 35 years to be exact. Instead of clinging to one end of a cage, however, I clung to my unbelief and hardened heart, certain that I didn’t need a Savior. And if I did, Jesus wasn’t it.

There is one big difference between my spiritual experience and the possum’s experience, however. Gravity forced the possum to eventually fall to the ground. In other words, it really didn’t have any choice but to be rescued.

I, on the other hand, had a choice. God never picked me up and forced me to do anything. I had to eventually choose to be saved. I had to eventually choose to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.

What about you? Have you made your choice yet? Are you going to let Christ rescue you from your sins or will you stay in the trap?

It’s your choice.

That’s a good thing, and a bad thing. A good thing because you get to decide your own fate. A bad thing because you might make the wrong decision.

“Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.”2

1  Philippians 2:8

2   Hebrews 9:27

me, me, me

I looked the part—you know, all holy and godly—as I stood in front of the congregation with the other deacons, but inside I was full of all kinds of ugly and sinful thoughts. If only the people knew.

I had written my first communion meditation on my own, a pretty good one if I do say so myself. But the @#$#$&!!! elders had asked another man to do it. And the other guy, well, pretty much of a loser in my book.

And so there I stood in front of the stage as he walked up to the lectern behind me to deliver what would surely be a mediocre effort.

Was I ever in for a surprise.

He used the same passage I was going to use and made the same observations I was going to make. It was as if he was reading word-for-word from the written meditation I had prepared.

I got the Lord’s message loud and clear: “You’ve got an attitude problem, son, and I don’t use people who are puffed up with pride.”

Remembering that moment still makes me cringe. Even though no one knew what I was going through I felt as if they did. I was completely humiliated and humbled like never before, and the Lord made it happen in front of 300+ people.

I could feel my face blushing in shame so I stared at the floor, waiting, ever so long, for the moment to end. The urge to cry was strong, but I fought it off. Not going to do it. Not in front of all of these people.

God taught me a lesson that day, a lesson I will never forget.

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”1

That day I became very familiar with “disgrace.”

I’d like to spare you the same fate, so I’m advocating a Scriptural heart check today. I urge you to read each verse or passage and then answer—honestly—each of the six questions.

1.      “(Love) is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered.”2

 “Am I self-seeking?”

2.      “If you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such ‘wisdom does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”3

 “Am I selfishly ambitious?”

3.       “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."4

 “Am I humbly serving other people?”

4.      “Then he said to them all: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?’”5

            “Am I denying myself?”

5.       “Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.”6

 “Am I seeking the good of others vs. myself?”

6.      “Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself.”7

 “Am I trying to please myself or others?”

So how did you make out? Yeah, I know, it’s not much fun, is it?

But hey, better to be humbled now vs. later, right? Why not deal with any pride issues now, in the privacy of your home? If you don’t, God may choose to humble you more publicly.

Trust me, you don’t want that.

1  Proverbs 11:2

2  1 Corinthians 13:5

3  James 3:14-16

4  Matthew 20:26-28

5  Luke 9:23-25

6  1 Corinthians 10:24

7  Romans 15:1-3