Who has despised the day of small things…
Filed in General |Journal,
The past couple of days have been memorial for me. Last evening I held our introductory session for our 40th School for Christian Workers Disciple’s Heart Course. For me it is simply awesome to think about this being our 40th School. So many hundreds of disciples have been trained through the various courses offered by our School. And now I get to teach once again the course that I designed personally over the years to serve as a foundational course on Biblical discipleship. What a joy.
This class is unique in its purpose. We are filming it for our archives and for
possible future use of our School. It is a joy for me personally to teach this class and to meet with our nine students. My students take in five women and four men, including three married couples. Actually we have two Disciple’s Heart Classes in place. A regular class is being taught on Sunday evenings.
Anyway, my heart was quite stirred last evening. I love looking into the eyes of our students and seeing such a hunger to know more about the ways of the Lord, and how to enter into a true spiritual expression of the disciple. Can’t wait for next week.
But something else happened that was just as stirring to my heart…
This morning instituted our first Tuesday morning Bible ministry. It is like I got a double whammy. This morning carried me back to the very beginning of Christian Challenge in 1976. Our first service at Christian Challenge was March 9, 1976. We had nine people in attendance. Well, this morning we had seven people in attendance.
A Scripture kept coming to my mind while I was in the sanctuary waiting for people to arrive. I was hearing, ‘Don’t despise the day of small beginnings.’ As I walked the front of the sanctuary, playing my guitar and singing a bit to the Lord, that Scripture kept coming to mind. It was like the Lord wanted to encourage me with what He had in mind for these Tuesday morning times of worship and Bible ministry.
Of course I realize it will take awhile for the idea of a Tuesday morning Bible study to catch on, but that did not in the least affect what happened this morning. The handful of folk arrived. I had invited one of my Disciple’s Heart students to bring his harmonicas to the service. I played the guitar. He played the harmonica and we had a wonderful time of worship. And guess what! The Lord met with us as He promised.
And so, the second part of the double whammy came home. My heart was thrilled once again.
But that’s not all. Yesterday I asked the Lord what He would have me to share at our very first Tuesday morning Bible ministry. He impressed me to talk about the most awesome mystery in all the Bible. And so my subject was…
The Love of God
I reminded our gathering of the many songs we sing that speak of God’s love, and how that God’s love for us is so mysterious. For instance I ask them to recall this chorus:
‘The Love of God is more to me,
Than all this world could ever be.
It reaches deeper than any sin stain.
It reaches higher than heaven’s throne.’
I also ask them to think about the song which says, “I don’t know why Jesus loves me. I don’t know why He cared. I don’t know why He gave His life for me. Oh, but I’m glad. So glad He did.”
But I felt that the Lord wanted me to share on why God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that those who believed in Him would not perish, but would have eternal life. So, I talked about three special issues:
I - The Importance of Words
It was here that I shared how the Greek language expresses itself in a way that our English does not always pick up. God’s love for the world is not based on anything worthly of loving in the sinner. There is nothing in a sinner that brings pleasure to God.
However, the Greek word for God’s love for the world in John 3:16, that is, ‘agapao’ speaks of a love that springs from the heart that places a high value on the thing or object being loved. And the degree of preciousness of the thing being loved is measured by the degree of the sacrifice. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…”
The supreme sacrifice was made 2,000 years ago. This sacrifice is the apex of eternity.
And that is what creates the problem for us. If there was nothing in our sinful state that could bring pleasure to God, why did He give His only begotten Son to suffer in our place? Why are humans so precious to God?
This brought me to my second issue and what is behind the statement…
II - In the Image of God
So the questioned remains. If there is nothing in a sinner that brings pleasure to God, why then does God exteem sinners so highly? I shared how that fallen humanity carries something in it that angels do not carry. And this something is why Satan hates humans so much. And though this something has been marred by sin, it is yet in the lost man. It is called ‘the image of God.’
I went on to explain that because humans are actually the fallen children of God, this explains why God can be so compassionate, so forgiving, so merciful, and so caring for both the sinner and for the erring believer. Certainly sin carries its own consequences, but sin itself cannot nullify God’s love for all of humanity.
I explained that salvation is not about condemnation. It is about life. It is about the life that we are given in Jesus Christ. Salvation is about restoration. And Satan knows this.
Satan knows that the marred image is being restored when a person turns to Jesus. I shared a number of Scriptures throughout the study to let everyone see this.
Which brought me to my final thought.
III - God’s Perfect Love
I shared how we misunderstand what spiritual warfare is really all about. God left nothing to chance. Satan’s war is not against believers perse. Satan’s warfare is really over the love of God. And Paul said that nothing would ever be able to separate us from the love of God.
Out of the cross came a degree that nothing would ever again be able to serparate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. This degree is known as God’s perfect love. This means that God’s love reached its goal at the cross.
When Jesus cried out from the cross, “It is finished!”, this cry reverberated across the vaulted heavens, the heaven of heavens, and shook the very doors of hell. Yes, demons actually tremble over this issue of God’s love. And somehow Satan has to keep this love message from reaching the lost people in this world.
This also helps us understand what Jesus meant when He said, “Upon this Rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”
Well, what I’ve shared here is just a brief summary of the Bible ministry. Want to hear more? Come to our Tuesday morning Bible ministry. I want to share some things with you that can become life changers.
If my heart remains with what I believe will be my next Bible ministry, I will be sharing on a subject that you don’t hear much about. The reason is because of the heritical movements that spring out of angel appearances. However, I want to share on how these holy and heavenly creatures actually minister in the lives of believers and even in the lives of those who are not yet saved. Angels are much more involved in the working of the kingdom than believers may realize.
Ok, enough said for now.
And remember,
There is much love coming your way,
Your brother and friend in Christ,
Buddy
