Are you listening to this? Really listening?

The disciples came up and asked, “Why do you tell stories?”

He replied, You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it. I don’t want Isaiah’s forecast repeated all over again:

Your ears are open but you don’t hear a thing.
Your eyes are awake but you don’t see a thing.
The people are blockheads!
They stick their fingers in their ears
so they won’t have to listen;
They screw their eyes shut
so they won’t have to look,
so they won’t have to deal with me face-to-face
and let me heal them.

But you have God-blessed eyes—eyes that see! And God-blessed ears—ears that hear! A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance.

We know from Paul’s letters, that the young Christian churches were thriving in the hands of people with passion for ministry and love for the Lord.  These were leaders that stepped up to a task or stepped into a role because they were willing be used by the power of God in some way.

You might say Nympha was on the Board of Trustees, providing a facility for the church to meet.  We don’t know what ministry Archippus was given, perhaps it was to teach children, to disciple new converts, to preach in the jail or to make the lives of widows a little more comfortable – but Paul was adamant that it was assigned by God and was important.

Then, just as today, the church could not exist without “Lay” leaders – volunteers who listen for God’s calling and use their gifts and talents in the service of Christ through His Church.  We don’t have to be “ordained” by a religious institution or authority to be invaluable to God’s ministries and mission to the world. Listen up and carry out His call!

This lesson of the widow is more than a message on financial giving, it is a story of giving one’s all. The widow in her society was nothing.  Without a man to protect and provide for her, she was helpless and defenseless, an outsider and object of injustice. Even so, she came to the temple, probably alone.  She walked to the front, even if invisible among the crowds. She placed her offering before the Lord, unashamed of what others would say, but in obedience to her God.

She knew those two coins could fill her stomach for a day, but could never sustain her soul for eternity.  Those two coins in the offering bought her immortality through the eyes of Jesus and just perhaps, through her example we would examine ourselves today.

We know His name, but more importantly, He knows ours.

There is nothing we can hide from God, not our thoughts, our finances, our intentions or our fears.  He has already paid the price for our mistakes, our secrets and our failures – He has “got our number” and He owns us.

Yet far from a malevolent Master, He remains a generous benefactor.  He knows our needs, He will provide, He knows our names and He will not let us down.

“The Lamb of God,” “The Alpha and Omega,” “The Way,” “Emmanuel – God With Us” are just a few of the names used to identify Jesus Christ as the one and only Son of God, Savior and Messiah. More than identifying Him, these kinds of words describe Him in so that we can begin to understand all that He is to us.

As the Lamb, He is our sacrificial redemption.

As The Way, He is the journey mapped out for our happiness and success.

As Emmanuel, we know that we will never be alone. He was born to be one of us, and walk with us, to suffer and cry and rejoice and laugh, as Son, Brother and Friend.

We may call on Him by many names, but we know Him by His love.

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.You see me when I travel and when I rest at home.You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD. You go before me and follow me.You place your hand of blessing on my head.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,too great for me to understand! I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there;if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning,if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night — but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

The act of baptism, as we practice it in water, is an outward, public, expression of how we express to the world that we wash clean our lives to follow Jesus.  Our old self goes into the water and the new us breaks back through the surface unstained and refreshed to discover God’s plan for us. But water is never enough; it is the Holy Spirit that will set us in the right direction and guide us to the best God has in store for us.

Immerse yourself in His Spirit and emerge fully in His will.

This jailor met most unusual prisoners.  In his short time with Paul and Silas, he came to understand that it was he who was imprisoned – not them.  While no doubt he had heard many under his lock and key, complain that they were jailed unjustly; likely none had opened their mouths to pray and sing praises in his keep. For no others, in his experience, had the Hand of God moved to set men free. None would have stayed with their way out so assured, to protect the life of their captor, who would have forfeit his life in payment for their escape.

The jailor kept to his employer’s charge, holding the men safely under his care and bringing them into his home, but in the end he found a new Master that would keep him and his whole family safe in HIS care and HIS home. The jailor left his prison in chaos and brought his house into order.

He may have gone back to work, but not to jail, for he was set free indeed.

Always doubting God. Like Thomas, we can’t believe it until we see it. Even though we have the audacity to ask God to prove Himself, to exert His power at our demand, He responds.  Yet, no amount of proof ever seems to be enough.

How fortunate for us that our God is big enough to accept our unbelief, our distrust, our lack of faith and says, “Try Me.”  Taste and see, for the Lord is good, blessed is the man that trusts in Him (Psalm 34:8).

Try Him and prepare to be amazed.

Knowledge is power. Winning and wealth are power. We all need some level of personal power to live healthy lives.  Subsequently, to possess power, we may work, struggle, bargain, cheat or steal.  What makes God’s power so excellent is that is it free, unearnable and undeserved. The weaker we are in our physical form or financial standing, the more His power can become the only explanation for our success, strength or solace.

Over and over throughout the Bible, God chose the underdog, the unexpected, and the unwanted to demonstrate what can happen when we unleash Him to use our weakness for His glory. Whether it is the under-rated quarterback who beats the odds and wins the day, or the terminally ill loved-one whose peaceful presence gives us the will to go on, it is in these excellent examples that all can see a power not of this world, but simply superior and definitely divine.