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“The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead! God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him!”
~Acts 5:30-32
Christ Jesus our Lord is risen and reigning today, right now, at the right hand of God. May he bless us and his Church with the same boldness and courage of the apostles who witnessed it.
Peace,
Allan
This past Sunday it was Ken. The Sunday before that it was Lynzi. We are so blessed to be able to so often participate in Christian baptisms during our weekly assemblies. We watch and pray, cheer and sing, as these new disciples publicly confess Jesus as Lord and put him on in baptism for the forgiveness of their sins and the gift of God’s Holy Spirit. What an incredible event!
When I visit with these new followers of Jesus, I always stress that they should look back often on their baptisms. They should intentionally reflect on what God created in them that day they were buried and raised with Christ. We should all remember what God did for us and with us when we came up out of the water.
God has made something brand new out of each of us. He has chosen now to live inside us and to re-create us to experience all of life in a brand new way. It’s amazing, really. Death has nothing on us anymore. And neither does sin.
Do you remember when you were baptized? Who baptized you? Where did it happen? Do remember how you felt when you came up out of the water? Do you remember the songs that were sung? The people who were there?
It was the single greatest day of your life. You may not recognize it all the time. But that was the day you were added to God’s eternal Kingdom. That was the day you were made righteous by the salvation work of Christ and reconciled to your Creator. It was a tremendous day, a cosmic day when eternity broke through the barriers of time and space and took up residence inside your body and soul.
Praise God for the blessings of his loving and merciful salvation. And give him thanks for the great privilege of sharing those wonderful baptism days with others.
Peace,
Allan
“We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is… contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously.” ~Romans 12:6-8
We superficially assume that Paul’s command to be generous is meant only for those who have lots of money. No. Sadly, that misunderstanding causes lots of us to miss out on the terrific blessings of being generous.
Remember, these gifts listed in the middle of Romans 12 are gifts of God’s grace. God’s grace is the source of and the basis for these gifts. And it’s divine grace that guides us in the use of the gifts. A person gifted with generosity gives liberally not because he or she has tons of money, but because that individual has a grace-based understanding of possessions and their importance. His or her priorities are straight, in line with a gospel grasp of what our God has given to us.
And — this is just as important — let’s not limit this gift of generosity to our money and financial resources. Paul doesn’t; neither should we. The Scripture here is calling for an attitude of heart within the Christian community that says, “What’s mine is yours.” So many times your money is not the best thing you could give. More urgently, those in need could sometimes use your mechanical expertise or your plumbing skills or your time to just sit and listen.
Paul’s talking about an attitude. An open heart produces open checkbooks, open refrigerators, and open calendars.
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One of the great joys of working at the church building during the summers is the invaluable interaction with all the kids. (There’s a reason I keep two jars of Jolly Ranchers in my office at all times, and it’s not so I can see more of Matthew or Greg.) At any given time on any given day during the summer, our work is likely to be interrupted by the sound of relay races around the concourse, Nerf rocket launchers down the hall, or some form of zombie tag in the chapel. Yesterday, I was the grateful recipient of chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk delivered by a mess of middle schoolers. Today, I was ambushed in my office by a group of church ninjas who were not as sneaky as they wanted to be and a whole lot funnier than they intended.
Our Lord says the Kingdom of God belongs to people just like these little church ninjas. I know why. Who can resist? Their great joy. Their creativity. Their vulnerability. Their tremendous capacity to forgive and their eagerness to love. The carefree laughing. The unashamed singing and dancing. God has called all of us to be just like them minus, maybe, the t-shirts over the heads. Or maybe with the t-shirts over the heads; I need to give that more thought. Thank you, God, for surrounding me with these little reminders of what you want for all of us.
Peace,
Allan
“We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is… encouraging, let him encourage.” ~Romans 12:6-8
When brothers or sisters in our community of faith are hurting, the greatest grace we can offer is comfort or encouragement in the middle of whatever it is they are suffering. A person doesn’t need advice or correction or rebuke in the middle of pain. And he doesn’t need empty words. What he needs is the freedom you give him to crawl inside a hug and feel the embrace of our God. When we’re in pain, we need others to just listen, to just be present. We need friends and family to listen to our grief and fears, to help us sort everything out, and to encourage us not to lose hope.
Think today about the people who have touched your life with this gift of grace. Maybe you’ve experienced some special comforting lately. Perhaps today is a good day to thank them for the wonderful ways they’ve been a vessel of God’s mercy and care.
Or maybe this is one of your stronger spiritual gifts. Maybe today is the perfect day to assess the needs of the people around you. Take a few minutes today to discover who might need your encouragement in their struggles. And then bless them with the mercies of their heavenly Father who lavishly pours out his gifts on his children.
Peace,
Allan
“We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is… teaching, let him teach.” ~Romans 12:6-7
Those who are gifted to teach in the Church are called by Scripture to teach the truth. Obviously, teaching won’t bear fruit, regardless of the skills and abilities of the teacher, if the content of the efforts is false. This reminder is especially needed today when it seems more and more people in and out of the Church are much more interested in having their ears tickled than in being challenged by the radical call of God’s Word.
Secondly, teachers are responsible to prepare as well as they can to give their students as much substance as possible. The styles of teachers will vary, of course. But each teacher must be accountable to the community of faith for his or her best. Christian teaching is no place for flying by the seat of your pants. We are called to diligence in our studies.
Third, we use our teaching gifts from God best when we are genuine about how we teach. We must walk the talk. We have to be for real. We have no right to talk about the Scriptures unless we are personally willing to be confronted by them and to invest our whole beings into doing what they say. The impact of our teaching should be that others want to put God’s truth into practice. And we all know the best way for people to learn is through the examples of those who teach them.
God’s Holy Scriptures are such a treasure — bursting at the seams, exploding off the pages with new things to discover about God’s love and our place in his story. And we are all, to some extent, teachers. Parents and grandparents are constantly teaching. Bible class teachers and Gospel preachers qualify. Whenever another person is watching our modeling of our faith, we are teaching. We are teachers. It’s a gift that is to be nurtured by faith in God and in faithfulness to our Christian community.
Peace,
Allan
“We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is…serving, let him serve.” ~Romans 12:6-7
One problem with being a servant in God’s Church is that the person gifted to serve sometimes 
doesn’t realize how important his or her gift really is. He hesitates to even offer it. She might seek other gifts instead. The servant isn’t leading visible, out front, out loud, center stage ministries and he feels unimportant. Un-needed. She might feel small in God’s Kingdom.
Part of that is the Church’s fault.
We place too much emphasis on the bigger and louder gifts. We exalt the more visible and high-profile graces from God. Those gifts get more ink in the church bulletin. But in God’s economy, all spiritual gifts are exactly the same.
God can move mountains when you stuff a toy dog for a child at “The Bridge.” God can mend broken hearts when you move furniture and change out sheets and pillowcases at “Martha’s Home.” God can heal wounded souls when you sing at “Another Chance House.” God reveals his glory when you serve someone in his name.
All these gifts are critical to the community of faith. If they’re not exercised — or properly appreciated — we lose some of what we are intended by God to be because we’re not operating at full strength. We’re not functioning as a whole body. 
Holding the songbook for the older lady next to you is an exercise of a spiritual gift. It’s just as important as what the preacher’s doing up there. And, probably, a whole lot more meaningful to her.
Peace,
Allan
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