DAY 190 - And You Call Yourself a Christian

John 7:16-18, 24 (NIV) ¹⁶ Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. ¹⁷ Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. ¹⁸ Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. ²⁴ Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”

I John 2:1-6 (NIV) ¹ My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. ³⁴ Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. ⁵ But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: ⁶ Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.

“And you call yourself a Christian.” The remark digs deep. Is there any defense against the charge? We can try to dismiss the accusation by saying Christians are not perfect, only forgiven. But defenses seem to fall flat, for the truth is the charge is at least partly true. There is a gap between our profession and our performance. How do we close the gap?

Our most basic behavioral assignment is not to obey the Golden Rule nor is it even the command to love one another. We are to conform our life to the life of Jesus. Before we were called Christians we were called Followers of the Way. The work of the first disciples was not simply to study with Jesus or learn about Him, but to practice His life. The insight and inspiration they received from Jesus helped them find faithful answers to new problems and difficulties.

Walk in His way. Conform your life to Jesus. There are rules, but trying to obey them without the instruction and inspiration of Jesus is difficult and often confusing. Walk in His way. That is the assignment. By this we can be sure we abide in Him. Certainty about God becomes more solid as we walk in His way. God’s realness, God’s will, God’s work emerge from the shadows of wondering and doubt as we walk in His way. Many of us are fairly cautious people when it comes to action. We want to be absolutely sure before making a move, but if we act on whatever small glimmer of light we may have we will know more.

As we walk in His way we will sometimes succeed and will marvel that frail mortals such as we can in truth be remade and molded into the image of Jesus. Sometimes we will fail, but if Simon Peter is any example, there is still hope. For God works His will for us through our success and our failure.

“And you call yourself a Christian.” Yes. And thank you for reminding me.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope January 1993

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 189 - What is a Christian?

John 1:9-13 (NIV) ⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

From Ephesians 2 (NIV) But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,  and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.  He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,  built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

In the push and pull of life the understanding of what it means to be a Christian has a way of getting distorted. It is easy to drift away from a primary commitment in our life. There are crosscurrents we must battle to stay on course in our understanding of and commitment to being a Christian. The strength and genius of the Christian faith is not that we all agree or are always right, but that we are frequently corrected by that abiding Presence. Christianity is not a forced truth, but there is truth to what we believe that can be good for all people. 

Inwardly, a Christian is someone who has experienced a change in his or her relationship to God because of Jesus Christ. When the Scripture speaks basically about being a Christian it speaks about a basic change. Becoming a Christian is like moving from the orphanage into the home of God. Outwardly, a Christian is someone who expresses this change by a heartfelt commitment to Jesus Christ, to have an exclusive commitment to Jesus. It is a priority commitment that gives first place to Jesus and not to anyone or anything else. It rules out a commitment to the religion of money or to other religions.

Christianity is seen in our commitment to Jesus Christ who has bestowed upon us this gift. The channel God uses to reach us is different, but always there is the same truth that comes to us. It is the truth of God’s care and compassion and commitment to us seen in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope January 10, 1993

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 188 - How Soon We Forget

Deuteronomy 8:11-18 (NIV) ¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. ¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, ¹⁴¹⁵ He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. ¹⁶ He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. ¹⁷ You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” ¹⁸ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. 

Psalm 103:2 (NIV) Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—

Most of us want to be grateful. Gratitude feels good. Gratitude lifts our spirits, lightens our load, enlarges our soul’s experience of the goodness of life. Gratitude brings us into harmony and love with other people. We ought to feel grateful. We want to feel grateful. But sometimes neither the command nor the desire is enough to stir the grandeur of gratitude within us. What is it that makes gratitude so hard for us today?

Our affluence is usually blamed as the culprit for a general lack of gratitude. We suffer from a kind of sensory overload that dulls our spirit of responsive gratitude. Affluence can make us grasping, greedy, and ungrateful. And if affluence is the culprit in making us ungrateful, then poverty ought to cure us. But, that doesn’t seem to be the case.  Both affluence and poverty can wear away a grateful spirit, but neither seems to be the real culprit. The real culprit that steals gratitude from our heart is not as threatening as poverty nor as slick as affluence. The crook is plain old respectable forgetfulness.

In the final analysis gratitude dies not so much from abuse as from neglect. Our thoughts and our worries and our feelings about poverty or wealth simply crowd out any thought of gratitude. The Psalmist does not say “O Lord do not let me lose the spirit of gratitude,” but rather “forget not.”

If gratitude can so easily be lost by forgetfulness, then the good news is that it can be recovered by remembering. And notice that it is the act of gratitude that we are to remember to do. There is nothing about remembering to feel grateful. Just do it, and the feeling will follow. Remember. Gratitude resists the growth of a callous spirit during the good times, and allows us to thank God for the benefits that come to us in hard times. Remember. Remember all God’s benefits. 

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope November 22, 1992

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 187 - More For Your Money

From Deuteronomy 8  (NIV) He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.  Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years   a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills;  a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 

From Luke 16 (RSV) "There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. And he called him and said to him, `What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.' And the steward said to himself, `What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that people may receive me into their houses when I am put out of the stewardship.' So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, `How much do you owe my master?' He said, `A hundred measures of oil.' And he said to him, `Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.' Then he said to another, `And how much do you owe?' He said, `A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, `Take your bill, and write eighty.' The master commended the dishonest steward for his shrewdness; for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations. No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

Money is powerful, and it can be a very destructive power until and unless we make friends with unrighteous mammon. We are to take money with all of its destructive power and bend it to a good use. We are to corral the might of money and make it into a servant. It takes a special kind of shrewdness to do this. Shrewdness is a special insight and is always profitable to the one who has it. The steward was shrewd. He used his master’s money to buy something that money could not buy. He bought some gratitude for canceling debt. He used the tangible to buy the intangible. Do we have that “shrewdness?” Do we know how to use the tangible to gain the intangible? 

Be shrewd … make friends with unrighteous mammon. Learn how to use and spend your money so that it brings kingdom living to your life. That is the heart and soul of this parable. Giving helps bring kingdom living into our life, but the parable is not about giving. It is about spending. The parable is a challenge for us to use all of our money to bring kingdom living into our life. God provided manna in the wilderness so that when the people entered the Promised Land they would be armed with the truth that God had provided. Most of us have had the same kind of teaching experience. We receive from unexpected sources and for unknown reasons and are gifted with the material things we need. Can we see through the myths so we can manage our money with Christian shrewdness?

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope November 15, 1992

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 186 - From Recession to Recovery

Luke 12:15-23 (NIV) ¹⁵ Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” ¹⁶ And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. ¹⁷ He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ ¹⁸ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. ¹⁹ And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ ²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’  ²¹ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” ²² Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. ²³ For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.

II Corinthians 8:2-5 (NIV) ² In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. ³ For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, ⁴ they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. ⁵ And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.

The belief that brings poverty is called “covetousness.” There are two Greek words for covet. One means “to fix passion upon,” and the other means “to have more.” A fair definition of covetousness is “to fix our passions upon having more.” Covetousness believes that “more” will satisfy. We are kept in a life of perpetual poverty by this belief that life does consist in the abundance of our possessions, and by the demand that we somehow deserve that abundance. This dulls our mind to poverty we inflict on ourselves.

What can break that cycle so that we can see the truth and receive those things that meet our real needs and bring a measure of joy and happiness to our life? The cycle of poverty is broken by the grace of God. The life of poverty believes “I must have, and I deserve.” The life of grace believes “I have received and I can share.” Grace and giving go together like humor and laughter, like a back rub and the sigh of pleasure. Grace can prompt our giving, or giving can prompt our experience of God’s grace. Every time we give, we let go of the belief that we must have. We subdue the demanding spirit. We recover from our dull narcissism. Some part of us may still believe that life does consist in the abundance of possessions, but we act on the belief that we have been gifted with the goodness of life. Our giving keeps open the window so that the joy of grace can blow gently into our life.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope November 1, 1992

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 185 - Good and Happy

Romans 6:12-14 (NIV) ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Galatians 3:1-5 (NIV)  ¹ You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. ² I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? ³ Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? ⁴ Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? ⁵ So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?

We can acknowledge our self-respecting flaws, but ego damaging faults are difficult to see and admit. Yet, when we find the courage to do so, it usually brings relief and helps build bridges between ourselves and others. As we begin to recognize our faults and desire to rid ourselves of them we often run into the frustration of finding we are powerless. We try and we fail. We become frustrated and fail some more. We fail until God touches our life with the gift of grace. Grace is the confidence that we are loved despite our faults.

Anyone who works with people over a period of time realizes that unaided human effort is not enough to defeat the problems and difficulties that defeat us. Grace is a gift we receive to help us and to equip us to deal with the falleness of our life. It is an event and an experience that happens. I do not know if we can “fall from grace” but I do know that we can have a relapse from this experience of God’s goodness and power, and when we do we strike out again on our own to make ourselves “good and happy.” This had happened to the Christians in Galatia.

Repeatedly we hear the groanings of those who have achieved what the world calls success. The mirage of success holds out its alluring promise and people still strive to achieve it. Most tragically, works of the flesh and of the law are efforts to earn what God desires to give.  The difference between the works of the flesh and the law and the work of grace is subtle but significant. Your life is no longer controlled by striving. It is directed by the gift of Christ within you. The graceful life is living in response to that gift.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope October 25, 1992

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 184 -Can I Have a Witness?

Jeremiah 1:4-9 (NIV)  ⁴ The word of the LORD came to me, saying, ⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” ⁶ “Alas, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” ⁷⁸ Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD. ⁹ Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.

I Peter 3:13-16 (NIV) ¹³ Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” ¹⁵ But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶ keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

A witness is someone who tells what he or she has seen, heard, and personally experienced to be true. We are called to serve God by what we say to others. To say we only witness to God by the way we live is like trying to fly with only one wing. It takes two wings to take off – our works and our words. Both wings are important, but often it’s the word wing that is the most difficult to get off the ground. Jeremiah found this to be true, saying “I do not know how to speak. I am too young.” Jeremiah had his excuses, and we have ours. Beneath those excuses and reasons for silence may be a fear that if we were to speak there would be nothing to say. Do we remain silent because we feel we have nothing to share?

God has reasons for wanting us to speak. If we do not speak, God’s Word may not be heard, God’s life may not be found, and God’s truth may not be obeyed. God calls us to speak His Word. God has chosen us to be channels of God’s truth, grace, and love. If we do not speak, the Word people need to hear may not be heard.

To be a witness means we share with others what our faith has meant to us. If we are serving God and discovering a measure of freedom in that, we have the power to help others find that freedom as well. As we speak of God, our own faith is made more firm, more clear, more important. Let us never underestimate our own need to speak to others about what we have seen and heard of God. The pleasure of discovery comes only if and when we speak and share however much or little we have known of God’s presence and power and work in our life.

“LORD, I do not know how to speak.” “I have put my words in your mouth.” Which one will we listen to? Which one will we follow?

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope September 27, 1992

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 183 - Holy Leisure

Isaiah 55:1-2 (NIV) ¹ “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. ² Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.

I Timothy 6:6-8, 10 (NIV) ⁶ But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸ But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.  

Most of us have times when we are between completing one task and not quite ready to begin the next one. The early church leaders called this “times of holy leisure.” They saw these in between times as the opportunity to refocus life on the matters that were really important, to balance life between the competing demands and responsibilities, and perhaps most importantly to remember the calling to be Christians before being called to do anything.

False teaching abounds, telling us we must have more and that we must do more to be happy. Without some space for holy leisure we are very likely to buy into these promises and proddings almost without knowing it. Amidst all the noise of the false teachers comes the quiet voice of the Apostle Paul. There is something to be gained from our faith and it is called Godliness with contentment.

Paul is speaking of the kind of contentment where Timothy could rest on the confidence that God will supply every need according to the riches of His grace in Christ Jesus. This is the contentment promised, but Paul says this contentment comes as a part of Godliness. Godliness is a kind of mind-set that develops as we respond to God in faith and in obedience as best we can. We learn contentment as we respond to the daily events of our life out of whatever faith we have. That is the way Godliness is formed. The shedding of the old mind-set and the building of the new one takes place where we live and work day to day, where we respond with confidence in God.  If Jesus is only some veneer on an already polished life we may see Him simply as a quick fix for a problem. If He is one more responsibility in an overcrowded schedule His power will not be found and felt by us.

Holy leisure requires that we live in the passive voice, and allow and ask and give permission to the living Christ to prepare us for whatever the future holds for us. It is a time to remember that God is present to us, that God is at work, and that we are constantly being called to respond to life events out of our confidence in God.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope August 30, 1992

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 182 - Christian Submission

Romans 13:1 (NIV)  ¹Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.

I Peter 2:13-14 (NIV)  ¹³Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, ¹⁴or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. 

Peter reminds the church of its responsibility to the state. Submission to authority is an anathema in today’s world, and certainly there is a need to resist unjust authority, but submission was no more desirable for the early Christians than it is for us today. We prefer love to submission, because we know submission means saying no to our own self-will and saying yes to the will of others. Submission is a willingness to try solutions that others have offered. Submission accepts authority and assumes that those in authority have made good decisions. It is a willingness to test out those decisions in daily life. Submission places our will under the will of others. It listens to what others say and accepts their thoughts and judgment as being right and good.

Submission can become conformity, behavior based on fear and force. Submission, on the other hand, is chosen. Conformity makes us a slave to the demands of others. Submission enables us to freely serve. Our submission to human authority is supported by and limited by our trust in the sovereign power of God. Our bottom line faith is that God is sovereign over our country and over all nations. With confidence in that sovereignty we submit to human institutions. With hope in that sovereignty, we obey. And sometimes in obedience to that sovereignty we resist and rebel against human authority.

Submission is the risk Jesus took when He came into our world. We like to say that love is the cardinal command for Christians, and so it is. And at the heart of the command to love is Jesus Christ laying down His life for us. Jesus defined love as submission, and because Jesus submitted Himself to us, submission became a litmus test for love.

Submission is risky. I know of nothing that can remove the risk of abuse brought on by submission, but there is something that reduces the risk. There is in submission an element of truth that gives us power and protection from abuse. The sovereignty of God is our protection. God’s sovereignty is available to those who submit to others out of their trust in God. Submission is ultimately and finally and thoroughly an act of confidence in the power and might of God.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope July 5, 1992

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 181 - Powerful Mercy

Matthew 5:7 (NIV) ⁷ Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Luke 6:27-36 (NIV) ²⁷ “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you. ³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. I hear the words of Jesus, but they sound like He wants us to overlook and ignore the faults and failures of others. Turn the other cheek. Once again His words seem to challenge some of the popular notions of our time. Jesus makes clear that mercy is one of the weightier matters of the law.

Mercy describes God’s patient and persistent love for people despite their consistent failure. Divorced from these roots, mercy takes on a distorted meaning. Mercy begins to mean not enforcing moral law or feeling sorry for someone. When rooted in the action and the attitude of God we see the tenacity of God’s mercy. Mercy is a word of power, the power of God to change the life of the woman caught in adultery. It is the power to clean Peter’s shame. If forgiveness means giving up the right to get back at a person, mercy is giving up the right to be right. Mercy does not merely overlook the faults and failures of others. Mercy looks beyond our personal prejudices. Mercy does not bet its future on the way others respond to mercy. Mercy banks on the truth of God’s promise. We give and we receive. We exhale the gift of mercy. We inhale the mercy we need. To refuse mercy stops the process that gives us life. It stagnates the spirit of God in us.

If nursing resentments and cultivating a critical spirit revokes our pardon and imprisons our soul, then the practice of mercy sets us free. We let in a breath of fresh air to our critical spirit. We bring peace to a troubled soul. We bring healing to a wounded spirit, and the soul and spirit we bring these gifts to are our own. Mercy brings judgment in a way that being critical can never accomplish. Awareness of our indebtedness disturbs our comfort, and the place where we see our indebtedness is in the Cross of Jesus. God did not show mercy by overlooking or ignoring our sin, but by dying for us. Mercy banks on the truth of God’s promise. Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope May 24, 1992

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 180 - The Evil Empire

John 12:35-36  (NIV) ³⁵ Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. ³⁶ Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

I John 3:7-10 (NIV) ⁷ Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. ⁸ The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. ⁹ No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. ¹⁰ This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. 

For Jesus, the enemy was more than the people standing around the Cross jesting and ridiculing Him, reveling in his death. The enemy was a power behind them. Jesus had called this power the Accuser, the Deceiver, the Father of all lies, Satan. Jesus was seeing something that we find hard to see and comprehend and to deal with. Do we fall into that trap, seeing the cause of our faults and failures, our problems and difficulties as always being something visible and tangible that we can manipulate and control? 

If there is an evil power that opposes God’s will for us and seeks to sabotage our life and capture our mind and heart, there is also a power that overcomes the darkness, and that power was unleashed through the death of Jesus. How did the death of Jesus conquer the power of evil? We do not know fully how the Cross works, but we know its power is verified in history and in human lives. We can debate the existence of evil and discuss the theories of the Cross until we are thoroughly confused. But when our sanity and survival are at stake, only our experience of the Cross is important.

How does that come about? Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. To believe in the light is to live in a spirit of confidence and trust that the ruler of this world has been cast out. Trust helps us to see through the deceits that try to control us and drive us. Most of us know when the demons of fear and anger, greed and guilt and a host of others are the residing dictators of our life. We absolutely can do nothing about them without trust and confidence in God to act in us and for us. By faith and with trust, we resist the deceit that drives us even further down the road to poor judgment and woeful song of self-pity. Jesus saw the real cause of the Cross, not because He had some supernatural knowledge that has been denied us. He saw because He lived with such complete trust in God.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope April 5, 1992

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 179 - You, Judas!

Matthew 26:14-16, 19-23, 25 (NASB) ¹⁴Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests ¹⁵and said, "What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?" And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him. ¹⁶From then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Jesus. ¹⁹The disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.  ²⁰Now when evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples. ²¹As they were eating, He said, "Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me." ²²Being deeply grieved, they each one began to say to Him, "Surely not I, Lord?" ²³And He answered, "He who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl is the one who will betray Me ²⁵And Judas, who was betraying Him, said, "Surely it is not I, Rabbi?" Jesus said to him, "You have said it yourself."

Is there any Judas in us? Look with me at the act of betrayal. The word literally means to give over or to deliver into the hands of judgment. But, no definition can capture the experience of being betrayed or of betraying. Betrayal takes place between friends, with people we are close to, people we love, trust, and have confidence in. Only people we care about have the power to betray us. The Sanhedrin was right in recognizing that only a friend in pretense could get to Jesus, could bring Him down, could do the deed that would destroy Him. Betrayal is the deepest wound we can inflict on someone who cares about us, and the deepest wound we can receive.

While there is a certain amount of self-deceit involved in betrayal – we excuse, we rationalize – betrayal is not done entirely blindly. It is deliberate. We always have some awareness. We do not accidently betray someone. We do not simply stumble into it. Because betrayal has an element of knowing, words like "I’m sorry" sound hollow, and explanations are ultimately futile. Forgiveness is the only help we have for betrayal. Forgiveness is the only thing that will bring healing to the betrayed and the betrayer. We remain trapped by betrayal if remorse, and not forgiveness and repentance, is all we feel along with our wounded pride.

We are all capable of being a Judas. Hear and heed that warning. Receive also this word of hope. Jesus knew who would betray Him, and He knows us as well. Jesus knew and loved Judas still, and loves us still. God is not surprised at our sin, because God knows. If we can remember and are willing to believe that God knows our betrayal and is troubled by our betrayal, but is not surprised, alienated, or turned away by it, we will know we still have a choice. We are not condemned forever to a prison of pain. God will work. God will forgive. God will restore. And we can choose whether to accept or reject God’s continued commitment to us.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 29, 1992

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 178 - An Experiment in Thanksgiving

I Thessalonians 5:12-24 (NIV)   ¹² Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. ¹³ Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. ¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵ Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.  ¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. ¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecies with contempt ²¹ but test them all; hold on to what is good, ²² reject every kind of evil. ²³ May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

Realizing that gratitude is an action before it is a feeling made me feel less guilty about not feeling grateful, and it challenged me to be more faithful in giving thanks in everything. Paul did not say to give thanks for all circumstances, but to give thanks in all circumstances. In every circumstance we can know this much of the will of God for us.

Obeying the command to give thanks in everything is challenging because in the good times pride will dull our need to give thanks, and in the bad times our despair will tell us there is nothing here to be grateful for. I would like to tell you that in everything I have given thanks, but that is not true. I do not know how deep the pit of self pity is but I have come as close as I want to come to finding the bottom. I have not given thanks in everything, but when I have it has been a saving grace. Giving thanks keeps the window open to God’s grace. It keeps the window open against all that would close it. There is always amble pressure to close that window. There is the pressure to complain, to fuss, to be afraid, to give in to despair, to be angry, to worry, the pressure of pride. No judgment or any kind of punishment can conquer pride, but gratitude can and frequently does. Gratitude opens the window to God’s grace to let out everything that the power of sin has kept trapped inside, and lets in the refreshing, life giving breeze of God’s grace.

Somewhere in this whole process of giving thanks we become aware that life is a gift. Everything we have is a gift. The people in our lives are a gift. Whatever abilities and opportunities we have are gifts. Thanksgiving has to do only with how we respond to the good times and the bad, and the thing we need most is a reminder – give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. We are made to give and to receive, and gratitude is the way we do both.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope November 24, 1991

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 177 - Why Is God Doing This To Me?

Romans 2:1-4, 7-8, 16 (NIV) ¹ You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. ² Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. ³ So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? ⁴ Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? ⁷ To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. ⁸ But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. ¹⁶ This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

Sometimes life feels like God is punishing us. The notion that when we do something bad God does something bad to punish us is one of the oldest and most persistent rumors there is about God. But, could it be, like many rumors, there is some truth to it, albeit a twisted truth? I want to see if we can lift that twisted truth from the rumor and hold that truth before the truth of God seen in Jesus Christ.

God does not punish for every wrong thing we do. Paul says we are being spared God’s judgment not because we are special, but because God is patient, not because we deserve it, but because God has decided it. But, neither should we show contempt for the patience of God. If there are some who feel that God is always punishing them, there are also those who feel they can live with immunity to God’s judgment.

But, are we any better off for this flat rejection of God’s judgment? Is our society any more sane and stable for having rejected the whole of this belief? We may not be manipulated by the fear of God, but are we moved and motivated by our respect for God? From Genesis to Revelation there is a belief that a day of God’s judgment is coming. There will come a day is the repeated promise of a time to come when all our judgments will be judged.

Christians believe judgment is an act of love. The coming judgment says that what we think and say and do right now is very important. We are held accountable for the way we live our lives. Belief in a day of reckoning was not meant to cause us to cower in fear but to rise up in responsible living. We can deny that day, but we cannot deter it. We can pretend it isn’t true, but we cannot postpone it. There are reliable consequences to bad behavior. Judgment falls. Events happen. Natural consequences occur. 

Judgment fell on us in Jesus, and judgment falls on us in Jesus. It falls on us in the example of the life of Jesus, in the experience and expression of God’s grace in the love of His Son for us. In the judgment of Jesus, God calls us to come closer to get a clear look at Him that we might receive a clear look at ourselves.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope May 2, 1993

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 176 -Does God Want to Control You?

John 8:34-36 (NIV)  Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

From Galatians 5 (NIV)  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?  You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

In times of turbulence, promises of God’s control can be very appealing to some people. Others resent it, resist it, and flatly reject it, not wanting to have anything to do with this restrictive, repressive religion that tries to put a lid on fun, fulfillment, and pleasure. Paul was writing to a church that was confused about the issue of God’s control, to a people who once felt they were at the mercy of emperors and evil spirits. Now they have discovered that they are only at the mercy of a loving God.

Paul addresses two forces that work against our freedom. One is forced faith, a faith that relies on fear and manipulates the tender side of commitment to gain control over someone’s life. Paul opposed a forced faith, presenting the truth in a way that respected people’s freedom. He acknowledged and encouraged the freedom to think and decide. Paul also cautioned against false freedom. There is a difference between being free and being adrift. A ship without a rudder is not free. It is only loose from its moorings to flounder in the sea.

Forced faith and false freedom are two spirits of slavery that come to us with enticing invitations. Forced faith offers us the security of simply being told what to think and believe and how to behave. The spirit of slavery sneaks like a rust over our life when we give an uncritical hearing to any individual or group. The spirit of slavery can also grab hold of us when we become defiant, when we take on the attitude that no one is going to tell us what to think or believe or how we ought to behave. Sometimes in our quest for freedom or in defiance we build a suit of armor around our life that isolates us from the truth and makes movement toward the truth cumbersome and difficult.

God is not out to control us but to set us free. Jesus offers the freedom of belonging. It is a freedom that a slave can never have, whether rebelling or conforming to the desires of the Master, because the master is still master. Freedom happens when the relationship is changed. Freedom happens when our soul sees that God is not a master that is seeking to order us around, but a loving Father who is seeking our best. Freedom is found and preserved by exposing our soul to the life of Jesus. God does not want to control us. God does want to conquer the spirit of slavery that seeks to conquer us.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope April 25, 1993

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 175 - Kingdom of God

Luke 17:20-21 (NIV) ²⁰ Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, ²¹ nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

“The Kingdom of God” is still a strange phrase for most modern ears. But we know pretty much how the first century Jew understood the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God was the truth of God and the rule of God over all the world. The Kingdom of God is what Israel existed for. They saw a day coming when the LORD would become king over all the earth. The Zealots fought for that day. The Essenes organized for that day.  The Pharisees studied and prayed for that day. The Sadducees manipulated and compromised for that day.

To the Pharisees, Jesus preaching sounded like a politician’s promises and they came to Him asking “where is it?” and “when is it?” Have you ever wondered the same? If Jesus did bring some kind of Kingdom, where is the evidence? Has anything really changed? Jesus either lied, was deluded, or the Kingdom He announced is different than the Kingdom expected. The Kingdom of God is not a change of governments, a change of the Roman oppression. The real issue is oppression itself.

When Jesus announced the coming of a Kingdom, He spoke of a power that had come into the world that would be confronting evil and causing good. And, He acknowledged that this power would not be obvious to everyone. His power would not cause the fall of Rome or the rise of Israel to prominence. The miracles give evidence of this power and this rule, but only a small bit of the evidence. The miracles were not done on a large scale for the whole of Israel, and often they were done in secret because Jesus knew that miracles could attract the greedy and the gullible as well as the faithful, and we see that still.

The Kingdom could also be seen in the life He taught. Jesus was saying in His teaching that we can see the Kingdom in the way its citizens live. The Kingdom could also be felt in the authority of Jesus. Jesus had the power and the ability to convince people that He was right about God, right about people, and that He was right about the way they were to live. Jesus spoke His message about a God who cared and about a life of love and service, but He left the matter of acceptance of His authority to the mystery of the divine will and the working of the human conscience. Why did He do it that way? Why didn’t He do more to convince people that He was telling the truth? Because that is the way God works in people. God does not overwhelm our responsibility and our right to chose.

Where is the Kingdom of God? It is wherever lives are being changed to conform to the will of God. The best evidence we can give is the evidence of a changed life. The changes that God makes in us are still the most reliable base we have. Trust that God is at work to change you. Believe it.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 14, 1993

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 174 - The Good News of Jesus

Luke 7:36-50 (NIV)  When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.  A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume.  As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.  When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”  “Tell me, teacher,” he said.  “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.  Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”  Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.   Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.  You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.  Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”  Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”  Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 

Jesus directed His message and ministry toward the poor and the sinners, speaking an announcement about God’s love, of the Good News of God. The word Biblical writers use most often to describe this attitude of love toward the poor and sinners is compassion. The word speaks of sympathy for people and also a commitment to them.

Compassion was at the heart of Jesus’ teaching about God.  Simon was a decent, respectable, educated man, but somewhere something got lost – a sense of indebtedness, or an awareness of being love. Something had been lost that closed his heart to the compassion of Jesus for the woman.  Jesus names the key that the woman had discovered and that Simon had lost, the key that opened the door to God’s compassion. Her faith was believing that God cared enough about her to make her life different. Life could be better, so that even the home of a Pharisee was no longer off limits for her. Forgiveness was not a mere overlooking of sins as if they were not important, but a release from the stranglehold that sin had on her life.  God cares enough about us to make our life different. Do you believe that? If you believe it, what are you doing about it?

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 7, 1993

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 173 - Let’s Face It

Matthew 3:1-2, 4-8, 10 (NIV)  ¹ In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea ² and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  ⁴ John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. ⁶ Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.  ⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.  ¹⁰ The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

I Corinthians 11:27-29 (NIV)  So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.

The prophets had been telling the same thing for centuries: the threat of destruction if the people of Israel did not turn away from the wrong they were doing.  The message was as startling as it was compelling. This new message of John’s to repent was a call by one who looked like and spoke like one of the prophets of old. John called on the people to focus on the wrong they had done rather than on the wrong done to them. Repent was a call to basic moral responsibility. It meant courageously accepting the burden of blame. John spoke of the fire of catastrophe that would come to them very soon if they did not change their attitude and change their ways. And, John’s prophecy was fulfilled in 63 A.D. when Rome ordered the total destruction of Jerusalem. They laid the ax to the root of the tree and leveled the Holy City.

How do we account for John’s popularity and appeal to the people of Israel? It was not the novelty of his looks or his message. The prophets had been telling them the same thing for centuries. Nor was it purely the threat of destruction. Rather, it was the basic promise of hope, which meant they could be different and life could be different if they accepted responsibility for the wrong they had done.

Today, we continue to answer John’s call. We do not have to wage war for it, we do not have to escape to the desert for it, we do not have to spend tedious hours learning the law for it or have education, or wealth, or power for it. We need only be morally responsible for our life. We hear Paul echo John’s words: Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.  Change your attitude, focus on the wrong you have done and change your ways and your life can be significantly better.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope February 28, 1993

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 172 - Have Faith: Cast Your Bread Upon the Waters

Luke 6:38 (NIV)  ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Deuteronomy 14:22-26 (NIV) ²² Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. ²³ Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always. ²⁴ But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away), ²⁵ then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose. ²⁶ Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice.

To open our mind to God about money is far more difficult and more central than simply opening our pocketbook. So it was one afternoon on a hillside near Capernaum that Jesus began to deal with our attitude and assumptions about money. He was talking to a people who had rules and regulations about giving, and most of them obeyed the rules, from the richest to the poorest. Yet, underneath all that was the attitude and the assumption that you took what you could of money and wealth and then you tried to hold on to it for dear life. Give and it will be given to you. Does Jesus mean that if we give generously we will get back more money? It happens, but mostly we will receive an awareness of the goodness of God, a confidence in the sovereignty of God, the ability to appreciate all that we have, including the people in our life, as a gift, and a sense of security in our thoughts and dealings with money.

Are we shrewd about giving, or do we just pay our dues as we would for belonging to a club? It is God’s will that we receive real spiritual benefit to our soul that comes from giving. God wants us to enjoy our money, His money. We do that when we are willing to submit our money and our decisions about money to God. We seek God’s guidance for all that we do with our money, the way we give, the way we spend, the way we save.

Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice.

From sermons preached by Henry Dobbs Pope October 22, 2000 and November 12, 2000

Copyright Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles