DAY 198 - The Choice: Fragmented or Focused?

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NRSV) Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely,^* and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, ²looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of^* the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Over and over again God calls people into partnership. God gives people a part to play in fulfilling His purpose for the world. In seeking to answer God’s call a person may experience difficulties, hardships, sufferings, and even death. The book of Hebrews appears to have been written to a group of early Christians who had lost touch with their sense of God’s call. We can lose touch with our sense of call as well. The clarity and conviction are gone under the weight of burdens that fragment our focus.

Let us lay aside every weight. We are not asked to ignore or forget about it, but lay it aside for a while so it does not interfere with hearing and receiving and remembering God’s call to our life. Is there something weighing you down right now? A problem? A worry? A concern for a person? A physical problem? A fear? A sense of responsibility? Lay it aside, literally, “laying aside the sin.” Which sin did the writer have in mind? We don’t know, but my guess is the sin of futility. Futility is that inner conviction that nothing we do will make a difference. What could possibly muffle the call of God more effectively and more completely than the great cry that “it just doesn’t matter.” It is the quiet roar that drowns out the call of God.

So, then, let us run with perseverance the race that is before us, looking to Jesus. Look to Jesus like an athlete focused on the finish line, or, perhaps more accurately, like an athlete who is intent on doing what the coach says. Shift your attention to play your life to an Audience of one.

Looking to Jesus let us persevere, stay with our training. Training for the Christian life is doing things like worshipping, studying the Bible, having a daily devotional, praying, giving, being accountable to another person to stay faithful to God’s call. Spiritual training helps us gain power to live the life Jesus calls us to live. Spiritual training gives us the power to do what we cannot do by willpower alone. Persevere by staying in training. Spiritual training can help us hear and answer the call of God to us in our daily life.

Are you fragmented or focused? Is your life being pulled this way and that, or are you living to an Audience of one?

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope September 17, 2000

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 197 - The Sovereignty of God

Genesis 45:1-6, 50:20 (NIV)  ¹ Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. ² And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.  ³ Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence. ⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! ⁵⁶ For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. ²⁰ And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

The sovereignty of God has to do with the power of God, the rule of God, the control of God, and the way God gets things done in this world. But, how do we picture God’s sovereign control at work in the world? When we think of God’s control in our world we are likely to see a god who is pushing buttons to make things happen. But, when Jesus talked about the sovereignty of God, He talked about the Kingdom of God. And when Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God He usually spoke in stories, one of which is the story of Joseph and his brothers. Joseph had it in his heart and mind that God was with him, that God had a special plan for his life.

That was the conviction that stayed with Joseph even during the dark and evil times of betrayal by his brothers, slavery to Potiphar, and imprisonment. This conviction allowed Joseph to see beyond what was happening in the every day events of his life to see the sovereign God at work.

Can you see it? Can you see beyond the world and see that God is Sovereign? Can you see beyond the hectic schedule that you are trying to keep, beyond the bills that have to be paid, beyond the dead end job, or the disturbing report card your child brought home? Can you see beyond? Joseph did, perhaps because of the dreams he had or because of something he heard from his father Jacob.

For us the evidence that helps us believe that God is sovereign is the presence of Jesus, who was crucified on a day when God seemed to have lost complete control, when the sky was blackened and all goodness seemed a sham. What may be intended for evil God can intend for good. God is sovereign; in the midst of human freedom God is in control.

If we are confident that God is sovereign what difference does it make in our day?

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope August 6, 2000

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 196 - Living Under the Influence

Ephesians 4:11-15, 17-27, 29 (NIV) ¹¹ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  ¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.  ¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹ Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. ²⁰ That, however, is not the way of life you learned ²¹ when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. ²² You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.  ²⁵ Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ²⁶ “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold.  ²⁹ Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

To “put off your old self” and “put on the new self” is to live a life learned from Jesus Christ. To “put on” is not a must, a try hard, or a have to, but is experienced as a gift. To “put on” is to grasp a vision of the life Jesus wants for us and then to make our way in the world according to His direction, continually adjusting our life to His will. To “put on” means that the specific person of Jesus the Living Christ is, in all situations, the ultimate authority on whom we rely.

Put off holding to anger, allowing anger to take hold, dwelling in our hearts until it erupts in a rage. Be angry if you are angry, but do not hold on to it, and be kind to one another. Put away all falsehood. No more lies, no more pretense. Speak the truth in love. Speak with clear, caring honesty. Speak from a pure heart.

Walk worthy. Live a life learned from Christ. Put off unwholesome talk, foul-mouthed talk, and use speech to impart grace. Speak in a way that respects the dignity and feelings of others. Speak the right word at the right time in the right way that gives help and hope to one another.

Put off … put on. Do you get the picture of the kind of life God wants for us?

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope July 16, 2000

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 195 - Power, All Power

Ephesians 3:14-21 (NIV) ¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ²⁰ 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, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

The normal posture for prayer at the time Paul wrote these words was to stand with arms raised. Praying on the knees was the posture of prayer when overcome with a desire, such as Jesus did when He went to the Garden of Gethsemene, knelt and prayed. It was with great intensity of desire that Paul prayed. Paul had an almost desperate desire for the people in the church to know more of the power of God.

Can you feel the intensity of his desire? Can you feel the longing that Paul had for the church and has for you and me? Can you feel the intensity of what God Himself wants for you and me? Paul yearns for you and me to know the power of God found in Jesus Christ, and that we know that power through faith. Faith means trust. God’s power comes in God’s way and in God’s timing. And it is seen and received by those who are living and learning to trust the God we have seen in Jesus. It may be a faint, faltering trust that gives God only a small crack in our soul. But it is enough. Or, it may be a more complete trust that daily places the helm of our life in God’s hands, that entrusts the direction of our life to God, that confesses our inability and to make all that we are and all that we have available to God daily. Whether faltering or full, it is as if that trust in God gives God room to work in our life. It is as if the spirit of Christ enters our soul and begins to chisel out the “stuff” of the soul and increase our capacity to see and experience the power of God.

In a time when we place such a high price on privacy and where self-sufficient individualism is the gospel of the day it may be good to remember that the power of God may come to us as an individual, but it is often given and experienced in the body of believers, with all the saints, literally. Power comes to the community in the same way that choir members experience the power of music by singing together. The power of God comes to community in the same way a team experiences power when pulling together. May we know the power of God in Jesus Christ, received by faith, with all the saints.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope July 2, 2000

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 194 - The Power of Peace

Ephesians 2:13-22 (NASB)  ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, ¹⁵by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, ¹⁶and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. ¹⁷AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; ¹⁸for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, ²⁰having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, ²¹in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, ²²in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

Once we were aliens.  We did not know God as sovereign. We rode the waves of success and failure, sometimes being bolstered and sometimes being beaten. But now we are fellow citizens with the saints, citizens of that Kingdom where God is sovereign. We have placed our lives in God’s hands and entrusted the direction of our lives to God, in the spirit of Jesus.

In Jesus Christ we have been brought to the place where our dreams of “someday” are fulfilled. Life is centered around Jesus Christ, following Him and allowing Jesus to set the pace. We do this as a part of God’s people in the Kingdom, as part of God’s family, as part of God’s temple. No Christian is ever an only child. We are born into a fellowship, into a family that puts its trust and takes its direction from the Father of Jesus Christ in order to hold together and survive together and thrive together. And we know we do it together or not at all. We carry our sense of belonging into every group and every situation we are in. We are being drawn together by One who reached out not only to the frail, fallible, frustrated stumbling disciples, but also to an untouchable woman, to a bossy Roman soldier, to a low class woman from Samaria, and to a trouble maker at Genesert. Jesus drew them into a relationship to Himself as Lord and Savior and draws us now into the peace of belonging. Like spokes in a wheel, as we come closer to Jesus we come closer together.

And now, as the family of God, we are called to confront the comfort with the power of peace we receive from each other. We live in a world that is a cauldron of conflict, whether it is ethnic cleansing, the break down of peace talks, the conflict in Congress and the city council. Or whether it is the friction between us and that unreasonable person we have to work with or for, the cauldron of conflict continues to brew. The cauldron boils, often spilling over in destruction.

And the God who has given us the peace of belonging in Jesus Christ calls us to confront that conflict with the peace we have found. Have you heard the call? Have you accepted your responsibility from the God of peace?

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles

DAY 193 - The Dream

Ephesians 1:3-11 (NIV)  ³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, ⁹ he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.  

Paul seems to begin this letter by taking a deep breath and singing out his hope and dream for the future. It is a grand dream. It is a glorious dream. All differences and divisions, hostilities and warring forces, all brought together in harmony around the central Son of Jesus Christ. Can you imagine? Can you see the vision? If we cannot see all things united in Christ, maybe it is all because we have seen the repeated failure of our world to bring this vision to pass.

We have seen the failure of the world, and we have seen the failure of the church. Do we really believe that Jesus can unite all things? We can when our life has been touched by the same spirit that touched Paul. Within the big vision of all things united in Christ are sprinkled small visions of God’s gift to us to unite all things in our life. We are chosen by God and sense the sovereignty of God in all things. We are aware that God takes the dark, somber threads of life and weaves them together with brightly colored ones to make the pattern for our life, and it is beautiful. Being chosen gives a confident peace to our life. We are chosen that we might be holy and blameless. We are given a kind of inspired goodness that gives peace.  We are destined to be children of God. We are family. We belong. We have the secure peace that belonging gives. And we have redemption in Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of our sins and a recovery program for the life God wants us to have.

We can have the confident peace of being chosen. We can have the inspired peace of being holy and blameless. We can have the secure peace of belonging. We can have the peace of recovery, of being redeemed and forgiven. And we can have the certain peace of knowing with all wisdom and understanding the nature of God’s will. These gifts are ours. When we receive them we receive the seeds of vision that can awaken our soul to unite all things in Christ.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope June 18, 2000

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 192 - One Life to Live

Ephesians 4:1-6 (RSV)  ¹ I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ² with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, ³ eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.

Did you know that the word “responsible” is not found in Scripture? Some might say that while the word “responsible” may not be found the concept of being responsible certainly is. Perhaps it is. I have been wondering. In Jesus Christ, Paul has found a new way of life that is better than simply being a responsible law abiding Hebrew person, and he calls others to lead this called life, one that is responsive to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Some of us may think of a responsible life and a responsive life as the same thing. But consider the difference between driving a motorboat and a sailboat. In a motorboat, we are in control. We go where we want to or where we need to. In a sailboat, we hoist the sail and are utterly dependent on the wind that blows where it will. If there is no wind, we do not move. And if there is the slightest puff we respond and do what we need to do to catch the wind. That is the difference between the responsible life and the responsive life.

How responsive are we to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? How much influence has Jesus been on our life? In this “fix it and fix it now world” some responsible people want to fix all problems and fix all people. But, we must practice forbearance with each other. Forbearance is not simply putting up with someone. It is not gritting your teeth and not trying to say anything. It is not simply overlooking something someone has done. The forbearance we see in Jesus is patience with hope. It is patience rooted in a confidence in what God can do. It is a confidence that remains unshaken by the seeming hopelessness of human behavior. It is good for the soul and good for those around us.

Has Jesus so influenced our life that we live with confidence that gives us forbearance? Bring peace. Jesus came to establish peace. His message explained peace. His death purchased peace. His Resurrection bestowed peace, and the presence of His Spirit continues to give peace.

To live responsibly is to try hard to live up to whatever image we have of a responsible person. To live responsively is to live in a state of self-surrender to Jesus in which the soul responds to every movement of Grace.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope July 9, 2000

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 191 - Hope for the New Year

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 (NIV) ¹ There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: ² a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, ³ a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, ⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, ⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,  ⁶ a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, ⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, ⁸ a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. ⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Peace and prosperity are the twin hopes that have driven humanity for as long as we have a history of our hopes. The potential of our hopes is that they are very close to vision. A vision called Abraham out of Haran and sent him on a journey to a land called PROMISE.  A vision caught Moses in his tracks and brought him to Pharaoh with a command from God, “Let my people go.” A vision pulled David from tending sheep that he might bring peace and prosperity to Israel. The vision came to each one in a different way, with different promises and different commands. But always the vision was from God and for the fulfillment of God’s purpose on earth. Jesus came preaching the vision He called the Kingdom of God, a vision He said had come true in Him and would continue to come true in the days and centuries ahead.

What is this thing called vision that figures so prominently in the lives of God’s people? It is a conviction about the way God wants life to be and an understanding of how we are to contribute to that life. A vision is an overriding motive for our life. Do we have any kind of vision for our life this coming year about the kind of person God wants us to be, about the kind of things God wants us to accomplish? Even if we cannot see the vision in detail can we see an outline of God’s vision for our life?

Some people have a dream for their life rather than a vision. A dream is our desire for the future, a picture we have in our mind of the way we want our life to be some day. A dream comes from our own wishes and desires. A vision comes to us from God. A vision is something received rather than conceived. It comes to us rather than simply from within us.

A message of our culture is that belief in God may give some comfort, but in the real world listen only to yourself. Other claims are that God gave visions to people in times past but does so no longer, or that God gives vision still, only we are deaf and blind and callous to the vision. Is God silent? Or do we fail to give proper attention to the Word, to the picture of the vision given to us? Could it be that receiving the Vision is as simple and as difficult as giving time and attention to what God is giving us?

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope January 1993

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell