DAY 281 - Right Connections

Psalm 116:1-9, 12-13, 18-19 (NIV)  I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. ² Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. ³ The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. ⁴ Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Lord, save me! ” ⁵ The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. ⁶ The Lord protects the unwary; when I was brought low, he saved me. ⁷ Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. ⁸ For you, Lord, have delivered me from death, 0my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, ⁹ that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living. ¹² What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me? ¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.¹⁸ I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, ¹⁹ in the courts of the house of the Lord—in your midst, Jerusalem. Praise the Lord.

I will lift up the cup of salvation.  Cup is a word meaning “experience” in much the same way we say “I am filled with joy or thanksgiving.” The Psalmist is saying not only was deliverance experienced, but that experience was carried and presented to God in praise. The Psalmist turned to God in times of trouble, which is a good thing, but it is what the Psalmist did in the end that is important. Trouble comes and trouble goes; deliverance comes and deliverance goes. But, what is important is what is rendered to God in the end: praise. Praise is the way we acknowledge the permanence of God amid the temporary experiences of our lives.

Praise takes the temporary experiences of life and makes them building blocks in our relationship to God. The experiences of troubles ebb and flow. The experience of deliverance comes and goes. But when all of those experiences are offered to God in praise, we renew that permanent bond of truth between ourselves and God that is sometimes forgotten in the good times and neglected in the bad times. I will lift the cup of salvation, the Psalmist says. I will offer my experience in praise. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord.

We express commitment as we offer praise, as we fulfill our vows, and in doing these things the bond between ourselves and God is not only strengthened but opened. What we believe depends on what we expose our life to on a regular basis. Through the reading and hearing of Scripture, from time spent in prayer, and through worship with others we lift up the cup of our experience. We fulfill our vows and we connect with God. We need to express our commitment, even when we do not feel like it, and especially when there is no other reason for expression except for the importance of that commitment itself.

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

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 280 - It’s Worth It

Deuteronomy 8:1-10 (NIV) Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. ² Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ 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. ⁴ Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. ⁵ Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. ⁶ Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. ⁷ 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; ⁸ a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; ⁹ a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills. ¹⁰ When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

Whatever we are doing with our life, whether struggling with the issues of being single, or struggling to make our marriage work, whether striving to move up the corporate ladder or to move on to retirement the final question is, “Was it worth it?” Was it worth the energy, the effort, the sacrifices, the total cost to our life? Paul says that these struggles are “worth it” when they are a part of our effort to lead a life worthy of God who has called us. You are called. You are called to participate in the ruling action of God through the conspiracy of the insignificant. You are called to catch a few glimpses of glory, those moments in life that make all the other moments worthwhile. 

Most of the time we really do not see how a word of kindness, or a moment of listening, or the effort to try one more time really makes a bit of difference. Sometimes we see it in our families. Sometimes we see it in our work. Sometimes it is a kind of private moment we have between God and ourselves, but it is where the action is. It is where the ruling action of God is penetrating and prevailing in our homes, in the community, in the places where we work, and in our churches.

God calls us to participate in this ruling action, and, if we take our clues from Jesus, we know that the ruling action will usually take place through small acts of obedience and through seemingly insignificant people. We are constantly being confronted with the opportunities and challenges to participate in the ruling action of God, to become a part of the something greater. Will we look at our responsibilities as a way of participating in the ruling action of God?

We are called, and whether or not we answer that call determines whether or not we will come to that day when we say, “Yes, it was worth it.” It has been worth it all, whatever the cost, to answer God’s call. 

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope August 22, 1993

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 279 - Bad Enough

Romans 5:6-11 (NASB) ⁶ For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. ¹¹ And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Are we basically good people who just need a little help from our friends and maybe from God, or are we desperately corrupt people who need much more? Are we basically good or basically bad? Where shall we look for answers? Often we will hear we are basically good people who need to be liberated from the bad advice or abusive treatment received in our past. If we turn to Scripture, we find positive statements about the nature of our humanity … that in the beginning God created us in the image of God.

But, the dominant message of Scripture is about our corruption. While we were helpless, Paul says, and then underscores the statement twice, while we were sinners … while we were still enemies. The words of Jesus, the words of the prophets, the wisdom of the Psalms all echo similar messages and seem to say that we are basically a corrupt people who need saving. We may want to weasel around it, but can we deny what is taught in scriputre? Even some of the critics of Scripture say it teaches a very dismal truth about human nature, and they dismiss it as too negative.

Evidence may be mixed, but there is one more bit of evidence we need to see, and it is the evidence of Jesus. In Him we see all of the evidence in a new way. If all we needed was a little help from our friends and from God, Jesus could have confined His ministry to teaching and healing. He would have taught us the way to be good, and He would have helped us and shown us. He could have lived out His days helping people achieve their innate goodness. But He believed we needed more.

Questions about our basic goodness and badness are more accurately answered when we wonder not simply about ourselves, but about Jesus. Was He right? Did He know something about us that was hidden from us? Did we need, do we need His dying for us? This is the paradox of Good News. We see our corruption only after we discover ourselves cherished by God and loved enough by Jesus for Him to die for us.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope June 20, 1993

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 278 - How Is Your Spirituality

I Corinthians 2:6-16 (NASB) ⁶ Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; ⁷ but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; ¹¹ For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. ¹² Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, ¹³ which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. ¹⁴ But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him…

How is your spirituality? Granted, this is not the kind of question you are likely to be asked at a party, or even in the vestibule of the church. The question may pose a special problem for those of us who have not emphasized the spiritual life the way we should, and who tend to use our head before we engage our heart. Perhaps we can connect mind and heart together in remembering and recognizing this reality called spirituality. Spirituality is usually known in the heart before it is recognized and realized by the mind.

Paul speaks of the natural person as one without the gift of spirituality, someone who has a “this world only” mind-set, whose goal in life is to get all the goodness of life that this world has to offer. Some are non-religious and have no interest in the things pertaining to God or to the spirit. Some are anti-religious and see religion as the spoiler of fun and fulfillment. They especially see religious institutions as repressive and restrictive of the good life, and perhaps not without some justification. And, some natural people are religious but their god is a serviceable god whose main role in life is sparing them the inconveniences and hardships of life. 

But the spiritual person receives the Spirit which is from God. And in receiving that Spirit they sample a new reality called spirituality. Spirituality is an awareness of our connectedness to God and some kind of awareness that this connectedness should be influencing and shaping our life. Paul implies that all of us are given the same evidence and experience. The difference lies in the response to the evidence and experience given, the decision to accept or reject. Do we accept and savor and allow the Spirit into our soul, aware of God’s work?

How is your spirituality? Connected? Real? Loose? Vague? Alive and well or teetering on the breaking point? However we answer that question may we accept whatever gift of the Spirit God wishes to impart to us.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope June 13, 1993

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 277 - A Matter of Life and Death

Luke 12:15-21 (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.”

Romans 8:5-6 (NIV) ⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.

Living according to the flesh sounds a little menacing, but it seldom looks that way. Jesus described such a person. The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? Jesus does not say that the man was greedy, or dishonest, or immoral, but only that he was a fool. His foolishness laid in the trust he placed in his barn. He lost his life in his livelihood.

The mind governed by the flesh is death – it is a living death while the body still breathes. In its milder forms the focus on the flesh and reliance on self-will leads us to an empty life, to the feeling that we are going through the motions but not really living. In its more stressful form this living death is a struggle. It may be felt as the struggle to survive, to be happy. We wonder what we can do to push the right buttons, to say and do the right things that will make life work out the way we want. And we do this until we are weary and worn out. The one thing we do not do is question our right to rule. But the self cannot deliver us from the damage done to us by the self. To even state the dilemma sounds confusing.

To live according to the Spirit is to recognize that life is the work of God, we are dependent on God, and life comes from being responsive to Him. To live by the Spirit is to be alive to the existence of a world unseen, to realize that the common ways of life are continually penetrated by the Presence of God. To set our mind on the Spirit does not mean that we think about God all the time. It means we submit to God. To set the mind on the Spirit means that in whatever we are doing there is space in our mind and heart for God to speak and act as we do our work, as we interact with family and friends, and as we enjoy some time for fun.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope May 30, 1993

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 276 - Worth the Effort

Mark 1:16-18 (NIV) ¹⁶ As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ¹⁷ “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” ¹⁸ At once they left their nets and followed him.

Philippians 3:13-16 (NIV) Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Paul says that the goal of life is neither material success nor moral perfection, but rather as being what Christ saved us for and being who Christ wants us to be. Though we may not fully attain it, the goal is worth the effort, worth the work, worth the sacrifice.

God gives our goal one piece at a time, and comes to us not as a blue print but as a list. A blue print lays everything out for us. We would like that sort of instructions for life, but even if that’s what we received from God it probably would not match the hopes and desires of our hearts. God does give us the next item on His list for the fulfillment of our life. And that next item may seem very mundane and ordinary, but it is a part of the larger goal.

It was in this way that Jesus called the disciples. The work He called them to did not seem that spectacular. They did some very ordinary things. They walked with Him and listened to His words. They did what He told them. It may have all seemed too simple and perhaps even a little uncertain.

And so it happens to us. A chance meeting with someone who presents us with a new opportunity for work, a remark is just what we needed to hear, or an idea dawns on us, and the call of God is heard. The next step is taken. And that sense of fulfillment that eludes us in the search for success is found and savored. It is given as a gift in the midst of a rather routine day.

We press on toward the goal, for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. We take the next step, and then the next, and the next, and that is enough. We don’t have to arrive. We don’t have to get there. We only have to move in the right direction, in response to the call of God as best we understand it at the moment. And, even if we don’t fully understand, we press on. Forgetting what lies behind, forgetting past failures and past successes, we press on to the next God has in store for us.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope May 23, 1993

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 275- Angels Watching Over Me

Psalm 91 (NRSV) ¹ You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, ² will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.’ ³ For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence; ⁴ he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. ⁵ You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day, ¹⁴ Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. ¹⁵ When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honour them. ¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation.

The Psalmist is celebrating an occasion when he has known the protection of God. And we experience those occasions as well. God sometimes works through the circumstances of our lives to protect us. We are at the right place at the right time. Accidents are avoided. People change their minds. With no pre-planning on our part, we are spared. Call it the work of the Lord, angels having charge over us, or synchronicity, sometimes events happen that give protection to our life and well-being. We believe the hand of God is at work in these events, but God is under no obligation and sometimes life caves in around us. Even if our mind knows better, our heart feels betrayed. Our understanding of God’s work is partial. It needs to be complemented by an understanding of God’s work within us.

God does give protection, sometimes by engineering the circumstances of our life, but always by giving us the inner resources we need. And, He is generous in providing us with people and prayer and the Scripture and whatever else we need as armor to combat the terror that comes by night and the arrow that flies by day. The Psalmist says that God provides these gifts to those who live in the shelter of the most high, who abide in the shadow of the almighty.

Abide means to stay with or to remain in. The opposite of abide is to run off, to become separated from. Not abiding is the senseless sin of self-protection. It is a frantic, futile effort that ignores the truth that to be human is to be insecure.  And self-protection has a bad habit of backfiring on us. Abiding is the continual action of trusting in the trustworthiness of God. It is perseverance in surrendering to God’s work and God’s will. It is a constant whispering of “yes” to God.

We fall back on our belief that God is good because God has declared that goodness to us through the instrument of the Cross. The Cross declares to us that in the worst of circumstances, when God appears absolutely uncaring and uninvolved, that those are the times when He cares the most and is most intimately involved. We are not spared life’s problems and pains. That much is obvious. But the Cross also declares that when pain and problems and danger and death have done their worst, we are saved and safe, held by the strong thread of God’s good will. 

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope May 9, 1993

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 274 - The Launching of A Life

Matthew 3:13-17 (NIV) ¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. ¹⁴ But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵ Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. ¹⁶ As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

John 6:28-29 (NIV) ²⁸ Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

Most of us have had some kind of launching event in our life. It may have been when we went off to college, or to the military, or to our first job. For Jesus, that event was His baptism in the River Jordan. The baptism of Jesus is an event with many meanings. It is the way He launched His public ministry, identified Himself with sinners, and affirmed that John’s call for repentance was true and important. It was the way God revealed His approval of Jesus. But, more than all those meanings, the meaning Jesus Himself gave was this: Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.

Righteousness meant conformity to God’s will. It meant doing what was right in God’s eyes and revealed in His word. It meant a right relation to God, conduct that conformed to God’s will, inwardly and outwardly, and an ordering of society where people were treated fairly according to God’s standard of fairness.

Certainly, Jesus did not mean He had to be baptized to become righteous. His baptism was a public statement and pledge that He would live His life and carry out His work on God’s terms, as God required.

Do we accept God’s terms for our relationship to Him or do we set the terms? God’s terms are not too tough to handle or too stifling to obey. Baptism tells us that the first requirement in our relationship with God is one of trust. We place our lives, as sincerely and completely as possible, in God’s hands, entrusting the direction of our life to Him. We confess our inability to direct them by ourselves. We acknowledge that we often have a hard time knowing clearly and convincingly what He wants, but we are committed to find out.  

The fist requirement in our relationship to God is one of trust. The central issue of our life is no longer one of whether we are succeeding or failing, whether we are being liked or rejected, whether we are getting our way or being frustrated, but whether we are being faithful or unfaithful, whether we are adventuring with Him or against Him.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope January 8, 1989

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 273 - Freedom

Galatians 5:13, 17-18, 24-25 (NIV) ¹³ 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. ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Why do some live with a wrinkled brow of worry while others seem to exude an air of peace? This question is about living freely, and the answer lies in remembering there are two sides to the Cross. The front side of the Cross is what happens when human beings get their own way … the most devious people but also the most decent. The front side of the Cross is the bondage we make for ourselves as we try to control and manipulate life independently of God. But there is another side to the cross, the side no one noticed that day on Golgotha. From the backside we see that the Cross was a freely chosen strategy of God in His Son to subject Himself to all of our bondage that He might loose us from it.

Paul says that the world has been crucified to him, both the good that the world has to offer and the worst that the world might attempt to do. When the world gave to Jesus its worst, He continued to trust, and God honored that trust in raising Jesus from the dead. And that is what Paul means, that he has already died to the worst that the world can do to him. And, of course, no one can ever live entirely free until they have broken the bondage to fear of death’s finality.

What is true of the best the world can offer is certainly also true of the worst that the world can do to us. The world can offer us success but it can also deny us success and give us failure. The world can offer us love, but it can also deprive us of love and give us loneliness. But certainly the worst of the worst that the world can do to us is what it did to Jesus. It can take our life and give us death. Death is ultimate bondage and the most convincing evidence that you and I are not in control, that life is not at our beck and call, it is not organized around our needs and wants.

The cross is the dividing line between believing in ourselves and our dreams for our life and trusting in God who has His own plans for us. The Cross is the place where we either put to death His sovereign will over our life or we die to our own efforts to keep everything under our control. We stand either on the front side of the Cross in bondage to the best that the world has to offer and the worst that the world promises to do, or we stand on the backside where we are set free.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope October 23, 1988

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 272 - Deliver Us From Evil

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Galatians 1:1-4 (RSV) Paul an apostle -- not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead -- and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father; to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.  

“Grace to you,” Paul says, “and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age.” Commentaries point out that “deliver” here does not mean deliverance from the presence of evil, but deliverance from the power of this present evil age.

Evil is a pervading power to influence us to do wrong. Evil is more than a flaw or a character defect that we can overcome by self-effort. Evil breeds out of more than being raised in a dysfunctional family, or because we were poor, or because we were too easily wealthy, or for any other purely human reason. Evil is always more than the person or group doing evil. And evil is always deceiving. Even the wicked often claim they have a righteous reason to do evil, and often religion helps them find that righteous reason. The final answer to why human beings make each other miserable has to do with the presence and power of evil.

How powerless Jesus appeared against the power of evil. How could this Galilean carpenter turned itinerant preacher who draws after Him a motley mob of religious bureaucrats, prostitutes and a garden variety of sinners conquer evil. How could this Jesus whose life ends on a Cross as an object of ridicule believe His death would conquer evil? Yet, Jesus saw the conquering of evil to be His mission on earth, to set the prisoners free from the clutches of evil.

Jesus saw Himself as the strong arm of God, armed with God’s power, spearheading the attack on the power of evil, but He appeared so powerless, crucified on a Cross, King of the Jews written on a placard over His head as a kind of joke. But, the joke backfired and Jesus proved to be a King in a way that no one could have possibly imagined.

Jesus did more than teach us how to deal with a few moral flaws in our lives. Jesus did more than offer teachings on raising our children so they would turn out good. To be delivered from this present evil age is to be delivered from the fear and terror that some people seek to inflict on others. Jesus is the power of God for salvation to deliver us from this present evil age.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope November 4, 2001

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 271 - A Day in the Life of the Holy Spirit

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From Acts 16 (NIV) ¹⁴ One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. ¹⁶ Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. ¹⁸ She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. ²² The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. ²³ After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. ²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. ²⁷ The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”²⁹ The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” ³¹ They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved —you and your household.” ³² Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. ³³ At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.

Have you had the experience of trying to tell someone something you knew as true but they would not listen? Do you know the frustration? Paul was frustrated in his effort to serve God and do the right thing. Do you know that frustration? His first missionary journey was less than a shining success. Paul set out to set the world on fire for Jesus Christ but at best he simply started a few brush fires.

Everywhere Paul went he experienced frustration, until Philippi, until Lydia. In Philippi we see a snapshots of the power of the Holy Spirit opening Lydia’s heart to trust the good news of Jesus, driving out a superstitious spirit from a girl, and freeing the jailer from the life of superstitious hopes in the gods, self-sufficiency, and trust in the Roman government.

These are snapshots of God’s power at work in strange and unexpected ways. When we prepare for the journey of trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit, everything is under our control. But, once launched on the journey we enter a place where we are not in control. Once launched on the journey we live by faith. We trust even though we never foresee how or when God will choose to intervene and touch our life. We do not know which roads God will call us to travel. We do not know how God will exercise God’s power and at any moment break out in such a thing as we never imagined. It is this spirit of expectancy, of not knowing but trusting, waiting, and following God’s will as best we know it, this spirit of wondering what God will do next that distinguishes a living faith from a dead religion.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope May 27, 2001

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 270 - How Inclusive Should We Be

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Acts 11:1-18 (NIV) 11 The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him ³ and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.” ⁴ Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story: ⁵ “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. ⁶ I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. ⁷ Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’⁸ “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’⁹ “The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again. ¹¹ “Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. ¹² The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³ He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. ¹⁴ He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’ ¹⁵ “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?” ¹⁸ When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

Does it make any difference how inclusive we are? It does, and here is why: who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way? Do we, individually and as the church, help or hinder the work of God? God gave Peter a vision, not an argument or an opinion, and did not ask for a vote. God gave Peter a vision, and it happened three times. And at the very moment of the vision there was a knock on Peter’s door and three strangers, all Gentiles and servants of a Roman officer were standing before him. They had been sent to Peter to both give something Peter needed and to receive from him something they needed, and with that Peter understood the vision was not about food that was unclean, but rather about people he had always thought were unclean. God gives the vision. God gives people to help understand and implement the vision.

When Peter spoke of Jesus and saw the response of the people, he remembered scripture and the Word of the Lord slid some solid conviction under his feet. The vision was not just about food. It was about people he had always thought were unclean. The invitation from the men sounded so much like God’s invitation to take and eat that Peter then understood.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope May 13, 2001

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 269 - Tabitha, Arise

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Acts 9:36-40, 42 (NIV) ³⁶ In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. ³⁷ About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. ³⁸ Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!” ³⁹ Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. ⁴⁰ Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. ⁴² This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.

The raising of Tabitha was not about eternal life. Her time to die would return, but for now she was an exception to the rule that said death is permanent. But, why Tabitha? Why would God make her the exception? Granted, she was a disciple of Jesus. She was a very good person. She made clothes and gave them to the village widows. But, she has a minor role in the church at Joppa and even after being brought back to life she does not seem to play an important role in continuing the work of Jesus. If God was going to make an exception, why not make Stephen the exception, rather than allowing him to endure the hard, slow death of being stoned? Stephen was boldly proclaiming the truth about Jesus when his life was cut short. Why not make Stephen the exception? Or James, or Peter?

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If our “why” questions question the choice and the fairness of God, we may hear no answer. But if our why question is about what God is saying to us and showing to us in making Tabitha an exception to the rule of death, then we can hear an answer that will make a difference to our life.

Why Tabitha? Because God chose to show to the church again that there is someone more powerful than the permanency of death in the world. That Someone is Jesus. Tabitha, arise. Arise out of the certainty that many had about death. Arise out of the shaky belief that the resurrection of Jesus was only for Jesus and is uncertain for you or me. Arise out of a forgone faith where everything is a forgone conclusion and the expectancy of hope has been dashed by the reliability of death and rules. Tabitha was raised temporarily from the dead to demonstrate the permanent power of the risen Christ, and to call women and men to a life of faith in the rule of God. And many people believed in the Lord. That is why Tabitha was raised. Tabitha, arise is the presence of the risen Christ.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope May 6, 2001

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell