Beware of what you want...you might just get it!

Once there was a man who was according to God, “a man after my own heart.” (Acts 13:22)

This man was David and from the time David was young, God blessed him.

But despite all that David had been blessed with he still wanted more.  In 2^nd Samuel 11 and 12 we read how David saw the beautiful wife of another and seemingly without pause proceeded to break the 6^th, 7^th and 10^th commandments and as you read the account you will see that the sins just kept mounting.

Had David, the man after God’s heart, just asked himself, “If I act on this desire will I be pleasing God or myself?” things would have gone much differently.

Whenever we face difficult choices we should each ask ourselves this very question or some variant of it such as, “Will my choice draw me closer to God?”

Now comes the time for confession:

I must confess my own bad choice.  I let my own passion and my own allowing myself to not be content rule me.

Instead of asking the question above, I went with my passion.

Fortunately acting on my passion didn’t have anything to do with breaking any commandments.

My passion is for Wyoming, for the mountains, for the outdoors and camping.

I had been in Wyoming just 3 weeks prior but not camping. 

I saw the forecast of sunny day after sunny day.

I thought of cool brisk nights, a campfire and camp fare, the aspens aglow and the soaring Tetons.

At home I had a 2 week old Sunday School class (not one I teach) and 2 new blogs…God was blessing me but I didn’t want to ask the question, I wanted to act on my passion so I went.

Yes, the forecast was right, the aspens and Tetons are glorious, but there has been a hollowness for me as I knew I should have stayed home and been thrilled with what God was blessing me with.

So that is why I am writing this now instead of being able to enjoy the moment  as the sun is about to wake up the mountains, so that you will ask yourself, “Will my choice draw me closer to God?”

Once you are aware of this question and if you care about the answer, your walk with God will be a much smoother one.”

Is My Light Bright Enough?

So here I am, finally getting around to more actively engage the use of the Electronic Age to further the gospel and going in I realize that no one can "hear" what it is I have to say!

I am so far behind now that I have decided to start a couple blogs and a website that the electronic world is now so deep that it is like the ocean's depths.  Meaning if I were in water something like where the Titanic came to rest and were I to turn on a light, that light would never go very far before being swallowed up, let alone reach the surface.

So, as I undertake this effort of having my light seen, I hope that I have come prepared with the endurance and provisions to make it until I achieve what it is that I feel God has been calling me to do.

I will of course continue in prayer that I can be an effectual preacher of God's word.  I will continue to put out that word week after week in my desire that somehow in some measure I will make a difference for the kingdom.

In doing so my hope is that the updates will in part be enough that the earthly powers that be such as Google will find me and decide that what I am writing is of some worth so that in listing me someone will come across what I have to say.

Then if people do find me, then hopefully they will pass this blog on, link to it, etc. and then eventually I will reach an audience consistently.

With all of my abilities of discernement, this appears to be God's will for me, but I have been wrong before.  But these efforts at doing work for the kingdom, when they fail though frustrating, should never be considered a waste of time.  For me they just make it more apparent that I have less time to work with and so the feeling of urgency mounts to meet my calling.

God calls us each to different things (1 Corinthians 12) and all to do the work of the gospel in the way that we have been called.  If my calling is to teach, I have learned that it won't necessarily be easy.  In other words, I can't just expect to make a difference for the kingdom just because I put some words in a blog once a week.

Oh, I won't kid you; I wish it were that easy, this shining of my light.  I pray that I can make a diffence for my fellow man the way God has made a difference for me.

In 2 Samuel 22:29 we read, "You are my lamp, O LORD; the LORD turns my darkness into light."

I know that in this world a desperate people who have yet to hear the gospel live in a state of emptiness, one of total darkness and I so want to make a difference for those people, whether it is through direct contact or via making an impact on Christians so that they will make a diffence for them.

Have you ever spent a night or nights in quiet desperation for one reason or another?  Maybe it was out of fear or anxiety for something happening in your life or in that of someone you loved.

The long hours of darkness drug by as you searched for some revelatory thought that would shine upon an answer to the dilemma but that light never came.  The hours however slowly did pass and the light of dawn crept into your windows and with it came some return of optimism so that the situation could yet have some hope.

Those people that haven't come to know Christ lead those moments of despair day and night and that feeling of optimism sometimes never comes.

Most of us who know God take comfort in the scriptures such as Psalm 105 as we read verses like, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path."  for we know as it says further in this same Psalm that even the simple can gain understanding from God's word.

To see that though our lives are like a mist, there is order, there is meaning and though our time here is short, there is life eternal and that is what makes life worth living!

When I think of this darkness and desperation and the light and hope of the gospel that I want the unsaved to have, I have been thinking lately of those miners in Chile that have been in the news lately trapped in the dark despair of that mine 2300 feet down.

I thank God that those 33 men have each other to help take turns lifting each other up as the crushing weight of the earth above them and the darkness of their travail blots out hope and overwhelms their psyche.

Many who are unsaved find themselves similarly living lives of crushing weight and overwhelming darkness.

If you think of those miners and you had the ability to ease their burden and perhaps even rescue them, would you not try unceasingly to do whatever it is that you could do for them?  Why should the unsaved and their condition be of less importance to us?

Therefore, let us do what we can to help the unsaved see our light and become children of the light themselves.   I will learn what I can do to get my blog noticed and you will link to this blog or follow it and encourage me.

You will not pass up the opportunity to share with your coworker and I will spend more time in God's word listening to Him in an attempt to better be able to share what it is I think He wants me to share.

One day we will live together where God is our light and I will see you there!

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Would Jesus Burn the Koran?

Typically, I would not entertain subjects such as this whole controversy of burning the Koran that has filled so much of the news lately but today I have in fact felt motivated to do just that.

Unless you have been hiding under a rock you will have heard about this Pastor in Florida who decided that he was going to burn the Koran.

As you can tell from the name of this blog, Work of the Gospel, what I think we should be about is just that and that includes Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, FL and the members of his congregation.

Most people who are contemplating ministry ideas look to the scriptures for guidance.  They look for specific areas of scripture that say you shall do or not do this.  Or, they look for examples that show that certain behavior was acceptable or not.  Looking for examples let's consider what Jesus did.

If we scour the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts we see all of the recorded words and actions of Jesus while He was here up to and including His resurrection and ascension into heaven.

Was Jesus a grandstander?  Quite the contrary, people sought Him out, not the other way around.

Jesus by His words and actions drew those crowds.  "The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the good news is preached to the poor," Luke 7:22a

Jesus did not lead a rebellion against the Romans or the Jews that were in power.  Jesus did not promote fights, organize gorilla attacks, or the destruction of infrastructure.

Jesus instructed us to love our enemies and those who persecute us as well as to be peacemakers both of which are specific to Matthew 5.

When we read in Matthew 14 that Jesus' cousin John the Baptist was beheaded He didn't lead His followers against Herod but rather He withdrew privately to a solitary place.

When Jesus sent out His disciples to preach the kingdom of God His instructions to them if their message was not listened to or welcomed was to simply shake the dust off their feet and to move on.

What is the Pastor Jones saying by burning the Koran and what does he hope to reap?

Will he motivate those who follow Islam to seek out more about Jesus because they are so impressed by this action?

I would instead offer the following scripture as a more appropriate alternative of how we should deal with the subject of the Koran, "Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, "Listen and understand.  "What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean'."

Then the disciples came to Him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"

He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.  Leave them; they are blind guides.  If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."  Matthew 15:10-14

Jesus' advice, "Leave them."

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

First Steps

First steps....they are ones that as children are so important to us as we are starting out in life.  Steps that we don't remember but our parents will never forget.

But here today I take what I am calling my first steps as I make my first posting on my Work of the Gospel Blog and I pray that I never forget these first steps because they will be the important first steps on this venue for sharing the work of the gospel.

This first entry is more one of experimentation and unlike those to come is rather small.  Those that follow will be rather lengthy and more meaningful both for me and for those who join with me in hearing what it is that God would have me share!

Join me!

Jed Greenough