Hindsight

I received this letter at Church this past Sunday and it was so exciting to see God at work at GateWay!  The first thing I would challenge this person to do is get in a Small Group, get connected with other Christians so they can get fellowship and encouragement.

“Dear Pastor Ed,

I am writing you this letter to tell you thank you. I received Christ into my heart one month ago at GateWay Church during one of your sermons. I was completely lost, full of anger, self-pity, rage and hurt.  I was a broken man and considering suicide.  I let other people control my emotions and my feelings. I was fighting a war I couldn’t win and the devil had a choke hold on my life.  I blamed everybody else for all my problems (poor me).  That all changed in an instant when I received Jesus. I was healed, it is an absolute miracle!!  God now fights all my battles and he guides me through every decision I make.  I’m still a sinner and I still have problems but now I let God takeover.  What a feeling!!  Thanks you for your role in this miracle I believe God worked through you that day in church to speak to me and I finally listened. My wife has always been a Christian and all I ever did was judge her and tear her down, but now she saw the miracle in my life and it’s amazing how Jesus works through other people to get his message out there.  I could go on for hours about what’s happened to me but I won’t.  Thank you so much GateWay Church!!”

Receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior is a supernatural act of God in which  we all get to participate; from Greeters to Café to Ushers to Sunday School to music to speakers to sound techs, we all participate with God’s purpose!  

That’s what being Biblical, Radical and Viral are all about this year at GateWay.

Hindsight

As Jesus prepared Himself for the cross he spent His last hour of freedom in the Grove of Gethsemane praying while the disciples slept.  Luke 22:44 says that He prayed in agony.  The Greek word is agonia from which we get our English word agony.  It comes from the root word for, “an assembly.”  That seems odd doesn’t it!  We think of agony as an emotional state.  This word was used for an assembly that was gathering to watch contests or gladiatorial games.  Being an observer or participant in gladiatorial games would cause intense emotion because often at least one participant would lose their life in the game.  No one really knows how the word transformed from assembly to intense emotional strain and anguish, we just know it changed emphasis. 

We find Jesus in Gethsemane in agonia.  We know that Gethsemane was an olive press that extracted oil from olives.  It wasn’t a location but a tool.  Jesus is under such intense pressure and agonia that He is sweating drop of blood.  The weight of the physical pain of the cross and the weight of the spiritual pain of separation from His Father caused agonia.

To help Himself deal with the pressure He prayed the same prayer three times.  “Let this cup pass yet not My will but Thine be done.”  God answered His prayer by allowing Judas and the Roman cohort to find Him, place Him on trial and crucify Him!  Yet Jesus never uttered a word of protest, He accepted God’s call and will for His life.

When under extreme pressure I wonder how many times we pray without getting to a point of acceptance for God’s will for our lives!  I’m certainly not saying that all pain is God’s plan but some pain is and it would serve us well to live out the example of Jesus.  To accept the difficulty and be God’s servant through a difficult time.  Maybe we’ll be an example to someone else.  

Hindsight

The interaction in the Gospel of John between Jesus, the Jewish leaders and Pilate is much longer than in any other Gospel, 18:28-19:16.  The statement that I find most interesting is the very first verse in the story, “They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium in order that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.”

The Roman soldiers slept, prepped, ate, and made home out of the Praetorium building, therefore they were called the Praetorium guards. The Jewish religious leaders couldn’t set foot inside the area because holy men would stand on unholy ground and thus defile themselves.

They should have said, “What a great opportunity! Let’s go into the Praetorium and invite all the Roman military to come join us for the Passover dinner and maybe they’ll learn about our God and devote their lives to Him.”

The Jewish leaders God wanted to spiritually impact both Jews and Gentiles would not set foot outside their cocoon.  They built ridiculous boundaries around themselves so that anyone outside their culture looked at them and said, “Why in the world would I want to be like that?!  Forget following their God!”

The reason Jesus was so appealing to both Jews and Gentiles is that he was willing to go where people had a sincere heart to know God.  He would walk on Gentile as well as Jewish soil.  He would speak to Jews and Gentiles.  He would teach both men and women.  He was approachable, likable and normal!  Just think, THE most abnormal guy Jesus, both man and God simultaneously, was also the most normal guy and that’s what made Him appealing!

Wherever you are, whatever you are, however you are, Jesus is willing to get on your page, on your level, into your home, your car and live life with you.  Even if your home is the Praetorium.

Hindsight

I’m a cheapskate!  My wife is really cheap too but we call each other frugal so we don’t feel badly about being cheap skates.  A couple of years ago I needed a pair of high top tennis shoes to play basketball.  I wanted high tops because I had sprained my ankle and I thought they would help.

So I went to Ross and started looking through racks of tennis shoes.  I found a pair of Air Jordans, (I said it was a few years ago) that were beet red and cheap.  The problem was they were a half size too small.  But I tried them on and I thought they were a little bigger than the size (did I mention I’m cheap) so I bought them.

I went to the gym and played for about 30 minutes and the shoes worked great.  They were a little snug but I like them that way (cheapskates are great rationalizers.)

The next time I went to play we played a double header and I played more of each game.  I noticed my toes hurt a little at the end of the first game but I hadn’t been exercising or running much so a little pain was to be expected. 

When I started into the next game I knew I was overdoing it and thought, “I’m going to be a sore tomorrow.” And I thought, “My feet sure hurt but I can’t quit in the middle,” so I finished the game.

I went home and pulled off my tennis shoes and my white athletic socks were soaked in blood!  I pulled off my socks and both my big toe nails had lifted totally off my toes because of the intense pressure my short shoes were putting on them.

We make choices and then our choices make us.

I chose to be cheap.

I chose to buy wrong size shoes.

I chose to play too long.

It was my wife’s fault.

How do you like that logic?  Works for me.