Memory; January 16, 2020

Posted on January 20, 2020 by jgarrott

John 11:40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

It is not certain exactly when Jesus is referring to, but then even the Bible is very open about the fact that it isn’t a complete record of all that Jesus said and did. (John 21:25) What is recorded here is certainly consistent with all that we do have written down. With our technology today it is easy to wish someone had had a digital recorder to follow Jesus around all the time, or better yet, live video, but that would be total overload. What is available to us, however is the Holy Spirit, because He was with Jesus not just on this earth but from before Creation. That’s why Jesus told us, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26) We need to be listening for what God wants to say to us at all times, especially when we are reading the Bible but at other times as well, and allow the Holy Spirit to jog our memory whenever it’s appropriate. It has been shown that we tend to prioritize our memories and push less important memories aside, so the help of the Holy Spirit here is essential, since we aren’t good judges of what we need to remember. The wise course for us is to get as much of the Word into our “memory bank” as we can, just as the Psalmist said. (Psalm 119:11) When we do that, it is a simple matter for the Holy Spirit to call on those memories to instruct us, and also for us to see through the lies the devil tells us every day. Lies are the devil’s chief weapon, and truth is the best defense.

This certainly applies to me! I have a lot of the Bible in my memory bank, but I certainly need the Holy Spirit as my “reference librarian” to help me recall and apply it when appropriate. This particular statement that Jesus made to Martha is one I certainly need to remember right now. I have pastor friends retiring or even dying all around me, and the image of Lazarus in the tomb doesn’t seem inappropriate. However, even when things seem totally dark from a human perspective, God is in no way discouraged, or even limited. I need to remember that actively, recognizing and rejoicing in my own weakness so that His power may be displayed. (2 Corinthians 12:9) I think I am honest in desiring God’s glory and not my own, so just as He told me to do, I need to rest, relax, and rejoice in Him, trusting Him fully so that I may indeed see His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for Your faithfulness to remind me of all I really need to remember. Help me rejoice in that, and not be anxious about what I don’t remember! Thank You. Praise God!

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Death and Life; January 15, 2020

Posted on January 17, 2020 by jgarrott

John 11:25-27 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

I think I have used this passage at every believer’s funeral I have ever conducted. It is an enormously important passage, and one that has sustained believers for almost 2000 years. When we can agree with Martha in her declaration of faith, death indeed “loses its sting.” (1 Corinthians 15:55) Instead of a terminus, it becomes a transit point that I like to call a “graduation.” We are on this earth to learn many things, and our goal should to be to leave it “magna cum laude,” great with honor, or even “summa cum laude,” complete with honor. We have the ultimate Teacher, (John 13:13) so our attitude should be to absorb everything He tells us, making it part of us to live it out. Most people live most of their lives in fear of death, and it can really rob them of the joy of living. It is only when we let go of our claim on physical life that we can lay hold of eternal life in Christ in all its fullness. Whether our time on this earth is long or short is largely irrelevant, just as our length of time in an academic school doesn’t have a lot to say about our quality of life after that. What matters is that we learn that we are sinners in need of salvation, and that God has provided that salvation through faith in His Son, who died in our place to take the penalty for our sin, and then rose on the third day as a demonstration that it is all real and true. When we have that worked into our heart, mind, and life, then graduation is something to be eagerly anticipated!

I honestly don’t remember ever fearing my own death, which made it all too easy to attempt suicide when I was in college. God graciously intervened in that, because He didn’t want my transcript to be stamped, Incomplete. I have always loved the story of Lazarus’ resurrection, but I am very aware that he died again, physically speaking. As Jesus said to His disciples before going to Bethany, it was good that all of this happened, so that their faith – and the faith of millions after them – could be strengthened. (John 11:14-15) I don’t think Lazarus objected to being used as an object lesson. I have sometimes wondered if he resented being brought back to the physical world, but I think his faith was strong enough to handle it. My wife, Cathy, is one of those in the Lazarus camp, having died and been sent back herself, though in her case it was just a matter of minutes, rather than days. She certainly has no fear of death at this point! I’ll confess that I’m far more afraid of her death than I am of my own, but I know that God’s grace is sufficient for us, whatever He has planned. I am at times concerned that I come across as uncaring after the death of a believer, because my confidence in eternal life is so strong. However, I know that grief and bereavement are very real, and I must honor those going through that and come alongside them, not to speak so much as simply to be there. Faith in Christ is all about life, on this earth and eternally, and I am to be a demonstration and herald of that truth.

Father, thank You for this strong reminder. At this point I have many older friends, and at times they seem to be “dropping like flies.” Help me respond to each situation as Your agent, speaking truth and life to all who receive it, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Commitment; January 14, 2020

Posted on January 17, 2020 by jgarrott

John 11:16 Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

I have a warm spot in my heart for Thomas. He is famously known as “Doubting Thomas” for demanding proof of Jesus’ resurrection, but here he demonstrated a depth of commitment we should all emulate. So many people become Christians because of what they think they can get out of it. Thomas, in sharp contrast, was willing to follow Jesus even if it meant his physical death. I think it’s no accident that when the apostles were scattered in the persecutions after Pentecost, tradition tells us that it was Thomas who went furthest, all the way to southern India, sharing the Gospel the whole way and founding a group of believers that rejoices to trace their history back to him. Jesus actually seemed to make a practice of challenging His disciples in the area of commitment. In one famous interaction, He challenged the 12: “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:67-68) God doesn’t want us to follow Him at our convenience, but out of a conviction that He is our life, and nothing apart from Him is worthy of comparison. In the American Revolution, the famous phrase that was used to describe those who served at their convenience, was “sunshine soldier, summer patriot.” Just as the Founding Fathers pledged their “lives, fortune, and sacred honor” to the cause, we need to be totally committed to Jesus Christ as Lord, even if it means nothing but suffering and death on this earth.

My personal fondness for Thomas comes from the fact that when God confronted me with my spiritual pride, my response was exactly what Thomas’ was when Jesus told him to confirm that He had really risen from the dead. Like Thomas, I fell to my knees and cried out, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28) I have never been called to face active persecution, but I have been called to a life of relative obscurity and sparse results. I would be thrilled if God were to pour out a Spirit of repentance and this church were to overflow with new believers, but my commitment and obedience don’t depend on results. There are times when I would be thrilled if the Lord were to say, “OK, that’s enough. Come on home.” However, until that time I am not to complain about anything, but give Him the worship of obedience. Yesterday at the annual Kyushu Revival Conference in Fukuoka, the speaker used Matthew 18:21-22 to talk about forgiveness, and it struck me that those in ministry perhaps need most to pay attention to that, because they are perhaps the most sinned against. As I was told in seminary, preachers quickly learn that people don’t consider it a sin to lie and say they’ll be in church next Sunday. The more we care about people the more open we are to being hurt by them, and pastors are certainly called to care. That’s why it was so wrenching when God told Jeremiah not to pray for the people. (Jeremiah 7:16, 11:14) I have never been told not to pray, so I’d better be praying, whether people seem to be responding or not!

Father, thank You for the conference yesterday, and for getting us there and back safely. Thank You that we weren’t directly involved in the accident on the expressway that slowed us a good bit in getting back. Thank You for what You said through the speaker, and for what You did in various people in various ways. Help me be fully responsive and obedient to You at all times in all ways, whether I know what’s going on or not, so that Your will may be done on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Life in Christ; January 13, 2020

Posted on January 16, 2020 by jgarrott

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

I quote this verse so frequently that it’s one of the few I am completely confident of chapter and verse. That said, I am usually quoting either the first half or the last, and seldom the whole thing. The first half is a very concise and useful description of the devil that’s important to keep in mind when he offers his various enticements. They all seem attractive in some way at first, but their purpose is exactly as Jesus says here: to to steal what is good from us, to kill what is good in us, and as much as possible to destroy God’s plans for us, which are the very definition of good. The second half is Jesus’ very succinct description of His own ministry, and that can take a lifetime to unpack. In the first place, Jesus came to bring life. As He said several times in various ways, He Himself is eternal life. (John 14:6, etc.) As the clever t-shirt says, “No Jesus, no life. Know Jesus, know life.” John was sharply aware of this, because his own brother was the first of the apostles to be martyred, (Acts 12:2) but he himself, though he endured great hardship and persecution, was the only one of the original 12 to die what is considered a natural death. He had tasted the reality that Jesus isn’t stingy with Himself, but gives life abundantly to all who will receive it. One of our problems in receiving all that God wants to give us is our definition of abundance. We tend to tie it to material goods, and at the least to our own appetites. This has led to the “name it and claim it” school of theology, which is mistaken because it makes man the standard, instead of being totally focused on God’s kingdom and His righteousness. (Matthew 6:33) Some people have been so deceived by that sort of thing that when it collapses they lose their faith in God to a very deep level, which betrays where it came from in the first place. A chorus from over 45 years ago said, “I want more of Jesus, more and more and more. I want more of Jesus than I ever had before. I want more of His great love, so rich and full and free. I want more of Jesus, and He wants more of me.” My father modified the last line of that to say, “so I’ll give Him more of me.” To receive the abundant life that God has provided for us in Christ, we need to let go of everything else. Jesus taught that, (Matthew 13:44-46) but we don’t like to hear it.

If I just quote this verse and fail to apply it in my own life, I’m just deceiving myself. (James 1:22) I have seen countless examples of the devil stealing, killing, and destroying, and I have also tasted the abundant life that is Jesus Himself. There’s no comparison, when it comes to value! This is why my life is dedicated to warning people about the devil and sharing with them the abundance that is Christ. I am almost constantly amazed at the depth of God’s grace and love for me, even when I’m in the middle things like the 3-week cold I’m finally recovering from. I may feel miserable, but God is still good! Last night Cathy tripped in her work room and fell heavily. I set a new record for getting from my study up the stairs to check on her! She has bruises and strains, but nothing broken, and yet again I am reminded that God’s grace is sufficient for us. (2 Corinthians 12:9) That in no way contradicts what Jesus says here about abundance, but is a demonstration of how God desires to get us through the troubles we experience in our time on this fallen world. As Jesus said, I need to rejoice! (John 16:33)

Father, thank You for this reminder. I really have no words to thank You sufficiently for the magnificence of Your grace toward me. Help me live out my life in gratitude and obedience, so that as many as possible may know You through me, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Abiding; January 12, 2020

Posted on January 16, 2020 by jgarrott

John 8:31-32 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Verse 32 is widely quoted, but almost always out of the context of verse 31. We like the idea of being set free by knowledge alone, but we don’t like the precondition of obedience. It is fascinating that Jesus said this immediately after the events leading up to verse 30: “Even as He spoke, many put their faith in Him.” We get all happy the moment anyone believes, and that’s not wrong, but Jesus immediately set about “winnowing out the chaff,” so to speak. This is the opposite of “easy believeism.” He was essentially saying, “So you like what you heard? Stick with it, if you want the full benefit.” Modern society knows very little of “holding to” or “abiding in” something. We tend to be all about instant gratification, wanting what we want when we want it, but that is the opposite of genuine maturity. If we are genuinely “seeking first God’s kingdom and His righteousness,” (Matthew 6:33) then we will set the distractions aside to focus on God and what He has said to us. Jesus said a lot about “abiding” in the Upper Room Discourse just before He was crucified, sometimes using the word and sometimes not. (John 13-17) Actually, the theme permeates the whole New Testament, as my father discovered when he wrote his dissertation on “In Christ.” However, he told me that he didn’t really understand it until after he was in Japan as a missionary, and he had an encounter with the Holy Spirit in which he opened himself up in a commitment to obedience. In other words, it was a clear-cut choice to abide in Christ, in His Word, in His Spirit. If we want to be set free by the truth, we need to be committed to follow the truth.

This is something in which I continue to grow, and in which I expect to continue to grow until I am before God’s throne. It’s been 64 years since I was baptized, and it’s been quite a journey so far. I am constantly confronted with the choice of following Christ and His Word, or the world and my flesh. Thankfully that choice is more and more automatic, but I must not take it for granted, and I must not assume that I automatically discern the choice correctly. Deception is the devil’s specialty, and I’ve got to be on my guard. (1 Peter 5:8) I need to let God’s Word “percolate” through me, or to use another metaphor, to “chew the cud” of the Word so that I may live it out in fullness. (John 15:7) Only then will I walk in the freedom of being Christ’s disciple indeed.

Father, thank You for this powerful reminder. I’m speaking on “Born Again” this morning, but this is the natural and necessary outgrowth of that. I pray that Your Word would flow unhindered through me so that many would receive it with joy and let it transform them into Your disciples indeed, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Approval; January 11, 2020

Posted on January 15, 2020 by jgarrott

John 5:44 “How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”

Jesus is here talking to the religious leaders, and particularly to the Pharisees, whom today we would think of as “Bible-believing Christians.” Their highest honor was to be on the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was a political as well as a religious body, and politicians are particularly sensitive to the opinions of others. The Sanhedrin wasn’t chosen by open elections among the people the way legislatures in democracies are, but it was still a very exclusive club into which you had to be invited. They were all doubtless concerned about the praise of their peers. Jesus was pointing out that such a focus took them out of the realm of the spiritual entirely, regardless of how religious they seemed. If we fail to seek the praise of God we are operating on strictly human rules, whatever terminology we might use. That’s what Jesus was talking about when He referred to God’s righteousness. (Matthew 6:33) Seeking God’s righteousness means seeking to live so that He will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21, 23) That isn’t something we can do once and be done with it, but something we need to do consistently, day after day after day. Frankly, we can get tired of following God, when things don’t turn out the way our human imaginations would like them to. That’s what “faithful” is all about: dogged determination and obedience regardless of circumstances. When our focus is on pleasing God, we will find that our faith grows more than we realize, because we aren’t believing in faith, we are believing in the One who is before and beyond and above all things, because He created it all.

I enjoy the praise and approval of others as much as anyone, so I must be careful not to make that my goal. I desire great, mountain-moving faith, but I have seen many people who seem to have faith in faith, even more than faith in God Himself. Like the father of the epileptic boy, I find myself crying out, “Lord, I believe! Help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) My focus has got to be on my Lord, caring about what He thinks of me and not about much else. I am often reminded that everything physical is temporary, so making that my treasure is futile. However, approval isn’t physical, and it can be very seductive. There have been times when I have actually fantasized about the eulogies at my funeral, being hungry for the praise of men. What foolishness! My heart needs to be fixed on my Lord, and what He says of me.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I do care what people think of me. That’s not wrong, but help me care far more what You think of me, so that Your will may reign in my life. Thank You. Praise God!

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Dependence on God; January 10, 2020

Posted on January 15, 2020 by jgarrott

John 5:19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”

I am frequently reminded that apart from Christ I can do nothing, (John 15:5) but I don’t often think about the fact that even Jesus could do nothing except what He saw the Father doing. We have a lot to learn about the Trinity! This awareness in Jesus obviously affected everything He did, all the way to His prayer in Gethsemane. (Mark 14:36) We tend to operate in the illusion of independence, when we all exist only by the grace and mercy of God. That God has indeed given us free will is one of the greatest mysteries and miracles of the universe. That’s why it’s absurd to the point of being laughable when we rebel against God (and we all do that at times). Any parent who has raised small children has experienced the child wanting to do things that are far beyond them, but with a little discreet assistance from the parent, those things get done. The child will often enough crow about them as though they were personal accomplishments, when actually they were done by the parent for the most part. We are very much like that with Father God, but most of the time we don’t even realize it. We would do well to realize that if even Jesus couldn’t do anything on His own, we are far more helpless without His power and grace operating through us.

This is of great importance to me, because so few things in life have seemed terribly difficult (other than sports-related things). I have taken for granted the gifts God has given me in words, music, and various other things, and too often forgotten that those things don’t originate in me. It’s not just that He’s smart and I’m not, (as He had to speak to me personally before I could really grasp it) it’s that He is the source of everything good. (James 1:17) We are indeed created in His image, (Genesis 1:27) which means we have the potential for creativity of our own, but we must remember that it all stems from the Father of Lights. When it all comes from Him, then I’ve got to be careful that it’s all directed back to Him, accomplishing that for which He intended it and giving glory to Him.

Father, thank You for this reminder. It’s interesting that I still need such reminders! Help me indeed operate in all that You have spoken to me, through Your Word and otherwise, so that I may be Your agent indeed, doing Your will on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Hearing and Obeying; January 9, 2020

Posted on January 11, 2020 by jgarrott

John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”

Sometimes there are many differences in nuance between the English and Japanese translations of a passage, but here there is only one that jumps out at me. Where the NIV says “rejects,” the Japanese says, “doesn’t listen obediently.” There is actually a standard expression in Japanese that is, very simply, “listen and obey.” Its origins are probably wrapped up in the Japanese feudal system – bushido, the way of the warrior – that taught absolute obedience to one’s lord. I have become convinced that God has scattered gems of truth in every culture and language, which is why the Body of Christ is incomplete without representation from every one of those cultures and languages. Going back to this verse, we tend to put a more overt definition on “reject,” when in fact, simply failing to obey what you hear Christ speaking to you is rejecting Him. Any parent can tell you what that’s like, whether they have two-year-olds or teenagers! However, John the Baptist said that is inviting God’s abiding wrath, and that is dangerous indeed. Those who grow up in Christian cultures are tempted to take Christ, and indeed the whole Bible, for granted. That puts us in the position of deceiving ourselves, just as James said. (James 1:22) If we want to walk in the eternal life of Christ – and who doesn’t – then we must remember that it is a walk of obedience.

This certainly applies to me! Raised in a faithful missionary family, baptized at seven by my own volition and reading the Bible through by the time I was 10, I had Christian (and I don’t just mean American) culture down pat. I can’t remember consciously rejecting God, but there were certainly times when I didn’t want to listen, much less obey! It was devastating to me when, not long after my 24th Birthday, the Lord tapped me on the shoulder and, when I turned, showed me a mirror to see the state of my own soul. I collapsed to my knees, crying out, “My Lord and my God!” He had pulled back the web of lies the devil had used to blind me to my own condition, and I will be eternally grateful. I wish I could say that I have listened obediently with perfect consistency since then, but that would hardly be accurate. At least now I know how untrustworthy my own impulses are, so that I seek God’s guidance as much as possible ahead of time. He has used a minor little thing to help train me. When driving, if I use my own mind to calculate which lane is moving faster, trying to gain an advantage, I almost always end up taking more time than otherwise. However, if I consciously submit my mind to Him and let Him tell me to change lanes, I am always ahead of the game. In fact, I have avoided getting involved in accidents that way! I don’t want to reject God in any way, but listen obediently so that I may walk in His life/light/lane at all times, for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder, and for Your incredible faithfulness. Thank You that You are always worth listening to! Thank You for all that You are doing in this church. Thank You that my cold seems much better, and that I was able to sleep in the bed all night, rather than having to switch to the chair. It’s been about a week since I was able to do that, which gives me a heightened appreciation for the simple blessing of being able to sleep in bed. Help me walk in full gratitude at all times, knowing that even hard training is evidence of Your grace, so that I may indeed hear You accurately and obey You fully, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Born Again; January 8, 2020

Posted on January 10, 2020 by jgarrott

John 3:5-6 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”

This whole passage through verse 21 is thoroughly familiar, containing as it does the most famous verse in the whole Bible. In recent years I have paid a lot of attention to verses 19-21, which speak of truth and light. So, I was quite curious as to what the Lord would bring to my attention this morning. In the first place, it struck me that we owe Nicodemus a debt of gratitude, because it was his courage, as a member of the Sanhedrin, to seek Jesus out, even at night, that triggered this fountain of marvelous teaching. He got more than he could have imagined! Within all this marvelous teaching, I feel the Lord saying that it is this bit that is most being ignored in many churches. We give lip service to “being born again,” yet we don’t really teach on what it means and we hardly recognize it when it happens. With cultural Christianity we tend to feel people are born Christian from their mother’s womb, whether or not our church practices infant baptism. Churches have so little power because they operate in the flesh, when Jesus is saying clearly that is totally inadequate. Some people have used verse five to insist on “baptismal regeneration,” saying that we can’t be born again until we are immersed in the water of baptism, but there are too many other Bible passages that contradict that. I personally feel the “water” here refers to the very wet process of physical birth. In other words, everyone is born of water, but unless you are also born of the Spirit, you haven’t been born again. Some people are born again very dramatically and some people are born again over a period of time, but the nature of the person has to change, from flesh to spirit. I was in a pretty traditional church back in 1972 when a rodeo rider (we were in Denver) was dramatically born again. There were frankly not a few church members who were somewhat openly in opposition to him, because as a brand new Christian he hadn’t “dotted the ‘i’s and crossed the ‘t’s” of church life. After he moved on (since his work was transient) he wrote letters to our Sunday School class, and they sounded like they were straight from the hand of Paul! (Frankly, that didn’t sit too well with some people either!) We look at people and tend to chain them to their past, when being born again obviously means a new beginning. Infants are naturally infantile, spiritually as well as physically, but you’ve got to be born before you can really grow, and we tend to ignore spiritual birth.

As a pastor, this can be painful to think about. How many of my flock are genuinely born again? How many of the people I have baptized were born again when that happened, or are born again even now? I could be a poster child for cultural Christianity, when my parents were missionaries, one grandfather was a pastor and the other a seminary professor, and at least one great-grandfather was a pastor. I can’t remember ever not knowing about Jesus. We have records that I proclaimed my love for Jesus as young as five, and I clearly remember when, at age seven, I went to my parents saying that I wanted to be baptized because I wanted Jesus in my heart. None of that was bad or wrong, but I honestly cannot say exactly when I was born again. I can say, however, that God has rescued me from my flesh and given me life by His Spirit. I am painfully aware that I cannot save anyone, that I cannot force them to be born again. Accordingly, I need to let them know that it’s possible, and that God will do the job if they will repent and submit to Him in faith.

Father, sometimes I feel like I never volunteered for nursery duty, but that’s what being a pastor is. Help me function effectively as a midwife and a wet nurse, nurturing believers and teaching them to “chow down on” Your Word for themselves, so that they may be the healthy, active children You desire, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Logic; January 7, 2020

Posted on January 10, 2020 by jgarrott

Luke 20:38-39 “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”
Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!”

I get several things from this. The first is that God doesn’t abandon logic, and neither should we. There are people on both sides of the fence who seem to think faith eliminates (or should) logic. That is a lie of the devil. Whereas it is true that God’s works are far greater than human minds can comprehend, (Ephesians 3:19, Philippians 4:7, etc.) that doesn’t mean at all that our minds are to be discarded. I have heard believing scientists speak of the joy of discovering the marvelous logic in creation. That said, logic alone won’t save us; we have to step out to act on God’s gracious offer of salvation. The second thing I get from this is that honest people can be persuaded. The teachers of the law mentioned here genuinely loved truth more than they loved their political or theological positions. That is valuable indeed! I would be quite confident that the men mentioned here were soon included among the believers after Pentecost. I am reminded of the doctor who, after a year of attending an English Bible class that I taught, rather abruptly announced that he wanted to be baptized. I was naturally pleased, but I asked him to explain himself. He said, “This book was obviously not written just by man, and if God caused it to be written, then I had better believe it!” His decision was so logical and intellectual that for a while I was a little concerned about it, but he quickly also demonstrated the joy of the Lord, and he hasn’t abandoned his faith in the 30 years since then. Family considerations keep him from attending Sunday morning services, but he regularly gives Christian materials to other members of the Omura Medical Association.

This of course applies to me. He has allowed me to interact with numbers of highly educated people, and He equipped me with the intellect to be able to do so on an even footing. At the same time, He has given me the direct revelation that He’s smart and I’m not. I am to make full use of all that He has given me, but never depend on the gift ahead of the Giver. I am not to be afraid of any argument brought against me, but remember that “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5) Apologetics and polemics aren’t my specific calling, but I am to remember that the Holy Spirit is more than able to express the logic and wisdom of God through me, if I will be submitted and obedient.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank you that no one is out of Your reach, and that You care about each human being. Help me be more and more effective in communicating the Good News of Your kingdom to all I encounter, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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