August 9, 2013
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
The applications of our Lord’s metaphors are almost endless. One application to the metaphor above is that for our candle to give light it must be consumed. Unlighted candles are not consumed, but the candles that shine are the candles that burn. There is no shining without burning.
In another great metaphor Jesus told us there is no such thing as a fruitless disciple of His. We are like branches and He is the Vine. As branches, if we are properly intersected with Him, we can draw from Him the life force to be fruitful. He promised if we are plugged into Him and are fruitful we will be cut back and pruned to be made more fruitful. Cutbacks and pruning can really hurt. They can come in the form of suffering but they improve the quality and the quantity of our fruit.
In light of these very clear teachings we should not be surprised when we find ourselves burning through suffering that our brightest light for Christ yields the best fruit.
Like many others I thought my most fruitful years were when I was able bodied and active. But I have been joyfully surprised to discover that my most fruitful service for Christ has been as a bed fast quadriplegic. Using voice activated computer software from my bed, 782 Bible studies have been produced and are being heard in 31 languages in 60 countries. Worldwide more than 45,000 small groups are listening to our studies on solar powered digital audio players I call “God pods.”
Have you discovered there is no shining without burning?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
August 6, 2013
“Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for Him is a waste of time or effort.” (1 Corinthians 15:58, The Message)
We are exhorted by the Apostle John to confess Jesus Christ (1 John 4). That is a compound Greek word that means to speak the same thing or to agree with the values of Jesus. I challenge you to clarify your value system and apply these eternal values I have focused for you. The eighth and final eternal value is: the work of God is a greater value than the works of man.
In his two swan songs (Psalm 127 and the book of Ecclesiastes) Solomon told us it is possible to work very hard in vain our entire lives when we work for the wrong things.
Many years ago a Methodist missionary, who had labored in India for fifty years, was saying farewell to the people of India, whom he loved very much. He had won the respect of many of the large gathering of influential, high-caste Indian political and professional leaders who gathered for his farewell address. After he proclaimed the Gospel that night in the mighty energizing power of the Holy Spirit, his concluding words to them were: “If what I have told you tonight and for the past fifty years isn’t true, it doesn’t matter; but, if what I have told you is true, then nothing else matters!”
I want to conclude my perspective on these eternal values the same way that missionary concluded his message to those leaders in India. If what I have written about the meaning of these eternal values isn’t true, then what I have written here doesn’t matter. But, if what I have written here is true, then nothing else matters!
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Posted by Dick Woodward
August 2, 2013
“I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me — that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said.” (1 Corinthians 15: 3-4)
I have now shared with you six eternal values that are the hallmark of people who live life in Christ at its deepest level of meaning and then “graduate” into eternal life. There is another value I must share with you because it is the supreme and absolute value, the “door” that must be opened if we are to find all these eternal values. This seventh value is the value we place on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let me explain.
Suppose I asked you to write your answer to this question: “What is the Gospel?” Imagine that I asked you to accompany your answer with Scripture verse references. How would you answer my question?
As you search the Scriptures, you will discover the seventh eternal value: Easter is far more important than Christmas. When the Apostle John wrote his Gospel, he devoted approximately half his twenty-one chapters to the thirty-three years Jesus lived on earth and half his chapters to just the last week Jesus lived. Of the eighty-nine combined chapters of the four Gospels, four chapters cover the birth and first thirty years Jesus lived, while twenty-seven chapters cover the last week Jesus lived. Why is the last week of the life of Jesus so very important, and why is Easter far more important than Christmas?
Easter is when Jesus died and rose again for our salvation. The cry of the church all over the world on Resurrection Sunday is:
He is risen, indeed.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
July 30, 2013
“…flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” . (1Corinthians 15:50)
Another arresting statement made by Paul in his great resurrection chapter is that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, because corruption cannot inherit incorruption. What Paul means by this statement is that we cannot go to heaven with a physical body. When God decides that He wants us in heaven, He must perform a metamorphosis on us that prepares us to spend eternity with Him in heaven. God works that miracle metamorphosis through our death and resurrection.
As Paul describes the resurrection of believers at the time of the second coming of Jesus Christ he also tells us that those who are living when Jesus returns will be changed. They must be changed because they cannot enter into heaven with their physical bodies. They, too, must experience a miracle metamorphosis to prepare them for heaven.
Here Paul is declaring a sixth eternal value: our heavenly bodies will be so much greater than our physical bodies we must experience a metamorphosis to live forever in heaven. This is just one more way the Scripture consistently tells us that heaven is greater than earth and the best things in life for believers await them in the eternal dimension of life.
The Shepherd Psalm of David tells us that God makes us lie down to discover the green pastures and still waters of life. But, then we get up again and the green pastures turn brown and the still waters become disturbed. Many see a metaphor of the believer’s death as the Great Shepherd coming into our life making us lie down in death that He might give us the green pastures that never turn brown and the still waters that never become disturbed in heaven.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
July 24, 2013
“Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4: 16)
Many years ago when John Quincy Adams began crossing a street, he was in such poor health it took him five minutes to approach the other side. A friend who was passing that way asked, “How is John Quincy Adams this morning?” He replied, “John Quincy Adams is doing just fine. The house he lives in is in sad disrepair. In fact, it is so dilapidated, John Quincy Adams may have to move out soon, but John Quincy Adams is doing just fine, thank you!”
John Quincy Adams was no doubt acquainted with the verse of Scripture I have quoted. Paul writes that we have an outward man and an inward man. In two of my favorite translations the outward man, or our body, is referred to as a common earthenware jar and a little clay pot (JB Phillips and the Living Bible Paraphrased.)
Paul declares a fourth eternal value: Our inward man is a greater value than our outward man. These verses Paul wrote to console those who were persecuted at that time are also a consolation for persecuted believers today or those who may be in the final stages of cancer that is causing their physical bodies to perish. When they have prayed for healing and it appears that God is taking them home, their inward man can be renewed while their outward man is wasting away.
As some believers study the resurrection chapter they want to believe they will hold on to their physical body. The great news is God is going to replace our little clay pots with spiritual bodies.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
July 16, 2013
“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)
To appreciate eternal values we must define these two words. The word “eternal” literally means “that which was, that which is, and that which always shall be.” The word “temporal” relates to that which is temporary.
Jesus made it clear that we have eternal life because we are related to the true God and the One Whom He has sent. They are eternal and we have eternal life because we are related to them. We must also make the observation that the words “eternal life” are referring to a quality of life as well as a quantity of life.
The word “value” also needs to be defined. The dictionaries tell us “a value is that quality of any certain thing by which it is determined by us to be more or less important, useful, profitable and therefore desirable.” When we bring these two concepts together we should realize we are discussing what is more or less important, useful, profitable and therefore desirable in this life and in the life to come.
A second eternal value is that the eternal is a greater value than the temporal. The Apostle Paul wrote: If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable (1 Corinthians 15:19 NKJV). Paul so highly valued the eternal he sacrificed his life here for the rewards he was sure awaited him in eternity. If there were no eternal dimension he should be pitied.
Do you value the eternal more than the temporal?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
July 13, 2013
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18)
According to C. S. Lewis, “Life was not meant for pleasure only, nor for ease, but for discipline. Not for temporal, but for eternal values; not for the satisfying of a life here on earth, but for the development of a life for heaven.” He also wrote that “the clergy have been set aside and trained to look after what concerns us as creatures who are going to live forever.”
Some believers live as if their life span is everything and eternity is nothing, while some live as if eternity is everything and their life span is nothing. Some are so heavenly minded they are no earthly good while some are so earthly minded they are no heavenly good. As in everything there is a need for balance, but there are many Scriptures that exhort us to be more heavenly minded and to hold eternity’s values in view while we live out our lives here on earth.
One eternal value is that the invisible is a greater value than the visible. A reason for this is described in the verse above. What is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal. The Old Testament prophets were called “Seers” because they saw the unseen God and many things God wanted them to see and then share with the people of God.
God is a Spirit and a spirit is unseen. We are told in the Scripture that faith is the evidence of that which we cannot see. Do you value that which you cannot see more than what you can see?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
July 10, 2013
“Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You.” (Psalm 73: 25)
The author of Psalm 73 has a problem. He envies the wicked because they always seem to prosper while God is forever chastening him and putting him through hard times that grow his character. The Psalmist becomes a great model for us as he takes his problem into the sanctuary where the Lord shows him the end of the wicked. That changes his attitude toward the wicked from envy to pity and compassion.
How would it affect your outlook on life if God permitted you to spend five minutes in hell — or in heaven? Both experiences would probably make you an evangelist.
The Psalmist goes on to write: “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength (reality) of my heart and my portion forever.” By this he means that God is the great Reality in this life. Jesus said the same thing when He prayed: “This is eternal life that they might know You the only true God and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent.” (John 17:3)
When we have a revelation of eternal reality we will realize that the things we leave when the Lord calls us home are not worth living for while we are here. As Peter considered the great Day of the Lord in which every material thing will be dissolved he asked the question, “Since everything will be dissolved in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?” (2 Peter 3:11)
The answer to Peter’s question is that we should be people who know God and make Him known in every nation. This is how we hasten the coming of that great Day of the Lord.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
June 6, 2013
“I see very clearly clearly that God doesn’t show partiality. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right.” (Acts 10: 34-35 NLT)
THE EIGHTH STEP: Look for a pattern in the way God reveals His will.
In chapter 10 of Acts we read that the Apostle Peter had a vision of a sheet with animals on it, animals which the Law of Moses would not permit a devout Jew to eat. Peter was told three times to kill and eat those animals. He refused each time. Then, he heard knocking on the door. The Spirit told him to go with the men who were knocking, asking no questions about why they came looking for him. Peter soon learned they were not only Gentiles, but the servants of his enemy, a Roman Centurion. When he arrived at the home of this Roman army officer, he was asked to speak to the Centurion’s entire household. The first thing Peter told them was that God had shown him not to call any man common or unclean.
Peter did not think this series of events was a coincidence, but saw these happenings as a pattern of divine guidance. These events depict the way the Great Commission of Jesus, to preach the Gospel, crossed over a tremendous barrier of prejudice. Peter’s experience ultimately revealed the glorious reality that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was not for the Jew only, but for every person in every nation on earth.
Since our God is a God of order and the “thumbprint” of God can be seen in the extraordinary design of His creation, we should expect to see order and design in the way God reveals His will for our lives.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
June 3, 2013
“I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord.” (John 1:23)
THE SEVENTH STEP: Evaluate and surrender your natural and spiritual gifts.
Once you get a good evaluation of your gift inventory, a principle application to the will of God for your life is to accept the limits of your limitations and the responsibility for your abilities. John the Baptist is a good example of a man who implemented this application. John knew who he was and he knew who he was not. He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness… ” That was who, what, and where John was to be. He knew it was foolish to try to be more than he was called to be. He also knew that life was too precious to be anything less than that voice crying in the wilderness.
I have known parishioners who experienced needless pain because they would not accept the limits of their limitations. However, when we are evaluated at the judgment seat of Christ, most of us will suffer agonizing shortfall because we did not accept the responsibility for our abilities. Like the unprofitable servant in The Parable of the Talents, some of us believe we are not gifted and we bury our talents (Matthew 25:14-30).
Your natural gifts are the result of your genetic heritage. Your spiritual gifts come with the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12). How are you utilizing them for God’s Kingdom?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
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