Tag Archives: Luke

Expecting Opportunities?

Posted by Bill on September 6, 2012

In our God-ordered world, nothing is random, accidental, or coincidental – everything is God-ordained! While driving along the highway in my four hours journey to my destination at Tom Price (mining town) yesterday, I asked the Lord to open my eyes to every opportunity He has determined for me in my visits with three Aboriginal communities.

My friends, God-determined opportunities are not sign-posted for the physical eye to see. If any have been determined by the Lord, we can’t hope to see them without the help of our resident, Holy Spirit. And we won’t see them if we don’t expect them to be present.

Luke tells us in Acts 3:12 … “Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd …”. As a consequence of Peter seeing his opportunity … “many of the people who heard their message believed it, so that the number of believers totalled about five thousand men, not counting women and children” (Acts 4:4).

As long as I have prayed to the Lord, asking Him to open my eyes to see opportunities He has determined for me at the places I will visit today and tomorrow, then I will not be disappointed if I return ‘empty handed’ to my office at South Hedland.

With the Lord, I travel nowhere without possessing a spirit of expectation that I will see His opportunities, if He has determined any for me to seize.

Restoring the side-lined

Posted by Bill on February 18, 2012

“If you had one hundred sheep, and one of them strayed away and was lost in the wilderness, wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine others to go and search for the lost one until you found it?” (Luke 15:4).

Misunderstanding and mistakes abound in every church. This is normal. Through circumstances that are intentional or otherwise, it’s only a matter of time before someone is hurt or offended. At times, the feeling of hurt or offence is severe enough to cause a member to quietly withdraw from the church.

One morning, during my time as Pastor of the Dungog Baptist Church (a country town in NSW, Australia) I discovered a basket of vegetables that was left on the back door step of our Manse. The name of the giver was on an accompanying note, expressing kind thoughts towards me and my family. The right thing was to track down this person to personally thank them for their expression of kind love. I knocked on the front door of Ruth’s house, believing her to be a widow. To my surprise, an elderly, looooong-bearded man opened the door and grumbled out a cold “yes, can I help you?” Ruth wasn’t a widow. She had an alive husband! Why had I not known about him? I introduced myself to John and explained the purpose of my visit.

It wasn’t long after the time of my surprise encounter with John that I learnt his story of how he had been hurt and offended by someone in his previous church, in a nearby town. How long ago did this sad event take place before my meeting with John? Twenty years! Did John have to stay “lost” to Christian fellowship and service for this length of time? No! If someone in his church had noticed his absence, and cared enough for him, John would not have been listed as being “lost”.

As I write, I know of three close friends who are no longer in fellowship with any church, who are no longer serving the Lord. One of them was a pastor of a church, and the other two held senior leadership positions with their churches. Misunderstanding and mistakes stole them away, quietly, and still has them lost … somewhere. I’ve done my best to reach out to them, to encourage them and love them, but the extent of their hurt is keeping them lost. I haven’t given up on them. I continue to pray for them.

Is there anyone close to you who has been “side-lined” through some circumstance that has caused  them hurt or offence? Has anything been done to help restore them back into fellowship with a church? Is there anything you can do? We must do whatever we can to restore those who have been side-lined from our team or church. We must not give up on anyone. The Lord will never give up on us. We are too precious to Him. Look for the side-lined in your life. Angelic rejoicing awaits the restoration of the lost.

Bill

By the way, it wasn’t long before John came to the church in Dungog with his wife, Ruth, and later served as a Deacon with the church.

The view gets better as we climb higher!

Posted by Bill on November 19, 2011

The view gets better as we climb higher

I have chosen to stand on a rock-solid belief that the view gets better as we climb higher with the Lord. With that belief I am determined to do all that is within my control to climb higher to the next level … and the next, and the next. From where I presently stand, I am excited by the amazing things I believe the Lord has in store for His old, but not worn out, servant.

Now, before I make the mistake of racing ahead, enthusiastic and emotionally charged, to take hold of the blessings that have been reserved for me I need to pause for a moment to remind myself of a critical principle of the upward climb … the principle of cost. Truly, I don’t expect to progress in my climb without having to pay something. Jesus, our go-ahead God, came into our world to elevate us  with Him, in life and ministry. Although most people in life are happy to see their lives moving forward and higher, only few are prepared to pay the price. 

For those who are serious about journeying with Jesus to the top, He says from the Book of Luke … “If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters – yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.” “So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me” Luke 14:26b, 33.  Twice in this passage, Jesus says we cannot follow Him unless we are prepared to meet the necessary demand – to love Him more than everyone and everything in our lives. Loving Jesus “more than …” is the principle cost of climbing higher in your faith.

How do we prove to Jesus that we love Him more than anyone and anything, including our own lives? He says in the Book of John … “If you love me, keep my commandments” John 14:15. Before we can “keep His commandments” we must sacrifice whatever stands in our way.

Friends, at no stage of our climb with Jesus should we entertain the thought that pushing on to the next level is going to happen without having to pay a high cost. The Lord never asks from us anything but that which is necessary to accomplish His will in our lives. He wants to take us up to the summit of our climb. And, loving Him more than anyone and everything else is the bottom-line cost of our rise. The Lord sacrificed everything, including His life, to come down to where we once were; that place where were held captive and blackened by our sin – to free us and lead us up to the summit of our potential in Him. Why? Because He loves us, more than His own life! 

Would you like to go to the next level of your climb in your relationship with the Lord (in your marriage, parenting, leadership, ministry, and mission) where the view is tons better than from where you presently stand (John 10:10b)?  If your answer is “yes”, you must sacrifice whatever stands in your way, and obey Him.

Dear friends … the view gets better as we climb higher with Him!

Standing confidently in your call

Posted by Bill on August 1, 2011

Standing confidently in your call

John the Baptist was confident in his special calling in life. He was confident in standing alone in the Judean desert, rugged-out in camel hair – crying out to his countrymen to repent from their sins and turn to God, and be baptised (Matthew, Ch 3). At the time when he baptised Jesus, John was confident that Jesus was the Messiah. But, there was a time when John doubted. read on →

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