Where He Leads Me...Will I Follow? Acts 8:10-1

Wouldn't it be nice if you audibly heard God give you directions? Sometimes I think if I could only have that then it would be much easier for me to obey. After all, it would be an obvious choice. I can't help but think that I would much prefer that to having to go through the messy process of trying to discern what God's will is in the details of how things should be done and how I should spend my time and who I should talk to and a host of other things.

If my memory is correct, I originally picked this verse because of Ananias' choice to obey despite the risk. I am so glad we were given the dialogue between Ananias and God. It's really kind of humorous when you think about it. Ananias actually tries to inform God of the kinds of things Saul has been doing. I guess it says a lot about God that He didn't just give Ananias a "Really? Did you think I missed that!?" But then again, I'm assuming God isn't sarcastic like I am! (Which by the way, I need to work on changing my sarcasm if God is not like that!) No God doesn't argue with him about Saul's past and even his present circumstances. After all, Ananias was right! Saul was guilty of everything Ananias mentioned! But God simply tells Ananias about Saul's future and tells him to go.

I originally picked this verse because I wanted us to think about the people we deem incapable of responding to the gospel. If anyone were in that category, it surely would have been Saul! But oh, how thankful has the church been for two thousand years that God did not give up on an angry, misguided, murderous Saul of Tarsus! Stop for a minute and think...when I ask you who in your life is so lost that they are beyond the point of coming back...whose face comes to your mind? I won't pretend for a minute that I know they will come to see Christ for who he is. But I would like for us to be honest with ourselves that the way we treat people sometimes belies the fact that we do often at least subconsciously pretend to know that they will not come to see Christ for who he is. How thankful are you that Ananias obeyed God in spite of his reservations? In spite of Saul's past and even his present? Saul was not the only person confronted by the Lord in Acts 9. Ananias was too. And they both had a choice to obey or not.

Which, by the way, brings up another interesting point. Why did God wait to tell Saul through Ananias what he needed to do to be saved? Why not just go ahead and finish the conversation instead of telling him to go into town and wait for a man named Ananias to tell him what to do? Well...I don't know. But I do know that it only makes sense based on how that played out to pay that much more attention to who God wants us to teach about how to be saved. Whatever the reason- and I have no doubt that He has his reasons- God has left that part of the plan to us. To the followers of Christ. If we disobey, who will teach the Paul of this generation how to be saved so that he/she can influence the church for the next 2,000 years?

That's what I originally wanted to talk about. But when I read the passage tonight and began collecting my thoughts, I just kept thinking that I would obey like Ananias did if I could only hear from God directly. And I found myself again longing for that kind of direct communication from God. To be honest, I'm not sure where I am on all of that. I seem to keep circling back to those types of thoughts. But one thing I am convinced of is that if I am ever to have more of an understanding about the details of God's will so I can obey them, then I am going to need to be obedient to the things that have already been revealed to me. I heard a teacher talking about Philippians 3:16 where Paul says, "Only let us live up to what we have already attained." And the context is all about pressing on to gain more of Christ. He pointed out that in the middle of the desire to gain wisdom and gain depth in relationship to Christ and gain understanding of God's specific will, Paul stops and tells us to just be obedient to what we have already attained. In other words, why should God reveal more of Himself to me if I am not responding to that part of Him that He has already revealed to me?

So what about it? Do you long for more? Are you responding to what you have right now? In the context of Ananias and Saul...are you viewing people the way God does? Do you see people as what they might be inside Christ as opposed to what they are outside of him? May we be a people that constantly trusts that God has made Pauls out of Sauls in the past and He can do it again...if only we will have the courage to obey the command to "as you are going, make disciples of all nations..."  Will you be obedient today in small things so that God will ask bigger things of you tomorrow? I can't help but think that God knew Ananias would obey this command because Ananias had already obeyed so many times before. I want God to know that of me...because I want to know Him.

What's preventing me? Acts 8:36

I have 2 four year old little girls. My wife and I are trying hard to teach them the importance of obedience and respect. If you have any advice, I'm all ears. All in all, I think we're pretty blessed. They are great girls...and that has a whole lot more to do with just the way God made them than the way we are raising them. I'm just thankful for God's grace, because we sure make a lot of mistakes!

Anyway, back to the point...

They are pretty good girls and most of the time they are good at obeying and being respectful. Of course, we are still using both rewards and punishments as needed to mold their behavior. Those are by far the biggest reasons for their good behavior most of the time. But every once in a while, one or both of them will come up and just ask what they can do to help or they will clean up their toys without being asked just so they can run and tell me to come look. I can't tell you how happy that makes me when that stuff happens!

On a different page, lately, I've been reminded that a lot of teens seem to have a concept of list keeping and guilt in Christianity. In other words, in some minds, the life of a Christian is really about being sure to do the things that need to be done and leaving undone the things that need to be left undone. And when something is left undone that should be done, or something is done that should not be done, a tremendous amount of guilt follows along with a lot of questions about whether or not the offender is still worthy and capable of receiving God's grace and salvation. If I'm honest with myself, I know that I often fall into the same trap of thinking. In fact, I have to believe that teens are not getting these ideas all by themselves. I suspect we adults have helped shape their thoughts based on our own, whether consciously or subconsciously.

Oh what I would give to simply forget all about any doomed-to-fail ideas of list-keeping in Christianity based on rewards and punishments and to have the heart of the Ethiopian eunuch who simply came to a realization of what needed to be done and wanted immediately to do it!

What a different attitude that is from mine so often as I weight the pros and cons of every decision and have to decide if the end justifies the means. How much guilt and worry about salvation could be left behind if we had hearts that understood God's grace well enough to quit beating ourselves up over things that we have not yet learned, and instead simply responded with joy and obedience as we encounter truth every day!? I'm not sure I'm being clear, so let me give an example.

If a Christian is walking in the light, then he has fellowship with God. That is because of grace...which by the way, is a completely free gift. It cannot be earned. But let's say that Christian has a history of telling half-truths. And let's say that they are so good at it and have done it for so many years, that they do not even realize they are doing it. They feel no guilt and no remorse when they commit these lies because they do not even realize they are sinning. But what if something someone says one day...or something they've read in scripture...or some prompting of the Holy Spirit leads them to finally see the error of their ways? That person now has a few choices. They can: 1. Ignore the truth and continue in their deceitful ways. 2. Feel so much shame and guilt over all of the mistakes they are now convicted of that they become paralyzed and fearful for their very soul. 3. Feel proper Godly sorrow for what they have done, thank God for pointing it out to them, and joyfully set about to make amends knowing that God has just helped them to become more like the Savior they are already and still following.

I'm begging you to see that only option 3 will allow us to continue walking in the light in fellowship with God!!

The first choice is willful disobedience and their would no longer remain a sacrifice for our sins (Heb. 10:26). The second choice is actually worldly sorrow and leads to death (2 Cor. 7:10). But the third option is exactly what John describes and expects from followers of Christ (1 John 1:9).

The same scenario could be applied to spiritual disciplines that have not been practiced before, good deeds that have not been done before, relationships that have not been pointed towards God's love before, and any other number of things that we have somehow blown past without noticing until God finally makes us notice.

The point is this...when the Eunuch was aware of what he needed to do, he obeyed...immediately. And he went on his way rejoicing (Acts 8:39). I want to live like that. I want to teach teens to live like that from the moment they first obey the gospel until the moment their faith is finally finished as it becomes sight.

Of course, the question the Eunuch asked needs to also be applied in a different way for us if we are not living like that. He asked, "what prevents me from being baptized?" And, of course, the answer was nothing so he commanded the chariot to stop and they went down into the water!

But is there something that prevents you from obeying? If you have not been baptized yet, why not? What's keeping you? Is there some lifestyle that is worth more to you than Christ? Is there a misunderstanding of God's love? Is there a controversy about doctrine because of all the different divisions inside Christianity? The simple truth is that baptism is found all throughout scripture. What could possibly prevent you from wanting it if you have seen God's love through Jesus in the gospels!?

If you have been baptized and are not obeying in some other area...what's keeping you!? What prevents you from obeying? Is it fear? Is it pride? Is it selfishness? Is there anything at all that you want more than to know and to please your Father!? If not, then what prevents you from obeying!?

There is almost nothing in this world that fills my heart with joy more than when my daughters look for ways to please me simply because they love me. Not because I will reward them, because sometimes I don't immediately. Not because they will be punished, because eventually I won't be right in front of them to monitor their behavior. But simply because they love me and want to please me. If that motivation were always their motivation, I wouldn't have to make a single rule in the house other than to treat people with love. Everything else would take care of itself.

Hmm. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? What prevents you from obeying?

A Surefire Church Growth Method- Perscution! Acts 8:4

www.heartlight.org

 

God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable minds Of never failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs, And works His gracious will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break In blessing on your head.
His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain.
(God Moves in a Mysterious Way- Words by William Cowper)

This song is always difficult for me to sing because I get lost in the language. But as soon as I read the passage for today, the first line of the song came to my mind as I thought about the failure of Saul and the Jewish leaders to crush the Way and the providence of God that used persecution to spread the life-giving message of the resurrection. The song is beautiful when I take time to really look at it instead of just go through the motions of singing it. The only line that I might take issue with is "His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour."

I think it would be easier to trust in God if that "fast" were the case. But we know that often is not the case. At least it doesn't feel like the case when we feel like God should be intervening in a situation NOW!  

But if you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was using every situation that you were ever going through to gain glory for Himself and souls for His kingdom, would it change your outlook on those situations?

Just think about the situation described in Acts 8. Stephen has just been murdered. But his dying breath was one of forgiveness. It would have been a beautiful story if Saul/Paul had seen the error of his ways then and been converted to Christ based on Stephen's powerful testimony. But he didn't. In fact, Saul's appetite for persecuting the church seems to have been only whetted by Stephen's death and he began "ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he put them in prison" (Acts 8:3). And because of Saul's hardness of heart after the death of Stephen...the church began to spread! Wait a minute, that wasn't supposed to happen. Persecution is designed and intended to stop things, not speed them up!

If only we could read God's intentions and God's providence as quickly in our own lives! Wouldn't it be nice if you could see God's clear plan during the next trial of your life in the same amount of time it takes to read from Acts 7:60 to Acts 8:4! 

The truth, though, is that our discernment of God's ways is not always necessary;

our obedience to God's is.

In other words, how different would the book of Acts been if Acts 8:4 read, "Therefore, those who had been scattered became fearful for their lives and for their families and they stopped speaking about the name until the dust had settled." Would the people of Samaria have received the word from Phillip (8:5-24)? Would the gospel of Christ have spread to Ethiopia by the Eunuch (8:25-39)? Would Saul have been converted on the road to Damascus if he didn't even felt compelled to go to Damascus in the first place because the Christians had already shut up!? Would the gospel have spread to the gentile world through Paul and reached us today?

Of course, we know that God's over-arching and providential will would have happened somehow anyway. But the point is that His providential will happened the way it is recorded in the book of Acts because people were obedient to His already revealed will from the book of Matthew. 

"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go (literally- as you are going!) and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'”    Matthew 28:18-20

What are you going through now that you question "why, God!?" I wouldn't for a minute critique someone for asking God why! But if we are convinced that there is a God big enough for us to ask, "why," then what I would challenge all of us to do is to say "Yes, Lord," with every single "Why, God?" that ever comes out of our mouths!

I wonder how many times I have forced God to change his plans of salvation for the people around me because I was too self-absorbed or too depressed during my "Why, God?" moments to also say, "yes, Lord."

I pray that we will never "scan His work in vain." I can't wait to get to heaven and hear about the way God worked in and through my life that I was not even aware of because my vision is very, very near-sighted. I have to think that will only happen if I obey Jesus command to "make disciples of all the nations" in the same way the church in Acts 8:4 did. And I pray for forgiveness and mercy for the untold times that I have let my circumstances overcome my faith instead of having enough faith to trust that God is in control even in the midst of the worst of circumstances.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters."

Romans 8:28-29 

Surprised at Judgment Day- Matthew 7:21-23

(Before you start reading, I need some help! Take a minute to think of suggestions for upcoming VOWs. What direction should the VOW take for 2014? Leave a comment below or shoot an email to fcocyg@gmail.com.)

Picture it this way.

Let's say that for whatever reason your name holds a lot of sway. Use your imagination...maybe you are filthy rich...maybe you are the most popular president both in the States and internationally that has ever been in the U.S....maybe you are a world-renowned athlete or actor/actress or singer or. It doesn't matter. Just have fun with it.

Got that in your mind?

Ok, now let's pretend that you have several children. Let's say that nothing negative really happens...they just start to drift away from you. There was not a defining confrontation that drove you apart, there was not a slight or an insult. They just quit returning your phone calls. They wouldn't answer your letters or your text messages. They blocked you on Facebook. And they certainly never came home. Basically, for whatever reason, they just didn't want anything to do with you personally.

However, while they never contacted you or asked for your input, they did continue to use the status of your name to accomplish what they wanted to accomplish. Some of those things were even good things. They let everyone they came into contact with know that you were their father/mother. Why? Because it opened doors that might not otherwise be opened to them. It forced others to look at them with respect and pay attention to what they said. Yes, they used the name for many purposes...but no matter how hard you begged, they wouldn't come home or renew their relationship with you.

Now let's say that process began as soon as they were teenagers and carried on throughout their life. And let's say you live and abnormally long life. You remember them as children, but you know nothing about them personally as adults.

Picture sitting down to write your will at the end of your life. But let's make it complicated. Your children all know you are near death. And they all come calling when you are on your deathbed.

Would you write your children into your will knowing they never had a relationship with you? Knowing the only reason they didn't change their name was because yours was more convenient?

Of course this analogy breaks down in many, many spots. But do you get the point? Do we use God for His name and what it can accomplish- whether good or bad- but fail to pursue a relationship with Him?

It's interesting to me that the things claimed by those whom "Jesus never knew" were the big things done in his name. Casting out demons, working miracles, prophesying.

I wonder if the reason people will go to judgment falsely assured of salvation is because we think salvation is found in the "big things" and we fail to be obedient in the "little things." The things like loving enemies; obeying our parents; abstaining from gossip, slander, and lies; welcoming the stranger, orphan, and widow; breaking down the walls of division between us (race, social class, economic standing, cultural upbringing, etc.) in Christ.

Jesus said very plainly, "If you love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15).

No matter how many demons we cast out, prophesies we utter, miracles we perform, mission trips we go on, community service projects we participate in, or political rallies we organize in order to fight immorality in our country, if we are not obedient to his command to "love one another as [he] has loved [us]" (John 13:34), then we have not known him...and he has not known us.

For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.... We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵ Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

¹⁹ This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: ²⁰ If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. ²¹ Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God ²² and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. ²³ And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. ²⁴ The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

1 John 3:11-24

May we all strive not to do more and better, but to love more and better. And may that guide us into even greater works as we do good works in Jesus' name. 

When Bible Teachers Argue...Who Do You Trust? Matthew 7:16-20

 

 

Original Photo by Flickr user Kjunstorm

The context of this passage about fruit is Jesus' warning to beware of false prophets who "Come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves" (Mt. 7:15).

Jesus wanted his followers to know that there would be some people who would try to deceive them claiming a message from the Lord. The Jews would have immediately understood his reference to false prophets and to wolves. They had suffered at their hands many times in the past.

When I read this passage about false prophets, I thought about a passage I read in Jeremiah recently. In Jeremiah 28, a man named Hananiah tried to convince the people that Jeremiah was wrong about the destruction coming to Jerusalem at the hands of God. He claimed to speak for God when he said that God would "break the yoke of the king of Babylon" (Jeremiah 28:1-4).

Jeremiah's response was direct.

"Amen! May the LORD do so! May the LORD fulfill the words you have prophesied by bringing the articles of the LORD's house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon. Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: from early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms. But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the LORD only if his prediction comes true." (Jer. 28:6-9)

 In response to that, Hananiah broke the yoke Jeremiah was wearing by direction of the LORD to symbolize that God would break the yoke of the Babylonians. "At this, the prophet Jeremiah went on his way" (Jer. 28:11).

But God sent him back to Hananiah.

"Listen, Hananiah! The LORD has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies...." (Jeremiah 28:15-17).

When I read that story several weeks ago, my heart went out to all of the people who were torn between believing Jeremiah's true words from God or Hananiah's false words. How were they to know who to trust when both were claiming to speak for God!?

And my heart went out to all of the people living today who face the same reality. It's not hard to see that we face a similar situation today. People claim to speak truth from direct revelation or even from the revelation of the written word...and so many people claim these truths in direct opposition to others who are also claiming God's word as the basis of truth! Both sides accuse the other of misinterpreting the scriptures. I remember a woman in Jamaica crying when we knocked on her door and offered a Bible study. She was so upset because several different people claiming Christianity's truth had been knocking on her door and they all said different things. She had no idea who to trust and who to believe.

How are we as followers of Christ supposed to know who to trust? Obviously, we go straight to God's word, but what about when two sincere students of God's word claim truths that oppose each other and it is not just a matter of opinion, but one that bears more weight and importance?


By pointing to their fruit, Jesus gives us a very good place to start. What is the purpose of the teaching? Is it self-serving or self-sacrificial? Does it lead one to closer obedience to the plain truths of God's word or does it force a choice between being obedient to a difficult-to-interpret passage over a plain one? Does the teacher live what he teaches? Is the teacher obedient to Jesus' commands to love as He loved us?

What does his fruit look like?

I think it is worth taking the principle a step further since as Christians we are all called to be priests and teachers (1 Peter 2:9, Hebrews 5:12-14).

Do I ask out loud or even in my mind for the preacher to preach messages that are pleasing to me instead of challenging to me? Do I claim to want to know more and more about God and His word and stand ready to defend His word, but balk at the idea of defending the widows and orphans? Do I claim the Spirit of God in my life and set myself up as a teacher in word or in example, but fail to actually carry (bear) the fruits of the Spirit- Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? (Galatians 5:22-25)

What does my fruit look like?

May we strive to be bearers of good fruit instead of simply bearers of a pleasant message of comfort and salvation without sanctification. May God give us the discernment to recognize wolves in sheep's clothing and may God give us the courage to look inside our own lives and allow Him to weed out those wolfish, self-seeking tendencies in ourselves. May we trust and may we become the Jeremiahs who speak the difficult but true messages of God's word. And may we never listen or spread the messages of the Hananiahs.

It should be very sobering truth to us who accept Jesus' teaching that "every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

The Foolish Man- Matthew 7:26-27

Last week, I announced that we would be looking at verses from the sermon on the mount for the VOW in 2013. The verse we looked at last week was the beginning of Jesus' summary of the sermon. The person who hears the words of Jesus and puts them into practice is like a wise man.... But we know from the VBS song, that there is a second part to the sermon- the part about the foolish man.

Many people point out that both the wise man and the foolish man will experience storms. In fact, it is likely that they will experience similar storms throughout their lives. They will both experience the death of a loved one. They will both experience heartbreak. They will both experience betrayal.  There is even a chance that they will both experience something like a divorce or the rebellion of a child. Why? Because when sin entered the world, devastating pain, death, and a host of other things came with it...including more sin and temptation to sin. Paul says in Romans 8 that the creation itself was subjected to slavery to corruption because of man's choice to sin. Where there is sin, there is death. Where there is death, there is suffering.

Until the creation is once again set free from corruption at the coming of Jesus, there will always be storms...some caused by nature and others caused by people.

The only difference between the experiences of the wise and the foolish, is the condition of the house after the storm.

It's interesting to me that Jesus adds the detail that when the house fell, "it fell with a great crash." We could have gotten the same basic point- that obedience leads to a solid foundation and security while disobedience leads to insecurity and the future destruction and fall of a house- without His adding this detail of how great the crash is.

Why does He add this detail?

Maybe it is because those of us who have heard and listened to the words of Christ are already built up a little taller than the houses around us who have not claimed to build their lives on Christ. When we proclaim that our teacher is Jesus, we automatically put ourselves on a pedestal in the eyes of the public. We are claiming the position of a city set on a hill and a light on a lampstand. We become visible to others in a way that before our claimed allegiance to Christ we were not.

Perhaps it is at that point that a house crashing because of a poorly built foundation becomes more than just a house crashing. It becomes a house crashing that is a "great crash."

Just think about how much longer the public will disdain a well known preacher who has a serious lapse in judgment. Think about how much harder and longer a child's rebellion is when the parents profess one thing but live another as opposed to the child who rebels but who has parents who walk the walk and talk the talk. How much harder is it for someone who has turned from their faith when they are disappointed with God over the death of a loved one, than for someone who has never listened to Christ's words when the tragedy happens? How much more painful is a problem in the church than a problem in the workplace?

Before we begin listening each week to the words of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, I think it is simply worth reminding ourselves that once we have heard these words, we take on ourselves the possibility for a real blessing or a real curse. It all depends on what we do with our hands, feet, thoughts, and mouths after the words have come into our ears.

May we each VOW to pursue the blessing of a house built on the rock.

The Wise Man- Matthew 7:24-25

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock."

Matthew 7:24-25

I suppose it usually makes more sense to begin at the beginning of a sermon than at the end. But the sermon that I want us to look at is a sermon that many of has have almost completely memorized. You probably don't even realize you have so much of it memorized. But just start reading and I'll bet you will be surprised about how many sentences you could finish with your eyes closed. The sermon that we are talking about, of course, is the sermon on the mount found in Matthew 5-7.

My original plan for 2013 was to have a memory verse each week simply from the mouth of Jesus. So last week I started at the beginning of Jesus' teaching with the intention of picking out all of the statements Jesus made that I thought were worth memorizing. What I quickly realized is what has already gone through your head- every statement of Jesus is worth memorizing! As I was making my survey, simply picking passages that touched on different topics led me to a list of almost 50 before I even left the sermon on the mount! Since several of the passages I put down really could have been split in two or three ways, I decided that instead of trying to survey all of Jesus' ministry in a year of memory verses, I'll just try to cover almost all of the first sermon of His ministry.

Here are my prayers for this year:

1. That we will commit to memory almost all of the sermon on the mount. What a difference it would make if these words we written on each of our hearts and ready to be pulled to the front of our minds and applied in appropriate situations!
2. That each week, the verse that we look at will become a challenge to really live in radical obedience to that passage. On the surface, that sounds almost easy. After all, many of us have been Christians for years. We've been trying to follow Jesus' teaching for most or all of our lives. But I know me. And I don't feel like I'm alone. Jesus' teachings call us to a radical kind of life that is much easier to memorize and quote than to apply consistently. Some of the statements he made go completely against what we think is common sense. They leave us feeling vulnerable and irresponsible. And yet Jesus said it.

Jesus closed His first sermon comparing those that obey His teachings to someone that builds their house on a solid foundation. The test, of course, is the storm. When the storm comes, if the house is built on a rock, it may suffer damage, but it will stand. I want my house to stand. I want my wife and my daughters to have a faith that will only get stronger when they face death, failure, guilt, embarrassment, humiliation, defeat, and discouragement...and success, popularity, achievement, and pride.

I have to believe that if Jesus really was, and is, God (and He is), then whatever my human reasoning and past experiences lead me to believe about the best course of action in a particular instance, He actually does know the best way that I should respond.

What are you building your house on? If you want it to last it had better be the words of God. The first step is simply knowing the words. Without a commitment to reading, hearing, and meditating on His words, we simply can't put them into practice. And obviously, if we want our houses to stand, the next step is actually living to the best of our ability- and even more so because we have the Spirit of the Christ living in us- the words that we are hearing from Christ.

Will you join the experiment this year?