Author: David

Called by God

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HIGHLIGHT

Colossians 1:1–2 (ESV): 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

EXPLAIN

It is believed that Paul never visited Colossae, but that during his ministry to Ephesus from AD 52-55, a Colossian named Epaphras was converted in Ephesus and went back home sharing the gospel. When this letter was written, Epaphras had come to Paul in Rome and shared the news that a dangerous teaching was threatening the church.

Over the years, what scholars believe this heresy was has changed. It was once considered to be early forms of Gnosticism, but it had many distinctively Jewish elements. Most likely, the false teaching was a mixture of local Jewish and pagan folk beliefs.

Probably the best understanding is that a “a shaman-like figure within the church had attracted a following and was presenting himself as something of a Christian spiritual guide” (ESV Study Bible). Paul now wrote the church to emphasize the supremacy of Christ over all and remind the believers of their new identity in Christ.

APPLY

Paul was an apostle by the will of God. Paul was called to ministry by God, not by men. He was not elected or appointed by popular vote of the people. Neither did he assume his call due to his own initiative and determination. Similarly, in other places Paul wrote that the gospel he preached did not come from man nor did he preach by the okay of men. He did go to visit elders of the church at one point for reassurance, but even then Paul wrote that he did not back down from the gospel he preached, of which the acceptance of Gentiles into God’s plan of salvation featured prominently.

As a minister of the gospel, similarly, my call did not come from men or even myself, but from God. A formative experience happened to me the summer before I became a high school senior when I went to Mexico on a short-term missions trip. Up to that point, my dreams were of the Air Force and aerospace engineering. That experience pointed me toward ministry as I pledged “Make a Servant” in the commissioning service before we set out on the trip. Yet I still did not feel God’s call to ministry.

During my senior year, I gradually exchanged my dreams of the Air Force for a country gospel guitar-singing ministry. I entered college as a music major.

But God arranged various chapel services and General Camp messages at the end of the school year to awaken in me a call to ministry. I accepted that call from God one summer day of 1995 in Antioch Park.

I later applied for a minister’s license with the Church of God (Holiness) and was granted one as a recognition of God’s call on my life and my preparation to serve in ministry. Then in 2018 after nearly 20 years in ministry, I was ordained by the Church of God (Holiness), again as a recognition of God’s call on my life as a minister.

After eight years in the pastorate, I served for two years as a teacher in Bible college, during which time I married the love of my life. We then served a church in Missouri for five years, before going overseas for six and a half years as missionary pastors. Returning a year ago to the U.S., Zenia is working on her master’s degree in education and I am supporting her. But my calling to ministry remains, and I have been serving various churches in supporting roles – camp meeting, fill-in preaching, teaching Sunday School, and leading worship songs.

These principles guide me: I have been called by God, not by men nor by my own imagination and I serve God, not for men’s applause nor for personal success. I am an ambassador of Christ, entreating all I can to be reconciled with God, changed forever by the grace of Jesus Christ.

RESPOND

Heavenly Father, thank you for your call upon my life. May I live and serve you faithfully in whatever role you have for me. I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Glory Followers

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HIGHLIGHT

Exodus 40:36–37 (ESV): 36 Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. 37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up.

EXPLAIN

God’s presence was manifested to the Israelites during their wilderness journey as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Before they crossed the Red Sea, the cloud went between the people and Pharaoh‘s murderous army set on revenge against Israel. When the Tabernacle was dedicated to God, the cloud enveloped the tent in such a way so that even Moses with his shining face could not enter.

Now Moses explains that if God’s presence lifted from the tent, it was a sign for the people to pack up and go. If God’s presence remained, they stayed put.

APPLY

Our lives as Christ’s followers should be marked by a similar attention to God’s glory. If God’s glory goes before us, we should keep up. If his glory remains, we should not take off on some adventure of our own.

RESPOND

Heavenly Father, may my life be marked by a passionate pursuit of your glory. Amen.

Mountain-moving Faith

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HIGHLIGHT

Matthew 17:19–20 (ESV): 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

EXPLAIN

The disciples had seen Jesus perform many mighty miracles. The disciples themselves had performed many great miracles. But now, they could not cast a demon out of a boy.

The ESV notes that some of the ancient manuscripts insert a verse 21, that caveats such exorcist faith with prayer and fasting. Regardless of the arguments that may be made to keep or remove that verse, we should understand the necessity of prayer and fasting for such mountain-moving faith.

The reason why one can exercise such great faith largely depends on one’s vital communion with the Father.

APPLY

How many mountains do we allow to block our path because we simply don’t believe there is “a way”? How many miracles and blessings do we forfeit because we cannot see, we cannot believe, a better future?

It is truly intimidating to consider a life in which, “nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 5:20), but what if we began to live with that mentality?

Obviously, we must not set out on such a voyage of faith without the anchors of prayer and fasting – submission to the will of God.

But what if we truly believed nothing is impossible for the follower of Jesus?

RESPOND

Heavenly Father, give me a mountain-moving faith? Help me not to doubt, but to truly believe that everything, anything, you set before me is possible through the Spirit’s enabling power. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Don’t You Feel Like Traveling?

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HIGHLIGHT

Genesis 13:17 (ESV): 17 Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”

EXPLAIN

God had told Abraham some time before to leave his homeland and travel to a land that he would show him. God promised to make him a great nation.

Abraham had obeyed, and when Abraham arrived in Canaan God revealed this land would belong to his descendants. But this did not occur immediately. Due to famine, Abraham traveled on south to Egypt.

Now, Abraham was back. He and Lot had to separate due to their great flocks of sheep. Abraham let Lot choose the better land. But God revealed to Abraham that all of the land would one day belong to him and his descendants.

APPLY

The promise God made to Abraham was amazing. We have had promises made and broken; maybe we would be less willing to believe such a promise.

But God made this promise! Of course, Abraham lived the nomadic life, traveling from one area to another seeking pasture for his herds and flocks.

Yet… with such a promise from God, wouldn’t you feel like walking, traveling, journeying all throughout the land?

RESPOND

Heavenly Father, thank you for the wonderful promises you give us in your Word. Help me, like Abraham, to believe you implicitly. May my faith be large, not doubting, but fully embracing your will and both the present and the future you have designed. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

The Path of Faith

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HIGHLIGHT

Genesis 12:11–13 (ESV): 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”

EXPLAIN

Abraham was a mighty man of faith – the father of our faith. But he got into trouble when he allowed fear to override his faith. This is evident in both instances in which Abraham lied about Sarah, as well as their attempt to help God out by having a son through Sarah’s servant.

In contrast to these terrible decisions, we remember his great acts of faith, such as leaving his homeland and family to travel to an unknown land and offering his son of the promise, Isaac, on the altar in obedience to God.

APPLY

Following God faithfully requires immediate, complete, radical faith in Christ.

Following God is a day by day decision. Abraham made an initial decision to follow God, but also many continuing decisions to serve God.

Occasionally, he made missteps, but God corrected him and Abraham continued the path of faith.

RESPOND

Heavenly Father, may my life always be characterized by immediate, complete, radical, positive faith in you. Guard my steps so that I do not walk out of your will. May I choose each day to continue to follow the path the Great Trailblazer, Jesus Christ, set out for me. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

God Remembered

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HIGHLIGHT

Genesis 8:1 (ESV): 8 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.

EXPLAIN

Can you imagine how terrifying it must have been on the ark as God sent the great Flood in judgment for humanity’s sins?

Noah and his family were warned to go into the ark seven days before the Flood came. One week later, God shut Noah and his family in the boat and then began to wreak destruction upon his wonderful creation.

Can you imagine how lonely those eight people must have felt in the boat, with hundreds, thousands, millions, even billions perishing outside?

Can you imagine how noisy and terrifying it was inside the ark, as well, as animals barked, screeched, howled, bleated, mooed, and cawed in terror?

Does not this make the words of our highlighted text even more powerful: “But God remembered Noah”?

APPLY

Sometimes, we may feel lonely, shut up, abandoned, terrified, uncertain for what God allows to happen in our lives and in our world. But we can also take heart that God remembers.

As followers of Jesus, we can especially find comfort in these words. While God may allow the consequences of sin to go unchecked at times, or in other situations bring judgment, we can rest confident that in his covenant, in his will, we will safely go through the storm.

RESPOND

Heavenly Father, thank you for remembering Noah and his family. Thank you also for remembering me. Help me to rest confident in your grace, love, and mercy. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

The First Day

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HIGHLIGHT

Genesis 1:1–2 (ESV): 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

EXPLAIN

What a grand statement is this… in the beginning, God created. At once, this assertion makes several claims, among which are the following: 1) God is eternal having always existed and, it can easily be presumed, will always exist; 2) God is beyond us, above us, greater than us; 3) God designed our world on purpose, thus giving us purpose, and 4) We are obligated to honor our Creator and seek to fulfill his purpose for us.

APPLY

As we begin a new year, we often make commitments, goals, and promises for change. Even though December 31st to January 1st is just another revolution around the sun, psychologically we view it as a time for new beginnings. And, that can be a good thing.

Yet when we reflect on the first day of the first year of human history… wow!

What were God’s “goals” for humanity? What did God hope to accomplish?

Consider God’s plan from before creation due to his foreknowledge!

While our sin marred God’s perfect plan for his Creation, as recreations of God’s grace, how can we cooperate to see God’s purpose go forward?

RESPOND

Heavenly Father, as I begin a new year, help me to live in the center of your will at all times, furthering your purpose in this world. Thank you for a wonderful year just finished. Thank you for your presence and help in times of difficulty, in times of joy, and in times of change. May I continue to grow this year to be more like Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

The Refiner’s Fire

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HIGHLIGHT

Malachi 3:2 (ESV): 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.

EXPLAIN

The last book in the Old Testament, Malachi brings complaints from God against his people, and they respond with protests of feigned innocence. God’s complaints especially seem aimed at the priests and Levites.

Malachi looked forward to the day when God would come. But as this highlight verse notes, who can stand when God shows up. God’s holiness, righteousness and truth will burn away all pretense of religion and goodness. When God arrives, Truth prevails.

APPLY

In our postmodern culture, we like to argue for “our truth”. We talk about what seems right to us. We suggest that truth can be variable, when we are in different settings, crowds, or cultures.

But God is Truth. When we measure ourselves by his standard of holiness, everything becomes strikingly, if not embarrassingly, clear.

Thank God for his grace by which we can find forgiveness and cleansing of all sin and unrighteousness! May we be prudent to take advantage of his grace while we can.

RESPOND

Heavenly Father, thank you that you are holy, righteous, and true. Search my heart; cleanse me of any sin. May I live holy before you, blameless by your empowering grace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

He is king and will be king

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HIGHLIGHT

Zechariah 14:9 (ESV): 9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.

EXPLAIN

The last chapter of Zechariah describes the coming day of the Lord. The imagery is similar to what John describes in Revelation.

Zechariah says that all the nations will gather to battle against Jerusalem. God will fight against those nations. His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which will be split in two.

The rest of the chapter describes both the devastation God will visit upon his enemies, but also the wonderful reality that God’s people will experience as God reigns supreme.

APPLY

As I have read the various minor prophets this year, I have noted that while many of them speak words of judgment, many also end with glorious promises for God’s people.

This sinful world is storing up judgment that will be fierce, but for those of us who have surrendered to the King of kings, our future is glorious.

RESPOND

Heavenly Father, thank you for the hope that while things may look grim today, you are ultimately in control and you will bring righteousness, truth and peace to all the world. Amen.

Confidence in the midst of uncertainty

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HIGHLIGHT

2 Thessalonians 2:13–14 (ESV): 13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

EXPLAIN

Paul wrote two letters to the church of Thessalonica to correct misunderstandings they had about the end times and to urge them to live holy.

For those then and now that believe the Antichrist is among us, Paul has clear instructions. The Antichrist will be one who opposes and exalts himself against every other god and takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

We have seen many heretics, false messiahs, and would-be conquerors of the world throughout history, but it would seem that none compare to this evil one who one day will rise.

Yet we are assured that when this lawless one is revealed, the Lord will kill him with the breath of his mouth. Imagine the power of destroying someone with your mere breath!

Paul’s implication seems to be that we should remain watchful for when this “lawless one” appears, but also that we should not be overly fearful or afraid. Christ is the true King of kings and he will reign over all someday soon.

APPLY

Therefore, as Paul wrote in our highlighted verses, we should be grateful because God chose us to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and our belief in the truth. Indeed, this is our calling – to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As we see events transpire throughout the world that seem to set the stage for the final events prophesied by scripture, we can have ultimate confidence. We have been called by Christ to be saved. He is transforming us to be more like him, and someday we will join the rest of God’s Church, the Bride of Christ, for the marriage supper of the Lamb!

While we look forward to Thanksgiving celebrations tomorrow, that feast in eternity will be so much greater!

RESPOND

Heavenly Father, thank you for confidence in an uncertain world. Thank you for calling me to be your child, your follower, and for your grace that saves, sanctifies, and equips me for service. May I live faithfully for you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.