a church in the World

When you go through affliction, have you ever had the idea to rejoice because of it? It's certainly not the first thing that comes to my mind. So why would the Bible say to rejoice when we experience affliction? What could possibly be gained by such a thing? Tune in this week to hear a "different kind of good news" to find out why. 

31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” -- Matthew 13:31-32-------There is an inspirational American movie called “Rudy.” It is about a young boy who has wanted to play American college football for the most renowned college football program in the world, the University of Notre Dame, for his entire life.However, there is a challenge. Rudy is slow. Rudy is small. Rudy has dyslexia. Notre Dame recruits only the fastest, biggest, and strongest athletes, and they do require that their athletes come to school and go to class and not just play football. Rudy would definitely be considered the runt of the litter and someone who could never make it into Notre Dame as a student, let alone be able to play on the field for the “Fighting Irish” as they are known.So, spoiler alert: Rudy, through all of the challenges and tribulations he has to go through—and I recommend that you watch the movie—ends up playing on the field for Notre Dame and records a sack in the last game of the season. Not only that, but he goes on to become a motivational speaker, where he has made hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.In our following of Jesus this week, Jesus gives us a parable that tells a similar story, but this time about the kingdom of God. He gives us a picture showing that “The Mite is Mighty.”

There was a game show in the United States called “To Tell the Truth.” There were 3 different people and they all said they were the same person. One person was telling the truth and the other two were imposters. The contestant in the game show had to figure out, who was actually telling the truth.So we are going to play a slightly different variation of this game.The photo in this email shows two stalks of what is supposedly wheat, but only one of them is truly a stalk of wheat. Do you know which is which?…I know I wouldn’t have known for sure except for preparing for this message and studying the different weeds that look like wheat. So all of you who chose the stalk on the right, are incorrect. That is called Wall Barley and the stalk on the left is Wheat. They look very similar and they are fully grown. Imagine how similar or almost identical they must look when they are still growing.Jesus’s latest parable reminds us that not just for stalks of grain, but for people, “Looks Can Be Deceiving.”

Have you ever played musical chairs?I found it a fun game when I was young, and I would probably find it fun now, but I would probably pull a muscle or wrench my knee now. There was an urgency in the game where you had to find that open chair or you were out of the game and you didn’t want to be out of the game.I believe so many people in this world are playing a deadly type of musical chairs. Where they are going through life with the music playing thinking that when the music stops they believe there always will be a chair for them. Because they are playing a musical chairs game where they see a chair for everyone.As we will learn from Jesus today, “You Need to Be in the Chair While the Music is Playing.”

I want to start off by giving you a little bit of what has happened and is happening in the Muslim country of Sudan, which similar to Pakistan is over 90% Muslim:The gospel spread through these many years of upheaval. Although the conflicts created terrible suffering, they made the Church more mature. The wars scattered Christian refugees throughout the country, so even through suffering the good news spread. Churches formed in places and among peoples that previously had no Christians! Praise God that this growth occurs across many denominations. Pray for them to find unity through Christ. The Islamic government bombed churches and other Christian buildings in the South, and specifically targeted Christian areas for attack. But many believers kept their faith, and even took the gospel to other ethnic groups during these hard times!Why has real growth occurred in the midst of devastation and upheaval? Kind of crazy right. The church in Western Europe is disappearing even though there wasn’t persecution. There are still some countries where there is a religion recognized by the country, but the amount of Christians is still decreasing every year.Look at Spain. The country still allows a percentage of the personal income tax of the people to go to the Catholic Church, but from 2013 to 2023 the amount of people who consider themselves Catholic has dropped from 73% to 53%. And even less, only about 27% meet with the church on a consistent basis.What’s the problem?Because believe it or not “Opposition Produces Growth.”

My first formal job growing up was as a census taker. When I look back on that job, it was unique in that the only thing you had to do was share the information with the person, and no matter how they reacted, I was successful. If they answered all the questions, I would get paid. I got paid if I went to their door and they slammed it in my face. If I opened the gate to their yard to go to their front door and then got chased by their dog and had to hop the fence, I got paid. My job was to share the information, but the results were not my responsibility.This remembrance helped me this week as I was studying the latest parable from Jesus, where I need to remember, “Just Share the Information.”

There is an old commercial that used to play in the United States about a brokerage company called EF Hutton. As soon as that name was mentioned, everyone stopped and listened intently to whoever was speaking about EF Hutton, even children.As a brokerage company, EF Hutton advised people who wanted to make money from investments. So, supposedly, EF Hutton was so good at helping anyone make money that you needed to stop whatever you were doing and listen to them.If a company or someone is really good at helping people make money, people would stop all that they were doing and listen carefully to them. But what if there was someone who spoke about things that were way more valuable than money, way more valuable than gold, or diamonds, or anything you could ever have on this earth? Wouldn’t that be someone we would stop whatever we are doing and have the desire to listen to everything they would ever have to say?Well, that person exists, and His name is Jesus. Today, I want to share with you why you should “Love listening to the Lord.”

Penetrating the Darkness21 And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? 22 For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” -- Mark 4:21-23For those of you listening to me on audio only, we are showing a small clay lamp used during the time of Jesus. This lamp will be filled with olive oil, then a wick will be added to the oil and lit. This lamp would give light to the single living area of the home. When you look at this lamp, it looks so small, how can that give enough light to a living area so you can see? I have a question for you. Have you ever been in a room that was pitch black? I mean it was so dark, you put your hand right in front of your face and you couldn’t see it.  I have. And we brought in a little lighter. One of the small ones that people use to light a cigarette. We lit the lighter and we were amazed at how that little light gave us the ability to see so much.  Today as we follow Jesus of Nazareth he talks about this type of lamp and “The Purpose of the Light.”