Thoughts which carry me to Jesus, and to the cross.

“There will be some left behind, like when an olive tree is beaten— two or three ripe olives remain toward the very top, four or five on its fruitful branches,” says the LORD God of Israel. At that time men will trust in their creator; they will depend on the Holy One of Israel. They will no longer trust in the altars their hands made, or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made.” (Isaiah 17:6–8, NET)

“ Therefore, so that I would not become arrogant, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to trouble me—so that I would not become arrogant.I asked the Lord three times about this, that it would depart from me. But he said to me, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in me.” (2 Corinthians 12:7–9, NET)

Many troubled by various diseases came running from every direction, and putting the health of their souls first, through confession, they were then freed of their illnesses.

First I become indignant and then I become sad when a person to whom I am trying to give spiritual counsel tells me: “Well, I am trying to make up my mind whether or not I should accept Christ.”
This scene is taking place in our society over and over again, as proud adamic sinners argue within themselves: “I don’t know whether I should accept Christ or not.” So, in this view, our poor Lord Christ stands hat-in-hand, shifting from one foot to the other, looking for a job—wondering whether He will be accepted!
Is it possible that we proud humans do not know that the Christ we are putting off is the eternal Son; the Lord who made the heavens and the earth and all things that are therein? He is indeed the One, the Mighty One!
Thankfully, He has promised to receive us, poor and sinful though we be. But the idea that we can make Him stand while we render the verdict of whether He is worthy is a frightful calumny—and we ought to get rid of it!

This morning I received an email which infuriated me.

Most of it I agreed with, as it detailed the various problems in my church brotherhood. There are, like every denomination (whatever they call it), problems that people try to resolve politically. Well, the last problem they mentioned was the existence of churches under 100 in attendance, and as many, saw these churches as a waste of personnel and financial resources.

Of course they offer solutions, most of which include either selling the facilities and closing the church, or allowing another larger church to come alongside and manage and take responsibility for the smaller church. In my observation, this usually ends up with the larger church using the assets from the smaller church, with less people than it had before it came alongside to “help.”

It is, in my opinion, either poor stewardship or simply straight out covetousness of the small church assets  in many of these cases.  (and its not my own church body – there were brotherhoods and denoms doing this 30-40 years ago) EEither way, we give up places where God put His people, who built a place where people could come to know they were forgiven, to become part of the family of God==to be people God would work through to save the world.

In my readings this morning Iw as hit with this again. It is the small weak remnant of grapes that cast off their idolatry and look to God.  It is Paul’s weakness that God uses to do the greatest ministry – it is when we are huumble and  broken that we don’t leave Jesus at the door, but welcome Him in, begging for help….

It is when we confess and are absolved of our sin that we see the healing of our lives happen. It is not when we are strong and healthy, when the church is well managed and the programs are working like clock-work; its when we cry out in despair. I am not saying I want my church to always be “small”, my first church didn’t stay at 14 people. But yet I never weant to lost the joy we had seeing the church – told to chose its doors, defy the stats and become a refuge for many.

God works through the small church. He worked through the smallest of families, in the smallest of tribes, in the smallest of nations. God works through broken people. and whether we average 50 or 5000 I want my church to remember that it is still… small and that we need God to do the work.

Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2008). Mornings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings. Moody Publishers.

Pasquale, G., ed. (2011). Day by Day with Saint Francis: 365 Meditations (p. 218). New City Press.