Putting the EXTRA in ORDINARY

From Ordinary to Extra in ordinary!

 

I heard about a mom and dad who decided to give their child the very curious name of Odd. Poor kid! Obviously that name invited ridicule and mockery all through grade school, high school, and college. But the jibes made him want to achieve, and he became a very successful lawyer.

Because people ribbed him his entire life, he decided that upon his death, he wanted an unmarked tombstone placed at his grave so that his name would never be uttered again. His wishes were honored. The problem was when people saw this tombstone without an inscription, they almost always said, "That's odd."

Jesus gave to His disciple Simon the new name of Rock. Why? He knew Peter would eventually grow into the name. His given name, Simon, means "a listener" or "a hearer."

Upon seeing him for the first time, Jesus essentially gave him a nickname—a new title to describe the person he was going to become. He said, "Your name is going to be Peter or 'Rock' (the literal meaning)."

I think the others might have done a little snickering at that point. If there was anything Simon was not, it was a rock. A rock is stable and solid. Peter was given to the emotion of a moment. He could be hotheaded.

But God saw him for what he would become.

We know Jesus knew what He was getting. He knew Peter would fail. He knew that Peter would fall short. He even knew that Peter would ultimately deny Him.

But Jesus also knew Peter would make a comeback. He knew that after his early failure, "the rock" would courageously serve the Lord all the days of his life. He looked right through him, and He saw potential.

In the same way, Jesus looks at you and doesn't see you just for what you are. He sees you for what you can become.

We see a lump of clay; God sees a beautiful vase. We see a blank canvas; God sees a finished painting. We see a lump of coal; God sees a refined diamond. We see problems; God sees solutions. We see failures; God sees potential success. We see a Jacob; God sees an Israel. We see a Simon; God sees an apostle Peter.

God can take the failures of our lives and use them for His glory. That doesn't mean that we should go out and intentionally fail. It means that when we do, we can learn from those mistakes.

It is has been said that the doorway to success is entered through the hallway of failure. It has also been said that if at first you don't succeed, relax—you are just like the rest of us!

Have you ever tried to do something for God that was a complete failure? Perhaps it was your feeble attempt to share the gospel with some friends. They not only failed to respond in the affirmative, they became angry with you.

It may have been a prayer for someone to get better physically, who actually got worse. I remember once a friend was feeling nauseated and asked if I would pray. I did just that, and his nausea increased! He said he would never ask me to pray for him again!

Perhaps you started a home Bible study, and no one showed up.

Let me say this to you: thank you for your failures! I would much rather try and fail, than to never do anything at all. Besides, failure is not always such a bad thing. We learn from our mistakes. Failure can indeed teach success.

Successful people know how to handle failure. Many failed initially, only to succeed later. Albert Einstein failed at math before he discovered the theory of relativity. Isaac Newton had to have an apple fall on his head before discovering the theory of gravity. Michael Jordan failed to make his high-school basketball team before making the NBA.

You might say Peter was the patron saint of ordinary people. In short, Peter was a man just like us.

The point: God can take an ordinary person and do something extraordinary. Jesus did not choose the apostles because they were great. Rather, their greatness came as a result of Jesus' choosing them.

In the same way, God did not choose you because you were great. You aren't. Nor am I. Yet in His grace and mercy, He can do something wonderful with both of our lives.

 

God’s Gift To Us

 
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.— Isaiah 9:6

 We celebrate Christmas in order to rejoice over God's most precious gift to us. The birth of Jesus Christ is a gift from God that came in simple wrapping, as well as a gift we don't deserve. But the gift of Christ also explains His purpose for humankind.

The gift of Christ was no afterthought. Long before there was a stable in Bethlehem, before Adam and Eve ever set eyes on each other, and even before there existed a garden called Eden, God decided to send His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins.

From the beginning, God knew humankind would fall short of His glory. That is why the Scriptures proclaim that Jesus Christ was slain from the foundation of the world (see Revelation 13:8).

God made a decision from the very beginning that Christ would come to this earth to live and die and rise again from the dead. God's gift to us proves His purpose to redeem us.

The gift of Jesus Christ is what Christmas is all about. Jesus came near to us so we could come near to Him.

Christmas is not about tinsel or shopping or gifts under a tree. Christmas is about the gift God gave on the tree where Christ died for our sins, giving us the gift of eternal life.

That is what He has accomplished. This is the gift He extends. And if you receive it, you will experience the merriest Christmas of all.

 

WHY WE CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS

"Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."— Matthew 1:23

 

It really is an amazing thing to think about the mystery of the Incarnation—that mysterious moment when God became a man.

Jesus Christ—God the Son—was born in a manger. He went from the throne of heaven to a feeding trough. He went from the presence of angels to a cave filled with animals. He who is larger than the universe became an embryo. He who sustains the world with a word chose to be dependent upon the nourishment of a young virgin.

Some people have a hard time believing in the Virgin Birth. If you believe the Bible, you need to believe in the Virgin Birth. The Bible teaches that God Almighty was supernaturally conceived in the womb of a virgin (see Matthew 1:23).

This makes sense if you think about it. If God had chosen to, He could have sent Jesus to this earth as a fully grown, yet sinless human being. A shaft of light could have come out from heaven with Jesus descending to the ground as an adult man.

But if Jesus came to us in that way, who could have related to Him as a person, as a part of the human race? God also could have had Jesus come into the world through two ordinary human beings—but still with a divine nature. But then most of us would have doubted His divinity. That's why the Incarnation makes sense.

The event of the Incarnation is the reason for the Christmas season. Christmas is the opportunity to worship God, to bow down and pay homage to Him for humbling Himself and appearing in human form (see Philippians 2:6–9). That stands as the true mystery of the Incarnation—and the reason we celebrate Christmas.  Ponder these words with me---we need  to at the beginning of December!

 

I forget to rememer to say THANKS!

I Forgot to Remember to say---THANKS!

 

"Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!"— Psalm 107:8

In the Old Testament, we find an interesting story of how King Jehoshaphat took an uncommon approach when his enemies waged war against him. Instead of sending in his army first, he sent the choir and musicians.

Imagine the scene: "All right, guys, here's the plan today. An army is out there, armed to the teeth. So we are sending in the choir and the musicians." If I had been a choir member or musician, I might have wondered whether the king liked our music.

But God had directed Jehoshaphat in this unusual battle tactic. We read that Jehoshaphat appointed people to sing to the Lord, praise the beauty of holiness, and go out in front of the army saying, "Praise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever" (2 Chronicles 20:21).

So that is exactly what they did. The Bible tells us that when they began to sing and praise, God sent an ambush against the enemy, and they were destroyed. God's people were able to go into this situation giving thanks, because He was in control.

In approaching God to ask for new blessings, we should never forget to thank Him for the blessings He has already given.

Have you recently come to God for help and He came through for you? Did you come back to say "thank you"?

If we would stop and think how many of the prayers we have offered to God have been answered and how seldom we come back to God to thank Him, it just might amaze us. We should be just as deliberate in giving thanks to God as we are in asking for His help. How about it?!

THE BELIEVER'S SECRET, SECRET

 

“The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.”

— Psalm 25:14

Have you ever been semi-listening in on someone's conversation? Not intentionally, of course, because you would never do that. Maybe you were in a restaurant and your table was right next to someone else's. Maybe you were talking to the person you were with---my wife is a master of hearing several conversations at tables around us. I can tell she’s doing it by the changing expressions on her face. Every now and then she’ll hear a magical word and shush me up.   Someone said, "I am going to tell you a secret right now. No matter what, I don't want you to tell anyone else this secret. . . . " We’ll ol’ “flappy ears” (as I call her) is all over that and then tells me the juicy tid-bit of a secret---with great delight!

What would you do? Would you put your hands over your ears? No, I doubt it. If you're like most people, you listened more carefully. We all love to hear secrets. We want to know the inside story---the scoop. Even if someone is a complete stranger, we are still interested in his or her secret.

Well,God has a secret that He wants to declare to you. The Bible says, "The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him" (Psalm 25:14). In many ways, this isn't really a secret, because it is plainly declared in Scripture. Unfortunately, because so few people have opened up the Bible to see what it says, they have missed out.

This is the secret of making life more full and meaningful. It is a secret that can help you avoid untold misery and heartache. You might even say it is the secret of living. We find it in Ecclesiastes 12:13, where Solomon says, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty and purpose of man."
That is what it all comes down to. That is what is going to keep you on track for God's plan for your life. Pssst! Hey pal want to hear a secret of REAL importance?

 

IS OUR COUNTRY “ON THIN ICE?”

IS OUR COUNTRY “ON THIN ICE?”

 

(READ | Romans 2:1-8)

Our country was founded on the premise that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are “unalienable rights,” endowed by the Creator. In the mid-1900s, the Pledge of Allegiance was amended to convey a similar idea—that we are “one nation under God.”

Soon, however, morality in our land took a downward turn, and over the past 50 years, the Founders’ vision has become clouded. One indicator is the media—if a citizen in 1950 could have seen some of our current TV programs, he no doubt would have been shocked by the language, dress, and content.

Can the attempt to remove God and /or Jesus from the public square have anything to do with our crumbling values? Perhaps. A country that removes God out of political party's beliefs platform--- prayer out of schools and government meetings can easily drift from godly ways. We have even debated removing “In God We Trust” from our currency and “one nation under God” from the Pledge. What’s more, our nation is sometimes so accepting of “all religions” that Christians are persecuted for believing Jesus is the only way (John 14:6).

God is holy, so surely He doesn’t approve of all the actions sanctioned by our laws. Yet He has been patient—and we’ve been blessed beyond measure. But the Father’s patience won’t last forever (Neh. 9:30). America must repent of its choice to disregard His precepts.

Have you sat back and allowed ungodly values to infiltrate this land? As citizens, Christians have a responsibility to influence government decisions in the direction of righteousness. Ask for God’s guidance as you determine how to stand up for Him

 

ABILITY VS. AVAILABILITY

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

— 2 Corinthians 4:7

When Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin, it was a source of complete amazement that these untrained laymen could be so well-versed in the Scriptures—and more importantly, in their understanding. They were ordinary fishermen, salt-of-the-earth-type people. This doesn't mean they were illiterate. But they had not attended the rabbinical schools or spent their lives in the study of the Scripture.

Acts 4:13 tells us that when these religious leaders "saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus." These simple fishermen appeared to be better-equipped than the professionals were. How did this happen? The disciples had been with Jesus. They were boldly sharing their faith. They knew the Scriptures. They were men who prayed.

This should give hope and encouragement to those who think of themselves as ordinary people. Maybe God has not called you to be a pastor, a missionary, or some professional ministry position. But God can use you too. It is clear that He is looking for ordinary men and women to bring the gospel message to others.

God can use you where you are. The opportunities are there. There is a mission field where you work. There is a mission field where you go to school. There is a mission field in your neighborhood. You are God's representative, and He is calling you to go into this world and speak up for Him. God is not looking so much for ability as He is looking for availability. So make yourself available to Him.