Our heroes are ordinary people who exercised extraordinary faith.  But when it’s our turn to trust God for something beyond ourselves, we often balk.  Here are 4 very logical reasons (excuses) not to trust God:

I can’t.

This was Moses’ first excuse when God called him to lead Israel from Egyptian bondage.  He asked, “Who am I, that I should go…”—Exodus 3:11. He could have said, “I’m just not qualified.  I’m just a shepherd now.  What do I know about rescuing millions of people?”  That seems like a responsible objection, right?  After all, Moses never led people, just sheep.  He simply did not have the credentials.  God should know better than to tap an out-of-touch, sketchy past, aging shepherd for such a big job.  So I can be sure God will not ask me to do something I am not qualified to do.

I’m afraid.

Moses left Egypt 40 years earlier in fear.  Why would he go back now?  What if his own people rejected him?  What if Pharaoh didn’t appreciate his new zeal for leadership?  These threats were real.  Moses’ life was vulnerable to attack.  So I should pay attention when I’m threatened.  Safety first, right?  I’m sure I read somewhere in the Bible that the safest place to be is in the will of God.  So God would never lead me into danger.  He would never ask me to put my life in harms way.  God never expects me to put my family or my fortune at risk.

People are against me.

Life was calm for Moses-the-shepherd.  Then God spoke to him and called him to a great task of rescuing Israel.  That sounded great…except that a rescue means the people holding the captives don’t want to let them go.  It may even mean the captives like captivity more than they should.  So before I get too excited about doing something great for God, I always consider the opinions of others first.  Maybe I should take a vote or do a survey just to be sure God is really calling me.  Opposition from others may reveal this “great work” is really not from God after all.

I might fail.

Moses was a successful shepherd in Midian.  He had the trust of his family and his peers.  But the prospect of convincing Pharaoh to allow him take the entire nation of Israel on a wilderness adventure didn’t seem very promising.  So before I leave my successful job or lifestyle to pursue the will of God, I make sure God has promised success.  God is a winner, so failure is not an option.  Besides, if I fail I make God look bad and I look like a real fool…and my reputation in the community is important to my witness.  So I never attempt anything that could possibly fail.  When God is in it, success is a sure thing.

I’ve used all of these excuses and more.  Please share  your own by clicking on the “Comment” button below.

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When it comes to sermons, how long is too long?  Some would say that depends on the skill of the preacher, or the appetite of the congregation.  Others would say it depends on the strength of the content.  Still others would say that no sermon in our day should last over ______ minutes.  You fill in the blank.  Personally, I just listened to an incredible 58-minute sermon from a prominent pastor.

But recently I read through what has been called the Minor Prophets and rediscovered there is nothing minor about these sermons from men of God who courageously preached the Word of God.  Historically, they are called “minor” because of their length.  Compared to Isaiah or Jeremiah, they are relatively short.

They may be short, but these transcribed sermons are not cute sound bites.  Instead they are pointed and powerful words that are just as relevant today as they were the day they were first delivered.  Here are four big lessons from my recent journey:

God is clear.

We can hear Micah’s volume rise, “Hear, O peoples, all of you; listen, O earth and all it contains…”—Micah 1:2a.  The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is not hiding from us and does not speak in code.  He has given us His Word and it is sufficient.  He is so clear that He said, “…And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God”—Micah 6:8.  God knows we need clarity.  So He gives it exactly where we need it.

God is unique.

“But the Lord is in His holy temple.  Let all the earth be silent before Him”—Habakkuk 2:20.  The holiness of God inspires awe among the peoples.  There is no one like Him.  He is not an idol to be handled by men.  Instead, He evokes speechlessness among those who revere Him.  This is one attribute of God marginalized by many modern evangelicals, but one that God will not allow us to forget for very long.

God is gracious.

When I think of the Old Testament prophets, I don’t naturally think of grace.  But that’s my fault.  These men cried out to an obstinate people to repent and partake in the grace of God.  God’s heart for Nineveh is clear in the book of Jonah.  He pleaded with His own people, “Return to Me, declares the Lord of hosts, that I may return to you, says the Lord of hosts”—Zechariah 1:3.  God is a God of second-chances, and He waits for us and then provides for our repentance.

God is just.

I’ve heard Tom Nelson, pastor of Denton Bible Church, say, “God is good, but He is not senile.”  In other words, God does not let evil go unchecked.  “And I will punish men who are stagnant in spirit, who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good or evil!’”—Zephaniah 1:12b.  If you’ve ever wondered if unjust men ever get their due, take heart.  God is not finished.  “Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts; and I will lift up your skirts over your face, and show to the nations your nakedness and to the kingdoms your disgrace”—Nahum 2:5.  Wow!  High-fives everywhere.  God crushes evil.

If you need a short sermon, the Minor Prophets may be just for you.  But beware.  Our sovereign God speaks in all His glory with might and mercy for a people who would not only hear Him and appreciate Him, but who would surrender to Him.

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Narcissism.  Vanity.  Conceit.  Arrogance.  Pride.  Those are familiar attitudes for most of us.  But before God does anything significant through us, He leads us through a process to kill the notion that our glory is any priority to Him at all.

No Average Joe Series

It had been over 20 years since Joseph had seen his brothers.  Despite the dream of his family bowing down to him, Joseph had no reason to expect to ever see his father or brothers again.  But widespread famine changed all of that.

Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, “Why are you staring at one another?  And he said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down there and buy some for us from that place, so that we may live and not die—Genesis 42:1-2.

So as the story goes, ten of Joseph’s eleven brothers traveled to Egypt to buy food, and soon bowed down to their brother who was in charge of selling all the available grain.  And although Joseph recognized them, they had no clue who he was.

One might think Joseph would have celebrated this unexpected turn of events.  Seriously, after all of these years, his dream came true.  His brothers were on their faces in front of him.   This was the gotcha moment he had waited for.

Sure, if this had happened 20 years ago, Joseph would have done a victory dance on the heads of his brothers.  But God spent many years and orchestrated an entire cast of characters in a complex drama to do something very important in Joseph.

So if your dream is delayed, here are some things God may want you to know:

The dream was never about you.

God promised Jacob several years earlier that nations would come from him (Genesis 35:11).  But at this point, they faced famine and extinction.  God’s plan was to preserve a people who would usher in the Messiah.  But for now they needed food to survive, and Joseph was in a place to provide for their future.  Whatever dream God has given you, it’s always about something bigger than you.

The dream must die first.

Jacob’s dream for his son Joseph died many years before.  Joseph’s dream was a distant memory.  It seems that before God promotes us to the front of His purposes, He must kill the pride of our hearts.  And He often does that by delaying or even killing the dream.  Joseph let it go.  So must we.

The dream will surprise you.

In killing our dream, God preserves us for a special work.  Although there is pride in our hearts that must be removed, God never breaks us beyond His grace.  While the dream seemed lost, God was with Joseph, empowered him, and elevated him to a position of usefulness.  So when Joseph saw his brothers bowing to him, he knew God was up to something bigger and better than he ever imagined before.

The dream challenges you first.

Joseph disguised himself.  After all these years, Joseph still needed more time.  I don’t know why, but I suspect he had some self-examination to do.  Perhaps he was overwhelmed with gratitude for the grace and mercy of God.  Whatever was going on, God challenged him.  When God resurrects the dream, He will test our character.

Joseph’s dream was not about Joseph at all.  It was ultimately about giving good news to the captives. It was about the glory of God displayed in foreign places.  It was about preserving a people for God’s own possession.  And God will do whatever necessary to refine and redefine our God-given dreams for that same end.

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As I write this, I’m sitting on an empty exit row on one of Deltas 319s at 30,000 feet above the planet flying home from an overseas mission project.  I’ve made journeys like this one at least annually since 1997; and everytime I go, God does a new work in me that far exceeds any work He does through me.

So why are these projects so important to me, and why should they be important to every Jesus-follower?  Very simply, short-term projects are more than trips.  We take trips to the beach.  We make a trip to the store.  The nations wait, but trips will never change the world.  Here’s why:

The nations are Jesus’ focus.

Jesus knew we were bent to be homebodies.  He knew we would not naturally think of people we did not know or understand.  He knew we would instinctively gravitate toward the familiar.  So voila, the Great Commission where Jesus clearly called our disciple-making to be global in its focus, reaching beyond national borders, ethnic boundaries, or language barriers.

The nations wait from home.

As we plan a mission project, we recruit believers who want to make a difference.  And so we get our shots, buy our hand-sanitizer, and secure our passport.  After months of preparation, we board an airplane and arrive on the foreign mission field.

But as foreign as it may be to us, that city, that neighborhood, that village is someone else’s home.  Most of the people I meet around the world are working hard to simply feed their families, maybe educate their kids, and make it through one more day.  Not only do they live in profound poverty and in many cases, isolation, but their hearts are spiritually darkened to the gospel and the effects of lostness are real. This is no trip for them.

And when we walk away, buy our souvenirs, and check our luggage for the homebound flight, the sun will set on them again.  But perhaps this sunset will be different than any other because the light of the gospel has come and penetrated darkness and Jesus has transformed hearts forever.  That’s not a trip.  That’s a gospel movement.

The nations awaken our consciences.

Everytime I take people with me to far away places, we are all overwhelmed by the spiritual and physical despair of the nations.  God has favored America, and that favor helps us carry the gospel around the world.

But the comforts and ideology of the West often sear our consciences and dampen our compassion for people who are beyond us.  So when we break out of our familiar environments, the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to the vast need of others.  We see the faces, we smell the poverty, we hear the stories, we touch the pain, and then God produces in us a love for others we have never known before.  Trips don’t do that.

The nations simplify our lives.

The call of God, the mission of the church, the mandate for the every-day Jesus-follower has grown a bit complicated over the last 2000 years.  We attend conferences, we read blogs, and we develop ways to brand slogans and statements that will motivate people to follow Jesus.  And hopefully God uses some of these efforts.

But it just seems that simply obeying Jesus makes everything better.  In only a few words, Jesus defined the scope of our life’s work in Matthew 28 giving us a clear mission to make disciples of every people group on the planet.  As much as we attempt to baptize our activities and justify our behavior, much of our lives are consumed with priorities that are way outside of that mission.

So a disciple-making project to distant places reminds us of the everyday mission to develop growing, multiplying followers of Jesus in our own homes, neighborhoods, and cities.  And if it doesn’t cause us to reevaluate our priorities and recalibrate our lives to join God’s global work, it was just another trip.

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As Mitt Romney pursues the Republican nomination for President, Americans are challenged to think more deeply about the realities of the Mormon faith.  And the public conversation is heating up as evangelical leaders like Robert Jeffress and Albert Mohler weigh in.

How are we to think about Mormonism?  And how should a candidate’s worldview inform our vote?  Here are five considerations that may help:

Avoid any attempt to distort a person’s faith.

Mormonism, like other religions, has extreme sects that do not represent the mainstream.  Simply explore and evaluate the fundamental tenants of Mormonism without camping on various exaggerations of that faith tradition.

Recognize that Mormonism is not historical, biblical Christianity.

Mormonism holds to a distinct worldview, embraces a different source of authority, and views the nature and need of man, and the person and work of Jesus Christ very differently than biblical Christianity.  Any attempt to call Mormonism a Christian faith is intellectually dishonest.  Mormonism, like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, is a false religion.

Identify the clear distinctives of various faith traditions.

As our culture marches toward secularism, there is a magnetic pull toward pluralism—the view that all religions are equally valid.  Not only is that view unfortunate and inaccurate, but it discounts the thoughtful (even if misguided) devotion of followers.  A Mormon, for example, is committed to his faith for important reasons.  And out of respect for his devotion, we should discover how the tenants of his personal faith shape his worldview.

Frame the discussion of Mormonism for the public square.

In his daily briefing, Al Mohler reminds us that committed evangelicals may use and understand terms such as “cult” very differently than secularists or people outside of our faith.  We understand the terms, but when we enter the public square we should frame the discussion and explain the terms in a way that will effectively communicate and engage a wider audience.

Allow the best candidate to earn your vote.

For 200 years, Americans have had the privilege of voting for our President.  Many of those candidates affirmed in some degree a Judeo-Christian faith.  Yet not all of them have promoted a culture of life or protected the sacred institution of marriage.  At the end of the day, Christians are called to engage in the political process and select the candidate for public office who will advance an agenda most consistent with our biblical values.  As long as humans are the only ones on the ballot, that selection will never be ideal.  But as long as we have freedom, it’s vital that Christians make that choice.

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We have all asked that question.  Maybe you don’t have a lot of education.  Perhaps you live in the middle of nowhere.  Perhaps you have a big-time failure in your history.  Or maybe no one ever believed in you.

No Average Joe Series

Joseph must have asked that question dozens of times as he was sold as slave, falsely accused of a crime, and eventually forgotten in a dungeon prison.  For many years, Joseph had every reason to wonder, “Can God use me?”

But then we read,

So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, you shall do”—Genesis 41:55.

After all the dreams, disappointments, and detours, Joseph’s moment had come.  When the people cried out, Pharaoh trusted him to meet the need.

If you wonder if God can ever use you:

Watch the time.

When the seven years of plenty…came to an end (Genesis 41:53).  This is 20 years after his brothers sold Joseph to slave traders!  But at this moment, Egypt was hungry and Joseph had food.  We may think God is delayed, but His timing gives us opportunities we can never manufacture.

Think ahead.

Egypt experienced the famine Joseph had predicted.  When everyone else was living large during seven years of plenty, Joseph worked a plan to store up grain for the future.  It was no one else job to think like that.  It was his, and for seven years he prepared himself.  God just seems to use people who are prepared more than He uses anyone else.

Die first.

Joseph became the provider for a nation.  He was literally the go-to guy.  But for 13 years before that he was dead.  He was dead to his father, to his brothers, to Potipher, and to the butler and baker.  Jesus said, “…unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit”—John 12:24.  Being used by God will cost you, so just die now…die to your selfish ambition, die to your personal opinions, die to your need to be right.  Fruitfulness is always fatal.

Expect more.

Joseph stored grain for Egypt, but ultimately people from all over the world came for help.  His influence and impact was greater than he ever imagined.  Can God use you?  That’s a very small question for the God of the universe.  Our personal experiences, failures, and situation never limit God.  We can always expect Him to do more.

Joseph points us to Jesus who was rejected, died, was buried and yet rose from the grave to rescue us from certain death.  Jesus is our Provison.  And when we are “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), and when we abide in Him (John 15), He bears fruit in us and uses us beyond our biggest dreams.

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Some are family.  Some are friends.  Some are people in whom we have invested our lives.  And although they were attracted to the Gospel, they quit on Jesus.  Although they sincerely appreciated His claims, they walk away from the faith.

How does that happen?  Why would someone who “tasted of the heavenly gift” (Hebrews 6:4) abandon the perfections of Christ?

When Jesus was on earth, many of the people who followed Him for a time ultimately abandoned Him (John 6:66).  Perhaps His claims were too radical.  Perhaps the road was too difficult.  Perhaps the repentance He required was too severe.  Perhaps the cost was simply too high.

Paul gives us some insight and warning when he wrote to Timothy,

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars, seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron—1 Timothy 4:1-2.

Here’s what we know about people who quit on Jesus:

Quitters are everywhere.

When Paul used the term “in later times” he was using a literary device implying the future is now.  It was then and there is now the threat of apostasy that modern believers should never discount.

Quitters are non-specific.

Paul used the phrase “the faith” to describe what the people were leaving.  Jesus was very clear about who He is and how He provided forgiveness, justification, redemption, and final glorification for those who trust in Him.  He called it a “narrow way.” Any attempt to widen it surely fails (Matthew 7:13-14).

Quitters are open-minded.

The enemy and his demons actively deceive unbelievers, but that does not remove a person’s culpability for “paying attention” to these efforts.  In order to stay open-minded, many people fatally feed their minds and nurture their hearts with misleading influences.

Quitters are deceived.

While people are responsible, the enemy is powerful and persistent.  These deceitful spirits are agents of Satan himself.  They are people whose conscience has been branded with the lies of the enemy, and they are effective in promoting their doctrines.

Paul understood the real threat of his day.  From prison and in his final attempts to disciple his friend, he reminded Timothy the danger of apostasy was imminent and encouraged him to give himself to “sound doctrine” (1 Timothy 4:6).  And his warning is just as relevant today.

What can we do about quitters?

• We personally embrace and saturate ourselves with God’s Word.
• We advance the trustworthiness of the Bible.
• We nourish others with Bible doctrine.
• We depend on the light of God’s Word to push back darkness.

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Clothes are a big deal.  If you’ve been to the beach lately, you were reminded that clothes make everyone look better.

But a fashion wardrobe provides little benefit for the real battle we face.  Our enemy, the devil, schemes against us.  And the battle is not in plain sight.  We may think the struggle is in our circumstances, or in our relationships, or in our station in life.  But the battle is not against “flesh and blood.”

Instead the war is waged on the battlefield of the unseen.  It’s a battle “against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places”—Ephesians 6:12.  We are literally fighting in the dark.

So Paul said to suit up with the “full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm”—verse 13.  We may fight in the dark, but we don’t have to fight naked.  In Ephesians 6, Paul offers a war-time wardrobe to help us win this fight:

Truth

Just as a belt keeps everything together, the truth of our identity in Christ and His life in us provides security and confidence when we are under attack.

Righteousness

We have been made righteous in Christ.  And our position in Him protects our heart and prepares us to stand against the lure of compromise.

Peace

In Christ we are called to be peacemakers, not peacekeepers.  And the Gospel gives us a firm foundation from which to advance the cause of Christ under difficult circumstances.

Faith

Just because the attack is unseen, does not mean it’s not real.  But spiritual attacks are only “extinguished” by spiritual faith in the God of the Bible.  We do not win by personal strength or human strategies.  The enemy falls when we fully rely on God.

Salvation

Satan takes a lot of heads shots.  He attempts to create doubt and discouragement.  He lies to us about our past, present, and future.  But our salvation in Christ protects our thinking by telling us the truth.

The Word of God

This is our only offense.  The enemy backs down to no other plot.  So there is no spiritual victory apart from the Spirit-led instruction and application of the self-revelation of God, the Bible.

Stop for a moment and suit up.  Pray through this wardrobe and put on one item at a time.  Ask God’s Spirit to fill you and give you eyes to see beyond what is visible because the ability to stand under this attack is found only “in the Lord and in the strength of His might”—Ephesians 6:10.

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Life gets complicated.  We get distracted.  Discouragement rises.  And then we forget.

We forget the disaster we were before Christ.

We forget the grace and mercy of God.

We forget what Jesus saved us from and what He saved us for.

The apostle Paul was perhaps the most successful Christian the New Testament church has ever known.  He was a deep theologian, skilled teacher, effective evangelist, and aggressive church planter.  Yet he never forgot his story.

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service; even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.  And yet I was shown mercy, because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus—1 Timothy 1:12-14.

Just like Paul never outgrew his salvation story, here’s why our story still matters:

Our story stands against false teaching.

The simple yet profound Gospel changes lives.  Intellectualism, philosophy, or tradition just can’t do that.  Our salvation story stands up to the test.

Our story turns attention to God.

Apart from Christ we were desperately wicked and in big trouble.  Yet God showed us mercy.  Our story attacks personal pride and exalts the God of our salvation.

Our story provides assurance.

Insecurity and a sense of inferiority often creep into our lives.  Paul knew Timothy struggled with that (2 Timothy 1:7).  But our story reminds us that God’s grace is “more than abundant.”

Our story empowers evangelism.

Jesus “came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).  If He can save us, no one is out of God’s reach.  We are trophies of God’s grace and our story encourages others to “believe in Him for eternal life (verse 16).

Our story exalts Jesus.

If we ever think our salvation story is boring or of little value, we have missed the point.  Paul ended his testimony with a doxology giving Jesus glory (verse 17).  His story compelled unhindered worship, and so does ours.

When was the last time you shared your salvation story?  Do your kids know how you were saved?  Have your friends heard your story?  You may not have the gift of evangelism or be an accomplished apologist, but you if you are in Christ you have a simple and profound story to tell.

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Many people have big dreams, but God has not called us to a fairy tale.  Instead, the work God does in our lives is often accomplished in the “land of affliction.”  That’s what Joseph called it.

No Average Joe Series

When Pharaoh promoted Joseph (Genesis 41), he also gave Joseph a wife named Asenath.  She was the daughter of a priest named Potiphera (ironic huh?).  And after a few years, they had two children.  These two children were reminders of God’s faithfulness to Joseph during tough times.

So he named his first-born son, Manasseh, because God made him forget all his trouble and all his father’s household.  Then he named the second child, Ephraim, because God made him fruitful in the land of his affliction.

Forgetful and fruitful.  Those may be the two biggest words for every Jesus-follower who wants to leverage personal influence for Kingdom impact.  Here’s why:

Difficulties do not define us.

The boy’s name was Manasseh, not Amnesia.  Joseph did not lose consciousness of the suffering his brothers’ actions inflicted on him.  But he refused to be enslaved by offenses of others.  God gave him the grace to move forward even when others pushed him backward.  Leaders of influence do that.

Bad times do not prevent good things.

We often attempt to increase our influence by pursuing an ideal environment.   But imperfect circumstances are never barriers to God’s perfect work in our lives.  God gave Joseph “Ephraim”—great success in troubled places.  And “Ephraim” still marks the lives of those who trust God with their trouble.

Old problems do not extinguish new problems.

We never climb above challenges.  Joseph had these two kids right before seven years of famine began.  His past victories did not earn him a pass.  Instead, the scars on his life strengthened him for future struggles.  Jesus followers do not retire or retreat to lick their wounds or complain about old injuries.  But they do reposition themselves by using personal loss for the benefit of others.

God did not make Joseph forgetful and fruitful despite his hardships.  God made Joseph forgetful and fruitful in his hardships.  And from those two big words a nation prospered and God’s people were preserved.

Ideal does not exist.  We may prefer easy street, but no leader prospers in utopia.  Instead the strain of pain allows God to produce greatness in us.  Problems do not penalize us.  They only promote us when God makes us forgetful and fruitful in the land of affliction.

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