Madison Church of Christ

If we ever stop to think about it, we can almost be afraid of the will of God. I mean if we let God rule our lives, something terrible could happen: He might send you to the darkest most remote corner of the world to share the Gospel where you could be lonely or fearful. He might ask you to wipe the tears from the eyes of child that is poor and smells bad. He might ask you to give up more time or money than you ever thought “reasonable”. But as we grow in our walk with the Lord, we should come to realize that in His will is the perfect plan for our lives.

Romans 12:2 reminds us that when we have been trans¬formed by the power of God, we will begin to experience “that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” for our lives”. When we give up the things of the world in or¬der to live in the will of God, we find that He has replaced the things that once seemed so important to us with things that are far greater and better.

Scripture teaches us that the things of this life will eventually pass away, but he who does the will of God will live forever. If we really want to make a lasting contribu¬tion to this world, we need to release it. For when we loosen our grip on the world, we will see it in its proper perspective. All that the world has to offer is temporary and passing away. Only what is done for Christ will stand the test of time. God has forgiven us and brought us into His family so that we might serve Him. He has called us to an act of obedience by which we determine to serve Him at all times.
God never leaves His purposes to guesswork. He clearly tells us in the Bible what He wants us to do.

The key to dis¬cerning His will is not so much where we go or what we do as becoming what He wants us to be. His principles for life are laid out in the Scriptures, which serve as our guide. As we prayerfully seek His guidance, He promises to lead us into each step of life according to His perfect will. We simply must be willing to follow.

Have an insanely blessed week as you serve the Master and live out Jesus Christ in your life.

The brother’s face had the deep lines of a man that had lived a hard life. This brother was not only a messenger of God’s love but also man that knew what it meant to be persecuted for the cause of Christ. Matuaw Odba was a Christian, and he had been imprisoned for 9 years. His crime: preaching about Jesus. The government had a prohibition against that in his African nation, but he still preached.

The guards in his prison where unmerciful, they sadistically tortured those in their care. They did unspeakable things to other humans. They enjoyed being from the tribe that currently ran the country. But one day, as those things are prone to do, there was big change. Suddenly the guards became the prisoners and the prisoners became the guards. There was killing, revenge, murder and mayhem. And there was preaching. While his neighbors were settling old feuds and avenging old wrongs, Matuaw was urging everyone to follow the example of Christ.

His fellow tribesman where dumbfounded, here was chance for retribution, for good ole fashion payback. Jesus would have had no part in it, and neither would Matuaw. Quickly in his village, the killing stopped These people learned from a neighbor what the Apostle Paul learned from Jesus, and he repeated it in 1 Corinthians 13.5, “Love keeps no record of wrongs.” (Voice of the Martyrs, December 2004)

This year, let’s take a new track in our dealing with each other. Let’s love, in spite of things that may have happened in the past. Let’s keep no records of wrongs. Love stopped a village of Rwandans from killing each other, and it can keep us from killing each other’s spirit.

And since we start this New Year with a clean slate toward each other. Let’s clean up the slate with our Heavenly Father. Do you notice those shows that come around every year about this time, the ones with titles like, “2009 in Review” or the “Newsmakers 2009”. They replay the significant events, usually bad things that happened last year. What if God where to make a show of your life. “Phil’s Spiritual Walk of 2009.” What would the show be about, would it good and juicy, like Jerry Springer stuff. What does a review of your life show: someone close to God, or someone who has gotten further and further away from the father?
The Hebrew writer tells us to in chapter 10 verse 22: “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. “

What a way to start the new year, erasing our record of others wrongs, asking God to forgive ours, and drawing near to God with a sincere heart. It’s going to be a great year.

There was a young man who wished to marry the farmer’s beautiful daughter. He went to the farmer to ask his permission. The farmer looked him over and responded, “Son, go stand out in that field and I’m going to release three bulls, one at a time. If you can catch the tail of any one of the three bulls, you can marry my daughter.”

The young man stood in the pasture awaiting the first bull. The barn door opened and out ran the biggest, meanest-looking bull he had ever seen. He decided that one of the next bulls had to be a better choice than this one, so he ran over to the side and let the bull pass
through the pasture out the back gate.

The barn door opened again. Unbelievable. He had never seen anything so big and fierce in his life. It stood – pawing the ground, grunting, slinging slobber – as it eyed him. Whatever the next bull was like, it had to be a better choice than this one. He ran to the
fence and let the bull pass through the pasture, out the back gate.

The door opened a third time. A smile came across his face. This was the weakest, scrawniest little bull he had ever seen. This one was his bull. As the bull came running by, he positioned himself just right and jumped at just the exact moment. He grabbed… but the bull had no tail!

Life is full of opportunities. Some will be easy to take advantage of; some will be difficult. But once we let them pass those opportunities may never again be available.

The same thing is also true of opportunities to serve Christ. God often opens doors — opportunities to speak up for Him, opportunities to minister to someone who is hurting or in need, opportunities to make an influence on the world around us. If we allow them to pass by we may miss out on them altogether.

Paul told the Colossian Christians to, “Continue praying, keeping alert, and always thanking God. Also pray for us that God will give us an opportunity to tell people his message.” (Col. 4:2-3a, NCV)

May you take advantage of the doors God opens for you this day!

Living Inside Out

Former pro quarterback Kenny Stabler once said, “In the NFL, there are 25 guys who can throw better than I can. But I can make guys win.” I guess that’s what it comes down to, isn’t it? Being able to win. In the NFL, as in life, content is more valuable than form.
People have a tendency to value form over content. Kim and I have our house up for sale and as you can imagine this is a tough market to sell a house in. In trying to get a leg up on others my wife Kim has been watching a lot of HGTV. One lesson she has learned is that on a percentage basis, a new coat of paint will increase a home’s selling price far more than new plumbing will.
That’s okay for a house, but in our walk with God this is a trap we must refuse to be caught in. In the Old Testament, we are reminded that God’s priorities are different than ours. God said to Samuel…
“The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)
We may sometimes allow ourselves to be satisfied with good form—a handsome family, a nice car, a pretty house, a good job, a respectable religious affiliation, a dignified manner of worship—but God reminds us that the content of our lives is much more important than surface level appearances. Samuel said… “To obey is better than sacrifice.” (1 Samuel 15:22)
Our ongoing challenge is to strive to improve the content of our lives, rather than merely settling for good form. It means that we should make it our aim—in our family, in our career, in our relationship with God—to live life from the inside out.

Discovering Your Mission
Matthew 16:26
Bill Haber was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood–a real “player.” For 30 years his life consisted of making and breaking the careers of movie stars, and he did his job well.
In 1995, when his two partners at Creative Artists Agency left to run major studios, Haber migrated to the non-profit organization Save the Children, where he now supervises 4000 employees in 41 countries. He left behind glitz and glamour for the day-in day-out realities of starving kids.
Why would he make such a move? Simple, he says. “You only live once, and I wanted to work with children.” He realized that wealth and power aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, and when confronted with the chance to make a lasting difference in people’s lives–he couldn’t afford to let the opportunity pass.
We all have a need for significance that no amount of “success” can fulfill. Sadly, too many people never recognize this. They spend their lives struggling with their career, and never discover their Mission. This is what Jesus referred to when he said to his followers, “What good will be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)
Amazingly, Bill Haber says that nobody in Hollywood thought he was crazy for doing what he did. In fact, several have made the comment, “I wish I could do that.”
Funny they would say that. The fact is, anyone at anytime can do what Bill Haber did. Jesus has given us all an invitation to abandon the building of our own little kingdoms, and join with Him in building His eternal kingdom, right here and now.
It isn’t nearly as hard as we might imagine. It begins with asking ourselves, “What am I doing to make a difference?” The first step might be sponsoring a child through an organization like World Vision, helping a ministry like Healing Hands, or Hope Springs. Maybe mentoring a young person, or working in a soup kitchen, or teaching a Bible study, or discipling a new believer. It can lead to something greater than we could ever obtain from a career. It can lead us to discovering our Mission.
Jesus said, “Whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (vs. 25) May we all experience the joy of losing ourselves, and finding ourselves again, in serving Christ.

In Unlikely Candidate for Greatness Hebrews 11:31
Bob Geldof was the outspoken leader of a mediocre punk band called the Boomtown Rats. In November 1984, he was consumed with his work–negotiating the release of a new album and trying to put together a tour.
After a particularly hectic and troublesome day, he went home, flipped on the TV and, he later said, “I saw something that placed my worries in a ghastly new perspective.”
It was report on the famine in Ethiopia. The massive starvation and unspeakable suffering broke his heart. It occurred to him to do something–something more than just donate money. He decided to make a record, and invite some of his friends in the music business to participate. Even though it was late November, Geldof got the crazy idea the record could be released in time for Christmas sales. He set an ambitious goal of raising 72,000 British pounds (approximately one hundred thousand dollars) toward famine relief.
The story is probably beginning to sound familiar now. The project was called Band Aid. It was so successful in England that a group of American rock artists decided to do something similar (We Are the World), as did a group of country artists, Christian artists, jazz artists, and even a group of fashion models!
This was followed by Live Aid, a world wide fund-raising telethon seen by more than 1 billion people. When the dust had settled, Geldof and company raised more than $100 million dollars toward disaster relief. A significant amount of this money was funneled into evangelical relief organizations. Geldof, who is not at all religious, was probably unaware that the money he was raising would also be used to spread the message of the gospel throughout the third world.
This unlikely candidate for greatness has arguably done more to raise awareness of world hunger than any other individual in history. God not only used this man to tell the world of the disaster in Ethiopia, God used Bob Geldof to show the world something more important: that He can use anyone at all. Even a scruffy, irreverent punk rocker.
There’s a Biblical precedent for this. In the second chapter of Joshua God used a prostitute named Rahab to help the Israelites. She protected Joshua’s spies, she misdirected the enemy, and she assisted the Israelites in taking Jericho. She was an unlikely vessel, but God used her just the same. In fact, 2000 years later, when the writer of Hebrews was summarizing the Old Testament’s great people of faith, he included Rahab in the list…
By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. (Hebrews 11:31)
My prayer for Bob Geldof is that he will someday (if he hasn’t already) recognize the voice he responded to that November day as the voice of the Savior. I pray that he will become a fully committed follower of Christ.
My prayer for myself is that when the Holy Spirit speaks to me, I will respond to His voice with the same integrity and vision as did this mediocre rock singer.

We have lost a lot of precious people at Madison lately. Sometimes I have heard people say that deaths come in three’s. I have never believed that and I still don’t; death just comes when it does. There is a great book titled, “Streams in the Desert” by L.B. Cowan. It reads, in part:

“Yesterday you experienced a great sorrow and now your home seems empty. Your impulse is to give up amid your dashed hopes. Yet, you must defy that temptation for you are at the front lines of battle and the crisis is at hand. Faltering for even one moment would put God’s interest at risk. Other lives will be harmed by your hesitation and His work will suffer if you simply fold your hands. You must not linger at this point, even to indulge your grief.”

Nor do we linger on hopelessness, because in Jesus Christ there is nothing but hope.

A. W. Tozer wrote these thought provoking words, ““We live in a spiritually troubled time in history. Christianity has gone over to the jingle-bell crowd.” By that he meant that Christianity had become mainly regarded as a path of cordiality and modest charity, a sort of indulgent Christmas cheer. Tozer goes on: “Everyone is just delighted that Jesus has done all of the sorrowing, all of the suffering, all of the dying.”

Is that true, would we, do we ditch the cross the very moment we sense it’s weight, it’s shame?

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like a horse or a mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.” Psalm 32:8-9

Often times in my life, I have been compared to a mule. I suppose some of you may have even thought it in the time we have been at Madison. It is a comparison that I accept as truthful from time to time. And I also like all the company that being a mule puts me in.

I am fairly stubborn about things like which shaving cream I use, and the brand of automobile I would buy, and that’s okay. But my stubbornness is not always limited to such trivial matters; ask my wife if you dare doubt. My wife lovingly forgives me of my hard-headedness, as do my children. And most importantly, God forgives me as well.

You see no matter what I think about anything, the only opinion that matters is the one held by Jehovah God. And if we refuse the instruction that God gives in His Word, then we have reduced ourselves to the level of a mule. Stubborn and hardheaded. God has given the instruction; he has revealed himself to us. Have a great day serving the Father.

Jason and Elizabeth Garrison have requested we pray for their 2 year old daughter, Emily. She has stage 4 Neuroblastic Sarcoma. She has had one treatment and will have to go back for more. Jason is a firefighter here in Madison.
If you would like to send a card:
Jason Garrison
129 Megann Dr.
Portland, TN 37148