Why do I bother to be surprised?

Today's Reading: Acts 12:1-17

I used to have some prayer partners who were mighty prayer warriors. They prayed earnestly and often saw God's answers unfold right before their eyes. Sometimes when we got an answer to a specific prayer, we would have to laugh because we were surprised when the answer came. Not by what the answer was necessarily...but because we had gotten an answer to start with.

After reminding ourselves one day that we had indeed prayed for an answer, one of my friends asked, "Why do we bother to be surprised?" That question became a watchword for us as we saw God answer prayers and we reminded ourselves that we had indeed prayed for an answer and shouldn't be surprised when God gave one.

Today's reading in Acts 12 shows a similar response to an answered prayer. Peter has been taken prisoner and the church is "earnestly praying to God for him" (verse 5). The night before he was to stand trial, an angel of the Lord appeared in the prison and set Peter free. He returned to a home where he knew the church would be praying and knocked on the door.

When the servant girl answered, she was so startled that she left Peter standing on the door step and ran to tell everyone that Peter was in fact standing at the door. And they didn't believe her. In fact they told her she must be out of her mind.

In their defense I don't know what they were praying for. Maybe they were praying for it all to end quickly and painlessly for Peter. Maybe they were so distraught that they weren't even sure what they were asking for. But scripture is very clear that they were praying for Peter and it's probably a pretty safe bet that they were praying for some type of deliverance.

And God answered.

And they were surprised.

How often are you surprised by God answering your prayers? Do you expect Him to do so? If not, then why bother praying. But if so, why bother being surprised when He answers?

- Holly Barrett

A Close Encounter of the Spiritual Kind

Today's Reading: Acts 9:32-43

Like me, you have probably encountered some really strange things in your lifetime. Of course, if you spend anytime surfing the web these days, you see a lot of weirdness! So when I read this story in Acts of Aeneas and Dorcas both being healed, I wondered what they thought when it happened to them. Healing is not exactly your everyday sort of happening.

But there it is in the space of 12 verses, two healings! Aeneas who has been bedridden for eight years is suddenly able to walk. And Dorcas, well she was just plain dead. And then she wasn't.

Interestingly Peter tells them both to "get up" when he heals them. It's almost as if they are partly responsible for their current conditions because neither of them had thought to just get up.

Finally, the result of these healings is that many more people came to know Jesus. That is the ultimate goal of any work of the Lord, that more people would come to know and believe in Him.

So where have you been bedridden in your life? How did God tell you to get up? Will you share your story with someone who doesn't know Him?

Someone out there needs to have a close encounter with the living God. Let them see where God has worked a miracle in you. Maybe they will get up and walk too.

- Holly Barrett

Blinded by the Light

Today's Reading: Acts 9:1-19

Have you ever wondered what went through Saul's mind during the three days he was blind and waiting in Damascus? He'd been on an errand to find Christians and imprison them.

And then he'd had a life-altering meeting with Jesus.

He was brought to Damascus where he waited for three days until God sent Ananias to him. We are told what Ananias thought about this assignment. He was scared. He was resistant. And rightfully so based on Saul's reputation.

But we don't know anything about what Saul did for those three days. What did he think about? Did he realize that his life had been changed forever?

Here is a modern-day rendition of what those days may have been like for Saul...


The Damascus Road Monologue from Gavin Bryce on Vimeo.

Three days of darkness. Three days of silence. Three days to consider what his life had been like and what it was going to become. A conversion so dramatic that it was recorded in scripture for all to hear and read and learn from.

Where has your encounter with Jesus led you? How has it changed your life? And who needs to hear your story?

- Holly Barrett

Ignoring the Excuses in Our Heads

Today's Reading: Acts 8:26-40

Have you ever felt a certain tug on your heart to do something but just couldn't bring yourself to do it? Maybe you felt certain you had heard the voice of the Father, but tried to hum loud enough to drown it out. Or maybe that's just me! But I do expect we've all been in that place where we knew we should be doing a certain thing and came up with all kinds of excuses not to listen. 

In today's reading, we find Philip in a similar situation. The angel of the Lord tells him to go south on the road from Jerusalm to Gaza. On his way, he sees a eunuch riding in a chariot on his way home to Ethiopia. Oddly enough, the man was reading from the book of Isaiah. And the angel speaks to Philip again and tells him to go to the chariot and stay near it.

That is exactly what Philip did too. He was obedient to the voice of the angel and the Ethipion eunuch came to know Jesus and was baptized right there on the road. 

It would have been very easy for Philip to make excuses. Maybe they would have sounded like this: "Stay near the chariot? I'm on foot. How am I supposed to catch up with him, let alone stay near him."

"He's not from around here. I bet we don't even speak the same language."

"Uh oh...he's got a scroll in his hands. What if he asks me a question I don't know the answer to."

"He is minding his own business. Maybe I should just mind mine."

Do any of those excuses sound familiar to you? They do to me. In fact, I've probably used one or two of those exact excuses myself. If Philip had used these excuses, this story would probably have a different ending for both men. Philip would have missed the opportunity to be obedient, the eunuch wouldn't have understood the scripture and might not have come to know Jesus. 

We have the same opportunity to reach out as Philip did. We meet people every day who need to know Jesus and just need someone to introduce them. God is calling each of us to do that right now. Are we making up excuses in our heads about why we shouldn't or couldn't do it? Are we letting those excuses drown out the voice of the Spirit? 

Let's agree together that we will listen for that voice and when we hear it we will be obedient...regardless of the excuses in our heads. Someone's eternal life may depend on it. 

- Holly Barrett

What's that I hear in the hallway?

Today's Reading: Acts 5:1-10

When my kids were growing up and did something they weren’t supposed to, their excuse often was, “I did it on accident, Mommy!” I’m not sure how you forget to brush your teeth on accident, but that was their response nonetheless.

Acts 5 tells the of a story couple who might have had the same excuse when they got caught in sin. Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of property, held back some of the money and brought the rest and laid it at the apostles' feet. 

Peter’s first question to Ananias was, “how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit…?” When we have walked the Christian path for a while, obvious rebellion is probably not part of our daily lives anymore. So it is easy for us to kind of sweep our sin under the rug. The truth is that anytime we are caught in a sin, Satan has filled our hearts at that moment. That takes my breath away! I don’t want to think about the enemy having anything to do with my heart. And yet, Peter calls it right here. Satan is ruling our hearts when we are in sin.

Ananias and Sapphira thought their lie was known only to them. It was not obvious to those around them. They thought they could get away with it. And so the question for us is where do we think we are getting away with it? Where are you allowing Satan to rule in your heart, even for the briefest period of time? 

As the story proceeds, Ananias was not given a chance to respond to Peter’s questions...or at least his response is not recorded. What we do know is that he immediately dropped dead at the apostle’s feet. One minute Ananias thinks he’s on top of the world and the next, he is laying dead at Peter’s feet. Yet it was a trap of his own making. He knew he wasn’t being truthful and he made his wife complicit in the sin too. 

That can happen to us. If we are tempted to step into collusion with others, that should be a warning sign to us. When we live in the lie of our own sin, we may get buried with the consequences...and we can take someone else down with us too. 

So we see Sapphira caught in the same trap. But God tried to give her one more way out. In verse 8, Peter asked her to confirm the price they received for the land, and she did. There she stands in the glare of the lie when Peter goes on to ask, “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord?” When she falls dead, the same young men come and take her to be buried next to her husband. I wonder if she heard their footsteps out in the hall before she hit the floor?

Sapphira actually had two opportunities to save her life. Certainly God was providing her a way of escape here in verse 8.

But back in verse 2, the text says that “with his wife’s full knowledge”, Ananias proceeded with this plan. What would have happened if she had refused to go along with this lie from the beginning?

Can I just ask you to think about where you can protect yourself from the consequences of sin by not even starting the lie? Because we all know the downward spiral, right? One lie becomes another one. One small sin leads to the next. What if we just didn’t even go there to start with? What if we looked temptation in the face and walked away? 

I know...none of us are perfect. And we will make mistakes and we may succumb to temptation. But maybe we can so tender our hearts to God that even the smallest misstep is noticed and corrected...before we hear the footsteps of the young men coming towards us.

- Holly Barrett

Have you heard the one about...?

Today's Reading: Acts 4:1-20

Have you been to a new restaurant in town lately? Or how about seen a great movie, read a good book, or gotten hooked on the latest TV show? Who did you tell? Sometimes when we find something really cool in our world, we can't wait to share it with our friends.

I mentioned in another blog post this week that I've been studying Acts this summer. This story about Peter and John is striking for many reasons, but right near the end, I was very convicted about my own walk with God. 

Peter and John have been preaching and teaching about the resurrection of Jesus. They have healed a crippled beggar at the gate called Beautiful and they have gotten the religious leaders of the day riled up. Peter and John are seized and jailed and the next morning are taken before the Sanhedrin. There they preach a sermon to these learned men...a sermon about Jesus and how they had Him crucified and now He is at the right hand of God. In verse 12 Peter says, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." 

The Sanhedrin realizes they can say nothing about what the apostles have done so they try the bound-to-work tactic of telling Peter and John just to stop talking about Jesus. Yeah right. Like that's gonna work!

In fact Peter tells them, "We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." 

Right there is where I felt the conviction. Peter and John and the other apostles were so convinced about Jesus that they couldn't shut up about it. In the face of very real threats and persecution, they kept on talking. My relationship with God needs to be the same. It needs to be such a powerful force in my life that I can't help but share the story with those around me.

Better than any new restaurant, book, or movie. This story is the one that someone out there needs to hear. Will you walk so closely with the Father than you cannot help speaking about what you have seen and heard?

- Holly Barrett

Come Close to the Beautiful

Today's Reading: Acts 3:1-10

I have been studying Acts in the last few months. Looking at my notes from the day I studied this exact text was cool to see what I learned from reading and studying these verses. I do my studying as a type of journal where I read the text and then answer these three questions: what does it say?, what does it mean?, and what does it mean to me? Allow me to share some of those thoughts with you today. 

This is the story of Peter and John going to the Temple to pray. As they passed the gate called Beautiful, they saw a crippled man who asked them for money. Peter and John's first words to him in verse 4 were, "Look at us!" 

This crippled man was lying at the gate called Beautiful. I think we have to get close to the Beautiful to ask for what we want. God desires to hear our voices. He wants us to tell Him the things on our hearts and to ask Him for the things we need and want. We can't talk to Him without drawing near to Him. Are you getting close or are you holding Him at arm's length?

This man asked outright for money. He didn't beat around the bush, he just laid it out there. We gotta be willing to lay it on the line with Father too. Yes, He already knows it. But He still wants to hear our hearts around it. He may or may not answer the way we want Him to, but we won't know if we don't ask. What is your heart's desire...and have you asked Him for it?

Peter and John then told the man to look at them. Clearly he had seen them because he spoke to them. But I envisioned this like I used to tell my children, "Look at my face!" when I really wanted them to pay attention. Peter and John had his answer, but they wanted his full attention when they gave it to him. Sometimes we just have to look the solution square in the face. Are you avoiding the solution God may be sending you today?

Peter and John go on to tell the man that they don't have money but they will give him what they do have. And right there in verse 6, they heal the man. He jumped up and praised God and all the people who saw him and knew his story praised God too.

You know when we ask God for something, we should expect to receive. The answer may not be what we were expecting. But it may be the very thing that makes us stronger. The crippled beggar was expecting money, but he got healed instead. So what are you expecting to receive? Will you accept God's answer if it is the thing that will make you stronger?

Finally, the people who saw this man running around praising God recognized him as the beggar from Beautiful, and they were amazed at what had happened to him. You know, once God works in our lives, we can walk away from our past. But I believe that God wants us to be just transparent enough that those pasts are somewhat recognizable in us. That way others can see the work God has done and praise His name too.

Come close to the Beautiful today and let Him do a healing work in you.

- Holly Barrett

Get Out the Pruning Shears

Today's Reading: John 15:1-17

There's been a lot of pruning going on around here lately. Several crews have trimmed trees and shrubs here at PR and over at Lansdowne. Bushes have been pulled up. Trees cut down. And it all just looks so fresh and clean.

As I understand it, the purpose of pruning is to make room for plants to grow better - to bear more fruit, to borrow a phrase from today's reading.

You know, we have to go through pruning at times too. God has a plan for us and sometimes we have allowed things to creep into our lives that may block that plan. And so God has to get out the pruning shears.

But it doesn't have to be something bad to need pruning. Maybe something has been in our life for a while but its season is over. Maybe it's a good thing, but God wants something better for us. And so out come the pruning shears again.

Either way, pruning can be hard. Those guys and gals who worked out in the heat last week at Curb Appeal Day can tell you how hot and tiring and dirty that work can be. But without it, bushes and trees just become a big tangled mess. And the good things begin to get choked out.

Without God's loving pruning, good things can get choked out of our lives too. But as we remain in Him and allow His pruning to shape us, we "will be even more fruitful" (verse 2). 

There's a lot to learn from this story. But today, let's just focus on where God may be pruning us and whether or not we are cooperating with Him. It'll probably go a whole lot easier if we do!

- Holly Barrett

The Eternal Impact of Being Trustworthy

Today's Reading: Luke 16:1-12

This story in Luke is a hard one to interpret. A wealthy man has a manager who has been dishonest and so is going to be fired. The dishonest manager then goes to those who are in debt to the master and advises them to change on paper the amount that they owed the master. So the master praises the dishonest manager for acting shrewdly to protect himself. It still seems that the manager was dishonest but the master does praise him for quick thinking.

Jesus then goes on to say that we should also use our "worldly wealth" to help those around us in need or to help them come to know Jesus. In this way, our financial means are reaping an eternal benefit. For us and for those we influence.

The final lesson in this story is Jesus' admonish to be trustworthy in all things, because "whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much..." (verse 10).

As we utilize our Faith for the Future funds we have the opportunity to prove ourselves trustworthy with the resources God has given us. When we create a warm and inviting space for guests to come and hear about Jesus, we can be assured that God will bring those guests to us.

When we secure our church family's future through paying off our debt, we can be assured that God will bless us with growth in the future.

And when we help to transform our community through giving back 10% of these funds for community transformation work, we can be assured of blessing our neighbors and gaining opportunities to share the good news of Jesus with them.

Won't it be grand to see God repeat this cycle of blessing on us as we prove ourselves trustworthy?

- Holly Barrett

So That God's House Will Be Full

Today's Reading: Luke 14:15-24

It looks like we are entering the homestretch for the completion of our building renovation and Launch Day on September 9. This past week our new logo was unveiled. You'll soon see a new website design. On Curb Appeal Day we completed many projects to clean and beautify parts of our building and campus that are not being affected by the renovation. Sunday, Jeff passed out business card-sized invitations for you to share with your friends and neighbors to invite them to The Story. Tuesday night, several of us attended a block party in a neighborhood just a few miles from the building and handed out even more invitations.

We are ramping up for the big day! Isn't it exciting? Won't it be wonderful to see who God brings to hear His Story?

In Luke 14, Jesus tells the story of a man who prepared a great banquet and invited many people to attend. When the servant went to tell the invitees that everything was prepared for them to come, one by one, they all started backing out. Oh, they had reasons, or excuses. And none of them came.

So the man tells his servant to go out into the street and invite anyone and everyone he saw, including the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. The servant did so and there was still more room. So the master said, "Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full."

The master in Jesus' story didn't hold the servant responsible for those who chose not to come. He just told the servant to go invite more people in. We don't know who might accept the invitations that we put out for The Story. But that part isn't really our responsibility. Our job is just to offer the invitation to as many people as we can so that come September 9 God's house will be full.

If you didn't get the chance to get some invitations this past week, let me invite you to pick up a few this week. Someone out there is just waiting for you to invite them.

- Holly Barrett

Are we being rich towards God?

Today's Reading: Luke 12:13-21

When I looked up the word "fool" on Dictionary.com, here were some of the definitions:

1. a silly or stupid person; a person who lacks judgment or sense; 
2. a professional jester, formerly kept by a person of royal or noble rank for amusement: the court fool.
3. a person who has been tricked or deceived into appearing or acting silly or stupid: to make a fool of someone.
4. a weak-minded or idiotic person.

None of these definitions is particularly attractive, are they? I don't think I would want to be described as such. 

But this is the very word that Jesus uses to describe a wealthy man in Luke 12. This man has grown a crop so large that he has no place to store it all, so he has to build bigger barns. He takes pride in his possessions and decides that he will take the rest of his life easy and eat, drink and be merry. God rebukes him harshly, "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" And the story ends with the warning that this is what will happen to anyone who is not rich towards God.  

That got me to thinking about how we can be rich towards God. As Creator of the universe, He owns this world and everything in it. He certainly doesn't need usto be rich towards Him. But I believe that He does need usto be rich towards people who don't know Him. We need to be generous with our time to reach out to other people. We need to be generous with our love and compassion towards those who are burdened by life. We need to be rich with our service towards those who need help. 

Most importantly, we need to be rich with our knowledge of Jesus towards those who don't know Him yet. Who do you know that could use some of your riches? Will you pray for God to show you who those people are and then be willing to step forward and share? 

If we aren't willing to share our embarrassment of spiritual riches, we just risk becoming a fool. 

- Holly Barrett

Who is my neighbor?

Today's Reading: Luke 10:25-37

For many years, Mr. Rogers regaled kids with stories about being kind and mannerly, loving people, and helping out wherever needed. His neighborhood was a wonderful place to live.

Not so for the Samaritan. His neighborhood was a place where one could get hurt, and perhaps folks would pass by and not help. Luke 10 tells this story about the man who was robbed and left for dead on the side of the road. Two religious leaders saw him but passed by on the other side of the road without helping. And then a Samaritan came by, helped the man out of the ditch, and took him to a place where he could rest and heal.

And Jesus tells us to go and do likewise.

Who is your neighbor? Maybe you live in a neighborhood where everyone knows everyone else. But many of us don't. To my discredit, I don't know my neighbors. But I do know people in other areas of life who don't know Jesus. I guess that is the answer to the question. My neighbor is anyone that I meet who needs the love of Jesus.

As we get ready for The Story in September, let's rethink who our neighbors might be. And let's pray that we all take opportunities to love those we meet enough to invite them into God's story.

- Holly Barrett

Pass me the duct tape...

Today's Reading: Mark 9:2-13

Have you ever just blurted out something crazy and wish you could push the rewind button on that conversation? We've all done it. Our mouths get in gear before our brains do and out pops something crazy. Sometimes I even know it is crazy when the first couple of words are spoken but I can't get my mouth to just shut up! Where's a good roll of duct tape when you need one? At least we can be comforted to know that we are not alone in our foolishness, right?

That's one of the reasons I really relate to Peter. He is often in this situation. I can imagine the chagrin on his face as he does it yet again in this story from Mark. It is the story of the transfiguration. Jesus has taken Peter, James and John up on the mountain with Him, and there they get to see Jesus in His radiant glory, along with Moses and Elijah.

I'm not sure what my response would have been but I'd like to think I'd have been too stunned to say anything. Not so Peter though. Verses 5 and 6 say, "Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi,it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)" Poor Peter! Scared half to death and his mouth just jumps into gear. 

There is no response from Jesus recorded here. But we do know what God said, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” Maybe this is the answer to getting our mouths into gear before our brains engage. We just need to listen more...listen to Jesus, listen to our spouses, listen to our children, listen to our friends. And especially, listen to those people that God puts into our paths that don't know Jesus. 

If we did that, maybe we wouldn't need the duct tape quite so often!

- Holly Barrett

Give them something to eat...

Today's Reading: Mark 6:30-44

The crowds were always clamoring around Jesus and His disciples. Their teaching was true and their compassion for the lost and hurting was evident to all. God did mighty works and drew many people to Him through His Son and His disciples.

In Mark 6, we read the story of Jesus feeding the 5000. It's a story that is recounted in all four gospels. And there is no getting around the miracle that was performed that day. Five loaves and two fish fed all those people with 12 baskets of leftovers to boot! If you have ever had to feed a bunch of people in a hurry, you know what a miracle that was!

But as is often the case with Jesus, I think there is something else going on here. The story starts out with the disciples reporting to Jesus all that they had done and taught. They were excited but tired...exhilarated but spent...and Jesus wants them to come away and get some rest.

The crowds couldn't stay away though. They recognized the apostles and ran ahead of them and when Jesus arrived, He had compassion on them and began to teach them. Late in the day, the disciples asked Jesus to send the people away so they could all be fed.

And Jesus said, "You give them something to eat." Even though He went on to perform the miracle that physically fed these folks, I think He was really trying to tell the disciples that they would always need to be prepared to "feed" the people. To love on them. To heal them. To teach them. To point them to Jesus. And yes, maybe to feed them actual food.

What if the crowds clamored around us to find out more about Jesus? What if they needed physical food, but so much more? Are we prepared? Will we do what we need to do to get prepared?

Right now at PR, our church family is being asked to pray, to prepare, and to feed the people that God is bringing to us on a weekly basis. Will you give them something to eat?

- Holly Barrett