Are we alert to hear from God no matter how he chooses to speak? I’m a huge advocate, as you know, of spending daily time with God in prayer and the Word. But the other day, God spoke clearly through an obituary!

I normally don’t read the obits except to occasionally check to be sure I’m not in them! But June does, and she found an obit on someone we don’t know, and it really got our attention. Here’s a snippet:

For Ed, God was not a distant figure, but the One with Whom he daily sought a deeper relationship, an intimacy where he could learn to give up control and surrender to Him. Ed lived the great adventure of seeking God and loving people, beginning with those closest to him. – From the Obituary of Ed Blair, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, CO, June 2020.

Ed was not a Christian professional. His career was in food service, primarily working for Marriott. But I love this sentence: “Ed lived the great adventure of seeking God and loving people…”

What I heard God say to me was:

Seek God, love people, help others do the same.

My friend Shane observed that one leads to the other:

If we’re seeking to know God, we’ll learn that he loves people, and if we love people, one of the best things we can do for them is to help them seek God and love people, too!

It’s what the Apostle Paul was about:

God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. (Colossians 1.27, 28, NIV)

I wrote the other day about what God is doing despite COVID-19. Although some of our regular ministries are disrupted, sometimes our ministries are enhanced. Such is true for us.

We were disappointed to see the summer sessions at Spring Canyon canceled. I was scheduled to speak June 27 – July 4. HOWEVER, I was asked to present a condensed version of the content by video, and I’m pleased to announce that the videos have been posted.

Each video is less than 30 minutes long. I recommend you download the handout first. When I posted this information to my mailing list, my friend David Shropshire in Alabama observed:

Maybe you will have a MUCH larger audience than otherwise!

Amen. It’s ministry enhancement, not disruption.

Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! … And God granted his request. (1 Chronicles 4.10, NIV)

We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged. (2 Corinthians 10.15, ESV)

I was meditating on yesterday’s blog: Jesus wants the rose! If you missed it, it’s worth checking out and listening to the short video. I was thinking about the way I was raised – in a conservative, let’s do all the right things and avoid all the wrong things environment – and wondering how we missed Jesus.

How can we be a student of the gospels and miss Jesus? I’m not sure, but take a close look at the Gospel of John:

• Chapter 2: Jesus provides wine at a wedding. We would NEVER have done that!
• Chapter 4: Jesus engages with a woman of ill-repute, who is also a member of a hated racial group. We wouldn’t have done that either. And Jesus not only engages with her, he reveals himself to her (John 4.26), and she becomes the instrument by which he reaches an entire village (John 4.28, 29).
• Chapter 8: Jesus rescues a woman taken in adultery. “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” (John 8.11) Really? Not condemn an adulteress?
• Chapter 9: Jesus reveals himself to a blind beggar. “I who speak to you am the Messiah.” (John 9.35, 36)

Which Jesus are we following? The one who takes care of the “in-crowd”? Or the one who reaches out to the outcasts? The one who wants the beat-up rose?

Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew’s house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus’ followers. “What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riff-raff?” Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.” (Matthew 9.10 – 13, MSG)

I’m getting a lot of mileage out of the story I told back on June 15 about our pastor’s handling of someone who injected profanity into our Zoom worship service. The pastor told us all: “Do you know that it is your unedited self that God loves?” I shared it just the other day with a relatively new Christian participating with us in a Bible study.

I also shared this companion story. It’s a 4-minute video I strongly encourage you to watch.

The short version of the video is this. Matt Chandler had taken a friend who was not yet a believer to a concert at a church. After the concert, the pastor proceeded to talk about the evils of illicit sex. To illustrate his point, he had a beautiful rose which he passed to the audience, inviting as many people as possible to touch the rose, admire the rose, smell the rose. After a few minutes, this pastor said, “Where’s my rose?” When he got it back, it was all torn up from all the handling. And the pastor’s point was, “Who wants this rose now? Who wants the rose?” And Matt, who is telling this story said that he was angry, very angry, that the pastor was missing the whole point of the gospel. Matt said:

Jesus wants the rose!

Even if you’ve read this far and know the punch line, I still encourage you to watch the video. It’s powerful, and the message is powerful. Right out of the Bible.

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5.21, NKJV)

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5.8, NKJV)

If we’re going to work with real people, we need to think about what people are already doing and work with them not against them. A friend of mine recently decried the fact that young people in his church were reading the Bible on their phones instead of a book. I challenged him: “Do you really care how people read the Bible? We used to have only scrolls!”

Continuing with yesterday’s theme of how technology can enhance our ministry, it’s always worthwhile to think about what we can do, not about what we can’t. For example, I wrote four blogs on what I learned from Greg Ogden in a virtual conference I would never have heard of or had an opportunity to attend if COVID-19 hadn’t canceled the planned live event.

Someone referred me to From iPhones to iGod: The Rise of Digital Spirituality. The article is filled with examples of how creative people are leveraging technology to deliver all kinds of spiritual content (not all of which, Bible-believing Christians would support!). But that’s not the point. The point is that in addition to delivering church on-line, people are telling Bible stories by video in The Bible Project and encouraging spiritual formation with a game similar to Pokemon Go: Follow JC Go!

It’s not referred to in the iPhones to iGod article, but I’m on the mailing list of Revelation Media, who have already produced Pilgrim’s Progress and are working on iBible. From what I’ve seen, I recommend their work.

I admire the creativity of people trying to get the message out there. It doesn’t advance the gospel to criticize the medium nor the messages we don’t agree with that some are propagating.

I’m reminded that a few years ago, Starbucks began putting quotes from various people on their coffee cups. The large church we were attending at the time, began to rethink whether or not they should continue to sell Starbucks coffee from the coffee shop in the church atrium since the church didn’t agree with all of the quotes on those cups. By contrast, Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in southern California, wrote to Starbucks: “Will you put one of my quotes on your cups?” The answer from Starbucks: “Yes.”

I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.” (Luke 16.9, MSG)

A pastor friend was telling me about a discussion among fellow pastors about COVID-19. Specifically, in military terms, what was degraded, what was disrupted, what was destroyed? For example, the Sunday gathering has certainly been disrupted. Has it been destroyed? Will we ever go back to “the way it was”?

Some people think that meetings have been degraded. I have not found that to be the case. Some of the best meetings I’ve had, ever, have been by Zoom or FaceTime, maybe because we’ve not been distracted.

Which brings me to today’s blog. Can we think about how COVID-19 adjustments have actually enhanced our ministry? I’ve already written about post-worship-service conversations in our church that wouldn’t have happened with “business as usual.”

And last week I heard from my Navigator friend Randy Raysbrook telling about a summer program originally scheduled for Colorado Springs. Please listen in on this encouraging story:

Every year we invite select university students from all of the world to come to Colorado Springs to learn how to study the Bible deeply, share their faith naturally, and love authentically. We give them practical tools so they can pass on to others what they have learned. That way the kingdom flows like a river into families, tribes, neighborhoods, and nations. After much planning, just before the students were to arrive in Colorado Springs, the COVID virus beat them here and the program had to be closed down.

But people prayed, God worked, and creative minds used their imaginations…In no time at all, a new program was created that was even better than the original one. We are just now finishing up our first week of the summer with 52 people from 20 countries, representing 25 ethnicities in 11 time zones. Using new technologies we are all interconnected 24 hours a day and can talk, send photos, discuss our Bible studies, and pray together. I can’t tell you how exciting it is to see a Nepalese business major have the opportunity to chat with someone in Norway. A woman from Cameroon living in Russia can share what she is learning about practicing the presence of God with an American staff in Iowa…The nature of the program draws young men and women who are hungry learners with servants’ hearts. Most of these students will remain in their own countries to become salt and light to the next generation…

Many thought the COVID virus would be nothing but a problem. Our problem became God’s opportunity. We just wanted you to know He is alive and well. – Randy and Marilyn Raysbrook, June 2020 (emphasis mine)

Adapting our approach and succeeding despite obstacles is not new. Here’s what the Apostle Paul wrote:

Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear. (Philippians 1.12 – 14, NIV)

I wrote yesterday about the good-natured ribbing some sports fans give each other about their respective teams. We’re from different “tribes;” we recognize that and kid about it sometimes, but we get along. We’d like to think it’s like that about race or ethnicity differences. We see differences, but deep down, we know we’re all the same, or at least we’re not defined by those differences. But some people do define others by their differences.

I found Waking Up White by Debby Irving to be an eye-opener on so many levels. If you are among those with doubts about “white privilege” and “systemic racism,” I recommend you read the book. As my friend and former pastor Dr. John Ed Mathison of Montgomery, Alabama, wrote recently, we need to listen, learn, and love.

One story from the book sticks with me. It’s about “True Colors,” a segment from ABC’s Primetime, 1991. Here’s what Debby wrote:

I recommend you watch the segment for yourself. It’s only 17 minutes. And then, as John Ed wrote, listen, learn, love.

To answer before listening— that is folly and shame. (Proverbs 18.13, NIV)

The LORD detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him. (Proverbs 20.23, NIV)

To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. (Proverbs 21.3, NIV)

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13.34, 35, NIV)

I just had an interesting exchange with Josh of Officers Christian Fellowship who is responsible for posting some videos I shot to replace my speaking engagement at Spring Canyon which was canceled for COVID-19. To illustrate teamwork, I usually show a video of the final play in Clemson’s victory over Alabama in January 2017. It’s reduced to a slide for the video presentation.

Our email conversation went like this:

• Josh: I just saw your slides, Bob…specifically the Clemson image. I’m afraid I cannot allow this to be posted, especially when it was a blatant illegal pick-play that won the game for Clemson.
• Bob: As I told the last guy who said that, “If it had been an illegal pick play, surely it would have been called!” Are you an Alabama guy or an Ohio State guy? 😊
• Josh: Roll Tide Roll. [He’s an Alabama guy!]
• Bob: I have degrees from Clemson AND Auburn. War Eagle!
• Josh: Oh my goodness. I’m afraid those videos won’t be posted until next year sometime!
• Josh: All joking aside… Do you have a short bio and maybe a photo I can include when I post your video to the OCF website?

All in good fun. Even though we’re members of different tribes (universities and teams we root for), we recognize our oneness in Christ and commitment to the same mission. We also recognize, as do most sports fans, that who we root for defines little else about us. Our talents, our character, our work ethic, etc. Perhaps our approach to race and ethnicity should be similar.

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (Revelation 7.9, 10, NIV)

We had a lovely Father’s Day yesterday, including with visits with two sons and two grandchildren. June gave me a fabulous book: Really Important Stuff My Dog Has Taught Me by Cynthia L. Copeland. This one caught my eye:

The picture and explanation reminded me of a conversation I had with a good friend, a missionary with another organization, who was asking prayer for stamina for themselves and a set of new missionaries as they went through 5+ intense days of orientation via Zoom.

Always willing to help (and stick my nose into other people’s business!), I suggested that maybe they were cramming the days too full. My friend wrote back with a list of the stuff they had to cover and how important it all was.

In the language of this blog, I responded that I agreed with the dog. It doesn’t matter how important everything is, if it’s delivered in a way that people feel like they are “drinking water from a fire hydrant,” the net takeaway will be zero.

If we want to be effective, do less.

I’ve sat through those meetings (and conducted a few myself!), meetings with hour after hour of briefing after briefing. I’ve preached 30-minute sermons that had 45 – 60 minutes of content. I told my friend that I could “cover” all the salient points of Calculus I in 5 days, but that doesn’t mean that any of the participants would learn any of it.

By contrast, Jesus largely moved and taught at a leisurely pace. He told stories. He had margin in his life to interact with the people he met “as he passed by” (see John 9 and Luke 19.1 – 10, for example). Real teaching takes patience and time.

May God give us the grace to be “more productive by doing a little less.”

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength… (Isaiah 30.15, NIV)

[Jesus said,] “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11.28 – 30, MSG)

A friend of mine used to say, tongue-in-cheek of course:

Fatherhood: big bucks, lots of respect!

I know that not all our readers are fathers, and there are some among us who may not have all that many fond memories of our fathers. It’s a tough job that many of us worked hard at, if not always effectively. God bless the fathers in your lives.

For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” (Genesis 18.19, ESV)

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (Deuteronomy 6.6, 7, ESV)

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (Malachi 4.5, 6, ESV – last words of the Old Testament)

In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. (Matthew 6.9, NKJV)