Thinking about our favorite speakers, whom would you choose to reach someone like the co-founder of a Satanic movement in South Africa?

A South African Newspaper reports:

Riaan Swiegelaar, a former reverend at the South African Satanic Church (SASC), stepped down from his position on May 30, 2022.

Sometimes our focus on big-name speakers carries a subtle message that most of the heavy lifting in ministry in mission is done by those people. So how was Riaan reached? Here’s the way he tells it as reported in The Maravi Post.

“I’ve never known unconditional love in my whole life and up to today, there’s only four Christians in my whole life that have shown me what unconditional love is. I want to thank those four people. Words cannot express what you have done for me.“

…

He pointed out that love was shown to him during a time when he was a monster and an ugly person. In mid-May this year, Swiegelaar gave his last interview as a member of the SASC on the CapeTalk radio station. Following the interview, a woman working for the station, whose name he would not reveal, came to him and demonstrated God’s love in an unexpected way.

“I told her, ‘I don’t believe in Jesus and I don’t believe Jesus Christ exists’ because I didn’t. She came to me after the interview, after I said that and she hugged me and she held me in a way that I’ve never been loved. That’s all she did. She just said it was nice to meet me in person. A week later, on WhatsApp, through her status, I saw this woman is a Christian. I’ve never had a Christian do that…I’ve never experienced a Christian show that much love and acceptance unconditionally … after I said the things I said, she did that. That stayed with me.”

A week later, Swiegelaar was performing a satanic ritual by himself which he said was geared towards gaining more power and influence as a Satanist. He said:

“I did this ritual and I opened myself up and Jesus appeared and I was extremely cocky and I said, ‘if you are Jesus, you need to prove it.’ And He flooded me with the most beautiful love and energy and I recognized it immediately because that woman at the radio station showed it to me. That’s how I recognized the love of Christ.” – (I recommend the article in its entirety.)

I’m indebted to my friend John Ed Mathison, whose weekly blog of July 27, Who Fixes the Broken?, put me on to this story. John Ed observed:

Please note that it was the witness of a wonderful person who didn’t judge or condemn, but simply allowed the love of Christ to show through her. Jesus uses people to bring people to Him.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. (Romans 2.4, ESV)

And Jesus?

The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, “Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” (Luke 7.34, ESV)

Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (1 John 2.6, ESV)

Back to 1 Corinthians, one of the first problems is division over who their favorite speakers are:

For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1.11 – 13, ESV)

He circles back to it in chapter 3:

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. (1 Corinthians 3.5 – 8, ESV)

But what’s the real problem? Why quarrel over who your favorite speaker is? For us, it’s not so much within a single local church although it could be. There are any number of nationally known preachers, and we all have our list of those we like, those we don’t like, and, of course, many we know nothing about. The real problem is not so much our preferences but our pride in those preferences. Paul gets to that in chapter 4:

I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? (1 Corinthians 4.6, 7, ESV, emphasis mine)

It’s like our favorite sports teams. It’s fun when our team wins. I derived a lot of joy from watching the Colorado Avalanche hockey team win this year’s Stanley Cup. But pride? I wasn’t out there. I’ve never even been on ice skates! If you rooted for another team, does that make me better than you? Of course not! And listening to a particular preacher doesn’t mean a thing unless you’re putting the Word into practice, even if it’s Jesus!

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. (Matthew 7.24 – 27, ESV, emphasis mine)

I have one more blog on our time in Delta, Colorado, earlier this month. My first engagement was a 7:30a breakfast with the men. Pastor James’ introduction went something like this:

Men, we are pleased to have with us this morning, from The Navigators, Bob Ewell, an ordinary guy who serves an extraordinary God!

I don’t think I’ve ever been introduced as “an ordinary guy.” After all, I have an earned doctorate, served 20 years in the Air Force, had my own statistical consulting business for 10 years, and went into “paid Christian employment” in 2001. That’s what people usually say. But I like “ordinary guy.” After all, that’s what the religious leaders said about Peter and John:

The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. (Acts 4.13, NLT, emphasis mine)

I told the men something like this:

Men, I really appreciate being called an ordinary guy…because I am. When I went into vocational Christian ministry in 2001, the church that hired me specifically liked that I was a layman. No seminary training. But guess what? As soon as I joined the staff as “Minister of Discipleship,” I wasn’t a layman anymore–not in the eyes of the church people I was trying to work with. So thank you, James, for introducing me as “an ordinary guy.” If I can do what I’m talking about, you can too.

And so can all you readers!

Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’” (Amos 7.14, 15, ESV)

Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 1.6 – 8, ESV)

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1.26 – 31, ESV)

Yesterday, I wrote about Pastor James Conley, Delta, Colorado, and our brush with tradition. We wanted to dismiss the service; they wanted to sing their last, planned song. It would have been OK either way, and we sang the song. James handled it with his usual grace, and that’s what I want to write about today.

My sermon topic for that Saturday service in Austin as well as the two Sunday services in Delta was Join the Adventure! which you can if you:

• Be there
• Pay attention
• Do what you can
• Tell the truth

No one embodies “pay attention, do what you can” than James. His antenna is up all the time to do what needs to be done. For example, when I asked if I could sit down at that Saturday service, and he agreed, I went in looking for a chair. By the time I found one, James had already put it where it needed to be! One step ahead. Here is a picture of James as we were getting ready to go into the Austin church on Saturday:

I’m amazed at his stamina. I was concerned about speaking five times in one weekend, but that was nothing compared to his workload. He picked up June and me for dinner when we arrived Friday night. I didn’t know he was returning from helping the youth get settled in for their weekend campout. An hour and forty-five minutes…one way! He drove the round on trip Friday and again on Saturday when he took me out there to speak to the young people. I wrote about some of what I shared back on August 17. Between my two talks on Saturday morning, while I was resting, he was visiting with someone he was concerned about.

Sensitivity? There’s a reason I’m not a pastor. When we were deep in the mountains, nearly to the campground, James got a call from a parishioner who wanted to know when June was speaking so she could go hear her. The lady heard about June when James asked for prayer for her AT THE SAME TIME that I was speaking to that group in Austin! June had spoken hours before. But James was patient in explaining that June had already spoken. So the lady went into some family issues, and “Why didn’t this person…?” Of course, James has no idea of all the ins and outs of her family relationships, but he continued to talk with her even though we expected to lose signal any minute. He talked with her for about 30 minutes. I would have given her five and told her we were about to lose signal as I signed off!

Back to paying attention, as we were leaving the restaurant Friday night, a proverbial little old lady sat in a booth off in a corner. I don’t know how he even saw her, but she got his attention, and as June and I walked out, James was praying with her.

Finally, back to flexibility, there were a lot of moving parts in the Sunday services in Delta. James saw a way to improve the flow and between the first service and the second, he changed the order. And because the crowd was a bit smaller at the second service, he administered communion differently, and as we dismissed, encouraged the folks to apply one of the points of the sermon. “Are there people you’re standing near that you don’t know? Go meet them.”

It was a pleasure to serve with him. June and I both enjoyed our time immensely even though it was a hard trip. James was an inspiration.

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4.9, ESV)

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11.1, ESV)

I had an interesting experience a few weeks ago while ministering with my friend Pastor James Conley in rural Delta, Colorado. James pastors Delta First Baptist and also a very small church in nearby Austin, conducting a service in their building on Saturdays. As we walked into the Austin church, it looked like it would be just a few people, so I asked James if I could speak while sitting down. He assented, so I opened my sermon by “reading from an unrelated text, Luke 4.16 – 20,” which ends this way:

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. (Luke 4.20, ESV, emphasis mine)

I fit my actions to the text and sat down! It felt like a more natural way to talk with about 10 people. When I finished the sermon, I had the Halverson Benediction prepared. It went perfectly with the sermon, and I asked Pastor James if I could go ahead and pronounce it. He said, “Why not?” So we all stood, I pronounced the benediction, and James dismissed us…

Except no one moved. There was a guy sitting at the piano ready to do “the last song.” Which they did. All four stanzas. There’s no underestimating the power of tradition. It trumps flexibility every time!

Jesus seemed to be more into flexibility…so James and I got to flex. Who says you can’t have a song after the benediction?!

On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” (Luke 6.1 – 4, ESV)

A couple of days ago, we observed that seeing is not always believing and hearing does not always come with understanding. It’s God’s work, and Paul echos this theme at the beginning of his letter to the Corinthians:

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1.4 – 8, ESV)

“Enriched in him”

“The testimony about Christ was confirmed among you”

“Who will sustain you to the end…”

Why, when I speak, do some people embrace the teaching and allow God to use it to transform them in some way while others come up afterward to tell me something that I said was wrong (in their view) or that I left out something important? Maybe that’s one reason seeing is not always believing and hearing is not always understanding: people are in critique mode instead of asking the Spirit to show them something they need to hear. So maybe it’s God’s work, but it’s our work also.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. – seven times in Revelation chapters 2 and 3

We can’t leave Luke without reminding ourselves of the task Jesus left us with. We said yesterday that the work is hard: some believe, some don’t. God has to be involved. But even so, Jesus was clear:

[Jesus said, ] “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24.46 – 49, ESV)

“…repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” I’ll never forget what Lorne Sanny, second president of The Navigators, told the staff in 2003:

Why did he say, “starting from Jerusalem”? Because that’s where they were. You certainly cannot change the world starting from where you are not! – Lorne Sanny, President of The Navigators, 1956 – 1986.

Starting from where you are is always a good word:

And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there…Friends, stay where you were called to be. God is there. Hold the high ground with him at your side. (1 Corinthians 7.17, 24, MSG)

And we’ll serve in his power: “Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.” (Acts 1.8, MSG)

We wrap up Luke’s Gospel with a conundrum: why don’t more people believe?

Actually, unbelievers are in good company: Jesus’ own disciples had trouble believing as we observed yesterday:

See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Luke 24.39 – 47, ESV, emphasis mine)

“Disbelieved for joy…” What??

Proof by looking…

• at his hands and feet
• at his eating

Proof through scripture

• It’s all there.
• BUT, “he opened their minds to understand…”

Compare Jesus’ appearance to the two on the Road to Emmaus:

That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. (Luke 24.13 – 16, ESV)

“Their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” Not even seeing works. An atheist friend of mine was right when he said years ago, “If Jesus appeared in front of my car right now, and said he was God, I wouldn’t believe.”

I must PRAY that people understand what I share with them. PRAY that they hear God speaking to them through the word.

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. (Colossians 4.2 – 4, ESV)

In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Luke 10.21, 22, ESV)

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2.12 – 14, ESV)

Yesterday we observed that women were among Jesus’ followers and financial supporters, and they stayed with him until the end. Now we come to the even more shocking part: women were the first to find out about the resurrection – again, confirmation of the historical accuracy of the Gospels.

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they [the women] went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. ⁵  And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words. (Luke 24.1 – 8, ESV)

The women believed, but the men? Not so much:

Returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. (Luke 24.9 – 11, ESV, emphasis mine)

I don’t know all the lessons from this, but one things is clear: Jesus likes to turn things upside down. As The Chosen has Jesus telling Peter when Jesus called Matthew: “Get used to different.”

The late Skip Gray said, “Devout Jewish men often prayed, ‘Lord, I thank you that I am not a Gentile, a slave, or a woman.’ The first three converts in Europe (see Acts 16) were a Gentile, a slave, and a woman.”

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! (Romans 11.33, ESV)

One piece of evidence for the historical accuracy of the Gospels is that they include women in prominent roles. Women had little standing in ancient Israel just as in many patriarchal cultures and religions today. Luke’s first mention is in chapter 8:

Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means. (Luke 8.1 – 3, ESV, emphasis mine)

Women not only traveled with Jesus, but some were also his principal financial supporters!

Then we come to the crucifixion narrative:

And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things. Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. (Luke 23.49 – 56, ESV, emphasis mine)

Look who is mentioned prominently twice in this narrative: “the women who had followed him from Galilee.” Where were the men? Long gone:

Then all the disciples left him and fled. (Matthew 26.56, ESV)

There’s more to come. Stay tuned.