How To Really Love Your Enemies

by Eric Elder
http://www.theranch.org

You can listen to today’s message by clicking this link!  (18-1/2 minutes)

I want to talk today about how to really love your enemies.  Not just live with your enemies, which is often what we try to do, wondering, “How can we just get through this day?” or “How can we deal with the people who are attacking us, accusing us, maligning us or fighting against us?”  How do you not just live with your enemies, but how to you love them–really love them?

To start, let’s look at what Jesus says in His Sermon on the Mount:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’  But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:38-48).

Talk about setting the bar high!  Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect!  Love those who are coming against you and attacking you!  Give them your cloak if they ask for your tunic! Go with them two miles if they ask you to go one mile!

It really sounds like all you’re doing is letting people take advantage of you.  It sounds like this would be the worst strategy in the world.  Why would Jesus advocate this?

And yet Jesus explains that God causes the sun to rise on the evil as well as the good.  He lets the rain fall on the righteous as well as the unrighteous.  If God in heaven somehow is able to continually bless people, giving them breath, life, food, water and resources to people–regardless of whether those people are mean-spirited or vindictive or malicious or loving or kind or good–if God is somehow able to do that, and still be God and still do all that’s right, and still execute justice, and still do everything that God does, then Jesus says be like God and do the same.  Be gracious to everyone, not just those who love you, but also to those who are against you.

These are hard words to hear sometimes because you may be in a place where there are a lot of people doing vindictive things to you, whether it’s in a relationship with your spouse or at work or a friend.  Maybe some truly terrible things may have happened to you and you’re trying to establish new, healthy boundaries.  So when you hear words like this, you might think, “I already tried that,” or “I simply can’t do that.”  Sometimes words like these can be really hard. But let me dive into this idea of turning the other cheek a little more and hopefully give you an idea of things you can try to help you in your relationships with others.

I had a friend come to me who was married and having a really difficult relationship with her husband.  They were getting verbally abusive with each other, even fist-fighting it out and cat-clawing one another– pretty nasty things.  It was really hard to watch them go through this.

Yet as I watched them, I could see that she was oftentimes responding to her husband as if he was her previous, ex-husband. She looked like she was responding to something that had happened to her previous marriage, but taking it out on her current husband.  She came to me and she asked–pleaded–“What should I do?”

I really hesitated to give her an answer.  It took me several days to get back to her because I didn’t want to tell her the wrong thing.  But from what I saw, she just kept resisting him at every turn.  No matter what he wanted to do, she would resist him, resist him, and resist him. I read this passage over and over and finally showed it to her, saying, “I’m not sure, but what you’re doing doesn’t seem like it’s working very well.  Maybe–just maybe–try this.  If your husband knows that you’re not going to resist him at every turn, he might just lower his offense, and you could lower your defense, and maybe you guys could work it out.”

I said this with a lot of trepidation, because I didn’t want her to be in a terrible, abusive situation.  There are certainly times when Jesus said to take up your sword (see Luke 22:36).  Jesus also said many challenging things back to those who accused Him (see Matthew 12:34).  There were times people wanted to stone Him and He would slip away through the crowd so they couldn’t stone Him or throw Him off a cliff (see John 8:59 and Luke 4:29).

So there may be times when you need to walk away, you need to slip away, and you need to verbally challenge people.  But in this passage, Jesus is saying there’s a power–there’s a strength–that can come from dropping your defenses.

In karate there’s a move when someone comes at you with a punch, rather than fight it, you accept it.  And as you accept their punch, you grab their arm, taking all of that energy that’s coming against you, and throw them to the floor with it.  It’s a different way of resisting someone.  Rather than standing there and using all your energy to try to block their punch, you say, “Bring it on!” because you have another approach that may work even better.  In fact, Muhammad Ali, when he would fight with other people in the boxing ring, he would sometimes taunt his opponent at the beginning of the fight saying, “Come on, give me more!  Hit me harder.  You can do better than that!  Punch me!”

And people would as him, “What are you doing?”

Muhammad Ali would say, “I’m winning.  I’m wearing them out.”  The other guy would just keep swinging and swinging and soon become exhausted.  Muhammad Ali’s just had to wait it out until his turn came, then he would come back and deliver the final blow.  Of course, that’s not what we’re tying to do when we’re trying to really love our enemies!  But I’m saying there’s are principles even in the natural world, where people say, “OK, give it to me!  In fact, give me a double dose!  Bring it on!” and that strategy works.  In our case, as Christians, we have God as our defender.  We have Jesus, who can take someone’s swinging arm and use their own force to throw them to the ground, still loving on them as He picks them back up.

Sometimes people may think, “Christians are so weak because they just let people rail on them, mistreat them and abuse them.”  And that could be.  There could be some Christians who do that.  But I know for me, when people have come against me, it has taken me more strength to stand in silence and let others do what they want to do, or to say whatever they want to say, than it would to actually come back and fight against them.

It is not a sign of weakness when you turn the other cheek.

I was watching a movie this week called Captain America: Winter Soldier.  Maybe you saw it.  There’s a scene in the movie where the president of the country is calling on Nick Fury, the head of the Avengers, to press a button and launch a missile system to attack their enemies.  The president taunts Nick, implying that Nick is a coward if he doesn’t launch the missile system.

This president says, “It’s the next step, Nick, if you have the courage to take it.”
Nick replies: “No, I have the courage not to.”

Sometimes Christians don’t fight back, not because they lack the courage to do it, but because they have the courage not to.  Sometimes it takes a lot more strength to not fight back.

Someone came against me one day with a barrage of attacks and accusations. What they were saying wasn’t right.  Even though some of the facts were true, the way they interpreted those facts was completely wrong.  Yet after trying to defend myself after the first few attacks, I realized this wasn’t the time for defense.  This was the time to listen.  This was the time to let the other person vent and get everything off their chest as to how they felt they had been wronged.

Rather than fight back, I took out a pen and paper and asked them to slow down.  I said I really wanted to hear what they were had to say.  I really wanted to listen to make sure I understood their heart.  Rather than fighting back, I simply wrote down everything they said, point by point.

The more the other person talked, the more intense and painful their words became to me.  Their words were like blows to my head, like punches to my gut.  But I knew any defense I tried to make would fall on deaf ears, and it would only serve to intensify their attack.

When they were done with all they had to say, I was able to say, “Thank you for telling me.”  They were spent, they were done talking, they had been heard and they were thankful for it, too.

I took that list and prayed over each item, trying to understand what God said about them and why this other person felt the way they did.  And I was able to see it from their point of view. Even though I still disagreed, from my perspective, I could understand what they were saying.  I later asked them if we could talk through some of these things with someone else in the room, maybe a counselor or a friend or anyone with whom they felt comfortable.  They said that was OK, and so we did.  I can’t say we resolved everything on that list yet, or even most of the things.  But I can say we were able to walk forward with our relationship in a much more civil way, without the heat of the moment getting in the way.

I wish I could say this has always been my response.  It hasn’t been, and it still isn’t every time.  My “self” is fully alive and kicking within me.  Maybe your “self” is still alive within you, too.  But to the extent that I am willing to lay down my life for others, even for those who are attacking me, I am being Christlike and I can trust that He will be my defender, my protecter, my lawyer, my advocate and my judge.

And I would be foolish to think that I was always right in every argument.

Benjamin Franklin, as noted in the book How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie quotes from Franklin’s autobiography saying that in Ben’s younger days, Ben would always insist that he was right–and most of the time he was.  But someone finally came up to Ben and said:

“Ben, you are impossible. Your opinions have a slap in them for everyone who differs with you. They have become so offensive that nobody cares for them. Your friends find they enjoy themselves better when you are not around. You know so much that no man can tell you anything. Indeed, no man is going to try, for the effort would lead only to discomfort and hard work. So you are not likely ever to know any more than you do now, which is very little.”

So Benjamin Franklin went on and he changed his approach.  He decided, from that point on, he was not going to say, “This is certainly true,” or “This is absolutely right.”  He always allowed that he could be wrong.  He went on to say in his autobiography that this changed his conversations–it changed their tone and then tenor.  Ben said he was able to win over many more people to his position by saying, “I could be wrong in this,” or “I believe this, but it might not be right.”

Using this approach, Ben found out that when he was wrong it was much easier to admit it,  and when the other person was wrong, it was much easier for them to accept it.  Ben Franklin went on to work out many deals with many people and put in place many treaties with many countries, all of which helped us and our country in many ways.

Abraham Lincoln, during the heat of the many battles of the Civil War, at one point was suggesting the north should show grace and mercy to the south, giving them various kinds of aid.  People said to him that he shouldn’t be doing that for his enemies, that he should destroy them.  Lincoln replied:

“Am I not destroying my enemies when I make them my friends?” 

The best way to destroy your enemies is to make them your friends.

This can take time, though.  President Lincoln also said in a letter:

“I am a patient man–always willing to forgive on the Christian terms of repentance; and also to give ample time for repentance.”

Sometimes we need to let things chill for an ample length of time.

As I was thinking about this topic today, I thought of five close friends of mine right now, friends with whom, at five separate times in my life, had been at absolute loggerheads with me.  I didn’t even understand what had happened in our relationship, yet they were extremely angry with me.  When I tried to have a dialogue with each of them them, we weren’t able to make any progress.

At some point I had to walk away from each of them and say, “I feel like this is where I need to go.  If you want to come along with me, that’s fine.  If you don’t, I can’t force you to do that.”  For several of them it took years, but they eventually came back to me, sometimes saying: “I’m so sorry, Eric.  I was wrong.  Will you forgive me.”

Each of these people, these five that I’m thinking about, have become some of my strongest supporters, some of my fiercest allies.  They are people that will fight for me and my family, people that will come and help me in practical ways.

And yet with each of them, they were so against me that I thought at the time, “This is irreconcilable.  This will never work out.”  I could have kept trying to fight against them.  I could have kept trying to argue.  But instead I said, “I’ve got to step away.  I’ve got to let God work on my heart and on theirs.”

I want to encourage you in this, too.  You might say, “I’ve really got to fight against this,” “I’ve really got to take this person to court,” “I’ve really got to continue on with this lawsuit,” or whatever it is that you may be going through.

I want you to know, I’m not a pacifist.  I think there are times to defend your position.  Jesus did.  There were times when Jesus challenged those who challenged Him.  He rebuked those who rebuked Him.  But there are also times to submit, to surrender, and to turn the other cheek–as Jesus did on the night He was betrayed, taken away, accused, beaten and crucified, the night that He showed His ultimate love for each one of us, even though some of us were still treating Him as an enemy.

Let me ask you this:  if you’re resisting your enemies with everything you’ve got, fighting them on every front, how’s that working for you?  Is it perhaps time to try another way? Is there a chance that these words of Jesus, highlighted in red letters in the Bible, could unlock a potential friendship that could help you significantly as the years go on?

I’d like to close with two verses.  The first is from James 1:19:

“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (James 1:19).

Take your time.  Don’t let the heat of the moment get to you.  Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.

The other verse is from Proverbs 15:1:

” A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1).

Is there someone to whom you could give a gentle answer today, instead of a harsh word?

Turn the other cheek.  Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Let’s pray:

Father, I know these can be such hard words to hear, and much harder words to apply.  But God, we want to truly love our enemies, not just live with them.  God, I pray You would give each one of us an extra dose of Your Holy Spirit today to empower us, to strengthen us, to give us the courage to turn the other cheek, to go the extra mile, and to give double of what others ask from us.  Lord, I pray Your Holy Spirit would empower us to do this.   Let these words be sealed in our hearts, and these red letters be emblazoned on our chests.  Help us to love others as You love them.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Ask for Prayer | Contact Us | Visit Our Website | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Bookstore

Curious?

by Eric Elder
http://www.theranch.org

 You can listen to today’s message by clicking this link.  (13 minutes)

A few months ago some pictures were released on the Internet of several famous people–and they happened to not be wearing anything.  When I read about this, I recognized one of the stars from some movies I’d seen and I thought, “Wow, I wonder what she would look like?”  And I was tempted to click and take a look.

But I thought, “That’s not going to be good for me, that’s not going to be good for her, and there’s really no point.  Don’t do that.”

I read an article later about this woman when she was interviewed, and she said she was so upset because those were private pictures that she had taken for personal reasons.  She was upset that they were leaked without her permission, and she was really upset that people would click on those links and look.

I felt better for not clicking; not looking, and just saying “If she was upset about this, then certainly you wouldn’t want to do it, and it’s not even right even if she wanted you to see it.”

But a week or so ago, I saw that she had done a photo shoot for a national magazine, and they said that she had some pictures in this magazine. And I thought, “Oh, maybe I could click on that.”  Those were pictures that she took with a purpose and it’s a national magazine–it’s not like it’s a pornographic thing.  I clicked.  And as soon as I did, I said, “I shouldn’t have clicked that.”

It didn’t help that she was wearing nothing and she was draped with a live boa constrictor.  If God wanted to speak to you and say, “This is from Satan,” how much clearer could He be?

Then I pulled out the passage that we were going to be looking at this week.  This is Jesus speaking:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’  But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.  It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.  It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell” (Matthew 5:27-30).

Those are some really strong words, and they can be either really freeing if you follow them, or really heavy and burdensome if you haven’t been following them.  So I’m trying to balance a little bit today between those of you who are really needing a word to set you free, and those of you who are struggling under the weight of sin and don’t need one more word of condemnation.

When Jesus says, “If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out,” I don’t think He really means literally, and yet I think His words are strong enough that you get the point.  He says if it really does cause you that much of a problem, you need to take care of it.

So what’s wrong with private sins?  What’s wrong with clicking on a few pictures?  What’s wrong with going a little farther?  What’s wrong with the variety of things that we desire, whether it’s sexual or other kinds of appetites?

There’s a verse in James 1 that talks about what happens.  It says:

“Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.  Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15).

So James says it starts with desire–it starts in your heart–but then you get dragged away and enticed.  Then once desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin–you actually do something with it–and then sin, when it’s full grown, gives birth to death.

Our private sins have a way of taking on a life of their own, and they can quickly consume us.  They can take over, and they can cause all kinds of problems.  So what’s the solution?

Jesus says, gouge out your eye, cut off your hands; it would be better for you.  I’ve talked with some guys who struggle with pornography, and I say, “It’s probably time to cut off your Internet connection.”  They protest and say, “No, I need it for this or this or this.”  And I say, “Well, it’s that or gouge out your eyes.  How painful is cutting off your Internet connection, compared to cutting off your right hand or gouging out your eyes?”

How serious do you want to be about getting free?  There are some simple things we can do.  Don’t click the link.  Just don’t click.  It sounds easy, and it can be really easy.

Look away.  This was some great advice I had from some guys years ago.  When you’re walking down the street and someone catches your eye and you’re tempted to look back again…and look back again, my friend said, “Look away.  Leave ’em there.”  It’s amazing how that has helped me through years of life, and years of marriage, to say “Look away.  Leave ’em there.”  Then don’t look back.  It’s so freeing, and you just walk on.

Each one is tempted.  Jesus was tempted.  But we don’t need to take a second look.  Or a third.  Or start following them down the street.  Don’t go looking for trouble.

I had a friend who was a body builder, and he came to me with a confession.  He said he really had a wandering eye when he went to the gym.  He would see these girls, and he said, “Eric, I just can’t even take it.  I’m not sure what to do.”

I said, “Well, let’s pray.”  We had a long session of prayer, with a lot of confession and a lot of things he poured out.  He felt so free after that.

Weeks went by and he said, “Eric, I am so free from all of that.  I’m amazed I’m so free.”  But about a month later he came back to me and he said, “Eric, we prayed and I thought I was free of all that, but every time I turn on Baywatch, all that stuff just comes right back up!”  (If you don’t know that show, it’s a show with a lot of women in bathing suits and body builders on the beach.)

I thought, “Oh, come on, guy!  Just because you’re free doesn’t mean you can go watch anything and everything that you want to watch!”  Don’t go looking for trouble.

I had another guy came to me.  He said he was having trouble with intimacy with his wife.  I was really trying to help him.  I said, “Well, let’s talk about this.  Let’s try to get to what it could be.” And I started going through a few things it might be.  At one point I said, “None of these things seem to be it.  Is there anything else that comes to your mind?”

He said, “Well, I did sleep with the caterer from our wedding two weeks after we got married.”

I said, “Well, maybe there’s something there!”  Sometimes I’m telling people not to click, and they’re doing way more than clicking.  Don’t go looking for trouble.

The best way to stop a bad habit is never to start.

There’s a movie coming out this weekend.  I wouldn’t say it’s the best movie to go see for Valentine’s Day.  But their advertising is all based on the word, “Curious?”  Aren’t you curious?  Don’t you want to see what this book is about that has been an international best seller?  It’s sold more books than any other fiction book in the last ten years, as well as the sequel and the third book.  They’re all three in the top of the best-selling books.

“Curious?” it says.  And sometimes we are.  But I can tell you that you don’t need to go see that movie to satisfy your curiosity.  Because it never will be satisfied.  If Satan’s behind it, he just puts all the sugar on top and he says, “Come on in.”  Then you will go deeper and deeper and deeper.  Your curiosity will never be satisfied if Satan’s behind it.  So it’s best just to “Look away. Leave it there.”  Don’t go looking for trouble.

I had a great conversation with a guy this week, and I’ll close with this.  He said he went to Russia on a missions trip.  He’s not a speaker, not a pastor.  But the pastor at the church in Russia wanted my friend to get up and speak that night to the group in Russia.

My friend was sort of panicking and wondering what the pastor wanted him to talk about.  The pastor said, “You just pray and speak whatever God puts on your heart.”

As the day went on, my friend still had no idea what to talk about.  He told me that he was secretly struggling with chewing tobacco.  He had given up a lot of things in his life, but not that.  He said he’d always put a wad in his mouth and he’d be chewing and nobody knew what he was doing.  But he felt so convicted by it.

He had some stuff with him when he was on this mission trip in Russia.  He came back to the pastor and said, “I have no idea what to speak. I have no idea what to talk about.”

And the pastor looked at him and said, “If the vessel is pure, the Holy Spirit will speak.”

My friend was so convicted.  The pastor had no idea what was going on.  But my friend took everything that he had brought with him and flushed it down the toilet.  He hasn’t touched it in three years since.  He said that as soon as he got  rid of it, God’s Spirit spoke to him, gave him an incredible message that God spoke into his heart, and that he then spoke out to the people.  He said this:

“That night on the third floor of the church in Russia I put my hands in the air and told Jesus I wanted His righteousness over my addiction. I dumped out every bit of the substance that I had brought from America, all that I had, and by doing so drove a stake in the ground, drew a line in the sand. I wanted Jesus back. And after I flushed it down the toilet, I had every word that I needed to speak to that congregation and I  wrote down every bit of it.  My relationship with Jesus was suffering because I put Him second and the substance first.    My heart changed in Russia and Christ trumped my addiction.  I have not had the substance since.”

I’d like to pray with you today.  Maybe there’s anything that’s  come up even while you’re reading this today, something that makes you want to say, “I don’t want this in my life anymore.  I’m done.”  Maybe you’ve tried to walk away before, but today could be your day.  This could be your time.

I’m going to pray these words over you that David spoke in Psalm 32:

“When I kept silent,
    my bones wasted away
    through my groaning all day long.
For day and night
    Your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
    as in the heat of summer.

Then I acknowledged my sin to You
    and did not cover up my iniquity
I said, “I will confess
    my transgressions to the Lord.”
And You forgave
    the guilt of my sin.
(Psalm 32:3-5)

Father, we confess to You right now anything that’s not right in our lives.  God, we don’t want it anymore.  We invite You in to come, take over, fill us with Your Spirit so we can be pure vessels, so we can hear from You, and so we can pour out Your love to others.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Ask for Prayer | Contact Us | Visit Our Website | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Bookstore

Excuses Instead of Service

by John Hamby

Exodus 3:10-15, 4: 1-17

Why is that we feel that we can offer excuses when it comes to things of the church that would be ridiculous if used anywhere else. Have you ever wondered what would happen if people were as intense and committed and determined about church as they are about sports – or any number of other pastimes. Some years ago Moody Monthly ran a piece which included excuses which a fellow might use for quitting sports.

“Every time I went they asked for money.
The people with whom I had to sit didn’t seem very friendly.
The seats were too hard and uncomfortable.
The coach never came to see me.
The referee made a decision with which I could not agree.
I was sitting with some hypocrites – they only came to see what others were wearing.
Some games went into overtime, and I was late getting home.
The band played numbers that I had never heard before.
The games were scheduled when I want to do other things.
My parents took me to too many games when I was growing up. Since I read a book on sports, I feel that I know more than the coaches anyhow.
I don’t want to take my children, because I want them to choose for themselves what sport they like best.” (as quoted by Charles Swindoll. The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart And 1,501 Other Stories. (Nashville: Word, 1998.) p. 189]

You need to remember that in Exodus 3, we have seen God tell Moses that he has heard the cry of Israel for deliverance and that he is now ready to deliver them. Then the surprise came in verse ten when God said, “Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” We are going to see today that when God confronts Moses with a call he offers, “Excuses Instead of Service.” Have you ever responded that way?

*You’re asked to teach a class – the excuses start.
* You’re asked to serve in the nursery – the excuses start.
* God put in on your heart to share your faith with a friend or neighbor – the excuses start.
* You’re made aware of someone with a need that you could provide – the excuses start.
* In fact if you’re asked to do just about anything for the Lord and the excuses start. “I’m too busy, I’m already doing this, get someone else.”

Sometimes our excuses pile up and get in the way of doing something for God. I read a humorous story about some GI’s on furlough that I think illustrates this. “The commanding officer was furious when nine GIs who had been out on passes failed to show up for morning roll call. Not until 7 p.m. did the first man straggle in. “I’m sorry, sir,” the soldier explained, “but I had a date and lost track of time, and I missed the bus back. Being determined to get in on time, I hired a cab. Halfway here, the cab broke down. I went to a farmhouse and persuaded the farmer to sell me a horse. I was riding to camp when the animal fell over dead. I walked the last ten miles, and just got here.” Though skeptical, the Colonel let the young man off with a reprimand. However, after him, seven other stragglers in a row came in with the same story-had a date, missed the bus, hired a cab, bought a horse, etc. By the time the ninth man reported in, the colonel had grown weary of it. “Okay,” he growled, “now what happened to you?” “Sir, I had this date and missed the bus back, so I hired a cab .” “Wait!” the colonel screeched at him. “don’t tell me the cab broke down.” “No, sir,” replied the soldier. “The cab didn’t break down. It was just that there were so many dead horses in the road, we had trouble getting through.” Excuses! (Contributed by John F. King ) Sometimes our excuses hold us back from accomplishing anything for God.

Moses had his “reasons” for not following the call of God. Moses begins a series of five reasons to demonstrate sufficient weakness so as not to be responsible for the call which God had given him.

Excuse One – The “Who Me” Excuse. (3:11-12)

The first excuse that Moses offers is kind of pitiful, but see if it does not sound like something that you may have said to God. Verse eleven says, “But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” Moses no doubt remembers his earlier failures. Stephen relates the story in chapter seven of the Book of Acts, (vv. 23-29), “”Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. (24) And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. (25) For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. (26) And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ (27) But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? (28) Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?”

When Moses tried this deliverance thing 40 years earlier, he was neither believed nor listened to. If they did not believe Moses 40 years prior, why should they believe him now. It is a terrible thing to believe that when we speak that no one is going to listen to us or believe us. But the past is redeemable. We may feel that everything is set in concrete. But the truth is that things change. People change. We change. But what Moses had failed to realize is that the people of Israel and he himself are at a different spiritual place than they were 40 years earlier. Moses is terrified of being rejected and feeling like a failure.
God answered Moses in verse twelve; “So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

Moses first excuse expressed doubt in himself, his second excuse unfortunately, however, expresses doubt in God.

Excuse Two – “By What Authority” (3:13-15)

“Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”

God didn’t ask Moses to go and explain all that he did not know about God. He just asked him to go and explain what he did know!!!

God responses in verses fourteen and fifteen, “And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'” (15) Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’

God says, “I AM who I AM.” God told Moses it doesn’t have to do with who you are but with who I am. In any conflict it important to know who is sending you into battle.
What is the reason why so many people are not committed to God, quite frankly, they do not know God. They sort of know about Him. But like the Hebrews in Egypt they have lost track of who God is. He is not a grandfather figure sitting in heaven, merely watching or antics and turning a deaf ear to our language, closing his eyes and winking at our sin. He is not only the giver of life, HE IS LIFE!!!

When God tells Moses that “I Am who I Am” he is literally saying that “I am He who was, and is and always shall be!” or “I will continue to be what I have always been.”

Excuse Three -The “What If’s”” (4:1- 9)

“Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.'”

In the King James Version Moses’ third excuse began with the words, “What if…” and it is was totally hypothetical. Moses’ response was, “But what if they ask me a question that I don’t have an answer to?” Have you ever used that as an excuse for not sharing your faith, “I would but I am not an expert on the Bible, they might ask me a question that I do not know the answer to.”

What ifs are victory killers, zeal quenchers. Excuses will relegate us to second best. Moses was so concerned about what might happen, he didn’t hear what God said would happen.
God gave Moses three proofs:

First, his Staff turns to a serpent and back again (vv. 2-4). “So the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.” (3) And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. (4) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), (5) “that they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

It is important to note that God did not ask Moses to use something that he does not have. God asks Moses, “What is in your hand?” God uses what we have, and has never demanded from us what we do not have. We will never know the full potential of what can be done until or unless we are willing to offer it to God. God is not looking for ability, he is looking for availability.

When God calls we are tempted to put our assets and abilities in one column and limitations and liabilities in another to determine if we can indeed do what God has called us to do. God is not interested in that. God often allows us to enter a place where we feel confident and when we flounder and fail, and then he puts us into an area where we feel inadequate and were are forced to depend on him, we discover that he uses us.

God’s command to Moses is simple, “Throw it down.” Okay that’s simple. And he throws it down. Because of his obedience it becomes a serpent. And now the LORD says, “Pick it up.” Now that is difficult enough but God says, “Pick it up by the tail.” Now everyone knows that is not the way you pick up a snake. (Actually I don’t pick them up at all!) Now that was difficult but Moses obeyed and the snake again became a rod, and his faith is strengthened. (We will look at the significance of these miracles later when Moses appears before Pharaoh.)

Next, Moses is given the signs of his hand being made leprous then clean again (vv. 6-7) and the ability to turn water into blood (vv. 8-9).

God has thus far revealed himself to Moses, told Moses of his desire to deliver the people, has promised him success, and given him three signs that the people will believe him. Despite all this revelation, it is not enough for Moses.

Excuse Four – “But Lord I Don’t Speak Well”  (4:10-12)

“Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

Moses now says, “I am not an eloquent speaker and I talk funny. He may have been slow of tongue but he seems fast enough with the excuses. That seems odd in the Stephen indicated in Acts chapter seven and verse 22 that Moses in his first forty years of his life in Egypt was a man “mighty in words and deeds.”

The LORD responses to Moses in verse eleven and twelve: “So the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? (12) Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

Our inadequacies are not problem for God, he made us the way we are. But if we no not make ourselves available then God’s plan for our lives cannot go forward.

Excuse Five – “Send Someone Else” (4:13-17)

“But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”
No matter what, signs or no signs, whether God promises to be with him or not, Moses does not want to go! This last objection was not based on even the slimmest shred of a reason. Moses just does not want to do it. Moses is simply putting his foot down and telling God, “No!”

Exodus 4:14 “Then the LORD’S anger burned against Moses…” Put this down in your notes, get it in your head, sink this truth into your heart. God becomes angry at our excuses. His blessings are withdrawn from those who whine. It is not because the Lord has patience for four question but five is one too many. Moses is refusing to trust God’s answer. When Moses begs God to send someone else, he is in effect telling the Lord, “I don’t trust you.” This angers God.

The Lord’s anger burned against Moses. The sin of excuses will someday come to judgment. Standing before our Judge – our excuses will be all gone; we will be standing in naked truth.

Not only do excuses angers God, they also cause discouragement within the body of Christ. Excuses force the few to carry the weight of the many. Satan will use this as a wedge to bring division and discouragement.

We do not need someone else to do what God is calling us to do. If we let others do what we are afraid to do we probably letting them do what God is calling us to do. Have you ever stopped to realize the harm you are doing when you retreat in fear?

In the later part of verse fourteen God says to Moses, ” …. and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. (15) Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. (16) So he shall be your spokesman to the people. ….”
God accommodated Moses’ lack of faith, but the compromise was less God’s best. Moses was God’s man for the job but he told Moses that his brother Aaron would be allowed to assist him. Once the children of Israel left Egypt, Aaron got his brother and the children of Israel – into serious trouble. It was Aaron who led the children of Israel in making an idol while Moses on Mt. Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments.

God’s perfect will is always better than His permissive will!

Conclusion

Now we see the breakthrough. Moses finally responds in Obedience! Exodus 4:20: “So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.” Moses ultimately did as the Lord asked. Think of the lives that he touched because of his obedience. Over 2 Million Israelites under Moses eventually walked out of the land of slavery. When we walk in obedience, we too will touch the lives of those around us. Let me leave you with this final thought, Dr. B. J. Miller once said, “It is a great deal easier to do that which God gives us to do, no matter how hard it is, than to face the responsibilities of not doing it.” – (MBI’s Today In The Word, November, 1989, p.11) The cost of obedience is nothing when compared with the cost of disobedience.

Can’t or Won’t? Christians need to be very careful which one they choose. Although we often choose to say we can’t it really is a case of I won’t. Is your excuse “I can’t” or “I won’t?” Let face facts when we refuse to follow the Lord, it is because we won’t…we disobey because we choose to… not because we have to. The sooner we accept the truth the sooner we can make a change.

Intricately involved in God’s calling, is God’s Plan. Now listen carefully to what I am about to say or you may not understand. God has a plan but He never expects you to carry out the plan. He is going to see that it carried out. He simply wants you to make yourself available as His instrument. After all it is His reputation that is at stake, not yours.

Ask for Prayer | Contact Us | Visit Our Website | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Bookstore

Abraham: A True Model of Worship

by Steven Dow

Genesis 22:1-19

It seems that very few Christians know much about true worship. Charles Stanely once said that he believed that most Christians in most churches have never worshiped God. We go to church, but we don’t worship. We sing songs, but we don’t worship. We listen to sermons, but we don’t worship. All of these things are elements of worship but they are not worship in and of themselves which means that you can do all of them and yet have failed to truly worship God. We Christians often mistake the means of worship for worship itself.

A man told a story about the time his son’s sixth birthday was approaching. He had mentioned he wouldn’t mind a party, and as his son usually was very specific about the kind of presents he liked so the dad asked him what he could get him. Bill expected a well planned reply, such as “I’d like a baseball glove; you can find it at Toys-R-Us, aisle 6, below the batting helmets, or a Parcheesi board; the games are in alphabetical order in aisle 1; its between the Pac Man and Pay Day.” But his son’s request was a bit different. He said, “Dad, I’d like a ball to play with for my birthday.” Bill said, “Great, what kind of ball?” “Oh, I don’t know, either a football or a soccer ball.” “Well, which would you want more?” He said, “Well, and thought about it. Then he said, “If you have some time to play ball with me this year, I’d really like a football so we could throw it back and forth in the back yard. But if you’re gonna be real busy this year, maybe you just better get me a soccer ball, because I can play soccer with the rest of the kids in the neighborhood.” The dad thought about this and said, “Let me surprise you. How does that sound?” And the little boy smiled and said, “Oh that would be great Dad. I really love you.” Then Bill went in and shared this little encounter with his wife and together they agreed, their son was not so much interested in the gift. He was interested in the giver. (Autoillustrator.com)

True worship is not interested in the created but the Creator. Question’s like — Did I like the sermon/service/music? — are the wrong kind of questions. The right question — Did God like it?

Christians also make the mistake of limiting their worship to one hour each week. And when they come to that service they often come to observe and be entertained. I have been at services that were opened with the following statement: “We want you to sit back, relax, and enjoy the program we have prepared for you.” If the people feel that they were entertained they say they had a good worship service. We have gotten the whole concept of worship backwards. We think that the pastor and worship leaders are the entertainers and we are the audience. But in true worship we are the performers, the pastors and worship leaders are the directors, and God is the audience. Because our concept of worship is backwards we want to know what’s in it for us. If we are going to truly worship, we must come to the realization that worship is not for us, but for God. Because God desires our worship, we must learn how to worship him.

The word ‘worship’ appears in the Bible for the first time in Genesis 22:5. We are going to look into this episode in the life of Abraham to see what he can teach us about the true worship of God.

THE ELEMENTS OF TRUE WORSHIP:

1. REVELATION (vv. 1-2)

This episode in Abraham’s life begins with God revealing Himself to Abraham and speaking to him. True worship is based on the revelation of God. Worship is not based on my likes or dislikes. It is not based on my personal preferences or priorities. It is based solely on God’s revelation of Himself as it is found in the scriptures. Because true worship is based on the Bible the only question that needs to be asked of our means of worship is — Are they biblical? The music must be biblical. The sermon must be biblical. The prayers must be biblical.

Why is it so vitally important that our worship be biblical?

Allow me to answer that question with a story. James Michener, writing in his book, The Source, tells the story of a man named Urbaal, who was a farmer living about 2200 B.C. He worshiped two gods, one a god of death, the other a goddess of fertility. One day, the temple priests tell Urbaal to bring his young son to the temple for sacrifice — if he wants good crops. Urbaal obeys, and on the appointed day drags his wife and boy to the scene of the boy’s “religious execution” by fire to the god of death. After the sacrifice of Urbaal’s boy and several others, the priests announce that one of the fathers will spend next week in the temple, with a new temple prostitute. Urbaal’s wife is stunned as she notices a desire written more intensely across his face than she had seen before, and she is overwhelmed to see him eagerly lunge forward when his name is called. The ceremony over, she walks out of the temple with her head swimming, concluding that “if he had different gods, he would have been a different man.” (Erwin Lutzer, Pastor to Pastor, p. 89)

Because the kind of God you worship is the kind of person you will become, we must make sure that the God we worship is the God of the Bible and not a god of our own making.

Just as a football player must study the play book in order to be a good player so the worshiper must study the Bible in order to be a true worshiper. If you want to do more this Sunday than merely singing songs and listening to a preacher talk then study the play book.

If the elements of the service are biblical and you still can’t worship, maybe it is because you haven’t prepared properly.

2. PREPARATION (v. 3)

The revelation that Abraham received from God was hard to hear but Abraham made preparations to obey immediately. He got his servants together, cut the wood for the burnt offering, saddled his donkey, and took his son and set out. Just like Abraham we need to make the appropriate preparations in order to worship God. If we have not prepared our hearts to worship God we will not be able to worship even if the worship service is biblical. When football players prepare for a game they do what they call ‘getting their game face on’. That means that they prepare themselves mentally for the challenges of the game they are about to play. Spiritually speaking we need to ‘get our game faces on’ before we go to church.

Deeply immersed in meditation during a church service, Italian poet Dante Alighieri failed to kneel at the appropriate moment. His enemies hurried to the bishop and demanded that Dante be punished for his sacrilege. Dante defended himself by saying, “If those who accuse me had had their eyes and minds on God, as I had, they too would have failed to notice events around them, and they most certainly would not have noticed what I was doing. (Today in the Word, March 10, 1993)

Like Dante we need to get our eyes and minds on God because we cannot go from the secular to the sacred in a moment. We cannot pass from the world to worship at the drop of a hat. We prepared for work. Shouldn’t we prepare for worship. When you think about it we spend time preparing for almost everything in life. We spend time preparing for work, for vacations, for school, for exams, for meals, and we even take time to prepare for bed. But very few of us take time to prepare ourselves for worship. We may prepare to go to church. But that isn’t the same as preparing for worship. We prepare for church by getting dressed in our Sunday best, fixing our hair and make up, and grabbing our Bibles as we head out the door. The typical Christian is very well prepared for church but not at all prepared for worship.

Abraham prepared to worship God by being obedient to the revelation of God. We need to do much more that simply study the play book. We need to do what it says. If we are going to truly worship God, we must study the play book and get our game faces on. Part of preparing to worship is to eliminate anything that distracts you.

3. SEPARATION (vv. 4-5)

At a certain point in the journey Abraham left his servants behind. It is very possible that they would have interfered when they realized that he was going to sacrifice his son and Abraham wasn’t about to allow anything to distract him from worshiping. We need to separate ourselves from anything that would draw our attention away from God. I’m not even talking about sinful things. I’m talking about the natural and normal things of life. Things like work, family, and finances can all distract us from the worship of God. These are not things that we can simple eliminate from our lives. But we do need to put them out of our minds so that we can be free to focus on God. We can even allow the elements of the worship service itself to distract us from worship. You must not allow the preacher, the music, the praise team, the ushers, or the people around you to distract you from worshiping your God.

During the tenure of the great orator Henry Ward Beecher, a visiting minister (Beecher’s brother) once substituted for the popular pastor. A large audience had already assembled to hear Beecher, and when the substitute pastor stepped into the pulpit, several disappointed listeners began to move toward the exits. That’s when the minister stood and said loudly, “All who have come here today to worship Henry Ward Beecher may now withdraw from the church. All who have come to worship God keep your seats!” (Today in the Word, April 1989, p. 22)

We have not come together this morning to worship the preacher, the music, the singers, or the instruments, but God and God alone.

The night before a game the players all stay in a hotel together even if it is a home game. They do this so that they can separate themselves from all the cares of their regular lives and begin to focus on the game entirely. The coach also establishes a curfew so that the players aren’t out to late because they need rest to be their best. We need to start getting ready for Sunday morning worship on Saturday night. On Saturday evening we should begin reading and meditating on God’s revelation. We should spend time praying and praising. And we should get to bed early. If you are going to truly worship God you must study the play book, get your game face on, and keep your curfew.

4. DEDICATION (vv. 6-10)

Abraham dedicated his son Isaac to God. It wasn’t like he had twelve sons. Isaac was his only son. Isaac was the son God had promised to him years earlier. Isaac was the son that was to carry on the family line and grow into a great nation. Abraham also dedicated himself completely to God. As Abraham stood holding the knife above his head ready to plunge it into his son he was completely dead to self. He had dedicated all he was and all he had to God. True worship is always costly. True worship always requires us to give up our best for God’s best. Oswald Chambers said it this way: “my utmost for His Highest.”

Bertoldo de Giovanni is a name even the most enthusiastic lover of art is unlikely to recognize. He was the pupil of Donatello, the greatest sculptor of his time, and he was the teacher of Michelangelo, the greatest sculptor of all time. Michelangelo was only 14 years old when he came to Bertoldo, but it was already obvious that he was enormously gifted. Bertoldo was wise enough to realize that gifted people are often tempted to coast rather than grow, and therefore he kept trying to pressure his young prodigy to work seriously at his art. One day he came into the studio to find Michelangelo toying with a piece of sculpture far beneath his abilities. Bertoldo grabbed a hammer, stomped across the room, and smashed the work into tiny pieces, shouting this unforgettable message, “Michelangelo, talent is cheap; dedication is costly!” (Gary Inrig, A Call to Excellence)

Too often Christians are just like Michelangelo in that we simply coast through worship service by simply going through the motions. Going through the motions of singing songs and taking notes is cheap; dedication to true worship is costly.

Football players have a saying — “leave it all on the field.” It means that during the game they don’t hold anything back. They give 110%. God expects us to do the same thing as Christians. He wants us to be totally dedicated to Him. Is there anything that you are holding back? If you are going to truly worship God you must study the play book, get your game face on, keep your curfew, and leave it all on the field.

5. PROCLAMATION (vv. 11-14)

Abraham called that place “The Lord Will Provide” — Jehovah Jireh. By doing so he was proclaiming the nature and work of God. He was declaring who God is and what God does. That is praise and worship. Praise is proclaiming what God has done. Worship is proclaiming who God is. When was the last time you told someone what God has done for you? We all like to share good news so why don’t we share the Good News? In the game of football following a big victory the players usually douse the coach with a bucket of Gatorade. It is their way of proclaiming that they love their coach and that he has done an excellent job. That is what we do when we tell others about God. That is why we all need to brag on God. If you are going to truly worship God you must study the play book, get your game face on, keep your curfew, leave it all on the field, and douse the coach.

THE RESULTS OF TRUE WORSHIP:

1) RESTORATION (vv. 11-12)

We have looked at the various elements of true worship and so let us now examine the results or benefits of true worship. We see that Isaac was restored to his father. And I believe that as a result of this Abraham’s spirit was restored as well. Abraham was willing to part with his son, but this dramatic intervention by God renewed his faith. That is what true worship does for us. The Bible says that those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. Only true worship can do this. We can sing our favorite songs and have an emotional experience but if we have not truly worshiped this experience will quickly fade away when the music is over and that is the true test of true worship.

2. CONFIRMATION (vv. 15-18)

God confirmed his covenant with Abraham. God declared that He would bless Abraham because Abraham had worshiped him. We find here the principle that worship results in the blessing of the worshiper. If God’s blessing seems absent from your life, perhaps it is due to an absence of true worship in your life.

A few years ago the Tennessee Titans were involved in a heart wrenching defeat in the Super Bowl. All season they had fought back from deficits to win and it appeared as though they were going to pull off another comeback victory over the Rams. However, they came up about a yard and a half short.

The next evening when the team returned to Nashville they were bused to Adelphia Coliseum where more than 45,000 fans had gathered to greet and honor their team. People painted their faces. They put on their Titan hats and jerseys. They screamed wildly as the team exited the bus and players were introduced. When that tribute to the Titans team was over not one fan walked away saying, “That event was a dud. That did nothing for me.”

The event was a great success, not because of the performance — the teams didn’t play. It wasn’t their speeches, because few of the players are great public speakers. it was a great success because people understood the purpose. The purpose wasn’t to please the fans. The purpose of the event was to honor the team and show how much they were appreciated. (Tom Dooley)

That is what true worship is all about. It’s not about the performance (music and drama) or the speech (sermon). It’s not about pleasing you or me. It’s all about pleasing God and expressing our appreciation and love to our Lord and Savior.

Verse 19 tells us that after Abraham had this beautiful worship experience on the mountain top he walked off the mountain and returned home to Beersheba. The true test of our worship comes not from what takes place in this sanctuary on Sunday morning. The true test of our worship comes when we walk out those doors and return home.

Ask for Prayer | Contact Us | Visit Our Website | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Bookstore

If you enjoyed reading our Christmas series, St Nicholas: The Believer,  we’re happy to let you know the series is now available as an Audiobook from places like iTunes, Amazon and Audible.  We’d be glad to send you a free download of the Audiobook if you’ll just leave a 1-2 sentence review on any of those websites.  Your reviews help us to spread the word about the book and share the good news of Christ with many, many more!  Just reply to this message to let us know you wrote a review on one of these sites ( iTunes, Amazon, Audible) and we’ll send you a link to the free download!  Happy New Year!

What Christians Think About the Bible

by Timothy Peck

2 Peter|2 Timothy 1|3:20|16-1|3:21|16

If you take away the Bible, and you’ve taken away the entire Christian message. Yet lot of confusion exists today about the Bible. According to a 1996 Barna survey, 42% of Americans say they believe that the Bible is the literal word of God. Yet almost half of Americans believe that the Bible is too hard for them to understand, so on given week very few people actually read the book they claim to embrace as God’s literal word. Clearly there’s a discrepancy between what we say we believe and our true beliefs as demonstrated by our actions.

This series is designed to help people understand the basics of the Christian faith–to tell the world –in a way that people can understand and make sense of. This sermon explores what Christians believe about the Bible.

1.  What Is the Bible?

Before we actually start, I need to clarify what I mean by the word “Bible.” There are lots of books out there with the word “Bible” in the title that have nothing to do with what we’re talking about. There’s “The Beauty Bible,” “the Freshwater Fisherman’s Bible,” “The Golfer’s Bible,” even “The Cooking Bible.” These books are not what I’m talking about.

So let’s go back to real basics: What is the Bible? The word “Bible” means a book or collection of books regarded as authoritative on a topic. Books like The Beauty Bible and The Fishermen’s Bible use the word Bible in the title to claim that they’re the standard authority on that particular topic. I recently heard a local newspaper claim, “If your religion is sports, then our newspaper is your Bible.”

No other book is more authoritative on the topic of the Christian faith than the Christian Bible. The Christian Bible is a collection of 66 different books divided into two sections (Old and New Testaments) written by over 40 different authors over a span of 1,500 years in three different languages, yet it presents a unified message of God’s plan and purpose for humanity. Thirty-nine books make up the Old Testament, which was written between around 1,500 BC and 400 BC, starting with the book of Genesis and ending with the Malachi. The Christian Old Testament and the Jewish Bible contain the same 39 books, though they’re listed in different order.

(The Roman Catholic church also includes 15 other writings in their Old Testament called the Apocrypha which means “hidden books.”  The Roman Catholic church added these books in their Old Testament about 500 years ago at the Council of Trent, but for the first fifteen hundred years the Apocrypha was considered good devotional literature, but not part of the Bible).

The 27 books that make up the New Testament were written over a 50 year span, and they deal with Jesus Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection, the beginning of the Christian church, and instruction about how to live as a follower of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament is written primarily in Hebrew, with a little Aramaic, and the New Testament is written exclusively in Greek. Yet these diverse authors each in their own way present a unified portrait of God’s plans and purposes in our world.

As to different kinds of literature, the Bible contains history, poetry, humor, prophecy, romance, letters, biographies, songs, journals, advise, laws and stories. So the Bible is an entire library of different kinds of literature. The Bible was also the first book every printed on the printing press, it’s the best selling book of all time, and portions have been translated into over 1,946 different languages.

So when I say “Bible” this is what I’m talking about, these 66 books that have been the foundation for the Christian faith since it’s very beginnings.

Now as modern Americans, we’re Bible rich. We have over 30 different English translations of the Bible available to us. I use the New International Version of the Bible, though there’s also the King James Version, the New American Standard Bible, and so on. Twenty-four percent of Americans own at least five Bibles.

Now this brings us to our original question: What Do Christians Believe About the Bible? We’re going to look at four key concepts on this topic starting in 2 Timothy 3:16.

2.  The Relevance of the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16)

Let’s look at what the Bible says about itself.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV).

Here here we’re introduced to another word that describes the Bible, the word “scripture.” This word “scripture” means “sacred writings.” Other religions have their own sacred writings, for instance Islam has the Koran, Mormonism has The Book of Mormon, and Hinduism has the Bhagavad-Gita. The Bible is the Christian faith’s sacred writings–or Scripture.

These sacred writings are said to be “God breathed.” Now some English translations render this word “inspired by God,” but that’s not totally accurate because the word “inspired” means breathed into, as if God looked at all the different religious books in the world and then chose to “breath into” the Bible. But this word means to breath out rather than in, and that makes the focus of this word on God’s breath being the source or origin of the Bible. What Paul is saying here is that the fundamental characteristic of scripture–what makes these writings sacred writings–is the fact that God breathed them out, that they have their ultimate origin with God himself.

Now this fundamental characteristic of being God-breathed makes the Bible is “useful.” This word means “practical,” and “beneficial.” I think the word “relevant” captures the meaning here, that because of the Bible’s source, it has vital practical relevance for our lives.

This relevance is seen in four areas: Teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. Teaching focuses on the Bible as giving us instruction to live life. Now this assumes that we come to the Bible as learners, because only learners can be taught. This instruction or teaching isn’t just about heavenly things, but it’s about practical things like being a good spouse, being a good parent, loaning out money, starting a business, and so forth. Rebuking sounds kind of harsh, but really it just means confronting our wrong ideas about life. This assumes that all of us carry around misconceptions and distortions about God, about ourselves, and about life that need to be changed. For instance if I measure success in life by how much money a person has, but the Bible measures success by a person’s faithfulness to God, then my criteria for success has been rebuked, and I need to change my definition to conform to God’s definition. Correction is similar to rebuking, but it focuses in on behavior instead of beliefs. This assumes that all of us lose our way in life sometimes, that we can easily wander off the course God has for us and end up roaming around in circles. The Bible corrects us when it gets us back on track in life, when it shows us where we are and how to get back on course with where God wants us to go. Finally, training in righteousness focuses on the Bible’s role in helping us live the kind of lives that please God. This assumes that a life of integrity doesn’t come naturally to us, that we need help to live the kind of life of integrity we want to live. The Bible trains us to do that which we could not do on our own when it comes to a life of integrity.

All of this results in being thoroughly equipped to life for a spiritually vital life with God. The Bible provides us with the equipment we need. It’s been said that when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Well the Bible provides us with a complete spiritual toolbox to live a full and rich spiritual life of devotion to Jesus Christ.

This brings us to our first key concept. SINCE GOD GAVE US THE ENTIRE BIBLE, ALL OF ITS TEACHINGS ARE RELEVANT FOR OUR LIVES.

Once my wife Chris and I stayed at a Bed and Breakfast Inn in Santa Barbara, and in the sitting room there was a library of out of old books. One of the books caught my eye, so I took it out to look at it. The book was obviously old and worn. Yet as I tried to open it I found that the pages hadn’t been cut properly and it couldn’t be opened. Here this book that looked old and worn had never been opened.

Many Bibles are like that: they’re used as decorations, family heirlooms, or as a kind of good luck charm. Yet the Bible was meant to be an open book, a book with incredible relevance to the ordinary details of our daily lives.

Pastors have sometimes been guilty of taking book and making it boring to people. I think it’s a sin to bore people with the Bible. You see, we don’t have to make the Bible relevant, it already is relevant, we just need to get out of the way and allow it to speak to our life situation.

3.  The Bible Communicates God’s Voice (2 Peter 1:20-21)

Now at this point many people are skeptical, and they protest, “But everyone has their own interpretation of the Bible.” This is true if we treat the Bible as an encyclopedia of disconnected thoughts and ideas. It’s easy to take one or two verses and make them say anything you want them to say. The classic example of this is the guy who wanted to know God’s will for his life, so he opened the Bible randomly and read the verse that says, “Judas went and hanged himself.” Then he closed the Bible, and repeated the same procedure, and this time the Bible opened to a verse that said, “Now go and do likewise.” If that’s the way we treat the Bible, then everyone does have their own interpretation of what it says.

This is where 2 Peter 1:20-21 comes in: “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (NIV).

Here we’re introduced to another term for the Bible, the word “prophecy.” We think of prophecy as predictions about the future, but biblically prophecy refers to God revealing things that we couldn’t figure out on our own. Future events could be included in that, but the focus of prophecy is God revealing himself.

Now some Bible translations render v. 20 “private interpretation” instead of “the prophet’s interpretation” and there’s some confusion as to whether this is saying that the Bible is not a matter of the reader’s own interpretation or it’s whether not a matter of the human author’s own interpretation. Really both are saying the same thing, that we can’t make the Bible say whatever we want it to say, whether we as readers or the original authors. This verse is warning us not to read our own ideas into the Bible or to force our own interpretations it, but to take the Bible on its own terms. Why? Because the ultimate origin of the Bible is God. God initiated the process of giving us the Bible, not the human authors, and although the human authors did write the words, they spoke from God.

The word “carried along” in v. 21 is a sailing term that was used in Greek to describe the wind blowing into a sail, which “carries along” the sailboat. The human authors were consciously involved in the writing process–they weren’t robots, we can even detect their own unique writing style–but behind the process God “carried them along” to ensure that the end result would be what God wanted to say.

Here we find our second key concept. SINCE GOD HAS SPOKEN THROUGH THE BIBLE, IT IS IMPORTANT FOR US TO LISTEN TO ITS MESSAGE.

For 2000 years the Christian faith has affirmed that God has spoken through the Bible. Our role as readers then is to hear the message of the Bible, not to read into it what we think it ought to say or to use isolated parts of the Bible to justify our own ideas.

Before the civil war people who believed in slavery tried to justify their sin by quoting bits and pieces from the Bible. They used the Bible selectively, trying to rationalize their involvement in slavery. The refused to let the Bible speak for itself. Whenever we try to read our own ideas into the Bible we put ourselves in danger of missing God’s voice and hearing our own voice instead.

4.  The Bible is Our Standard (John 17:17)

John chapter 17 is Jesus’ prayer before his arrest: “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17NIV).

Now what exactly is truth anyway? Truth is that whatever corresponds to the facts, something that matches the way things really are. So a truthful statement is a statement that corresponds to reality.

A key characteristic of the Bible is its truthfulness. Really, this idea of the Bible’s truthfulness must be the case if the Bible is truly “God breathed” because if God is the origin of the Bible, and if God is truthful, then the Bible must be truthful. By saying that the Bible is truthful, we’re saying that the Bible tells us the way things really are, that it accurately describes reality.

Here’s the next key concept. SINCE GOD HAS REVEALED HIS TRUTH TO US IN THE BIBLE, IT IS OUR FINAL STANDARD FOR WHAT’S TRUE.

Now not all churches today believe that God has revealed His truth to us in the Bible. Some churches reject this idea completely, and claim that although we can personally experience God in the Bible, there’s no real truth to find there. Others believe that the Bible has truth in it but that it also has mistakes in it, so it’s up to us as readers to sift the truthful statements from the mistakes, which of course makes the reader the ultimate authority instead of the Bible.

Whenever people tell me that the Bible is full of contradictions I ask them which contradiction bothers them the most. Undoubtedly there are some difficult passages in the Bible, but a careful reader can see how these passages can be harmonized, and at no place does the Bible contradict the findings of modern science or history. Our commitment to the truthfulness of the Bible–that there are no errors or mistakes–is part of what makes Life Bible Fellowship Church an evangelical church.

Now it’s important to clarify that this conviction only applies to what the Bible itself affirms to be true. The Bible is a historical book, and as the Bible tells us historical stories, some of the characters in those stories say things that aren’t true. The Bible tells us in the book of Job, for example, that Satan claimed the only reason Job served God was because God had blessed Job. Now it would be foolish to say that because that statement is in the Bible it’s true. The statement may be recorded in the Bible, but the Bible is not affirming that statement as being truthful. But wherever the Bible itself affirms something as true, that’s where Christians historically have believed God has revealed his truth.

This makes the Bible a Christian’s final standard on what’s true.

Now there are lots of things that are true in life that the Bible doesn’t tell us about. The Bible doesn’t tell us how to change a flat tire or how to cure the measles, it doesn’t tell us how to build a home or how to master calculus. We know these other things through experience, reasoning, science, and so forth. So there are other sources of truth in the world, and let’s face it, all truth is ultimately God’s truth. The Bible’s focus is telling us the truth we need in order to have a relationship with God and to understand God’s purposes. This is truth we could never discover through science or experience. The Bible touches on areas of science and history, and when it does speak to these issues it does so truthfully, but it wasn’t written to be a science book. It’s purpose is to reveal truth about knowing God and God’s ways.

This makes the Bible the Christian’s ultimate standard for what’s true. Just like a ruler is the standard for measuring an inch, so the Bible is the Christians ultimate standard for what’s true.

5.  The Bible Changes Us (Hebrews 4:12)
Although the Bible reveals God’s truth to us, it’s primary purpose is not merely to educate us. Look at

Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (NIV).

Along with “scripture,” and “prophecy” we’re introduced to another description of the Bible as “the word of God” or “God’s word.” Even though our Bibles are printed with ink on pages, the author of Hebrews says that somehow God’s word is also living and active. This means that there’s a dynamic energy at work whenever a person reads the Bible, that somehow the living God is actively working in and through the words of the Bible to impact the reader’s life. This makes the Bible different from any other book.

The Bible is described as a sharp double edged sword, which focuses on it’s ability to penetrate into our lives. The Bible has no blunt edge, but every part of it is sharp enough to pierce into our lives with it’s message. Soul and spirit, joints and marrow, focuses on the Bible ability to penetrate our defenses into the very core of our personality, where our true self is. There, at the core of our personality, the Bible evaluates and discerns our inner thoughts and motives, sifting through our intentions and ideas.

Here’s the final key concept. SINCE GOD WORKS IN OUR LIVES THROUGH THE BIBLE, IT IS ESSENTIAL FOR OUR SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION.

Just as a caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly, God works through the Bible to transform us into fully devoted followers of Jesus who wholeheartedly love God and others.

You see, the Christian faith is not merely a set of ideas. Being a Christian is not just about spouting off doctrines or reciting creeds. Being a Christian is first and foremost about a personal love relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. This love relationship is a life transforming one, because a person can’t encounter Jesus Christ without being radically changed. Being a Christian isn’t merely accepting certain facts about God or about the Bible, but it’s becoming a follower of Jesus Christ, a devoted disciple of Jesus in our lives, as we seek to live lives of passionate devotion to Christ. I meet many people in our community who have right ideas about God, who intellectually accept Jesus as being God’s Son, who believe that the Bible is God’s word, but who’ve never entered into a personal love relationship with Jesus through faith. All these doctrines will do them no good, because the Christian faith is about being transformed not merely about being informed. Once we enter into a relationship with God through Christ, the Bible is God’s primary means of changing us.

God certainly isn’t limited to the Bible because he also changes us in worship, through suffering, through prayer and so forth. But the Bible is essential and central to our transformation into the image of Christ, it’s a primary means God uses to penetrate past our defenses, to invade our hearts with his truth, so he can sort our our thoughts, intentions, and motives.

If you don’t want to be transformed, don’t read the Bible.

Conclusion

Now we’ve gone quite rapidly through these things, and frankly I spend eight weeks in a college course I teach just on what we’ve covered today. But we’ve defined what the Bible is, and that Christians believe that God gave us the Bible, that God has spoken through the Bible, that God has revealed His truth to us through the Bible, and that God works in our lives through the Bible.

For most of us, I suspect, the real struggle comes in actually living as if we believe this is true, by actually seeking the relevance of the Bible for the problems we face, by actually listening to the Bible’s message, by actually holding up the standard of truth in the Bible, and finally, by actually allowing God to transform us through our interaction with the Bible.

Ask for Prayer | Contact Us | Visit Our Website | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Bookstore

If you enjoyed reading our Christmas series, St Nicholas: The Believer,  we’re happy to let you know the series is now available as an Audiobook from places like iTunes, Amazon and Audible.  We’d be glad to send you a free download of the Audiobook if you’ll just leave a 1-2 sentence review on any of those websites.  Your reviews help us to spread the word about the book and share the good news of Christ with many, many more!  Just reply to this message to let us know you wrote a review on one of these sites ( iTunes, Amazon, Audible) and we’ll send you a link to the free download!  Happy New Year!

When Good Men Disagree

by Jimmy Chapman

Acts 15:36-15:41

Disagreements between people are going to happen. It’s human nature to disagree with one another at times because we are different people! We are made out of the same stuff, dirt, but we are different people in spirit, attitude, thinking, etc.

A naive Christian married couple both believed that because they loved each other and they loved the Lord, they were going to live in peace and never have a disagreement or an argument. And they soon discovered. It didn’t work that way! The longer they were married, the more they disagreed and the more they argued.

The wife was really disturbed. She didn’t believe in divorce, so finally one day she said to her husband, “Honey, let’s just pray to the Lord that He will take one of us home, and then I’ll go live with my mother!”

DISAGREEMENTS ARE INEVITABLE! People are different. Just as there is a difference in male and female, there is also a difference in all of us.

DISAGREEMENTS CAN BE DANGEROUS. Why? Because they can often lead to some other things, which are not good.

Church members often are like those porcupines: we need each other, but we needle each other! As Vance Havner observed, there are many “porcupine” Christians–they have their good points, but you can’t get near them!

Let us observe a disagreement in the early church!

I. The Passion Of One Man (36)

Paul’s was tireless.

A. The Initiative of Paul

Paul had been at Antioch long enough; there was a lost world waiting for the Gospel. There were plenty of people in Antioch to minister to sinners and saints. “Let us go.” These words give us a little insight into a dimension of Paul that we run into again and again and again. It was hard to keep him in one spot.

Paul had in his mind that no matter where he was there was someone else out there that needed him, and thought he may have been effectively ministering where he was, there was a tugging and pulling at his heart the regions beyond.

He was a man driven by a desire to communicate Christ. He was a tremendously motivated man.

For Paul the church at Antioch was not a parking lot but a launching pad.

An active spirit will not long be at rest. Love to Jesus sets a man at work for his cause, and leads him to stir up others, as Paul did Barnabas.

B. The Intention of Paul

Paul had a missionary heart and vision…. he had to go to the regions beyond.

He had a burden for the lost and a desire to strengthen the new believers. As a result, he suggested to Barnabas that they should march on.

Paul felt that he was not called to spend a peaceful, though laborious life at Antioch, but that his true work was far off among the Gentiles.

Paul proposed to Barnabas that they should go and review their work among the Gentiles and renew it, to conduct circuit among the churches they had planted, and see what progress the gospel made among them.

Paul and Barnabas agreed on the importance of the trip, but they could not agree on the composition of the team.

II. The Parting Of Two Men (37-39)

What happens when an irresistible force meets and immovable object? There follows a heating discussion of John Mark.

Paul and Barnabas part company.

It is encouraging to know that even though they are heroes of the faith, they were men like us.

I want to make a couple of observations about this parting.

A. Spiritual maturity does not erase personality differences.

We often think that if we all were just spiritually mature, we would never clash with one another. I agree that generally our clashes should be less frequent and less severe in proportion to our spiritual maturity.

However, until we are perfectly sanctified in heaven, I’m afraid that the little ditty will always be true,

To dwell above with the saints we love, O that will be glory. But to dwell below with the saints we know, well, that’s a different story!

1. Personality clashes can arise between men who shared the same basic theology.

Paul and Barnabas had just come away from the Jerusalem Council, where the core issue of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone had been affirmed. Both men firmly agreed about this, but their personalities clashed over a practical matter of ministry, whether to take Mark along on the second journey.

It is worth noting how much trouble can spring or find its roots from unfaithfulness on someone’s part.

2. Personality clashes can arise between men who were both godly and committed to the cause of Christ.

Paul and Barnabas were not new believers. Both men had walked with God for years. They were both fully committed to doing the will of God, no matter what the cost. They had risked their lives for the sake of Christ (15:26), and yet they clashed.

3. Personality clashes can arise between men who have served together for years in the cause of Christ.

Paul and Barnabas had a long history of serving together. It was Barnabas who had gone to Paul and listened to his testimony when every Christian in Jerusalem was holding him at arm’s length.

It was Barnabas again who went to Tarsus to look for Paul and brought him back to labor with him in the ministry at Antioch. The two men had been set apart and commissioned together to go out on the first missionary journey.

Notice that, this clash erupted out of godly concern on Paul’s part to revisit the churches that they had seen God establish on that first journey, to see how they were doing in the Lord. Both men had a heart for the well-being of the churches. And yet these two co-labors for many years in the cause of Christ, clashed. Spiritual maturity does not erase personality differences that can lead to strong clashes.

B. Personality differences can lead to personality clashes that can cause us to sin

The question always comes up, “Who was right in this clash?” Since Luke, who was obviously close to Paul, did not blame Barnabas or Paul, I need to be careful.

However, in light of the rest of Scripture, I think we can say that both men were right, but also, both men were wrong. Paul was right in that he was a rugged pioneer, venturing into enemy strongholds, and he didn’t need someone on his team who would run in the heat of the battle. He needed committed warriors who would not flinch in the face of hardship and adversity. Mark had not proven himself to be such a man; therefore, he should not go with Paul.

Barnabas was right in that he saw the undeveloped potential in Mark, and he wanted to extend God’s grace to this young man in spite of his earlier mistake in deserting the cause. History proved him right, in that Paul himself later told the Colossian church to welcome Mark (Col. 4:10). In his final imprisonment, Paul told Timothy to pick up Mark and bring him with him, because he was profitable to Paul for ministry (2 Tim. 4:11). So Barnabas’ efforts to reclaim Mark for the cause paid off.

Both men were right. But, also, both men were wrong, and I believe they fell into sin in the way they dealt with this disagreement. They both stubbornly dug in their heels and refused to give in at all to the other man’s point of view. I’m sure that they both would have said that they were standing on a matter of principle. But they could have graciously agreed to disagree.

Since God always uses imperfect instruments in His service, we should not put too much trust in men, but in God, who alone is perfect. You cannot find two more godly, dedicated servants of Jesus Christ than Paul and Barnabas, and yet here they are, clashing with one another.

While there is a proper place for trust in the leaders that God puts over us, there is an improper trust that elevates them too high. If we are trusting in men rather than in the Lord Himself, we will be shaken when those men let us down.

The fact that God uses imperfect men and women in His service should encourage all of us to get involved in serving Him. IF GOD HAD TO WAIT ON PERFECT PEOPLE TO GET HIS WORK DONE, HE WOULD NEVER GET ANYTHING DONE.

III. The Pattern For Every Man (39,40)

Neither Paul nor Barnabas quit serving the Lord. The work of Christ was greater than either of them, and so they kept on serving Him even after their clash with each other.

Neither Paul nor Barnabas let this clash stop them from serving the Lord. They didn’t even take a time out. Instead of one missionary team, now in the providence of God, there were two.

Satan tried to bring a rift and what happened? Instead of one missionary team he had two.

Also, we do not read, “Paul went through Syria and Cilicia, telling all the churches how wrong Barnabas was.” There is no indication that Paul and Barnabas became rivals or competed with each other after this.

They just kept going for the Lord. The cause was greater than their disagreement.

A. They did not NURSE their disagreement

Don’t feel sorry for yourself and be filled with a sense of self pity. Nursing your hurt will only cause you to become bitter. Bitter people lose their zeal and zest. They lose their impact for an effective life for the Lord.

B. They did not REHEARSE their disagreements

They did not gossip about it or spread it among others.

Conclusion

When you face a disagreement with another Christian, as you surely will, attempt to disengage your emotions and objectively think through the answers to two questions:

What is the real nature of the difficulty? This is not an easy question to answer, but you must face it as honestly as possible. We all need to be careful here, because we have a built in tendency to push personality differences into the realm of doctrine or sin. It sounds far more spiritual to say that the other person is doctrinally off base or that he sinned against me than to admit that his personality grates on mine.

Is there a godly character quality that the Lord trying is to develop in me through this clash? Sometimes God in His grace (and in His sense of humor) throws us together with people who grate against us in order to sandpaper our rough edges. Let’s face it. I don’t need patience, forbearance, gentleness, and kindness when the other person sees everything my way! I don’t need to learn to deny myself when the other person thinks that I’m a wonderful guy. But when there is a clash, God often confronts me with my selfishness and stubbornness. If I submit to Him and don’t bail out of the difficult relationship, He will use it to develop those Christlike qualities in me. The Lord works good, even from our weaknesses and failures (Romans 8:28).

Who is the real enemy? The person you are having a clash with is not your enemy nor your adversary.

The British admiral, Lord Nelson, once came on deck and found two of his officers quarreling. He whirled them around, pointed to the enemy ships, and exclaimed, “Gentlemen, there are your enemies!”

Ask for Prayer | Contact Us | Visit Our Website | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Bookstore

If you enjoyed reading our Christmas series, St Nicholas: The Believer,  we’re happy to let you know the series is now available as an Audiobook from places like iTunes, Amazon and Audible.  We’d be glad to send you a free download of the Audiobook if you’ll just leave a 1-2 sentence review on any of those websites.  Your reviews help us to spread the word about the book and share the good news of Christ with many, many more!  Just reply to this message to let us know you wrote a review on one of these sites ( iTunes, Amazon, Audible) and we’ll send you a link to the free download!  Happy New Year!

Note from Eric:  Last week I posted an article by Bill Allison about a “Guilt-Free Bible Reading Plan” to help you read through the Bible in a year.  After that post, my friend and worship leader for our fall retreat, Al Lowry, picked up the idea and ran with it, creating a Facebook group for anyone who wants to join him in reading through the Bible and sharing and discussing their thoughts online as they go along.  If you’d like to join that group, just click this link to visit the group on Facebook 2015 Guilt-Free Read Through The Bible, then click “Join Group” in the top right corner.

Al also thought you might like to read a “letter” he received from his mom on January 1st, the one-year anniversary of her passing from this life to the next.  It touched me, having lost many who are special to me over the years, and I pray it will touch you, too.

LETTER FROM MOM

by Al Lowry

 
(Mom left us a year ago. I woke up with this “letter” from her. These thoughts go out to all who have lost a loved one)

My dear family,

Amazing isn’t it, that I’ve been gone a year already. Time here has such a unique quality that it would be difficult to explain to you; all I can say is that this year has raced by, like it was only a second in time.

I know I left so suddenly that cold night exactly one year ago, but God was calling, and my room was ready when I arrived; it was so beautifully prepared.

I’ve always tried answering his call and am so grateful for this relationship and the inheritance he shares so generously; I still am totally amazed.

Thank you, all of you, for the love and attention you have lavished on me. Though I haven’t written, I know you and the family have received my communication in your thoughts. ( Didn’t you used to tell me that, Al, when I asked why you didn’t write more often.) lol

I see your tears right now, as I do whenever one falls for me, but please know I will continue loving you now and forever. The love only grows each day. Once again, hard to explain, but you get the whole picture from this side.

I feel your sadness, having experienced it so much myself when people I cared about left before me. However, the joy of being here, reunited with loved ones is …I can’t begin to explain.

It’s really true, there are no more tears in this place. The reunion with Cindy alone dried my last one, but it doesn’t end there. This place is nothing short of magnificent.

No more worry, no more sadness, and guess what?…

NO MORE PAIN:-) it’s gone, all of it, and my clouded vision has been completely restored. Try not to remember me as you saw me last, for that old body has had a total makeover. I am so happy.

Please share this with others who mourn over me, that I am well, very very well.

Tell your friends that heaven is real and an extraordinary place to fix their eyes on. 

They too have family here who they will see again, as well as the creator of us all.

I know your dad is not a face book guy, but print this for him so he knows I love him and we will be together again.

Yes Jimmy, that bathing suit photo you keep of me is a pretty good current likeness.

Once again, I love you all very much, family and friends. Continue to pray for one another, you won’t regret it.

Mom

P.S. From Eric:  here are a few verses to encourage you that heaven really is for real:

John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Revelation 21:4 – “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

John 14:1-3 – “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.  In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

1 Corinthians 15: 12-20 – “But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

1 Corinthians 15:35-52 – “But someone may ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed– in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”

1 John 1:12-13 – “Yet to all who received him [Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God– children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

Watch Here! | Listen Here! | Ask for Prayer | Contact Us | Visit Our Website | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Bookstore

If you enjoyed reading our Christmas series, St Nicholas: The Believer,  I’m happy to let you know the series is now available as an Audiobook from places like iTunes, Amazon and Audible.  I’d be glad to send you a free download of the Audiobook if you’ll just leave a 1-2 sentence review on any of those websites.  Your reviews help us to spread the word about the book and share the good news of Christ with many, many more!  Just reply to this message to let me know you wrote a review on one of these sites ( iTunes, Amazon, Audible) and I’ll send you a link to the free download!  Happy New Year! Eric

Note from Eric: No book has impacted my life more than the Bible.  If you’ve ever tried, or wanted to try, reading through the Bible in a year (or even if you’ve read it many times before, but have gotten bogged down lately) you might try the approach my friend Bill Allison suggests below.  With the New Year starting on Thursday, why not gather some friends and start this week?  (Also, as a reminder, if you’d like to make a year-end donation to The Ranch, please make it by Wednesday, December 31st to count it towards your 2014 taxes.  Just visit this link to make a donation.  Thanks, and Happy New Year!)

15 Minutes A Day That Will Change Your Life Forever

by Bill Allison
www.cupojoewithbill.com

 
By far the single most important thing I did in 2014 that helped my relationship with God was reading through the Bible–with some friends.

In the words of Nacho Libre, “It’s fantastic.”

I’d like you join me in creating your own study-and-share group (face-to-face and/or online) to read through the Bible–together–this year.

But first, let’s talk about your big BUT.

I know. You’ve tried to read the Bible in a year before, BUT about the time you got to Leviticus you ran out of gas. (Pun intended.) Then you felt guilty about it. (I feel your pain.) You felt like such loser! (I may be projecting my own feelings onto you now.) Well, let me help you get over your big BUT by introducing you to…

Did you get that? This year is the guilt free–not the guil-ty–read through the Bible.

So what happens when you miss a day? A few days? A week? A month? Three months? Six months? A year? (Again, I might be projecting my own past failed experiences in reading through the Bible in a year onto you… sorry.) If you miss a day, week, or month or whatever, I invite you to simply start reading the Bible–not where you left off–but on whatever day it is that day. No Bible-reading mafia types will show up at your house to confiscate your Bible and break your legs. Seriously. No guilt. Say those words slowly right now out loud: “No. Guilt.”

Why this approach? I suspect if you take this no guilt approach, you will actually read the Bible more this year than any other year in your life.  Next year, we can work on reading the WHOLEly Bible :  )

Here’s the kicker: Reading through the Bible in a year takes only about 15 minutes a day, but it’s 15 minutes a day that will change your life forever.

Don’t believe me? Here’s a true story.

I dirty-double-dog-dare-you to try to read the Bible for 15 minutes day… and regularly share with some friends how God is changing your lives.

Following Jesus Together…

The best way to take this Bible reading adventure is to invite some friends you see and interact with often to take it with you. It was my wife who got me to do this in back in 2011. So I encourage you to invite your face-to-face friends to join you on this adventure.  You could use the “study and share method” (not to be confused with the Sonny and Cher method): Each person studies the daily readings at home, and then you gather weekly, twice a month, or whatever–to share what you’re learning with each other. I know of one church that decided to read through the Bible together in a year–so they actually started a study-and-share Sunday school class that met weekly. The whole class was simply sharing with each other what God was stirring and teaching in the previous seven days of readings.

BUT Who?

Not sure who you can invite to take this adventure with you? What about your spouse? Your mom or dad? Your kids? Friends from church? Small group? Neighbors? Coworkers? (I hope you’re getting the idea that it’s the people all around you everyday.)

While I prefer face-to-face gatherings for study and share, I also enjoy the study and share that happens via Skype, texting, and Facebook. You could start a no-guilt-read-through-the-Bible-together Facebook group right now. Such a group will make it possible for you to leave comments and share what your learning with each other. Most important, it will enable you to share how God is working in our lives as you read and apply his Word.

Why all this reading the Bible together with friends? Friends don’t let friends read the Bible alone. To quote Barney: “Everything is better with a friend.”

So, are you in? 

If yes, then here are your next steps in starting a group right now…

Download the two-page PDF plan for reading the Bible through in 2015. Please pass the PDF on to your friends and invite them to join you in this guilt-free adventure!

Here’s the exact same plan as found in the PDF above as found on Youversion. Youversion makes it possible to not only read the Bible online via your smart phone, iPad, or computer, but you also can read it in whatever translation you choose. Another bonus is that you can also listen to an audio of each day’s readings for FREE!

Is your big BUT still getting in your way?

If yes, then watch this video.

P.S. If you like today’s message from Bill Allison, you can get more blog posts from Cup O’ Joe with Bill in your email inbox! You’ll hear from him about 2x a week. Email addresses are never shared with anyone and you can unsubscribe at anytime. Subscribe to Cup O’ Joe with Bill by Email. Be sure to check your email and confirm your subscription from Feedburner.

Ask for Prayer | Contact Us | Visit Our Website | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Bookstore

If you’d like to make a year-end donation to The Ranch, we’d be glad to send you a book or CD from our bookstore as our way of saying thanks!  Just click The Ranch Bookstore to make a donation and get a gift, or click Make A Donation to make a donation without receiving a gift.  Your gifts will help us share the good news of Jesus Christ with even more people in 2015!

ST. NICHOLAS: THE BELIEVER
Part 7 of 7

by Eric & Lana Elder

 
And today… the conclusion of St. Nicholas: The Believer, a new story for Christmas based on the old story of St. Nicholas.

• • Listen to Part 7 (20 minutes)

• • Read (or listen to) the whole book in English

• Read the whole book in Spanish

Merry Christmas!

Eric Elder 

PART 7

CHAPTER 37

Nicholas stood at his favorite spot in the world one last time: by the sea. Eighteen years had passed since he had retuned to Myra from the council in Nicaea. In the days since coming home, he continued to serve the Lord as he had always done: with all his heart, soul, mind and strength.

Nicholas had come to the shore with Dimitri and Anna Maria, who had brought with them one of their grandchildren, a young girl seven years old, named Ruthie.

Ruthie had been running back and forth in the waves, as Dimitri and Anna Maria tried to keep up with her. Nicholas had plenty of time to look out over the sea and as he often did, look out over eternity as well.

Looking back on his life, Nicholas never knew if he really accomplished what he wanted to in life: to make a difference in the world. He had seen glimpses along the way, of course, in the lives of people like Dimitri, Samuel, Ruthie, Sophia, Cecilia and Anna Maria.

He had also learned from people like the ship’s captain that when the captain arrived in Rome, his ship miraculously weighed exactly the same as before he had set sail from Alexandria—even after giving the people of Myra several years’ worth of grain from it. Reminders like these encouraged Nicholas that God really had been guiding him in his decisions.

He still had questions though. He never quite knew if he had done the right thing at the council in Nicaea. He never quite knew if his later private conversations with Constantine might have impacted the emperor’s personal faith in Christ.

He was encouraged, however, to learn that Constantine’s mother had also made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land just as Nicholas had done. And after her visit, she persuaded Constantine to build churches over the holy sites she had seen. She had recently completed building a church in Bethlehem over the spot where Jesus was born, as well as a church in Jerusalem over the spot where Jesus had died and risen from the dead.

Nicholas knew he had had both successes and mistakes in his life. But looking back over it, he couldn’t always tell which was which! Those times that he thought were the valleys turned out to be the mountaintops, and the mountaintops turned out to be valleys. But the most important thing, he reminded himself, was that he trusted God in all things, knowing that God could work anything for good for those who loved Him, who were called according to His purpose.

What the future held for the world, Nicholas had no idea. But he knew that he had done what he could with the time that he had. He tried to love God and love others as Jesus had called him to do. And where he had failed along the way, he trusted that Jesus could cover those failures, too, just as Jesus had covered his sins by dying on the cross.

As Nicholas’ father had done before him, Nicholas looked out over the sea again, too. Then closing his eyes, he asked God for strength for the next journey he was about to take.

He let the sun warm his face, then he opened the palms of his hands and let the breeze lift them into the air. He praised God as the warm breeze floated gently through his fingertips.

Little Ruthie returned from splashing in the water, followed closely by Dimitri and Anna Maria. Ruthie looked up at Nicholas, with his eyes closed and his hands raised towards heaven. Reaching out to him, she tugged at his clothes and asked, “Nicholas, have you ever seen God?”

Nicholas opened his eyes and looked down at Ruthie, then smiled up at Dimitri and Anna Maria. He looked out at the sunshine and the waves and the miles and miles of shoreline that stretched out in both directions before him. Turning his face back towards Ruthie, Nicholas said, “Yes, Ruthie, I have seen God. And the older I get, the more I see Him everywhere I look.”

Ruthie smiled, and Nicholas gave her a warm hug. Then just as quickly as she had run up to him, she ran off again to play.

Nicholas exchanged smiles with Dimitri and Anna Maria, then they, too, were off again, chasing Ruthie down the beach.

Nicholas looked one last time at the beautiful sea, then turned and headed towards home.

EPILOGUE

So now you know a little bit more about me–Dimitri Alexander–and my good friend, Nicholas. That was the last time I saw him, until this morning. He had asked if he could spend a few days alone, just him and the Lord that he loved. He said he had one more journey to prepare for. Anna Maria and I guessed, of course, just what he meant.

We knew he was probably getting ready to go home, to his real home, the one that Jesus had said He was going to prepare for each of us who believe in Him.

Nicholas had been looking forward to this trip his whole life. Not that he wanted to shortchange a single moment of the life that God that had given him here on earth, for he knew that this life had a uniquely important purpose as well, or else God would never have created it with such beauty and precision and marvelous mystery.

But as Nicholas’ life here on earth wound down, he said he was ready. He was ready to go, and he looked forward to everything that God had in store for him next.

So when Nicholas sent word this morning for Anna Maria and me and a few other friends to come and see him, we knew that the time had come.

As we came into this room, we found him lying on his bed, just as he is right now. He was breathing quietly and he motioned for us to come close. We couldn’t hold back our tears, and he didn’t try to stop us. He knew how hard it was to say goodbye to those we love. But he also made it easier for us. He smiled one more time and spoke softly, saying the same words that he had spoken when Ruthie had died many years before: “Either way we win,” he said. “Either way we win.”

“Yes, Nicholas,” I said. “Either way we win.” Then the room became quiet again. Nicholas closed his eyes and fell asleep for the last time. No one moved. No one said a word.

This man who lay before us slept as if it were just another night in his life. But we knew this was a holy moment. Nicholas had just entered into the presence of the Lord. As Nicholas had done throughout his life, we were sure he was doing right now in heaven, walking and talking and laughing with Jesus, but now they were face to face.

We could only imagine what Nicholas might be saying to Jesus. But we knew for certain what Jesus was saying to him: “Well done, My good and faithful servant. Well done. Come and share your Master’s happiness.”

I have no idea how history might remember Nicholas, if it will remember him at all. He was no emperor like Constantine. He was no tyrant like Diocletian. He was no orator like Arius. He was simply a Christian trying to live out his faith, touching one life at a time as best he knew how.

Nicholas may have wondered if his life made any difference. I know my answer, and now that you know his story, I’ll let you decide for yourself. In the end, I suppose only God really knows just how many lives were touched by this remarkable man.

But what I do know this: each of us has just one life to live. But if we live it right, as Nicholas did, one life is all we need.

CONCLUSION

by Eric Elder

What Nicholas didn’t know, and what no one who knew him could have possibly imagined, was just how far and wide this one life would reach–not only throughout the world, but also throughout the ages.

He was known to his parents as their beloved son, and to those in his city as their beloved bishop. But he has become known to us by another name: Saint Nicholas.

The biblical word for “saint” literally means “believer.” The Bible talks about the saints in Ephesus, the saints in Rome, the saints in Philippi and the saints in Jerusalem. Each time the word saints refers to the believers who were in those cities. So Nicholas rightly became known as “Saint Nicholas,” or to say it another way, “Nicholas, The Believer.” The Latin translation is “Santa Nicholas,” and in Dutch “Sinterklaas,” from which we get the name “Santa Claus.”

His good name and his good deeds have been an inspiration to so many, that the day he passed from this life to the next, on December 6th, 343 A.D., is still celebrated by people throughout the world.

Many legends have been told about Nicholas over the years, some giving him qualities that make him seem larger than life. But the reason that so many legends of any kind grow, including those told about Saint Nicholas, is often because the people about whom they’re told were larger than life themselves. They were people who were so good or so well-respected that every good deed becomes attributed to them, as if they had done them themselves.

While not all the stories attributed to Nicholas can be traced to the earliest records of his life, the histories that were recorded closest to the time period in which he lived do record many of the stories found in this book. To help you sort through them, here’s what we do know:

• Nicholas was born sometime between 260-280 A.D. in the city of Patara, a city you can still visit today in modern-day Turkey, on the northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
• Nicholas’ parents were devout Christians who died in a plague when Nicholas was young, leaving him with a sizable inheritance.
• Nicholas made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and lived there for a number of years before returning to his home province of Lycia.
• Nicholas traveled across the Mediterranean Sea in a ship that was caught in a storm. After praying, his ship reached its destination as if someone was miraculously holding the rudder steady. The rudder of a ship is also called a tiller, and sailors on the Mediterranean Sea today still wish each other luck by saying, “May Nicholas hold the tiller!”
• When Nicholas returned from the Holy Land, he took up residence in the city of Myra, about 30 miles from his hometown of Patara. Nicholas became the bishop of Myra and lived there the rest of his life.
• Nicholas secretly gave three gifts of gold on three separate occasions to a man whose daughters were to be sold into slavery because he had no money to offer to potential husbands as a dowry. The family discovered Nicholas was the mysterious donor on one of his attempts, which is why we know the story today. In this version of the story, we’ve added the twist of having Nicholas deliver the first two gifts, and Dimitri deliver the third, to capture the idea that many gifts were given back then, and are still given today, in the name of Saint Nicholas, who was known for such deeds. The theme of redemption is also so closely associated with this story from Saint Nicholas’ life, that if you pass by a pawn shop today, you will often see three golden balls in their logo, representing the three bags of gold that Nicholas gave to spare these girls from their unfortunate fate.
• Nicholas pled for the lives of three innocent men who were unjustly condemned to death by a magistrate in Myra, taking the sword directly from the executioner’s hand.
• “Nicholas, Bishop of Myra” is listed on some, but not all, of the historical documents which record those who attended the real Council of Nicaea, which was convened by Emperor Constantine in 325 A.D. One of the council’s main decisions addressed the divinity of Christ, resulting in the writing of the Nicene Creed–a creed which is still recited in many churches today. Some historians say that Nicholas’ name does not appear on all the record books of this council because of his banishment from the proceedings after striking Arius for denying that Christ was divine. Nicholas is, however, listed on at least five of these ancient record books, including the earliest known Greek manuscript of the event.
• The Nicene Creed was adopted at the Council of Nicaea and has become one of the most widely used, brief statements of the Christian faith. The original version reads, in part, as translated from the Greek: “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; By whom all things were made both in heaven and on earth; Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man; He suffered, and the third day He rose again, ascended into heaven; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead…” Subsequent versions, beginning as early as 381 A.D., have altered and clarified some of the original statements, resulting in a few similar, but not quite identical statements that are now in use.
• Nicholas is recorded as having done much for the people of Myra, including securing grain from a ship traveling from Alexandria to Rome, which saved the people in that region from a famine.
• Constantine’s mother, Helen, did visit the Holy Land and encouraged Constantine to build churches over the sites that she felt were most important to the Christian faith. The churches were built on the locations she had been shown by local believers where Jesus was born, and where Jesus died and rose again. Those churches, The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, have been destroyed and rebuilt many times over the years, but still in the same locations that Constantine’s mother, and likely Nicholas himself, had seen.
• The date of Nicholas’ death has been established as December 6th, 343 A.D., and you can still visit his tomb in the modern city of Demre, Turkey, formerly known as Myra, in the province of Lycia. Nicholas’ bones were removed from the tomb in 1087 A.D. by men from Italy who feared that they might be destroyed or stolen, as the country was being invaded by others. The bones of Saint Nicholas were taken to the city of Bari, Italy, where they are still entombed today.

Of the many other stories told about or attributed to Nicholas, it’s hard to know with certainty which ones actually took place and which were simply attributed to him because of his already good and popular name. For instance, in the 12th century, stories began to surface of how Nicholas had brought three children back to life who had been brutally murdered. Even though the first recorded accounts of this story didn’t appear until more than 800 years after Nicholas’ death, this story is one of the most frequently associated with Saint Nicholas in religious artwork, featuring three young children being raised to life and standing next to Nicholas. We have included the essence of this story in this novel in the form of the three orphans who Nicholas met in the Holy Land and whom he helped to bring back to life–at least spiritually.

While all of these additional stories can’t be attributed to Nicholas with certainty, we can say that his life and his memory had such a profound effect throughout history that more churches throughout the world now bear the name of “Saint Nicholas” than any other figure, outside of the original disciples themselves.

Some people wonder if they can believe in Saint Nicholas or not. Nicholas probably wouldn’t care so much if you believed in him or not, but that you believed in the One in whom He believed, Jesus Christ.

A popular image today shows Saint Nicholas bowing down, his hat at his side, kneeling in front of baby Jesus in the manger. Although that scene could never have taken place in real life, for Saint Nicholas was born almost 300 years after the birth of Christ, the heart of that scene couldn’t be more accurate. Nicholas was a true believer in Jesus and he did worship, adore and live his life in service to the Christ.

Saint Nicholas would have never wanted his story to replace the story of Jesus in the manger, but he would have loved to have his story point to Jesus in the manger. And that’s why this book was written.

While the stories told here were selected from the many that have been told about Saint Nicholas over the years, these were told so that you might believe–not just in Nicholas, but in Jesus Christ, his Savior. These stories were written down for the same reason the Apostle John wrote down the stories he recorded about Jesus in the Bible. John said he wrote his stories:

“…that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31).

Nicholas would want the same for you. He would want you to become what he was: a Believer.

If you’ve never done so, put your faith in Jesus Christ today, asking Him to forgive you of your sins and giving you the assurance that you will live with Him forever.

If you’ve already put your faith in Christ, let this story remind you just how precious your faith really is. Renew your commitment today to serve Christ as Nicholas served Him: with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength. God really will work all things together for good. As the Bible says:

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Thanks for reading this special book about this special man, and I pray that your Christmas may be truly merry and bright. As Clement Moore said in his now famous poem, A Visit From St. Nicholas:

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Eric Elder

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Eric & Lana Elder have written numerous Christmas stories that have captivated and inspired thousands as part of an annual Christmas production known as The Bethlehem Walk.

St. Nicholas: The Believer marks the debut of their first full-length Christmas story. Eric & Lana have also collaborated on several other inspirational books including:

• Two Weeks With God
• What God Says About Sex
• Exodus: Lessons In Freedom
• Jesus: Lessons In Love
• Acts: Lessons In Faith
• Nehemiah: Lessons In Rebuilding
• Ephesians: Lessons In Grace
• Israel: Lessons From The Holy Land
• Israel For Kids: Lessons From The Holy Land
• The Top 20 Passages In The Bible
• Romans: Lessons In Renewing Your Mind
• and Making The Most Of The Darkness

To order or learn more, please visit:  www.InspiringBooks.com

Ask for Prayer | Contact Us | Visit Our Website | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Bookstore

If you’d like a paperback edition of this story, in English or Spanish, we’d be glad to send you your choice for a donation of any size, anywhere in the world.  Just visit The Ranch bookstore learn more.

Enjoy 21 beautiful Christmas songs, played skillfully on the grand piano by Marilyn Byrnes, streaming free on The Ranch website right now!  Just choose which CD you’d like to listen to first: Christmas or Peace On Earth, then keep reading below for today’s message.  Merry Christmas!

ST. NICHOLAS: THE BELIEVER
Part 6 of 7

by Eric & Lana Elder

 
If you’ve never heard how St. Nicholas impacted the real Nicene Council in 325 A.D., I hope you’ll read Part 6 of St. Nicholas: The Believer, which I’m posting today.  There’s also still time to read (or listen to) the whole story before Christmas.  Just use these links, or read the full text of Part 6 below.  I’ll post the final part of the book, Part 7, on Christmas Eve!

• Listen to Part 6 (34 minutes)
• Read (or listen to) the whole book in English
• Read the whole book in Spanish

PART 6

CHAPTER 31

“And you’ve still never told her, after all these years?” Nicholas asked Dimitri. It had been twelve years since Nicholas had gotten out of prison, and they were talking about the bag of gold that Dimitri had thrown into Anna Maria’s open window five years before that.

“She’s never asked,” said Dimitri. “And even if I told her it was me, she wouldn’t believe me. She’s convinced you did it.”

“But how could I, when she knew I was in prison?” It was a conversation they had had before, but Nicholas still found it astounding. Dimitri insisted on keeping his act of giving a secret, just as Nicholas had done whenever possible, too.

“Besides,” added Dimitri, “she’s right. It really was you who inspired me to give her that gift, as you had already given her family two bags of gold in a similar way. So in a very real sense, it did come from you.”

Nicholas had to admit there was some logic in Dimitri’s thinking. “But it didn’t start with me, either. It was Christ who inspired me.”

And to that, Dimitri conceded and said, “And it was Christ who inspired me, too. Believe me, Anna Maria knows that as much as anyone else. Her faith is deeper than ever before. Ever since she met you, she continues to give God credit for all things.”

And with that, Nicholas was satisfied, as long as God got the credit in the end. For as Nicholas had taught Dimitri years earlier, there’s nothing we have that did not come from God first.

Changing subjects, Nicholas said, “You’re sure she won’t mind you being away for three months? I can still find someone else to accompany me.”

“She’s completely and utterly happy for me to go with you,” said Dimitri. “She knows how important this is to you, and she knows how much it means to me as well. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

They were discussing their plans to go to the Council of Nicaea that summer. Nicholas had been invited by special request of the emperor, and each bishop was allowed to bring a personal attendant along with him. Nicholas asked Dimitri as soon as he received the invitation.

The Council of Nicaea would be a remarkable event. When Nicholas first opened the letter inviting him to come, he couldn’t believe it. So much had changed in the world since he had gotten out of prison twelve years earlier.

Yet there it was, a summons from the Roman emperor to appear before him at Eastertide. The only summons a bishop would have gotten under Emperor Diocletian would have been an invitation to an execution–his own! But under Constantine’s leadership, life for Christians had radically changed.

Constantine had not only signed the edict that called for true tolerance to be shown to the Christians, which resulted in setting them free from prison, but he also had started giving them their property back–property which had been taken away under his predecessor. Constantine was even beginning to fund the building and repair of many of the churches that had been destroyed by Diocletian. It was the beginning of a new wave of grace for the Christians, after such an intense persecution before.

As a further sign of Constantine’s new support for the cause of Christianity, he had called for a gathering of over 300 of the leading bishops in the land. This gathering would serve two purposes for Constantine: it would unify the church within the previously fractured empire, and it wouldn’t hurt his hopes of bringing unity back to the whole country. As the leader of the people, Constantine asserted that it was his responsibility to provide for their spiritual well-being. As such, he pledged to attend and preside over this historic council himself. It would take place in the city of Nicaea, starting in the spring of that year and continuing for several months into the summer.

When Nicholas received his invitation, he quietly praised God for the changing direction of his world. While the Great Persecution had deepened the faith of many of those who survived it, that same persecution had taken its toll on the ability of many others, severely limiting their ability to teach, preach and reach those around them with the life-changing message of Christ.

Now those barriers had been removed—with the support and approval of the emperor himself. The only barriers that remained were within the hearts and minds of those who would hear the good news, and would have to decide for themselves what they were going to do with it.

As for Nicholas, he had grown in influence and respect in Myra, as well as the region around him. His great wealth was long since gone, for he had given most of it away when he saw the Great Persecution coming, and what remained had been discovered and ransacked while he was in prison. But what he lost in wealth he made up for in influence, for his heart and actions were still bent towards giving–no matter what he had or didn’t have to give. After giving so much of himself to the people around him, he was naturally among those who were chosen to attend the upcoming council. It would turn out to become one of the most momentous events in history, not to mention one of the most memorable events in his own life–but not necessarily for a reason he would want to remember.

CHAPTER 32

Although Christians were enjoying a new kind of freedom under Constantine, the future of Christianity was still at risk. The threats no longer came from outside the church, but from within. Factions had begun to rise inside the ranks of the growing church, with intense discussions surrounding various theological points which had very practical implications.

In particular, a very small but vocal group, led by a man named Arius, had started to gain attention as they began to question whether Jesus was actually divine or not.

Was Jesus merely a man? Or was He, in fact, one with God in His very essence? To men like Nicholas and Dimitri, the question was hardly debatable, for they had devoted their entire lives to following Jesus as their Lord. They had risked everything to follow Him in word and deed. He was their Lord, their Savior, their Light and their Hope. Like many of the others who would be attending the council, it was not their robes or outer garments that bore witness to their faith in Christ, but the scars and wounds they bore in their flesh as they suffered for Him. They had risked their lives under the threat of death for worshipping Christ as divine, rather than Emperor Diocletian. There was no question in their minds regarding this issue. But still there were some who, like Arius, felt this was a question that was up for debate.

In Arius’ zeal to see that people worshipped God alone, Arius could not conceive that any man, even one as good as Jesus, could claim to be one with God without blaspheming the name of God Himself. In this, Arius was not unlike those who persecuted Jesus while He was still alive. Even some of those who were living then and had witnessed His miracles with their own eyes, and heard Jesus’ words with their own ears, could not grasp that Jesus could possibly be telling the truth when He said, “I and the Father are one.” And for this, they brought Jesus to Herod, and then to Pilate, to have Him crucified.

As a boy, Nicholas had wondered about Jesus’ claim, too. But when Nicholas was in Bethlehem, it all finally made perfect sense to him–that God Himself had come down from heaven to earth as a man to take on the sins of the world once and for all as God in the flesh.

Arius, however, was like the Apostle Paul before he met the Jesus on the road to Damascus. Before his life-changing experience, the Apostle Paul wanted to protect what he felt to be the divinity of God by persecuting anyone who said they worshipped Jesus as God. For no man, according to Paul’s earlier way of thinking, could possibly consider himself to be one with God.

Like Arius, Paul could not believe the claims of Jesus and His followers. But on the road to Damascus, as Paul was on his way to round up and kill more Christians in his zeal, Paul met the Living Christ in a vision that blinded him physically, but awakened him spiritually to the Truth. In the days that followed, Paul’s physical eyes were healed and he repented of his misguided efforts. He was baptized in Jesus’ name and began to preach from then on that Jesus was not merely a man, but that Jesus’ claims about Himself to be one with the Father were completely true. Paul gave his life in worship and service to Christ, and had to endure, like Nicholas had to endure, imprisonment and an ever-present threat of death for his faith.

Arius was more like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day who, in their zeal to defend God, actually crucified the Lord of all creation. Arius felt justified in trying to gather support among the bishops for his position.

Nicholas and Dimitri didn’t think Arius’ ideas could possibly gather many supporters. Yet they would soon find out that Arius’ personal charisma and his excellent oratorial skills might actually hold sway over some of the bishops who had not yet given the idea nor its implications full consideration.

Nicholas and Dimitri, however, like the Apostle Paul, the Apostle John and tens of thousands of others in the time since Jesus lived and died and rose again from the dead, had discovered that Jesus was, thankfully and supernaturally, both fully human and fully divine.

But what would the rest of the bishops conclude? And what would they teach as truth to others for the countless generations to come? This was to become one of the pivotal questions that was to be determined at this meeting in Nicaea. Although Nicholas was interested in this debate, he had no idea that he was about to play a key role in its outcome.

CHAPTER 33

After a grand processional of bishops and priests, a boys’ choir and Constantine’s opening words, one of the first topics addressed at the council was the one brought forth by Arius–whether or not Jesus Christ was divine.

Arius made his opening arguments with great eloquence and great persuasion in the presence of Constantine and the rest of the assembly. Jesus was, he asserted, perhaps the foremost of all created beings. But to be co-equal with God, one in substance and essence with Him, was impossible–at least according to Arius. No one could be one with God, he said.

Nicholas listened in silence, along with every other bishop in that immense room. Respect for the speaker, especially in the presence of the emperor, took precedence over any type of muttering or disturbance that might accompany other types of gatherings like this, especially on a subject of such intensity. But the longer Arius spoke, the harder it became for Nicholas to sit in silence.

After all, Nicholas’ parents had given their lives for the honor of serving Christ their Lord. Nicholas himself had been overwhelmed by the presence of God in Bethlehem, at the very spot where God made His first appearance as Man in the flesh. Dimitri, Samuel and Ruthie had all been similarly affected by that visit to Bethlehem. They had walked up the hill in Jerusalem where the King of kings had been put to death by religious leaders—leaders who, like Arius, doubted Jesus’ claims to be one with God.

Nicholas had always realized that Jesus was unlike any other man who had ever lived. And after Jesus died, He had risen from the dead, appeared to the twelve disciples and then appeared to more than 500 others who were living in Jerusalem at the time. What kind of man could do that? Was it just a mass hallucination? Was it just wishful thinking on the part of religious fanatics? But these weren’t just fans, they were followers who were willing to give up their lives, too, for their Lord and Savior.

The arguments continued to run through Nicholas’ head. Hadn’t the prophet Micah foretold, hundreds of years before Jesus was born, that the Messiah would be “from of old, from ancient times”? Hadn’t the Apostle John said that Jesus “was with God in the beginning,” concluding that Jesus “was God.”

Like others had tried to suggest, Arius said that Jesus had never claimed to be God. But Nicholas knew the Scriptures well enough to know that Jesus had said, “I and the Father are one. Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father… Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me?”

Even Jesus’ detractors at the time that He was living said that the reason they wanted to stone Jesus was because Jesus claimed to be God. The Scriptures said that these detractors cornered Jesus one day and Jesus said, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”

They replied, “We are not stoning you for any of these, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

Jesus had certainly claimed to be God, a claim that got Him into hot water more than once. His claim showed that He was either a madman or a liar–or that He was telling the Truth.

Nicholas’ mind flooded with Scriptures like these, as well as with memories of the years he had spent in prison—years he would never get back again–all because he was unwilling to worship Diocletian as a god, but was fully willing to worship Jesus as God. How could Nicholas remain silent and let Arius go on like this? How could anyone else in the room take it, he thought? Nicholas had no idea.

“There was nothing divine about him,” Arius said with conviction. “He was just a man, just like any one of us.”

Without warning, and without another moment to think about what he was doing, Nicholas stood to his feet. Then his feet, as if they had a mind of their own, began to walk deliberately and intently across the massive hall towards Arius. Arius continued talking until Nicholas finally stood directly in front of him.

Arius stopped. This breach of protocol was unprecedented.

In the silence that followed, Nicholas turned his back towards Arius and pulled down the robes from his own back, revealing the hideous scars he had gotten while in prison. Nicholas said, “I didn’t get these for ‛just a man.'”

Turning back towards Arius and facing him squarely, Nicholas saw the smug smile return to Arius’ face. Arius said, “Well, it looks like you were mistaken.” Then Arius started up his speech again as if nothing at all had happened.

That’s when Nicholas did the unthinkable. With no other thought than to stop this man from speaking against his Lord and Savior, and in plain site of the emperor and everyone else in attendance, Nicholas clenched his fist. He pulled back his arm and he punched Arius hard in the face.

Arius stumbled and fell back, both from the impact of the blow and from the shock that came with it. Nicholas, too, was stunned–along with everyone else in the room. With the same deliberate and intentional steps which he had taken to walk up to Arius, Nicholas now walked back to his chair and took his seat.

A collective gasp echoed through the hall when Nicholas struck Arius, followed by an eruption of commotion when Nicholas sat back down in his seat. The disruption threatened to throw the entire proceedings into chaos. The vast majority of those in the room looked like they could have jumped to their feet and given Nicholas a standing ovation for this bold act–including, by the look on his face, even the emperor himself! But to others, Arius chief among them, no words nor displays of emotion could express their outrage. Everyone knew what an awful offense Nicholas had just committed. It was, in fact, illegal for anyone to use violence of any kind in the presence of the emperor. The punishment for such an act was to immediately cut off the hand of anyone who struck another person in the presence of the emperor.

Constantine knew the law, of course, but also knew Nicholas. He had once even had a dream about Nicholas in which Nicholas warned Constantine to grant a stay of execution to three men in Constantine’s court–a warning which Constantine heeded and acted upon in real life. When Constantine shared that dream with one of his generals, the general recounted to Constantine what Nicholas had done for the three innocent men back in Myra, for the general was one of the three who had seen Nicholas’ bravery in person.

Although Nicholas’ actions against Arius may have appeared rash, Constantine admired Nicholas’ pluck. Known for his quick thinking and fast action, Constantine raised his hand and brought an instant silence to the room as he did so. “This is certainly a surprise to us all,” he said. “And while the penalty for an act such in my presence is clear, I would prefer to defer this matter to the leaders of the council instead. These are your proceedings and I will defer to your wisdom to conduct them as you see fit.”

Constantine had bought both time and goodwill among the various factions. The council on the whole seemed to agree with Nicholas’ position, at least in spirit, even if they could not agree with his rash action. They would want to exact some form of punishment, since not to do so would fail to honor the rule of law. But having been given permission by the emperor himself to do as they saw fit, rather than invoke the standard punishment, they felt the freedom to take another form of action.

After a short deliberation, the leaders of the council agreed and determined that Nicholas should be defrocked immediately from his position as a bishop, banished from taking part in the rest of the proceedings in Nicaea and held under house arrest within the palace complex. There he could await any further decision the council might see fit at the conclusion of their meetings that summer. It was a lenient sentence, in light of the offense.

But for Nicholas, even before he heard what the punishment was going to be, he was already punishing himself more than anyone else ever could for what he had just done. Within less than a minute, he had gone from experiencing one of the highest mountaintops of his life to experiencing one of its deepest valleys.

Here he was attending one of the greatest conclaves in the history of the world, and yet he had just done something he knew he could never take back. The ramifications of his actions would affect him for the rest of his life, he was sure of it, or at least for whatever remained of his life. The sensation he felt could only be understood, perhaps, by those who had experienced it before–the weight, the shame and the agony of a moment of sin that could have crushed him, apart from knowing the forgiveness of Christ.

When Nicholas was defrocked of his title as bishop, it was in front of the entire assembly. He was disrobed of his bishop’s garments, then escorted from the room in shackles. But this kind of disgrace was a mere trifle compared to the humiliation he was experiencing on the inside. He was even too numb to cry.

CHAPTER 34

“What have I done?” Nicholas said to Dimitri as the two sat together in a room near the farthest corner of the palace. This room had become Nicholas’ make-shift prison cell, as he was to be held under house arrest for the remainder of the proceedings. Dimitri, using his now-extensive skills at gaining access to otherwise unauthorized areas, had once again found a way to visit his friend in prison.

“What have you done?!? What else could you have done?” countered Dimitri. “If you hadn’t done it, someone else surely would have, or at least should have. You did Arius, and all the rest of us, a favor with that punch. Had he continued with his diatribe, who knows what punishment the Lord Himself might have brought down upon the entire gathering!” Of course, Dimitri knew God could take it, and often does, when people rail against Him and His ways. He is much more long-suffering than any of us could ever be. But still, Dimitri felt Nicholas’ actions were truly justified.

Nicholas, however, could hardly see it that way at the moment. It was more likely, he thought, that he had just succeeded in giving Arius the sympathy he needed for his cause to win. Nicholas knew that when people are losing an argument based on logic, they often appeal to pure emotion instead, going straight for the hearts of their listeners, whether or not their cause makes sense. And as much as Arius may have been losing his audience on the grounds of logic, Nicholas felt that his actions may have just tipped the emotional scales in Arius’ favor.

The torment of it all beat against Nicholas’ mind. Here it was, still just the opening days of the proceedings, and he would have to sit under house arrest for the next two months. How was he going to survive this onslaught of emotions every day during that time?

Nicholas already knew this prison cell was going to be entirely different than the one in which Diocletian had put him for more than a decade. This time, he felt he had put himself in jail. And although this prison was a beautifully appointed room within a palace, to Nicholas’ way of thinking, it was much worse than the filthy one in which he had almost died.

In the other cell, he knew he was there because of the misguided actions of others. This gave him a sense that what he had to endure there was part of the natural suffering that Jesus said would come to all who followed Him. But in this cell, he knew he was there because of his own inane actions, actions which he viewed as inexcusable, a viewpoint which he felt many of those in attendance would rightly share.

For decades Nicholas had been known as a man of calm, inner strength and of dignity under control. Then, in one day, he had lost it all—and in front of the emperor no less! How could he ever forgive himself. “How,” he asked Dimitri, “could I ever take back what I’ve just done to the name of the Lord.”

Dimitri replied, “Perhaps He doesn’t want you to take it back. Maybe it wasn’t what you think you did to His name that He cares about so much, as what you did in His name. You certainly did what I, and the vast majority of those in the room wished they would have done, had they had the courage to do so.”

Dimitri’s words lingered in the air. As Nicholas contemplated them, a faint smile seemed to appear on his face. Perhaps there was something to be said for his heart in the matter after all. He was sincerely wanting to honor and defend his Lord, not to detract from Him in any way. Peter, he remembered, had a similar passion for defending his Lord. And Nicholas now realized what Peter may have felt when Peter cut off the ear of one of the men who had come to capture Jesus. Jesus told Peter to put away his sword and then Jesus healed the man’s ear. Jesus could obviously defend Himself quite well on His own, but Nicholas had to give Peter credit for his passionate defense of his Master.

Nicholas was still unconvinced that he had done the right thing, but he felt in good company with others who had acted on their passions. And Dimitri’s words helped him to realize that he was not alone in his thinking, and he took some comfort from the fact that Dimitri hadn’t completely forsaken him over the incident. This support from Dimitri acted like a soothing balm to Nicholas’ soul, and helped him to get through yet one more of the darkest times of his life.

Although Nicholas was convinced that the damage he had done was irreversible in human terms–and that God was going to have to work time-and-a-half to make anything good come out of this one–Nicholas knew what he had to do. Even in this moment of his deepest humiliation, he knew the best thing he could do was to do what he had always done: to put his complete faith and trust in God. But how? How could he trust that God possibly use this for good?

As if reading Nicholas’ mind, Dimitri knew exactly what Nicholas needed to help him put his trust back in God again. Dimitri did what Nicholas had done for him and Samuel and Ruthie so many years ago. Dimitri told him a story.

CHAPTER 35

Dimitri began, “What kind of story would you like to hear today? A good story or a bad story?” It was the way Nicholas had introduced the Bible stories that he told to Dimitri, Samuel and Ruthie during their many adventures in the Holy Land. Nicholas would then begin delighting the children with a story from the Bible about a good character or a bad character, or a good story or a bad story, sometimes which ended the exact opposite way it began.

Nicholas looked up with interest.

“It doesn’t matter,” Dimitri continued, “because the story I have to tell you today could be either good or bad. You just won’t know till the end. But I’ve learned from a good friend,” he said as he winked at Nicholas, “that the best way to enjoy a story is to always trust the storyteller.”

Nicholas had told them that he watched people’s reactions whenever he told stories back home.

“When people trust the storyteller,” Nicholas had said, “they love the story no matter what happens, because they know the storyteller knows how the story will end. But when people don’t trust the storyteller, their emotions go up and down like a boat in a storm, depending on what’s happening in the story. The truth is, only the storyteller knows for sure how the story will end. So as long as you trust the storyteller, you can enjoy the whole story from start to finish.”

Now it was Dimitri’s turn to tell a story to Nicholas. The story he chose to tell was about another man who had been sent to jail, a man by the name of Joseph. Dimitri recounted for Nicholas how Joseph’s life appeared to go up and down.

Dimitri started: “Joseph’s father loved Joseph and gave him a beautiful, colorful coat. Now that’s good, right?”

Nicholas nodded.

“But no, that was bad, for Joseph’s brothers saw the coat and were jealous of him and sold him into slavery. Now that’s bad, right?”

Nicholas nodded.

“No, that was good, because Joseph was put in charge of the whole house of a very wealthy man. Now that’s good, right?”

Nicholas nodded again.

“No, that’s bad,” said Dimitri, “because the wealthy man’s wife tried to seduce him, and when Joseph resisted, she sent him to jail. Now that’s bad, right?”

Nicholas stopped nodding either way because he knew where this was going.

“No, that’s good,” said Dimitri, “because Joseph was put in charge over all the other prisoners. He even helped to interpret their dreams. Now that’s good, right?”

Nicholas continued to listen carefully.

“No, that’s bad, because after interpreting their dreams, Joseph asked one of the men to help him out of prison when he got out, but the man forgot about Joseph and left him behind. Now that’s bad, right?”

Nicholas saw himself as the man who had been left behind in prison.

“No! That’s good! Because God had put Joseph in just the right place at just the right time. When the king of Egypt had a dream and he needed someone to interpret it, the man who had been set free suddenly remembered that Joseph was still in jail and told the king about him.

The king summoned Joseph, asked for an interpretation and Joseph gave it to him. The king was so impressed with Joseph that he put Joseph in charge of his whole kingdom. As a result, Joseph was able to use his new position to save hundreds of thousands of lives, including the lives of his own father and even his brothers—the very ones who had sold him into slavery in the first place. And that’s very good!”

“So you see,” said Dimitri, “just as you’ve always told us, we never know how the story will turn out until the very end. God knew what He was doing all along! You see…

– at just the right time, Joseph was born and his father loved him,
– so that at just the right time his brothers would mistreat him,
– so that at just the right time the slave traders would come along and buy him,
– so that at just the right time he would be put in charge of a wealthy man’s house,
– so that at just the right time he would be thrown into jail,
– so that at just the right time he would be put in charge of the prisoners,
– so that at just the right time he could interpret their dreams,
– so that at just the right time he could interpret Pharaoh’s dreams,
– so that at just the right time he would become second in command over all of Egypt,
– so that at just the right time Joseph would be in the one place in the world that God wanted him to be so that he could save the lives of his father and brothers and many, many others!

“All along the way, Joseph never gave up on God. He knew the secret of enjoying the story while he lived it out: he always trusted the Storyteller, the One who was writing the story of his life.”

All of Nicholas’ fears and doubts faded away in those moments and he knew he could trust the Storyteller, the One who was writing the story of his life, too. Nicholas’ story wasn’t over yet, and he had to trust that the God who brought him this far could see him through to the end.

Nicholas looked at Dimitri with a smile of thanks, then closed his eyes. It would be a long two months of waiting for the council’s decision. But he knew that if he could trust God in that one moment, and then in the next moment, and then the next, each of those moments would add up to minutes, and minutes would add up to hours. Hours would turn into weeks, then months, then years. He knew that it all began with trusting God in a moment.

With his eyes still closed, Nicholas put his full faith and trust in God again. The peace of God flooded his heart.

Soon, two months had passed by. The council was ready to make their final decisions on many matters, including the decision that had landed Nicholas under house arrest in the first place—and Nicholas was about to find out the results.

CHAPTER 36

“They did it!” It was Dimitri, bursting through the door to Nicholas’ room as soon as the palace guard had opened it.

“They did it!” he repeated. “It’s done! The council has voted and they’ve agreed with you! All but two of the 318 bishops have sided with you over Arius!”

Relief swept over Nicholas’ whole body. Dimitri could feel it in his body, too, as he watched the news flood over Nicholas’ entire being.

“And furthermore,” said Dimitri, “the council has decided not to take any further action against you!”

Both pieces of news were the best possible outcome Nicholas could have imagined. Even though Nicholas’ action had cost him his position as a bishop, it had not jeopardized the outcome of the proceedings. It was even possible—though he never knew for sure—that his action against Arius had perhaps in some way shaped what took place during those summer months at that historic council.

Within minutes of Dimitri’s arrival, another visitor appeared at Nicholas’ door. It was Constantine.

The council’s decision about what to do with Nicholas was one thing, but Constantine’s decision was another. A fresh wave of fear washed over Nicholas as he thought of the possibilities.

“Nicholas,” said the emperor, “I wanted to personally thank you for coming here to be my guest in Nicaea. I want to apologize for what you’ve had to endure these past two months. This wasn’t what I had planned for you and I’m sure it wasn’t what you had planned, either. But even though you weren’t able to attend the rest of the proceedings, I assure you that your presence was felt throughout every meeting. What you did that day in the hall spoke to me about what it means to follow Christ more than anything else I heard in the days that followed. I’d like to hear more from you in the future, if you would be willing to be my guest again. But next time, it won’t be in the farthest corner of the palace. Furthermore, I have asked for and received permission from the council to reinstate you to your position as Bishop of Myra. I believe the One who called you to serve Him would want you to continue doing everything you’ve been doing up to this point. As for me, let me just say that I appreciate what you’ve done here more than you can possibly know. Thank you for coming, and whenever you’re ready, you’re free to go home.”

Nicholas had been listening to Constantine’s words as if he were in a dream. He could hardly believe his ears. But when the emperor said the word “home,” Nicholas knew this wasn’t a dream, and the word rang like the sweetest bell in Nicholas’ ears. Of all the words the emperor had just spoken, none sounded better to him than that final word: home. He wanted nothing more than to get back to the flock he served. It was for them that he had come to this important gathering in the first place, to ensure that the Truths he had taught them would continue to be taught throughout the land.

After more than two months of being separated from them, and the ongoing question of what would become of them and the hundreds of thousands of others like them in the future who would be affected by their decisions here, Nicholas could finally go home. He was free again in more ways than one.

Ask for Prayer | Contact Us | Visit Our Website | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Bookstore

If you’d like a paperback edition of this story, in English or Spanish, we’d be glad to send you your choice for a donation of any size, anywhere in the world.  Just visit The Ranch bookstore learn more.

ST. NICHOLAS: THE BELIEVER
Part 5 of 7

by Eric & Lana Elder

 
If you’re trying to find ways to keep Christ at the center of your Christmas season, I hope you’ll read Part 5 of St. Nicholas: The Believer, which I’m posting today.  Nicholas lived in the Roman Empire during the time of the Great Persecution, a time when Bibles were burned and Christians were fed to the lions.

Why did so many believers stand up for Christ, even when doing so led to ridicule, pain and death?  And why do so many believers still stand up for Christ today, even when doing so is costly in so many ways?  There’s a reason we celebrate Christmas, and in the midst of all the glad tidings and good cheer, I hope this story of one believer from long ago helps you remember why.

• Listen to Part 5 (25 minutes)
• Read (or listen to) the whole book in English
• Read the whole book in Spanish

And here’s the full text of Part 5 of St. Nicholas: The Believer, a new story for Christmas based on the old story of St. Nicholas. Enjoy!

PART 5

CHAPTER 25

Back when Jesus was born, there was a king who felt so threatened by this little baby boy that he gave orders to kill every boy in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under. Three hundred and three years later, another king felt just as threatened by Jesus, as well as his followers.

This new king’s name was Diocletian, and he was the emperor of the entire Roman Empire. Even though the Romans had killed Jesus hundreds of years earlier, Diocletian still felt threatened by the Christians who followed Jesus. Diocletian declared himself to be a god and he wanted all the people in his empire to worship him.

Although Christians were among the most law-abiding citizens in the land, they simply couldn’t worship Diocletian. He considered this an act of insurrection, an act which must be quenched in the strongest way possible. By the time Diocletian had finally risen to his full power, he ordered that all Bibles be burned, that Christian churches be destroyed and that those who followed Christ be imprisoned, tortured and put to death.

While persecution against Christians had been taking place for many years under Roman rule, none of those persecutions compared to that which took place during the reign of Diocletian. Nicholas, for his part, didn’t fear Diocletian, but as always, he feared for those in his church who followed Jesus.

Having such a visible role in the church, Nicholas knew that he would be targeted first, and if he were taken away, he feared for what would happen to those who would be left behind. But Nicholas had already made his decision. He knew that even if he was killed he could trust God that God could still accomplish His purpose on earth whether Nicholas were a part of that or not. It was this foundational faith and trust in God and His purposes that would help Nicholas through the difficult years ahead.

Rather than retreat into hiding from the certain fate that awaited him, Nicholas chose to stand his ground to the end. He vowed to keep the doors to his church wide open for all who wanted to come in. And he kept that vow for as long as he could until one day when those who came in were soldiers–soldiers who had come for him.

CHAPTER 26

Nicholas was ready when the soldiers arrived. He knew that his time for second-guessing his decision to keep the church open was over. Unfortunately, the days for his church were over, too, as the soldiers shut the doors for good when they left.

For all the goodwill that Nicholas had built up with people in his town over the years, even with the local soldiers, these were no local soldiers who came for Nicholas. Diocletian had sent them with demands that his orders be carried out unquestioningly, and that those who didn’t carry them out would suffer the same fate as those who were to be punished.

Nicholas was given one last chance to renounce his faith in Christ and worship Diocletian instead, but Nicholas, of course, refused. It wasn’t that he wanted to defy Roman authority, for Christ Himself taught His followers that it was important to honor those in authority and to honor their laws. But to deny that Jesus was His Lord and Savior would have been like trying to deny that the sun had risen that morning! He simply couldn’t do it. How could he deny the existence of the One who had given him life, who had given him faith and who had given him hope in the darkest hours of his life. If the soldiers had to take him away, so be it. To say that a mere man like Diocletian was God, and that Jesus was anything less than God, was unconscionable.

For all his faith, Nicholas was still subject to the same sensations of pain that every human being experiences. His strong faith did not exempt him from the natural fear that others feel when they are threatened with bodily harm. He also feared the idea of imprisonment, having to be isolated from others for so long, especially when he didn’t know how long his imprisonment might last–or if he would survive it at all.

Nicholas knew that these fears were healthy, given to him by God, to keep out any danger and to protect him from anything that might possibly harm his body. But right now, as Nicholas was being forcefully taken away, he wished he could suppress those fears.

“God, help me,” he called out as the shackles that the soldiers were putting on his wrists cut into them. This was the beginning of a new kind of pilgrimage for Nicholas–a pilgrimage that would last far longer than his years in the Holy Land.

It would be hard to compare these two journeys in terms of their impact on his life, for how could you compare a journey freely taken, where you could come and go as you please and stop the journey at any time, with a journey that was forced upon you against your will, where even venturing out to catch a glimpse of the sun was under someone else’s control and not yours?

Yet Nicholas found that he was able to sense the presence of God in a way that equalled, if not surpassed, all that he had experienced in the Holy Land. As he had learned from other believers, sometimes you don’t realize that Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.

Over the course of his imprisonment, whenever the door to Nicholas’ prison cell opened, he didn’t know if the guards were there to set him free or to sentence him to death. He never knew if any given day might be his last. But the byproduct of this uncertainty was that Nicholas received a keen awareness of the brevity of life, as well as a continual awareness of the presence of God.

Nicholas found that by closing his eyes he could sense God’s presence in a way he had never sensed it before. This cell wasn’t a prison–it was a sanctuary. And all Nicholas wanted to do was to stay in God’s presence as long as he could. Soon, Nicholas didn’t even have to close his eyes. He simply knew that he was always in the presence of God.

Of course, his time in prison was also filled with the stinging pain of the worst kind of hell on earth. The soldiers were relentless in their attempts to get Nicholas to renounce his faith. The pain they inflicted ranged from prodding him with hot branding irons and squeezing his flesh with hot pincers to whipping him severely, then pouring salt and vinegar in his wounds. As a result, his back was permanently scarred. The unsanitary conditions of the prison caused Nicholas to experience more kinds of sickness than he had ever experienced before. At times he even wondered if death might be better than what he had to endure there.

It was during one of those times, the darkest perhaps, of the five years he had spent so far in prison, that the door to his cell opened. A light streamed in, but as he looked at it closely, it wasn’t the light of the sun, for as far as Nicholas could tell in his isolated cell, it was still just the middle of the night.

The light that entered the room was the light of a smile, a smile on the face of Nicholas’ young friend, now grown to be a man. It was the light of the smiling face of Dimitri.

CHAPTER 27

Nicholas had seen few faces in his time in prison, and fewer still that gave him any kind of encouragement. To see a smile on someone’s face, let alone a face that Nicholas loved so much, was pure joy.

It hadn’t been easy for Dimitri to find Nicholas. Dimitri had come to Myra knowing that Nicholas had taken a church there. But it had been years since Dimitri had heard from his friend, a time in which Dimitri himself had been imprisoned. Having only recently been set free, Dimitri made his way across the Great Sea in search of Nicholas. Dimitri had to search hard to find Nicholas, but Dimitri had come too far to give up without seeing his old friend and mentor, the first person who had shown him the love of Christ.

Using the street-smarts that he had acquired as a guide in the Holy Land, Dimitri was able to navigate his way through or around most anyone or anything that stood in his way. Dimitri’s tenacity, plus the hand of God’s guidance, helped Dimitri to find his friend, and to find this door which he opened that night for this special visit. It was a visit that, to Nicholas, seemed like a visit by an angel from heaven.

After the door closed behind them, and after an extended embrace, Dimitri sat down on the floor next to Nicholas. They sat in silence for several minutes, neither of them having to say a word. In holy moments like these, words were unnecessary.

The darkness in the small cell was so great that they didn’t even try to look at one another, but simply sat there side by side. Dimitri’s eyes had not yet adjusted to the pitch-blackness enough to see anything anyway, and Nicholas was content to merely know that his friend was right there by him. Nicholas could hear the sound of Dimitri’s breath, a sound which increased Nicholas’ joy, knowing that his friend was still alive and was right there in the flesh.

Nicholas drew in another deep breath and with it he breathed in a new sense of life. It was a breath of life that his friend couldn’t help but bring with him.

CHAPTER 28

“And how are our two young bodyguards doing?” Nicholas asked at last, referring to Samuel and Ruthie. Nicholas had been praying often for all three of them, as he cared for them as if they were his own young brothers and sister.

Dimitri hesitated. He looked at Nicholas but couldn’t say a word. He was eager to tell Nicholas everything that had happened in the years that had passed, about how Samuel and Ruthie continued taking people to the holy places, sharing with others the same good news of Jesus that they had discovered in their days with Nicholas.

Like Dimitri, Samuel and Ruthie had to stop guiding pilgrims when the “Great Persecution” came, as it was now being called. All three of them began spending most of their days seeing to the needs of the other believers in Jerusalem, believers who were facing imprisonment and death, just like Nicholas. Since they were not in a high profile position like Nicholas though, the three of them were able to avoid being caught longer than Nicholas. But eventually, they too were imprisoned, being repeatedly questioned, threatened and tortured for their faith.

Samuel and Dimitri were strong enough to withstand the abuse, but Ruthie was too frail. One day, after being treated particularly harshly, she returned to them and collapsed. Although she had obviously been crying from the pain in her body, somehow she had also managed to keep a smile in her heart.

“How can you do it?” asked Samuel. “How can you possibly still smile, even after all that?”

Ruthie replied, “I feel like I’ve been walking and talking with Jesus for so long now that even death wouldn’t really change that. I’ll just keep on walking and talking with Him forever.”

Ruthie smiled again and Dimitri couldn’t help but smile back at her. But her body was giving out and she knew it. She could sense that she was just moments away from passing from this life to the next.

“You can’t go!” said Samuel. “You’ve got to stay here with me! There’s still too much work to be done!” But Ruthie was slipping away.

“If you die, I’ll just pray that God will bring you back to life!” Samuel was desperate now to hang onto her. But Ruthie just smiled again. She had truly found the secret of living life to the fullest, and nothing, not even death, could take that away.

She spoke, quietly now, with just a whisper. “You could pray that God would raise me from the dead, but the truth is, I’ve already been raised from the dead once. When we met Nicholas, and he introduced us to Jesus, I was raised from the dead and given a whole new life. From then on, I knew that I would live forever.”

With that, Ruthie passed through the veil and into the visible presence of God. The smile that adorned her face in life continued to shine on her face in death, and Dimitri knew where she was. She was just continuing to do what she had always done, walking and talking with Jesus, but now face to face.

Nicholas sat in silence as Dimitri told him the story, taking it all in. As much as he thought he would be sad, his heart began to soar instead. None of this was new to him, of course, but hearing about Ruthie’s faith brought his own back to life again as well.

You would think a man like Nicholas wouldn’t need to be encouraged in his faith. He had brought faith to countless others, and he was a bishop no less. But Nicholas also knew in his heart of hearts that it was people like him who sometimes needed the most encouragement in their faith. Great faith, he knew, did not come to those who have no doubts. Great faith came to those who have had their faith stretched so far that it had to grow, or else it would break completely. By continuing to trust God no matter what, Nicholas found that he was able to fill in any gaps in his faith along the way, helping it to grow even further.

As sad as he was for Ruthie’s passing, Nicholas couldn’t help but smile from deep down in his heart the same way that Ruthie must have done on the day that she died. He longed for the day when he could see Jesus face to face, just as Ruthie was now seeing Him. Yet he loved the work that God had given him on earth to do, too.

“We can’t lose, can we?” said Nicholas with a reflective smile. “Either we die and get to be with Jesus in heaven, or we live and get to continue His work here on earth. Either way we win, don’t we? Either way we win.”

“Yes, either way we win,” echoed Dimitri. “Either way we win.”

For the next several hours, Nicholas and Dimitri shared stories with each other of what God had done in their lives during their time apart. But nothing could have prepared Nicholas for what Dimitri was about to tell him next. For Dimitri, it seems, had met a girl. And not just any girl, but a girl Nicholas knew very well by now. Her name was Anna Maria.

CHAPTER 29

In his journey to find Nicholas, Dimitri looked for anyone who might know of his whereabouts. When he got to Myra, he went first to the church where Nicholas had served as bishop. Not finding him there, Dimitri took to the streets to see if he could find anyone who knew anything about him. And who did he find in the streets, but the very girl–now a woman–that Nicholas had found so many years ago, selling her braided flowers to anyone who would buy them.

She was no longer covered in the cloak of poverty. Both her inner and outer beauty were immediately evident to Dimitri. He was so taken by her that he couldn’t help but be drawn into a conversation. And she seemed to be just as taken by him. She couldn’t believe that a man of his stature and faith was willing to talk to her. He was, she thought, the kindest and most impressive man she had ever met.

When Dimitri mentioned his mission, searching for the bishop named Nicholas, Anna Maria gasped. How could this man, this stranger from the other side of the Great Sea, know anything about Nicholas? Dimitri shared the story of how they met, and Nicholas had rescued him from his poverty of faith. Anna Maria couldn’t help but share what Nicholas had done for her family as well, saving her two older sisters from slavery by throwing a bag of gold through the window for each of them on the eve of their 18th birthdays.

But then, Anna Maria’s smile faded. It was now only a few days until her own 18th birthday, but Nicholas had been taken away to prison five years earlier. No one had seen nor heard from him in all those years. She didn’t even know where he was. Although her father had had a change of heart, and wouldn’t dream of selling Anna Maria into slavery, he still had no dowry to offer to any potential suitor. Without a dowry, as Dimitri knew very well, Anna Maria’s future was dim. And with Nicholas in prison, there was no chance he would be able to rescue their family a third time. Anna Maria had taken again to selling her flowers in the street, and although they were more impressive than her earlier creations, she could barely earn enough from their sales to help the family with the cost of food from time to time.

Dimitri listened, and like Nicholas before him, he knew within minutes what God was prompting him to do. He could be the answer to Anna Maria’s prayers, and with much more than just a dowry. But he also knew that these things take time, so he just treasured these thoughts in his heart, buying a flower from Anna Maria, thanking her for sharing what she knew about Nicholas and continuing on his way, promising to get in touch with her if he ever located their precious friend.

On the eve of Anna Maria’s birthday, Dimitri found himself in the very spot where Nicholas had hidden twice before, years earlier, just outside the open window of Anna Maria’s home. The conversation inside was subdued, as Anna Maria and her father prayed, knowing that there was no way for Nicholas to appear again. They put out the lights and headed for bed.

Dimitri waited for what seemed to him like hours, knowing that he couldn’t dare wake them and risk exposing his plan. For he had saved up enough in his years of working in the Holy Land to easily fill a bag with golden coins suitable for a dowry. But he couldn’t just hand them the money, for he had more in mind than just giving them the dowry. He wanted Anna Maria’s father to give it back to him someday, as a wedding gift to him! It was a long shot, and he knew he would need more time to be sure she was the one for him. He also felt this was the best way to make it all work out in the end, even if she wasn’t the one for him. Something told him, however, that she was. And with that thought in mind, he made his next move.

Carefully and quietly, he reached over the windowsill and let the bag drop quietly down on the floor below. No one heard and no one stirred. Having done his duty to God and to his own heart, he set off again in search of Nicholas. Two weeks later, Dimitri had found Nicholas, and was now sharing with him the story of how he had met the woman of his dreams.

The news couldn’t have been any sweeter to Nicholas’ ears. And again his heart lightened and soared, for even though he was locked away from the rest of the world in his prison cell, Nicholas saw the fruit of his prayers–prayers that were answered in the most incredible way imaginable. He could still make a difference in the world, even from here in prison, even when the world tried to shut him down.

Before Dimitri left that night, he embraced Nicholas one more time; then he was gone. He disappeared through the prison door as miraculously as he had entered it.

It would be five more years until Nicholas would see Dimitri again. Diocletian’s grip continued to tighten around the Christians’ necks. But during all those remaining years in prison, Nicholas felt freer in his heart than he had ever felt before. No man could keep Nicholas from worshipping Jesus, and no man could keep Jesus from doing what He wanted done.

When the day finally came for Nicholas to be set free, the guard who opened Nicholas’ door looked in and said, “It’s time to go. You’re free.”

Nicholas simply looked at the guard with a smile. He had already been free for quite some time.

CHAPTER 30

Thinking Nicholas must not have heard him, the guard spoke again. “I said you’re free, you’re free to go. You can get up and go home now.”

At the word “home,” Nicholas stirred. He hadn’t seen his home, or his church, or hardly any other soul than Dimitri for ten years. He stood to his feet and his movements began to accelerate as he responded to the guard’s words.

“Home?” Nicholas said.

“Yes, home. You can go home now. The emperor has issued a decree that has set all Christians free.”

The emperor he was referring to was a new emperor named Constantine. Diocletian’s efforts had failed to constrain the Christians. Instead of quenching their spirits, Diocletian had strengthened them. Like Nicholas, those who weren’t killed grew stronger in their faith. And the stronger they grew in their faith, the stronger they grew in their influence, gaining new converts from the citizens around them. Even Diocletian’s wife and daughter had converted to Christianity.

Diocletian stepped down from ruling the empire, and Constantine stepped up.

Constantine reversed the persecution of the Christians, issuing the Edict of Milan. This edict showed a new tolerance for people of all religions and resulted in freedom for the Christians. Constantine’s mother, Helen, was a devout Christian herself. Even though no one quite knew if Constantine was a Christian, the new tolerance he displayed allowed people to worship whoever they pleased and however they pleased, the way it should have been all along.

As much as Diocletian had changed the Roman world for the worse, Constantine was now changing it for the better. Their reigns were as different as night and day and served as a testament of how one person really can affect the course of history forever–either for good or for evil.

Nicholas was aware, now more than ever, that he had just one life to live. But he was also aware that if he lived it right, one life was all that he would need. He resolved in his heart once more to do his best to make the most of every day, starting again today.

As he was led from his prison cell and returned to the city of Myra, it was no coincidence, he thought, that the first face he saw there was the face of Anna Maria.

He recognized her in an instant. But the ten years in prison, and the wear and tear it had taken on his life, made it hard for her to recognize him as quickly. But as soon as she saw his smile, she too knew in an instant that it was the smile of her dear old friend Nicholas. Of course it was Nicholas! And he was alive, standing right there in front of her!

She couldn’t move, she was so shocked. Two children stood beside her, looking up at their mother, and then looking at the man who now held her gaze. Here was the man who had done so much for her and her family. Her joy was uncontainable. With a call over her shoulder, Anna Maria shouted, “Dimitri! Dimitri! Come quickly! It’s Nicholas!”

Then she rushed towards Nicholas, giving him an embrace and holding on tight. Dimitri emerged from a shop behind them, took one look at Nicholas and Anna Maria and rushed towards them as well, sweeping his children up with him as he ran.

Now the whole family was embracing Nicholas as if he was a dear brother or father or uncle who had just returned from war. The tears and the smiles on their faces melted together. The man who had saved Anna Maria and her family from a fate worse than death had been spared from death as well! And Dimitri grinned from ear to ear, too, seeing his good friend, and seeing how happy it made Nicholas to see Dimitri and Anna Maria together with their new family.

Nicholas took hold of each of their faces–one at a time–and looked deeply into their eyes. Then he held the children close. The seeds he had planted years ago in the lives of Dimitri and Anna Maria were still bearing fruit, fruit he could now see with his own two eyes. All his efforts had been worth it, and nothing like the smiles on their faces could have made it any clearer to him than that.

Throughout the days and weeks ahead, Nicholas and the other believers who had been set free had many similar reunions throughout Myra. Those days were like one long, ongoing reunion.

Nicholas, as well as the others who had managed to survive the Great Persecution, must have appeared to those around them as Lazarus must have appeared, when Jesus called him to come out of the tomb–a man who had died, but was now alive. And like Lazarus, these Christians were not only alive, but they led many more people to faith in Christ as well, for their faith was now on fire in a whole new way. What Diocletian had meant for harm, God was able to use for good. This new contingent of Christians had emerged with a faith that was stronger than ever before.

Nicholas knew that this new level of faith, like all good gifts from God, had been given to him for a purpose, too. For as big as the tests had been that Nicholas had faced up to now, God was preparing him for the biggest test yet to come.

Ask for Prayer | Contact Us | Visit Our Website | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Bookstore

If you’d like a paperback edition of this story, in English or Spanish, we’d be glad to send you your choice for a donation of any size, anywhere in the world.  Just visit The Ranch bookstore learn more.

ST. NICHOLAS: THE BELIEVER
Part 4 of 7

by Eric & Lana Elder

 
Yesterday, December 6th, was St. Nicholas Day, a day when many children around the world found their shoes filled with gifts given in the name of the man for whom this day was named, Nicholas of Myra, a city in present-day Turkey.  Nicholas was a strong believer in Jesus Christ who lived in the 4th century and died on December 6th, 343 A.D.  If you’ve never read his story, you’re in for a treat as you discover what made this believer Christ such a role model for giving gifts that touch the lives of others.

For those who have been following this story as I’ve been publishing it each week, you can listen to Part 4 below.  For those who are just now getting started, I’ve included the links where you can read or listen to the entire story from the beginning.  It’s a great way to fuel your faith this Christmas season.

• Listen to Part 4 (30 minutes)
• Read (or listen to) the whole book in English
• Read the whole book in Spanish

And here’s the full text of Part 4 of St. Nicholas: The Believer, a new story for Christmas based on the old story of St. Nicholas.  Enjoy!

PART 4

CHAPTER 18

Nicholas’ next step in life was about to be determined by a dream. But it wasn’t a dream that Nicholas had conceived–it was a dream that God had conceived and had put in the mind of a man, a priest in the city of Myra.

In the weeks leading up to Nicholas’ arrival in Myra, a tragedy had befallen the church there. Their aging bishop, the head of their church, had died. The tragedy that had fallen upon the church wasn’t the bishop’s death, for he had lived a long and fruitful life and had simply succumbed to the effects of old age. The tragedy arose out of the debate that ensued regarding who should take his place as the next bishop.

While it would seem that such things could be resolved amicably, especially within a church, when people’s hearts are involved, their loyalties and personal desires can sometimes muddy their thoughts so much that they can’t see what God’s will is in a particular situation. It can be hard for anyone, even for people of faith, to keep their minds free from preconceived ideas and personal preferences regarding what God may, or may not, want to do at any given time.

This debate was the storm that had been brewing for a week now, and which had reached its apex the night before Nicholas’ arrival.

That night one of the priests had a dream that startled him awake. In his dream he saw a man whom he had never seen before who was clearly to take up the responsibilities of their dearly departed bishop. When he woke from his dream, he remembered nothing about what the man looked like, but only remembered his name: Nicholas.

“Nicholas?” asked one of the other priests when he heard his fellow priest’s dream. “None of us have ever gone by that name, nor is there anyone in the whole city by that name.”

Nicholas was, to be sure, not a popular name at the time. It was only mentioned once in passing in one of Luke’s writings about the early church, along with other names which were just as uncommon in those days in Myra like Procorus, Nicanor, Timon and Parmenas. It seemed ridiculous to the other priests that this dream could possibly be from God. But the old priest reminded them, “Even the name of Jesus was given to His father by an angel in a dream.”

Perhaps it was this testimony from the gospels, or perhaps it was the unlikelihood that it would ever happen, that the priests all agreed that they would strongly consider the next person who walked through their door who answered to the name of Nicholas. It would certainly help to break the deadlock in which they found themselves.

What a surprise then, when they opened their doors for their morning prayers, when an entire shipload of men started to stream into the church!

The priests greeted each of the men at the door as they entered, welcoming them into the church. The last two to enter were the captain and Nicholas, as they had allowed all of the others to enter first. The captain thanked the priests for opening their doors to them for their morning prayers, then turned to Nicholas and said, “And thanks to Nicholas for having this brilliant idea to come here today.”

The astonished priests looked at one another in disbelief. Perhaps God had answered their prayers after all.

CHAPTER 19

The captain’s concern about what to do with the grain on his ship dissipated when they arrived at the church as fast as the storm had dissipated when they arrived on shore.

Within moments of beginning their morning prayers, he was convinced that it could only have been the mighty hand of God that had held their rudder straight and true. He knew now for sure he wanted to make an offering of the grain to the people who lived there. God spoke to him about both the plan and the amount. It was as if the captain were playing the role of Abraham in the old, old story when Abraham offered a portion of his riches to Melchizedek the priest.

The captain was willing to take his chances with his superiors in Rome rather than take any chances with the God who had delivered them all. He knew that without God’s guidance and direction so far on this journey, neither he nor his men nor the ship nor its grain would have ever made it to Rome at all.

When the captain stood up from his prayers, he quickly found Nicholas to share the answer with him as well. Nicholas agreed both to the plan and to the amount. The captain asked, “Do you think it will be enough for all these people?”

Nicholas replied, “Jesus was able to feed 5,000 people with just five loaves of bread and two fish—and what you want to give to this city is much more than what Jesus had to start with!”

“How did He do it?” asked the captain—almost to himself as much as to Nicholas.

“All I know,” answered Nicholas, “is that He looked up to heaven, gave thanks and began passing out the food with His disciples. In the end everyone was satisfied and they still had twelve baskets full of food left over!”

“That’s exactly what we’ll do then, too,” said the captain.

And the story would be told for years to come how the captain of the ship looked up to heaven, gave thanks and began passing out the grain with his crew. It was enough to satisfy the people of that city for two whole years and to plant and reap even more in the third year.

As the priests said goodbye to the captain and crew, they asked Nicholas if he would be able to stay behind for a time. The winds of confusion that had whipped up and then subsided inside the captain’s mind were about to pale in comparison to the storm that was about to break open inside the mind of Nicholas.

CHAPTER 20

When the priests told Nicholas about their dream and that he just might be the answer to their prayers,Nicholas was dumbfounded and amazed, excited and perplexed. He had often longed to be used by God in a powerful way, and it was unmistakable that God had already brought him straight across the Great Sea to this very spot at this very hour!

But to become a priest, let alone a bishop, would be a decision that would last a lifetime. He had oftentimes considered taking up his earthly father’s business. His father had been highly successful at it, and Nicholas felt he could do the same. But even more important to him than doing the work of his father was to have a family like his father.

Nicholas’ memories of his parents were so fond that he longed to create more memories of his own with a family of his own. The custom of all the priests Nicholas knew, however, was to abstain from marriage and child-bearing so they could more fully devote themselves to the needs of the community around them.

Nicholas pulled back mentally at the thought of having to give up his desire for a family of his own. It wasn’t that having a family was a conscious dream that often filled his thoughts, but it was one of those assumptions in the back of his mind that he took for granted would come at some point in his future.

The shock of having to give up on the idea of a family, even before he had fully considered having one yet, was like a jolt to his system. Following God’s will shouldn’t be so difficult, he thought! But he had learned from his parents that laying down your will for the sake of God’s will wasn’t always so easy, another lesson they had learned from Jesus.

So just because it was a difficult decision wasn’t enough to rule it out. An image also floated through his mind of those three smiling faces he had met when he first landed in the Holy Land, with their heads bowed down and their hands outstretched. Hadn’t they seemed like family to him? And weren’t there hundreds—even thousands—of children just like them, children who had no family of their own, no one to care for them, no one to look after their needs?

And weren’t there countless others in the world—widows and widowers and those who had families in name but not in their actual relationships—who still needed the strength and encouragement and sense of family around them? And weren’t there still other families as well, like Nicholas and his parents, who had been happy on their own but found additional happiness when they came together as the family of believers in their city? Giving up on the idea of a family of his own didn’t mean he had to give up on the idea of having a family altogether. In fact, it may even be possible that he could have an even larger “family” in this way.

The more Nicholas thought about what he might give up in order to serve God in the church, the more he thought about how God might use this new position in ways that went beyond Nicholas’ own thoughts and desires. And if God was indeed in this decision, perhaps it had its own special rewards in the end.

The fury of the storm that swept through his mind began to abate. In its place, God’s peace began to flow over both his mind and his heart. Nicholas recognized this as the peace of God’s divine will being clearly revealed to him. It only took another moment for Nicholas to know what his answer would be.

The storms that had once seemed so threatening–whether the storm at sea or the storm in the church or the storms in the minds of both the captain and Nicholas–now turned out to be blessings of God instead. They were blessings that proved to Nicholas once again that no matter what happened, God really could work all things for good for those who loved Him and who were called according to His purpose.

Yes, if the priests would have him, Nicholas would become the next bishop of Myra.

CHAPTER 21

Nicholas didn’t suddenly become another man when he became a bishop. He became a bishop because of the man he already was. As he had done before with his father so many years earlier, Nicholas continued to do now, here in the city of Myra and the surrounding towns: walking and praying and asking God where he could be of most help.

It was on one of these prayerful walks that Nicholas met Anna Maria. She was a beautiful girl only eleven years old, but her beauty was disguised to most others by the poverty she wore. Nicholas found her one day trying to sell flowers that she had made out of braided blades of grass. But the beauty of the flowers also seemed to be disguised to everyone but Nicholas, for no one would buy her simple creations.

As Nicholas stepped towards her, she reminded him instantly of little Ruthie, whom he had left behind in the Holy Land, with the golden flowers in her hand on the hillsides of Bethlehem.

When he stopped for a closer look, God spoke to his heart. It seemed to Nicholas that this must have been what Moses felt when he stopped to look at the burning bush in the desert, a moment when his natural curiosity turned into a supernatural encounter with the Living God.

“Your flowers are beautiful,” said Nicholas. “May I hold one?”

The young girl handed him one of her creations. As he looked at it, he looked at her. The beauty he saw in both the flower and the girl was stunning. Somehow Nicholas had the ability to see what others could not see, or did not see, as Nicholas always tried to see people and things and life the way God saw them, as if God were looking through his eyes.

“I’d like to buy this one, if I could,” he said.

Delighted, she smiled for the first time. She told him the price, and he gave her a coin.

“Tell me,” said Nicholas, “what will you do with the money you make from selling these beautiful flowers?”

What Nicholas heard next broke his heart.

Anna Maria was the youngest of three sisters: Sophia, Cecilia and Anna Maria. Although their father loved them deeply, he had been plunged into despair when his once-successful business had failed, and then his wife passed away shortly thereafter. Lacking the strength and the resources to pick himself up out of the darkness, the situation for his family grew bleaker and bleaker.

Anna Maria’s oldest sister, Sophia, had just turned 18, and she turned a number of heads as well. But no one would marry her because her father had no dowry to offer to any potential suitor. And with no dowry, there was little likelihood that she, nor any of the three girls, would ever be married.

The choices facing their father were grim. He knew he must act soon or risk the possibility of Cecilia and Anna Maria never getting married in the future, either. With no way to raise a suitable dowry for her, and being too proud to take charity from others, even if someone had had the funds to offer to him, her father was about to do the unthinkable: he was going to sell his oldest daughter into slavery to help make ends meet.

How their father could think this was the best solution available to him, Nicholas couldn’t imagine. But he also knew that desperation often impaired even the best-intentioned men. By sacrificing his oldest daughter in this way, the father reasoned that perhaps he could somehow spare the younger two from a similar fate.

Anna Maria, for her part, had come up with the idea of making and selling flowers as a way to spare her sister from this fate that was to her worse than death. Nicholas held back his tears out of respect for Anna Maria and the noble effort she was making to save her sister.

He also refrained from buying Anna Maria’s whole basket of flowers right there on the spot, for Nicholas knew it would take more than a basket full of flowers to save Sophia. It would take a miracle. And as God spoke to his heart that day, Nicholas knew that God just might use him to deliver it.

CHAPTER 22

Without show and without fanfare, Nicholas offered a prayer for Anna Maria, along with his thanks for the flower, and encouraged her to keep doing what she could to help her family–and to keep trusting in God to do what she couldn’t.

Nicholas knew he could help this family. He knew he had the resources to make a difference in their lives, for he still had a great deal of his parents’ wealth hidden in the cliffs near the coast for occasions such as this. But he also knew that Anna Maria’s proud father would never accept charity from any man, even at this bleakest hour.

Her father’s humiliation at losing his business, along with his own personal loss, had blinded him to the reality of what was about to happen to his daughter. Nicholas wanted to help, but how? How could he step into the situation without further humiliating Anna Maria’s father, possibly causing him to refuse the very help that Nicholas could extend to him. Nicholas did what he always did when he needed wisdom. He prayed. And before the day was out, he had his answer.

Nicholas put his plan into action–and none too soon! It just so happened that the next day was the day when Sophia’s fate would be sealed.

Taking a fair amount of gold coins from his savings, Nicholas placed them into a small bag. It was small enough to fit in one hand, but heavy enough to be sure that it would adequately supply the need.

Hiding under the cover of night, he crossed the city of Myra to the home where Anna Maria, her father and her two older sisters lived.

He could hear them talking inside as he quietly approached the house. Their mood was understandably downcast as they discussed what they thought was their inevitable next step. They asked God to give them the strength to do whatever they needed to do.

For years, Sophia and her sisters had dreamed of the day when they would each meet the man of their dreams. They had even written love songs to these men, trusting that God would bring each of them the perfect man at the perfect time.

Now it seemed like all their songs, all their prayers and all their dreams had been in vain. Sophia wasn’t the only one who felt the impact of this new reality, for her two younger sisters knew that the same fate might one day await each of them.

The girls wanted to trust God, but no matter how hard they thought about their situation, each of them felt like their dreams were about to be shattered.

At Anna Maria’s prompting, they tried to sing their favorite love song one more time, but their sadness simply deepened at the words. It was no longer a song of hope, but a song of despair, and the words now seemed so impossible to them.

It was not just a song, but a prayer, and one of the deepest prayers Nicholas had ever heard uttered by human tongue. His heart went out to each of them, while at the same time it pounded with fear. He had a plan, and he hoped it would work, but he had no way of knowing for sure. He wasn’t worried about what might happen to him if he were discovered, but he was worried that their father would reject his gift if he knew where it had come from. That would certainly seal the girls’ doom. As Sophia and Cecilia and Anna Maria said their goodnights–and their father had put out the lights–Nicholas knew that his time had come.

Inching closer to the open window of the room where they had been singing, Nicholas bent down low to his knees. He lobbed the bag of coins into the air and through the window. It arced gracefully above him and seemed to hang in the air for a moment before landing with a soft thud in the center of the room. A few coins bounced loose, clinking faintly on the ground, rolling and then coming to a stop. Nicholas turned quickly and hid in the darkness nearby as the girls and their father awoke at the sound.

They called out to see if anyone was there, but when they heard no answer, they entered the room from both directions. As their father lit the light, Anna Maria was the first to see it–and gasped.

There, in the center of the room, lay a small round bag, shimmering with golden coins at the top. The girls gathered around their father as he carefully picked up the bag and opened it.

It was more than enough gold to provide a suitable dowry for Sophia, with more to spare to take care of the rest of the family for some time to come!

But where could such a gift have come from? The girls were sure it had come from God Himself in answer to their prayers! But their father wanted to know more. Who had God used to deliver it? Certainly no one they knew. He sprinted out of the house, followed by his daughters, to see if he could find any trace of the deliverer, but none could be found.

Returning back inside, and with no one to return the money to, the girls and their father got down on their knees and thanked God for His deliverance.

As Nicholas listened in the darkness, he too gave thanks to God, for this was the very thing Nicholas hoped they would do. He knew that the gift truly was from God, provided by God and given through Nicholas by God’s prompting in answer to their prayers. Nicholas had only given to them what God had given to him in the first place. Nicholas neither wanted nor needed any thanks nor recognition for the gift. God alone deserved their praise.

But by allowing Nicholas to be involved, using Nicholas’ own hands and his own inheritance to bless others, Nicholas felt a joy that he could hardly contain. By delivering the gift himself, Nicholas was able to ensure that the gift was properly given. And by giving the gift anonymously, he was able to ensure that the true Giver of the gift was properly credited.

The gift was delivered and God got the credit. Nicholas had achieved both of his goals.

CHAPTER 23

While Nicholas preferred to do his acts of goodwill in secret, there were times when, out of sheer necessity, he had to act in broad daylight. And while it was his secret acts that gained him favor with God, it was his public acts that gained him favor with men.

Many people rightly appreciate a knight in shining armor, but not everyone wants to be rescued from evil–especially those who profit from it.

One such man was a magistrate in Myra, a leader in the city who disliked Nicholas intensely–or anyone who stood in the way of what he wanted.

This particular magistrate was both corrupt and corruptible. He was willing to do anything to get what he wanted, no matter what it cost to others. Although Nicholas had already been at odds with him several times in the past, their conflict escalated to a boiling point when news reached Nicholas that the magistrate had sentenced three men to death–for a crime Nicholas was sure they did not commit. Nicholas couldn’t wait this time for the cover of darkness. He knew he needed to act immediately to save these men from death.

Nicholas had been entertaining some generals from Rome that afternoon whose ship had docked in Myra’s port the night before. Nicholas had invited the generals to his home to hear news about some changes that had been taking place in Rome. A new emperor was about to take power, they said, and the implications might be serious for Nicholas and his flock of Christ-followers.

It was during their luncheon that Nicholas heard about the unjust sentencing and the impending execution. Immediately he set out for the site where the execution was to take place. The three generals, sensing more trouble might ensue once Nicholas arrived, set out after him.

When Nicholas burst onto the execution site, the condemned men were already on the platform. They were bound and bent over with their heads and necks ready for the executioner’s sword.

Without a thought for his own safety, Nicholas leapt onto the platform and tore the sword from the executioner’s hands. Although Nicholas was not a fighter himself, Nicholas made his move so unexpectedly that the executioner made little attempt to try to wrestle the sword back out of the bishop’s hands.

Nicholas knew these men were as innocent as the magistrate was guilty. He was certain that it must have been the men’s good deeds, not their bad ones, that had offended the magistrate. Nicholas untied the ropes of the innocent men in full view of the onlookers, defying both the executioner and the magistrate.

The magistrate came forward to face Nicholas squarely. But as he did so, the three generals who had been having lunch with Nicholas also stepped forward. One took his place on Nicholas’ left, another on Nicholas’ right and the third stood directly in front of him. Prudently, the magistrate took a step back. Nicholas knew that this was the time to press the magistrate for the truth.

Although the magistrate tried to defend himself, his pleas of fell on deaf ears. No one would believe his lies anymore. He tried to convince the people that it was not he who wanted to condemn these innocent men, but two other businessmen in town who had given him a bribe in order to have these men condemned. But by trying to shift the blame to others, the magistrate condemned himself for the greed that was in his heart.

Nicholas declared: “It seems that it was not these two men who have corrupted you, sir, but two others–whose names are Gold and Silver!”

Cut to the quick, the magistrate broke down and made a full confession in front of all the people for this and for all the other wrongs he had done, even for speaking ill of Nicholas, who had done nothing but good for the people. Nicholas set more than three prisoners free that day, as even the magistrate was finally set free from his greed by his honest confession. Seeing the heartfelt change in the magistrate, Nicholas pardoned him, forever winning the magistrate’s favor–and the people’s favor–from that moment on.

When Nicholas was born, his parents had named him Nicholas, which means in Greek “the people’s victor.” Through acts like these, Nicholas became “the people’s victor” both in name and in deed.

Nicholas was already becoming an icon–even in his own time.

CHAPTER 24

Within three months of receiving her unexpected dowry from Nicholas, Sophia had received a visit from a suitor–one who “suited her” just fine. He truly was the answer to her prayers, and she was thankfully, happily and finally married.

Two years later, however, Sophia’s younger sister Cecilia found herself in dire straights as well. Although Cecilia was ready to be married now, her father’s business had not improved, no matter how hard he tried. As the money that Nicholas had given to the family began to run out, their despair began to set in. Pride and sorrow had once again blinded Cecilia’s father to the truth, and he felt his only option was to commit Cecilia to a life of slavery, hoping to save his third and final daughter from a similar fate.

While they were confident that God had answered their prayers once, their circumstances had caused them to doubt that He could do it again. A second rescue at this point was more than they could have asked for or imagined.

Nicholas, however, knowing their situation by this time much more intimately, knew that God was prompting him again to intercede. It had been two years since his earlier rescue, but in all that time the family never suspected nor discovered that he was the deliverer of God’s gift.

As the time came closer to a decision on what they should do next, Nicholas knew his time to act had come as well. And in order to make it clear that his gift was to be used first and foremost for Cecilia’s dowry, and then after that for any other needs the family might have, he waited until the night before she was to be sold into slavery to make his move.

Once again waiting for the cover of darkness, Nicholas approached their house. Cecilia and Anna Maria had already gone to bed early that night, sent there by their father who had told them not to expect any similar miracle to what happened for Sophia. But somewhere in the depths of his despair, their father still had a glimmer of hope in his heart, a wish perhaps, more than anything else, that Someone really was watching out for him and that his prayers just might still be answered. With that hope, he decided to stay awake and stay close to the window, just in case some angel did appear–whether an earthly one or a heavenly one.

Nicholas knew this might happen, and he knew that Cecilia’s father might still reject his gift if he found out that Nicholas had given it. But he also hoped that perhaps her father’s proud heart had softened a bit and he would accept the gift even if Nicholas was discovered.

Seeing that the house was perfectly quiet, Nicholas knelt down beside the open window. He tossed the second bag of gold into the room.

The bag had barely hit the ground when the girls’ father leapt out of the window through which it had come and overtook Nicholas as he tried to flee. You might have thought that Nicholas had taken a bag of gold rather than given a bag of gold the way the girls’ father chased him down!

Fearing that all his efforts had been wasted, Nicholas’ heart was eased as the man didn’t rebuke Nicholas but thanked him without even looking at who he had caught.

“Please hear me out,” he said. “I just want to thank you. You’ve done so much already for me and my family that I couldn’t have expected such a gift again. But your generosity has opened my eyes to the pride in my heart–a pride that almost cost me the lives of two daughters now.”

The girls’ father had spoken both breathlessly and quickly to be sure that the stranger would hear him before trying to escape again. But when he looked up to see who he was talking to–Nicholas the priest–the shock on their father’s face was evident. How could a priest afford to give such an incredible gift?

In answer to this unasked question, Nicholas spoke: “Yes, it was I who delivered this gift to you, but it was God who gave it to me to give to you. It is not from the church and not from the charity of my own hand. It came from my father who earned it fairly by the work of his hands. He was a businessman like you. And if he were alive today, he would have wanted to give it to you himself. I’m sure of it. He, of all people, knew how difficult it was to run a business, just as you do. He also loved his family, just as you do, too.”

Nicholas paused to let his words sink in, then continued, “But please, for my sake and for God’s sake, please know that it was God Himself who has answered your prayers–for He has. I am simply a messenger for Him, a deliverer, a tool in His hands, allowing Him to do through me what I know He wants done. As for me, I prefer to do my giving in secret, not even letting my right hand know what my left hand is doing.”

The look on Nicholas’ face was so sincere and he conveyed his intentions with such love and devotion for the One whom he served, that the girls’ father could not help but to accept Nicholas’ gift as if it had truly come from the hand of God Himself.

But as they said their goodbyes, the girls and their father could hardly contain their thankfulness to Nicholas, too, for letting God use him in such a remarkable way.

As much as Nicholas tried to deflect their praise back to God, he also knew he did have a role to play in their lives. Although God prompts many to be generous in their hearts, not everyone responds to those promptings as Nicholas did.

Nicholas would wait to see how the family fared over the next few years to see if they would need any help for Anna Maria, too.

But Nicholas never got the chance. The new emperor had finally come into power, and the course of Nicholas’ life was about to change again. Even though Nicholas often came to the rescue of others, there were times when, like the Savior he followed, it seemed he was unable to rescue himself.

Ask for Prayer | Contact Us | Visit Our Website | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Bookstore

If you’d like a paperback edition of this story, in English or Spanish, we’d be glad to send you your choice for a donation of any size, anywhere in the world.  Just visit The Ranch bookstore learn more.

ST. NICHOLAS: THE BELIEVER
Part 3 of 7

by Eric & Lana Elder

 
If you need a boost in your faith this Christmas, I hope you’ll read St. Nicholas: The Believer, a new story for Christmas based on the old story of St. Nicholas.   I’m posting Part 3 today, but if you missed Parts 1 and 2, it’s not too late to catch up!  I just heard from a friend in Kenya who listened to Part 2 and said, “WOW! You have a beautiful voice Eric!! I have to go back and listen to Part 1. Looking forward to it.”

To listen to Part 3, or to start from the beginning, just click the links below.  (80 people have also ordered the paperback version, which you can still do, too, by visiting The Ranch Bookstore.)

• Listen to Part 3 (27-1/2 minutes)
• Read (or listen to) the whole book in English
• Read the whole book in Spanish

Here’s the full text of Part 3 of St. Nicholas: The Believer.  Enjoy!

PART 3

CHAPTER 12

Once again, Nicholas was standing on a beach, alone. This time, however, it was on the shores of the Holy Land, looking back across the Great Sea towards his home.

In the months following his visit to Bethlehem, Nicholas, along with his young guide and bodyguards, had searched for every holy place that they could find that related to Jesus. They had retraced Jesus’ steps from His boyhood village in Nazareth to the fishing town of Capernaum, where Jesus had spent most of His adult years.

They had waded into the Jordan River where Jesus had been baptized and they swam in the Sea of Galilee where He had walked on the water and calmed the storm.

They had visited the hillside where Jesus had taught about the kingdom of heaven, and they had marveled at the spot where He had multiplied the five loaves of bread and two fish to feed a crowd of over 5,000 people.

While it was in Bethlehem that Nicholas was filled with wonder and awe, it was in Jerusalem where he was filled with mission and purpose. Walking through the streets where Jesus had carried His cross to His own execution, Nicholas felt the weight on his shoulders as if he were carrying a cross as well. Then seeing the hill where Jesus had died, and the empty tomb nearby where Jesus had risen from the dead, Nicholas felt the weight on his shoulders lifting off, as Jesus must have felt when He emerged from the tomb in which He had been sealed.

It was in that moment that Nicholas knew what his mission and purpose in life would be: to point others to the One who would lift their burdens off as well. He wanted to show them that they no longer had to carry the burdens of their sin, pain, sickness and need all alone. He wanted to show them that they could cast all their cares on Jesus, knowing that Jesus cared for them. “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened,” Jesus had said, “and I will give you rest.”

The stories Nicholas had heard as a child were no longer vague and distant images of things that might have been. They were stories that had taken on new life for him, stories that were now three dimensional and in living color. It wasn’t just the fact that he was seeing these places with his own eyes. Others had done that, and some were even living there in the land themselves, but they had still never felt what Nicholas was feeling. What made the difference for Nicholas was that he was seeing these stories through the eyes of faith, through the eyes of a Believer, as one who now truly believed all that had taken place.

As his adventures of traveling to each of the holy sites came to an end, Nicholas returned to the spot where he had first felt the presence of God so strongly: to Bethlehem. He felt that in order to prepare himself better for his new calling in life, he should spend as much time as he could living and learning in this special land. While exploring the city of Bethlehem and its surroundings, he found another cave nearby, in the city of Beit Jala, that was similar to the cave in which Jesus had been born. He took up residence there in the cave, planning to spend as much time as he could living and learning how to live in this land where His Savior had lived.

Dimitri, Samuel and Ruthie had gained a new sense of mission and purpose for their lives as well. As much as they wanted to stay with Nicholas, they felt even more compelled to continue their important work of bringing more people to see these holy places. It was no longer just a way for them to provide a living for themselves, but they found it to be a holy calling, a calling to help others experience what they had experienced.

It had been four full years now since Nicholas had first arrived on this side of the Sea. During that time, he often saw his young friends as they brought more and more pilgrims to see what they had shown to Nicholas. In those few short years, he watched each of them grow up “in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men,” just as Jesus had done in His youth in Nazareth.

Nicholas would have been very happy to stay here even longer, but the same Spirit of God that had drawn him to come was now drawing him back home. He knew that he couldn’t stay on this mountaintop forever. There were people who needed him, and a life that was waiting for him back home, back in the province of Lycia. What that life held for him, he wasn’t sure. With his parents gone, there was little to pull him back home, but it was simply the Spirit of God Himself, propelling him forward on the next leg of his journey.

Making arrangements for a ship home was harder than it was to find a ship to come here, for the calm seas of summer were nearing their end and the first storms of winter were fast approaching. But Nicholas was convinced that this was the time, and he knew that if he waited any longer, he might not make it home again until spring–and the Spirit’s pull was too strong for that kind of delay.

So when he heard that a ship was expected to arrive any day now, one of the last of the season to sail through here on its way from Alexandria to Rome, he quickly arranged for passage. The ship was to arrive the next morning, and he knew he couldn’t miss it.

He had sent word, through a shopkeeper, to try to find his three best friends to let them know that he would be sailing in the morning. But as the night sky closed in, he had still not heard a word from them.

So he stood there on the beach alone, contemplating all that had taken place and all that had changed in his life since coming to the Holy Land–and all that was about to change as he left it. The thoughts filled him with excitement, anticipation and, to be honest, just a little bit of fear.

CHAPTER 13

Although Nicholas’ ship arrived the following morning just as expected, the children didn’t.

Later that afternoon, when the time came for him to board and the three still hadn’t shown up, Nicholas sadly resigned himself to the possibility that they just might miss each other entirely. He had started walking toward the ship when he felt a familiar tug at his sleeve.

“You a Christian?” came the voice once again, but this time with more depth as about four years were added to his life. It was Dimitri, of course. Nicholas turned on the spot and smiled his broadest smile.

“Am I a Christian? Without a doubt!” he said as he saw all three of them offering smiles to him in return. “And you?” he added, speaking to all three of them at once.

“Without a doubt!” they replied, almost in unison. It was the way they had spoken about their faith ever since their shared experience in Bethlehem, an experience when their doubts about God had faded away.

As Nicholas tried to take in all three of their faces just one more time, he wondered which was more difficult: to leave this precious land, or to leave these three precious youth whom he had met there. They all knew that God had called them together for a purpose, and they all trusted that God must now be calling them apart for another purpose, too, just as Nicholas had previously felt he was to move to Bethlehem and they were to continue their work taking pilgrims from city to city.

But just because they knew what God’s will was, it didn’t mean it was always easy to follow it. As Nicholas had often reminded them, tears were one of the strongest signs of love in the world. Without tears at the loss of those things that matter most, it would be hard to tell if those things really mattered at all.

A lack of tears wouldn’t be a problem today. Once again, Nicholas asked them all to hold out their right hands in front of them. As he reached into his pocket to find three of his largest coins to place into each of their outstretched hands, he found he wasn’t fast enough. Within an instant, all three children had wrapped their arms completely around Nicholas’ neck, his back and his waist, depending on their height. They all held on as tightly as possible, and as long as possible, before one of the ship’s crewmen signaled to Nicholas that the time had come.

As Nicholas gave each of them one last squeeze, he secretly slipped a coin into each of their pockets. Throughout their time together, Nicholas’ gifts had helped the children immeasurably. But it wasn’t Nicholas’ presents that blessed them so much as it was his presence–his willingness to spend so much time with them. Still, Nicholas wanted to give them a final blessing that they could discover later when he was gone, as he often did his best giving in secret.

Nicholas wasn’t sure whether to laugh or to cry at the thought of this final gift to them, so he did a little of both. Under his breath, he also offered a prayer of thanks for each of their lives, then bid them farewell, one by one. The children’s hugs were the perfect send-off as he stepped onto the ship and headed for home–not knowing that their hugs and kind words would also help to carry him through the dark days that he was about to face ahead.

CHAPTER 14

The wind whipped up as soon as Nicholas’ ship left the shore. The ship’s captain had hoped to get a head start on the coming storm, sailing for a few hours along the coast to the harbor in the next city before docking again for the night. It was always a longer trip to go around the edges of the Great Sea, docking in city after city along the way, instead of going directly across to their destination. But going straight across was also more perilous, especially at this time of year. So to beat the approaching winter, and the more quickly approaching storm, they wanted to gain as many hours as they could along the way.

Keeping on schedule, Nicholas found out, was more than just a matter of a captain wanting to make good on his contract with his clients. It was also soon to become a matter of life and death for the families of the crew on board, including the family of the captain. Nicholas found out that a famine had begun to spread across the empire, now affecting the crew’s home city back in Rome. The famine had begun in the countryside as rain had been sparse in the outlying areas, but now the shortages in the country were starting to deplete the reserves in Rome as well. Prices were rising and even families who could afford to pay for food were quickly depleting their resources to get it.

The ship’s captain was not a foolish man, having sailed on these seas for almost 30 years. But he also knew that the risk of holding back on their voyage at a time like this could mean they would be grounded for the rest of the winter. If that happened, his cargo of grain might perish by spring, as well as his family. So the ship pressed on.

It looked to Nicholas like they had made the right decision to set sail. He, too, felt under pressure to get this voyage underway, although it wasn’t family or cargo that motivated him. It was the Spirit of God Himself. He wouldn’t have been able to explain it to anyone except to those who had already experienced it. All he knew was that it was imperative that they start moving.

He had thought he might spend still more time in the Holy Land, perhaps even his entire life. It felt like home to him from the very beginning, as he had heard so many stories about it when he was growing up. He had little family waiting for him elsewhere, and up to this point, he was content to stay right where he was, except for the Spirit’s prompting that it was time to go.

The feeling started as a restlessness at first, a feeling that he was suddenly no longer content to stay where he was. He couldn’t trace the feeling to anything particular that was wrong with where he was, just that it was time to go. But where? Where did God want him to go? Did God have another site for him to see? Another part of the country in which he was supposed to live? Perhaps another country altogether that he was supposed to visit?

As the restlessness grew, his heart and his mind began to explore the options in more detail. He had found in the past that the best way to hear from God was to let go of his own will so that he could fully embrace God’s will, whatever that may be. While letting go was always hard for him, he knew that God would always lead him in the ways that were best. So, finally letting go of his own will, Nicholas began to see God’s will much more clearly in this situation as well. As much as he felt like the Holy Land was his new home, it wasn’t really his home. He felt strongly that the time had come for him to return to the region where he had been born, to the province of Lycia on the northern coast of the Sea. There was something, he felt, that God wanted him to do there–something for which he had been specifically equipped and called to do, and was, in fact, the reason that God had chosen for him to grow up there when he was young. Just as Nicholas had felt drawn to come to the Holy Land, he now felt drawn to return home.

To home he was headed, and to home he must go. That inner drive that he felt was as strong–if not stronger–than the drive that now motivated the ship’s captain and crew to get their cargo home, safe and sound, to their precious families.

Storm or no storm, they had to get home.

CHAPTER 15

Nicholas’ ship never made it to the next harbor along the coast. Instead, the storm they were trying to outrun had outrun them. It caught hold of their ship, pulling it away from the coast within the first few hours at sea. It kept pulling them further and further away from the coast until, three hours later, they found themselves inescapably caught in its torrents.

The crew had already lowered the sails, abandoning their attempts to force the rudder in the opposite direction. They now hoped that by going with the storm rather than against it they would have a better chance of keeping the ship in one piece. But this plan, too, seemed only to drive them into the deepest and most dangerous waters, keeping them near the eye of the storm itself.

After another three hours had passed, the sea sickness that had initially overcome their bodies was no longer a concern, as the fear of death itself was now overtaking all but the most resilient of those on board.

Nicholas, although he had traveled by ship before, was not among those considered to be most resilient. He had never experienced pounding waves like this before. And he wasn’t the only one. To a man, as the storm worsened, each began to speak of this as the worst storm they had ever seen.

The next morning, when the storm still hadn’t let up, and then again on the next morning and the next, and as the waves were still pounding them, they were all wondering why they had been in such a hurry to set out to beat the storm. Now they just hoped and prayed that God would let them live to see one more day, one more hour. As wave after wave pummeled the ship, Nicholas was simply praying they would make it through even one more wave.

His thoughts and prayers were filled with images of what it must have been like for the Apostle Paul, that follower of Christ who had sailed back and forth across the Great Sea several times in similar ships. It was on Paul’s last trip to Rome that he had landed in Myra, only miles from Nicholas’ hometown. Then, as Paul continued on from Myra to Rome, he faced the most violent storm he had ever faced at sea, a raging fury that lasted more than fourteen days and ended with his ship being blasted to bits by the waves as it ran aground on a sandbar, just off the coast of the island of Malta.

Nicholas prayed that their battle with the wind wouldn’t last for fourteen days. He didn’t know if they could make it through even one more day. He tried to think if there was anything that Paul had done to help himself and the 276 men who were on his ship with him to stay alive, even though their ship and its cargo were eventually destroyed. But as hard as he tried to think, all he could remember was that an angel had appeared to Paul on the night before they ran aground. The angel told Paul to take heart–that even though the ship would be destroyed, not one of the men aboard would perish. When Paul told the men about this angelic visit, they all took courage, as Paul was convinced that it would happen just as the angel said it would. And it did.

But for Nicholas, no such angel had appeared. No outcome from heaven had been predicted and no guidance had come about what they should or shouldn’t do. All he felt was that inner compulsion that he had felt before they departed–that they needed to get home as soon as they could.

Not knowing what else to do, Nicholas recalled a phrase of his father’s: “standing orders are good orders.” If a soldier wasn’t sure what to do next, even if the battle around him seemed to change directions, if the commanding officer hadn’t changed the orders, then the soldier was to carry on with the most recent orders given. Standing orders are good orders. It was this piece of wisdom from his father, more than any other thought, that guided Nicholas and gave him the courage to do what he did next.

CHAPTER 16

When the storm seemed to be at its worst, Nicholas’ thoughts turned to the children he had just left. His thoughts of them didn’t fill him with sadness, but with hope.

He began to take courage from the stories they had all learned about how Jesus had calmed the storm, how Moses had split the Red Sea and how Joshua had made the Jordan River stop flowing. Nicholas and the children had often tried to imagine what it must have been like to be able to exercise control over the elements like that. Nicholas had even, on occasion, tried to do some of these things himself, right along with Dimitri, Samuel and Ruthie. When it rained, they lifted their hands and prayed to try to stop the rain from coming down. But it just kept raining on their heads. When they got to the Sea of Galilee, they tried to walk on top of the water, just like Jesus did–and even Peter did, if only for a few short moments. But Nicholas and the children assumed they must not have had enough faith or strength or whatever it might have taken for them to do such things.

As another wave crashed over the side of the ship on which Nicholas was now standing, he realized there was a common thread that ran through each of these stories. Maybe it wasn’t their faith that was the problem after all, but God’s timing. In each instance from the stories he could remember, God didn’t allow those miracles on a whim, just for the entertainment of the people who were trying to do them. God allowed them because God had places for them to go, people they needed to see and lives that needed to be spared. There was an urgency in each situation that required the people to accomplish not only what was on their heart, but what was on God’s heart as well.

It seemed that the miracles were provided not because of their attempts to try to reorder God’s world, but in God’s attempts to try to reorder their worlds. It seemed to Nicholas that it must be a combination of their prayers of faith, plus God’s divine will, that caused a spark between heaven and earth, ignited by their two wills working together, that burst into a power that could move mountains.

When Jesus needed to get across the lake, but His disciples had already taken off in the boat, He was able to ignite by faith the process that allowed Him to walk on water, and thereafter calm the storm that threatened to take their lives when He finally did catch up to them.

“Standing orders are good orders,” Nicholas recalled, and he believed with all his heart that if God hadn’t changed His orders, then somehow they needed to do whatever they could to get to the other side of the Sea. But it wasn’t enough for God to will it. God was looking for someone willing, here on earth to will it, too, thereby completing the divine connection and causing the miracle to burst forth. Like Moses when he lifted his staff into the air or Joshua’s priests who took the first steps into the Jordan River, God needed someone to agree with Him in faith that what He had willed to happen in heaven should happen here on earth. God had already told Nicholas what needed to happen. Now it was up to Nicholas to complete the divine connection.

“Men!” Nicholas yelled to get the crew’s attention. “The God whom I serve, and who Has given each one of us life, wants us to reach our destination even more than we want to reach it. We must agree in faith, here and now, that God not only can do it, but that He wills us to do it. If you love God, or even if you think you might want to love God, I want you to pray along with me, that we will indeed reach our destination, and that nothing will stand in the way of our journey!”

As soon as Nicholas had spoken these words, the unthinkable happened: not only did the wind not stop, but it picked up speed! Nicholas faltered for a moment as if he had made some sort of cosmic mistake, some sort of miscalculation about the way God worked and what God wanted him to do. But then he noticed that even though the wind had picked up speed, it had also shifted directions, ever so slightly, but in such a distinct and noticeable way that God had gotten the attention of every man on board. Now, instead of being pounded by the waves from both sides, they were sailing straight through them, as if a channel had been cut into the waves themselves. The ship was driven along like this, not only for the next several moments, but for the next several hours.

When the speed and direction of the ship continued to hold its steady but impressively fast course, the captain of the ship came to Nicholas. He said he had never seen anything like this in his whole life. It was as if an invisible hand was holding the rudder of the ship, steady and straight, even though the ropes that held the rudder were completely unmanned, as they had been abandoned long ago when the winds first reached gale force.

Nicholas knew, too–even though he was certainly not as well seasoned as the captain–that this was not a normal phenomenon on the seas. He felt something supernatural taking control the moment he first stood up to speak to the men, and he felt it still as they continued on their path straight ahead.

What lay before them he didn’t know. But what he did know was that the One who had brought them this far was not going to take His hand off that rudder until His mission was accomplished.

CHAPTER 17

The storm that they thought was going to take their lives turned out to be the storm that saved many more. Rather than going the long way around the sea, following the coastline in the process, the storm had driven them straight across it, straight into the most dangerous path that they never would have attempted on their own at that time of year.

When they sighted land early on the morning of the fifth day, they recognized it clearly. It was the city of Myra, just a few miles away from Nicholas’ hometown, and the same city where the Apostle Paul had changed ships on his famous journey to Rome.

It was close enough to home that Nicholas knew in his heart that he was about to land in the exact spot where God wanted him to be. God, without a doubt, had spared his life for a purpose, a purpose which would now begin the next chapter of his life.

As they sailed closer to the beach, they could see that the storm that raged at sea had hardly been felt on shore.

The rains that had flooded their ship for the past several days, and that should have been watering the land as well, hadn’t made it inland for several months. The drought that the captain and sailors had told him had come to Rome had already been here in Lycia for two and a half years. The cumulative effect was that the crops that were intended to supply their reserves for the coming winter and for next year’s seed had already been depleted. If the people of Lycia didn’t get grain to eat now, many would never make it through the winter, and still more would die the following spring, as they wouldn’t have seed to plant another crop. This ship was one of the last that had made it out of the fertile valleys of Egypt before the winter, and its arrival at this moment in time was like a miracle in the eyes of the people. It was certainly an answer to their prayers.

But that answer wasn’t so clear to the captain of the ship. He had been under strict orders from the keeper of the Imperial storehouses in Rome that not one kernel of grain could be missing when the ship arrived back in Rome. The ship had been weighed in Alexandria before it left Egypt and it would be weighed again in Rome–and the captain would be held personally responsible for any discrepancy. The famine had put increasing pressure on the emperor to bring any kind of relief to the people. Not only this, but the families of the captain and crew themselves were awaiting the arrival of this food. Their jobs, and the lives of their families, relied on the safe delivery of every bit of grain aboard.

Yet without the faith and encouragement of Nicholas, the captain knew that the ship and its cargo would have been lost at sea, along with all of their lives.

While it was clear to Nicholas that God had brought him back to his homeland, he too wasn’t entirely certain what to do about the grain. While it seemed that giving at least some of the grain to the people of Myra was in order, Nicholas still tried to see it from God’s perspective. Was this city, or any other city throughout the empire, any more in need of the grain than Rome, which had bought and paid for it to be delivered? But it also seemed to Nicholas that the ship had been driven specifically to this particular city, in a straight and steady line through the towering waves.

The whole debate of what they were to do next took place within just a matter of minutes of their arrival on shore. And Nicholas and the captain had little time to think through what they were going to do, as the people of the city were already running out to see the ship for themselves, having been amazed at the way God had seemingly brought it to their famished port. They were gathering in larger and larger numbers to welcome the boat, and giving thanks and praise to God at the same time.

Both Nicholas and the captain knew that only God Himself could answer their dilemma. The two of them, along with the rest of the crew, had already agreed the night before–as they were so steadily and swiftly being carried along through the water–that the first thing they would do when they arrived on shore was to go to the nearest church and give thanks to God for His deliverance. Upon seeing where they had landed, Nicholas knew exactly where they could find that church. It was one that his family had visited from time to time as they traveled between these twin cities of Patara and Myra. Telling the people that their first order of duty was to give thanks to God for their safe passage, Nicholas and the captain and his crew headed to the church in Myra.

As they made their way across the city and up into the hills that cradled the church, they had no idea that the priests inside its walls had already been doing battle with a storm of their own.

Ask for Prayer | Contact Us | Visit Our Website | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Bookstore

If you’d like a paperback copy of this story, in English or Spanish, or a download of the complete audio version, we’d be glad to send you your choice for a donation of any size, anywhere in the world.  Just visit The Ranch bookstore learn more.