Author: preacherphilstevens

“Finding Philip” is how John describes how Jesus chose Philip to become a disciple (John 1:43). It is as though Jesus went to the area of Galilee and couldn’t leave town until he found Philip to relay this invitation to be a part of something big. Philip accepted this invitation and followed Jesus.

In John 14 we see a picture of Philip as he asks a question of Jesus that almost seems to disappoint Jesus. “Show us the Father and it will be enough.” (14:8) It’s as though Philip likes a lot of what he sees in Jesus, but if he is going to go “all in” then he needs a little more.

Philip was on the outside looking in. It seems he is willing to follow Jesus at a distance, but if following means sacrifice, loss, or being uncomfortable then he might not be willing to go further. Following Jesus is nice when you see people healed or the hungry fed. When thousands come to hear Jesus speak and are awed by His message it is nice to say “I’m with Him,” but when Jesus is arrested, Philip deserts Him.

Something did happen to Philip that changed his attitude toward Jesus in such a way that Philip was willing to sacrifice everything, even his own life for the gospel. Philip saw Jesus risen from the dead. In John 14 Philip had asked to see the Father and ultimately Jesus answered him by revealing Himself, risen from the dead.

I wonder if you have Philip’s former attitude, you’re willing to follow Jesus when times are good. You love the concerts and the crowds, but when you feel God calling you to sacrifice then you begin to shrink in your following?

What if you knew Jesus had risen from the dead and is alive today? The Jesus who hung on a cross and sacrificed everything for us, even His own life, rose from the dead. Would that be enough for you to be willing to give Him everything? It was for Philip.

“God will never reveal more truth about Himself to you, until you have obeyed what you know already.” – Oswald Chambers

No matter how much you pray, how much you serve, how well we know Scripture, or how often we sit in a church pew, if we are not obedient in our relationship with Jesus Christ, then we will remain stuck exactly where we are today. In other words, if we cannot take care of the last thing that He gave us – whether it be a sin to repent of, someone to share with, or any application of His Word – then He will never grant us anymore. As we are obedient, we have all of the “riches of His glory” and “are strengthened with power through His spirit” (Ephesians 3:16) and are “filled up to all the fullness of God” (Eph.3:19).

Friends, when we do not obey – either by doing, not doing, or ignoring – we lose the riches and the power and the fullness of His presence with us. We immediately break our relationship with God. Jesus, “who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us” (Eph.3:20), steps back and lets us go our own way. We give up the power that works within us, we give up the abundance that goes beyond what we can imagine to go on the same dark path over and over.

What is He telling you to do today? Are you going to obey Him who leads to newness of life? Or are you going to obey yourself who leads to death and destruction? Obedience is one step at a time and it starts right now.

Written by Wyatt Elliott

The pastor of a very large congregation looked out on a Sunday morning and proclaimed, “God wants you to be happy!” It is as though the chief goal of mankind is to be happy. Unfortunately, this philosophy isn’t biblical, it has invaded the truth, and has made a big mess. Now, popular thinking goes something like this, I can indulge in sin, God wants me to be happy. If obedience seems to difficult, its OK, God wants me to be happy. We will even read the Bible through this philosophy and anything that seems to inhibit our “happiness” we either discard or change it to fulfill our “happiness.”

If you are curious what the goal of your life truly is Paul said it pretty well in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “When you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it ALL to the Glory of God.” Our obedience to Him is not ultimately for His blessings on our life, it is for the glory of God. We live for Him, not for what He will give to us to make us happy, but for the glory of God. We have truly gotten this upside down if we believe God is in heaven, and His plan is centered around our “happiness.”

People have quit Christianity altogether because they were told that if they obey God then He will bless them. Sometimes our obedience means persecution. Sometimes obedience means sacrifice. Sometimes our obedience will cost us relationships. None of this is centered around our happiness. The Apostle Peter was confronted by Jesus in John 21. Peter your obedience to me is literally going to cost you your life through crucifixion. Peter asked what I would, “Well, what about John, what will happen to him?” Jesus replied (paraphrase) What difference does it make what happens to him, Peter you follow me.

“Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? ²⁰ For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body ^[c]and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Corinthians 6:19,20.

Seems like an odd question doesn’t it? If a toddler asked you to move your car, you might think that is pretty cute. You might even think it is a little funny, but ultimately you would dismiss that request and about 5 minutes later you might even forget it happened. Does this scenario seem a little too familiar as you compare it to your relationship with God? How often do we simply brush off His request as though He is that 3 year old toddler?  Do you feel comfortable treating the God of the Universe in such a way? God tells us to be in church and we brush off his request. He tells us to forgive and we hold grudges almost without thought.

What does it say about us and our respect (or lack of) for God when He tells us to be a part of His plan of reaching the world with the gospel, and yet the priority of our life reflects a totally different priority? Can you push Him aside like you would the toddler? Have we truly forgotten who is asking?

The One who is asking is the King of the Universe. He is the Creator, all-powerful, self-existent, and everywhere present. Around His thrones are countless angels who worship night and day, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD God Almighty!” Can you afford to ignore this God? Can you push Him aside? Don’t forget who is asking.

Isn’t it kind of hard to determine if you are “growing” spiritually sometimes. There is no checklist. You might try to trust others who have seen who you were verse who you have become. You might even wonder at times if you are even going in the right direction. I read a book recently entitled, “The Me I want to Be.” The author noted when he is evaluating his spiritual life he asks himself two questions. “Am I growing more easily discouraged these days?” and “Am I growing more irritated these days?”

He realized when he was growing in the peace of God it was much more difficult to be discouraged. When God’s peace is truly flowing through you then you are content with where you are in life. You understand everything is in His time and trying to “force” your agenda will only bring discouragement. His peace will bring chaos into focus and even in the middle of a storm your heart will be still. There is no discouragement you can’t get through when you realize there is the peace of God that passes all understanding. (1 Peter 4:8)

The author also realized when he was growing in the love of God it was much more difficult to be irritated with others. “Love covers a multitude of sins…” (1 Peter 4:8). When you understand the love and patience God has with you it is much easier to give the same to others. Don’t you see that in your life right now? When you love someone you give them much more grace than someone you may not “like” as much? When His love overflows in your life it will spill over into the lives of others.

Are you growing in God’s peace and love? When you are it will be more than just words, but actions that will not only benefit your life, but others in your life as well.

Through the many years of ministry I’ve seen people begin strong in their walk with Jesus and fizzle just as quickly. You may have seen it as well, in fact, it may have even happened to you. You were on “fire” in your walk and all of a sudden something happened and obedience to Him just didn’t seem as important anymore.

Jesus even talked about this “fizzle,” He even gave some explanations as to why it happens. For some, they begin strong and the “cares of this world” causes them to fall away. For some, it’s hard to keep themselves from the joy and pleasures of this world (Luke 8:9-15). With both of these explanations there is a common theme, the seed of commitment never took roots.

It’s why some people quit. They plant the seeds of commitment expecting all of their problems will soon be erased. They either believed, or were told, that becoming a Christian meant an “easy” life ahead. Problems would “disappear.” Unfortunately, the hard times of this life will come (James 1), and many times the first thing to go is their commitment to Christ.

Like any seed that is planted it must take time to gain roots. When roots are deep the plant will be strong, but this comes from water, sun, and good soil. Like the seed, a commitment to God doesn’t always grow fruit overnight. This also takes time, commitment to God’s Word, connecting to a local church, and faithful obedience to Him are just the beginning and help your commitment to take root. The road isn’t easy, but obedience to God will be the greatest exercise you ever committed to doing. Grow where God has planted you.

Taken from www.HisLife4You.com

Over and over I hear the same line, “God can’t use me, God won’t use me. . .” and so on. I’m not sure if people truly believe that or if it is an excuse to avoid being obedient to what God has called them to do. So let me relieve you of your worries, you are right, God can’t use you as you are. Not the most encouraging thing you will hear today, but don’t stop reading now.

In Luke 8, Jesus met a man who was possessed by a demon. I think we can all agree if you are demon-possessed then being used by God is not on your list of things to do. This man ran around town naked and slept, not in a house, but in the graveyard. Everyone in town was scared of this man and ran the other direction at the sight of him, but not Jesus. Jesus saw something else. He saw what He “could” become. Jesus cleaned this man of all of his demons.

To this town evidently the only thing scarier than a demon-possessed man is meeting a man who can cast out those demons. When they saw what Jesus did they asked Him to leave, and so He did. Before leaving, the former demon-possessed man asked Jesus to let him come with Him. Jesus had a bigger plan. Instead of coming with me (Jesus) I want you to tell this entire city was has happened to you.

The very next verse is what excites me. “When Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed Him, for they were waiting for Him” (verse 40). This formerly demon-possessed man had done what God asked him to do, tell the city about the change God had made in him. He had no “formal” training. Jesus didn’t give him a script. He simply told the city what Jesus had done for him and when Jesus came back, the whole town was waiting on Him.

You may not think God can use you where you are right now, but He sees you for what you could be. Give Him control of your life and see if you can win your town to Him. Your town may not want anything to do with Jesus right now, but you be faithful and obedient to what God has called you to, and see God work.

I recently read a quote that got me thinking it read, “Instead of saying, ‘I don’t have time’ try saying, ‘It’s not a priority’ and see how that feels.” How true this is! From my perspective as a pastor some will say, “I don’t have time for church.” The truth is they don’t have time because church isn’t a priority. We certainly have time to go to work, and some people don’t even like their jobs! Some say they don’t read their Bible because they don’t have time, but the real reason is their time in the Bible is not a priority. We make time to talk to friends, go to parties, football games, even video games, but we say we have no time for prayer. It’s not that we don’t have time to pray, it’s just not a priority in our lives.

I’m not trying to make anyone feel bad, trust me, but if you don’t know it’s broken then you won’t try to fix it. Maybe you didn’t even realize your priorities began to drift. In a busy world, when priorities go unchecked, they begin to be mismanaged. Imagine if people saw you for what your priorities were? What if they weren’t fooled by, “I just didn’t have time for that.” Would you feel embarrassed to know that others knew they just weren’t a priority in your life?

What about sharing your faith with others? Do you have time to do this? If you have made witnessing a priority in your life then you look for opportunities. You are prayerfully asking God to put people in your path to witness to, but don’t tell yourself you don’t have time to do it. You would only be lying to yourself. Maybe it’s time to re-examine our priorities and make the “main thing” the “main thing” again in our lives.

Every morning when I get to church I start the first hour of my day in prayer. I go into the main sanctuary and go to the front row. Sometimes I just sit down, grab a Bible and then pray. Sometimes I kneel to simply pray. Yesterday morning I came to the front row and for some reason I thought, “Should I sit or kneel?” There’s no one in the entire building, no will care what I do. Does God really care if I sit or kneel? In that moment I knelt and prayed….

     God I kneel in love because you first loved me so much

     I kneel in mercy because I’m a sinner in need of your help

     I kneel in worship as You are the One, True, and Living God who is over every god.

     I kneel in praise because you are worthy as the One who was, is, and is to come

     I kneel in humility because you are the King and I am Your servant.

There is probably no difference in sitting or kneeling, and I’m certain God is pleased when we come to Him no matter our “posture.” From my “small” experience though there certainly felt like a difference. I think from now on I’ll go ahead and kneel. I hope to find you there as well.

Originally posted on June 17, 2017

You may not know this about me, but I am (evidently) an expert on Disney Princess movies. I know this because I took a quiz on Facebook, so it must be true. This accolade I owe to my daughter who made me watch them all, many times.

My favorite Disney princess movie is “Sleeping Beauty”. If you’ve seen this movie then you know that it should be renamed to something like the “Heroism of the Prince” because the courage of the Prince is really what this movie is all about. The Prince meets the Princess in the middle of the woods for about 5 minutes, but evidently it is the best 5 minutes of his life. They share a dance, a song, and they part ways.

Later, the Prince finds out she is in trouble, and even though they spent only 5 minutes together, it’s clear nothing is going to stop him from saving her. The evil witch places a jungle of thorns to stop him. Our prince slices through this jungle as though it was butter, nothing will stop him. The witch then becomes a dragon, but valiantly our prince slays this dragon, all to save the lovely princess. Nothing will keep him from her.

One reason we love this movie is because we all want to be loved this way. We want someone to be willing to fight through the “thorns” to get to us. We want to know there is someone willing to fight and kill the dragon just for us. The good news is there is someone who loves you that much. Jesus fought and overcame everything to be with you. He “slayed the dragon” to restore a broken relationship with Him. There is nothing He isn’t willing to do, including dying on a cross, to let you know He loves you. Choose Him, and enjoy a relationship with the Prince of Peace.