Church meeting Devotions: Against the Tide

Zephaniah 3:16                 On that day they will say to Jerusalem, "Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp.

I felt sorry for the Texas Longhorn quarterback last night. Five plays into the game, he was injured and had to be benched. He saw his team battle bravely from the sidelines, but the Alabama players were just too much for them. Without their leader, the Longhorns were no match for their Crimson Tide opponents. The whole team didn’t play well at all because their potential for success was diminished when McCoy was injured.

Today’s passage from Zephaniah is about restoring God’s people after many years of exile, oppression, and defeat. The prophet has been inspired by the Holy Spirit to lift up the hearts of the people and cheer them with good news about being rescued by God. Instead of being afraid and letting their hands hang limply by their sides, Zephaniah is encouraging his people to reclaim their hopes and lift up their arms in praise of God’s power and presence in the community. Instead of being hopeless, God’s people become hopeful. Rather than languishing in fear, they are being led back to their faith in God.

At the start of each New Year, we all have hopes and dreams mixed with some fears and worries. The promises of restoration and salvation are given to us so that we may rejoice in God’s grace and be assured of His care. We are not isolated or alone, forgotten or abandoned. God is still in our midst, battling for His people and bringing them back to Christ, His Holy Son.

So let’s raise our arms and voices to praise our God. Let’s fill our hearts with faith to overcome our fears and allow Jesus to joyfully lead us through another year of faith, hope, and love.

Prayer:                 Lord Jesus, You are our Leader and Savior, our Sovereign and Guide. Throughout our days, You are willing to show us God’s work in the world. You are the One who inspires our dreams and empowers us to fulfill our lives in meaningful and abundant ways. Thank You for Your words. Thank You for Your guidance. In Your Holy Name, we cheerfully pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Church meeting Devotions: Christian Contenders - Philippians 1 v 27,28

Philippians 1:27b-28a                       I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you.

Like most kids, I was bullied at school by several people who loved to intimidate me on a daily basis. They would bump into me on the soccer field and trip me up deliberately, or they would gang up on me in a quiet corner and seek to terrify me.

It got so bad that I didn’t want to go to school. My grades plummeted and instead of being in the top ten group in my class, I sank almost to the bottom. My mom wanted to go and face my daily oppressors, but that would have shamed me even more. She wasn’t mentally fit anyway, so I didn’t think that she could make any difference.

And then one morning during recess, just as the bullies were coming to get their usual sadistic pleasure out of intimating me, my mom appeared out of the blue. She verbally tore into them and publicly humiliated them. As I watched their faces get redder with embarrassment I realized that they were just children like me. My mom gave them a dressing down and the other kids in the school playground cheered her on. I guess that some of the other kids had been bullied by them too.

After that incident, things got better. I wasn’t afraid any more and got back into the top ten students in my class. The bullies’ reign of terror was ended and my mom became the heroine of my heart. Sadly, insanity and schizophrenia would expunge the incident from her mind, but even although it has been more than forty years since the event occurred, I still admire her what she did for me that day.

These days, Christians are contending for the Gospel in the face of persecution and harassment, imprisonment and even death in many lands. Their undaunted faith is a living testimony to the truth of the Gospel and work of Jesus Christ in the world. Society sometimes seeks to diminish Christianity and make it irrelevant. But the more that we are philosophically and socially opposed, the more true Christians appear to contend for the faith of the Gospel and stand up for Christ’s holy words. We will not be bullied, berated, or beaten down.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, faith is a precious gift and one that world desperately needs. All over the earth, Your Church and Your people are being made to feel insignificant and irrelevant. We are told that we are intolerant by intolerant people. We are viewed as being reactionary by those who violently react to Your teaching. We are humiliated and harassed all over the world by brazen bullies and godless governments. Help and empower us to contend for the Gospel, just as our brothers and sisters in our faith did so long ago. In Your Sacred and Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Church Meeting Devotions: Spanish Eyes

Romans 15:24 I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while.

Spain is a beautiful country. I’ve visited it twice and enjoyed every day that I was there. During my first visit, I traveled northwards from Madrid to San Sebastian and covered half of the country by coach and train. On my second visit, my wife Evelyn and I stayed for a week on the Costa del Sol, just below Valencia on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. It was also a very beautiful region and I got to practice my Castilliano Spanish in many stores, cafes, and restaurants.

It’s always been my intention to go back to Spain to visit the Andalusian South. I’d also like to see Gibraltar and look across the Mediterranean and see the coast of Africa. I might also include heading West to visit Portugal. My Dad loved to visit Portuguese ports when he was a merchant seaman.

Whether I’ll get there or not depends upon how much of a priority I make this goal. It could just be paella in the sky as far as my life is concerned.

Paul also had the intention to visit Spain, but he never made it. When he was writing to the Roman church, he hoped that he could visit them on his way westwards. He did make it to Rome, but in chains. He never reached Spain because he was executed by the emperor Nero when the Christian community was first executed.

I like the fact that Paul had plans for his future, even in the midst of his trials. It reveals the optimistic side to his character. He had dreams and goals for extending the influence of Christianity and sharing the Gospel from one side of the Mediterranean to the other. And in Paul’s lifetime, that meant covering the whole civilized world. What a marvelous goal!

Today, we are given many opportunities to share the Gospel throughout our own individual worlds and all cross the globe. We can share our faith and pray for the people we meet today, but we can also send prayers and devotions like this one to everyone we know across the internet. That way, we will be fulfilling part of Paul’s mission and Christ’s ministry to the entire world.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for Paul’s enthusiasm, faith, and mission. He lived his life sharing the Gospel with all kinds of people from everywhere. His faith sharing has come down to us through the scriptures. Help us to spread this mission and ministry amongst our own individual communities. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Church Meeting Devotions: True Teaching

2 Thessalonians 2:15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

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As far as I am concerned, my wife Evelyn is the best teacher in the world. She’s been a teacher for twenty eight years, so she’s dedicated to her profession. She knows how to motivate children and has dealt with more than her fair share of anxious parents through the years. She understands the need for her students to apply themselves and she tries very hard to encourage them to reach their fullest potential.

It isn’t easy because every student is at a different individual level from all the other students in her class. Evelyn concentrates on the basics – reading, writing, and arithmetic – as well as teaching art, science, and social studies. She has a lot of lessons and material to get through in any given school year. She does her best to help the children to do their utmost in order to prepare them for the next step: Middle School.

I could not do what she does for a full year. I could teach a class for half a day perhaps and squeak through a couple of lessons. I’ve seen her come home with tons of work to mark, and new materials to read, digest, and prepare lessons. Like all true teachers, Evelyn doesn’t do it for the money – it is a special calling. Without teachers like her in our community and across the nation, our children would become ignorant, unskilled, and unemployable. As someone else once wrote: if you can read a book, fill out a form, and work for a living – then thank a teacher.

Teaching is also an important part of Christianity. Without faith teachers, people would make up their own ideas about God and end up believing in anything. Sadly, there’s a trend in today’s churches where people don’t want to accept the old truths or the absolutes of our faith. They want to discover Christ for themselves and shape Him into being the Lord of what they want. Sunday school classes and Bible study groups across the land are diminishing because people are too busy doing other things. They want to put Christ in a convenient box and not be challenged by His ways or words.

All they want to hear is that they are good people, loved by God, and guaranteed everlasting life. Heaven is a given and hell is not real. Resurrection is guaranteed but redemption is not necessary. Confession is good for the soul but contrition is not required. In other words, they want to be accepted by God by rejecting the Cross, Christ’s teaching, and the need to be saved.

That’s not authentic Christianity, that’s post-modern universalism. It’s not Christian teaching; it’s a worldly heresy.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You were brought into the world to teach us about God. Your words reveal to us the true way to reach God. Your Gospel shows us how to be redeemed and restored to God. Keep us from false teaching and help us to pay attention to Your ways, instead of focusing on our own misconceived, misconstrued, and mistaken ideas. Remind us that no matter how sincere we are about our beliefs, we still can be sincerely wrong. Become our True Teacher and Holy Guide. In Your Sacred Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Church Meeting Devotions: A Faithful End

How a local funeral became a place of blessing after a tragic plane crash.

Psalm 145: 14 The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.

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I was at a funeral last night. The deceased had been tragically killed in a plane crash last weekend, on the very same day that his son was getting engaged to be married. I went to the funeral because the mother of the dead man is a member of our congregation. It was a very sad event for her because she also lost her daughter to breast cancer last year. She has now survived both her children.

I wondered how the pastor would conduct such a sad service to the devastated family. I prayed for him constantly throughout the service. He was an old minister, who was also a dear friend to the family. I could see that he was deeply affected by this tragedy, but his years of pastoral experience enabled him to gently lead the whole gathered community to celebrate the life of the deceased and, at the same time, still retain faith, hope, and love for God.

Towards the end of the service, the elderly pastor asked the congregation to share some thoughts and memories. A beautiful letter, written by the deceased’s wife, was read and some other people shared their personal stories. The last speaker was the son of the man who died. He very courageously thanked everyone for being at the funeral and added these words: “You have all confirmed for me that my father was the person I always knew him to be.” I have never heard of a higher compliment being given to a father by a son.

In the midst of this tragedy, we all wondered how we could celebrate and endure such a loss. And yet God, in one of His mysterious ways, provided all of the ingredients, people, and thoughts necessary to enable the family and friends to be lifted up. It was a remarkable experience and for me it proved the promise encapsulated in this verse: ‘The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.’

Perhaps you feel downhearted or disappointed today. Maybe you’re a bit depressed and feeling low. My prayer for you this day is that God will come to wherever you are, and gently lift you up in body, mind, heart, and soul.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, in the midst of our sorrows, be our Comforter. During times of trouble and tragedy, be our Strength. And in those dark moments when we feel down or depressed, isolated or alone, be our Friend. Both now and always. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Church Meeting Devotions: A New Love

Is love at first sight predestined by God? A story from Scotland.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

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On top of my church computer, I keep my old KJV Red Lettered edition Bible. It was given to me by my parents way back in 1977. Throughout the years I’ve kept special cards, poems, and bookmarks within its pages. Every now and then I like to open it up and be nostalgically reminded of people, places, and programs from the past.

Today was no exception and as I looked through the Bible, I came across an old type written invitation to a Social dinner sent by my minister. It reads:

Dear Fellow Members,

So happy and successful was our Congregational Dinner last year that the Woman’s Guild had no hesitation in planning another one this session. Again we ask for your support for this Social Occasion of our congregation which is to be held Tuesday 27^th February, 1979 at 7:30p.m. We celebrate 25 years of the united Guild at this time, so this will be an Anniversary Dinner.

That means nothing to you, but it was the genesis of something that changed my life forever. You see at that Social Dinner, the minister introduced me to Miss Evelyn Smith and as I looked into her gorgeous blue eyes for the first time in my life, I instantly fell in love. I knew then that Evelyn would become my wife.

Thirty years have passed and I still cherish that invitation, which is why I keep it in my old Bible. It was the beginning of a new life for me. Without that encounter, I would not be here writing this devotion today. My life would have been so vastly different, so I am thankful that God created something new at that Anniversary Dinner. Whilst everyone else was celebrating 25 years of a Church Guild Union, God was planning an entirely different union.

Perhaps you need something new to begin in your life. Maybe you yearn for a new start, a new place, or a new career. I firmly believe that God loves to create new things in our lives, so this could be the day that a new and rewarding journey begins for you.

Prayer: Lord God, You are the Creator of all things and the Maker of New Life. Your ways are amazing and we are blessed by Your love, guidance, and grace. Thank You for creating new events, new opportunities, and new experiences in our lives. In Jesus’ Name, we expectantly wait and pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Church Meeting Devotions: The Lost Summer

2 Corinthians 8:14 At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need.

There was a time in my childhood when my siblings and I were all fostered out to our aunts and uncles. It was during the summertime and my mother had been taken in to the local lunatic asylum. My Dad was unable to stay off his work to look after us and so we were broken up as a family to be cared for by our relatives.

I was fostered to my Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Phamie. They had a large family of their own which meant that my brother Andy and I were taking up precious space and using their resources. We were still too young to understand how much of a sacrifice our relatives were making, but I now realize that their kindness and compassion during that lost summer kept our family from being broken up by the Social Services.

My cousins were great about giving up their rooms and played with us all summer long. It turned out to be one of the best school vacations that I’ve ever experienced. I think it also made me appreciate my wider family and now that I’m thousands of miles away from them, I cherish them all in my heart.

When Paul refers to equality in 2 Corinthians 8, he’s writing about Christian charity. In these tough economic times, Christian charity goes a long way to help others in need. Instead of getting hung up about ordination issues or biblical doctrines, we need to set aside our differences and make war on want, poverty, hunger, and inequality.

If it hadn’t been for my relatives practicing real Christian charity to my family all those years ago, I don’t know where I would have ended up. I guess the challenge for me today is this: where can I best practice the same principles today and effectively use my God-given resources to help others in need?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for the blessings that You have given to us each day. Help us to refrain from hoarding and instead to seek opportunities where we can fully practice Your charitable and faithful teaching. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s passage or receive these devotionals via email, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

If you would like to help other people, but don’t know where to start, check out www.kiva.org. It’s an international charity where a contribution of $25 can help families in developing countries set up their own businesses.

Church Meeting Devotions: The Power of Prayer

How does prayer work? Prayer allows us to step back from our problems and let God step in to help us.

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

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There’s a lot of anxiety going around these days. People are afraid of catching the flu; communities are dreading the closure of businesses; and even churches are seeing their resources diminishing. With no political, economic, or even spiritual stability, now is the time to seek God in prayer. It’s worked in the past, when things were a lot worse. So, instead of being fearful and anxious, let’s try to become more faithful and prayerful.

Presenting our requests to God gives us an opportunity to voice our concerns and externalize our anxieties. If we bottle up our fears inside us, we will experience undue internal pressure and a lot of stress. Prayer gives us the chance to release the tension and place our anxieties before God. Remember the old saying: a burden shared is a burden halved.

Realizing that we cannot control things around us enables us to ask God for help. We are not spiritual supermen or superwomen. We don’t have the capacity to be able to do everything ourselves. Recognizing God’s sovereignty over our lives can release us from trying to solve the world’s problems. We can only handle what God has potentially given us to handle. Everything else is in His domain.

Asking God for help in prayer is a great act of faith. When we pray, we actually respect God and His power. We understand that we are finite creatures in need of an infinite God. By praying, we give God His place in our lives and put Him at the center of all things.

Yielding to God’s will in prayer frees us from our fears. We have faith that God will work out everything for the common good. God may say “no” or “not now” to us, but at least He will have answered our prayers. Surrendering ourselves to His wisdom and will is a sincere act of faith, service, and love. It also calms our spirits, for we know that whatever transpires, it is God’s will.

Encouraging others to pray with and for us has a communal blessing that strengthens our spirits. Yesterday, a friend sent me an email with the following quote from C. S. Lewis, ‘prayer does not change things, it changes me.’ When we solicit other people’s prayers, we are changing inside. Instead of isolating ourselves and internalizing our troubles, we allow other people to know of our concerns and to seek their prayerful support. This is one of the greatest benefits of belonging to a Christian community.

Requesting God’s help, recognizing our frailty, and realizing that prayer is a powerful way to change our circumstances releases us from being overwhelmed by our fears, worries, and cares. It’s a spiritual way of stepping back from the problem and letting God step in to help us. We allow God to be God and we permit ourselves to be His children.

Prayer: Lord God, we thank You that we can freely come to You in prayer at any time, with any problem, and in any situation. We know that You hear our cries for help from our hearts and souls. Ease our anxieties and calm our fears. Listen to our petitions and allow us to hear Your answers. In Christ’s Holy Name, we thankfully pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Church Meeting Devotions: Saving Grace

Ephesians 2:4-5 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.

‘There but for the grace of God, go I’ was one of John Wesley’s sayings. It was his way of expressing thankfulness to God for mercy, whilst at the same time realizing his own human weaknesses. If it wasn’t for God’s grace, John Wesley felt that he would have been overcome by all sorts of evil and sin.

Recently, I visited with the AA group that meets in our church. My usual Bible study had been cancelled, so I took the opportunity to make a house-call amongst the Twelve Steppers. It brought back memories to me and, as I sat there, I inwardly thanked God for His power and influence over me which kept me from remaining a hopeless alcoholic.

It was also good to see other men who had traveled that road, too. I admired their courage and knew of the struggles they described. It was a really good meeting and the Twelve Steppers are very supportive. None of them are judgmental; and all of them, including myself, began their sharing with the words: “Hello, my name is …., and I’m an alcoholic.”

But the grace of God just isn’t for alcoholics. It’s for all of us. It’s for the busy mother who is worn out looking after her children. It’s for the harassed worker who is trying to meet an urgent deadline. It’s for the school teacher who tries each week to inspire her students to learn something new. It’s for the teenager who is struggling with peer pressure, who wants to do what is right. And it’s for the senior who sees the world changing faster than ever and wonders where the good old days have gone.

The grace of God is for each of us. As human beings we are weak, frail, prone to temptation and apt to sin. No matter who we are or what we’ve done, we all need the grace of God to grant us that divine opportunity to begin again, to take a step in the right direction, and to be lovingly embraced by God. In other words, our lives are rescued from the messes that we create through the love, mercy, and grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.

So no matter who you are today or what you’ve done in the past, receive a new beginning through the gracious love of God.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we make mistakes in our lives that negatively affect our relationships, spoil our dreams, and sometimes destroy our hopes. We come to You, seeking Your grace to give us the opportunity to begin again and start anew. We know that we don’t deserve this, but that’s why You call it ‘grace.’ Be with us and love us. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor at Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.