Will Davis Jr.'s Blog, page 37

Greater Love hath No Man than this . . . .

Last week, I and a dozen other ACFers spent the week serving at Windriver Ranch in Estes Park, Colorado. You’ll remember that Windriver has hit by two devastating mudslides as part of the worst flooding in Colorado history back in September.

We spent several days rebuilding the fence for their corral, cutting and clearing the thousands of trees that were lost in the slide, and doing overall cleanup and repair in the property.

On Thursday, our next to last day there, the Windriver staff made an unusual request of us. They asked if we’d be willing to join them in serving another dude ranch down in the Big Thompson Canyon. Sylvan Dale Ranch has been operating in the canyon since the late 1940s.  The Big Thompson usually flows through it at about 30 yards wide and at 600 CFS. On the weekend of Sept 11-14, the river came through at 250 yards wide and at 16,000 CFS. Sylvan Dale was devastated.

The Christian families at Windriver feel terrible about what happened to Sylvan Dale and felt led to help them, even though they are competing for customers and even though Windriver still needs a ton of help.

 

So on Thursday we loaded up our gear, along with much of the Windriver staff, and headed down the canyon to Sylvan Dale. We were warmly greeting by the owners and by the foreman who had a long list of jobs that he hoped we could chip away at. Before we packed up and drove out several hours later, worn and weary, the complete list was done.

The highpoint of the day for me was when we prayed over the owners and the foreman along with the Windriver staff. I seriously doubt they had ever been the recipients of such radical love. We prayed for their favor, their success and the complete restoration of their ranch.

And we prayed it in Jesus’ name.

Would you do that? Would you take much needed help–gifts of time and laborers that had been given to you–and spend them on someone else? And specifically, on a competitor? That’s what Jesus’ love does.

How do I know that? Because I saw the Windriver folks do it for their friends at Sylvan Dale. And it’s one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a long time.

Want to know about camps at Windriver this summer? Click here.

We still have openings for the pastors and missionaries camps that I will be leading. Contact Molly at office@windriverranch.com for more information.

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Waiting…Patiently

And so, having patiently waited,

he obtained the promise. Hebrews 6:15

Are you waiting for God? Are you waiting for a promise to be kept? A word to be fulfilled?

Are you tired of waiting? Don’t punt and don’t panic. God will come through.

The Hebrew writer used the powerful example of Abraham and Sarah as two people who waiting patiently for God to come through for them. And even though they really messed things up with that whole Hagar/Ishmael thing, God still honored them. He kept his Word.

And even though they were way too old to have a baby, God gave them one. He came through.

So for what are you waiting today? Don’t grow impatient in your waiting room. God uses waiting to:

Mature us
Prepare us
Work behind the scenes
And increase his glory and honor when he does come through

So don’t panic and don’t give up. That thing you’re waiting for will come. If God has promised it he will provide it.

In the meantime, rest in his comfort and the reality that our good God has never failed to keep his Word, and when he does he always over delivers.

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Will’s Letter to ACF

Greetings friends, how are you????

It’s been a great year already at ACF. We’ve launched our 4th community, ACF Northeast led by Pastor Shawn weekly. Shawn was named Community Partner of the Year by Windemere Elementary where the church meets. Yea God and congrats Shawn!!!!!

We’ve jumped headlong into our study of John and the results have been very encouraging. Many of you have commented that the Follow series was one of the most profound and impactful that you’ve experienced in a long time. Again, yea God. God is honoring your humility before him and our diligent study of his Word.

We’re just two weeks out from Easter! I hope you will . . . .

Invite your friends to one of the services at your respective ACF Community
Attend the Good Friday Communion service at noon at 4 PTs
Worship with thousands of other believers in Austin at the city-wide Good Friday service at the Long Center at 4 or 6 PM. Admission is free but an offering will be taken for a local Austin non-profit.
Volunteer. You respective community will need dozens of additional volunteers during the weekend. Be one of them.
Pray for our services. Pray that God’s Spirit will be very evident as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

Speaking of Easter . . . .

We’ll begin a new series Easter weekend called In Jesus’ Name. We’ll be looking at the uses of the phrase in Jesus’ name in John. If you want to start studying ahead, here are the verses I’ll be teaching on:

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:31
Yet to all who did receive him, 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. John 1:12-13
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. John 14:12-14
I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. John 17:11 NIV

And finally . . . . 

Pray every day for God to fill Lake Travis to 681 by June 1, 2014!!!!!!!!!

See you this weekend.

 

 

 

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Six Pots of What?

Six stone waterpots were standing there; they were used for Jewish ceremonial purposes,

and held twenty to thirty gallons each. John 2:6

According to both the Jewish and social customs of the day, every guest at the wedding would have been required to wash their hands upon arrival. Weddings being the huge and multi-day affairs that they were, significant amounts of water might be needed to accommodate all the guests. The pots mentioned here provided up to 180 gallons of water.

Now this story becomes much more interesting when Jesus decided to miraculously fill those huge waterpots with 180 gallons of the finest red wine. That’s certainly enough wine to throw one major party. Consider also that hosts often diluted wine with water to make it last longer, and suddenly there is enough wine on hand to last several days.

There is no doubt that John was contrasting the Jewish Law (six stone pots of water) with the grace of Jesus (six stone pots of fine wine).

John’s intended point is clear: Jesus gives in overflowing supply what the Law of Moses never could (See John 1:16-17). The rigidity and severity of the Law becomes free-flowing grace in Jesus, and it becomes grace in extreme amounts.

So go ahead and list your sins. Name your biggest moral blunders. Dredge up that Grand Canyon of spiritual failure and know that Jesus’ grace is more than enough to forever wash it away.

The thing that has haunted you for so long and held you captive in shame can be washed totally away and made completely clean in the rich red wine of Jesus’ grace. You cannot exhaust his it. His grace is as deep as the storehouse of God. It will not ever run dry.

And know this about Jesus: He is the great converter. He came to produce conversion. He converts water to wine, drudgery to adventure, and sinners to saints.

He turns the life of boredom and the dreariness of spiritual emptiness into the adventure-filled life of a Kingdom builder. Jesus makes life sweeter, more exciting, more meaningful and more valuable. He takes the average and makes it priceless; He takes the temporal and makes it eternal. And, he takes the stained and makes it holy.

Today, give Jesus access to your waterpots. Let him turn the water of your life into the rich red wine of his.

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The Danger of Helping God

So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son,

whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Genesis 16:15

I’ve created a few Ishmaels in my life. I’ve set out to help God, do what he seemed unable, unwilling or unlikely to do, and ended-up with an illegitimate expression of my own fleshly intentions.

And the problem with Ishmaels is that they don’t go away.

God promised Abraham a son. He promised that a mighty nation would come through him. But as the years went by and as Sarah’s womb continued to be unfruitful, the two began to wonder just how God might keep his promise.

Had God forgotten? Had he changed his mind? Maybe God meant that the child would come through Abraham, but that he not really specified Sarah. Maybe God needed help.

So one night Sarah has an idea. Imagine this bedroom conversation:

Abraham?

Yes dear.

I want you to do something.

OK honey. What is it?

I want you to sleep with my servant Hagar.

(Pause) Excuse me?

I want you to sleep with her, get her pregnant, and have that son that God promised. We’re past my childbearing years, so we better go to Plan B.

(Pause) OK dear. Whatever you say.

And that’s exactly what Abraham did. The result was an unwanted young boy and a broken relationship between Sarah and Hagar. The result was also the creation of a rival nation with Israel and eventually a rival faith.

Trying to help God, specifically in things that only he can do, can have tragic consequences indeed.

So what has God promised you? What dreams has he written across your heart? What visions has he given you? What blessings has he promised?

Is he slow in keeping them? Does he seem late to deliver? Are you beginning to wonder if he will come through? Do you think that maybe the clock is ticking and that you need to help God?

Friends, God does not need our help, especially in the fulfillment-of-promises category. He promises what only he can give, and he wants you to wait in humble obedience until the time is right for him to provide.

So don’t preempt him. Don’t shortcut his plan. Don’t take matters into your own hands. The results can be tragic and long-lasting.

Sit tight and believe in the God who always comes through.

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Do Whatever He Tells You

His mother said to the servants,

“Do whatever he tells you.” John 2:5

How much do you trust Jesus? I mean seriously, how much do you trust him? Do you trust him enough to do whatever he says, no matter the apparent consequences?

Let’s look at an example of trust.

For some reason, Mary had some authority at this wedding. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t have known about the wine shortage. Some think this was John the Baptist’s wedding and that Mary was helping with the plans for her cousin Elizabeth. We just don’t know.

What we do know is that when Mary and the newlyweds were faced with the major embarrassment of running out of wine, Mary brought the problem to Jesus.

Her terse, do whatever he tells you to the servants tells us all we need to know about her faith.

Mary didn’t know what, if anything, Jesus would do. But she did know that whatever he did would be enough.

That’s what trust is: It’s not necessarily knowing what Jesus is going to do. It’s rather trusting that whatever he does it will be enough.

So let me ask again: Do you trust Jesus? Do you need to know what he is going to do? Or, do you trust him enough to leave a matter in his hands through prayer and trust that whatever he does will be good and enough.

That’s faith, and it’s what Jesus wants from all those who follow him.

Do whatever he tells you.

Today practice having a whatever he tells you kind of faith. Don’t negotiate. Don’t ask for details. Don’t demand a plan. Don’t look for a Plan B.

Just obey. Just do whatever he tells you.

It will be good. It will be enough.

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A Long Time

Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon,

where he remained a long time. Jeremiah 37:16

This really does seem unfair. Jeremiah was doing exactly what God had commanded him. He was carrying a message from God to Zedekiah, King of Judah. Yet when he arrived at the city gate, he was accused of trying to defect to the enemy and was promptly arrested.

Jeremiah was beaten and thrown into prison where he languished for “a long time.” We don’t know exactly how long, but it was long enough to rule out any quick deliverance from God. God did not bail Jeremiah out. The situation in Jeremiah’s life was bad, and it stayed that way for a season.

Life can be like that. We often seem so surprised, so upset when tough seasons settle in. We shouldn’t be. The Bible is filled with stories of the long term suffering of God’s people. The Egyptian captivity lasted 400 years. The Babylonian captivity lasted 70. Moses led the rebellious Israelites through the wilderness for 40 long years. Job suffered through years of pain and grief. Jacob had to work 14 years to gain his wife. Biblical characters seem quite familiar with the suffering mentioned in Jeremiah’s phrase “a long time.”

And so are we. I think of my friend who has been faithfully serving a sick wife for over a decade, or my daughter’s former school teacher who has waited years for her wayward husband to return to her.

I think of ministers who faithfully serve dead and/or rebellious congregations with little visible fruit, or missionaries who sometimes labor for years without even seeing a single convert to Christ.

I think of the parents of a severely handicapped child who offer their tireless love, even though the child will never be able to return it or even acknowledge it.

Yes, we too are familiar with the long time of suffering. And yet, the day finally came for Jeremiah when he was released from prison. Exiles and captivities do end, wilderness wanderings eventually do lead to the Promised Land, and jail doors do eventually open.

You may find yourself today in a season of suffering or confusion for what seems like a long time. Remember that you are not alone in your suffering. Remember also that God has not abandoned you. Deliverance will come. This season will end.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Romans 8:18

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It’s Not Time Yet

“How does that concern you and me?” Jesus asked.

“My time has not yet come.” John 2:4

Jesus, his mother Mary and his disciples were guests at a wedding.

(Remember: In Jesus’ day a wedding  lasted a week, not an hour! Throughout the entire week-long ordeal, the bride and groom were responsible for housing, feeding and entertaining all the guests. To run short on any of the above was a social blunder of major proportions. To run out of wine, well, that was enough to get you a negative write-up in the Jerusalem gossip columns.)

So when the young couple ran out of wine at this wedding, Mary wisely brought the need to Jesus. At this point in Jesus’ life, Mary was not totally sure who Jesus really was, but she knew enough to figure that he could handle a little thing like a wine shortage.

So why did Jesus hesitate? Here was a chance for him to really shine. He could save the couple from major embarrassment and point people to his Father at the same time. He could use the wine crisis to start showing his disciples who he really was.

All of which, by the way, he ended up doing; but not until he’d made a critical statement: My time has not yet come.

What was he saying? It might be expanded this way: Mother, you are right to assume that I can help here, because my Father has given me the ability to do so. You are wrong to assume, however, that it is the right time for me to fully reveal my true nature. We’re on a timetable here, but it’s neither yours nor mine. It’s God’s. So I’ll lend my abilities to this current crisis, but don’t expect headlines. It’s just not time yet.

Jesus’ solution for the wine crisis was masterful: He provided first-class wine for the remainder of the event, he made the bride and groom look very socially savvy, he turned some old Jewish ceremonial water pots into a great object lesson about the new things to come, he give his disciples a first glimpse at his awesome powers, and he did so with only the servants in the house knowing about it.

Not a bad day’s work for someone who was still trying to fly below radar.

In Kingdom matters, timing is everything. As servants of the holy God, we are on his timetable, not ours. God has plans, tests and opportunities for us that we do not know about. He rarely acts when we want him to. From our perspective, we feel like all we do is wait on God. From God’s perspective, it’s just not time yet.

Are you struggling in your faith because God seems slow in coming through? Do you have hopes and dreams that you feel God has overlooked? Are you doubting your vision, all because God seems so slow to move? Then let the lesson of the wine encourage you.

You are not on your schedule. You belong to a God who is always doing more than we can see or understand. He’s the master at working behind the scenes. He may as well be turning your water into wine right now. So obey him and rise to the occasion. Just let God determine who writes the headlines.

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A Helper of Many

For she herself has also been a helper of many.

Romans 16:2

Does this describe you?

Paul described the church leader Phoebe, who hailed from the little village of Cenchrea outside of Corinth, as a helper of many. Paul went on to say that he was one of the many who had been helped by this gracious saint.

What a beautiful way to sum of the life of a believer—a helper of many.

And I really can’t think of a more Christ-like comparison. Think about it: How many people has Jesus helped? Countless. Only the final count of Heaven will give us the full story of the lives throughout the ages that Jesus has helped.

So what about you? Are you a helper of many? Do you pray for others? Are you discipling another believer? Do you mentor a young mother or a younger peer in your profession? Do you support orphans in a foreign country? Do you generously share your resources with those in need? Do you help a shut-ins keep up their yard or take out their trash? Do make sure a single-mom or widow is well protected and cared for?

This list of ways we can help others really is endless. Be creative. Have fun with it, but let’s all aspire to be like Phoebe. Or better, like Jesus.

Today, be a helper of many.

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Will’s Letter to ACF, March 28, 2014

Greetings Friends! I’m sorry I missed writing you last week.

This Weekend @ ACF . . . . 

Is our Fifth Sunday Serving!!!!!!!!!. We’re going to send hundreds of warm-hearted people into the city to serve. I hope you’re planning to be one of them. If you didn’t sign up, spend a few hours this weekend serving a neighbor or with a ministry you believe  in. Let’s get out and bless our city this weekend!

But remember, we’re not having services at any of our communities this weekend. Serving is our worship!!!!!!

Speaking of Serving . . . . .

I’ve been with several ACFers on a Mission Trip at Windriver Ranch in a partnership with Mission Discovery.

We served yesterday in an area that was devastated by the flood.

 

 

The damage is mind-boggling.

 

 

 

 

We’ve spent most of the week helping clean up after the avalanche that swept through Windriver.

Here’s a video of some of what we did.

 

See you next weekend!!!!!!!

 

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