Will Davis Jr.'s Blog, page 42

From the Heart

Not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. Ephesians 6:6

Have you ever caught yourself doing something because you knew it looked good or because you wanted people to see you? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve caught myself in mid word or deed, knowing all too well that what I was doing or saying was for my own benefit.

It may have looked like I was serving or encouraging someone else, but my heart wasn’t pure. In reality, while I may have been doing something noble, I was secretly thinking about how much I’d be noticed.

That’s painful to admit, but it’s true.

In this verse, Paul is addressing slaves. That’s right, slaves. He’s speaking to Christian men and women who had been sold into slavery. And he’s telling them to check their motives.

Paul is concerned that these slaves might have ulterior motives for doing the right things. That if they didn’t steal, or if they didn’t lie, or of they did a really good job for their masters, they might do it in some effort to get ahead and maybe improve their plight as slaves. And who would blame them?

But Paul called them to something higher. He told them that even as human slaves their motives must be pure, not divided. That even as slaves they need to tell the truth, not steal and do a great job because it honors Jesus.

Their motive for their noble actions reflected a pure heart, not a desire to change their circumstances.

Let that one settle deep in your spirit today. When you do right, when you make moral choices, when you honor someone over yourself, when you are generous with your time or resources, do it out of the purest love for Jesus. Don’t do it for the approval of others or to somehow get ahead.

Check your motives today. Pray for a pure heart.

The post From the Heart appeared first on Will Davis Jr.

Would You Attend a Church that Thinks Like This?

The good folks at Marshall Ford Fellowship here in Austin see this in the church’s program each week. Would you attend a church that published this list:

Are you a guest / member?

 Are you an outcast or a victim?

-        Flunk out, dropout, burn out

-        Broke or broken

-        Brain damaged, incurably ill

-        Swindled, shoved aside, replaced

-        Over employed, underemployed, unemployable

-        Parents of failed children

-        Children of failed parents

-        Barren, pregnant too many times, pregnant at the wrong time,  a mother out of wedlock

-        Lonely, incompetent, stupid

-        Emotionally starved, Emotionally dead

-        Violated, raped, molested

-        HIV positive, herpes ridden, w/ STD

-        Addicted, divorced, abandoned, widowed

Are you Immoral?

-        Prostitute, pimp, pusher, pervert

-        Had an abortion; preformed one…

-        Murderer, child molester

-        Brutal, bigoted, glutton; gossip

-        Pornographer, addicted to porn

-        War criminal, sadist, terrorist

-        Filthy or  filthy rich

-        Unforgiven, feel unforgiven

-        Are you unforgiving

Do you appear on the Apostle Paul’s list:

-        Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, active homosexual

-        Thief, greedy, drunk, slanderer, swindler,

-        Satanist,

-        Rob the aged & weak

-        Cheater, liar

Are you a church wash out?

-        Living in sin

-         “A spiritual zero; a mini-faith”

-        Made a mess of your life?

-        Been ‘burned’ or rejected by the ‘religious?’

Well… welcome to the club!  “….and such were some of [us]!” (1 Cor. 6:11)

Heavens… such were all of us!

If you are beyond the limits of human acceptability
If you are unworthy
If you are unwanted

You welcome here!

There is healing here!

There is hope here!

We love you in the Lord Jesus!

The only standard is that you be unworthy!

WHY?  BECAUSE JESUS IS HERE!

THE BODY OF CHRIST IS HERE!

AND HIS PEOPLE, WHO ARE BEING CHANGED BY HIM, ARE HERE!

He says and we say:

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and YOU SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.  [Matt 11:28,29 NAS]

We call it ‘The Kingdom Among us!’

“In The Kingdom there is forgiveness and healing that knows no limits. Blessed are all as they flee into the arms of the Kingdom among us!”

 Christians?   Church member?

-        Does this list make you squirm a bit?

-        Are you tempted to say, “I don’t want the Kingdom open to people like this!”

-        Listen!  We can’t bring Him or His message down to our size.

-        If the church is full of the totally nice, something is wrong…

-        We are called and being equipped to be Jesus to our visitors and fellow church members!

All riotously celebrated in the party of Jesus!!!

Welcome to Marshall Ford Fellowship.

____________________________________________________________________

So, what do you think of the list? If you were a guest at that church and saw the list, how would you feel? If your own church started sharing this list, how would you react?

Personally, I love it and I applaud Marshall Ford for having the guts to publish it. I intend to read it in a message at ACF soon.

What do you say?

The post Would You Attend a Church that Thinks Like This? appeared first on Will Davis Jr.

Are You Existing or Living?

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

In him was life . . . . John 1:3-4

 I’ve always found these two statements to be intriguing, especially when viewed back-to-back.

In the first, John identifies Jesus as the source of all creation. He basically says that everything we can see, feel and measure, and even those things we can’t, have their origins in Jesus.

But then he says that Jesus is also the source of all life. That in him is life. On the surface, the two statements sound redundant:

Jesus is the source of all creation.

Jesus is the source of all life.

But as you look deeper, and especially as you track the theme of life through John, you find that John is speaking of two entirely different things.

Existence is standard. Everyone and everything has it, because God made everything. We exist because God graciously created us. But life is different. It’s optional. And it’s only found in him.

That’s why Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 that he needed to be born again. Nicodemus—the devout religious leader—had existence, but he didn’t have life.

And the difference is huge.

Are you existing or living? Let me ask the question differently: Are you in him? In Jesus?

The degree to which you find your life summed up by those two words—in him—is the degree to which you’re really living. There is not true life outside of Jesus.

Today, choose to live. Choose to be in Christ. Let him permeate every aspect of your life. Don’t settle for mere existence.

Choose life. Choose Jesus.

 

*I’m teaching through John’s Gospel at Austin Christian Fellowship. To watch or listen to the messages, Click Here. 

The post Are You Existing or Living? appeared first on Will Davis Jr.

Do you Drink the Good Stuff?

My friend Chelsea Landis is at it again. Here is her most recent blog.

Click anywhere above to go to Chelsea’s site and to read the rest.

The post Do you Drink the Good Stuff? appeared first on Will Davis Jr.

One Heart and One Way

In honor of Valentine’s Day, and in honor of all married couples who are reading this, here’s a great verse you can pray for your marriage: I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart (NASB).

Susie and I discovered the power of this promise when we were in college. We were in a particularly difficult season in our relationship. I wasn’t sure if we should continue dating. I wanted to know if our relationship had the potential to become a great marriage. I remember sitting on my bed late one night and randomly opening my Bible. It fell open to Jeremiah Chapter 24. Verse seven immediately jumped off the page at me. What struck me about this great promise to the nation of Israel was the single form of the word heart used by Jeremiah. Given that God was speaking to a nation, to a multitude of people, I would have expected the text to say hearts, not heart. But God was promising to resurrect his people from exile, and to seal and mark them with his presence. They would be his people and he would be there God. As a nation, they would have one heart and one soul.

That profound concept—that a group of people could have one heart—grabbed my attention. I immediately sensed that God was offering this promise to Susie and me. If we would be his people—if we would seek him, honor him and serve him—then he would be our God. He would guide us as a couple and would give us one heart for him. That day I started praying Jeremiah 24:7 for our relationship. I shared the verse with Susie and she began praying it as well. Together, I know we’ve asked God on thousands of occasions to give us one heart for him.

Over the years, Susie and I have grown more and more unified in our commitments to Christ. We’ve watched each other settle into our respective walks with Jesus, and that has had a profound impact on how we relate as a couple. Susie and I have the privilege (by God’s grace) of relating on a level that many couples never choose to experience. It’s not that they can’t; it’s just that they don’t. The level of intimacy that Susie and I enjoy most is available to every Christian couple who will seek it from God. It’s a gift of God’s grace and the fruit of years of Jeremiah 24:7-type praying. It’s the intimacy that happens between two humans on a spiritual level–the intimacy between two human souls.

What if you started praying Jeremiah 24:7 for your marriage right now? How might your marriage look this time next year if every day between now and then you asked God to give you and your spouse one heart for him?

What in the world do you have to lose?

 

   Give your marriage a great Valentine’s gift:  Learn to Pray Big for Your Marriage.

The post One Heart and One Way appeared first on Will Davis Jr.

Five Ways to Stay Close to Jesus

In John 15, Jesus gave us a vivid picture of what it means to be close to him. It was the night before his crucifixion, and Jesus wanted to make sure his followers knew the secret to staying near to him in the tumultuous times that lay ahead. Here’s part of what he told them: Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. (John 15:4).

Branches that are cut off from the vine stop yielding fruit and quickly die. Jesus wanted his disciples to understand that the same was true for them. As long as they remained in close proximity to him, they’d be fruitful. But when they allowed distance to creep into their relationship with him, they were in big trouble.

It’s tragic that Peter, only a few hours after hearing Jesus give this warning, became a graphic example of how quickly the lack of proximity to Jesus can seriously damage a disciple.

 

Arm in Arm with Jesus

Here is another image that helps me want to stay connected to Christ. It’s from the film, The Passion of the Christ and based on the scene described in Matthew 27:32.

As Jesus was making his way to Golgotha, the place where he was to be crucified, he was too weak and bloodied to carry his cross alone. The Roman soldiers grabbed a man from the crowd, Simon of Cyrene, and forced him to help Jesus carry his cross.

Soon after, Jesus fell to the ground and couldn’t go on. A mob immediately began to beat him. Simon, who was rapidly developing an affinity for Christ, came to his rescue. He beat back the crowd and then began screaming at the Roman soldiers. He told them that he didn’t care what they did to him, but if they didn’t stop harassing Jesus, he wouldn’t carry the cross any further.

Then Simon stooped down and helped Jesus pick up his cross. On the screen, we see the two men from behind, slowly standing up together. They move side-by-side, each with his inside arm up over the other man’s shoulder. The cross is between them. The view from that angle only lasted for a moment, but it immediately grabbed my attention and I have never forgotten it: Jesus’s arm, bloodied and bruised, interlocked with Simon’s, and together they were carrying Jesus’s cross.

I want that image to represent my walk with Christ. I want to be that close to Jesus, that close to his cross. I want to get his blood all over me. I don’t want to shy away from any shame or persecution that might come through affiliation with him. And when he is mocked, I want to rush quickly to his defense. I want to not care what happens to me, as long as Jesus is exalted.

So, here are five ways to help you stay closely connected to Jesus.

If you want to be close to Jesus, then you need to stay close to Jesus’ people . You are part of a Body, Jesus’ Body. And as such you have to be connected to the Body if you are going to thrive. And in the same way that a limb will die if it is cut off from a body, so will you if you’re not connected to Jesus’ Body. Practice the discipline of living in Christian community. Stay connected to Jesus’ people.
Pray Luke 9:23 for yourself : Lord Jesus, help me to want to follow you. Give me grace each day to deny myself, to identify with you and the glorious cause of your cross, and to follow you.  Remind yourself that your life is not your own. Imagine yourself picking up the cross of Jesus and walking arm-in-arm with him.


Consume God’s Word . Read it, study it and memorize it. Get it in you. I believe that without exception the most important ingredient in staying close to Jesus is God’s Word. Pray for a hunger for God’s Word, and then feed that hunger.
Develop your spiritual love life—be a worshipper . Praise and worship are the passionate, affectionate side of a relationship with Jesus. Train yourself to abandon your heart in both private and public worship. Pray to be like Mary: that you’d extravagantly and fearlessly worship Jesus.
Lead someone . I’ve found that I’m a much better Christian when I have someone following on me. When you’re discipling someone, teaching someone or mentoring someone, you tend to be much more aware of what you do and say. You simply can’t afford to stray, lest you lead them off course as well.

 

Are you close to Jesus today? What do you do to help keep you connected? Would you mind sharing it with us?

The post Five Ways to Stay Close to Jesus appeared first on Will Davis Jr.

Whose Side is God On?

 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”  “Neither,” he replied. Joshua 5:13

There’s a great urban legend from Baylor University football: Before one of Baylor’s many games against the University of Texas, one where Texas was again expected to make a public spectacle of Baylor, a local pastor was asked to pray before the game. He reportedly took the Baylor Stadium microphone and simply said, “Lord if it’s your will, help Baylor win. If not, stay out of it.”

How many times have you wondered whose side God was on? As Christians, we do it all the time, even if our perceived adversaries are other Christians. From athletics to elections, and from lawsuits to divorces, we expect and want God to take our side.

So imagine Joshua’s shock and awe when the pre-incarnate Jesus answered his “Whose side are you on” question with a rather blunt, “Neither.”

And it was just after that, that the Lord commanded Joshua to take off his shoes and get on his face.

Sometimes, especially in the midst of conflict, trials and even suffering, what we most need is perspective. We see our adversary as the source of our problems. If they would just go away or grow up or repent or die or try harder or do whatever, then we’d be fine.

And it’s in moments like that, moments when your joy or perceived success depends on whether or not someone else does something, that God wants you flat on your face.

When it comes to conflict, God ultimately isn’t on your side, nor is he on your adversary’s. Rather, he wants to know whose side you’re on. Because if you will seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, if you will prioritize his work and if you will seek to make his name famous, then you will have all that you need.

Regardless of what your perceived adversaries may do.

The post Whose Side is God On? appeared first on Will Davis Jr.

Already

In the beginning the Word already existed. John 1:1

It seems awkward to use the phrase “in the beginning” and the term “already” in the same sentence. A beginning doesn’t allow for an already. Beginnings imply something new, something original, something initial. Already implies previous existence, previous arrangements, something before. So when beginning and already are used together, either someone is very confused or something unique is happening.

The already in John’s beginning is Jesus. John used the term “the Word,” a concept popular to both Jews and Greeks, as a metaphor. But do not be mistaken, John was talking about Jesus. John’s sentence could just as easily have read, “In the beginning Jesus already existed . . . .”

This creates a tension, and that is precisely what John was trying to do. How can a man predate the beginning? How could Jesus, someone whose birth, life and death had been witnessed and chronicled, really be there already in the beginning? It seems hard to fathom, but that is the point John was introducing.

Before there was anything else, there was Jesus.

Jesus, the man who lived and died over 2000 years ago, is eternal. He is the Great Already. Jesus exists on a level that predates everything else. And something that pre-exists, something that can claim to be the already in the beginning, can only be called one thing–God.

Have you confessed today that Jesus is your God, that he is your Lord? Confess him as such, and then go live like it.

 

The post Already appeared first on Will Davis Jr.

The Commander

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence. Joshua 5:13-14

Had there been a wall nearby, I would have loved to be a fly on it. Can you imagine Joshua’s reaction when this figure identified himself as the Commander of the armies of God? Actually, we don’t have to wonder. The text tells us that Joshua immediately fell facedown before the figure.

I’m not sure how the chain of command works in heaven, but the Commander of the Lord’s armies was no lightweight. I mean, who commands angels but God himself? Hmmmmmm . . . . .

We actually get more data later in the text when the Commander tells Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy,” (Joshua 5:15).

That tells us who this Commander really is. No angel ever received worship. No angel ever called for men to bow before him. And yet this being did. So he obviously wasn’t an angel.

Bottom line: Joshua was standing before Jesus himself.

There are several pre-Bethlehem appearances of Jesus in the Old Testament, and this is one of them. And if you think about it, it makes perfect sense.

The Father, Son and Spirit always work together as a team. There is no work of the Father that is separate from the Son or Spirit. Thus, God’s work in the nation of Israel would have included the work of both the Son and the Spirit. And this was one of those occasions where the work of the Son—before he became a human—was rather overt.

Jesus is the Commander of the armies of Heaven. He is the leader of the armed forces of God. He is the Chairman of Heaven’s Joint Chiefs-of-Staff.

And when you need defending, when you need rescuing, when you need deliverance, he will command the very angles of Heaven itself to have your back.

He can do that. He’s the Commander.

The post The Commander appeared first on Will Davis Jr.

(Christian) Parents Behaving Badly

We’ve had really crazy weather in Austin the last few weeks. Twice we’ve gone from seventy-degree days to ice, sleet and snow within forty-eight hours.

I’ve lived in Austin most of my life and I don’t remember this cold or sporadic of a winter. And given that most Texans don’t know how to drive in ice (we’re really good at flashfloods, heat waves and fire ants), and given the amount of hills in our city, Austin basically shuts down when we get any type of wintry precipitation. And we should. It’s not worth the risk of life and limb that happens when we all get on the roads in icy conditions.

The problem is that the weather doesn’t always do what we think it will. In the last few weeks, school officials have had to decide whether to delay, cancel or go ahead with school schedules based on the best info they had available to them. And guess what: the weather hasn’t cooperated.

On the days that school administrators decided to go ahead with classes, down came the wintry mix, with cars and busses sliding all over the roads. And the days that they delayed or cancelled classes, the roads have been dry as dirt.

The poor guys can’t win. And lots of parents in Austin have made sure they know it, too.

When the superintendents decided to go forward with classes, they we criticized for being careless and irresponsible. And when they cancelled classes and the weather didn’t develop, they were criticized for being overly cautious, caving in to pressure and for inconveniencing parents who had to suddenly deal with their kids who were at home.

It’s like some parents really do think that these guys are sitting in a smoke filled room saying, “What plan can we come up with that will irritate as many people as possible?” Yep, that’s it.

I understand the seriousness of this. I understand that a single mom who has to stay home and miss work because her kid isn’t in school can’t get that income back. That’s a serious deal—but it isn’t fault of the school officials who really are trying to make the best call possible with information they have.

But the worst and most embarrassing part of this story is the behavior of some of the parents, many of who sit in church pews every Sunday.

Social media has been on fire with their comments at the expense of the decision-makers. And the comments have been brutal. They’ve openly attacked the character and intelligence of the school district officials. They’d called them names and even questioned their motives.

It’s been one of the worst cases of piling on I’ve seen in a while, and much of it has been instigated by good, church-going people.

Now, before you fire off your angry emails or comments at me, let me say that I’m not talking about all of the funny and harmless comments—like Snowmageddon and Snowzilla—that popped up everywhere. Austinites don’t do ice well and we ought to be able to poke fun at ourselves. I’ve got no problem with that.

But when we stop laughing at ourselves and start attacking the intelligence and character of others–and specifically, our leaders– we’ve gone too far. Way too far.

So as one who is also tempted to pile on at times, I’d like to offer us some gentle, biblical reminders:

As Christians, we’re commanded to pray for and submit to our leaders, not attack their character.
As Christians we’re commanded to go the second mile when forced to go one, and offer the right side of our face when slapped on the left.
As Christians, we’re commanded to speak only those words that edify and encourage. We are never given permission to tear down and disparage.
As Christians, we are meant to be salt and light, not mud (or mud-slingers).

We need to remember what Paul told the grumpy and gripy believers in Philippi:

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation, (Philippians 2:14-15).

Brothers and sisters, please remember that people are looking at us. They watch everything we say and do as believers. They’re looking to see if there is any legitimacy to our faith in Jesus. They’re wanting to know if Jesus really can make someone into a new creation.

And when we rant, rave, gripe, criticize and complain like the unbeliever who doesn’t have the Holy Spirit to guide and direct his thoughts and words, we only help to build their case that Christianity is irrelevant.

Discipleship doesn’t stop when I log onto Facebook. It doesn’t end when I’m coaching at game or just watching one. It doesn’t end when I’m at a party with a bunch of friends or on a business trip in another city.

Christian parents, do better. People are watching, not the least of which are your children.

The post (Christian) Parents Behaving Badly appeared first on Will Davis Jr.