Response to Revelation

I confess.

I'm woefully behind in my "one year Bible" reading.  At least by 60 days plus.  On December 22 I'm reading October 21 material.   Still making my way out of Jeremiah.  Ahead, the inscrutable Ezekiel beckons to be  navigated.  Reach the final port before year's end?  Not likely.

Still, what a remarkable journey, to read through the Word in one year.  Every other day or so--sometimes each day--I run across something that I had not known or had forgotten.  Often I just stumble into the stunning...and don't want to rush by.

Like this morning.  Most of Jeremiah's ministry was a very tough run.  He had the unenviable task of telling Judah that Babylon's armies were going to ruthlessly run them over, and that the Jewish King and the southern Kingdom should willingly submit.  God's judgment on their faithlessness could no longer be forestalled--though God had given them virtually innumerable repentance opportunities to date.

Still, though rejected repeatedly, Jeremiah kept getting messages from the Lord, and delivering the difficult mail.

Recorded in Jeremiah 36 is yet another unpopular prophetic assignment.  Jeremiah is to use his scribe (Baruch) to record all the messages Yahweh had asked his prophet to deliver over the years.  The dictation process began. Then, the scroll-anthology was to be read in the temple by Baruch to the king's administrative officials.  The reading commenced.  The words whipped the proud hearts of the king's cronies, who soon made their way to report to Jehoiakim.

The king immediately sent for Baruch's scroll.  Unrolling it and reading, Jehudi commenced verbalizing Jeremiah's burden of truth for an audience of one, King Jehoiakim.  Jehoiakim's response is stunning, though perhaps not surprising to those who knew him.  "Each time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king took a knife and cut off that section of the scroll.  He then threw it in the fire, section by section, until the whole scroll was burned up" (Jeremiah 36:23).

The next verse explains.  "Neither the king nor his attendance showed any signs of fear or repentance at what they heard" (36:24).

If you visualize the scene, you find yourself watching a very foolish man.  Listening to the whole of years of prophetic witness, each message scourging the king's proud heart, he regarded divine revelation as nothing but useless tinder for a fire to keep him warm (he sat in the "winterized" room of his palace, stoked by the fireplace).  Self-assured, blind, though for a few minutes perhaps provided a few more licking flames to spike the room temperature, the king foolishly sealed his fate.

"He who has ears to hear," Jesus said often, "let him hear."   Or not.  Jehoiakim's fireside antics fueled for him...in just a few short months... the awful fire of the relentless judgment of God.  One may discard God's given word, but such a word never returns to God void without accomplishing what He intended.

When God speaks to us, our positive response to it can always bring new life, hope, and opportunity.  Our rejection simply evidences how habitually foolish our hearts may have become.  So, what's your response to what God says to you these days?

Tim Tebow - A Portrait of Thanksgiving

It's tough not to be a Tebow fan today.  Perhaps the next loss will dim some of the shine of the past 8 weeks of his quarterback leadership, but win, lose, or draw...I'm a fan. 

Here's why.

"In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5).

Tebow gets this.  He also expresses it.  Keep kneeling; keep pointing up, Tim!

His kneeling or pointing to the sky has nothing to do with God helping him to win games.  As many others have observed, there are always followers of Christian faith on both sides of the scrimmage line.

But it has everything to do with a thankful heart.

If anyone would explore this with young Tim, they'd understand that he's developed a habit which is the will of God for every Christ follower.  He understands what Scripture says.  Our lives, our moments, are in God's hands.  He provides every good thing given, every breath, every ounce of strength...even to those who fail to acknowledge that ALL of every right thing in life IS a GIFT.

Psalm 57:9
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.

Lead on, Tim.   Keep pointing us to the One who gave, and gives, it all.

A Tribute to my Aunt Jean (Robinson)

A Quiet Tribute to Jean Robinson

December 10, 2011

          My own memories of my mother’s sister, Jean Robinson, always create a deep smile in my heart.   Aunt Jean was the kind of aunt that you didn’t see very often (because she lived so far away, almost all the time), but when you did get to see her and spend time with her, you wanted to do it more.

          We all knew that at her heart, she was a “missionary.”  She lived with a mission -- to see the gospel and the person of the gospel, Jesus Christ, become large in people’s lives.  Early on, she gave herself to the Lord to be used any way He desired.   She loved people who were very different from her with the love of the Lord Himself.  She was a servant, a wife and companion, a mother, a grandmother, a writer, teacher, musician and many other things.   But at her heart, she was a missionary.

          For some reason, a slide show of her and Uncle Bob’s ministry, along with the boys, and Aunt Jean singing in the background of that slideshow, continues to play melodically and beautifully in my head.  The song she sang, clearly as a testimony of how she had learned to live and daily  trust her Lord, was “I know Who Holds Tomorrow.”

I don't know about tomorrow;
I just live from day to day.
I don't borrow from its sunshine
For its skies may turn to grey.
I don't worry o'er the future,
For I know what Jesus said.
And today I'll walk beside Him,
For He knows what lies ahead.

(Chorus) Many things about tomorrow
I don't seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand.

Every step is getting brighter
As the golden stairs I climb;
Every burden's getting lighter,
Every cloud is silver-lined.
There the sun is always shining,
There no tear will dim the eye;
At the ending of the rainbow
Where the mountains touch the sky.

                Aunt Jean was a tireless encourager of others, including me,  in the call to ministry.  I cherish the investment she made in a number of our young people several years ago when she visited Ames and we had a “missionary lunch” with as many of our High Schoolers as wanted to come.  I recall how she told stories and cast vision even as the kids leaned into the table to listen more closely.  Many of those kids are in training even now for overseas service.

            Welcome home, Aunt Jean!   You’ve now joined the “cloud of witnesses” awaiting your reward until the rest of us finish (Hebrews 11).   We love you, and will love seeing you again in the presence of the One who holds tomorrow…and our hands, just like He held yours.

David A. Staff

Lead Pastor – First Evangelical Free Church * Ames IA

Giving Your Life Away

What a strange idea...to give your life away.


Yet that is exactly what Jesus calls "normal."  Normal is "denying yourself" and "taking up your cross daily."  As Don Carson (TEDS) writes so profoundly in his book, HOW LONG O LORD?, "taking up your cross..."


1)     It does not mean to put up with some relatively minor irritant.  Crucifixion was a form of execution reserved for the most despised and evil of criminals.  “To take up one’s cross” was to go to the place of shameful, painful execution


2)     The alternative to doing this is to “forfeit one’s soul,” to gain the world’s approval and Jesus’ disapproval.  To lose your life is to discover what one has denied before: they belong to God by creation, they can never find themselves, never be fulfilled, never realize their potential unless they abandon self-interest and abandon themselves to God


3)     Jesus casts this confrontation in terms of Christian witness.  Ashamed of Jesus now, He will be ashamed of you at the end of this age.

Paul himself suggests to the Philippian believers that to suffer because you follow Christ is a privilege which is granted (Phil 1:29-30).   Carson adds...

There is parental and pastoral implication to all this.  Sometimes we want to protect our children or our flock from too many things…from the caustic scorn of peers…I look at my children, and I wish for them enough opposition to make them strong, enough insults to make them choose, enough hard decisions to make them see that following Jesus brings with it a cost—a cost eminently worth it, but still a cost.  A church that is merely comfortable, that never evangelizes, never encourages its people to stand on the front line, will never be strong, never be grateful, never be able to sort out profoundly Christian priorities. (p. 87)

Take time to think about your living these days.  For yourself?  Or for the One who gave His life away resulted in many being restored to God?   People far from God are drawn to Him, again, when Jesus' followers live like Jesus (cf. 1 John 2:3-5).

Praying On the Sidelines

Over 10 years of serving as a team pastor for the Iowa State Cyclone Football team (under Coach Dan McCarney, now at North Texas State), and now again as I volunteer with the 2011 Cyclones, I have often wondered before God how to pray at football games.

Of course, I get asked questions all the time.  Questions (accompanied by a sheepish smile, which means it's a half-serious, half-not question) like

• do you pray for your team to score, or make a great play?
• do you pray for the team to win?
• were you praying when the team came back like that?
• do you think God cares who wins?
• what about players on the other side...what does God do when they are praying too?

These questions actually do have answers:  No, no, yes, no, and "what would you do if you were God?".

Nonetheless, I do pray when standing on the sidelines.  Here's how I think I am to pray.

First, I pray that somehow, through all the thousands of things that are going on all over the place in a stadium, both in the stands and on the field, that somehow God would be thought about and honored in this, and that Jesus Christ might become important in people's lives.  At most games, there are thousands without a personal, life-changing relationship with Christ.  One can quickly and easily look into the faces of any number of people, and if you're kingdom-hearted, you begin to pray for lost people.

Second, I pray for those players on either side of the gridiron who are Christ's disciples, that they will play (and that Christ-following coaches will coach) with God's strength, energy, and focus, so that their play (or coaching) will truly stand out so as to bring honor to Christ.  And should God grant them His extra encouragement, I pray that they will then be humble, and give the glory to the Lord they love and whose life they exude as they play the game.  I pray for their teammates and coaches to recognize that Jesus Christ is truly making a life-changing difference in these kingdom warriors.

Third, I pray for a player who goes down, or gets hurt.  The other night, one of our running backs went down, and there was a scramble by the docs and trainers to see if he were OK.  They lingered on the field, and I felt prompted to pray for God to enter the care huddle and bring His healing touch, energy, and strength to #21.  After a long delay, Shontrell got up and walked off the field...and reentered the game later on.  After the game, I mentioned to him how I longed for God to energize him in those hurting moments...and I appreciated his smile when he heard it.  I also pray for a player whose injury may result in being on the sidelines for a long time.  Another kind of healing and perspective needs to happen in these cases, when the prospect of playing in the upcoming season suddenly evaporates.

Here's my coaching tip for you Jesus-following football fans.  Go cheer your team on!  Wear the body paint, the hats, the gear...whatever.  But also, make your 3 1/2 hours at a game an opportunity for you to beg God for His presence and power to move in and around  that stadium.  Pray for the other fans around you.  Pray that all of the 50,000+ will have the Spirit of God move into their lives and show them the greatest Person they could meet...someone who is worthy of all their praise and attention.  

Yeah...go to the game, and pray.

ALL IN - what's it mean?

"ALL IN!"

In poker, you've just pushed it all to the center of the table.
In the United Kingdom, an all-out 20th century British wrestling style.
In entertainment, an HBO special featuring "nothing held back" Dennis Miller.

On his knees,  a sweat-drenched Jesus of Nazareth laying it all down: "Not what I want, Father.  I'm all in with Your Will."

On the practice turf of the team Cyclone warriors, it is the cry that quietly captures what it takes from each man  to make something special happen.

Last night, Dustin Brooks and I heard that and more from about 20 Cyclones in a priority:one huddle in the Gold Room.  "Everything I have focused on one common goal."  "Family"  "Nothing allowed to distract"  "Every man bringing every thing he's got"   Great commitment; intense leadership.

So, what does it mean in a relationship with God?
Two different worlds...the same...or what?


"One (the relationship with God) gives energy and power to the other (all-in football)."  That's how they see it.  These guys, like the apostle Paul, don't think they have arrived yet (check out Philippians 3), but they are in the hunt for a more powerful relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and the experience of having that power energize an all-in effort with the entire Cyclone football family.

"Every athlete exercises self-control in ALL THINGS...I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.  I discipline my body, and make it my slave...to receive an imperishable prize" (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

Every ALL-IN athlete does this.  Especially those empowered and energized by the God whose strength is without limit.

Go Cyclones...

Summer Days in Tbilisi, Georgia FINAL - Worship in Tbilisi, then Heading West

Monday, August 8, 2011   Tbilisi Worship and Heading West

As my 2^nd Sunday morning dawned in Tbilisi, we were all aware that our in-apartment worship service would begin somewhere around 11:00 AM.  Gia characteristically was scurrying around managing many of the details – set of the apartment room, food and drink, making sure those needing transportation could get there.

The guest speaker for the day, I took an early walk with my notes from last April’s Easter message, “The Power of the Resurrection.”  Along what has become a familiar route through the complex of apartments to the north, I practiced what I would say, attempting to pare it down and simplify, given that it would be translated into Georgian.  By 8:30 I was back home.

Some 14-15 would gather, including 2 brand new believers in their early 20’s, who had trusted Christ at the English Camp the previous week.  Masha is a pretty young Georgian girl, who hopes to get a waitressing job (her interview was Sunday).  On the day when the Houston team was about to head home, she surrendered her heart to Jesus.  The young man (I’ve misplaced his name) also bowed to receive Christ.  He is REALLY hungry for the word, and after the worship service, stayed to pepper some of the other young Georgian believers with questions about the Bible.  This new babe in Christ has all the early earmarks of a future leader, should his hunger and growth continue.    We were also joined by Wade and Meagan Housh, Pentecostal Missionaries from Kansas.  Delightful couple.

Following the 2 hour service, tables were arranged in the middle of the room to make one long eating area, and there was food!   Georgian bread, cokes, meats and cheese, and much talk.   Given that about ½ the church was away on August vacation, this nucleus has great potential for a growing church in Tbilisi.

Sunday afternoon was spent doing what we often do in the USA on Sunday afternoons – no, not watch football, but some napping, and for Jim and me, packing and preparing to head to the Tbilisi airport later that night for journeys away from Georgia.  Jim to Baku, Azerbaijan, and me to Munich, Newark (NJ) and finally Des Moines, IA.

In the early evening, Jim, Gia, and I returned to the restaurant where we had eaten with the Houston team about a week before.  The service was slow but the Georgian food, and fantastic (!) Georgian music was quite good.  We spent some of the time talking about our assessments re: the viability of the Bakke program in Georgia.

Returning to the apartment, a group of men were working hard in the graveled parking area next to the apartment.  Oiled gravel was being poured out in portions in the parking lot running parallel to the building.  Picture about 10 menm several in un-buttoned shirts or t-shirts, and sandals, most with extended stomachs over the belt (they eat well here!), working shovels, rakes, shouting instructions at each other, attempting in the cloudy early evening to put a new layer of a kind of asphalt on the parking lot.  They would complete the job, and then run the heavy dump truck over the raked out gravel, compressing it into a mostly-hardened surface.  I went down to watch, and a couple of the younger men looked and me and asked me in Georgian what I thought (at least I think that’s what they asked).  My international signal was a “thumbs up” and a wide smile.  In that moment, I really wished I could have spoken with the men, or that one of them would have thrust one of the rakes in my hand.  Here are the men of Georgia who need to know how much Jesus Christ personally loves them.

Before leaving about 11:30 PM, Jim and I tried to nap before what would be a virtual “all nighter” at the Tbilisi airport.  Gia came and in the rain we loaded up, heading further south to the beautiful airport complex.  Jim and I talked some before he checked in and went to the gate for the flight to Baku.  Jim is a great soldier in missions – hopeful, relational, fun, and very intentional about the gospel in this part of the world.  He will deserve his “well done” when he meets the Savior, and he’s been a gracious host and leader for me on this trip.

TAKING OFF 

Struggling to stay awake in the airport till my boarding at 3:30 AM, I remembered I’d packed a copy of the movie AMAZING GRACE – the story of William Wilberforce’s  fight for the abolition of slave trade and slavery in the British Empire.  What a movie!  I watched it twice, and had tears at the end of each showing.  Everyone should watch this, and step into the shadow of Wilberforce in his/her generation.   Make a difference with the gospel on fire in your heart.

By the way, Lufthansa is one great airline.  We actually pulled away from the gate 10 minutes early and took off 2 minutes early, heading to Munich.  We landed at 5:45 AM in Germany.  Four hours later, I boarded a Continental Flight 107Y for Newark NJ.  I was grateful to be able to sleep about six of the 9 hours of that flight. 

Within a few short hours, by the grace of God, I’ll depart from the Liberty International Airport, and soon touch down in Des Moines, IA to greet my bride again. 

Thank you for your prayers and interest in this trip.  May Georgia discover the grace of God, and the joy of walking with the Lord Jesus Christ.    Pray for the future of a training program in Georgia for young evangelical pastors and leaders, that God will raise up those who have a passion and calling to be a part of a Caucasus  revival toward Jesus.