All posts by : Joel Phillips

DIY

Home improvement shows are fun to watch. Among the most popular ones are shows that depict situations where homeowners are living in a home that needs updating and renovation. When the experts first come on the property and start looking around, they often use the phrase,

“This house has good bones.”

This statement refers to the basic design of the home, along with the materials used in to build it, and whether things were done according to local building codes. Generally, if a place has “good bones” it warrants that any money, time, or effort invested will not be in vain.

A regular part of these shows is the removal of prior mistakes and/or shoddy workmanship. As things are ripped apart you can see the worry on the homeowner’s face begin to appear. After all, this is their house. They may not like some of the defects, but they’ve grown used to them.

The best part moment in these shows is when the experts bring the homeowner into their home for the first time after the project’s done. You can sense the joy and thankfulness people have. People will often say things like, “This is what I always wanted this place to look like!” Someone even joked, “Where were you 20 years ago?!”

On the inside

Paul was very transparent to the people in Corinth about how he had lived prior to coming to Christ. He had been an enemy of the Church and the gospel message. Listen to these words…

“For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”
(1 Corinthians 15:9-10)

God strips down the things in your life that are defective. By his grace he removes the mistakes made and replaces the shoddy workmanship. He then empowers you to say, “By God’s grace, I am what I am.” In other words, “This is the life I always wanted!” You’ve got good bones!

It was difficult to find him

We were in a part of town that wasn’t the safest place for gringos like my friend and me. We were looking for a homeless Hispanic man who we had met earlier. He had accepted our invitation to our church’s Spanish service happening later that evening. We offered to pick him up and give him a ride.

We were at the location he told us to meet him at, but he wasn’t there. We were just about to leave when we spotted what looked like someone laying in the gutter.

It was him.

He was drunk, but smiled and said, “Gracias, amigos. Gracias!” We managed to get him into the car. And that night he gave his life to Christ. Later as we drove him back we could see the change on his face. His eyes were filled with tears as he told us in broken English, “Jesus has took my sins and threw them into the ocean!”

That night he was arrested and deported. We never saw him again.

About 200 miles south

In Baja Mexico, there’s a little seaside fishing town named Vicente Guerrero. In the middle of this town there is a huge tree with dozens of benches around it.

It’s a church.

Every Sunday those benches fill with people. There are no worship teams, no children’s ministries or youth programs, no ushers, no greeters. Just hundreds of people listening to a man named “Hermano Alfredo” preach. And he preaches the same sermon every week because he only knows one verse. He has it memorized…

“God will throw all our sins to the bottom of the ocean.” (Micah 7:19)

Brother Alfredo is stuck with this one verse, not by choice, but because he can’t read. However, he’s content because he knows the power of this verse. He’s watched God use it to bring hundred’s of people to Christ.

And it was this verse that God used to capture Brother Alfredo’s heart. He’ll never forget the night when he’d first heard it, because his life was changed forever.

He’s probably forgot the two gringos who had pulled him out of a ditch that night and brought him to church, but the gringos won’t ever forget Brother Alfredo.

God is here

When I was about eight years old my dad was preaching on a Sunday morning.  All of the sudden he stopped and said…

“The Holy Spirit is here. I feel God’s presence.”

As people began praising God in response, my eyes and head were turning every which way. I was looking up and down, forward and back in the sanctuary.  So convinced by what my dad said, and how he said it, that I was certain I would be able to see God somewhere in the room.

It also wasn’t uncommon for dad to stop in the middle of his sermon and say something like,

“Don’t you feel like giving God praise right now?”

To which people would begin to speak out their thanks and love for the Lord. I can recall the first time I did that. I told Jesus I loved him and felt him warmly embrace me with his love. It was life changing!

Throughout his ministry, dad taught many things from God’s Word about our faith in him, but it was in the spontaneous moments of stopping everything that dad showed us the simplicity of experiencing God’s presence.  This is something we need to do more of.

Thanks for something

What can I offer the Lord for all he has done for me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and praise the Lord’s name for saving me. (Psalm 116:12–13, NLT)

Think of everything God has done for you. Why not stop for a moment and tell him what he’s done for you, what he means to you, and how thankful you are.  You’re going to sense his love and presence, and if there is anyone around, they will too! They might even start looking for him in the room.

Modern art

The phrase, “It’s an acquired taste” means that you may start out not liking something, or maybe even hating it, but then learn like it and even love it later. This is true for all kinds of things, but most prominent in my mind is the first time I went to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

As I walked through the gallery I felt little confused. I kept thinking, “This is art?” I could see some artistic merit in works by Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas, and even Salvador Dali, but not the scribbles I saw in the paintings by Jackson Pollock.

When I returned home from my trip, I was telling a friend of mine about visiting MoMA. He asked me if I saw the works by Jackson Pollock. “You mean the guy whose paintings look like someone splattered paint on them?” I blurted out. My friend then schooled me on the form and content of Mr. Pollock, “What Jackson Pollock put on the canvas was not a picture but an event. The gestures on the canvas were gestures of liberation reflecting changes in our culture!”

I’ve returned to MoMA several times, and am now able to appreciate the paintings of Jackson Pollock. I could spend hours staring at his paintings. I love them!

Like, even love

When you go through different experiences, especially difficult ones, it’s hard to appreciate their value. It might be something that seems pointless, or something you don’t like or even hate. But then something happens where you start to see how God used that experience.

 “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Eph 2:10, NLT)

There is art in your life that you may not recognize, or like. It looks like scribbles and splatters to you, but it’s actually God’s workmanship. God wants to show the beauty and value he’s put there, and cause you to appreciate His work. Your life will become an art gallery of God’s love and faithfulness that you’ll begin like and even love.

Feeling unqualified

It was his first time in church. After service the young man was introduced to the pastor. The pastor asked him what he thought about the experience. “It was just what I needed,” he said. His eyes were getting a little watery, then he said, “I felt something.”

The pastor looked at him, smiled and asked, “Can I pray for you?” “I don’t think so,” the young man responded. After a pause, he said, “I’ve got a lot of stuff in my life that needs to be straighten out first.”

This young man’s reaction might be similar to yours.

What specific promises of God have you been holding on to? Promises of breakthrough, or answers to pray, or direction, etc. But as time goes by and/or detours take place, you can start to doubt if what God has promised will actually happen.

You may blame God, but most often you’ll blame yourself. And this is where the similarity with the young man mentioned early starts. You believe there is something wrong with you. You haven’t prayed enough, read the bible enough, or gone to church enough. There are things you need to straighten out first.

God hit the button

On the show The Voice, the contestants come out and sing as the judges face the opposite way. If the judge likes what they hear, they hit a big red button and their chair turns around. By doing this, the judge is signaling that they are impressed with what they have heard and want the person to come onto their team.

What’s so awesome about God is that he hit the button for you to be on his team without you doing anything. In fact, in spite of you doing anything. You don’t have to prove anything, or try to qualify beforehand.

Back to the young man…

He thanked the pastor and begin to walk off. The pastor caught him and said, “You don’t have to do anything.” The two of them prayed together. The young man later told people that God accepted him just the way he was.

So if you’re trying to get things straight first, or trying to prove something to God before his promise can to be fulfilled, cancel the audition. The Judge has already hit the button, turned towards you, and likes what he sees!

Honey bear

I was so excited to eat some honey I had bought the other day. It was in one of those little plastic bears and actually made locally. I took the cap off and begin to squeeze some on my toast but nothing came out. So I squeezed little harder, nothing until…Splat! Honey everywhere!

You’ve seen those “sealed for your protection” things that are on almost everything? They’re even on toilets. The little plastic bear’s sweet contents were sealed for my protection, but it didn’t work too well.

As I was cleaning up the sticky mess, the thought came to me how certain people remind me of that little honey bear. They have wonderful things inside them, but they are sealed off from everyone and everything. And when you try to extract some of the good things in them, if you’re not careful you will have a mess on your hands.

We tend to seal ourselves off from others when we’ve been hurt and are in some kind of pain as a result. Pain has a way of sealing us off from things, places, and people that remind us of what hurt us. And when and if we do start to open up it’s often mixed with bitterness and anger.  That’s exactly what we see happening with the children of Israel when God began to take them out of Egypt. 

Pain unsealed

Instead of trusting God’s instructions through Moses, Israel was frightened and wanted things to go back to how they were. The pain of years of slavery and being under their heavy-handed taskmasters began to speak…

“When they saw the Egyptians marching after them and were very afraid, and they said to Moses, ‘Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?  Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, “Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians”? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!’” (Exodus 14:10-12, NIV)

Pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly, and if left unresolved for very long, you can almost forget that you were ever created to fly in the first place. God wants to remove the seal of pain and release our hopes and dreams. 

It may be a little messy at first as your protective seal comes off your life, but that’s okay…I know somebody who’s got some experience cleaning things up.

Every night

We used to have two cats named Jeffy and Jack. They had to be brought in every night. Jeffy would run and practically jump in your arms, but Jack was a royal pain.  He was always out “hunting and exploring.” We would make all those silly sounds that only cat people know about. We would even shake a little dish filled with cat food. Sometimes he’d come, sometimes he didn’t. And when Jack didn’t come in we’d worry all night about him.

One night I went outside to get the cats. Jeffy ran straight at me, then by me, and then into the house. Of course Jack was nowhere to be seen. As I began making those aforementioned silly noises, I spotted him over in a field near our house. I called him. No movement. I moved closer to see what he was doing.

Jack was down low in a hunting position staring straight ahead. I watched him for about five minutes wondering what he was doing. Then I called his name. As I did a little bird popped up off the ground that was right in front of him. Jack leapt after it but it flew away.

Jack then turned towards me with a look that said, “What the heck?! Couldn’t you see what I was doing over here? Hello!! That was one of the best bird hunting expeditions EVER and YOU wrecked it!” After looking one more time at the spot where the bird was, he sulked his way over towards me and let me pick him up.

“Sorry Jack, but you need to come in,” I whispered in his ear. As I put him down inside the house he went over and began to eat some cat food. I’m sure he was thinking, “Geez. I’m eating the same old BORING cat food when I could’ve been feasting on wild fowl fricassee.”

A few hours later Jack was sound asleep on the couch. He didn’t hear the howls and yelps of the pack of coyotes out in the field, but I did. I was sure glad he was inside.

Getting off track

“I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.”
(Psalm 119:10, NIV84)

This verse tells us that we can love the Lord and seek him with all our hearts, but still get off track. So it encourages us to ask God to keep us from straying.

The things that get us off track can seem so important and valid, but they may not be what God wants. So God finds us and directs us back to where we should be, however we complain and see it as an interruption, even a disappointment.

“God what are you doing? That was the best situation for me! There was so much potential! I wish I could’ve just stayed there!”

When God interrupts

The Bible is filled with stories of people who were just going about their business when God called them to do something else. Some went willingly, some not. Some saw burning bushes, some were swallowed by fish. Some were thrust into the limelight, some were assigned to obscurity. But one thing is for sure, anytime God interrupts what people are doing, it’s always for the best.

Someone reading this can’t understand why God didn’t let you finish that project.  Or why he didn’t let you stay at that place. You were so close. Things looked so good. Why did God interrupt what was going on?

But it’s okay…

It’s time for you to rest in God’s hands. He knows what’s best for you. He knows about dangers that you’re unaware of. Traps that the enemy’s set for you. He wants to bring you in out of the dark. He feels much better when you’re with him, safe in his arms, feeding on his faithfulness. So close your eyes, you can rest in him.

A Grandfather’s Legacy

The old man Simeon took the baby and held him in the air. Everyone in the temple could hear him crying, “Thank you God. I can now die in peace, for with my own eyes I’ve seen your salvation.”

Two generations later…

A group of young men were walking home from the rabbinical school of Shammai.  One of them was talking about his grandfather, when the others interrupted, “Oh no! Here we go again! We’re tired of hearing that same old story about your grandfather praying at the temple and how he got to hold the baby Jesus.”Simeon’s grandson quit talking. His mind raced through all the stories he’d been told…

…stories about how God’s Spirit would come upon his grandfather and show him things.
…stories about how his grandfather had held a baby he swore was the Messiah.
…and many stories about how from that day forward his grandfather was never quite the same. 

One of his classmates nudged him back into the conversation, “Do you agree with your grandfather and all these other crazy people that Jesus is the Messiah?” “No. Well, I mean…” he stumbled for words. The others laughed.

Something Was Stirring in Him

Simeon’s grandson finally made his way home. Tired from the day’s activities, he laid down in his room. “I don’t know, maybe my grandfather was crazy,” he thought to himself.  “After all, my dad has never bought into any of it.” In fact, it was his father who demanded that he go to the conservative school of Shammai where he was to be taught the right way to believe. 

Something inside was pressing him so hard that he said, “God, I believe in you. I believe in the promise of a coming Messiah. My grandfather believed that Jesus was the Messiah. I’m not sure what to believe. Please help me.”

The room was flooded with a strange warmth. His heart pounded. Suddenly he was standing in a room glistening with colors and light. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He saw a man who he knew to be his grandfather. And standing next to him was another man who reached out his hand. This man said his name in a way that made everything else fade. He knew who it was and began to cry out, “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!”

Never the Same

“Get up! You’re going to be late!” yelled his dad. It was morning and he had overslept. As he gathered his things and ran out the door, the memory of what he had experienced filled his thoughts. Was it a dream? Whatever had happened he felt different. He could tell something had changed inside of him. He knew he wasn’t crazy. And neither was his grandfather. 

Simeon’s grandson from that day forward was never quite the same.

“I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.” (Joel 2:28, NIV)

Inferiority Complex

A man went to a psychiatrist to seek help for his battle with insecurity. The doctor listened to him for a while and then gave him a diagnosis.

“The good news is you don’t have a complex. The bad news is you actually are inferior!”

It’s really not funny. Feelings of insecurity can be crippling. One of the most powerful weapons in Satan’s arsenal is insecurity. In spite of many wonderful experiences in their faith and knowledge of God’s word, low self-esteem hangs over many Christians like Los Angeles smog.

I’ve have counseled many people who were wrestling with insecurity. The reasons for feeling insecure vary, and the cures vary somewhat as well—what works for one person doesn’t with another. But one thing everyone benefits from is a true understanding of his or her identity in Christ.

Am What I Am

Most people who read the words of Paul would never think that the guy who wrote one third of the New Testament, took the Gospel to the world, built churches everywhere, and who had things revealed to him that were unlawful for him to repeat would feel insecure. But he gives us a glimpse of the battle he fought…

“For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am.” (I Corinthians 15:9-10)

Paul’s past had disqualified him, and among the other apostles he was inferior. Yet because of God’s grace he was able to say those beautiful words, “I am what I am.”  Are you able to say that?  Are you satisfied with who you are?  I pray God would release a work of grace in YOUR life that would allow you to experience a breaking of any insecurity, and to be the best you YOU can be!

Peter was pretty discouraged. He had denied that he knew Jesus during his arrest. He then went back to his hometown and spent all night fishing but caught nothing. Then Jesus shows up and adds insult to injury.

Three times Jesus asked, “Simon, do you love me?” Peter was grieved and said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” (John 21:17–19, ESV)

When Peter first chose to follow Jesus he left his fishing boat and fishing nets. In other words he left everything that was sustaining his livelihood. That’s pretty impressive. What an act of selflessness submission! But Peter was following Jesus with a very specific idea of what the future would include: the overthrow of an oppressive Roman regime and the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth. Peter could envision himself as a significant envoy (albeit a humble one) in this new empire.

When Jesus tells Peter after in the passage above, “Follow Me,” it is very different from the first time Jesus told Peter this. Peter now understands that the road to the Kingdom includes a cross. This isn’t what Peter had planned on, but it had been part of God’s plan all along.

Submission. Really?

It seems like submission when we’ve submitted our plans and even our livelihood to God, but it’s not. Like Peter we can be following our own idea of who we think God is, but not really aware of what His plans are. He’s not leading us as much as we’re trying to lead Him.

Like Peter, it’s easy to follow Jesus when He’s just “loaded your boat with fish.” But what about when the boat is empty and the frustration is high? It’s in this moment that Jesus tests our submission by asking,

“Will you still follow Me?”

Peter’s biggest lesson from following Jesus for three years was found when Jesus asks him three times, “Do you love Me?” Peter wasn’t hurt because Jesus asked him three different times, but because it took him three times to realize what Jesus was saying. Jesus is really saying to Peter, “Will you follow me for real this time? No matter where I take you? Will you really submit to me?”

God’s Plan All Along

We are not called to follow a certain plan, but a Person who has a plan. Life has different seasons, peaks, and valleys. Nobody plans to fail, but without deciding to submit to God’s will ultimately we are planning to fail.

We need to let go of our plans, and find ourselves in submission to God’s plans. Then we need discernment and wisdom to prepare and recognize what season we are in. It might be different that what we thought it was going to be, but we’ll find out it was what God had planned all along.