People Sharing Jesus

       God values deeply our relationship with Him.  He is faithful to us.  He has given us many promises that assure us of His constancy and care for us.  What is often forgotten is that God desires that we show that same constancy toward one another.  To be sure life is filled with storms and disappointments.  These things rip and tear at the fabric of our lives.  They also stress and stretch our relationships.  We glorify God when we reflect His own tenacity in our relationships.  We cannot keep people from walking away from us, but we can be sure that our hearts follow them with compassion and a desire that someday things are made right.  Christians who are truly born again will spend eternity together in heaven.  When these believers discard their relationships with one another, they will one day meet again at the throne of God.  In that day there will be an accounting for why one who has been forgiven so much could not be more forgiving. 

What I am not talking about is the situation where someone is being abused and needs to depart for their own protection.  In all situations we should look for reasons to make a relationship survive or even thrive, but sometimes the relationship really is toxic.  In such a case it is likely that one or both parties are not truly at peace with God.  It is also possible that mental illness is a factor.  Let’s be honest.  Most broken relationships are the result of selfishness on the part of one or both parties. 

Our culture is falling apart.  It is falling apart primarily because we are unwilling to build strong healthy relationships and remain steadfast in nurturing them.  God has the solution.  More of us need to seek Him in our relationships.   One of my favorite quotes is “No man has the power to make me hate him.”

Dan Wooldridge

Somewhere out there, someone needs to know that God cares.  That he actually notices our lives.  Somewhere someone feels lonely and forgotten.  The Scripture repeatedly testifies to a God who is interested and desires to be involved in our individual lives.  Those who prefer to see God is distant and not so concerned with the petty problems of individuals can find no support in Scripture. 

If you are that someone today, let me give you some ways God can make Himself known to you.

1. Scripture - Never stop reading the bible.  Read it prayerfully.  The Word is alive.  God can illuminate His Word and speak a personal word to you.  Countless times He has warned me, encouraged me, guided me, strengthened me, and revitalized me through the pages of Scripture.

2. The Church - Get among God’s people.  Find a church that is serious about their faith.  God touches us in countless ways through the Body of Christ, the church.

3. Prayer - Talk to God as you would talk to a friend.  Tell Him you really need to know that He cares.  Numerous times in my life I have reached out to someone only to hear them say, “God sent you.  I was just praying today that God would send someone.” 

4. Happenings - God speaks through His created order.  The Bible says “The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” (Psalm 19)  Countless occurrences in nature and daily life speak to us if we only have eyes to see and ears to hear.  I had been meditating on Isaiah 35:6 as I prepared to preach about the man who was healed at the Beautiful gate of the Temple recorded in Acts 3.  This verse foretells that the lame will leap like a deer when the Messiah comes.  As I drove to church to deliver my message.  A young buck came bounding out of the woods.  He was leaping from yard to yard back and forth across my path.  He made every turn that I made and escorted me all the way to the church.  He then bound across the church parking lot and out of sight.  I had never seen a deer on the church parking lot in over fourteen years of being pastor there.  This was a large four point buck.  I laughed and cried as I thought about the way God prepared my heart to tell of a man who when healed of a lifetime of lameness was “walking and jumping and praising God.”  Yes, God is interested in our lives.

Dan Wooldridge

We have one God who has revealed himself in three persons; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  He reveals himself as oneness in threeness and threeness in oneness.  In a world that is made up of more than 6 billion people there is only one God.  That one God knows all 6 billion people.  Before computer technology many scoffed at the notion that God could be interested in the life of one person.  Now we have technology that can deal with incredible amounts of information.  Shouldn’t the God who created everything exceed our finest technology in infinite ways?  God cares about one person.  In the midst of the many, He sees one; He loves one;  He reaches out to one.  Those of us who follow and serve Him must seek to be like Him.  We need to strive to really see and care about people one by one.  We cannot have the vast contact that He can have, but we can be a living reminder that our God is a personal God.  Allow God to use you today to touch one life in His name.

Dan Wooldridge

David Edwards was the first pastor to welcome me personally to Georgetown.  He came over to a reception at Crestview on a Sunday afternoon.  I know how weary a pastor can be after Sunday morning and I count that visit as no small testimony to the kind of man he constantly showed himself to be.  His task in Georgetown was to take the remnant of and old, established church and develop it into a new one.  It was a huge task.  He constantly amazed me with his energy and effort.  Sometimes pastors in the same town have difficulty not being rivals.  We never were.  We ate out together. Fellowshipped together.  Prayed together and encouraged one another.  When David and his family moved to Corsicana, I had more than one opportunity to visit with him personally and over the phone.  Once again David had taken on a huge challenge.  He was following a pastor who had served FBC Corsicana for more than two decades.  All pastors know how amazingly difficult that can be.  He was turning the corner wonderfully.  He even asked his predecessor to serve on staff in pastoral ministry.  Only someone as humble and genuine as David could do that.  His family powerfully testified at his funeral in Corsicana and I am told that people came to trust in Christ.  I predict that FBC Corsicana will experience the touch of God from David’s departure to heaven.  Hearts will be broken.  God fixes broken things.  We will be seeing you David.

Dan Wooldridge

This week I have had a wonderful result that started from this blogsite.  It began months ago when a member of Crestview recommended to a somewhat skeptical friend that they needed to come and visit with me about their deep doubts about Jesus.  The first step for them was to go to our website and begin reading this blog.  This person was a journalist and loves the written word.  In fact, I think one reason he came to see me was to give some commentary on my writing style.  At any rate to the surprise of my guest we had a great visit.  I shared some thoughts and some books and gave him plenty of space.  There was a follow up visit and then suddenly he disappeared.  In the last few days, he has resurfaced.  Because of an accident and illness he is living temporarily with his parents nearly 200 miles from here.  He called and said he just wanted to talk to me.  In the talk he alluded to the help that the Lord was giving him.  I asked him to allow me to pray for him.  He was deeply moved by my prayer.  He asked if he could call me “pastor” and pledged that if he can return to our area that he wants to enter the fellowship of our church.  This morning I found a message about the deep blessing that my prayer for him had brought.  I write this blog not only to celebrate the growing faith of my friend, but to share a deeply held conviction.

GOD IS DRAWING PEOPLE TO HIMSELF IN WAYS THAT I HAVE NOT OBSERVED IN NEARLY FORTY YEARS OF MINISTRY.

Dan Wooldridge

In Paul’s letter to the Galatians he urged us to not grow weary as we serve the Lord.  He spoke of the future harvest that comes to those who stay at the task.  Why do God’s warriors grow weary?  Allow me to list the factors that bring on weariness for those who serve the Lord.

1. Christians who do not relate to one another with courtesy.  We are to highly value one another.  We are to pray for one another.  We are to encourage one another.  Too often, Christians judge one another, criticize one another, speak evil of one another, betray one another.  These realities break the hearts of God’s servants and drain their strength.  There is not even one of us who are born again who have arrived at complete perfection.  We need God’s grace.  We need the grace of God’s people as well.  Accountability is to be worked out through direct contact and not in back rooms.                                                        

2. Unheeded calls for help wear out God’s servants.  There is so much work to be done in a vibrant and healthy church.  If every Christian would actively seek to find and fill their post, miracles of blessing would follow.  Why should those who call Jesus Lord have to be begged to serve Him?

3. Unrealistic expectations overwhelm God’s servants.  Try to imagine what it is like to have as many as 2000 people in your network and all of them have hopes and expectations of what you should do for them.  Try to multiply those expectations by varying numbers of people over a period of thirty seven years.  Only God could keep His servant from either going insane or breaking down under the weight of such responsibility.

4. Hidden agendas break the heart of God’s servants.  If only people would say what they mean and mean what they say.  Jesus could look on the hearts of people.  He knew their thoughts.  Those who follow Him can only hope for an occasional glimpse into the hearts of those they serve.  Many times disaster could be avoided by honest communication.

5. Finally, though by no means completely, a throw away society crushes the spirit of God’s servant.  We live in a day where people walk out on their promises, their families, their friends, their churches,  their contracts, their commitments, and on and on the list goes.  We live in a culture without honor.  This culture has crept menacingly into the church.

Only God keeps me going.  I cling desperately to the promise, “As your days so shall your strength be.”

Dan Wooldridge