Tag Archives: faith

At the Name of Jesus, April 19, 2021

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

We like to read the stories in the Bible. We like to hear about the miracles and heroes rising up to defeat great armies. But that’s not what the Bible is about. When we stop and examine those stories, they tell us about God’s plan for humanity through those stories. What’s more important is how his plan unfolds through the lives of those who follow him and stay obedient to him. We learn by watching God’s power work through their weakness.

One such story comes from the early believers as Peter and John go to the temple to worship. But it’s not the miraculous event that should capture our attention, but Peter’s sermon that follows. Just to make sure we suit everyone, though, I will share the miraculous part of the story, too.

The time of prayer was about three o’clock in the afternoon, and Peter and John were going into the temple.A man who had been born lame was being carried to the temple door. Each day he was placed beside this door, known as the Beautiful Gate. He sat there and begged from the people who were going in.

The man saw Peter and John entering the temple, and he asked them for money.But they looked straight at him and said, “Look up at us!”

The man stared at them and thought he was going to get something.But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold! But I will give you what I do have. In the name of Jesus Christ from Nazareth, get up and start walking.”Peter then took him by the right hand and helped him up.

At once the man’s feet and ankles became strong,and he jumped up and started walking. He went with Peter and John into the temple, walking and jumping and praising God. Everyone saw him walking around and praising God.They knew that he was the beggar who had been lying beside the Beautiful Gate, and they were completely surprised. They could not imagine what had happened to the man.

While the man kept holding on to Peter and John, the whole crowd ran to them in amazement at the place known as Solomon’s Porch.Peter saw that a crowd had gathered, and he said:

Friends, why are you surprised at what has happened? Why are you staring at us? Do you think we have some power of our own? Do you think we were able to make this man walk because we are so religious? The God that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and our other ancestors worshiped has brought honor to his Servant Jesus. He is the one you betrayed. You turned against him when he was being tried by Pilate, even though Pilate wanted to set him free.

You rejected Jesus, who was holy and good. You asked for a murderer to be set free, and you killed the one who leads people to life. But God raised him from death, and all of us can tell you what he has done. You see this man, and you know him. He put his faith in the name of Jesus and was made strong. Faith in Jesus made this man completely well while everyone was watching.

My friends, I am sure that you and your leaders didn’t know what you were doing. But God had his prophets tell that his Messiah would suffer, and now he has kept that promise. So turn to God! Give up your sins, and you will be forgiven. Then that time will come when the Lord will give you fresh strength. He will send you Jesus, his chosen Messiah. But Jesus must stay in heaven until God makes all things new, just as his holy prophets promised long ago.

Moses said, “The Lord your God will choose one of your own people to be a prophet, just as he chose me. Listen to everything he tells you.No one who disobeys that prophet will be one of God’s people any longer.”

Samuel and all the other prophets who came later also spoke about what is now happening.You are really the ones God told his prophets to speak to. And you were given the promise that God made to your ancestors. He said to Abraham, “All nations on earth will be blessed because of someone from your family.”God sent his chosen Son to you first, because God wanted to bless you and make each one of you turn away from your sins. (Acts 3 CEV)

As we often see in scripture, Luke gives us a very brief synopsis of an event that his readers probably had heard before. Whether the name of the person to whom Luke writes, or an honorary title, which means “friend of God,” Theophilus was not ignorant of the incident. Luke confirmed the stories of Jesus and the early church through first-hand knowledge and many witnesses. This first recorded miracle after the coming of God’s spirit into the lives of Jesus’ followers is familiar.

Peter and John headed to the temple to worship. On their way, the saw, as usual the same lame beggar they saw every time they passed the entrance called the Beautiful Gate. He sat there day after day collecting alms as his only means of survival. Someone brought him to the place in the morning. He sat begging all day to collect the few coins those who took pity on him dropped into his hand, and his friends picked him up and took him home at night. That same ritual continued day after day without end.

When Peter and John stopped that morning and looked into the man’s eyes, though, something different happened. Peter and John had no money. They had nothing to offer except what God’s spirit in them prompted Peter to announce to the man – healing. But not just physical healing. If you read the verses carefully, you’ll find he was made whole, complete, healed in the sense of his body, mind, and spirit renewed and cleansed as the Jews would have understood healing. He could walk when he had never walked before, but his sins were forgiven. He became complete by God’s spirit living in him. God renewed him.

The miracle got people’s attention. Those coming and going around the gate and who saw the man who they recognized as the beggar from years of passing by him began to gather around to find out how this happened. Now Peter had an audience. And Peter, never one to be shy, began to preach. “Do you think we did this? Give honor to the one who really did it. He is healed by the name of Jesus. Oh, the one you betrayed. The one you turned against. The one you rejected. The one you killed and let a murder go free instead. But God raised him from the dead. Faith in Jesus made this man whole.

Peter goes on to excuse the leaders of their ignorance of what they did. Paul will later proclaim that if they had known what they were doing, they would not have crucified Jesus. He lays out how Jesus fulfills the role of the Messiah as prophesied in the scriptures. God kept his covenant promises even though we did not.

We broke creation through thinking we could be like God. God promised to fix it. But he chose to do so through the humans who broke it in the first place. The covenant with Abraham promised to bless all nations through him. It promised to multiply his family to an uncountable number. The God’s continued covenants with Israel and David told of a king who would rule the earth. Every nation and every person would bow to him. The Messiah would free them from exile. But their view of the Messiah then, didn’t match the Messiah Peter described. They lived in a broken world. One ruled by violence, physical power, so they expected their Messiah to rule with the same harsh character.

Jesus came in peace. God’s plan to make the world right didn’t include the violent overthrow of world empires. He already kept them in control. He created all things in the first place. Jesus, his Son, could calm storms with the sound of his voice. He could heal with the touch of his hand. He could drive demons out of people and into pigs on command. God didn’t need violence to subdue the nations of the world. He already ruled them. Instead, he came as a gentle shepherd. He allowed himself to be wounded, broken, insulted, humiliated, crucified to show the power of love.

In doing so, Jesus overcame humanity’s curse – death. He defeated death and the power we had given to idolatry. We made figures of wood and stone and invested our worship into these man-made figures instead of worshiping the God of creation. We still worship idols and cause untold pain in the world. Our idols today may not look like the figures of gold and stone from Peter’s day, but we worship money, power, sex, jobs, positions, fame, celebrity, sports, possessions, a host of idols that keep us chained to the curse Jesus defeated for our sake when we believe in him for redemption.

Jesus pronounced a new covenant with his disciples during his last meal with them. He had fulfilled the promises of the old, and he gave his disciples a new covenant that included all who believed in him for salvation. God’s kingdom on earth as in heaven would begin with his death on the cross. He was the King of all kings. All people of every nations were invited to come and kneel at the cross. All who believed in him as the Messiah could become members of this new covenant. All could find freedom from the powers that held them hostage to sin and death and decay eternally. They could find new life in him.

Peter’s sermon to those assembled that day echoed the new covenant. God spoke through the prophets to Israel. “But God had his prophets tell that his Messiah would suffer, and now he has kept that promise. So turn to God! Give up your sins, and you will be forgiven.”

The message hasn’t changed in 2000 years. It is as fresh and true today as it was for those Peter addressed in the temple court that day. Jesus still forgives. He still gives new life to those will believe. All it takes is trusting in him. Do it today.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

A Formula for Hope, June 15, 2020

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

We will remember 2020. Many said that about 1963, the year President Kennedy was shot. And 1967, the year we Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were assassinated. And 1990, when the world faced off against Iraq after they invaded Kuwait. And 2001, when the Twin Towers fell in New York City. But this year, wow! Coronavirus has infected two million Americans and seven million globally. More than 110,000 have died in this country, and we are approaching a half million around the world.

Then the murder hornets invaded the west coast. Shortly after, protests against racial injustice swept across the country, turning violent in too many places, causing millions of dollars in damages and the deaths of innocent people of all colors. The economists already declared a recession. Stocks almost recovered to pre-COVID heights, but only because of speculative trading if you read the tea leaves correctly. Companies that have already filed Chapter 7 and 11 bankruptcy stocks are exploding because uninformed traders think they will bounce back. They probably won’t, which means those stocks look artificially and dangerously high. Those traders are about to lose their investments when the stock market stabilizes in the next few weeks and months.

Unemployment stands almost as high as during the depression. And this phenomenon isn’t limited to the US. It reaches around the globe because of the pandemic that, except for a handful, affects every country. Suffering is everywhere. You see hopelessness in the eyes of millions. But there is an answer to the desperation that seems so pervasive in the situations that predominate this year. Despite the terrible events that keep piling one on the other, I can assure you; there is hope.

That hope isn’t found in another stimulus check, though. There isn’t enough money in the world to buy hope. You won’t find hope in legislation that brings equality to every race, we’ve tried that. It failed before and will fail again. Defunding police departments won’t stop police brutality, but it will unleash an unbridled criminal element on a defenseless citizenry. Vaccines won’t stop pandemics. Another disease will sweep through the world in a few years just as virulent as this one with devastating effect.

We can do nothing to provide hope to the world because we created the chaos that plagues us. But we can find hope. The Apostle Paul tells us how in his letter to the early followers of Jesus in the church in Rome in the first century. He writes:

Therefore, since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness,^[a] we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ²We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand through him, and we boast in the hope of God’s glory. ³But not only that! We even take pride in our problems, because we know that trouble produces endurance, ⁴endurance produces character, and character produces hope. ⁵This hope doesn’t put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

⁶While we were still weak, at the right moment, Christ died for ungodly people. ⁷It isn’t often that someone will die for a righteous person, though maybe someone might dare to die for a good person. ⁸But God shows his love for us, because while we were still sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:1-8 CEB)

I don’t care much for the formula Paul gives us, but through the centuries, Christians prove it true. Trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. We stand firm on that hope; it doesn’t put us to shame, we know it to be true, we boast in the hope of God’s glory because the Holy Spirit poured God’s love into our hearts.

Let’s backtrack through Paul’s formula in these verses. Despite that fact that we were God’s enemies, sinners, disobedient toward him, he showed his love for us by dying for us. He took my sins and your sins to the cross so heaven and earth could join together at that spot. He died for ungodly people, sinners, us.

Why? So by accepting his forgiveness, his spirit could live in us and his love could energize our actions and our love toward others. He enables us to love those we could not love without him. The Holy Spirit pours God’s love into our hearts. We see others differently. We love with his love. His spirit enables us to live a life of love and hope for his glory.

The hope in the Christian throughout the centuries sparked incredible action. Not cathedrals and churches and edifices with stained glass windows, but hospitals, schools, orphanages, shelters for abused women and children, food and clothing pantries, and thousands of other ways men and women help the hurting. Christians run toward the hurting, not away from them.

Please remember, not everyone who says they are Christian have Jesus in their heart. That is the problem with much of Christendom today. Many know the words to say, but have never experienced his life-changing power. Despite their declaration, they are no more Christian than I am a neurosurgeon, even if I said I am. You certainly don’t want me to open your scalp any time soon.

God’s love drives Christians to act because God first loved us, forgave us, and pour his love into our hearts giving us hope for tomorrow. People recognize those loving actions as character. It’s not the money given or the legislator trying to get elected or the pharmaceutical company passing pills. It’s the man or woman standing in the breech helping the needy, getting their hands dirty, disregarding what others might think of them for doing so that defines character.

And helping those in need means getting involved in life and life is messy. It always means endurance. Life is not a sprint, but a marathon. In the church we often remark methods change, but the message never changes. It’s the same with life. Involving ourselves with others is always messy, always emotional, always painful at times, but it is the work God calls us to do if we love as he loves. Imagine if God had given up on you the first time you did something wrong. Where would you be? Can we do any less for those he puts in our path? Endure.

What do we endure? Problems. Trouble. Suffering. Life. We face all the issue of life good and a lot of bad because we, humanity, brought sin into the world and every one of us contributes to that pile. None of us are free from it. Each of us brings our little piece of selfishness to the table and until we give ourselves completely to Christ, we continue to contribute to the mess call life. Even then, our imperfections in this world will cause pain and suffering to those around us. We can’t help it. We will be misunderstood, misinterpreted, abused, maligned. But we also don’t need to complain about it. Jesus went to the cross misunderstood, misinterpreted, abused, maligned. He died for us.

We have access into God’s grace, his unmerited favor, by faith through Jesus. Because we have access to God’s grace, we have peace with God through Jesus. And because of his faithfulness we are made righteous before God. That is not a small thing.

Remember what Isaiah said when he saw God behind the cherubim seated on his throne? “Woe, I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips.” God put his hand over Moses so he would not see his face and die. He did the same with Elijah. We cannot stand in the presence of a holy God. But because of Jesus sacrifice on the cross, we are made righteous before him and invited into his presence. How awesome a privilege that we should never take for granted.

2020 is an unforgettable year. Make it so not because of the problems highlighted in the news, but because of a renewed relationship with the King of kings. Meditate on Romans 5:1-8 and remember that “while we were still weak, at the right moment, Christ died for ungodly people. ⁷It isn’t often that someone will die for a righteous person, though maybe someone might dare to die for a good person. ⁸But God shows his love for us, because while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

What Happened to the Storytellers? October 7, 2019

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

I’ve read a couple of books lately by John Walton that describes the thinking of the ancient people of Israel as the nation began. He also writes about what people of Jesus day might think when they heard scripture. It’s interesting reading as he describes what they would have known of the stories of the people around them.

We forget sometimes, they grew up in Egypt after Jacob took his family there to escape the famine in Canaan. They heard the Egyptian tales of the beginnings of mankind and their thoughts on who and why we worship the pantheon of gods they held sacred. We forget Egyptian idols and rituals surrounded the Israelites every day until Moses led them out of slavery and into the wilderness toward the promised land.

The Israelites probably didn’t tell many stories around the dinner table about Moses’ version of creation, the call of Abraham, or the rescue from famine for Jacob and his family. After 400 years, more than 10 generations since Joseph sat next to Pharaoh, I expect most of the Israelites never heard anything except the Egyptian version of ancient history.

Then Moses comes along and incites Pharoah to end the slavery and let the Israelites return to their homeland. I expect the elders tried to carry on some of the traditions Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob shared with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. But I suppose many more of those two or three million sojourners never heard of Jehovah and certainly didn’t worship him. More followed God’s command to observe the Passover out of fear than obedience. They watched all the other plagues happen just as Moses said they would and wanted no part of this one.

Maybe that’s a little too cynical, but I’m watching our country, and I don’t think I’m too far off the mark. Just about 400 years ago, a boatload of Pilgrim brought Christianity to form a tiny little settlement in this new nation. For a while, we became known as a Christian nation. Now, recent surveys of high school students show most don’t know the stories of the Bible. They’ve never heard of Cain and Abel, Daniel or Elisha, David and Goliath, unless as a motivation speech somewhere. They haven’t heard the miracle stories of the New Testament as Jesus turned water into wine, fed 5,000 men and their families, or raised Lazarus from the dead.

Why is that? Why do our children not know the stories from the Bible? I think there are two simple reasons.

First, we don’t read the Bible ourselves enough to know the stories. We would have a hard time telling the story of Jael and Sisera when Deborah served as the judge over Israel. We might not do well answering questions about who replaced Judas as the twelfth apostle and how he was chosen. We might be really confused as to which missionary trip Paul planted the church at Corinth.

Second, like the ancients and those who walked the earth around the first century, we are primarily aural learners. We don’t think we are because we spend so much time reading books or emails or websites to gather information. But think about it. When someone sings a song you’ve heard several times, and changes even one word or one or two notes in the melody, you recognize it immediately. But in a paragraph you just read, do you know when a word changes? Or can you even see that someone removed a sentence from a section or two? Most people can’t from written documents, but can easily from music.

That’s part of the reason so much of the ancient texts are poetry. Storytellers passed on the history, the commands, the songs, the stories from generation to generation orally. People couldn’t read and write, and those that could wouldn’t have access to books or materials to write them.

The point? In ancient times, parents, elders, storytellers told stories to their children to pass on the vital information within the tribe. When is the last time you share stories of Jesus or what he is doing in your life to your children or grandchildren? I’m pointing fingers at myself as I share this. I’m guilty also. We fail to use the gift of stories to spread what is most important to those who are dearest to us. Listen to what Paul wrote from prison to the one he groomed to take his place. This, from his second letter to Timothy:

For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.¹

Did you notice Paul’s letter refers to teaching Timothy heard from Paul. I can see the two of them talking as they shared meals, traveled down the road together, mended tents, Paul’s other trade. I think Paul shared with Timothy whenever he had the chance about what he believed, the stories told to him about Jesus, his personal experience on the road to Damascus. Timothy soaked up the lessons, and they weren’t written. That came later while Paul sat in prison.

We remember the stories in our lives, not the words on paper. Even the words on paper are remembered because we turn them into pictures in our heads. That’s how our brain works. So when we tell our kids stories about God’s work in the world, past and present, they stick. We just don’t do it enough.

So, how about it? Are you ready to make memories the way Jesus did, telling stories, sharing word pictures to be remembered forever? Are you ready to just talk to those you meet about the story of your life and what God has done for you? No one reads and remembers anymore if they ever did. Take a look at our world. If we remembered what we read, we wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes over and over. But we do. Partly because we don’t tell the stories that impact our sons and daughters, our friends and neighbors. We don’t let them see and hear the change God makes in our lives. We’ve lost the art of storytelling. Maybe it’s time to bring it back.

¹THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society®
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Thomas might have been from Missouri, April 29, 2019

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Missouri is sometimes known as the “Show Me” state. I’m not sure when that began or who caused the first citizens of the state to be so disbelieving, but whatever and whenever it happened, folks from outside the state who told Missourans something are often met with the famous words, “Show me.”

Those words don’t apply to just Missourans, though. We have become some of the most skeptical, yet some of the most gullible people on the planet. Polls of high school students show that more believe in the truth of Star Wars than in the truth of a landing on the moon. Somehow we manage to believe the stories of Hollywood writers with all of their technological film effects, but we don’t believe the live feed from the surface of the moon when that grainy black and white signal came from 250,000 miles above us.

It’s really incredible what people will believe and what they will not believe even when faced with the facts. I’m often amazed at the number of people who really act like the figures in that old Gieco commercial which depicts a rather homely man coming to date see a rather pretty young lady. They get into a discourse at the bottom of the stairs to her porch and she comes out with some incredibly stupid statements. He asks where she learned these startling things and the answer is the Internet so they must be true. Then Gieco shares its savings commercial which is probably truer than the Internet statement the girl just blurted out.

But we have a tendency to believe some crazy things because of the source. It’s from the Internet, so it must be true, right? Well, there is a little formula about Internet research I learned well before the Internet invaded every household and classroom across the globe. It’s like this. If the site is a .com site, it is a commercial site and its owners are engaged in making money. Be wary. If it’s a .edu site, it’s written by some professor who wants to make his or her mark on the world and will sometimes tell you things just to make you think. Be wary. If it’s a .org site, that owner is a non profit with a cause and whatever that cause might be, right or wrong, that will be the flavor of the site. Be wary. And if it is a .gov site, well… you know politics. Don’t believe anything you see there without lots of other independent evidence.

When I heard that formula for researching the Internet, those were the only endings available on websites. Now, of course, you can find .me, .food, .church, .whatever you want to make up as an ending for a site if you’re willing to set up the server farm for it. The same rules apply. Usually, normally, most of the time a website and the information on it is there with someone’s purpose and their agenda in mind.

I’ll be honest, my website that carries the blog and podcast you listen to is no different. I have a purpose and an agenda for putting the information there. You are free to agree with or disagree with me and my agenda, but I continue to provide this podcast to share thoughts that I think God would have me share from my study of scripture and how it applies to our lives today. There it is. If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t spend the time and energy and money I do in preparing, recording, editing, and all the steps involved in having this ready each week.

I want to share the Gospel. This is a way I have found to do that effectively as it is heard in countries around the world. Thanks to all of you who listen and share “A Little Walk with God,” a couple of thousand people a month including people in Russia, China, Vietnam, Australia, and several other countries download the podcast and listen to it each week. That’s pretty cool. That’s why I continue to do it. I get to share God’s word. I have an agenda. You can believe what I say or not. You’re choice. I hope, though, you research what I say and find it true and meaningful to you.

So, Missourans. Show me. I won’t believe it unless I see it. Sound familiar? I guy who got the nickname Doubting Thomas said those words. John recorded them in the 20th chapter of the Gospel by his name. For those who might not remember the details of the story, it goes like this.

The two Mary’s had found Jesus’ tomb empty. They ran and told Peter and John. Peter and John raced to the tomb and found the tomb empty. The four were told by angels that Jesus had risen from the dead as he said he would. His disciples were still hiding because of their fear of the Romans and religious leaders. They had just killed Jesus and the disciples were his closest companions and shared in proclaiming the message Jesus shared across the country.

This news caused the fearful disciples to get together to talk about this news, though. They locked themselves behind closed doors and that same night, Jesus just appeared to them. He broke bread with them and talked to them. Then he just disappeared. A ghost? Ghosts don’t have flesh and blood. Jesus did. A physical person? Yes, but very different because he just appeared and disappeared. Unbelievable, right? Thomas wasn’t there. And that’s just what he said.

You guys were drunk. You guys are crazy. You guys don’t know what you’re talking about. You guys are just stressed out and wanting to believe what Peter and John told you this morning, but it didn’t happen. Jesus might be gone from the tomb, but to see him in flesh and blood when the doors are locked and then have him just disappear? No way. Show me.

Verse 26. A week later Jesus’ disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”

Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

So, here we are. Jesus gives a special blessing after this to those who believe without seeing him in the flesh the way those disciples did that night. But do you believe? Do you really believe in the resurrection? The truth is most of the world does not. Most of the people in the United States, which not that many years ago was known as a Christian nation, do not believe in the resurrection. In fact, I’m finding there are a lot of Doubting Thomases sitting in Christian churches.

It’s easy to be like the Missourans and cry out, “Show me!” It’s easy to be like Thomas and say, “I won’t believe in the resurrection unless I can see for myself.” But that’s not how faith works. Faith is believing in what you cannot see. Faith is accepting as truth what you may not understand. It’s like flipping the lightswitch expecting the lights to come on even though you don’t know how the electricity is generated from hundreds of miles away, stored, passed safely through the lines to your house, and causes the bulbs to glow when that switch is flipped. We don’t need to understand all there is to know about electricity to believe the lights will come on, we just flipped the switch believing they will. That’s faith.

I don’t need to understand how the medicines I take work, either. But I believe the doctor who gives them to me and because I take them, it makes a difference in my quality of life. But the resurrection? It’s the same. We don’t need to understand how. We don’t need to be like Thomas and see the scars in Jesus’ hands and side. We just need to believe in the testimony of the thousands who have trusted in him through the centuries and place that same trust in the truth of the gospels. Will I ever understand how the resurrection happened from a scientific perspective? Never. Do I need to understand it? Never. I just need to believe it. And talk about the change in my quality of life? The legacy of peace that Jesus promises comes pouring through.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Killing giants takes a little faith, July 9, 2018

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Today we will talk about the last in our series of what can help us defeat Goliaths of addiction and habits in our lives that we just can’t seem to conquer. Those things that seem to just linger on and seem impossible to change. You’ll recall we first said you can’t fight Goliath alone. God will go with us if we ask him. We should also try to take with us trusted friends, accountability partners, prayer partners, those that understand the battle we face and can help us through those struggles because they have been there before us.

We talked about overcoming our fears when we face our Goliaths. That doesn’t mean we won’t have any fears as we face them, but we must control our fear and use the energy, drive, emotions, and all the positive things that come from that singular emotion to help us focus on the addiction or habit we want to overcome.

We said we sometimes hold on to those habits and addictions because of our fear of rejection. We think if others know what is going on with us, they won’t like us. They will turn away from us. They will think poorly of us. If they knew, they might push us out of their lives and we would be alone. To be honest, some will, but you probably don’t want those in your repertoire of people trying to help you through victory over your problem anyway. You need to be surrounded by people who will be honest with you and not condone the habits or addictions you want to rid yourself, but you need people who will love you and stick with you through the tough times of change, as well.

We discovered that sometimes we hold on to those bad habits and addictions because we are comfortable with them. Change is hard even though we know the change is better for us than the circumstances we created for ourselves in our present state, but most of us do not like change and will stick to the devil we know rather than chance the angel we don’t know. So we stick with the comfortable thing we know even when we know it’s bad.

We learned that anger can sometimes help us overcome those Goliaths of addiction. But anger can also hinder us in facing those giants. Anger is not good or bad. It is an emotion God built into us. The question is what sparks our anger and how and where do we focus it. When we focus our anger appropriately, we can use the energy and strength that comes with it to attack those addictions and habits we want gone. When we use that emotion inappropriately, we might strike out against the people that could help us the most.

Last week we talked about the importance of openness about the thing you want to change. Until you identify and name the thing you want to fix, you are at best attacking symptoms, but never getting at the real root of the problem.

Today we look at one more exceptionally important trait that you must exercise to face the Goliaths in your life, those addictions, bad habits, things in your life you need to change. What is that trait? Faith. If you don’t believe you can change, you won’t. If you believe there is no hope, you will create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Without faith, you’ll find all your attempts at change are futile.

Faith, the writer of Hebrews says, is the substance of things hoped for, the assurance of things not seen. It is knowing that an unseen future will circumstance will be true. We all exercise faith in our daily lives. We all have it and really could not live without it. Imagine going through life without faith. Not believing the lights would come on when flipped the light switch. Not knowing if the car would start when you turned the key. Not believing the sun would rise in the morning or the moon at night. Living without faith means wondering if the food you just ate is good for you or poisoned.

No faith in life makes you question whether the next step you take will be on solid ground or something that just looks solid. No faith makes you hold your breath because the air might be filled with toxic fumes instead of good clean oxygen.

So does all of that sound a little crazy? Maybe, but it really shows that everyone has faith. We have faith that the world works in certain ways that we can trust. We exercise faith to just live our lives in ordinary ways every day. It takes a lot of faith just to exist. Faith is faith is faith. The question is how do we direct that faith? In what or in whom do we have faith? I have a lot of faith in myself in certain aspect of life. In other aspects, I have very little faith in myself.

As a simple example, I have faith that I can drive without having an accident, so tomorrow I will get in my car, turn the key in the ignition, and back out of my driveway with full confidence that I will make it across town and arrive at my destination before my appointed time to be there. But I have very little faith that I can climb Mount Everest successfully, so don’t expect to see me even close to those slopes…ever. It would be crazy for me to even attempt the climb because I know my physical limitations and I have like no confidence I would get to even the 7,000 foot camps alive.

What does that have to do with addictions, habits, Goliaths we want to conquer? We need faith that we can actually change if we expect to change. If I don’t think I can kick a habit, I won’t. If I don’t think I can change my behavior, I’ll fail to change it. If I don’t have enough faith in myself to believe God and others can help me through some process to replace those things that need replacing in my life, I will sabotage the efforts and I will keep those things resident in my everyday life.

So, if I want to defeat a Goliath of addiction in my life, whether it is a simple thing like dropping dirty clothes on the floor instead of the hamper or a very complex thing like addiction to heroin. If I can’t picture and believe in a different future, I am stuck with the present life with no chance for change. I must have faith God and those he puts in my path as his helpers can make a new future for me.

Faith. Maybe today you’ll think about faith a little different than you have in the past. Remember, we all have it. Without out faith, I’m not sure any of us would survive. We’d go absolutely nuts. But with just a little faith, we not only survive, but we thrive. And with faith in the right who, Jesus said we would do even more than he did when he lived among us. Think about it. What future can you envision if you let him help you get rid of the Goliaths of bad habits and addictions that have seemed impossible to resolve. It’s time to start today.

Nicodemus learned a lot from Jesus one day (John 3:10-15), January 21, 2017

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
Do you ever take what we know about life in the Spirit for granted? Do you ever even think about life in the Spirit and what it’s all about? Nicodemus got a pretty good lesson one day. We can learn a lot from what Jesus said to him that day.
Scripture

Devotional
1. Put yourself in Nicodemus place 2,000 years ago. What would you think about the conversation you were having with Jesus? Do you ever take what we know about life in the Spirit for granted? Do you ever even think about life in the Spirit and what it’s all about?His Spirit came to live in us after His departure.
2. Important concept Jesus talked about often in His ministry.
  1. The promise He gave His disciples and the power He gave them to live the way He wanted them to live
  2. Before Jesus left He talked a lot about what God’s spirit would do for us and in us, so the conversation He begins with Nicodemus is important
  1. But Nicodemus, like many, chose to reject the truth Jesus spoke.
    1. Responsible to teach faith – a rabbi
    2. Didn’t understand the necessity of life in the spirit.
    3. We cannot live the life Jesus wants us to live apart from His spirit in us
    4. It takes faith and acceptance of His guidance, lordship in our life
  1. World doesn’t agree
    1. Self made man
    2. What’s in it for me
    3. What do I gain
    4. Selfish motive is the world’s answer
    5. Servanthood is Jesus’ goal
1. Nicodemus came to learn and based on later events in his life it appears he learned well the lessons of life in the Spirit. History gives credence to His coming to Christ and being one of the dissenters in His trial and crucifixion. He may have been in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. He learned his lessons
2. The question for you and me, will we learn from the Master? Will we believe the evidence of His words and His actions? Will we believe in Him so we may gain the everlasting life He promises? It’s up to you.
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

Are you one of those “show me” folks? (Luke 22:26-69), January 11, 2017

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
Missouri is known as the Show Me state. It is said her residents don’t believe anything they don’t see for themselves. Do you know anyone like that? Are you one of those? Jesus met a few…in court.
Scripture
1. Luke 22:67-69
2. Sanhedrin: If you are the Anointed One whom God promised us, tell us plainly.

Jesus: If I give you an answer, you won’t believe it. And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer it. But this I will say to you: from now on, the Son of Man will take His seat at the right hand of the power of God.

Sanhedrin: So You are the Son of God, then?

Jesus: It’s as you say.

Devotional

If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

How to face the toughest tasks (Luke 22:40-42), January 9, 2017

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
What is the one thing you hate doing most of all? So why do you do it? Out of a sense of duty, fear, responsibility, love, all of those? We all face those tasks at some point, Jesus taught us how.
Scripture
1. Luke 22:40-42
2. Jesus: Pray for yourselves, that you will not sink into temptation.

He distanced Himself from them about a stone’s throw and knelt there, praying.

Jesus: Father, if You are willing, take this cup away from Me. Yet not My will, but Your will, be done.

Devotional
1. Jobs you just don’t want to do.
  1. Dusting
  2. Dishes
  3. Yardword
  4. Painting
2. We do them most of the time without too much complaint even when we don’t want to
  1. Sometimes talk others into doing them
  2. Sometimes swap with others
  3. Sometimes hire out the work
3. Every once in awhile get tasks that no one can do but us
  1. Our responsibility
  2. Can’t shirk or put it off
  3. Must be done
  4. But nothing like what Jesus faced
4. He wanted out of His task
  1. About to bear the weight of the world’s sins on His shoulders
  2. Pay the penalty required for each of our sins
  3. Guiltless but paying anyway
  4. Asked if there was any other way to let Him take that alternate way
5. Resolved to do what the Father wanted rather than what He wanted
  1. May ask us to do some things we don’t want to do
  2. May be unpleasant or difficult
  3. Can be sure they will never be as difficult as what Jesus did for us
  4. He will help us accomplish whatever He tells us to do
  5. He understands our reluctance to do difficult things because He’s been there
  6. He also knows the importance of doing what the Father asks, because He’s been there
6. Not my will but Your will, can you say that from your heart
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Ever make a big promise you didn’t keep? (Luke 22:31-38), January 8, 2017

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
Ever make a big promises that you didn’t keep? Peter made a whopper of a promise. Jesus caught him in his failure in less than half a day. Remember what that promise was?
Scripture

Devotional
1. Peter is like a lot of us.
  1. Think we can stand the test
  2. Make promises we can’t keep
  3. Crumble under the intense pressure against us
2. Honest with ourselves
  1. We’ve done the same
  2. Failed to honor Him in the tough times
  3. Kept silent when He said to speak
  4. Went the path of least resistance
  5. Denied Him when the pressure was on
3. Jesus says something important
  1. I have prayed for you
  2. That you faith will hold firm
  3. That you will recover from your failure
  4. That you will become a source of strength for your brothers
4. Peter still failed that night and many other times recorded in the New Testament
  1. Recognized his failure
  2. Repented
  3. Learned from his errors
  4. Became stronger in his faith each time
  5. Finally was executed for his faith
5. Jesus prayer extends to us as He sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for us
  1. That our faith will hold firm
  2. That we will recover from any failure
  3. That we will become a source of strength for our brothers and sisters
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Will anyone have faith? (Luke 18:2-8) December 18, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – 3 John

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 18:2-8
Jesus: There was a judge living in a certain city. He showed no respect for God or humanity. In that same city there was a widow. Again and again she kept coming to him seeking justice: “Clear my name from my adversary’s false accusations!” He paid no attention to her request for a while, but then he said to himself, “I don’t care about what God thinks of me, much less what any mere human thinks. But this widow is driving me crazy. She’s never going to quit coming to see me unless I hear her case and provide her legal protection.”
Did you catch what this self-assured judge said? If he can be moved to act justly, won’t God bring justice for His chosen people when they cry to Him day and night? Will He be slow to bring them justice? Mark My words: God will intervene fast with vindication. But here’s the question: when the Son of Man comes, will He find anyone who still has faith?

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Jesus poses a very sobering question to those gathered around Him that day. “When the Son of Man comes, will He find anyone who still has faith?” He just used Lot, Abraham’s nephew, as an example of the widespread sin that caused God’s judgment to fall on Sodom and Gomorrah those centuries earlier. Remember the story?

Two messengers from God came to Abraham to tell him that God was about to destroy the city in which Lot and his family resided. Abraham pleaded with the messengers and asked if there were 100 faithful individuals in the city, would God spare the city? God accepted the change and Abraham continued to plead with God and lower that number until God agreed that if even 10 righteous men could be found in the city of Sodom, the city would be spared. But not even 10 could be found.

I sometimes wonder what would have happened if Abraham had asked if God would spare the city if he volunteered to take God’s message to the city and preach in the streets. I wonder if Abraham offered to tell God’s story to any who would listen in those great cities if God would have delayed His judgment against them. We will never know, but we do know that not 10 righteous could be found among all the citizens of that vast populace. God rescued Lot and his daughters. But even Lot’s wife turned back toward Sodom and was destroyed because of her lust for the sinful pleasures of the city instead of her love for God and obedience to His commands.

I’m writing from the seventh, perhaps now the fifth or sixth largest city in the United States today. And I wonder, if God’s messengers were to come to this city, how many righteous men would He find? There are churches everywhere. There are people who sit on the pews of those churches every week, sometimes several times a week. But how many are really righteous and doing all that God asks of them? How many really stand up to the scrutiny of the messengers if God were to send them into the city to examine our hearts today?

I think the people in Sodom and Gomorrah were surprised that God found them sinful and evil. I think most thought they were okay with the Creator. I think most attended their worship services regularly. No doubt few, if any, worship the God of Abraham, but some may have said they did. Some probably heard Lot’s words when he told them how he gained his wealth and came to live in the plains of Sodom and Gomorrah. Some probably even added a prayer to this God of Lot’s so that He wouldn’t be left out in their pantheon of gods to be honored and worshiped. They thought they were okay.

I think our cities today are in much the same place Sodom and Gomorrah were. We abuse physically, emotionally, and spiritually those that come to our cities. We laugh at those who contend that Jesus is the only way to heaven. We push aside those that dare to tell us how to act and speak and love our fellowman. We think those that really follow God’s rules a little on the insane side. Surely God doesn’t expect us to follow those archaic laws in this modern era. Things have changed. He can’t expect us to worship Him like Abraham and David and Daniel. That was Old Testament stuff. We have been enlightened in this age, right?

Not so fast. We haven’t changed. We have the same DNA. We have the same basic desires as our ancient ancestors. We need food and shelter just like they did. We want to be loved and we want to love just like our forefathers. We have this spiritual makeup that craves to worship something whether we want to recognize it or not. Oh, we have new toys and disguised idols rather than gold and silver images of some deity, but if you watch our behavior, we have raised a lot of things as our gods today. Jobs, houses, sports, money, leisure, even our families tend to get our worship instead of our Creator. We set things up as gods and worship them as surely as those in ancient times bowed to those wood and gold and silver icons.

So Jesus question today is as critical as it was 2,000 years ago because God will come as He did in the days of Noah and Lot. “When the Son of Man comes, will He still find anyone who has faith?”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.