Author: gabrieltew

Jerod was miserable. The confinement was bad enough, not being free to go beyond the length of the chain he dragged around the yard. But even worse were the constant entanglements with Mark who was chained to the same stake. If it hadn’t been for Mark, he wouldn’t be there in the first place. Sharing a stake of bondage with the one who’d hurt him made his life a living hell. 

Everyday Mark begged Jerod to set him free. “You hold the key to my freedom. How many times must I say I’m sorry?”

“You don’t deserve freedom, Mark! Why should I free you? I’m the one who deserves to be free.”

Yes, I agree. But please, have mercy on me! I’ll find a way to make it up to you, I promise.”

“So, I free you, remain in the bondage you caused for me, and wait for you to come back for my freedom? I don’t think so.” While Jerod hated that he was tied to Mark this way, the power he held over Mark was a small consolation, at least. 

“You were given the key to my freedom, but I wasn’t given the key to yours,” Mark pleaded, “Rest assured, though, that, once I’m free, I won’t sleep until I convince the judge to set you free.”

Jerod still didn’t trust him. His smooth talking led them to where they were. He wasn’t about to be fooled again.

Mark was relentless in his quest for freedom, so day after day he begged Jerod, sometimes nearly with tears. “I’m truly sorry, my friend. If I could go back and undo it, I would. Won’t you please free me from this bondage? I promise I’ll do everything possible to get you freed.

Jerod had to admit, Mark was wearing him down. He found himself actually considering letting him off the hook. Or, literally, the chain. After all, they’d been friends forever. And isn’t that what friends do, forgive one another?

So, Jerod woke up one morning determined to forgive his friend; he would let Mark go free.

Jerod rose and walked over to the stake to which both men were chained, He took the key out of his pocket, put it into the lock and turned it.

When Jerod turned the key, something amazing happened. Mark’s chain came loose, of course; no surprise there. But so did Jerod’s! 

Aghast with the surprise of his own freedom, Jerod ran and skipped and jumped and danced to the extents of the yard, far beyond where the chain had stopped him before. He looked around and saw Mark doing the same dance and realized he was so caught up in the joy of his own freedom, he hadn’t even thought about Mark. The two men, overjoyed, looked at each other and ran together for a hug that morphed into an arms-interlocking, knees-lifting duet jig, as the friends hop-danced in circles and laughed themselves silly. 

Out of breath, Jerod hugged his old friend Mark and sat down to catch his breath over on the ground next to the stake. All this time, I had no idea that the same turn of the key to unlock Mark’s chain also unlocked mine. How much sooner I would have freed us both had I known this secret.

If you forgive those who sin against you, your Heavenly Father will forgive you. 

(Matthew 6:14)

In the fall of 1974, my parents became homeowners. They, my four siblings and I were ecstatic to be moving into our new house and out of the one we had rented for seven years from my paternal grandparents that was situated behind their house and was accessed by a quarter-mile-long car path. Our new house included five acres of land on Hobbs Road. Five acres isn’t enough land to sustain a family-of-seven farm operation, which was the means of our livelihood. So, my dad began leasing farms on Hobbs Road.

I remember riding in the pickup up and down Hobbs Road for the first several weeks of living in our new house. We were becoming more and more familiar with our new road. We saw our neighbors, the other Hobbs Road residents, the patches of woods, the open fields – some large, some small – and the turns, rises and falls of the country road. With each passing back and forth from the end of the road to our house, we became a little bit more familiar with Hobbs Road.

Soon my dad had leased three different farms on Hobbs Road, all totaling about two-hundred acres. Up until 1980, when my dad bought a three-hundred-acre farm of his own, we tended those three farms and added a few more, making our total operation about five-hundred acres.

These farms were owned by widows of farmers who had passed away after a life of farming their land, except for a couple of them who had retired. 

Over the years, as we tended these farms, going several times each week to the farms and working long days in the various fields up and down our road, we all gained greater detail in our perspective on Hobbs Road. Whereas we had initially driven the road at fifty miles per hour, we were now spending full days and weeks in one plot along the road. Our perspective of Hobbs Road included multiple vantage points as well as an overview of the span of the road since we still drove the speed limit to and from its end once or twice a day.

Because of these experiences, I got to know Hobbs Road in almost every way imaginable. I knew every ditch, field and building; and because I used to jog to the end of the road and back several times weekly (a total of 3.5 miles), I learned every part of the road’s surface as well as every portion of the shoulder of the entire road and every dog at every house. (All dogs in that culture were outside and not confined, since they played the primary role in each home’s security system.)

There weren’t very many things, big or small, about Hobbs Road that I didn’t know.

Learning the Bible can be an intimidating prospect. It’s such a big book and can be difficult to understand, especially when we first start reading it. For that very reason, it was fourteen years after I became a Christian when I finally decided to read through the whole Bible.

Reading through the Bible gave me an overall understanding, but it was a seminar I attended called Walk thru the Old Testament that really helped me build the framework for understanding the Bible. You can see – and participate in – a sample of WTOT with this link.

Around that framework I’ve been able, over the years, to fill in the detailed perspective that I gained in my time of studying short passages of Scripture. In seminary and other programs of study I’ve been able to organize Biblical information and doctrine around various topics. But my most helpful study has been seeking out answers to my points of curiosity, just in my personal devotional study time. Of course, listening to and reading great teachers have also helped me immensely.

All these approaches to studying the Bible (overview, organization, topical study, specific passage study) remind me of getting to know Hobbs Rd. (driving fast, driving slow, running, walking, working, exploring). I can’t say I know the Bible as well as I once knew Hobbs Road, but I’m working on it. 

And I have 3 suggestions for those hungry for Biblical knowledge:

1. Get started. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. The Bible is every bit the humongous beast the elephant is. Start eating today.
2. Delve into every part of the Bible and try to organize it in your head as you go. Three blind men each encountered an elephant. One felt the trunk and thought an elephant must be like a snake; another felt the leg and assumed an elephant to be as a tree; the third man felt his belly and thought an elephant must be like a wall. Once they all compared their experiences, they understood the elephant better.
3. Mix up your study. On an African safari, a man found himself amid a herd of elephants; demanding his driver take him out from the herd and to the top of a nearby hill, he stopped, turned, studied the elephants a few moments and said, “Ok, drive me back into the herd.” After repeating the routine of in-the-midst and on-the-hill several times, the man went home having thoroughly experienced the herd of elephants.

Elephants are magnificent creatures. And Hobbs Road has a special place in my heart. But studying and knowing God’s Word is one of the most important endeavors in all of life. May God bless you to grow in your understanding of His powerful Word!

I was part of a team on mission in Ecuador during the first half of September with a Raise and Release Ministries team. It was such an inspiring experience that I want to report on it and recognize those people and situations God used so inspirationally.

Jorge. Jorge lives in Mindo where our team spent a total of ten days. Jorge and his wife, Genesis, have four children and they both serve as leaders in Mindo’s New Jerusalem Baptist Church. A 2021 Raise and Release team baptized Jorge; a 2022 team saw Jorge baptizing other new believers; in 2023, Jorge served on the church’s missions planning team, hosted our team on several days’ events as well as serving as a translator for the team. Jorge makes his living as a tour guide for birding; his vast knowledge of the region’s bird species is very impressive.

Jon. We met seventeen-year-old Jon while he worked as a local farm hand. As we spoke with him, he was at first very shy and would hardly make eye contact with us. Once we got him to open up a bit, he told us that the mafia had coerced him to perform illegal acts for them, held him against his will and, now that he had escaped and reported them to the police and fled from them, was now actively searching for him. He was in grave danger and was understandably terrified. Day one of our knowing Jon we prayed with him and encouraged him to trust God for his safety; that evening, he surrendered his life to Christ in a worship service; on day two, Jon began to display an obvious joy as he participated in fellowship and outreach ministry with our team; on day three, he eloquently and sincerely led the prayer over the team’s evening meal, after which the team noisily cheered him on in his newfound faith and joy. Who knows what we’ll see from Jon on our future visits!

Impact Northwestern Ecuador. The pastors of three local churches in the Northwest region of Ecuador met to establish an organization to help churches in the Northwest region work together in carrying out the Great Commission. Pastors Jonathan Patino, Alirio Chaves and Freddy Arias serve as the founding pastors of this organization and they hope to receive more pastors into the group in the future; Five of our team members had the privilege of joining that initial meeting to offer our support and any insight the Lord might have given through us. The effort was a very impressive gesture that church leaders in our culture could use as a model for inter-church unity and we were very impressed with the passionate hearts and unified vision of those three pastors.

Our missionary team members. Tony Festa is the Raise and Release founder and president. He coordinated our trip and led the boots on the ground. Looking for opportunities to raise up leaders in the ministry, Tony returned to the States with five days remaining for the team to do ministry. He left the controls in the hands of Ben Bahr, a MARSOC Marine Corps trainer and young man of God. Ben led us very well during our last five days of the mission while continuing, himself, to preach to crowds and minister to individuals in Northwest Ecuador.

Marlon & Yolanda Diaz lead a church in Quito where they also have a ministry to clean and clothe the feet of children. On our mission, the Diazes filled the roles of teaching on marriage and ministering to many individuals to trust Jesus for salvation (including the aforementioned Jon) and to meet the other needs of their lives. They also served as spiritual leaders for our team. (Tony called them “wisdom carriers.”) Marlon and Yolanda are one of four ministry partners of Raise and Release.

Justin Huber is a retired lieutenant colonel in the US Marine Corps who now works as an EMT in Louisville, KY, the skills of which served him well in medical clinics we set up, the clinics treating more than one hundred patients over the course of our two-week mission. Justin served as an exemplary, caring, soft-spoken man of God who will doubtless, God be willing, lead teams on mission in the future. His preaching to crowds and ministry to individuals yielded much fruit as some people began a faith walk with Jesus and others grew in the faith they already had. Justin’s proficiency in speaking Spanish also served him and our team very well.

Cyndi Buck is an RN and new author who has an anointing to minister prophetically. We usually found Cyndi talking and praying with people as God showed her specific needs of the people and God led her in how to pray for them. She also played a key role in the medical arm of our mission.

Lindsay Freidhoff is an expert in exercise science and nutrition with a pure heart for God. A mother of five boys and author of the soon-to-be-published Not Perfect. Beautiful., a book on parenting, Lindsay brought a seasoned motherly perspective to our team as she ministered to dozens individually and was part of the medical team.

Yonni Lam is originally from Hong Kong and now resides in Quito. Yonni’s faith, compassion, personal tesimony and language skills position her perfectly to impact Ecuadorians for Jesus, which is exactly what she did as our team member.

Malcolm Jones is a project manager for a large construction company. As a 6 ft. 6in. former college football player, Malcolm’s physical presence may be imposing, but his heart is like that of a child. An effective speaker and minister to small groups and individuals, Malcolm’s spiritual insight and ability to sense specific needs as he prays for people are gifts he brought onto our team.

The husband-wife team of Dr. Javier Acosta and Dr. Grace Fernanda Loayza Ochoa led our medical mission. Their two teenaged kids, Mikki and Andres also served as muti-gifted team members.

It was a pleasure to have my wife, Sharlene Tew, on our team. She’s another of Tony’s “wisdom carriers” and offered leadership skills to assist Ben after Tony’s departure. There’s really nothing she can’t do, so she taught wives on marriage, led people to Christ and offered her business and administrative abilities in helping to meet some of the needs of the people (especially Sonia, whose situation I describe below). 

Our team of interpreters included five Ecuadorians who were more than language translators. All of them are strong, mature believers in Jesus who were contributors to our mission in a spiritual, medical and physical sense. Angie Espinoza is a seasoned ministry leader whose day job is to coordinate interpreters for missionary teams coming into Ecuador. Not limited to merely translating what our team members said, Angie prayed the prayer of salvation with several people, herself. JD Cortez is a young Christian man who has a knack for translating whatever is said in one language into the vernacular of the other language. JD’s sense of humor kept our team in stitches much of the time. Melissa Hellbach is a first-year medical school student with wisdom beyond her years. She is adamant about interpreting the ideas for the listeners, as opposed to merely translating the words. Melissa brought much to the table: language skills, medical training, strong work ethic (pushed herself to serve as normal even when she’d sprained her ankle badly), spiritual insight and leadership acumen. Eduardo is a twenty-three-year-old professional videographer who produced a video for our ministry and then decided he wanted to join our mission team. So he served as an interpreter who also contributed to spiritual and physical ministry to the people in Northwestern Ecuador. 

That rounded out our team of missionaries and interpreters. Let me share about two other Ecuadorians, Sonya and Carlita, to whom we were privileged to minister.

Sonia is a lady whose American husband took their toddler daughter ten years ago, deserting Sonia and fleeing to the U.S. Sharlene has a relationship with an immigration attorney office in North Carolina and with Melissa’s assistance pored over the documents that Sonia had and has now submitted them to the attorney to hopefully help Sonia reunite with her daughter. It was impressive to sit with Sharlene and Melissa and witness the counsel they offered to Soni a. It felt wonderful to offer someone something useful in addition to prayer and spiritual ministry.  Please pray that Sonia will be reunited with her daughter whom she has not seen in person since she was two years old, and is now twelve.

Carlita is a young mother who has suffered rejection and abandonment most of her life. Our team was able to build the frame of a new home for her. Finally able, now, to have her own household, Carlita tearfully told our team, “This is wonderful; nobody has ever helped me this much before.” Please pray that she will receive the funds to complete this home.

The motto of Raise and Release Ministries is to raise up leaders to release the gospel. We believe in releasing people to carry out the life and calling God has given them. This is a refreshing contrast to the missions ministries that want to arrogantly dictate to national Christian leaders that they should do things the way we do in the U.S. It’s also satisfying for missionaries on our teams who are trained and released to minister freely with the gifts and callings that have been given them by God. 

Please join us at from 2:30 to 4:30 on Sunday, October 1^st at Nineteen Restaurant near Hampstead, NC for lunch and an update on the September, 2023 Ecuador trip. Here’s the link:

POST MISSION TRIP LUNCHEON 10/1/2023 @2:30 PM at The Nineteen Restaurant. – ​Raise & Release Ministries (raiseandreleaseministries.org)

The Parable of the Leaven is so short that you hardly notice it’s even a parable. Yet, it’s packed with meaning. 

I’ve heard and read several definitions of parable, but my favorite one is what I consider the Sunday school definition. It’s simply an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.

Without Jesus’ announcement that a parable was coming, the first clue that it’s a parable is found in its first six words, The kingdom of Heaven is like…

From there we see the first major word, leaven, which is what we would call yeast. Leaven in this parable is a good thing, not always the case in Scripture; in fact, it at times represents sinfulness. But in this case, it couldn’t symbolize a better reality: the kingdom of God, itself. 

A woman who’s making bread hides the leaven, which is always in small amounts and always effects a relatively large amount of flour or meal, as a key part of the bread-making process.

I think it’s remarkable that she hides it, wording we wouldn’t typically use about baking ingredients. Consider some other Scriptural examples of things hidden: 

• David writes that he has hidden God’s word in his heart so that he might not sin against Him.
• We Christians, ourselves, are hidden with Christ in God.
• All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ.

All these things are valuables hidden by God from some and for others (from and for being important distinctions).

The kingdom of God, represented by the leaven, is the most valuable of all things, and He has hidden it in us for us (again, important words, in and for). 

Sometimes, believers exhaust themselves searching in all the wrong places for God and His answers when all we need to do is look within our own hearts where He has hidden His Spirit for us. 

Our efforts to find God and His kingdom also often prove futile in another way. We didn’t expect Him to choose the people in whom He’s chosen to dwell. It’s surprising to us that He would hide Himself in the poor in spirit, the grieving, the humble. Yet, in the hearts of those kinds of people are the very places we can find Him.

Getting back to the parable, this woman hid the leaven in three measures of meal. This reference to three measures is not about three different places or groups of people; rather, it points to what the number three means: completeness (Father, Son & Spirit; beginning, middle & end; past present & future; solid, liquid & gas; etc.). Jesus came to bring the kingdom of God to the entire world. God so loved the world…it is not His will that any should perish, but that all might be saved…not to condemn the world, but that through Him they might be saved.

There isn’t anyone in the entire world, in its history of generations, in whom God isn’t willing to hide His kingdom. So, let’s be careful whom we’re tempted to overlook as recipients of God’s grace. Surely, we could, ourselves, easily be overlooked.

Please don’t look for God only in the external, but be ready with your best response when He reveals Himself to you right in your most inner self.

The final point Jesus drives home for us in His briefest parable is that what
he launched (and still launches) in the hearts of individuals will eventually manifest on the most massive of scales. His kingdom permeates the entire world. With this parable, Jesus prophesied the global promulgation of the gospel. 

He foretold the ultimate reach of His kingdom. 

And He revealed the process by which He builds His kingdom, not from the outside in – with human armies and earthly palaces through which He would amass subjects – but in the hearts of people who would influence others and, thereby, form the ultimate grassroots movement. 

Just as a transformed life happens through the renewal of the mind, the transformation of the world will result from the kingdom of Heaven being birthed in the individual hearts of millions of people. 

God, please give us eyes to see Your kingdom manifesting in our midst.

Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened. – Matthew 13:33

If you want to be the perfect daddy’s girl, follow these six pieces of advice:

1. Have a special song with your dad. “Hey Baby, Will You Be My Girl” is the best one, but I’m sure others can work. But sing it back and forth with your daddy (and change “girl” to “daddy” when your verse rolls around). Every time you think of it, sing it, and if you’re ever at an event and the song comes on, sing it to each other while dancing and acting crazy (try to embarrass your dad, but don’t feel defeated if he embarrasses you more).

2. If you have a little sister, five years younger than you, be a second mother to her. It’s okay to be a bit on the bossy side, but don’t get too upset if she becomes even bossier than you and demands that you do every little thing for her. Oh, and live near her when you grow up, just in case she still needs you, although, you shouldn’t be hurt if she somehow becomes super independent and doesn’t seem to need much help from anyone. But I know you’ll be there for her anyway, just because you love her and that’s who you are.

3. When you grow up and move out on your own, text your dad one random morning at 6:00 because you two were always the first ones up and you shared a 6 a.m. cup of coffee together every morning. Just text: “I miss you, Daddy.” I promise you he’ll cry that morning and thank God that you’re his daughter. But do this only once. He’s just a man and his soft heart can’t take but just so much of that kind of thing from his daddy’s girl.

4. When you and your dad are planning your mom’s 50^thbirthday party and you’re making a decision about whether to take a slight shortcut or to go over the top, insist on going over the top. Just look at your dad and say, “because that’s what she would do.” It’ll show your dad that you’ve gleaned lessons from your mother, who happens to be the person most committed to excellence that you’ve ever known. And he’ll be even prouder of you, if that’s possible.

5. When you get out in the world and start making your way, become very well known as a hard-working, super organized, creative professional with very high standards. Your daddy will beam every time he tells a friend about how awesome you’re doing.

6. When you turn 30, come home to your daddy because all your siblings will be there to celebrate you because your whole family loves you so very much.

Happy birthday to my daughter, Kristin! I love you, Kwi!

We’re in the season of first days. School is starting for students, faculty, staff and parents.

It got me thinking about the first days I’ve had in my life.

I remember the first day of first grade; it was 1968. I came home and told my parents who my teacher was; it was Mrs. Blevins. My dad was so surprised, “Mrs. Blevins was my first grade teacher, too!” I remember thinking, “She must be really old.” She was younger then than I am now.

I remember my first day of college. I didn’t know what to expect; I was the first in my family to go to college. I was relieved to find that it wasn’t going to overwhelm me; “I’m gonna be able to handle this,” I thought. 

When our oldest child, Tres, began first grade in 1995, I remember driving him to school, walking him in and meeting his teacher, Mrs. Johnson; she turned out to be an amazing first grade teacher.

Our second child, Nate,  began kindergarten with some apprehension. But the man-kiss set him at ease. The man-kiss is the handshake I had with my sons. You just clap your hands, kiss your palm and do a high five. The look that our man-kiss brought to his face set me at ease that morning, too, allowing me to leave him there with peace in my heart. 

Kristin, our next child and first girl, went full speed, fully excited into her first school day. That’s her way; still today Kwi embraces new things easily.

When Jacob, our fourth child, went off to college, my wife, Sharlene, also drove up to help get him settled in; she has this thing about not using shower curtains for bedspreads. And everything having a right place, or something like that.

Well, Sharlene took our two youngest with her, so I found myself for three days in a situation I hadn’t been in for nearly twenty years: alone. Tears came to my face much of the weekend.

Luke and Janna, our two youngest went to big city colleges – one in NY and the other in Boston – making sure they flew far from the nest. I’m not sure how their first days went, but they were surprisingly tough for me, considering I’d had four and five practices to supposedly become better at it.  

I had a really tough first day on a job I took a while back. That night, my boss called to tell me the company wanted me to step down. He explained that they were brokering a shady deal, and my being there would mess that up. I was humiliated. Toughest first day ever for me. After a fitful two hours of sleep, I got up, went into the den and knelt, using the sofa as an altar.  Desperate and utterly humiliated, I cried  out to God and cried literal tears before the Lord; I really needed a job. 

I rose, got my laptop and drafted an email to the company. After finishing the email, I was just about to click Send when my phone vibrated. It was my boss. The shady part of the deal had fallen through, and they wanted me to come back. Even though I had very little respect for this company, I needed a paycheck, plus I knew the company was being sold and the buyer had to be a better company than the seller was, so I went back. The buyer was a much better company, and I still work for them. But, boy, what a first day that was!

The best day of my life was October 12, 1983. It was my first day as a Christian. God had revealed Himself to me the day before, rescuing me from a demonic attack. Seeing how powerful He was and His willingness to use His power for me, I committed my life to Jesus. The sense of peace and joyful bliss was astonishing to me, and He has never left me and never will. 

I long to see more people experience their first day as Christians. In the season of first days, what a wonderful time to experience the first day of salvation in Christ Jesus!

Today is the day of salvation – 2 Corinthians 6:2

The answer to the question why depends on who’s asking it. 

Jesus was walking through the city of Jerusalem with His disciples when they saw a man blind from birth. 

“Why,” they asked Jesus, “was this man born blind?”

Their why meant “what was the cause?” 

But Jesus often answered the question that should’ve been asked, rather than the one actually asked. And that’s what He did in this case. 

The disciples were concerned with the cause of the man’s blindness. At best, they wanted wisdom to understand so they could teach others how to avoid such plights as a life of blindness. At worst, they wanted to know who was at fault, whom to blame.

Jesus wasn’t interested in whose fault it was. He hadn’t come from Heaven to earth to condemn us, but that through Him we might be saved. 

So, Jesus, instead of answering the whose-fault-is-this question, answered the what’s-the-purpose-of-this question. 

And the answer was, “so that the works of God can be seen.”

And then Jesus healed the man.

I believe this is more than an isolated incident. I believe this story, found in the 9^th chapter of John’s gospel, reveals to us a principle of God.

As I found myself in the hospital 3 ½ years ago, unable to walk or swallow, one of the questions everybody was asking was “what caused this?” 

I wasn’t a candidate for stroke. I was fairly healthy – my diet was healthy, I exercised regularly, didn’t use nicotine or any substances, didn’t have a high level of stress and stroke wasn’t in  my family history. 

The neurosurgeon said my carotid was extremely dissected, leading him to believe I had been in a car accident or had some kind of trauma to my neck.

Nothing like that had occurred, so nobody had an answer for what caused the stroke.

However, God has shown me over time that the stroke did have a purpose. 

I won’t get into whether the stroke was caused or merely allowed by God. Again, cause isn’t my concern, but purpose is. 

Scripture teaches that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him and embrace His purpose. We also know from His Word that everything exists to bring Him glory. 

So God is causing my stroke to produce good for me and glory for Him. That’s His purpose and I’m more than ok with it. 

What good looks like in my situation is that I’m more intimate with God than I’ve ever been before. I haven’t been able to open the fingers on my left hand in almost 43 months; also in that time, 80% of my musical abilities have vanished. Those are two painful losses for me, but God has more than offset them with the close friendship He’s fostered with me. Every time I’ve felt the pain of loss in my post-stroke life, the Spirit of God has whispered to me, “I’m here with you; draw close.” 

So for me, God’s purpose has brilliantly trumped any sense of cause.

I’m pretty sure the blind man would say the same.

Ask a group of non-church-going people their opinion of church people and one of the common answers will be that we are judgmental and hypocritical. Whether the description is accurate or merely perceived from individual to individual, there’s no doubt that both judgmentalism and hypocrisy exist in the body of Christ on some level. And neither should exist at all.

On that issue, I want to address three individuals or groups:

1. To Jesus-followers who make up today’s body of Christ (the church): My brothers and
sisters, if we are honest with ourselves, we all know we have failed in this. How can we
expect to influence people toward Jesus if we aren’t allowing Him to influence us? Why
do we judge those outside the body when we live even less Godly lives, ourselves? Any
righteous and productive judgment must begin with each one of us judging ourselves by
the standard of God’s Word. Then maybe we’ll be in a condition for God to use us the
way He wants to, as reflections of His light.

2. To Jesus: Lord, we confess with sorrow that the very sins you addressed most directly as
You established Your church we are still committing, despite the reality that You now
live in us. We have no excuse; we have Your teaching in the New Testament and Your
Spirit dwelling in our hearts constantly directing us away from those sins and into grace-
thinking toward other people. The complaints of the world haven’t gotten our attention,
nor have the tears of those we’ve hurt.
In the same breath, we both request and receive the forgiveness You make available by
Your abundant grace. We also request help from our Helper; Your help has been in play
for us, but because of our extreme weakness, we ask that You help us even more with
our relatively tiny role of cooperating with the leading of Your Spirit.

3. To onlookers who haven’t yet joined the body of Christ: Two things I want to say to you.
First, we’re sorry for any way you’ve been mistreated by the church. We misrepresented
Jesus in every occurrence that lacked love and kindness on our part. Nevertheless,
please don’t judge who Jesus is by our poor behavior. He’s given us both strength to
walk well and forgiveness when we don’t. So while we’re forgiven and refuse to walk in
the guilt that He’s removed with His own sacrifice, we will endeavor to treat you with
more kindness going forward.
Additionally, please allow me the boldness to say that since you aren’t perfect either,
and stand in need of forgiveness for your own shortcomings, please prayerfully consider
joining us in faith in Jesus. As I stated, we have both strength by His Spirit to live in the right way, and His forgiveness when we come up short. That’s an incomprehensible
double blessing and is what everyone needs more than anything. So please allow Jesus
to make Himself real to you and be ready to trust Him with your eternal future when He
does. And when you come into the body of Christ by faith in Jesus, please don’t be judgmental or hypocritical.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. – Matthew 5:5

Meek means humble by choice. Meekness is best expressed in the life of Jesus. The best expression of the concept in words we find in 1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, and in due time He will exalt you. Let’s examine the verse exegetically. 

Humble. The literal meaning of the original from which the word derives is dirt. It depicts the most base level of form and position possible. Imagine the soldier doing the pit crawl under barbed wire. There you have it, the image for humble.

Yourselves. Someone can be humbled by an outside force, but God calls for it to be voluntary, that we voluntarily take the position ourselves. Actually, He’s calling us to be humble of heart. It’s possible to be humbled outwardly and still stubbornly maintain a heart of pride. Most important is that our attitudes involve humility, regardless of the externals.

Under the mighty hand of God. God’s mighty hand over us means, first, that he protects us. Humility in the Lord is the safest possible scenario for us. Becoming antsy and squirming our way into a seemingly higher position only opens us up to danger. Secondly, God’s protective hand serves as a barrier that keeps us close to Him where we can remain in increasing intimacy with Him and hear His voice that speaks life. 

In due time. Who gets to decide when something is due? The one in authority. The teacher, the mortgage company, electric company and the judge. The highest authority in the universe, under whose protective and directive hand we wait, is the one who sets the due date for our graduation from the low to the high. His judgment is perfect and His timing perfectly trustworthy.

He will. God calls us to patiently humble ourselves, but He’s the one who does the lifting. Troubles ensues when we try to take His job and expect Him to do ours. And it’s meaningful the verb tense. He will…when?…He will…why hasn’t He?…He will…Why can’t I?…He will. Be patient, because He will. 

Exalt you. God will, according to His will, lift us to the place He’s planned since the beginning for us to be. He exalts us for two purposes.

First, He exalts us to be honored. We don’t deserve it, but He bestows it upon us anyway. He didn’t lift David from the sheep pastures to the throne of His chosen people because he deserved it; He chose him based on His own divine desire to bless him. No person deserved the lifting to Israel’s throne, but God lifted them anyway. We won’t be exalted because of our qualifications, but because of His. Jesus’s exaltation is the only deserving one. Yet ours is promised.

The second reason for God’s exaltation of people is that He has work for us to do. In Joshua 7 we see what sometimes happens when we humble ourselves. Joshua and the elders of Israel were distraught from the defeat of their people, so they fell on their faces before the presence of God all day long. 

After Joshua cried out from his troubled heart, God uttered two words: Get up. The Lord had some work for them to do that would eradicate the source of their distress. We can’t forget that what may follow our time of humility may be, as He lifts us up, a work order from the Lord.

Jordan heard the knock on the doorpost of his home. “Coming!” As he neared the doorway, he could see the figure of a man but could not make out his face as the sun shone from directly behind the silhouette, effectively blinding Jordan.

“I come with an invitation.” said the man to whom the silhouette belonged before Jordan could get into position to converse with him.

“Invitation from Whom?” Jordan did not appreciate the interruption, but his curiosity was piqued. 

“The lost son of my lord, Elam of Ramoth-Gilead, has returned to the immensely pleasant surprise of his father. The fattened calf is being prepared as we speak and shall be served at dusk today, sir. It would make Elam most joyful to have you, your wife and your son in attendance.”

“I had heard that son was dead,” said Jordan from a surprised but elated heart for his beloved friend, Elam.

“That was our fear, sir, but fortunately, that fear has this day been dispelled.”

“It would be my great honor to attend and celebrate this most joyful turn of events, but you do understand this is very short notice.”

I do indeed, as does my lord, Elam, but I do not wish to understate the addition to Elam’s bliss – yea, to that of his entire household – that your presence would make, my lord, Jordan.”

With such honor and respect exuding from the mouth of Elam’s servant, the urgency of the merchants’ order Jordan had spent all day pouring over was falling to a lower and lower priority by the second. Of course! He had to attend! This was one of his closest friends and most respected business associates, and his son who had also been a close companion to his own son, had in essence returned from the dead. The merchants’ order would be filled tomorrow, This was a day of celebration!

“Prepare my steed and carriage,” Jordan said to his stable hand. 

“Immediately, sire.” The steward turned and walked toward the stable to accommodate his master’s desire.

Jordan, his wife, Abigail, and their son, Nathan, sat in the carriage as their driver navigated through the network of roads to Elam’s estate. 

“When did the boy return?” Abigail asked about Elam’s long-lost son.

“Just this morning. That is why the invitation came with such short notice. I can only imagine being in Elam’s shoes. It is rumored that your son is dead, then much to your surprise, you see him walking the path to return home. The servant bringing the invitation said Elam ran toward his son when he saw him, fell on his neck in joyful tears and brought him to the house, called all his household together and officially reinstated his position in the family.”

Abigail fought back tears as she tried to speak. “Every time I heard mention of Elam’s son being lost to him I thanked Jehovah that our Nathan has remained faithful and wise.” Abigail lifted her eyes to meet Nathan’s who sat opposite her and Jordan in the carriage. 

Nathan’s eyes dropped as he fought back tears of his own. Seconds later he had gathered himself just enough to speak. “It is hard to believe my prayers for Andrew have finally been answered.”

“You prayed for him to come home?” asked his father.

“I prayed for him to succeed.”

“I am not sure that is the prayer that was answered,” Abigail said, having heard he returned home penniless with the hope that his father would accept him as a servant on his  estate. 

“His life is not over. There are still many years for success in his future,” Nathan argued respectfully to his mother. “For now, being safe and with his family is success.“ Abigail found it comforting that her son, the same age as Andrew, saw value in being with family.

“Yes,” Jordan agreed, “If God is willing, Andrew has a long life still ahead of him to achieve all kinds of success, as do you, my son.”

The carriage followed the steed onto the driveway leading to Elam’s house. Music was playing from behind the house accompanied by the smell of beef and cheers of Elam’s friends. As they followed the cart path around to the back of the house, they saw the crowd of guests and the fire roasting the calf. Wine was being poured into the cups of all the guests as many of them tore bread and dipped it into bowls of olive oil, eating and laughing together. 

Jordan and his family stepped down from their carriage. Nathan spotted Andrew across the lawn and quick-stepped excitedly over toward him; Jordan and Abigail found an unassuming place among the guests and received bread and wine.

Nathan and Andrew embraced, kissing each other on their cheeks and laughing that they were together again after two long years. “You’re home!” Nathan said with a full-faced smile.

“Yes, home! It is so good to see you, my friend!”

“I am sorry to interrupt the reconciliation of best friends,” Elam interjected as he stepped in and placed his hands on his son’s shoulders, “but it is time for the most joyful announcement.” 

Elam led Andrew onto the veranda where servants placed a robe on Andrew’s shoulders and had him sit so that they could place special shoes onto his feet. Then his father took him by the hand, gently lifting it as Andrew stood in response. Elam slid the family signet ring onto Andrew’s finger that signified his full restoration of sonship and authority in the estate. Then, Elam, still holding the hand of his son, turned to face their guests, “Thank you all, my friends, for your presence at this most joyous occasion. For Jehovah has brought my son home! He was dead but is now alive. He was lost but he is home again. Please, eat, drink, thank God for His goodness and honor my son in his return and restoration!”

“He was lost, but now he is found.” So the party began. – Luke 15:24