Tag: Book of Acts

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Back in the Day

He was seven, maybe eight and he was eagerly listening. Trying to understand a book my wife was reading to the class, he raised his hand and said “back in the day things were different.” Mary nearly lost it in laughter. Back in the day for him was preschool, kindergarten, or first grade, but in the moment, it was the best way he could articulate how much easier life was back in the day.

We all have back in the day syndrome. We romanticize the past, often forgetting the problems, difficulties and stress. Reflectively we reminisce on how good the past was. As a pastor I don’t how many times I had to deal with back in the day ideology. Back in the day we didn’t have loud music. Back in the day we did stand all the time. The back in the day list was longer than Mary’s to-do list for me. I hear it from my parents and even my kids who are in their late 20’s. To be honest, as hard as I try not to be one of “those people,” I catch myself talking about back in the day.

It’s human nature to look back, to reminisce and romanticize yesterday. There is a healing balm in the past. Pain, hurt, and disappointment often fade and we are left with a warm cup of how good things were. It’s really a false narrative, but often the past is salve to the soul.

Truthfully, few of us would trade the past for the present. Do we really want to go back to some of the trials we walked through? Do we really want to go back to a time when there was no air-conditioning? As much as we despise cells phones, internet and social media, are we ready to dispose it? GPS and cameras are everywhere, eliminating privacy, but I would gander to say very few would give up the convenience of hitting a few buttons and finding a Starbucks or Chick-fil-a. When is the last time you pulled out a paper map?

The back in the days is valuable though. Though the seven-year-old had gleaned a limited bank of experiences, he had experienced enough of life to appreciate the past. As we age, we experience more life and gain more wisdom. Sometimes it is a surprise two-by-four to the back of our head. We are surprised by a job firing, a friend’s betrayal, or a sudden medical report. Other times it’s good; a kind act, an unexpected promotion or miraculous moment.

I’ve learned we all have a back in the day love affair that shapes how we view life. What we experienced creates wisdom. It changes how we frame life, how we tell our story. It’s important to understand how someone’s experiences shape how they tell their story. Cancer shapes a story. Divorce shapes a story. Unexpected promotions and financial blessings shape a story. Having children shape our story. The lists of impacting shaping events are limitless.

Spiritual Application:

When we look at the Bible, especially the New Testament, it’s important to realize most of it was written reflectively. Authors told their story through the lens of past experiences, may I call it, “back in the day writing.” It’s critical that we read it that way. Unfortunately, many pastors and people read it as though it as a diary, a play by play as events happened. This model of reading and teaching skews everything.

While exact dates may be questionable, there is scholarly consensus that the earliest New Testament book, 1 Thessalonians, was written around 50 AD. The first gospel written, Mark, will be written some 15 to 20 years later, around 65 AD. This is critical. By the time Paul writes the first book of the New Testament, the events of Jesus’ life; His life, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven had aged by 20 years. By the time Mark is written the events of Jesus’ life are at least 35 years old. They were writing from a reflective and experiential view.

Going beyond Jesus’ life, Pentecost has happened and is continuing happen as Paul, in the middle of his second journey, writes 1 Thessalonians in 50AD. Writing to new churches, as he notes at the beginning of each letter, he’s writing to people who have and are experiencing Pentecost yet struggling to totally understand their new found experience. Paul writes each of his letters with the reflective experiences of his past, his Damacus Road conversion and many other overwhelming experiences.

When we read the Gospels it’s important that we view it through the back in the day lens. The authors have spent three years with Jesus, faced His death, burial and resurrection, and experienced the Spirit in the Upper Room. They’re writing their narratives, their books through the lens of experiencing and re-experiencing the infilling of the Spirit. They wrote while seeing people experience the Spirit for forty years. These men wrote their books between 65AD (Mark) and 90AD (John), making events they were reflecting on and writing about, some 35- 60 years old. They told their stories about Jesus through the lens of the experience of the Spirit. They wrote of miracles through the understanding of the Spirit. They told parables and stories with a Spirit filled bias.

Some say the Upper Room was a one-time back in the day experience. I would submit that all of Paul’s writings involved a back in the day perspective. He wrote through experiencing the Spirits infilling and having its power operate in him. Check out his question as he starts out on his third missionary journey, not first, in 54AD. He questions John’s disciples, (Acts 19;1-6) asking, have you received the Spirit since you believed? He laid hands on them and they began to speak in a language unknown. His back in the day experience was impacting people 25 years after he first experienced it.

How has life events skewed, impacted your perspective? If you’re over 60, how did the moon landing impact you? Over 40, how did 9/11 change your view on life? In your 20’s, what did COVID do to your life lens? We cannot help but be changed by back in the day events, they alter our life and how we translate it to others. If these events impact how we live and see life, how we tell our story, isn’t it important that we grasp how the disciples and Paul experiences impacted their stories?

My challenge. To pastors, ministers, to those who love the Bible, to those who want to grow and experience more of God and His Spirit. Turn off the religious heritage. Unplug from your denominational dogma. Go read the Bible with a back in the day view. Over the past four years I have. It has been life altering. You will see the writings through experiential and historical perspective. You will read the Bible knowing nearly every author experienced Pentecost, spoke in languages unknown and saw the power of God work mightily through their lives. You will get back in the day clarity.

Willing? It’s risky. It could be the catalyst that starts one of the greatest transformations of your faith and will start you on a life altering journey in your walk with Jesus.

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The Power of a Difference Maker

Difference makers. We all have them in our lives. People who understand their purpose is greater than their careers, personal successes, and the things they accumulate. They are people who have vision and step up at the right moment. The success of most people is built on the shoulders of the unseen.

We get a glimpse of such people in the early story of the book of Acts. It’s a critical moment found in Acts 5. The church is growing, and as always, with growth comes difficulties. The issue of their moment was widows being neglected. It was problematic because the disciples are feeling the call to go, but recognizing that the ministry to the widows was vitally important. Through prayer and Spirit guidance the issue is resolved. Seven businessmen, full of the Spirit, one who is Stephen, step up and the crisis is subdued. The needs are met and God’s word advances.

Everyone needs others who recognize their purpose is greater than themselves. Where would many careers be without those key players who step up in our critical moments. Mary and I will forever remember such an individual. Someone who stepped up and secured the future of our ministry and the future of Life Connections.

Our “Stephen,” showed up when our church was in its infancy, fighting for survival, and we were struggling financially. Starting the church required that I step away from a 15-year career at Indiana Bible College and came with an open-ended severance. Unwisely, I did not ask for, and was not given, an end date for my compensation. For five months I applied for jobs, but had absolutely no success. I was either underqualified, overqualified or didn’t fit the roll they were seeking to fill.

It was an October morning in 2005 when I got the call that our severance was ending. In an instant I was spiraling, questioning my decisions, and filled with anxiety. Besides the church, the weight of a home and auto mortgage, a wife, and the responsibility for our eight- and six-year-old kids were leaving me overwhelmed. I was certain we were on the edge of losing everything. Then, just days after the first call, another came. God sent a Stephen into our crisis. It was an unexpected call from an incredibly successful businessman and longtime friend of our family, George Coogan. He offered me a job, but with conditions. He wanted my roll to be part time so I could continue developing what was happening in Fishers.

George, and his wife Loretta, have always been kingdom minded. They married early, started a family with very little, but lived with a God confidence. In his early years George served as a part of my church’s youth team. He was someone that I as a teenager had high respect for. They and their kids had become close friends, so close that arrangement had been made that if something ever happened to my parents, they would become our Godparents.

A lot of time and space had taken place between those early days and the phone call I received that day. George owned a regional janitorial supply company, was absorbing companies regularly, and was a highly respected businessman in Indianapolis. Yet, in all his successes and accomplishments, his heart had not changed. His successes never replaced his passion and priority for God’s kingdom.

I would spend the next five years working with George. He invested in me, allowed me to develop his web presence, and establish the branding for all his companies. Looking back, I’m sure he could have found someone more talented and knowledgeable. Though I didn’t appreciate it fully at the time, I now understand that he was more concerned about the development of a Spirit driven church in Fishers, than his business. 

George, and his investment in us in our critical moment, was a major catalyst to Life Connections becoming a vibrant church. Truthfully, God could have made another way, but Mary and I feel that if it had not been for George’s vision, Life Connections may have never come to fruition.

Though they would never share it, Mary and I know we are not the only beneficiaries of George and Loretta’s kindness. There are churches that are soaring, ministers that are preaching, and businesses that are successful because of the way they live their lives. Say the name George Coogan around Indianapolis and you hear stories from a range of people, from those who were down on their luck to those in corner offices of skyrises. George quietly has made a difference in one person’s life at a time.

In closing, I wonder if there may be someone who has been blessed with successes but still feeling a tug that there is more. You’ve succeeded in business, in life, but sense you have a greater purpose. You do! It’s called the ministry of helps and its critical. It’s the ministry like that of six unnamed men in Acts 5, Stephen, and George Coogan. Go make a difference in someone’s life like George did in ours.

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Make Room for Suddenly

The book of Acts covers from the ascension of Jesus to the death of Simon Peter and Paul. During the Acts timeline, Paul writes 13 books, 14 if you are of the belief that he is the writer of Hebrews. Simon Peter and James write another three, leaving just five books written after the Acts of the Apostles ends around 70 A.D. Nearly every epistle needs to be read through the prism of the book of Acts. The epistles are written during Acts to saints, people who have experienced the only Spiritual experience found in the 40 years that the book of Acts covers. I mention this because there is a word that catches my attention throughout the book. The word is suddenly, and depending on the version you read, it’s found over a dozen times. Luke wants us to know that much of what people witnessed in the book of Acts happened suddenly. It wasn’t planned, choreographed, or manipulated. The Spirit moved indiscriminately, at its own discretion, independent of any groups, agendas, or schedules. As we’ve started our sabbatical, we’re taking the opportunity to visit churches, something I’ve longed to do throughout my pastorate. I wanted to visit churches with different dynamics, see their systems, experience their services, and get a taste of their vision and passion. In some churches we’ve seen incredible vision, experienced great worship, and heard profound preaching and teaching, but left feeling like there was no room for the Spirit to have its liberty. Great experience, incredible talent, amazing messages, but no room for a “suddenly.” An hour to an hour and fifteen minutes and it was on to the next service or next week. In other venues we’ve left feeling like we were being hyped, manipulated, almost as if they didn’t need a “suddenly,” they could create a move of God on their own. Sing a song fast enough, repeat the chorus a dozen times, have a few timely key changes, and boom! A move of God. We left those services feeling like this was their Sunday routine. A lot of show, but not much substance nor dynamic growth happening in their lives. Different in style, but still no room for an authentic “suddenly.” In nearly every venue we’ve felt sincerity, God’s love, and a desire by each church for people to see Jesus and experience His presence. After some of our recent experiences, I returned to Acts to see when “suddenlys” happened. What I’ve found is that “suddenlys” happened in times of where prayer was the focus, “suddenlys” happened without scripts and programs. “Suddenlys” came without hype or manipulation and happened when people took time to seek God, were praying for His will, and were more concerned about God approval than what a crowd might think. As we’ve visited different church communities, we’ve heard this hunger communicated by others, “we just want to find a place where God’s presence can be experienced freely yet authentically.” Today, more than ever I’m sensing we need less polished, programmed, and planned church. We need less hyped-up, manipulated, and self-created services, and more desperate desire for a “suddenly.” We need more of what John 3:8 says, “like the wind blows. . . so does the Spirit.” Structure is invaluable, being relevant is critical, and doing things decently and in order should be properly balanced, but at the end of the day we need more divine intervention and more indescribable but undeniable. I pray that pastors, churches and more importantly, in each of our personal lives, we begin to desire more “suddenly there came a sound from heaven.”