Relevant Daily

Holy Spirit Part 3

On Sunday, we think of those believers over the past 1700 years who sought out the Monastic way of life.  Over that time, their has been many reformations within these monasteries, of which the spirit moved different communities of faith into different focuses – as we work through the role of the Holy Spirit, we see that their needs to be a tension of allowing the Spirit to work in three main area's of our life…

     We today exist in the ‘already/not yet’ state of time, where the Spirit plays a very essential role in our lives, as believers & non-believers.  The non-believers experience the work of the Holy Spirit as He convicts them with the truth of the gospel.  The Holy Spirit is countering the work of the Evil One who creates a web of deceptions to those in the world.

     Second for the believer, there are three things I want to focus on that the Spirit is actively working out.  First, the Spirit, fills us Himself, not only when we receive our ‘gift’ of the Spirit, or are ‘baptized’ in the Spirit, but continues to fill us from that point onward. Second, the Spirit’s evidence, listed as the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), becomes more apparent in our lives, as we die to our own nature, the flesh and walk in His fullness. Third, the Spirit enables the ‘spiritual gift’ God has given every person, to impact and build His Kingdom.

We are going to look further in detail to these three works (areas of our life) over the next few days this week.  Tonight we are going to deal with the first area, being filled (baptized) with the Spirit – come on out and join us tonight at 6pm at Homewood Ev. Free Church as Pastor Rich Kraft and Dave Gustafson tackle this topic for us all.

Your brother in the Spirit of the Lord,

Tim Buhler

Holy Spirit Part 2

As we have mentioned about the Great Co-mission (Spirit & us) that we are to GO, but it is the Spirit that is active within us, we are just the vessels that show up!  So, who is the Spirit, what is the character of Him?

     We are familiar with several images of the Spirit (dove, wind – John 3:8, fire, water and oil) which are all non-personal images, leaving many people to call the Spirit, ‘It’.  Many within the Chiropractic field refer to innate intelligence as the “Holy Spirit”.  It is clear in they’re teaching, that one of the characteristics of innate is that it is an impersonal force.  However, if we take a look at the many verbs that Paul uses in his letter to describe the Holy Spirit, we would find the contrary.

The Spirit searches all things (I Cor 2:10), knows [intellect] the mind of God (I Cor 2:11), teaches the content of the gospel to believers (I Cor 2:13), dwells among or within believers (I Cor 3:16; Rom 8:11; 2 Tim 1:14), accomplishes [will] all things (I Cor 12:11), gives life to those who believe (2 Cor 3:6), cries out from within our hearts (Gal. 4:6), leads us in the ways of God (Gal 5:18; Rom 8:14), bears witness with our own spirits (Rom 8:16), has desires that are in opposition to the flesh (Gal 5:17), helps us in our weakness (Rom 8:26), intercedes in our behalf (Rom 8:28), strengthens believers (Eph 3:16), and is grieved [emotion] by our sinfulness (Eph 4:30).” (Gordan Fee, Paul, the Spirit and the People of God, p. 27) 

The fact that the Spirit is the subject of all these verbs, demands Him being a personal agent.  Further, His possession of intelligence (Rom. 8:27; I Cor. 2:11), emotion (Eph. 4:30) and will (I Cor. 12:11, where He is distributing spiritual gifts to believers) also show His personage. 

     We also find that the Holy Spirit possesses omniscience (I Cor. 2:12), omnipresence (Ps. 139:7-10), omnipotence (Zech. 4:6; Matt. 12:28; Luke 1:35; Rom.8:2-5, 11).  We also know that the Spirit is eternal (Heb. 9:14), seen in Gen. 1:2 brooding over the primeval waters, turning chaos into cosmos.  In the O.T. the Holy Spirit came upon men for a special purpose and on special occasions. (Ex. 17:2-7) He is with all men.  But ever since the day of Pentecost, in the N.T., He has dwelt in all believers. 

     He is indeed 100% God, (Heb. 3:7-12, being called God) equal to God the Father, and God the Son.  However, subordinate to both, as seen in His work of convicting and regenerating people, glorifying Christ, and His work of guiding and instructing people, glorifying the Father.  We also note that the Spirit does not have a name, as the ‘Father’ and ‘Son’, but remains anonymous.  In Article 2, we said that the Spirit is ‘Love’, which not only bonds people together (2 Cor. 13:13), but also the Father and the Son (Luke 10:21).  This is the relational position of the Spirit in midst of the Divine Triune Community, that is, the Trinity.

Remember what people need today in the world is not more of us, but more of the Spirit that is within us – let God meet those that you interact with today!

Your brother in the Spirit of the Lord,

Tim Buhler

Holy Spirit Part 1

We are now at the tenth appearance which many believe to be the Great Commission (Matt. 28:16-20) which we integrated into the crowd of 500.  Thus, we are to the ascension of Christ, which we are going to leave until May 25^th (40 days following Easter).  In-between now and then we will be covering other topics such as the work of the Holy Spirit, which we will turn out attention to now to the study of God the Spirit, called Pneumatology (Article 4 in the EFCA Doctrinal Statement).  Here is a short introduction of why we should consider this study:

    As we read through the Scriptures, we find reference(s), in both the OT and NT, to a ‘Spirit’, ‘Holy Spirit’, ‘the Spirit of God’, ‘Spirit of Christ’, etc.  These indeed are all references to the same Spirit, Pneuma.  Paul lived in a time where Jesus had fulfilled the age long promise that a saviour would come.  However Jesus ascended, leaving His Spirit to indwell all those who believe in Him. We are living today in the same age as Paul, between the first coming of Jesus and His second coming.  The Spirit is “indwelling believers in order to help them in the weakness of their present ‘already/not yet’ existence, and thereby to intercede in their behalf” (Gordan Fee, Paul, the Spirit and the People of God, p. 33).  I believe that as we are becoming more Christ-like, we need to live every day (praxis - practice) out of our view of the ‘not yet’ (telos – ultimate end), becoming an eschatological community.  This is what Paul did and what the Spirit has enabled us to do in ‘this age’.  This Spirit has both a distinct person-hood and a distinct work to do in us. 

May we grow in our understanding of who the Spirit is and what He longs to do within and through out lives today as we worship our God through out work,

Your brother in the Spirit of the Lord,

Tim Buhler

Resurrection Appearance #9

1 Cor. 15:7

The ninth appearance is to James, the Lord’s brother. 

As I have really followed M. Mills, in his reference, The Life of Christ : A study guide to the Gospel record, throughout the resurrection appearances, once again I found his comments so helpful here:

"This James is our Lord’s half-brother (Gal 1:19), the son of Mary (Matt 13:55). This seemingly casual mention has deep significance, for James became the acknowledged leader of the Jerusalem church (Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18). In appearing to James, who did not believe in Jesus during His lifetime, our Lord demonstrated, firstly, His ongoing concern and involvement in evangelism, for this appears to be the conversion of James, and, secondly, His particular love and concern for God’s chosen city Jerusalem, for He hand-picked Jerusalem’s first bishop….The office of ‘apostle’ as distinct from ‘apostle of the church’ is confined to those who could personally testify to the veracity of the resurrected Christ (the twelve, Paul, James, and apparently also Jude). James’ authority was based on the fact that he, like the twelve, could testify to Christ’s resurrection; he did, and was martyred for it (according to Josephus) just before the church fled from Jerusalem. James’ brother was Jude, who seems also to have been converted during Jesus’ post-resurrection earthly sojourn (Acts 1:13)"

Our calling to ministry is a serious thing, that should not be taken lightly – everyone of us has been called to be Ambassadors for Christ, and many will be set apart to equip the ambassadors for the ministry that lies ahead of them in their lives.  Let us seek out God's calling through His revealing of Himself to us within our very own lives!

Your brother in the Risen Christ our Lord,

Tim Buhler

Resurrection Appearance #8

1 Cor. 15:6

Jesus' eighth appearance recorded in the Scriptures is to the 500.  This is for sure a large group which I am sure many believed on many different levels.  Many suggest this is the group to which the Great Commission is shared with (Matt. 28:16-20). 

Today, Wednesday, is the day of the week which we focus upon the person and work of the Holy Spirit among God's people.  If indeed, this is when Jesus discloses the Great Commission, it is notable that the popular summation "Go!" is in the passive voice – which puts the activity into the Spirit of God.  We are to put ourselves (travel) to places that God wants to reveal Himself in – He is the one who is active, we are the passive (vessels) that God will use. 

So, if this means for some of you today, to be students or engineers or designers or perhaps missionaries – then we must allow God to be active in the class rooms, work places, clients or the people groups we are in the midst of!  Go – let God make Himself known through you today as He made Himself known to that group of 500 so long ago…

Your brother in the Risen Christ our Lord,

Tim Buhler

Resurrection Appearance #7

John 21:1–23

Seventh appearance is to the seven disciples by the Sea of Galilee who are fishing.  Is returning to something familiar bad?  Their security in Christ was gone, that they once had, and they went back to something secure – fishing … However, even at fishing they were coming up empty!  Then, Jesus shows up – their nets are breaking with fish upon Jesus command.  Then the famous 3 questions of restoration to Peter follow…

Max Lucado is a great words smith – here is a summary of this story we are reading from John 21 today from his book He Still Moves Stones:

"The sun was in the water before Peter noticed it—a wavy circle of gold on the surface of the sea. A fisherman is usually the first to spot the sun rising over the crest of the hills. It means his night of labor is finally over.

But not for this fisherman. Though the light reflected on the lake, the darkness lingered in Peter’s heart. The wind chilled, but he didn’t feel it. His friends slept soundly, but he didn’t care.…

His thoughts were far from the Sea of Galilee. His mind was in Jerusalem, reliving an anguished night. As the boat rocked, his memories raced:

the clanking of the Roman guard,

the flash of a sword and the duck of a head,

a touch for Malchus, a rebuke for Peter,

soldiers leading Jesus away.

“What was I thinking?” Peter mumbled to himself as he stared at the bottom of the boat. Why did I run?

Peter had run; he had turned his back on his dearest friend and run. We don’t know where. Peter may not have known where. He found a hole, a hut, an abandoned shed—he found a place to hide and he hid.…

So Peter is in the boat, on the lake. Once again he’s fished all night. Once again the sea has surrendered nothing.

His thoughts are interrupted by a shout from the shore. “Catch any fish?” Peter and John look up. Probably a villager. “No!” they yell. “Try the other side!” the voice yells back. John looks at Peter. What harm? So out sails the net. Peter wraps the rope around his wrist to wait.

But there is no wait. The rope pulls taut and the net catches. Peter sets his weight against the side of the boat and begins to bring in the net; reaching down, pulling up, reaching down, pulling up. He’s so intense with the task, he misses the message.

John doesn’t. The moment is deja vu. This has happened before. The long night. The empty net. The call to cast again. Fish flapping on the floor of the boat. Wait a minute. He lifts his eyes to the man on the shore. “It’s him,” he whispers.

Then louder, “It’s Jesus.”

Then shouting, “It’s the Lord, Peter. It’s the Lord!”

Peter turns and looks. Jesus has come. Not Jesus the teacher, but Jesus the death-defeater, Jesus King … Jesus the victor over darkness. Jesus the God of heaven and earth is on the shore.…

Peter plunges into the water, swims to the shore, and stumbles out wet and shivering and stands in front of the friend he betrayed. Jesus has prepared a bed of coals. Both are aware of the last time Peter had stood near a fire. Peter had failed God, but God had come to him.

For one of the few times in his life, Peter is silent. What words would suffice? The moment is too holy for words. God is offering breakfast to the friend who betrayed him. And Peter is once again finding grace at Calvary.

What do you say at a moment like this?

What do you say at a moment such as this?

It’s just you and God. You and God both know what you did. And neither of you is proud of it. What do you do?

You might consider doing what Peter did. Stand in God’s presence. Stand in his sight. Stand still and wait. Sometimes that’s all a soul can do. Too repentant to speak, but too hopeful to leave—we just stand.

Stand amazed.

He has come back.

He invites you to try again. This time, with him"

Here are a couple of questions to reflect upon:

How does this story inspire you to handle your mistakes and failures?

When have you experienced God’s forgiveness in a meaningful way?

Your brother in the Risen Christ our Lord, Tim Buhler

Resurrection Appearance #6

John 20:26–29

Sixth appearance was to the 11 disciples a week after his resurrection, this time Thomas is there.   It was likely that they were in Galilee instead of Jerusalem at this time as Jesus commanded them in Matt. 28:7,10 to return to Galilee.

As Rich Kraft preached yesterday, perhaps we have noted Thomas as doubting unfairly, but looking at the 8 references to Thomas, he is loyal.  Perhaps we should call Thomas, "Believing Thomas".

Thomas has a refreshing openness; he is portrayed as a man who expresses his doubts openly, without fear of embarrassment.

J. W. McGarvey in The four-fold Gospel really laid this line of thinking well. "We have here the first confession of Christ as God. It should be said in Thomas’ favor that if his doubts were heaviest, his confession of faith was fullest. He had more doubts as to the resurrection because it meant more to him; it meant that Jesus was none other than God himself."

On a side note:  There is a strong tradition, both in Indiaand in the Church fathers, that Thomas became a missionary to India.

As you go through your workday or time in classes, allow God to meet your doubts of Him or His works as you are about your work this day.

Your brother in the Risen Christ our Lord,

Tim Buhler

Resurrection Appearance #5

Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36–51; John 20:19–23

Fifth appearance:  It is still Resurrection day, that when Jesus appeared to the ten disciples (excluding Judas & Thomas) and the two disciples from the road to Emmaus (apparently their encounter earlier in their day changed their plans)[1].  We know what happens to Judas and why he is obviously not their – but what we don't know is why Thomas is not with them at his moment?  The doors are locked in fear of what may happen to them as what happened to Jesus just over 48 hours earlier. 

M. Mills in The Life of Christ : A study guide to the Gospel record, says well what really captures my attention within this passage…

"…if you have trusted Christ as your Savior, you, too, will have a resurrection body like His in which you, like Him, will live eternally. We therefore can consider Jesus Christ’s resurrection body and rejoice in the fact that we believers, too, will enjoy a similar body throughout eternity. The first point to note is that the resurrection body is similar in appearance and function to the physical body, yet it does not have the physical body’s restrictions or limitations. Jesus can eat in His resurrection body and those who knew Him in the flesh could immediately recognize Him, yet He could enter a locked room without visibly breaching its physical enclosures (i.e., He did not burst through the door; He merely was there!). In our resurrection bodies we will be perfected which seems to indicate that we will be free of all earthly suffering and disfigurement, yet Christ bears the marks of the crucifixion in His resurrected body. It seems that these are marks of the highest honor and preserved as such, for all men who have eternal life will owe their eternal life to His saving work, and that saving work would not have been, but for these marks. They will therefore eternally distinguish Him from all other persons who have resurrected bodies."

Today is Sunday – it is a day to reflect and ponder on God's Word before the work week hits us on Monday (or tonight for you 3^rd shift people).  Reflect on the fact that this life is temporal and that we will have a resurrection as well! 

Your brother in the Risen Christ our Lord,

Tim Buhler

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[1] We know the two from Emmaus were there from I Cor. 15:5.  Other commentaries suggest that the 12 was a figurative number to refer to the 11 disciples, even if they were all not their – but a majority of the group of 12 were their.  Personally I believe this number to be literal. 

Resurrection Appearance #4

Mark 16:12–13; Luke 24:13–31-

Fourth appearance of Jesus was to the disciples as they walked on the road to Emmaus.

From the Amazing Grace devotional:

"But they constrained Him, saying, 'Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.' And He went in to tarry with them." (Luke 24:29 KJV)

Yes, life is like the Emmaus road, and we tread it not alone

For beside us walks the Son of God, to uphold and keep His own.

And our hearts within us thrill with joy at His words of love and grace,

And the glorious hope that when day is done we shall see His blessed face.

—Avis Christiansen

I was curious to see where Emmaus was, and everywhere I looked there were some guesses but no one really knew for sure.  However, The Archaeological encyclopedia of the Holy Land seemed to lay out some helpful material:

"EMMAUS; NICOPOLIS A town in Judea, on the border of Judea in the Persian period, when it was also known as Hamthan, a name which means ‘hot springs’ … Judas Maccabaeus won a great victory over the Seleucid army of Gorgias and Nikanor near here in 166 BC … In AD 221 Elagabalus conferred the status of a polis (a term indicating 'city') on Emmaus, renaming it Nicopolis, ‘the City of Victory’."

As for the two disciples on the road, again not much is known except for the name of the one:  CLEOPAS (a contracted form of Cleopatros).  They were returning home to Emmaus.  They may have been brothers or even a father/son?  Within church tradition, the other disciple is called Simon.  Some believe that they were among the seventy whom Jesus sent ahead of Himself (Luke 10:1–24).

Whatever road you are on today, look for the Risen Lord, as He may very likely be meeting up with you today and He wants to ABIDE with you!

Your brother in the Risen Christ our Lord,

Tim Buhler

Resurrection Appearance #3

Luke 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5 -

Third appearance was to Peter.  I imagine at this point, the disciples are hearing of the women reporting that Jesus is alive.  Perhaps they are thinking to themselves, "we wish he was alive to!"  Maybe there is something to the faith of the women vs. the faith of the disciples?  Why Peter?  Was it because he was the first out of the boat on that stormy day on the Sea of Galilee?  Was it because he just denied Christ 3 days earlier, and Jesus grace and love is wanting to redeem that which I am sure Peter is in deep regret and sorrow over.  Was it maybe that Peter believed the women in his heart when the others didn't.  Whatever the reason – Peter sees the risen Lord … though we may not have an experience like Peter had with Jesus, He is revealing Himself to us through others all around us – Have you personally witnessed the resurrection of Christ today?  Don't look to far, for you may find Him in your neighbors, classmates or peers life today … just ask God to reveal His Son to you today and He will!

Your brother in the Risen Christ our Lord,

Tim Buhler