Resigned Fatalism!

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9
Every week is an event in Tenerife and this one was no exception. I do not know if you have heard the expression? ‘I have had it up to my neck’ or ‘I am at the end of my tether’ I am sure the latter is purely a Northern Ireland phrase? They both mean the same thing however, I have had enough, my patience is at an end..I do not want to pursue this any longer or do this anymore!!  Oh yes! You know what that is!! I got to that place this week? Since the 12 February I have been waiting to be connected to the internet, even in Tenerife and with the Spanish ‘manana’ syndrome that’s a long time. The company I signed up with, will for this blog remain anonymous (but you can find out on my fb page!!!) they kept making promise after promise that never materialised and after yet another telephone call to yet another operator I finally gave up and on Wednesday this week cancelled everything and returned all the equipment they supplied, at my expense of course!! Oh it really got to me and I was so annoyed but when I calmed down I realised how silly I had been about the whole thing..Is this what my life has come to revolve around? Telephone and internet?????  Was this a life threatening situation or just a trivial irritation that will eventually be corrected? The answer???? Send in less than 5 words to……NO! I KNOW THE ANSWER!

All joking aside, there is a serious point to this and it struck me while preparing for this Sundays service. It’s Easter Sunday, the greatest day in the whole year for those of us who call ourselves ‘Christian’. For those of us who claim to be ‘Christian Leaders’ it is the day when most likely you will be preaching on the RESURRECTION, I will and what a message that is to preach. Or will YOU???

In my preparation I turned to the Apostle Paul’s great Chapter on the resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15 and the first line of verse 12 just caught me right between the eyes! “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” It seems to me that every Easter brings its fair share of biblical critics who continue to shout this, who are out to discredit the Word of God, who never will accept the miraculous deeds of our great God but from those people I expect nothing less. They are spiritually blind and will never see the truth until the Holy Spirit of God opens their eyes.. My problem these days is that I hear echoes of these people’s words coming from the lips of so-called respected pastors/leaders/teachers and while it may not necessarily be concerning the resurrection or even overt criticism of Scripture, it is a compromising spirit, a watered down gospel, an easy believism, a don’t rock the peoples boat sermon even at Easter! Oh, I don’t think that it has come about because they are having grave misgivings over their beliefs, no? I believe much of what is said, or rather what is not said from our pulpits is because WE have ‘got to the end of our tether!’ a fatalistic resignation has set in and we have opted for an easier life..It’s easier to preach nice heart-warming messages. It’s easier to give people what they want, after all for most; it’s them who pay the wages. It’s just plain easier if I don’t say anything that others will disagree with me on… I understand all of that, I really do…If anyone reading this does not understand the pressures and problems of leading God’s people, take time this week to look up Moses and find out! BUT… Have a listen to this “But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,” Acts 4:19 “But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:29. Twice in two Chapters, Peter, told by the Sanhedrin to stop preaching Jesus in Chapter 4 then reprimanded by them in Chapter 5, because he had not done what they ordered him to do…Peter’s response I have got to, I can only do what I am doing..like Paul after him, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” 1 Corinthians 9:16.

Today I write not to condemn or to judge for I have worn that T-Shirt, walked in those shoes and this week has been a reminder to me too. I got so frustrated and let something which was really in the end so petty get me annoyed that I was in danger of getting distracted and letting this send me off course??? It is usually something very similar that does the damage. It just keeps niggling away and the frustrations keep mounting up until they become like Mount Teide one day might??? God forbid…….The next thing you know you have had enough of being on the wrong side of everybody, of being the only one who seems to stand up for what is right, the only one who is prepared to say it’s wrong AND you just settle for an easier way of doing, saying, preaching things lest you get upset again, lest you get criticised again, lest you get hurt again…

Brothers this Easter can I encourage you to take a long hard look at yourself, at your ministry and the message you are preparing and put all of those things alongside this word of Pauls, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?........... As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” Romans 10:14-15

So who is up for the challenge? You and I have received the greatest calling given to any human being, what a privilege it is, just remind yourself of that and determine to put away any thoughts of compromising your position in either word or deed.. “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.” Hebrews 13:17.

Peter Cartwright was a great circuit-riding Methodist preacher in Illinois, USA. An uncompromising man, he had come north from Tennessee because of his opposition to slavery. One Sunday morning when he was scheduled to preach, his deacons told him that President Andrew Jackson was in the congregation. Knowing Cartwright was used to saying whatever he felt God wanted him to say, regardless of how people might react, they warned him not to say anything that would offend the President. He stood up to preach and said, “I understand President Andrew Jackson is here. I have been requested to be guarded in my remarks. Andrew Jackson will go to Hell if he does not repent.” The audience was shocked. They wondered how the President would respond to this, but after the service he told Cartwright, “Sir, if I had a regiment of men like you, I could whip the world.” Hughes, R. Kent (2010-03-10). Acts: The Church Afire (Preaching the Word)

That’s the way to do it….The Lord never promised it would be easy or would not necessitate courage but this Easter I am rejoicing in this and I hope you will too. “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15: 57-58

Have a great Easter and may God through the Holy Spirit enable YOU to preach with power this Sunday and may that bless your soul..I am praying for YOU brothers!