Glad Tidings of the Kingdom

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire.  (Luke 24:32)

Here is one of my all-time favorite Bible verses, and it’s probably not one you would think of.  Actually, it’s probably one you would skip over in a rush to get to something more “meaty.”

If my wife and I watch a movie, I often tell her to enjoy the opening shots, even while the credits are rolling, because these are often some of the most beautiful camera shots in the whole world.  A lot of times it’s panoramic, flying over mountains or over a city, or it’s fascinating views of nature or of people all over the world.

And they are almost always happy!  Even if the movie takes a darker turn, it usually starts out happy and joyful.

And that brings us to the opening scene in Luke chapter 8.  In verse one it says that Jesus went through “every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God.”

I can hear the children shouting for joy!  I can see the crowds gathering with excitement.  Someone begins making music.  Someone is clapping.  Someone has a tambourine.  Some don’t even know what’s going on, but they get excited, too, because enthusiasm is contagious!

And at the center of it all is Jesus.  Jesus is coming!  

And He’s not alone.  Luke 8 says the twelve are with Him, His disciples, and it’s not just the crusty fishermen, but women are with Him as well, and some prominent women at that.  I mean, it’s basically a fun, happy, exciting road show out on tour, and they are coming to your town!

For some reason I hear Jesus quieting the crowd at some point, calling to them, “Friends!  Friends!  I have some good news!”

And the crowd settles in, and Luke 8:1 says that Jesus preaches and brings them the glad tidings of the kingdom of God.

But then, there seems to be a gap.  I mean, the Son of God, the Christ, the Anointed One is speaking and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God…what exactly did He say?

Oh, I want to know what He said!  What were these glad tidings of the kingdom?

Fortunately we have many of the words of Jesus recorded in the Bible, and we can glean from them the glad tidings of the kingdom.

Truly one of the most powerful glad tidings of the kingdom is that it is not based on money or class or lineage.  The world has always had rich people and entitled people, but Jesus said, “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”

What?  That’s not how the world works.  But guess what?  That’s how the kingdom works!  Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.  Those are glad tidings!  No matter your class, your race, your income, your education, your gender, your age, or even your appearance…the kingdom of God is for you!

Another glad tiding of the kingdom is that it is a kingdom of love.  Jesus taught us that God loves us!  And He taught us that we should love one another.  

In Luke 6:35 Jesus said, “…love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.  For He is kind...”

Another glad tiding of the kingdom is forgiveness.  God offers us forgiveness, and He calls us to forgive others.  Forgiveness is a hallmark of the kingdom of God.  In the Bible we read over and over again, Jesus saying these words, “Your sins are forgiven.”  Now those are glad tidings!

Another thing Jesus said was things like, “Go in peace,” and, “Peace be with you.”  In John 16:33 Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace.”  Luke 1:79 says, “…to guide our feet into the way of peace.”  Living at peace with God and peace with each other, this is a cornerstone of the kingdom!

Hope.  Joy.  Kindness.  Gentleness.  Patience.  Faithfulness.  I could go on and on, but I encourage you to open the Bible for yourself.  Read those red words of Jesus, and read them for what they were:  the glad tidings of the kingdom of God!

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

More Integrity Means More Value

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire.  (Luke 24:32)

I have a favorite pair of boots.  Unfortunately they now have a crack in the bottom.

Fortunately I can still wear them, just not in the rain.  They still look nice, but they won’t keep my feet dry.

These boots have lost some integrity, and so they have lost some of their value to me.

I have a favorite pair of tennis shoes, and I do mean tennis shoes.  I wear them to play tennis.  But now the sole is coming loose, which is not good for making sharp lateral moves on a tennis court.  I still wear them…when washing the car.

Those shoes have lost some of their integrity, and so they have lost some of their value.

I have a favorite belt.  It was my favorite dress belt, nice and black with a sharp silver buckle.  I thought it was a high value, but then it started looking bad.  Oh, it still holds pants up, but it’s supposed to be a dress belt.  It has to look good, and it no longer does.

It has lost some of its integrity, and so it has lost some of its value.  I still wear it…when working in the yard.

Integrity means something is sound.  It is whole.  It is complete.  It is unimpaired.  It is not corrupted.  

When you buy a house, you want a house with as much integrity as possible.  And you want a realtor with as much integrity as possible.

More integrity means more value.

If I want to be a more valuable person, then I need to be a person of integrity, without corruption.

Integrity in a person means being honest, with strong moral principles, with moral uprightness.  They are morally consistent, without moral corruption.

A man or woman of integrity has more value.  They can do more.  They can be trusted with more.

Luke 16:10 says, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.”

Now listen to this little revelation.  Who is the boss?  Who controls the room?  Who is the actual leader in any given situation?  It’s going to be the person with the most moral authority, and moral authority is built on integrity.

Jesus had the most moral authority of anyone who ever walked the earth.  He was also of the highest value who did the most good.  

Do you want to raise your value…in the marketplace?  In the community?  In your family?  Then raise your level of integrity, because more integrity means more value.

Proverbs 10:9 says, “He who walks in integrity walks securely…”

Proverbs 11:3 says, “The integrity of the upright will guide them, But the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.”

Proverbs 19:1 says it’s better to be poor and live with integrity than the alternative.

Proverbs 20:7 says, “The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him.”

Are you ready to take your life to the next level?  Then you can no longer be the boot with the crack in it.  You can no longer be the slip shod shoe.  You can’t be the belt that lets its beauty slip away.

It’s time to raise the bar of our integrity, to live at the highest moral level, and to set aside all the compromises that make us weaker.

If we want to be more valuable, then we must have more integrity.

And then we can walk in the full moral authority that Jesus wants us to.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

The Biggest Mistake in the Church Today

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire.  (Luke 24:32)

The title of this is The Biggest Mistake in the Church Today.  I know, it is impossible to know the exact biggest mistake in the church today, apart from divine revelation, and it probably changes minute by minute anyway.

But it is such a huge mistake, I’m calling it the biggest mistake in the church today, and here it is.  It’s when we try to make people be like us instead of unleashing them to become the people that God has designed them to be.

Philippians 1:6 says that He who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it.  The church’s mission is to help people discover what good work God is doing in them, and help them become all that God wants them to be.

Every Christian believer is a part of the body of Christ.  We are each a body part, a DIFFERENT body part.  We have various giftings and callings, talents and personalities, and a huge range of life experiences.  

God is calling each and every one of us to fulfill our part in the body of Christ.  That is the goal for each and every believer, and the goal of the church is to help each and every person come to God, walk with Him daily, and fulfill their part in the body.

What sometimes happens, though, is that the church doesn’t identify each and every individual as a separate and special part of the body.  Instead, we take the easy and common route of lumping everyone together and expecting everyone to become more like us.

Let me say it another way.  If I’m a “hand” in the body of Christ, then I look at you and expect you to be more like a hand.  But what if you’re a foot?  It’s a terrible mistake to try to make a foot operate like a hand.  It’s going to be a terrible experience for everyone involved.

Instead, I should try to help you discover God’s callings and giftings in your life, and help you grow into the full person and part in the body of Christ that God has designed you to be.

I’m not talking about compromising doctrine or morality.  I’m talking about expecting people to be more like me, instead of being more like God is calling them to be.

For example, and I’ve seen this so many times in the church, extroverts want introverts to become extroverts.  They sometimes almost demand a personality shift, as if you don’t even know God, you don’t even love God if you don’t spring forth and become a boisterous extrovert.

“Oh, you don’t want to take the mic and publicly testify about the goodness of God?  You must not even love God.”  

Do you feel the uncomfortable, unsubtle pressure?  It is quite possible that the person in your church who loves God the most is the person who quietly adores the King in their heart.

The prayer warriors think everyone should spend more and more time in prayer.

The hand-lifting praisers think everyone should be a hand-lifting praiser, and once you get that down, you need to go do it at the altar, because hand-lifting praise back in the pew is for the lukewarm, you know.

The Bible scholars think everyone must become a Bible scholar.

The Bible memorizers are like, “What?  You don’t memorize the Holy Scriptures?  What are you even doing with your brain?”

Then there are the holy huggers who can’t fathom why a person might not want to be hugged.

The homeless outreach people and the prison ministers just know you are missing God if you are not one of them.

Here's one I’ve seen many times:  extroverts with a passion for evangelism heaping criticism on anyone who isn’t ready to run out into the streets and shout the gospel.  They leave zero room for someone to have a different part in the body of Christ.  “No, you must be like me if you really love Jesus, if you’re even saved at all.”

And then, even worse, I’ve seen this.  The extrovert with a passion for evangelism STOPS EVANGELIZING, because hey, “others aren’t rushing out with me, so why should I even bother?”

Christian!  Stop comparing.  Stop looking at others and trying to make them be like you.

Listen to this account from the Bible.  It involves the apostle Peter, who was perfectly willing to speak his mind, so we can get some good insights from him and his experiences.

In John 21, the risen Jesus is telling Peter how Peter is going to die, and yes, it was uncomfortable.  Then instead of soaking in that information, quietly going away and pondering it, Peter suddenly points out his fellow apostle John, and says something like, “Oh, so that’s my bleak future?  What about John?”

Jesus answered with these patient but powerful words, “What is that to you?  You follow Me.”

If you ever looked around at other believers and wanted to compare their life or calling to your life or calling, I believe Jesus would say to you today, “What is that to you?  You follow Me.”

We each have our own part in the body of Christ.  Yes, we are one body, operating in unity, with Christ as the head, but we each have a different part in the body, with different callings and giftings and personality types and backgrounds.

The church’s job is to help each individual draw near to God and discover and walk in their unique callings and giftings and thus fulfill their part in the body of Christ.

But the big mistake we often make is, instead of helping each individual fulfill their part in the body, we lump everyone together and want them to be like me, act like me, respond to God like I do, behave in a church service like I do…and it’s not going to happen.  It’s only going to drive people away.

And suddenly I’m going to look up one day and realize that the only people left in church are people just like me.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

(For more information on the body, First Corinthians 12 is a great place to start, plus Ephesians 4:15-16.)

God Is a Rewarder

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire.  (Luke 24:32)

God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

That’s what it says in Hebrews 11:6.  God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Are we diligently seeking God?

It’s not something we do once, or once a year, or once a week.  

Diligently is how Michael Jordan sought to win basketball games.

Diligently is how Arnold Schwarzenegger sought to win Mr. Universe.

Diligently is how hungry people seek food.

Are we hungry for God?

If we are, we will diligently seek Him, and the good news is that when we do, God will reward us.

God is a rewarder.

Jesus said that when we PRAY our Father will reward us.  (Matt. 6)

Jesus said that when we FAST our Father will reward us.  (Matt. 6)

Ephesians 6:8 says that God will reward us for “whatever good we do.”

Our job is to diligently seek Him.

Then watch for it.  Suddenly, there it is.  Over and over again, there it is.  God’s rewards.

And you know what?  We don’t have to seek Him perfectly.  

We just have to seek Him diligently.

Because God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

May God bless you today!

I’m Doug Apple.

My 2021 Manifesto

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire.  (Luke 24:32)

“God, what do You want me to do this year?  Do You want me to do something different?  Something new?  Is there a new focus or goal or plan?”

That was my prayer coming into the new year, and nothing new really came to mind.

Meanwhile, I’ve been praying through various books of the Bible.

What does that look like?

Here’s how I do it.  I read until something pops, until something jumps off the page, until something makes me go, “Ooo, that’s good.”

Then I underline it and turn it into a prayer.

For example, the last thing I underlined at the end of last year was Second Corinthians 6:16 where it says, “Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them…”

What jumped out to me in that verse is the phrase, “I will…walk in them.”  I know about God living in us, but walking in us?  I like it.  It’s an action word.  I want God to walk in me, to use me to make a difference.

So I underline that verse and turn it into a prayer, “Lord, please walk in me.”

Then came my first prayer time of the new year and I came across this verse in Second Corinthians 7:13.  Paul is commending the Corinthians because they had greatly blessed his friend Titus.  It says, “…his spirit was refreshed by you all.”

Ooo, that’s good.  Underline it.  His spirit was refreshed by you all.

Turn it into a prayer.  “Lord, please use me to refresh the spirit of everyone I come in contact with.”

The problem is, I can’t do that.  I’m not good enough.  I’m not smart enough.  I’m not on the ball enough to even know how to refresh everyone’s spirit.  

“God, I need You to walk in me, to work through me so that I can actually do this, refresh everyone’s spirit I come in contact with.”

And suddenly it hit me.  That is my something new for the new year.  That is my 2021 manifesto.

“Lord, please walk in me, and use me to refresh the spirit of everyone I come in contact with.”

And just like that, I have a new year’s resolution, and I think it came straight from God.

I wrote it down.  I shared it with others.  I hung it up so I would see it every day.  I even made little pieces of paper so I can pass it out to others.

“Lord, please walk in me, and use me to refresh the spirit of everyone I come in contact with.”

In Jesus’ name I pray.

Amen.

May your spirit be refreshed today!

I’m Doug Apple.