“A Chosen Instrument”

April 16, 2024

April 16, 2024

Read Numbers 36, Psalm 120-121, Acts 9

When I was in the sixth grade I wanted to play a musical instrument. All the cool people played in the band so naturally the dork in myself went straight for the orchestra! In the initial meeting with the strings teacher she suggested I play the violin because of my hand size but I really wanted to play the cello after hearing and seeing it played in a demo. I picked the cello and started my career as an amateur musician.  I stuck with it, decided to major in music education on the cello and then I ended up following a call into ministry as a pastor! Did you ever play any instruments or pick something in school to do or be a part of?

In Acts 9 we have a little different version of a chosen instrument. God chose Saul or Paul to be his chosen instrument for a much more important task. God appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, on his way to persecute more Christians. God had blinded him and asked another believer named Ananias to go speak to him and restore his sight. A Fearful Ananias objected, but God doubled down. “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name” vv. 15-16.

We might not be called to do and experience the things that the Apostle Paul did, but God has chosen each of us to serve Him in a particular way. It might be in a full-time ministry position or it might be as a faithful volunteer that serves in a ministry at church or for the Lord. What has God chosen you to do for Him? Are you fighting back against a call on your life or are you humbly agreeing with God and serving to the best of your ability.

What else do you see in these chapters? What words, phrases, or themes stand out to you most?
Add your thoughts below.

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Posted by John Weldon

“Jesus > Moses”

February 16, 2024

February 16, 2024

Read Leviticus 3, Psalm 47, Hebrews 3

When I was a student pastor or when I was coaching a rec league soccer team, I knew I could always get the students talking by asking some opinion questions. Who is the greatest basketball player of all time… Who is the greatest soccer player of all time, who is the greatest superhero of all time…. This would always kick start a debate between everyone. As a cello player the debate was between Lenard Rose or Yo Yo Ma and Pablo Casals. You probably have people that you consider the greatest (fill in the blank) as well.

When it comes to the greatest person to have ever lived You must go to Jesus of Nazareth. He was a real historical person who lived in the first century AD. (In fact, He is the reason we split time BC/AD). There has been no other person on the planet that has ever had the influence and power to change people’s lives that Jesus the Christ. He did not amass an army, try to conquer any land or territory and yet He alone has changed the world. How many other religions want to claim a piece of Jesus because of his influence? To Buddhist Jesus was one of the 28 Buddhas that have come, To Muslims Jesus was a mighty prophet, and there are many other religions that will try to connect him to their own worldview.

The author of Hebrews is writing to a Jewish audience. His main point in Hebrews 3 is that Jesus is greater than Moses. “For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house.” vv. 4-6a. The author of Hebrews was using an analogy that Moses was a servant in God’s house, but Jesus, the Son was the owner of the house.

The rest of Hebrews 3 is the first of four warnings in Hebrews. These warnings are to encourage the believers not to “fall away” in disbelief. “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” vv. 12-13. These verses point out the danger of sin. If we persist in sin or allow it to take hold in our lives it can pull us away from our relationship with the Lord. The good news is that any one of us can turn back to God in one moment. Repentance is a positive word.

If you are searching and really looking for what’s true. If you are trying to decide what is the right worldview, what is the correct religion, let me encourage you to start with Christianity with the original Jesus and his own teachings about himself and reality.

What else do you see in these chapters? What words, phrases, or themes stand out to you?
Add your thoughts below.

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Posted by John Weldon

The Soloist and Going Solo

May 19, 2009

I caught another great movie last weekend and it moved me to write yet another blog from the ideas that were spun deep within myself.  I took a group of youth to see “The Soloist” staring Jamie Fox.  The movie centers around a homeless man who plays the Cello.  The youth that went with me all play a string instrument and I thought they might enjoy it.  I played the cello in school and majored in music education, so this movie was right up my alley as well.

The movie was not exactly what  I was expecting it to be, but, it was still a great movie.  I recommend that you go see it.    I had seen a movie called August Rush last year and really enjoyed it.  When I saw the preview for The Soloist  I thought it might be along the same lines as that movie, but it wasn’t.  The Soloist will “wow” you with great music and instruments, but the bigger part of the story is not the music, it is the relationship that forms between the 2 main characters.  Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr) a well known Newspaper Columnist chooses to write a story about Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx)  a homeless man who plays a 2 string violin quite well.  After watching the movie the following thoughts came to mind.

Relationships, a part of life.   Just as much as Food, Water, Air, and Shelter are a basic needs in life, I think that there should be a 5th category added; relationships.   Relationships can be simple  or complex thing.  Take a look at your friendships and you will see the different levels of friendships you have with your friends.  Some require little to no work, while others need a lot of TLC.   There is a under-lying rule with relationships, the more you put into them the more you will get out of them.   This is true with any relationship, husband and wife, parent and children, friend to friend.  This is even true with our relationship with God, more on this later.

Being a friend as well as having a friend.  I don’t know about you, but sometimes I can get rather selffish with my relationships.  The two-way street of friendships becomes a one-way street of  what have you done for me?  I think that this feeling a natural one because of our introspective view of life.  We have to make that effort to break out of that mentality and still “give” as much as we want to “get.” 

What do we give in relationships, here are a few things that you can start with.  I remember going to a student ministry conference years ago and a session leader shared something so simply, yet profound for student ministry.  The big questions teens wants to known in life were; First,  Will I be accepted by others? and second, Will I be loved by others.  Both of these questions center around relationships with others.  I’m also willing to bet that as those teens get older the same 2 questions follow us into adulthood as well.  On a side note, acceptance does not mean you have to agree with someone to accept them as a person.  You can have friendships with different opinions about many things.  The degree at which you agree on things in life will help you become closer, but are not totally necessary for friendships. 

I think back to the story of David and Jonathan in the Bible.  These two were great friends even though they came from different families and life styles.  They gave each other things as a sign of their friendships.  They didn’t let a disgruntled family come in the way of their friendship either.  Later in life after David was King he looked after the son on Jonathan and always welcomed him into the kings palace and at his dinner table.   You can read more on the story of Jonathan and David in 1 Samuel chapters 18-20. 

Well the last relationship I’ll mention before I end this Blog, soon to be novel, is a relationship with Jesus.   My faith is about a relationship with Christ, it’s not a religion.   I hope that anyone reading this blog would know God desires to have a relationship with you too.   If you could sum up the Bible in a paragraph, it would be that God created us to have a relationship with Him, sin entered the world and messed that relationship up.  God sent His Son to the earth to live and give His life as a atoning sacrifice for payment of our sins.  If we choose to accept  that gift from God as payment for our sins and we repent, place our trust in Jesus, and surrender our life to Him ,we too, can have a relationship with God that will make all other relationships in life pale in comparison.   If you want to know more about starting a relationship with Jesus please contact me and let’s talk.  This is only a a short blog and I cannot go into enough details right now.

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Posted by John Weldon