Archives by: Gary Hoag

He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. Acts 11:24

“A good man, according to the doctrine of Scripture, is a follower of the blessed Jesus. He loves to imitate the bright example He hath given, “who went about doing good” [Acts 10:38]. He feels a deep concern for the salvation of immortal souls, and pities the many thousands of his fellow men, who are seeking death in the error of their ways. He is ever ready to sooth the sorrows of the afflicted, and shows a tender sympathy toward the distressed. He learns of the Lamb of God, who was meek and lowly of heart, to exercise patience, submission, and humility, and although his fears are often many, and great, his hopes of pardon and acceptance with God, are ever derived from the vicarious sacrifice of the blessed Jesus, who made atonement by his blood to expiate our guilt; and also in His life “gave” us an example, that we should tread in “His steps” [1 Peter 2:21]. This was evidently the character of Barnabas: he recommended the gospel in his life, as well as in his doctrine — “For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.”

George Ford in a funeral sermon he preached on 19 June 1796 for Rev. Samuel Brewer entitled, “The Good Man, and Faithful Minister, Made Eminently Useful” (London: W. Smith, 1796) 14-15.

I’m thrilled to be home to enjoy the weekend with my wife and to greet our house guests who arrived a couple days ago from Connecticut, Mark and Kate Whitsitt, along with their three growing children. I’m thankful for friends like Mark because like Barnabas, he is a good man, full of Holy Spirit and faith! Mark is visiting to check out Denver Seminary and thinking of moving his family to Colorado to attend. Like Ford put it, Mark’s “fears are often many” but he is “ever ready” to show love and service to others because of the “sacrifice of the blessed Jesus” for Him. Regardless of where God leads Mark and his family, I know He will follow in the steps of Christ, and because of that, a great number of people will be brought to the Lord.

What about you? Are you a good man or woman, full of faith and the Holy Spirit and leading others to the Lord? If that’s your desire but you feel like you need help to get off the proverbial sidelines and into the game, check out Good and Faithful: Ten Stewardship Lessons for Everyday Living. The videos stream there freely and you can get the study guide for yourself as an individual, to go through as a couple, or for your small group. I plan to give a copy to the Whitsitts as I know their whole family will go through it!

You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits. Matthew 7:16-20

“Now how are we to judge whether we are really cultivating our talents? What test can we apply? What standard adopt? Or, leaving out of view the highest endowments of the ‘five’ and the ‘two’ and taking the humblest case, how can the man who has but the one talent, the ‘religious talent,’— how can he satisfy himself that he is using it? There is only one safe test and that is a divinely sanctioned one. It is not one of sentiment or of the feelings, for these may be deceptive in their foundation or misleading in their witness. The true test is that of Christ Himself, “By their fruits ye shall know them”; “The tree is known by its fruit.” And, observe, this is a test which men may and are to use and apply. “The tree is known by its fruit” might only mean that God will judge men that way, but the other form of the same saying was given to His disciples by Christ as one they were to apply to any given case. He said to them “By their fruits ye shall know them.”

Charles Slegg Ward in his sermon, “Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant,” preached at Worting Church 18 March 1883 (Basingstoke: C.J. Jacob, 1883) 5.

Every steward must consider Ward’s question: “Now how are we to judge whether we are really cultivating our talents?” His “safe test” is a good one. It actually comes from Jesus. How would you answer it? Are you producing fruit? What does your fruit say about you? The key is not to be doing things for God but connected to God, abiding in Him. Generosity is not a series of acts for God but the fruit of God’s work in and through each of us.

Want help on your journey? Check out Good and Faithful: Ten Stewardship Lessons for Everyday Living. The videos stream freely and you can order the workbook from Seedbed to go through it as an individual or with your small group. After distributing some of the first copies of this resource at a forum in Pittsburgh this week, I am thankful to be heading home tonight.

They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. Psalm 1:3

“We live in a day and age when we seem to get high on being busy… On the surface we seem to love the rush of having more things to do than time to do them in, but deep down we have a nagging sense that there must be more to our short time on earth than not having enough time to live the abundant life Jesus said He came to give us. Who has time for abundant living when we are clearly not even barely living?

But maybe it’s not the busy that’s making us crazy. And maybe some of us are so busy being busy that we’re missing out on God’s purpose and plan for our lives… Think long and hard about the impact busyness has on your everyday life – the choices you make, your interactions with the people closest to you, and your relationship with God… We only have one life and it’s too important to waste by being busy… Fruitful is way more effective than busy.”

Christine Caine in the foreword to Breaking Busy: How to Find Peace and Purpose in a World of Crazy by Alli Worthington (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016) 13-14.

If you can relate to today’s post and desire to move beyond busy to abundant living and fruitful service, check out Good and Faithful: Ten Stewardship Lessons for Everyday Living. I am introducing this new resource to seminary professors and administrators at the “Economic Concerns Facing Future Ministers” forum in Pittsburgh today hosted by the Association of Theological Schools. I pray it is received warmly. But more than that, I pray every reader of these Daily Meditations focuses on abiding in Christ, so that on the vines of our lives, the Spirit of God produces many fruits through us, one of which is the fruit of “generosity” (Galatians 5:22-23).

But since you excel in everything — in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you — see that you also excel in this grace of giving. 2 Corinthians 8:7

“In our experience, many if not most pastors would avoid talking about giving altogether if they could. There are a number of reasons for this: (1) Money-talk does not fit one’s vocational understanding, (2) there is the bad example of television evangelists who seem (and do) constantly ask for money in order to continue the ministry, and (3) some clergy have a fear of rejection by congregation members… But we firmly believe that money-talk is an important part of the vocation, and… Christian leadership demands risking complaints and even rejection.”

Janet T. Jamieson and Philip D. Jamieson in Ministry and Money: A Practical Guide for Pastors (Louisville: WJKP, 2009) 165.

The Jamiesons paint an accurate picture. Most pastors and ministry administrators have the disconnect that money-talk is part of their vocation because they did not learn about it in seminary. Others don’t want to be associated with the TV evangelists. Some are just plain scared.

While at Sioux Falls Seminary this week, it’s been a privilege to interact with one of their administrators, Nathan Helling. He actively champions money-talk conversations at his local church. It’s been refreshing to be at a school where money-talk is both bold and biblical!

What about your church or ministry setting? To assist your money-talk, check out the resource that Greg Henson, the president of Sioux Falls Seminary, helped me produce and the one he commends to everyone his seminary serves, Good and Faithful: Ten Stewardship Lessons for Everyday Living.

Also, I’d appreciate your prayers as I head to Pittsburgh today to speak at an “Economic Concerns Facing Future Ministers” Forum hosted by the Association of Theological Schools. Pray for favor as I share about Faith and Finances: A Stewardship Curriculum for Schools and Churches. Thank you.

Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth. 3 John 5-8

“I want to improve my giving by saving a bigger portion of my income to bless and help others and to support different events and missions in spreading God’s Word… I’ve learned that we have to be wise in spending the money that has been entrusted to us by God, and budgeting is one of the effective tools that we can use to map out our income and expenses. Some people are enslaved to debt because of poor budgeting; they live beyond their means… If all Christians will understand the importance of budgeting, we will be able to grow what has been given to us, and it will be possible to have a debt-free community, generous community, community that abounds with love and a community that is wide open to God for service.”

Gemini Allen E. Ysao in “Meditation Journal #7” for my online course, Faith and Finances, in the MBA in Biblical Stewardship and Christian Management program at Asian Theological Seminary in Quezon City, near Manila, in the Philippines.

Notice that Gemini does not desire to apply budgeting skills for himself. He wants to use them to build a debt-free community that “abounds with love” and that is “wide open to God for service.” I designed Faith and Finances: A Stewardship Curriculum for Schools and Churches for helping leaders like him (and readers like you) to shepherd generous communities. The accompanying workbook, Good and Faithful: Ten Stewardship Lessons for Everyday Living, is for everyone, to equip God’s people around the world to grow as individuals or in small groups.

Today I get to team teach at Sioux Falls Seminary with Greg Henson, a dear friend who serves as president there. Pray for the wisdom for us as we lead students to explore what it means to serve as faithful stewards of congregations and organizations. We are testing the content for a forthcoming book that offers a biblical mindset on governance and oversight. We hope to learn from the students in discussion even as they learn from us. Make it so, Lord Jesus.

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2

“I need to cease the gratification from short-term things but set my eyes upon the author and finisher of our faith and life. I need also to sacrifice which is a more radical discipline than simplicity to meet our needs rather than wants, it is a faith-building exercise that commits us to entrust ourselves to God’s care. The greatest adversary of love to God is not His enemies but His gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not from the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of the earth. For when these replaces an appetite for God Himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable.”

Justin Hi Guo Shun in “Meditation Journal #9” for my online course, Faith and Finances, in the MBA in Biblical Stewardship and Christian Management program at Asian Theological Seminary in Quezon City, near Manila, in the Philippines.

Notice Justin’s heart as it comes out. In going through Faith and Finances: A Stewardship Curriculum for Schools and Churches he has resolved to stop focusing on things and instead, set his eyes on Christ! What happens when we do that? Our faith grows stronger as we realize (experientially) God’s wondrous care for us.

He also acknowledges our greatest adversary as His gifts. In other words, we are prone, like God’s people in the days of Moses, to worship the gift of the golden calf rather than the God who gave that gift (cf. Exodus 32). Our appetite for the simple pleasures of the earth replaces our appetite for God.

Want to go through these lessons as individuals or in small groups? Check out Good and Faithful: Ten Stewardship Lessons for Everyday Living. This resource was designed, in Justin’s words, to help you both identify and cure our proclivity to desire things over God and to position you, as God’s stewards, to be found good and faithful.

I am Sioux Falls Seminary today and excited to deliver copies of these two resources to them. I would appreciate your prayers for fruitful time of teaching and discussion with students and non-profit ministry administrators. Thank you.

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 2 Corinthians 9:12-13

“God blesses me so I can bless others. My giving is no longer based on percentage, but my responsibility is to give in proportion to my income. My giving is now motivated by love rather than duty or instruction. The prompting of the Holy Spirit, the burden placed by God in my heart and the love of Christ that constrains me are what motivate me to give. It is my responsibility to respond to these promptings not to free myself from guilt but to further experience the joy of aligning myself with God. I take it as my responsibility to give and share and help in any way I can in order to put a smile on my brother and on my sister and on my Father’s face…

From a selfish, greedy and idolatrous person, Christ has changed me into a generous person who shows love to needy brethren through the Holy Spirit working in me… Also, because of my frailty, I may be tempted to be self-centered at times and ignore the needs of others but being in a community and being stirred up by the collective efforts and burden by my fellow believers, the Spirit of love awakens me and stirs up in me again the generous spirit that God wants all His children to have. So in relation to this, my role is to always be part of this community or church and join the collective obedience of the brethren in responding to the call of God to help the needy.”

Ramchand John Pribhdas in “Meditation Journal #3” for my online course, Faith and Finances, in the MBA in Biblical Stewardship and Christian Management program at Asian Theological Seminary in Quezon City, near Manila, in the Philippines.

Want to go through this course? Click to learn about Faith and Finances: A Stewardship Curriculum for Schools and Churches or to order a copy for your church or school. Also check out the accompanying workbook I wrote for individuals or small groups, Good and Faithful: Ten Stewardship Lessons for Everyday Living. Both are hot of the press from Seedbed!

John works for Compassion Philippines as an accountant, and I am thrilled he is taking my class. He’s getting more than an MBA; he is taking hold of life in God’s economy. Specifically, the impact of “collective obedience” really resonated with me as I read his journal assignments.

At work, John’s collective aim with his colleagues is to serve the poor in a way that is Christ-centered, child-focused, and church-based. What’s encouraging to me is how his class work is stirring a movement among his colleagues at the office. When he shares what he is learning with them in the form of Scriptures and quotes from various writers, they are getting excited together about playing their part as catalysts of collective obedience.

Jenni and I return to Colorado this morning, while Sophie and Peter head off to worship at Rise City Church in Lakeside, California. We are thankful they are part of a community aimed at collective obedience in service to Christ, one another, and the needy around them.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

“Jesus was contrasting what He offers with what the devil offers. The thief mentioned here speaks of the enemy of our soul, Satan. He comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. But Christ has come that we might have life and that we might have it more abundantly. And there we have a choice. The same could be said of a lot of people today. They have the house, the car, the spouse, and the kids. They have the career. They have money in the bank. They have everything going the way that things ought to go to supposedly live life to its fullest. But there is that is something still lacking. They are still lacking life…

My role is to be a living testimony to people that Jesus Christ is the only one who satisfies my soul, my great joy, my delight, my treasure and more than enough for me to live in a day. And there is an abundant life in His presence and I can bear good fruit through abiding in Him. My responsibilities include becoming a good steward of the assets God has given me, having a commitment to biblical giving in missions, ministry and churches, and even to the poor, loving service and Christ-like living.”

Bryandel Nozares Dean in “Meditation Journal #2” for my online course, Faith and Finances, in the MBA in Biblical Stewardship and Christian Management program at Asian Theological Seminary in Quezon City, near Manila, in the Philippines.

As I shared yesterday, click to check out Faith and Finances: A Stewardship Curriculum for Schools and Churches or to order a copy for your church or school. Also check out the accompanying workbook I wrote for individuals or small groups, Good and Faithful: Ten Stewardship Lessons for Everyday Living. Both of these books are hot of the press from Seedbed!

Today is the second in a series of posts that feature meditations from my current cohort of students. Bryandel is a vibrant young lady from the Philippines who lives in Tuscany, Italy. She provides care to a couple in a villa where she has lived for the last few years. She’s doing her degree from a distance while serving as a “living testimony” where God has planted her.

Last night, Jenni and I flew to San Diego to see our daughter, Sophie, and her boyfriend, Peter, who are both studying at San Diego Christian College (which is a great school, pictured above). Sophie has the role of stage manager for the fall production, California Bonez, and we have not seen her in nearly two months, so we are excited to visit for the weekend.

Sophie is a junior. She serves as a resident assistant, helping a building full of her peers grasp abundant life in Christ, while also serving as a writing tutor assisting students with their papers. Peter is also a junior. He’s interning at a local church and enjoying that mentoring as he hopes to serve as a pastor in the future. We got to have dinner with them last night. It was great!

Why mention Sophie and Peter today? They exemplify the abundant life that Bryandel celebrates. Abundant life is not found by living in exotic places like Tuscany or San Diego. Many people think that. It’s only found in Jesus Christ, and one of our greatest acts of generosity is simply bearing fruit and abiding in Him wherever we are, so that others may find life in Him too.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. James 1:17-18

“God is the giver of all good gifts. His heart has always been to share His very life with us and this was perfectly demonstrated when He created a world that was designed to express His heart of generosity. This is contrary to what many people, even believers, think – that God is someone whose interest is to take away from His children and that His pleasure is to watch humans prove with their sacrifices just how much they love Him.

My role is to be a receiver of the life that God wants me to have in Jesus. I am to constantly remind myself that I am God’s beneficiary and that at no point in my life should I declare that I am a self-made man. I am to see all of the other “lesser” gifts that I have in the context of my relationship with God which is the greatest gift of all. I am to shun the notion that I can use these gifts apart from Him… My role is to be a faithful steward whose life is characterized by obedience to God’s commands regarding possessions. I am to avoid pathways that lead to idolatry, selfishness and materialism.

It is my responsibility to appropriate God’s grace in areas of my life where I have failed as a steward. It is also my role to be a beacon of hope to others who are poor – spiritually or otherwise, by becoming a conduit of God’s gifts so that people in my sphere of influence can experience through me the kind of life that Jesus offers them.”

Dean Esabillio Ferrez in “Meditation Journal #1” for my online course, Faith and Finances, in the MBA in Biblical Stewardship and Christian Management program at Asian Theological Seminary in Quezon City, near Manila, in the Philippines.

Click to learn more about Faith and Finances: A Stewardship Curriculum for Schools and Churches or to order a copy today for your church or school. Also check out the accompanying workbook I developed for individuals or small groups, Good and Faithful: Ten Stewardship Lessons for Everyday Living. Both of these resources are hot of the press from Seedbed!

Few places have experienced tragedies worse than the Philippines. They’ve had earthquakes, typhoons, and other storms wash through their islands and leave a wake of destruction. I’ve been blessed to teach a wonderful cohort of students there this month, so over the next few days, I’d like for you to hear from the hearts of a few of them.

Dean celebrates the good gifts of God and our role as stewards. His point about being a “beacon of hope” struck me. In a world filled with destruction, many blame God. Instead, Dean acknowledges all God’s gifts, our role as stewards, and specifically our responsibility to serve as beacons of hope for the poor and needy as a conduit of God’s gifts.

Father, bless Dean today as these truths take root in his heart and cause them to bear fruit in his life. Make this so in the lives of everyone reading this so that in a world filled with troubles, we can make You known as good and faithful conduits who share Your love with those who need it most. Do this by your Holy Spirit we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Colossians 3:5

“The way of the Trinity is the way of sharing. Father, Son, and Spirit live in sacrifice and self-denial toward one another. The way of greed, the way of Mammon, focuses on the health of one part of a community, while letting others go without clothing and water. The way of greed is not the way of sharing. It is the way of self-interest, not self-denial. In that sense, then, the way of greed and self-interest depict the life of another god or gods. Greed is idolatry. God’s people are supposed to image the life of the Trinity on earth, and when instead, we say we follow the Trinity but actually build communities that politely neglect those in need, we actually image….a social system grounded in self-interest.”

Douglas M. Jones in Dismissing Jesus: How We Evade the Way of the Cross (Eugene: Cascade, 2013) 69.

In the wake of hurricanes and other disasters, Jones helped me see why some people get help and others don’t. The social system of the world is grounded in self-interest. Who is to blame? All of us. It’s the product of our earthly nature, which is why followers of Christ must put that thinking to death.

That’s a powerful word picture. How do we do that? Think of it this way. The Apostle Paul tells us literally to mortify or kill greed, which is the desire for money and things, because if we don’t kill it, it will kill us. If it is present in our lives it will lead us to allegiance to Mammon rather than God. What’s this got to do with generosity? 

Generosity is the key to putting greed to death. Followers of Christ put the earthly nature of self-interest to death by living openhanded lives as workers, whose labor meets there personal needs and who deploy any surplus income as sharers with a keen eye for others in need, who do not have clothing, or who need food and water.

This is precisely what the Apostle Paul instructed all the churches to do when some people were starving in the first century (cf. 1 Corinthians 16:1-4). Ask God today what it means for you today to stop politely neglecting those in need and instead walk in the way of sharing.