Tag Archives: Make a Difference

Let’s Cause Trouble!

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upside-downI don’t want to be ordinary. I don’t want to live an ordinary life. I don’t want to just mark time until I pass into eternity.

I want to live! I want to do something! I want to make a difference! I want to see thing happen. I want to see lives changed, good done, things impacted.

I want to cause trouble for the world and the devil.

As I say at Asbury sometimes, I want to charge hell with a water pistol. I want to punch the devil in the face!  I want to give him a HUGE headache and make his life and his existence miserable!

Listen to what people said about Christians in Acts 17: 6-8:

And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things.

I love that verse. These men who have turned the world upside down. Come on, now. That’s good stuff.

I want to turn the world upside down. I want to see the poor taken care of. I want to see widows and orphans cared for. I want to see no child forgotten. I want to see families healed. I want to see lives changes. I want to see things make right.

Sin has turned things wrong side up in the world. I don’t want that to be the case. I want to, and I want the church to, turn the world upside down.

Or perhaps, better put, turn the world right side up. Make things right. Make it like God intended. Make it be like it should.

I want to turn the world upside down. I want to make I difference today. I want to give the devil a headache today.

Who’s with me?

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

Make a Difference

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One of my favorite characters in scripture is Barnabas.  He doesn’t get all the attention that Paul gets in Acts, but without him, Paul wouldn’t be Paul. We see their friendship start today in Acts 11:

25Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they met with the church and taught a great many people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called ‘Christians.’

Paul had one of those dramatic conversion experiences. When he got saved, he got saved.  He went from being someone out to get the church; someone trying to destroy the church, to someone that was trying to grow the church.

He went from someone that was trying to stop the working of the Holy Spirit to someone that was a being led by the spirit.

And that’s awesome. Except that people didn’t know what to think. People didn’t know if they could trust him.  Not long before, he had been involved with the murder of Stephen. And now he’s on our side?

And in comes Barnabas.  You know what he did that was so awesome?  He simply loved on Paul.  He was his friend.  He encouraged him.  He walked beside him.  He was there for him.

He made a difference.

By being a friend.

Today, you can make a huge difference.  You don’t have to climb the mountain.  You don’t have to swim the ocean.  You don’t have to perform feats of unusual strength.

You can simply be nice to someone. Encourage someone.  Give a smile.  A hug.  A warm word.

And you may never know the difference that would make.  Today, you can be a Barnabas to someone.

Without Barnabas, there was no Paul. Without Paul, there is no Gentile Church. Without Paul, the Gospel would not have spread across the world.

Barnabas made a huge difference simply be encouraging someone.

Today, so you can you. Today, you can make a difference.

Today, you can change the world by touching someone’s life!