Drawn by Love

Any Star Wars fan can tell you how powerful a tractor beam can be, but I know of a drawing power that can pull you toward a far better destination.

In the first film of the Star Wars franchise, the Millennium Falcon gets caught in the tractor beam of the Death Star. Han Solo can only yield to it and let it pull his space freighter in. The plot device paid homage to what’s been a common element in a lot of science fiction since it first appeared in a 1931 sci-fi novel (where it was called an “attractor beam”). In addition to Star Wars, the plot device has appeared in Star Trek episodes, Iron Man, District 9, Spaceballs, The Incredibles, Avengers: Infinity Wars, and Pixar’s Lifted, to name a few.

Did you know that scientists have developed a real-life tractor beam? University scientists have collaborated with a company called Ultrahaptics to create a sonic tractor beam using 64 miniature speakers to generate high-intensity sound waves. The waves form an “acoustic hologram” which surrounds an object and allows the object to be lifted and manipulated in mid-air. Until now, the project has worked on an object the size of a marble from a few feet away, but they are working on something that aims to levitate a soccer ball from over 30 feet away. Not exactly the Millennium Falcon, but it’s a start.

Jesus said his atoning death would activate a drawing power, and it’s more compelling than any tractor beam. In John 12:32, he declared, “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He predicted that people from every nation and every walk of life would feel the pulling power of his sacrificial love.

Conversion happens when we finally concede to the pulling power of Jesus that we have been feeling and resisting for far too long. Then we will nod in agreement when we hear that song—

Oh, that old rugged cross

So despised by the world

Has a wondrous attraction for me

Let’s study this truth in more detail this Sunday. Join us on campus or online at 10am!

--Tom

Photo Credit: Sascha Steinbach/Getty

Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas.  His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter. If someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, sign up here to receive Tom’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.

Connecting Your World to Jesus

Faith conversations arise naturally with nonbelievers who share your same background, interests, or pain. By “background,” I mean the same upbringing or educational training. By “interests,” I mean the same hobbies or entertainment choices. By “pain,” I mean the same experiences with heartbreak or recovery.

When certain Greeks wanted to meet Jesus (John 12:20-22), they specifically approached the Apostle Philip. The passage doesn’t tell us why they singled him out, but I think it was because they felt they had something in common with him. After all, the name “Philip” wasn’t a Jewish name but a Greek name. And Philip was known to be from Bethsaida, a region where there was more Gentile influence than at any other part of the former Hebrew territories. They sensed a commonality with Philip, and so they asked him to introduce them to Jesus.

These Greeks would have been “God fearers.” This was a label given to Gentiles who were attracted to the teaching of Judaism but who had not converted. Maybe they attended a synagogue occasionally. They likely had spiritual conversations with their Jewish neighbors. They even attended the big festivals at the Jerusalem Temple. They found something attractive in the teaching and rituals, and they were drawn to it.

People like that exist today. We don’t call them “God fearers” but, like the Greeks in John 12, they’re curious about our faith and even attracted to certain themes of our message. And when they want to find out more about our faith, don’t be surprised if those who have something in common with you approach you. They see you got the same degree they got, or you’re in the same field of work they’re in, or you both have the same interest in fishing, or you’re both in recovery, or you’ve both gone through the same life-changing experience. They’re more likely to talk about Jesus with you than with anyone else. So, stay sensitive to the opportunities that will come your way!

We’ll study this story in more detail this Sunday. Join us on campus or online at 10am!

--Tom

Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas.  His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter. If someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, sign up here to receive Tom’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.

Of Perfume and Palms

We need to live in such a way that people smell the perfume and see the palms. Two stories from John 12 convince me of this.

In the first story (John 12:1-8), Mary anointed Jesus with exotic and expensive perfume. On her part, it was likely a lavish act of gratitude for Jesus restoring her brother Lazarus to life. But Jesus interpreted her action as preparing his body for burial. One way the ancient people prepared a body for burial was to perfume it. And Jesus knew the next Saturday after Mary’s actions, he would be dead and entombed. He came to die our death and save us from our sins, and this was on his mind as the fragrance wafted around him.

The way John described the scene, everyone in the house knew of Mary’s action and Jesus’s interpretation. The whole house was filled with the wonderful smell (verse 3).

Is that the way it is with your life? Do you point people to the cross? Do you point people to his sacrificial death for you? Do they understand Christianity to be about the work of Jesus on your behalf? Is it Jesus who’s getting all the glory when people spend time with you? Praise for his gracious sacrifice should waft around you like fragrant perfume.

The next day, after the perfume of praise we see palms of pledge (John 12:12-15). As Jesus entered Jerusalem, thousands of people waved palm branches as they pledged their allegiance to Jesus as king. It was a public and bold and unashamed declaration of who they were loyal to.

Is your loyalty to Jesus that obvious when people see your life? Do they see you as someone under Christ’s authority? Do they see you more and more changed into godliness as you obey him?

May everyone notice your gratitude for his sacrifice, as if you were pouring out perfume to him in praise. And may everyone notice your loyalty to his commands, as if you were waving palms in pledge.

Let’s study these two stories in greater depth. Join us on campus or online at 10am this Sunday!

--Tom

Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas.  His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter. If someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, sign up here to receive Tom’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.

Disturbing Death

A businessman wanted to send a floral arrangement to a colleague who was opening a branch office.  The colleague called later in the day to thank him for the considerate gesture, but he expressed his confusion about the attached card that read, “Rest in Peace.”  The businessman apologized for the mix up and quickly called to chastise the florist.  The florist tried to console the executive.  “It could be worse,” he said.  “Somewhere in the cemetery there's a bouquet with a note reading, “Good luck in your new location.”

Have you thought much about your new location beyond this life?  The famous atheist Bertrand Russell wasn’t expecting much.  Here’s what he wrote:

No fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave…; all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and the whole temple of man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins.

How cheery.  The Bible teaches something entirely different.  Those who are impacted by the saving action of Christ will find personal, conscious experiences beyond this life that will be rich and joyful.

This Sunday we’ll examine this good news.  We paused our study through the Gospel of John last Fall, but we return to it this week with a look at how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead in John 11.

Unless Jesus returns first, every person reading this newsletter will one day surrender to what the Bible calls our last enemy: Death.  But though Death may disturb us, it’s good to know that Jesus disturbs Death! Read John 11 and join us at Hillcrest this week, on campus or online!

--Tom

Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas.  His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter. If someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, sign up here to receive Tom’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.

Your 2022 Construction Project!

God wants you to build on the foundation of your salvation, but some of us must confess we’ve delayed or deserted that construction project.

Have you delayed this construction project?  I remember driving through a subdivision outside a large city where building had stopped because finances had dried up.  I drove past one foundation after another with nothing but pipes jutting out from the concrete.  Maybe that’s a picture of your spiritual life.  You made a commitment to Christ, but then you became like a stalled-out subdivision.  It’s been years since your verbal commitment to Christ, and you’ve made little growth or advancement or maturity.

On the other hand, sometimes it’s not that a structure gets delayed. Instead, a structure gets deserted. In remote areas you can see buildings that have been neglected for years.  The foundation is still sound, but the structure is dilapidated, caved in, and weed-infested.  Is that an image of your spiritual life?  For years, you attended church, you studied the Bible, you prayed, you disciplined yourself so that your moral life was pleasing to God.  But then something happened.  You moved to another community and just never found another church home.  Someone hurt your feelings and you quit attending church.  You let a busy season cause you to neglect prayer and Bible study and you never returned to it.  And now your Christian life is like a dilapidated barn in a neglected field.

In Hebrews 10:19-25, the writer told his Christian readers, “We’ve been saved by Christ, so now let us mature in faith, hope and love!” 

This weekend would be a good time to reflect on that passage.  It just might lead you to make some good “New Year’s resolutions” to build a faithful life.  I’ll teach from that passage this Sunday, so join me on campus or online!

--Tom

It’s not too late to order Tom’s book, Repeat the Sounding Joy!  It’s a study of the four “Christmas carols” found in Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth. Order it from Amazon by clicking here. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas.  His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter. If someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, sign up here to receive Tom’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room

Wallace Purling was nine that year, and only in second grade.

Most people in town knew that he had difficulty keeping up.  He was big and clumsy, slow in movement and mind.  Still, Wally was well-liked by the other children in his class, though the boys had trouble hiding their irritation when Wally asked to play ball with them.

Most often, they’d find a way to keep him out, but Wally would hang around anyway, just hoping.  He was a helpful boy, willing and smiling, and the natural protector of the underdog.  When the older boys chased the younger ones away, it was always Wally who said, “Can’t they stay?  They’re no bother.”

Wally fancied the idea of being a shepherd with a flute in the Christmas pageant that year, but the play’s director assigned him a more important role.  The innkeeper did not have many lines, and Wally’s size would make his refusal of lodging to Joseph more forceful.

The usual large audience gathered for the town’s yearly extravaganza.  Wallace Purling stood in the wings, watching with fascination.

 Then Joseph appeared -- slowly, tenderly guiding Mary -- and knocked hard on the wooden door set into the painted back drop.

“What do you want?” Wally the innkeeper said brusquely, swinging the door open 

“We seek lodging,” Joseph answered.

“Seek it elsewhere,” Wally looked straight ahead but spoke vigorously.  “The inn is filled.”

“Sir, we have asked everywhere in vain.  We have traveled far and are weary.”

“There is no room in this inn for you,” Wally looked properly stern.

“Please, good Innkeeper, this is my wife, Mary.  She is heavy with child.  Surely you must have some small corner for her to rest.”

Now, for the first time, the innkeeper looked down at Mary.  There was a long pause, long enough to make the audience tense with embarrassment.

“No!  Begone!” the prompter whispered from the wings.

“No!” Wally repeated.  “Begone!”

Joseph sadly placed his arm around Mary.  Mary laid her head upon her husband’s shoulder, and the two of them started to move away.  Wally stood in the doorway, watching the forlorn couple.  His mouth was open, his brow creased with concern, his eyes filling unmistakably with tears.

And suddenly this Christmas pageant became different from all others.

“Don’t go, Joseph,” Wally called out.  “Bring Mary back.”  Wallace Purling broke into a bright smile.  “You can have my room.”

A few people thought the pageant had been ruined.  Most considered it the best Christmas pageant they had ever seen.

(The legendary story of Wallace Purling has circulated for years.  The earliest version has been traced back to a 1966 edition of Reader’s Digest. Join us tonight for our candlelight Christmas Eve service at 6pm.  It’s in-person only, with no online option.  If you’re unable to come, let me take this time to wish you a Merry Christmas!)

--Tom

Get ready for Christmas with Tom’s book, Repeat the Sounding Joy!  It’s a study of the four “Christmas carols” found in Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth. Pick up your free copy when you attend a service at Hillcrest or order it from Amazon by clicking here. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas.  His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter. If someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, sign up here to receive Tom’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.

The Hopes and Fears of All the Years

“A sword will pierce your soul.”

That’s a strange thing to say to a new mom, but it was said to Mary by an old man as he held her newborn son in his arms. He prophesied of Jesus, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel.” Then he added a prediction of Mary’s future: “And a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2:22-35).

This is Christmas?  Yes.

It’s the joy of shepherds, and the wonder of Wise Men, and the celebration of angels, and the light of Bethlehem…

…and the flight into Egypt, and the slaughter of innocents (Matthew 2:13-18), and an ancient dragon with plans to devour the Child the moment he was born (Revelation 12:4), and this foreboding of a future event that would pierce Mary’s soul like a sword.

When all we have is half a Christmas story, the bright and happy half, we have a hard time imagining how the story applies to the rough and tumble of our own lives.

Please, let’s not forget the astonished joy of the story, or we’ll deny the activity of God on our behalf.  But let’s not forget the darker elements of the story, either, or we’ll deny the reality of our messy, tragic world.

It seems impossible we could remember both sides of the story at the same time.  Maybe we should just focus on the joyful parts on those holiday seasons when life is going our way, and then reflect on the darker parts during the holiday seasons when life hurts?

No, that’s not the way to do Christmas.

In those years when our Christmas is clouded with heartbreak, we must stubbornly rejoice with the shepherds who heard angels sing.  Their report is still true and still good.  And in the years when there’s hardly room on our Christmas cards to tell all the wonderful news that’s happened to our family, we must not ignore the prophecy of this sword to pierce Mary’s soul.  Live long enough and your soul will be pierced, too.

The hopes and fears of all the years were met in the little town of Bethlehem.

Hopes and fears. Met. This is Christmas. 

--Tom

Get ready for Christmas with Tom’s book, Repeat the Sounding Joy!  It’s a study of the four “Christmas carols” found in Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth. Pick up your free copy when you attend a service at Hillcrest or order it from Amazon by clicking here. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas.  His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter. If someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, sign up here to receive Tom’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.

A Christmas Reunion

Some of us are old enough to remember watching East and West Berliners celebrate as they tore down the wall that separated them.  For twenty-eight years twenty-eight miles of concrete and barbed wire divided the German city of Berlin.  The Communist East on one side and the Free West on the other.  In February 1989, East German President Erich Honecker vowed that his wall would remain for a hundred more years.  He was off by ninety-nine years.  In November 1989, the wall came down. 

The new reconciliation between East and West Berlin provoked raucous celebration.  For decades, people on the east side were shot for trying to climb the wall, and now thousands danced on top of it.  Champagne corks popped.  Car horns honked.  Some people took hammers and chisels to the ugly dividing wall, breaking off huge chunks of concrete and brandishing them before television cameras. 

The birth announcement of the Savior provoked a similar celebration from angels.  In the fields outside of Bethlehem, shepherds saw these supernatural beings burst into the open.  It was as if they could no longer contain themselves. They had to shout in praise to the good news that Jesus had been born (Luke 2:14 CSB)—

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,

and peace on earth to people he favors!”

Christmas began God’s plan for winning a lost world back to himself, and the angels marveled at how God was going to accomplish this.  It was going to involve nothing less than the sacrificial death and resurrection of his own beloved Son.  As Simon Peter would later write, “angels long to catch a glimpse of these things” (1 Peter 1:10-12).  And so, when these heavenly beings looked into the Bethlehem manger they said, “Give the glory to God for this plan!”

I have more to say about this in the third chapter of the book I wrote with John Parker.  It’s called Repeat the Sounding Joy!  It’s a study of the four “Christmas carols” found in Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth.  Pick up your free copy when you attend a service at Hillcrest or order it from Amazon by clicking here. 

--Tom

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.  Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas.  His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

God Prepares Preparers

How do you get ready for Christmas? Some work through an Advent Calendar each day.  Some display an Elf-on-a-Shelf in a different way each morning for their children to find.  Some have a particular recipe that absolutely must show up on the table every year.  In Sweden, millions watch Donald Duck cartoons every Christmas Eve.  I have no idea why.

Be sure your Christmas preparations include, well, preparation! 

The Christmas story includes the birth of a boy named John whose only job was to point people to Jesus.  John’s old father expressed this mission when he sang over his newborn son (Luke 1:76-77):

And you, child, will be called

a prophet of the Most High,

for you will go before the Lord

to prepare his ways,

to give his people knowledge of salvation

through the forgiveness of their sins.

God still prepares preparers.  When you listen to the story of how someone came to Christ, you will always hear about someone who pointed the way.  They’ll tell you about a loving Sunday School teacher from their childhood.  They’ll tell you about an influential camp counselor in their teen years.  They’ll tell you about a Christian colleague who befriended them at work.  They’ll tell you about a Christian neighbor who spent time with them.

All these people were preparers, and you’re meant to play that role, too.

A Quaker mystic once said that God “plucks the world out of our hearts” and then “he hurls the world into our hearts, where we and he together carry it in infinitely tender love.”  I like that.  Does your Christianity only involve the first part of that process without the second?

I have more to say about this in the second chapter of the book I wrote with John Parker.  It’s called Repeat the Sounding Joy!  It’s a study of the four “Christmas carols” found in Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth.  Pick up your free copy when you attend a service at Hillcrest or order it from Amazon by clicking here. 

--Tom

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.  Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas.  His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Get This Book for Free!

“The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.” That’s the advice of Buddy in the beloved holiday film, Elf.

Buddy’s right. It is the best way to spread Christmas cheer. Music is one of our favorite traditions of the Christmas season.  John Parker and I have written a book that taps into our love of Christmas carols. We’d like to give you a copy.

When we sing songs about the birth of Jesus, we unite with the musical testimony of Christians through two thousand years of church history. 

• As we sing “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear,” we join with the nineteenth-century Massachusetts Christians who first sang the carols. 

• Sing “Silent Night,” and we unite with the Austrian congregation who first sang it on Christmas Eve 1818. 

• We reach back and join John Wesley’s evangelistic vision in 1739 when we sing, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!” 

• Reaching even further back we clasp the hands of sixteenth-century English Christians when we join them in their favorite tune, “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.” 

• Keep going back in history, to the thirteenth century, where European Christian actors walked the streets singing the songs they had composed for their nativity plays. 

• Prior to that, in the fifth century, priests strolled around their parishes on Christmas Eve singing carols in Latin. 

• As early as the second century after Christ, the bishop of Rome urged his people to “sing in celebration of the birthday of our Lord.”

But there are Christmas songs even earlier than that.  What about the first carols?

In the nativity stories in Luke’s Gospel, song breaks out four times.  We want to give you a book that explores these four “Christmas carols.” It’s called Repeat the Sounding Joy! John Parker and I wrote it to help make your Christmas more meaningful. Those who attend in person can pick up a copy for free, one per household. If you want more copies, we’ll have some to purchase in the gym after the service. You can also order it from Amazon by clicking here.

I hope this book will give you reasons to sing this season!

--Tom

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.  Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas.  His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Surprised by God’s “Yes!”

I remember a beach trip when my boys were in their early teens. They asked to swim to a buoy that was a couple hundred yards offshore. They were good swimmers and the water was calm, but there were jet skis in the area. So, I said no. I took no pleasure in disappointing them, but I made the decision from a father’s wisdom.

At the end of the day, they had another request. They asked to get ice cream. I said yes to that request and was delighted to bring pleasure to them. In fact, we didn’t just stop off anywhere for ice cream: We got Haagen-Dazs!

God sometimes says “no” to us, but he delights to say “yes” to us—and he even delights to say yes to us in the most marvelous ways. Ephesians 3:20 says, God “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”

Picture Paul preparing to write that sentence. He says to himself, “I’m going to remind them that God is able to do whatever we ask.” But then he says to himself, “No, that’s not enough. I’m going to tell them that God can do whatever we ask or imagine.” Then he pauses and says, “No, there’s more to it. I’m going to tell them that God can do all we ask or imagine.” Again, he stops and says, “No, that’s not sufficient. I’m going to tell them that God can do more than all we ask or imagine.” But then he pauses once more and says to himself, “No, even that’s not a complete way to describe God’s power and interest in our lives. I’m going to tell them that God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.”

God wants to bless us in the most unexpected ways. He says no sometimes, and a few weeks ago I taught about how to trust God’s “no.” But it doesn’t bring him pleasure to disappoint his children. He delights to say “yes!” Let’s look deeper into that wonderful truth this Sunday.

--Tom  

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.  Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas.  His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Praying Together

Jim Blades and his six-year-old son, Clint, spent a chilly December day fishing for king salmon off Cape Edgecumbe, Alaska.  As dusk closed in on his 26-foot wooden troller, he radioed his wife that they would see her in the morning.

Jill wasn’t worried about them staying out at sea overnight.  As a commercial fisherman, Jim had done it many times before.  But later that evening a hard wind slammed into her house and five-foot breakers began washing up to the outside wall.  Unexpected gale-force winds had suddenly descended on the area.

She raced to the radio calling out the name of the fishing vessel, “Bluebird? Bluebird?”

Getting no answer, she switched to the Coast Guard channel and immediately heard Jim’s voice calmly speaking to the dispatcher.  “I’m taking in water, I’m not sure where I’m at.”  The Coast Guard radioman asked, “Can you tell us how to reach your wife?”  Jill took the microphone, “This is Bluebird’s base. Jim, please take care!”

She then contacted friends who attended Trinity Baptist Church with her family.  Throughout the evening they all prayed as they listened to the conversation between Jim and the Coast Guard helicopter.

The rescue team risked their own lives to battle wind blasts and 30-foot waves to bring Jim Blades and his six-year-old son to safety, and they received numerous honors for the heroic rescue.  But Lieutenant Commander John Whiddon admitted, “The truth is, we flew the helicopter beyond our limitations.  I used all the skill I had, and we used up our luck.  It took something extra.  I’m not a guy who normally preaches, but there was that prayer gathering.  We got the awards, but any credit goes to God.”

When you’re caught in a storm, it’s good to have people to pray you through it.  Let’s be a church that is “continually united in prayer” (Acts 1:14, CSB).  This Sunday we’ll talk about that.  It’s part of our campaign called, “Forty Days of Prayer.”  Do you have a prayer request we can pray about during these 40 Days?  Turn it in at www.hillcrest.church/prayer.

(I first read about the Blades’ rescue in “Night of the Bluebird” by Allen Sykora in Reader’s Digest January 1990.)

--Tom

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.  Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas.  His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Trusting God’s “No”

Have you ever prayed for something that didn’t come to pass?  You’re in good company.  In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul said that he repeatedly prayed to be free of a tormenting “thorn in my flesh.”  Jesus didn’t heal him and didn’t explain why.  He simply told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

What was Jesus saying?

In her book, Operating Instructions, Anne Lamott tells of a friend whose little two-year-old boy inadvertently locked himself in a dark room.  All the child had to do was simply turn the doorknob to get out, and his mother tried to explain this to him.  But as the toddler realized his mother wasn’t opening the door for him his panic rose and he became inconsolable.  So, the mother lay down on her side of the door, slipped her fingers through the gap between the door and the floor.  She asked her child to do the same.  When he did so, the child calmed down enough to listen to his mother’s instructions.

I have a love-hate relationship with the writings of Anne Lamott, but this story beautifully illustrates what Jesus was doing with the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12.  Paul wanted Jesus to open the door and give him healing and relief from his suffering.  Jesus didn’t heal him and didn’t tell him why he wouldn’t.  But the Lord got down on the floor and put his fingers through the gap beneath the door and said, “Peace, child. My grace is sufficient for you.”  When Paul touched those fingers, he was comforted.

One day, our Savior will open the door at his return, and pain and heartbreak will be no more.  In the meantime, we have divine fingers under the door—we have all these reminders of his presence.  And as Lamott said in her book, “It isn’t enough, and it is.”

This Sunday we’ll talk about trusting God when he says “no” to a prayer request.  It’s part of our campaign called, “Forty Days of Prayer.”  Do you have a prayer request we can pray about during these 40 Days?  Turn it in at www.hillcrest.church/prayer.

--Tom

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.  Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas.  His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Think F-A-S-T!

Fasting: Jesus practiced it. So did the Apostle Paul. The first-century church often joined it with their fervent prayers. Those of us in the twenty-first century church need to restore this biblical discipline to our spiritual lives.

Why fast? Let me share four reasons that people fasted in biblical times.

 First, people sometimes fasted when they repented. In the Bible, people fasted because they were heart-broken over their own sins, as in Joel 2:12-13. They also fasted as they grieved over the condition of people they loved, as in Nehemiah 1:3.

Second, people sometimes fasted as an act of worship. Don’t imagine that biblical characters fasted only in times of grief or dire need or earnest prayer. They also used the practice as a way of celebrating their relationship with God. (See Luke 2:36-38.) It was their way of saying, “God, spending time with you is even more important than food!”

Third, people sometimes fasted in the Bible days when they requested something from God. (See Esther 4:3; Judges 20; 2 Chronicles 20; Ezra 8:21-23.)

Finally, people sometimes fasted in the Bible to refocus on the real priorities of life. They skipped meals to focus on the word of God (Matthew 4:2-4), or when they were busy with the work of God (John 4:32-34), or when they were caught up in the worship of God (Acts 13:2).

To remember these four points in the future, think F-A-S-T! Forgiveness, Adoration, Supply, and Training.

Do you need to lay out some brokenness before the Lord and repent of it? Let fasting accompany your cry for God’s forgiveness.

Do you need to spend time humbling yourself in the presence of our awesome God? Let fasting accompany your adoration.

Do you need something—rescue, guidance, healing? Let fasting accompany your request for God’s supply.

 Do you need to discipline yourself to put God above everything else? Let fasting accompany your spiritual training.

 This Sunday we’ll talk about how fasting can help your devotional life. It’s part of our campaign called, “Forty Days of Prayer.” Do you have a prayer request we can pray about during these 40 Days? Turn it in at www.hillcrest.church/prayer.

--Tom

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Trusting God’s Abundance

Maybe you missed the story of the 21-year-old who was arrested at an Indiana bank after he tried to cash a check for $50,000 that was signed “King Savior, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Servant.” Upon his arrest for bank fraud, a felony, authorities found several other checks that were signed the same way but made out in different dollar amounts, including one for $100,000. Last I heard, he was being held on a $1,000 bond.

And, no, the court wouldn’t take a check.

God really does offer some sizeable checks to his people. Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Luke 11:5-13).

Our prayers don’t always reflect that confidence. That’s why I can identify with the story in Acts 12. Herod had arrested Simon Peter with plans to execute him, “but the church was earnestly praying to God for him” (verse 5). When an angel miraculously rescued the church leader, Peter arrived at a home “where many people had gathered and were praying.” He knocked, and when the servant girl heard his voice, she exclaimed to the prayer circle, “Peter is at the door!”

Their reply? “You’re out of your mind.”

Yep. The church that had witnessed so many miracles couldn’t believe it when God answered their prayers for Peter.

We can be a lot like the folks in Acts 12. We’re often more prepared for God to say “no” than for God to say “yes” when we pray to him.

Don’t get me wrong. God doesn’t say “yes” to our every prayer, and we need to learn to trust him when our requests are turned down. But I think we disappoint God when we decide ahead of time what kind of requests match his ability and willingness. Ephesians 3:20 says that God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.”

And you can take that to the bank.

This Sunday we’ll talk about praying boldly. It’s part of our new campaign called, “Forty Days of Prayer.” Do you have a prayer request we can pray about during these 40 Days? Turn it in at www.hillcrest.church/prayer.

--Tom

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Warmed by the Word

After spending time outdoors in the dead of winter, it’s good to get inside and thaw out beside a fireplace. But imagine if your child entered the house with numb face and fingers, and he simply walked past the crackling fire and then stood on the other side of the room complaining of being cold. You’d probably tell him that he didn’t stand by the fire long enough to thaw out.

For some of us, that’s like our time with God’s word. We don’t sit with it long enough to let it warm our hearts. As the Puritan Pastor, Thomas Watson, said, “The reason we come away so cold from reading the word is because we do not warm ourselves at the fire of meditation.”

How do you meditate on God’s word?

First: Reread it. After you’ve read a passage of scripture, reread it again right away. You’ll be surprised at what you missed the first time.

Second: Rewrite it. Write out the verses longhand. In Deuteronomy 17:18, each Israelite king was to “write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law.” In our distracted age, physically copying out a passage of scripture makes you slow down enough to start noticing things.

Third: Restate it. This is useful for short passages or single verses. Emphasize a single word each time you restate it. Try it right now with Psalm 63:3. “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.” Restate that verse several times and emphasize a different word each time: Because. Your. Love. Is. Better. Than. Life. My. Lips. Will. Glorify. You.

Fourth: Recite it. Memorize a verse or two from the passage you’re studying.

This Sunday we’ll talk about why we should meditate on Scripture, how to do it, and what we can expect from it. It’s part of our new campaign called, “Forty Days of Prayer.” Do you have a prayer request we can pray about during these 40 Days? Turn it in at www.hillcrest.church/prayer.

--Tom

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Ask! Seek! Knock!

Ethelfrith was the Saxon king of Northumbria. When the pagan king prepared to conquer the Christian nation of Wales, he noticed among the Welsh forces a host of unarmed men. He asked who they were, and he was told that they were the Christian monks of Bangor, praying for the success of their army.

“Attack them first,” he ordered.

Though Ethelfrith was a pagan, he recognized the power of prayer. Do we?

 Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8).

On reading such a strong assurance from Jesus about prayer, some want to ask, “So, how do I make sense of my unanswered prayer in light of this?”

But Matthew 7:7-8 isn’t about that. There are plenty of scriptures to go to that help us deal with unanswered prayer. Romans 8, the Psalms, the Garden of Gesthemane—many other scriptures teach us how to trust God when we get no answer to our prayers. Jesus’ words in Matthew 7 are not meant for those with unanswered prayers but for those who aren’t praying at all. It’s a loud shout from Jesus to start doing what you haven’t been doing.

It’s time to talk to God. About your needs. About others. About our church’s ministry.

Our church will soon begin a campaign called, “Forty Days of Prayer.” We’ll see what the Bible has to say about prayer, and we’ll engage in some specific activities that will get us praying again.  

Do you have a prayer request we can pray about during these 40 Days? Turn it in at www.hillcrest.church/prayer.

Think of someone you can bring with you to this special focus! Just forward this email to them with an invitation to join you at Hillcrest at 10am.

--Tom

(Austin Phelps tells the story of the Saxon king Ethelfrith in his little book on prayer called The Still Hour. I just saw that it’s on sale for 99 cents here.)

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Devotionals Are for the Brave

If we’re not faithful in daily prayer and meditation, maybe it’s not so much a lack of time. Maybe it’s a lack of courage.

Courage? Does it really take bravery to spend some time in quiet reflection?

I think The Onion was on to something with their newspaper headline, “Sweating, Shaking Man Never Going to Spend A Little Time With His Thoughts Again.”

Of course, if you know The Onion, you know it’s a satirical publication. But there’s often a kernel of truth to the silliness. There was certainly a core of brutal honesty to their fictional report of “badly shaken 39-year-old senior account manager Daniel Tillison” who had made the mistake of taking a moment alone for quiet reflection.

“The worst part is, I actually did this to myself,” Tillison admitted. “I actually said, ‘I think I’d like a little time alone to think about some things.’ Then, for a few brief, horrible moments, I looked deep within myself and saw who I really was. It was honestly the scariest, most nauseating experience of my life.”

Would he ever do it again? The Onion reported, “Tillison said that if he ever again found himself alone and without the distractions of music, the Internet, television, or video games, he would repeatedly hit himself in the head with the handiest large blunt object to prevent any sort of return to his own innermost thoughts.”

I suppose it can be dangerous to get so quiet that we start questioning the worth of our assumptions and behaviors and priorities.

And maybe that’s why even those of us who are Christians prefer to start our day with the distraction of our Facebook or email accounts instead of our Bible.

Don’t be afraid to start your day with a little prayer and Bible study! In my daily reading, I reflect on a text until I can answer three questions: 

What do I need to praise God for?

What do I need to confess?

What do I need to ask God for?

It’s a simple routine to practice, but over time the results can be profound. Through this practice across the years I’ve uncovered assumptions I needed to change, or rebellions I needed to surrender, or new roads I needed to take.

Be courageous enough to start your mornings in quiet reflection!

--Tom

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Don’t Be Someone Who Stands for Nothing or Falls for Anything

Our culture faces a crisis of authority. Institutions that used to carry a great deal of authority now suffer a widespread loss of trust. The news media. Government officials. Police officers. Scientists. Church leaders.

Our distrust of certain authority figures might be well-founded. But as skepticism deepens, it leads people to one of two harmful ways. They end up standing for nothing or falling for anything.

Some stand for nothing. They become skeptical of everyone in traditional positions of authority. They don’t commit to anything, they become suspicious of any leader’s motives, and they refuse to join any group because they don’t want to be disappointed.

Some fall for anything. For these folks, the crisis of authority hasn’t led to noncommitment but to passionate commitment to questionable things. They no longer believe what comes from traditional sources of authority, but they’re quick to believe what’s posted on YouTube, or Reddit threads, or internet message boards. They fall for conspiracy theories and sketchy claims.

Don’t let our culture’s crisis of authority make you turn away from the one authority you can count on. We need to reengage with this holy habit: Treasure the Bible as your God-given guide.

Now, at first you might think this is part of the problem and not the solution. After all, biblical phrases and biblical imagery are used widely by those who spread questionable claims and odd conspiracies.

But such people aren’t treasuring the Bible. They’re exploiting it. They’re using it to sanctify a belief they already decided was true and a direction they already decided to take.

That’s not going to happen if you treasure the Bible as your God-given guide. We’re told in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”

God-breathed.

Useful for training in righteousness.

When we believe these two wonderful things about our Bible, we’ll treasure it again.

Let’s talk more about how to reengage with the Bible this Sunday. Join me at 10am on campus or online.

--Tom

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

A Has-Been or a Will-Be?

We like to use the word “adult” as a verb today. When we’re tired of our responsibilities we say, “I’m sorry, but I don’t feel like adulting today.”

In the Acts of the Apostles, a young man named John Mark failed at his first big chance to adult. He must have been honored when the Apostle Paul invited him on his first missionary journey. But halfway through, John Mark bailed. Life on the road got tough and he got homesick. He came from a well-off family (Acts 12), and John Mark had always known ease and comfort. He had never experienced anything so hard as life on the road, and he quit.

Paul refused to take him on his next journey. But a man named Barnabas invited John Mark with him on his own mission trip.

That second chance from Barnabas bore fruit. Twenty or thirty years later, Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4:11, “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.” The young man who had failed Paul decades earlier had become a reliable laborer in God’s vineyard. In fact, he ended up writing a New Testament book that bears his name: The Gospel of Mark.

Do you think Mark would have ever turned out like that had it not been for Barnabas? I don’t think so.

Lauren Bacall once said, “I’m not a has-been; I’m a will-be.” When Barnabas looked at John Mark’s failure, he said, “He’s not a has-been; he’s a will-be. I’m going to keep working with him because I know God can use him.” 

Barnabas lived up to his name. You see, his real name was Joseph (Acts 4:36). But everyone nicknamed him “Barnabas,” which is Hebrew for “Son of Encouragement.” Every time we see him in the Bible, he’s encouraging people.

Do you know of someone who could use your encouragement after a failure?

We’ll talk more about how to be an encourager this Sunday as I continue my series called “Reengage.” It’s your chance to reengage with some holy habits that bring life! Join me at 10am on campus or online.

--Tom

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.