Author: Matthew Ball

Facebook, Twitter and Unrealistic Expectations

In less than ten years, Facebook has grown from a small network of Harvard students wanting to stay connected to a worldwide phenomenon with over 1 billion subscribers.  Twitter was launched just a few years ago by Jack Dorsey.  Today there are over half a billion users and that number is growing by 135,000 a day!

Social media has become part of our everyday lives.  It’s radically changed the mode of communication in the 21^st century. Some people love it. Others hate it.  But, love it or hate it, Facebook, Twitter and the growing number of other social media platforms are here to stay.

Social media can be a valuable tool.  It can be used to report up-to-the-minute news, promote a cause or just stay connected with old friends.  But like anything else it can also be used for less-than-honorable purposes.

A brick can be used to build a school or break a window.  How it’s used depends on whose hand it’s in – a builder or a thief!  Whether social media has a good or bad impact depends upon the person using it.

Social media is a great tool in the church world.  It’s used to connect with people, promote missions, offer encouragement and even share the Gospel.  Unfortunately, it’s also used as a platform for gossip and criticism.  It’s sad that marital infidelity oftentimes begins with inappropriate interaction on social media.  But, just like we don’t outlaw bricks because some people use them to break windows, we can’t ignore the value of social media or boycott it just because some people misuse it.

There is another, less-obvious danger of social media – especially in the church world.  What we read on Facebook or Twitter can result in us having unrealistic expectations about our churches and ministries.  If we’re not careful we’ll compare our behind-the-scenes life with everyone else’s highlight reel!

You know what I’ve NEVER seen on Facebook or Twitter?  A post like this from a pastor or church leader….

“Terrible crowd today.  Worship was dead.  Praise team missed it.  My sermon never got off the ground. Met with a family after church who’s decided to leave.  I feel like quitting.”

Never once have I seen a post like that.  It’s always something like this:

“WOW! Unbelievable service today!  Packed house.  497 baptized.  Miracles of healing.  Message was incredible!”

The truth is we all have sub-par church services on occasion.  Sometimes our sermon just isn’t that good.   Sometimes the praise team chooses the wrong song.  Sometimes disgruntled people leave the church.  But we don’t ever share that.  I wish people would on occasion.  I think I will.  The next time we have a sub-par service, I’m going to share the “not-so-spectacular” report on social media.

When, multiple times a day, we read all the great victory reports, we are tempted to compare our week-in and week-out reality with other people’s best moments!  We think, “Why isn’t my church seeing those fantastic results every week?”  The reality is that we all have off weeks; we just don’t post about them.  Facebook and Twitter can set us up for unrealistic expectations.  Nobody (but Jesus) is on 100% of the time.  I have a secret about that pastor who just posted that incredible report – it was probably his first post in 10 weeks!

I’m not implying that we should be timid about reporting the great things that God is doing.  We should not keep silent about growth, revival and victory!  (As long as our motives are about exalting Him and not us.)  I just think that when we ONLY share the pinnacle moments, we can actually discourage others when we are hoping to build their faith.  Perhaps when I have a “not-so-great” week and share it on social media it could actually be an encouragement!  I love to hear great reports of what God is doing in churches around the world.  But when I hear a great pastor of a great church admit that sometimes even he has an off week, I realize I’m not alone in being human.  To me, that’s encouraging.  I’m not encouraged by someone else’s bad week, but by the reality that, if another pastor had an off Sunday, but he’s pressing on – then I, too, can recover from a bad Sunday and go on and have revival!  Being honest about my own weaknesses may even bring a greater dimension of God’s strength into my situation.

I’m not advocating that we use social media to give glory to the devil (bless his holy name!) I just think a little honesty would serve us all better than implying that EVERY Sunday is “Off the Chain!”

~ Pastor Ball

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The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is a cornerstone of our Faith.  The apostle Paul said if Christ is not risen from the dead, then our faith is vain and we are still in our sins.

Jesus showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs – proofs of His resurrection!  There is not sufficient space in this short blog to discuss the enormous amount of evidence of Christ’s resurrection.  If you’re interested in a thorough discussion of the subject, I recommend Josh McDowell’s book, “The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict.” http://www.josh.org/.  I would, however, like to discuss just one fact that points to the Risen Savior: His enemies never found a body!

The Jewish religious leaders viciously opposed Jesus throughout His ministry.  After His death they reminded Pilate that Jesus had spoken of a resurrection. They asked Pilate to place a guard at the tomb and seal the entrance so His disciples couldn’t come and steal His body then say He had resurrected.  Pilate agreed to their request.

The Jewish leaders knew where the tomb was.  Their watchful temple guard knew exactly where Jesus was laid.  They were prepared to go to any lengths to suppress Christianity.  All they had to do was produce a body!  All they had to do to put an end to the Jesus movement was produce His body.  All they had to do was put Jesus’ corpse on a cart and parade it through the streets of Jerusalem and Christianity would have died with its Christ.

But there was no body.  The tomb was empty. He arose on the third day!

The Romans persecuted the Christians.  They tried to rid them from their society.  All the Romans had to do was show Jesus’ body in a tomb and that would have ended it.  Are you telling me that the Emperors of Rome did not have the means to produce the corpse of Jesus if there was a corpse?  Augustus? Tiberius? Claudius? Nero? The only thing these Caesars had to do to expunge Christianity was produce a body.  Find His resting place.  Find His body.  Display His corpse in the public square with this inscription:

“Here lies Jesus of Nazareth – impostor who claimed to be God – who said He would RISE again.  Here lies His body!”

That would have sealed the fate of Christianity.

But the Jews and Romans – enemies of the Church –  are throughout all history strangely silent!  They never claim a body.  Why is that? There was no body. He got up!  Jesus resurrected on the third day just as He had said.

Some skeptics say, “The disciples stole His body!”  But what of the Roman guard?  What of the watchful Jewish leaders and the temple guard?  History makes it plain – an official Roman guard would number between ten and thirty trained soldiers.  Due to the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ death, the number of the guard assigned to this tomb was undoubtedly larger!

The tomb was sealed with the imperial seal of Rome, which would have been a high crime to deface.  Roman history is clear that the punishment for quitting a post was death!  Fear of punishment produced faultless attention to duty – especially in the night watches.

And what about the stone?  The stone was so enormous that it would require up to twenty men to move it.  How could the disciples have stolen His body?

The greatest proof of the Resurrection is that the greatest enemies of Christ could never find His body.  If Jesus had not risen, the Jews or the Romans would have found His body, paraded it through the streets and sealed the fate of Christianity.  But they never found a body.  The reason is simple.  On the third day Jesus came out of the grave, victorious over death and hell, and is alive forevermore!

-Pastor Ball

Matthew 19:13 – Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray…

Years in a carpenter’s shop had taken its toll on Jesus’ hands.  They were likely calloused and rough. They had felt the pain of a splinter.  Did the Son of God ever miss the nail and smash His finger? I’m not sure, but I do know His hands were the hands of a carpenter.

But, they were unlike the hands of any other carpenter.  How could hands so calloused and rough also be so gentle and tender?  How could the touch of hands so accustomed to wood, be able to reach into the spirit of a man?  When His disciples were sore afraid, He simply touched them and said, “Be not afraid” and the fear melted away.

They were no ordinary hands.  With His hands, He broke and blessed a boy’s lunch, multiplying a few loaves and fish until it was enough to satisfy a multitude. When Peter was sinking in the darkness of Galilee’s sea, it was Jesus’ hands of grace and compassion that lifted him up.  Jesus reached down and scooped up a handful of soil, mixed it with spittle, then daubed the earthy paste on a blind man’s eyes bringing him the miracle of sight.

They were not just any hands.   A heartbroken woman, with a tearful parade of grieving loved ones, was following the casket of her only son.  Jesus stopped the procession and touched the bier.  Death could not resist the life in those hands – the dead boy sat up and began to speak!  Jesus’ hands were unafraid of the dreaded disease – they touched the leper and brought healing and hope. They were the hands that touched Peter’s mother-in-law and healed her of a fever.

They were no ordinary hands.  Those hands reconnected a severed ear from a bewildered priest.  Those hands took water and towel and washed the disciple’s feet.  Those hands took up a whip and drove out the money changers who were defiling the House of God.  They were hands like none other.  They were the hands that Roman soldiers would stretch on a wooden cross and drive nails through.

It’s no wonder parents brought their children to Jesus and asked Him to put His hands upon them.  They were hands of healing and restoration.  Power and authority flowed from His hands.  Life and hope were in His hands.  Lay your hands on my children and bless them, they asked.

We’ve all commented of someone that “the hand of God is on them!”  We’ve all prayed ourselves and said, “God, put your hand on my life.”  May we never pray that prayer lightly!  It’s more than a figure of speech.  I truly believe the Carpenter of Nazareth can put His hand upon us.  If I know His hand is upon me, then I know I’ll be alright.  If just a measure of the anointing and power that flowed from His hands would be upon us, we would fear no assignment or any devil that opposed it.  In Acts 11:21, the Bible says, “And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.”  If the hand of the Lord is with us, no task would be too great and no barriers could hold us back.

If He would put His hand upon us, it would surely transform every facet of our lives – our spirit, our speech, our smile, our compassion for others, our thinking, our prayer, our worship and our calling.  I want His hand on me!  I want His fingerprints all over my life, ministry and family.  Like a master potter who shapes the clay with skillful hand, I want His hand to mold me into His image. Like wood in the hands of a carpenter, I want Him to take my life and make something glorious out of it.

Ask Him today, “Jesus, put your hand on me!”  When the disciples sent the parents away, Jesus rebuked the disciples and said bring the children to Me.  I will put My hands on their lives.  If you will ask, He will not send you away.  He is not too busy to lay His nail-scarred hands upon your life today.

~Pastor Ball