Caleb trusted the Lord to conquer life’s challenges. He was about forty years old when he first entered the Promised Land. He went on an assignment with Joshua and ten other leaders to check out the land that had been promised to Abraham.
Caleb’s Faith
The land was filled with abundance, especially compared to the desert in which they had been living. However, it was also filled with a great enemy and fortified cities. Caleb and Joshua saw an opportunity for God to fulfill His promises. The other ten spies saw only the obstacles. When they reported back to the rest of the nation, Caleb and Joshua’s minority report was not received well.
Forty Difficult Years
For the next forty years, Caleb was forced to wander in the desert. It was not even his fault. He had trusted God to keep His promise even when the faith of others faltered. Instead of losing faith, Caleb remained faithful.
Forty years later, Caleb and Joshua got to see the fulfillment of God’s promise to the nation of Israel. Fortified cities and great armies fell as God led them into the Promised Land. As the other tribes begin to settle in, Caleb continues to walk in faith.
God’s Promise Has No Expiration Date
At the age of 85, Caleb reflected on the land God had promised him 45 years earlier. That land remained unconquered. In fact, the three major cities in that area were inhabited by the decedents of giants. However, Caleb remained confident in the failing promises of God.
In Joshua 14, Caleb came to Joshua and confidently asked that he be allowed to take the land of the giants.
“Here I am today, eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. My strength for battle and for daily tasks is now as it was then. Now give me this hill country the Lord promised me on that day, because you heard then that the Anakim are there, as well as large fortified cities. Perhaps the Lord will be with me and I will drive them out as the Lord promised.” Joshua 14:10-12
Trusting God to Overcome
Caleb refused to focus on the many obstacles. The giants, the fortified cities, even his advanced age could not prevent the Lord from fulfilling His promises. In fact, he kept his focus on the promises of God, knowing that the power of God could overcome his weaknesses.
We can chose to focus on our weakness or we can focus on His strength.
Caleb could have easily whined about his lost opportunities. The best part of his life was spent in the desert instead of the land the Lord had promised to him – and it was not even his fault. However, Caleb refused to wallow in regret. He chose to keep his eyes focused on the future the Lord had planned for him.
Bottom line: We can complain about the lost opportunities from our past or we can trust the promises of God and attack the challenges in front of us!
We must proclaim the Good News as if lives depend on it. BECAUSE THEY DO!
A word not spoken or expressed in writing is not a word at all. It is only a thought. The words given to the church by Jesus, its founder, were intended to be spoken so His message could reach lost souls. “So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.” (Romans 10:17)
There is Hope Where the Gospel is Proclaimed
“Son of man, can these bones live?” This question was posed to Ezekiel by the Spirit of the Lord. Ezekiel responded that only the Lord knew the answer to that question. He was commanded to speak the word of the Lord to the bones saying, “I will cause breath to enter you, and you will live.”
The spiritual condition of the North American church in recent years has caused many to prophesy its downfall. Many wonder if there is hope for these dry bones. Hope resides in the same place it did for Israel in Ezekiel’s vision – ultimately an outpouring of the Spirit of the Lord. History teaches us that there must be a proclaimer of the Word of the Lord. Someone who will declare the hope that only comes from God’s life-giving Spirit.
A Burden for Evangelism is Needed
It wasn’t so long ago that the heart of the American church was alive with the desire to proclaim the Gospel. James S. Stewart began his Yale lecture in 1951, “Today as never before there has been laid upon the heart and conscience of the Church the burden for evangelism.”* Though that heart for evangelism is needed more than ever, the Church in America today does not reflect the passion of which Stewart spoke.
The need for believers who would be faithful in proclaiming the Good News is as old as the news itself. While looking over the distressed throngs of people Jesus proclaimed, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.” The streets of every city are filled with people who need to hear the Gospel message. Disciples of Jesus must be “moved with compassion,” as He was in Matthew chapter nine, so they will enter the fields for the harvest.
The Clear Message Must be Proclaimed
The job is not a complicated one. Peter and John were clearly “uneducated and untrained men,” but they were greatly used by God to launch the church. They proclaimed a simple message. Jesus, who was crucified and raised from the dead, is the only “name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”
Stewart proclaimed in the same lecture series, “The first axiom of effective evangelism is that the evangelist must be sure of his message. Any haziness or hesitation there is fatal.” Jesus must be the focus of any true Gospel presentation, because salvation cannot be found in any other name.
There are many plans for sharing the Gospel, but there is a great danger in over complicating the message. The best plan for telling others about Jesus is the simple one that you will use consistently.
The Apostle Paul gave us a simple formula for proclaiming the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.”
Speak the Words of Life
WORDS NOT SPOKEN WILL NEVER BE HEARD. There are many times we are better off not speaking. When it comes to the Good News WE MUST SPEAK. The dry bones need to hear a message of life. The Spirit of God can revive what looks dead. The promise of Jesus is true today. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
JESUS IS THE ONLY HOPE OF SALVATION. Our friends need to hear this crucial news from us.
* James S. Stewart, A Faith to Proclaim (NY: Scribner’s Sons, 1953).
Many precious memories have been made around a bed of glowing coals in the midst of family camping trips. As a young boy I remember stoking the fire on the banks of Lake Travis at a place dad called the “Narrows.” We’d swim and ski during the day. Then we’d run trotlines every five or six hours, even during the night. Of course, someone would make sure to keep the fire going while the boats were out on the lake
My love for camping and campfires has continued throughout life. I grew up toasting marshmallows, but it was Susan who introduced me to a delicacy called S’mores. Since then I’ve taken pride in becoming the best S’more toaster on the planet. Whether near the beaches of Florida, canyons of Utah, sequoias in California, mountains in Alaska, or near the geysers in Yellowstone, camping is just not the same without the glowing coals of a waning campfire. It is when the logs are burned down, and the coals are glowing bright orange and white that one finds the perfect heat for toasting marshmallows or cooking fish.
The Charcoal Fire in John’s Gospel
This kind of fire is mentioned twice in the Gospel of John. It is around the anthrakian (translated “charcoal fire” or “fire of coals”) that we find two important events in the life of Simon Peter. Events that Peter must have remembered the rest of his life.
Peter’s Denial
The first time we find Peter around the charcoal fire is in John 18:18. Jesus had just been arrested after a long night of prayer in the garden. Peter had promised to remain faithful only a few hours earlier. However, he had fallen asleep there in the garden. Things moved quickly in the dead of night. Judas betrayed. Powerful men came. Jesus surrendered. And now at the coldest part of the early morning, Jesus was being questioned while Peter warmed himself by the charcoal fire.
It was in those moments of exhaustion, confusion, and fear that Peter found himself at his weakest. Within earshot (and eyeshot) of Jesus, a young servant suggested that Peter was one of the Galilean’s friends. Peter denied it. Then another recognized him. He denied knowing Jesus again. Then a third said he’d seen them together. This time Peter denied with even more fervor.
Then it happened, just as Jesus said. A roster crowed at the dawning of the morning. Peter knew what he’d just done. He looked toward Jesus and Jesus was looking directly at him. His heart was broken. He’d done the very thing he promised he’d never do. He denied his teacher, his mentor, his friend when Jesus needed him most. Peter went away and wept.
Peter Returns to Fishing
Much had taken place in the intervening weeks. After watching Jesus beaten, nailed to the cross, and die, Peter had seen the empty tomb. Jesus even appeared to him and the others a couple times. But things still weren’t the same. Peter had found out just how weak he was. He had denied Jesus. His future was uncertain, and he wasn’t sure what to do next. He decided to do the one thing he knew well – go fishing with a few of the others.
After a full night on the water, they caught nothing. As the sun began to rise, a man standing on the shore began to chat with them. He told them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat. When they did, their nets were full!
Jesus on the Shore
The memories began to rush in like a flood. John shouted it, but Peter already knew! The man on the shore was Jesus, the Lord! Peter couldn’t wait on the boats and fish. He just dove in the water and swam to Jesus. When they gathered around, they found that Jesus had prepared a perfect cooking fire, a charcoal fire, and served them a breakfast of fish and bread.
The boats were nearby on the shore. The nets were full of fish. And their bellies were full of fish. As they sat around charcoal fire, Jesus looked at Peter and asked him a probing question. “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Peter’s replied, “Yes, Lord. You know I love you.” Jesus told him “Feed my sheep.”
Jesus asked a second time in a slightly different way. Again, Peter replied in the affirmative. Then a third time, Jesus asked “Do you love me?” Peter replied, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
Peter is Restored
It must have been then that Peter realized the depth of what was happening. Of course, Jesus knew that Peter loved Him, but did Peter know that he loved Jesus. He denied Jesus at such a crucial time. Certainly, Peter was a failure as a disciple. What he needed to know was that Jesus already knew and Jesus wasn’t finished with him.
Peter had given up on himself and gone back to fishing. Jesus wasn’t ready to leave Peter in that place. Peter was to be the leader of His church. He would feed Jesus’ lambs, shepherd His sheep, and feed them when Jesus was gone. Peter needed to be reminded that he had been called away from the boats and nets three years earlier. Now was no time to return to that life.
Jesus needed him to respond to the call to become a “fisher of men” now more than ever. He needed a reminded that he loved Jesus more than the boats and nets and late-night expeditions. He loved Jesus “more than these.” Jesus still had a job for him that bore eternal rewards.
The Warmth of a Charcoal Fire
The charcoal fire (anthrakian) only appears two times in all the New Testament. The first time Peter was huddled around it keeping warm as he denied Jesus and journeyed into a dark valley of despair. The next time Jesus had prepared the fire on the shore. As Peter sat around with his Lord, he was reminded of his love for Jesus and the purpose to which he had been called years earlier. Peter was restored to the mission for which he had been called. He was to be a fisher of men.
Here’s betting that Peter rarely sat around another fire without remembering his weakness and Jesus’ forgiveness. The charcoal fire did more than warm his hands, it warmed his heart.
The glowing bed of hot coals is a gentle reminder that Jesus has a purpose for me. Even when I fall and when I fail, He is able to restore me. In fact, He already knows and His plan remains.
Jesus and his disciples were in Galilee. It was still early in His ministry. He had sought some private time with His disciples, but the crowds continued to pursue Him into the deserted place near Bethsaida.
After feeding over five thousand with a few fish and loaves of bread, Jesus sent the crowds away and withdrew to pray with his disciples. It was here that He asked them a couple crucial questions. The first question concerned what others were saying about Him.
While he was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” – Luke 19:8
The disciples reported that the crowds were unsure. Some thought He was John the Baptist. Others believed He was a prophet sent by God. Jesus then turned His attention to the disciples asking them, “Who do YOU say that I am?”
Our world is still confused about Jesus’ identity. The Time Magazine cover article on August 15, 1988 was titled, “Who was Jesus?” Simply phrasing the question in past tense indicates that Time misses the truth of Jesus, the eternal, resurrected Lord.
Peter got the answer correct. He simply responded, “You are God’s Messiah.” Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One, the deliverer who God had promised to send. A few days later, Peter would ascend a mountain with Jesus, James, and John. On that day, he witnessed an amazing event. As Jesus was transformed before Peter’s eyes, He appeared with Moses and Elijah. God confirmed Peter’s belief when a voice from the cloud spoke, “This is my Son, the Chosen One, listen to Him!”
The world will continue to miss the identity of Jesus. Our faith does not depend on a consensus of authors or scholars. We must all answer the question that Jesus asked the disciples for ourselves.“Who do you say that I am?” For those who profess Him as the Messiah and Lord, with our mouths and lives, God will confirm our faith with His presence.
I serve a risen Saviour, He’s in the world today
I know that He is living, whatever men may say
I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer
And just the time I need Him He’s always near
He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives?
He lives within my heart.
Jesus on the Shore