Life Lessons with Dr. Steve Schell

10 - A Prophet at Home

For most of the past 30 years Jesus has been a normal young man in Nazareth, except, of course, for the fact that He has done nothing to disobey God. He had become the village carpenter, working alongside Joseph His stepfather, and He was regularly found studying in the synagogue and known to be a godly man by the whole village (Lk. 2:52). But over the last few months God has done some profound things in His life. He has been baptized in the Holy Spirit, fasted for forty days, was tempted by the devil himself and has ministered healing & deliverance to many people on numerous occasions. He has even risen up as a prophet and has driven the commercial activities off the temple grounds in a stormy confrontation during Passover. In other words, He is not the same person He was before leaving Nazareth. He is returning as the Messiah of Israel and the Holy Spirit is proving His claims in powerful ways.

What we see in this passage is an illustration of the principle that "a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household" (Mt. 13:57). Rather than rejoicing at what God is doing through someone raised in their own village, Nazareth exhibits more hostility toward the Lord than any other town in Galilee. Unfortunately, Jesus is modeling a pattern of rejection experienced by all who try to minister to the people closest to them.

 

To purchase Pastor Steve's new book Understanding Acts: Life-Changing Lessons from the Early Church, visit Amazon. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have free recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge. 

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9 - The Temptations of a Minister Pt 2

To understand these temptations of Jesus and to recognize how they might apply in our own lives, we must see that these are temptations designed to assault a particular kind of person: they are the temptations the devil brings against someone whose heart is set to serve the Lord. They are the temptations of a minister. Each temptation strikes at a different aspect of our Lord's commitment to serve God. Last week we saw Him tempted to break away from ministering only at the leading of the Holy Spirit. Was God going to let Him starve in the wilderness? Should He do a miracle that the Spirit hadn't led Him to do to save His life? His answer from Scripture meant that He would trust God's care for Him and God's power to speak what He needed into existence. On this episode we see the second and third temptations intended to undermine the Lord's ministry. In the second temptation the devil shows his success in corrupting the hearts of the human race. He tries to convince Jesus that it is impossible for Him to fulfill His calling without compromising with the sinful ways of the world. God's method of ministering in humility and suffering would never work. And trying to turn the world around using only the simple people who would follow Him was an impossibility even for God. Satan was trying to get Him to be more "realistic" and turn away from the path of suffering and rejection.

 

To purchase Pastor Steve's new book Understanding Acts: Life-Changing Lessons from the Early Church, visit Amazon. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have free recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge. 

And check us out on Instagram as well!

 

 

8 - Temptations of a Minister Pt 1

Jesus' three temptations in Luke chapter 4 are not just run of the mill temptations. They are the temptations of someone who is set on serving God and has an anointing and call on their life. So this is true of an earnest believer, a minister full of the Spirit. The devil also has temptations for that person. And the Lord will actually allow it; in fact, it is part of the process. And that's what we are seeing in Jesus' life here. We see the devil going after a person who is following after the Lord. 

To purchase Pastor Steve's new book Understanding Acts: Life-Changing Lessons from the Early Church, visit Amazon. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have free recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge. 

And check us out on Instagram as well!

 

 

7 - John the Baptist's Temptation

When people are touched by God through you, they often don't know the difference between you or the Holy Spirit in you. That is a dangerous moment when spiritual pride can come in.

John the Baptist had a powerful ministry. He was out calling Israel to repentance, and people by the thousands were coming out to him. This was a move of God. The Romans sent soldiers out to the Jordan River since there were so many people coming out to the river. And as they listened, even those soldiers were repenting under the conviction of the Spirit. With that much anointing, it would be really difficult not to take some of the credit. John the Baptist had to make the decision not to think of himself that way. 

To purchase Pastor Steve's new book Understanding Acts: Life-Changing Lessons from the Early Church, visit Amazon. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have free recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge. 

And check us out on Instagram as well!

 

6 - The Fruit of Repentance

The time has arrived for God to work His great salvation. And He has anointed and prepared a young man to be a prophet in Israel. As we look at John the Baptist's ministry, we see John challenging Israel with a call to repentance to prepare Israel for the Messiah. In this message we will define repentance and look at how God goes about bringing us to a place of doing it. 

To purchase Pastor Steve's new book Understanding Acts: Life-Changing Lessons from the Early Church, visit Amazon. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have free recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge. 

And check us out on Instagram as well!

5 - The Holy Spirit

For some reason when we think of the Holy Spirit we tend to think of Him as an emanation from God, some sort of impersonal power He uses to make things happen. But this thinking is wrong. He is not a power. He is not even a power with a personality. He is a Person whose presence is powerful. There is a great difference between an Impersonal force (such as gravity, electricity, magnetism, light, heat, wind or plant life) and a spirit. A spirit is the non-physical part of a person, and a person is the existence of a distinct personality which is made up of consciousness, will, emotion, reason, attitude toward God, recognition, unique potential and expression. So it is impossible for there to be such a thing as an impersonal spirit. A spirit is a person, or it is not a spirit at all.

The Holy Spirit is one of the three Persons who make up our God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These Three minister in complete harmony and unity. The Father has made us and chosen to save us. The Son has come to save us and intercedes constantly for us, and the Holy Spirit abides with and in us, making possible every change in attitude and every obedient action we do (Phil. 2:13).

To purchase Pastor Steve's new book Understanding Acts: Life-Changing Lessons from the Early Church, visit Amazon. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have free recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge. 

And check us out on Instagram as well!

 

 

4 - God's Hidden Kingdom

Why does God seem to hide His kingdom? Why does He do things in such subtle ways? You would think if God really wanted to save people, He would be dramatic and do things no one could question. 

As we look at the birth of John the Baptist and later Jesus' ministry, we see how Jesus conducted Himself and the way He organized things, and it left John the Baptist frustrated and questioning whether Jesus was the Messiah. All of this is to bring us to the place to ask ourselves: am I disappointed in Jesus? Because He is a clear person with clear values. And He does things completely different than we would expect.

 

To purchase Pastor Steve's new book Understanding Acts: Life-Changing Lessons from the Early Church, visit Amazon. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have free recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge. 

And check us out on Instagram as well!

 

3 - Christ in You

Last time we saw Mary receive the miracle of a supernatural conception. She became pregnant with the Son of God. Suddenly Jesus was living inside her, and the effect that His presence had on her and the circumstances surrounding her is a dramatic illustration of what all Christians can expect. After all, when a person believes in Jesus Christ, He also comes to live inside of him/her (Jn. 14:20, 23; Gal. 4:19; Col. 1:27). We carry Christ inside us in a different way, but like Mary our lives will be deeply impacted by this reality.

Unfortunately, there is an unbalanced teaching prevalent today that once a person becomes a Christian everything in life should go smoothly. Along with that is the teaching that when a person is truly in the will of God everything should proceed without hardship. Though this teaching has no real Biblical support it creates false expectations in people which, when unmet, leave them disappointed and alienated from God. There is no event in history which is more surely in the will of God than the incarnation and birth of His Son. It is the essential first step toward the salvation of believing humans. So, one would expect that God would arrange circumstances for Mary so that she faced little suffering as she fulfilled her appointed service. But that was not the case. In actuality, Mary faced an appalling list of heart-breaking events. It seemed that the presence of Christ in her ignited opposition everywhere she went. And yet God was always faithful to guide and provide for her as she needed it.

 

To purchase Pastor Steve's new book Understanding Acts: Life-Changing Lessons from the Early Church, visit Amazon. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have free recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge. 

And check us out on Instagram as well!

 

 

2 - Receiving a Miracle

It's true that the births of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ are unique events in history, so we might tend to assume there is nothing in these accounts that common believers like us can seek to put into practice in our own lives. But though we are reading about a very special miracle of God, the principles which are at work in Elizabeth and Mary, as they receive by faith what God has promised, are truths which should guide any of us as we seek to receive even the simplest miracles God wants to do in our lives.

 

To purchase Pastor Steve's new book Understanding Acts: Life-Changing Lessons from the Early Church, visit Amazon. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have free recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge. 

And check us out on Instagram as well!

 

 

1 - Hearts of the Fathers

The angel Gabriel explains that John the Baptist will become a prophet who restores many people to spiritual health. Quoting from the prophecy of Malachi, the angel states that when true repentance and faith comes to Israel there will be a marked transformation in the attitudes of men toward children. Though this is obviously a positive thing to have happen, it is surprising that men's attitudes toward fatherhood would become such an important sign to God. To understand why God would focus on this particular sign, we must first recognize the role He intended men to play in their families. After reading Deuteronomy 6:1-25 you'll see that God puts the primary responsibility for the spiritual formation of their children on the fathers. Of course, mothers have a great role to play in this as well (Prov. 1:8; 6:20), but when men refuse their part in this role it is a sign of spiritual decline. When men become spiritually complacent or ignorant, they tend to pass this duty off onto women and then proceed to teach by modeling how to live for the pleasures of this life and how to rely on self rather than God. On the other hand, after being revived, men once again take their responsibility to teach their children about God. After all, people who are right with God long to teach their children about God.

 

To purchase Pastor Steve's new book Understanding Acts: Life-Changing Lessons from the Early Church, visit Amazon. 

Also check out our website at lifelessonspublishing.com for additional resources for pastors and leaders. We have free recorded classes and other materials offered at no charge. 

And check us out on Instagram as well!