Author: Joel Stiff

Psalm 3:1 Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me.

So, you’re going about your day, minding your own business and doing your work.  Out of nowhere, someone pops up and criticizes you for what you’re doing or how you’re doing it.  “You shouldn’t be doing this.”  “You shouldn’t be doing this that way.”  “I’m going to tell everyone I know that you are a terrible person.”

These people are self appointed gatekeepers.  You never asked for their opinion.  You never sought a consultation from them.  They just noticed what you were doing, decided they knew better than you and started to criticize.

Most of the time, they have no idea what they are talking about.  They don’t have all the information.  They know none of the details.  Yet, they feel qualified to form an opinion.  Social media allows them to form a digital mob.  Pitchforks and torches take the form of likes and retweets.

Nehemiah gave us the pattern to deal with such critics.  Ignore them.  Sanbalat and Tobiah called for a meeting five times before Nehemiah even responded.  And when he did respond, he asked them why he should stop his work and come down to deal with a mob who weren’t interested in reasoning anyways.

When we respond to the mob, we legitimize their criticisms as valid.

Better to ignore them and keep working.

After my tenure on the Andy route, my pastor needed some help.

His secretary was the captain of the Moses route, but he felt he needed her on property Sunday mornings and not on the bus.  She loved that route and the kids.  He hated to ask, but needed her at the church.  He came to me and asked if I would be able to take the route.  I was overjoyed.

The last Sunday was scheduled for our old captain.  On that day the workers and I planned a big farewell party for her.  We promoted the day and had a great attendance.  The children wrote her notes of love and appreciation.  We put a crown on her head and served cake and drinks.  I still remember the tears on her cheeks as she was grateful yet sad.

I had the route for about a year before I headed off to Bible college.  We had some crazy promotions like a small haunted house in the basement of one of the Sunday school buildings.  I got in trouble for cutting the pony tail off of a boy.  He did ask after all, but his mother was not amused.  One of the men who helped drive became good friends with me.  I can’t count how many Domino’s pizzas we washed down with Vernor’s together.  He’d slip me the occasional Butterfinger candy bar.

I learned so much about reaching people from the bus captains at our church.  Route lists, Saturday visitation, songs and games on the bus and winning kids to the Lord were all part of the curriculum.  The thing that rubbed off the most, however, was the heart they had for the kids.  It was as deep a love and concern as I had ever seen.  They taught me to recklessly give my heart to the people I served.

When we came back to Flint to start our church, we used to treat our kids after a long day of visiting.  One night we were sitting in a Dairy Queen and a young lady working there approached us.  She said, “Are you Joel Stiff?”  I said I was.  She then told us, “When I was a little girl I rode your Sunday school bus to church.  I still remember getting saved and baptized.”  I couldn’t believe it.  She rode that bus almost thirteen years before as a little girl and she remember me.  It was the first time I became aware that what I was doing made a lasting difference.

One pastor of mine called crossing people’s paths who you’ve helped in the past “clipping coupons”.  I liked it.  It made me want to do more for Jesus.

Since I became a Christian, I have worked on bus routes.

The first church that allowed me to come had a single bus that they ran on Sunday nights.  The bus picked up adults that didn’t have any other way to church.  I wasn’t needed on the bus, but I wanted to ride and they let me.  I was just trying to be involved in as much as I could at the church.

The church that I attended with my parents had a bus ministry with six routes.  Every Saturday, our pastor held a bus meeting at 10:00 AM.  I would show up early to make sure the room was clean and the chairs were set up.  Each bus route was named after a person from the Bible and was represented by a flag.  The bus meeting consisted of singing some bus songs together, a funny skit was performed and then our pastor would give us a challenge from the Bible.  We would then dismiss and go and visit our routes.  We would go and see all of the regular riders and then knock on doors looking to sign up new kids.

I started on the Andrew bus route.  We picked up some pretty rough kids.  I got drilled in the nose and laid out in the aisle of the bus by one kid who thought I was being too hard on his brother.  Eventually, the route became so rough that our pastor had to make the call to shut it down.  The route still existed but became one that picked up mentally and physically disabled teens and adults.  I was given charge of a young man named Eddie.  Eddie was about 25 year old.  He didn’t talk but he always had a smile on his face.  He was strong as an ox.  He wore a parachute harness .  My job was to keep a grip on the harness at all times.  If I ever let go, he may get up and take off running.  Eddie and I got used to one another.  I learned his mannerisms.  I sat next to him in church and he would just sit there smiling.  He would start to rock back and forth, gently and slowly at first, but then he would pick up in speed and intensity.  This was a sign that he was going to jump up and run.  I would release his harness from my grip while sitting in church, but if he started to rock, I would grab it.  He would jump up and try to run, but I was able to pull him back into his seat.  Sometimes, I would get wrapped up in the sermon and Eddie would start to rock unbeknownst to me.  He would jump up and take off like a rocket and start making laps around the auditorium.  On more than one occasion, I had to jump up and chase after him until he was caught.  Our pastor would have to stop the sermon until I caught Eddie and returned him to his seat.

While no one ever considered not letting Eddie come to church in spite of his potential for distraction, it was probably considered that I not get to handle Eddie.  I was the only one fast enough to catch him though.

 

 

At this point in our growth as a Christian family, we were divided.

I had started to attend the church within walking distance of my home where the youth pastor received my friend and I so well.  My parents and brother were attending the church where the pastor had come to call on us.

My dad and brother were going to be baptized on the same Sunday.  My mom requested that I come and see them.  After a bit of protesting, I agreed to come.  At the time, I was a bit stubborn and often insisted on getting my way.  For the record, I am nothing like that now.

The morning of their baptism, I joined my family in the service.  I was introduced to the pastor and met some of the people.  I enjoyed myself, but still had plans to return to my church.

It was at this point that God really began to work to bring us all together.  This was going to involve breaking my will, something He has had to do repeatedly in my Christian life.  Due to my voracious study of the Bible, a doctrinal inconsistency came into view.  It was a significant enough matter that I could not see how I could stay there.  Knowing I needed a little more nudging, the Lord allowed me to see some things occurring in the youth department that I could not justify as acceptable behavior.

At this same time, my parent’s pastor invited me to attend a pastor’s conference with him.  Not thinking I would take him up on the offer, my mom mentioned it to me one night.  Since I had already felt the call of God to preach, I was thrilled at the opportunity.  Surprised at my enthusiasm, she called to let him know I would be coming along.

The Monday of the conference I had breakfast with the Pastor and his wife, Dave Berger, the man who had led my dad to Christ and a teen boy from the church.  The four of us guys would be spending the week together.  I kept my distance by maintaining silence and just listening to the conversation.  I liked everybody in the group, but still felt like an outsider.  They all accepted me with open arms and I felt more comfortable as the week went on.

I had never experienced anything like that week.  The spirit, the music and the preaching opened a new world to me.  On Wednesday night after church, I felt comfortable enough to ask the pastor about my concerns with my church.  He showed me from the bible where the answers to my questions were and why my intuition had been correct.  At the Thursday night invitation, I walked forward and for the first time made public my surrender to preach the gospel with my life.  There was no going back.

On the trip home, I asked if I could join the church.  The pastor smiled as he reassured me that I would be a welcomed addition.  As a pastor now myself, the humor of asking if I could join the church is not lost on me.  Having people desire to be a part of your church to serve along side of you is one of the greatest joys.

That Sunday I attended church with my family.  After night church, my youth pastor from the other church called me.  He asked how the conference had gone and asked if I was at church with my parents that day.  I had been wondering how I would break the news to him.  I said I was.  He replied, “Just visiting I hope.”  I said, “Not exactly.”  The phone went silent.  In five minutes there was a knock at the door.  I opened the door to find my youth pastor standing there with tears streaming down his face.  He asked if we could talk.  I told him what had happened and what I believed God was doing in my life.  He said that he would not want to be the one to stand in the way of my growth.  We hugged and said good bye.  As a pastor now myself, I also know the incredible heartache involved in losing someone you have loved and invested in no matter what the reason.

From that day on, our family began a journey of serving God together that has lasted until this very day and I pray continues for our lifetimes.

I also will be forever indebted to the man who helped me start my journey as a Christian even if we weren’t able to finish together.

 

While God was pursuing me, He was also after the rest of my family.

My mother had been saved as a young girl.  My dad had been an altar boy, but never had a relationship with Christ at all.  My brother was a nine year old boy who had barely ever been in church.  God was now after us all.

A new pastor had come to town.  A family member out of state knew of his arrival and requested that he come and see our family.  He did and was warmly received by my mother.  My father not so much.  He did his best to avoid the man’s visits.  My mom made the commitment to visit his church and began to attend regularly.  At first she went once a week, but soon became a three service a week attender.

She would come home and relay the goings on to my dad.  The people she met, what happened during service and different things the pastor said in his sermons were brought up.  Eventually, my dad started asking about her times there.  He was growing curious.

One Wednesday night, my brother was not feeling well and my mom asked my dad if he would keep an eye on him while she went to church.  My dad expressed that he was hoping to go that night.  My mom excitedly acquiesced and let him go.

At this time, my dad was how I had always known him.  He had long black hair to the middle of his back and a thick full mustache and beard.  His apparel was made up of blue jeans, Harley t-shirts and biker boots.  He accessorized with a buck knife on one side of his belt and a chain wallet on the other.  He was well known for his love of motorcycles, Winston cigarettes and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.  And he was going to church on his own.

He rode his custom chopper to the church, chained it to a telephone pole and went inside.  No one gave him a second look because they had been praying for him for weeks.  They didn’t care about his appearance or his mode of transportation.  They were just glad he was there.

The pastor taught his lesson and when people were coming forward to pray, my dad came along with them.  A man named Dave Berger met him at the front, shook his hand and showed him from the bible how he could know for certain he was on his way to Heaven.  My dad prayed to receive Christ that night.  His life would never be the same and neither would our family.

I thank God for a church that loved my dad enough to meet him right where he was and gave him the gospel.

While looking through an old bible I used to take to Sunday school, I came across a gospel tract that listed some verses from the book of Romans.  I later learned that these verses were often call the Roman’s Road.

The first two verses explained that I was a sinner.

Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Sin is what separates me from God.  It is my rebellion against Him that causes the breach in our relationship.

Romans 5:12 explains the depth of this problem.

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

I am not a sinner because I sin.  I sin because I am a sinner.  Adam being the father of the human race and the first man to sin has now passed the sin nature to all mankind.  My sin is a problem that has to be dealt with.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Just as disobedient children have to be punished by their parents, disobedient people are punished by God.  God’s holiness will not tolerate our sinful condition.  The person who dies in his sinful state will go to hell and be tormented forever.

Where the holiness of God issues a debt, the love of God offers a gift.  The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.  Forgiveness of our sins, salvation from our sinful state and a home in Heaven for eternity is given to us by God through His Son Jesus.

Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, died in my place.  He paid the penalty for every sin I would ever commit.  He suffered the punishment that was due to me.

The final ingredient is faith.

Romans 10:9, 10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Putting our faith in Christ is how we accept God’s gift.  There is no man, no religion, no church, no denomination and no amount of good works that will overcome our sin debt.  It is Jesus and Him alone that gives us eternal life.  Faith in anything other than Jesus is misplaced faith.

I accepted God’s gift by faith and expressed it through prayer.

Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Whosoever meant anyone including me.  Calling upon the Lord is done through prayer.  Shall be saved means saved from my sin, from Hell and to Heaven.

I prayed something like this:  Jesus, I believe and confess that I am a sinner.  I realize that I deserve to go to Hell, but I don’t want to go there.  I believe that you died on the cross to pay for my sin.  I ask you to please forgive me of my sin and give me a home in Heaven when I die.  I’m putting all of my faith and all of my trust completely in you and you alone to get me there.  Thank you Jesus for dying for me.  Amen.

That was it.

It was understanding:

1. I was a sinner in need of forgiveness.
2. Jesus died in my place so that I could have forgiveness.
3. I put my faith in Him and what He did to obtain that forgiveness.

It was a decision of my heart to look to Jesus to do for me what I could not do for myself.

If you’ve never done this personally, you can do it right now.  In fact, if you’ve never prayed and asked Christ to forgive you and save you, you should do this right now.

 

As soon as I became a Christian, I went for the total immersion program.

The basics helped build my foundation and continue to be what sustain me today.

• Bible – The Bible was new to me so diving into its stories was fascinating.  Every character, every type of literature, every principle and every doctrine awed me.  I was reading and studying for hours every day.  My youth pastor was also providing me with discipleship materials to work through.  After spending the last thirty years in the word of God, I get even more from it now than I ever did.
• Prayer – The art of talking to God blew my mind.  I have never had a conversation with a president or anyone famous.  Most people of any public stature would not bother to take a call from me or respond to an email.  But I can talk to the Creator of the universe with zero notice.  I can chat, complain, ask questions, seek consolation and make my requests made known to God.  He not only will hear me, He wants to hear from me.
• Church – I started my Christian life by getting to every service every week.  I still do.  I love church.  I love the music, the people, the atmosphere, the smell, the sights, I love it all.  I get to church every possible opportunity I have.  I get to every activity I possibly can.  I love church.
• Serving – I learned early on that living for others provides much more satisfaction than living for self.  No one loses his life that gives it in service for others.  I have laid carpet, painted walls, fixed buses, taught children, worked with teens, cut down trees, sang, preached, built structures and countless other activities.
• Sharing my faith – telling other people what happened to me and helping them know the same joy is what I do.  I gave my life to God to preach the gospel.  I can’t imagine doing anything else.

The Christian life is indeed a journey and not a destination.  For thirty years, I have walked with the Lord and hope to do so for at least thirty more.  I plan to finish how I started.  Total immersion.  God gave His all and His best to me.  How could I do anything but the same?

After being told we were not welcome at two churches, we decided to try a third.

We devised a plan to sneak in this time around.  Service started at 11:00 AM so we were going to let the service begin and then slip in.  We would sit on the back row right by the door and then when the closing prayer was being offered, we would get up and leave.

Our plan worked perfectly.  At five minutes past eleven, we walked in the building and slipped into the last pew by the door.  When the pastor had us stand so he could close the service in prayer, we took off before anyone could say anything to us.

I don’t know if we enjoyed the service or enjoyed getting away with being there, but we decided to come back that night.  Again, we came in shortly after the service began and as the pastor was praying at the end, we got up and left.  As my hands hit the bar to open the door and leave, I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard a voice say, “Not so fast.”

I turned and saw the man who had stopped us.  He looked at me and said, “You got away this morning, but I wasn’t going to let you do it again tonight.”  I felt a sense of dread come over me thinking that we were about to be bounced once again.  This time, however, the man smiled at us and said, “Hi, I’m Pastor Rick, the youth pastor here at the church.  I’m glad you came.”

Wow, what a relief.  He spoke with us a few minutes to learn our story and said we were welcome back anytime.  For the next six months, Pastor Rick would welcome us and disciple us.  I owe a strong basis for my faith to this man and the time he invested in me.

It’s amazing what can happen when, instead of turning people away, we accept them as they are and help them become what God wants them to be.

So my friend that God used to influence me to come to Jesus was named Frank and it was my great Uncle Frank’s church that my dad used to drive me to.

God used two Franks to get me started in my Christian life.

As soon as I trusted Christ as my Savior, I wanted to be baptized.  I knew that’s what Christians did and I wanted to do it.  I called my Uncle Frank and told him I had gotten saved and asked him if he would baptize me.  He was overjoyed about my decision and gleefully agreed.

He then asked, “How is two weeks from now?”

“Two weeks!” I retorted. “C’mon Uncle Frank. I want to do it as soon as possible.”

Well as far as Uncle Frank was concerned, two weeks was as soon as possible.  So, two weeks later I was baptized.

Matthew 3:16 “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:”

Four things about baptism:

1. Baptism is by immersion.  Jesus went to a river to be baptized.  The bible says He came up out of the water.  You’ve got be be under something before you can come up out of it.  Baptism also symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.  Immersion under the water does those three things.
2. Baptism comes after salvation.  Philip told the Ethiopian eunuch that if he believed in Christ, he could be baptized.  Only someone who is capable of comprehending the gospel and puts his or her faith in Christ should be baptized.
3. Baptism is thus limited to adults and children capable of accepting Christ.  Acts chapter two describing Pentecost says, “they that gladly received his word were baptized”.  Nowhere in the bible do we find infants being baptized.
4. Baptism is only a symbol.  It does not save our souls.  It does not wash our sins away.  It pictures two things: the death, burial and resurrection of Christ; and the transformation from the old life lived in the flesh to the new life in Christ.  A good example is a wedding ring.  Putting a wedding ring on the finger of a single person doesn’t make them married.  A married person taking off a wedding ring doesn’t make them single.  It is simply a symbol to show others that a person is married.  Baptism doesn’t make anyone a Christian.  It is simply a symbol to show others that we want to be recognized with Jesus.

When I was fifteen, Frank and I were inseparable.

We played tennis together.  We roamed the streets together.  We made money together.

Whenever we had $5, we would go to John’s Pizzeria on Davison Road and order a large cheese pizza with two waters.  John’s $4.99 coupon helped make this happen.

Frank was different from the rest of the kids I hung around.  He went to church.  He didn’t just go to church, he was committed to his church.  He even cleaned the buildings every day as a volunteer.  The church had a private school that Frank didn’t get to attend because of money, but he was there every day after school dismissed to clean up after the students that did.

It was Frank’s devotion to what he believed that brought back to my memory all of the times I had been picked up on the bus or driven to my Uncle Frank’s church.

One night after hanging out with Frank and talking church, I went home and picked up the Bible that I had taken to church many years before.  Inside that Bible was a gospel tract. It told me how I could know for sure I was on my way to Heaven.

That night I read through the tract, got on my knees and prayed.

My life has never been the same since.