THE VERY BEST LIVES ARE ALL ABOUT JESUS
John1:14 ESV
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory,
glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth”
April 1, 2024
Sweet Jesus’ Smile
Praise God for those
who in their hearts
trust Jesus so
their every word,
their deeds, their thoughts,
their obedience
to His Word
work in their hearts
and with their hands
and with their feet,
but most of all
upon their face,
their eyes aglow
with glory from
His glows, showing
forth with fire and
light for all the
world darkened so,
then most of all
a brilliant smile
which warms and shines
for it reflects
sweet Jesus’ own.
Yes, the very best lives are all about Jesus. How could we who experience Jesus’ Resurrection Power in our daily lives fail to give Him glory. Like Mary Magdalene, we must declare with victorious joy, “He is Risen!” In my own Christian life I have been challenged and inspired by the lives of totally surrendered believers, whose lives declare day-to-day the glory of living with Jesus as their Savior and their Shepherd.
Pastor Haggai accomplished much in the Lord’s Kingdom, but lived his life humbly, always pointing people to Christ, not himself.
As I settled into life in Nigeria, I faced many surprises, most of them pleasant. I had never in my life met such exuberant friendliness in so many people. I had never run into such a hunger for learning, and in particular, for learning and living out the Word of God. I had never met people who so naturally honored God and desired to serve Him. In reality I also had to face some big adjustments, but those were mostly physical, and God gave grace, and triumphed over them all.
Many of my most pleasant surprises came in the person of Nigerian Christians who both challenged and inspired me in their Christ-likeness, in their joy in Christ, and in their daily strength in the face of difficult circumstances. From the first time I met him, Pastor Haggai impressed me. When I encountered him in class for the first time, I was surprised to see a grown man among these fourth-year English students. No one had actually told me how Baptist High School allowed Pastor School graduates to earn a diploma as a means of improving their credentials in the national pay table.
Needless to say, I was impressed with this influential local Christian leader, willing to put on his school uniform five days a week and to write sentences on the board and take quizzes just like his younger classmates. The more I got to know him, the more impressed I became. He almost always wore a great big smile. In a culture which emphasized respect for position, age and leadership, Pastor Haggai cheerfully stepped down into the role of a student, and always did his best. He daily reminded me of Jesus, who stepped down from Heaven to become like one of us, so he could clearly demonstrate the godly life among us.
After years of faithfully serving a growing Tudan Wada Church, which also developed a strong English section, Pastor Haggai gracefully stepped down and moved back to his own village, where he served as their Pastor until his retirement. His leadership there came at a crucial time in the midst of ethnic and religious persecution of his people. God had this strong, humble leader in the right place at just the right time.
I have to mention Pastor Haggai’s providential combination of excellence in pastoral service along with his humble, congenial spirit which encouraged people to heed his Biblical preaching, teaching and mentoring. And to top it off, he had the biggest, the broadest and most genuine of smiles. God’s Love shone clearly in that smile.
Now, his daughter serves as Vice-Principal at Baptist Hgh School, Jos. She and her husband minister actively, carrying on, and extending the impact of his life of humble service. They bring faith, love and hope into the midst of some of the neediest around them, following in Pastor Haggai’s footsteps, just as he so faithfully followed Jesus.
How powerfully, how beautifully Jesus shines through the lives of people like Pastor Haggai. Even as such people smile Jesus shines.
If you haven not read It’s All About Jesus, you can order it in printed or digital form from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Christian Books.com and Westbow Press.com. This book contains inspiring stories about the wonderful Christian people I met in Nigeria and Niger.
THEN, IT’S ALL ABOUT GOD’S PEOPLE
John 3:16
For God so loved the world
that He gave His only Son
that whoever believes in Him
should not perish
but have everlasting life.
Koininia communities
gather God’s children beloved
together as He chooses, calling
His own for His eternal glory
and their day-to-day good
in the midst of their joys
and in all of their worries—
with complementary gifts
and compensatory strengths
his family emerges
for the telling and living
of His own merciful story.
Just like these beautiful springtime daffodils lining the pathway, God lines up Christian mentors and friends to encourage and strengthen us.
In my life it is all about Jesus. He owns me for He came from Heaven to seek all sinners. He lived out His life in a difficult time in the midst of Rome’s tyrannical rule. He walked many a mile on rugged roads and slept many a night on the hard, stony ground. He prayed through many a night, seeking the Father’s strength and direction for yet another tough day, living out God’s Will to provide salvation for anyone who chooses to believe in Jesus as their Savior.
I have been blessed from the very beginning of my life to be surrounded by God’s People in both my family and in my church. My parents and my grandparents daily lived out their own faith in Christ as they raised my brother, my sisters and myself in a home where we were taught to love God and each other. We were involved in Bible Study, worship, children’s and youth activities where Christian adults loved and nurtured us in the faith.
Since deciding to follow Jesus, I have constantly been shepherded by Christian mentors and leaders. I could name Sunday School teachers, Training Union leaders, R.A. leaders, and several of my school teachers. Then, there have been a long series of faithful Christian servants, who have exemplified for me the Christian way as they challenged me to discover how rich and adventuresome is life sold out completely to Jesus. They literally challenged me to recognize that life is more about God’s glory than my sense of self-satisfaction.
My college Pastor, my Summer Missions Director, Christian families in Ludowici and then in St. Marys, Georgia; all pushed me to go deeper, ever deeper as I trusted more in God and less in me. In Ludowici God gave me a clear call into missions service. In my mind He reviewed for me how He had been working through Jesus, the Holy Spirit and His People to prepare me for His Purpose in missions. Then He continued to put me among people who nurtured me and blessed me—always with the love of Christ—as He prepared me for my thirty-seven years in Nigeria and Niger.
I have always loved being among a people united by the love of Christ, and excited about doing service for His Kingdom together. So, one of the biggest challenges of my life over time has been having to say good-byes. I got so attached to the wonderful faith family at First Baptist, St. Marys, God had to raise up a fellow youth minister and a deeply faithful Christian family to ask me His own question: “So, Mike, just what are you doing about God’s call on your life for missions?” So, before I knew it, events moved along quickly and I found myself living out God’s perfect plan for me at Baptist High School in Jos, Nigeria.
From beginning to end, God’s road which took me to the place He made and redeemed me for was crowded with wonderful family, friends, teachers, mentors, pastors—and most of all the loving Presence, Persistence and Patience of my Savior and Shepherd, Jesus. As I said, it is and has been all about Jesus, and praise be to God, His People.
In future posts I will be highlighting how beautifully God has used some of these people as His tools to mold and shape me, to make me all His, all for His glory.
Camellias delight me in the springtime. They seem such a sweet reminder of God’s Love.
It (Really) Is All About Jesus
It’’s all about Him, my Jesus, my loving Lord and Savior,
whether in my past or in my now or in my future, forever;
it’s all about Him who obediently left His throne in glory
and was born a peasant who was welcomed in a manger,
it’s all about Him who sought out those
who most desperately
needed His touch, His words, His stories
of healing and of wonder
as He lovingly touched the blind, the defiled, the sinner and the leper
and immediately set them free
because He brought God’s Love to them;
it’s all about Him—I am totally and completely His,
for He bought me
with His pure and perfect, sinless, blood
He spilled upon the Earth
because He longs to welcome all His children home around His Throne
where all peoples, tribes and tongues
will worship Him in eternal glory.
So, you see, this world, this life (REALLY) is all about Jesus. He is the Savior who God in Perfect love offers us. We need a Savior because we, every single one of us, fall short of God’s perfect plan for our lives, not just for the here and now, but forever. We cannot make ourselves good; we must trust in HIs power and His provision in the person of Jesus. It is God’s desire to walk in fellowship with everyone of us. So, Jesus came miraculously as the Son of God and the Son of Man to live among us, to befriend us and to teach us, to feed us and to heal us, to give us life, to willingly die for us and to rise again victorious—having paid the penalty for our disobedience to God and our sin against Him and each other.
Now, all of this may sound like a standard defense of basic Christian teaching; but for me it is much more: For seventy years now, I have lived and tested and proved the truth of everything the Bible teaches us about Jesus. Blessed by Christian parents, encouraged and taught by faithful Christian men and women, shepherded supportively by Gospel-preaching churches; I was found by Jesus as my Savior early on.Though I lived a typical mischief-filled life as a young boy, He faithfully guided me and protected me, kept bringing me back into His Way—I the lamb and He my Shepherd.
My life has been much more than good, all because of Jesus. He has used His people to inspire me and to teach me, and His Holy Spirit to correct and guide me. He has given and developed my natural gifts and spiritual gifts as He called me into teaching. He has given me Christian mentors who have lovingly and patiently guided me in His Way through His Power and according to His Word.
He has granted me a loving, faithful and Christ-focused wife, and two wonderful children and their families. He has given us a calling which took us to Nigeria and then to Niger where we discovered powerful Christ-loving brothers and sisters in the faith who walked along us as we explored together, learning for each other the glory of His plan to build His church in both of those African nations.
I intend to share stories and God’s Work in and through the people and events which have so shaped my life, always for His glory and always deepening my joy, whether in what seemed victories or defeats. These years have hurried by, but God’s faithfulness has been constant. His direction has been constant. His glory has been sure.
Welcome to my blog!
Welcome. My name is Mike Stonecypher, author of It’s All About Jesus. I’m so happy to have you as a visitor to my blog about my new book. This project is very special to me, and I hope to share some of that excitement with you here.
I’ll be using this blog to interact with you about It’s All About Jesus, expanding on some of the topics in it and blogging on some of the ideas related to my book. This is a great place for you to get to know me, and I’m looking forward to getting to know you, too. What did you think of It’s All About Jesus? What questions do you have for me? How do you relate to my book?
I’ll be returning here frequently with new posts and responses to feedback from you. Until next time, tell me a little bit about yourself.
