The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Feeling Alone at Church? God Works Through The Remnant

Episode Date: April 5, 2018

Do you feel alone at church? Perhaps your parish does not offer faith formation programs and while you want to start one, no one else seems to be interested. Perhaps your feel like the only parishioner who actively wants to deepen their faith. Today, Jeff offers you words of encouragement. God often works through the remnant (a small remaining quantity of something). He may be calling you to do something within your parish. God depends on the remnant to bring the gospel to the world. What can God do through you in your parish? Do you have comments or questions for Jeff? Use the comment box below, or email Jeff at [e-mail]. You may hear your question or comment in an upcoming podcast episode!

You're listening to The Jeff Kaven Show. Episode 59, Feeling Alone at Church, God Works Through the Remnant. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavins. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven Show. Hey, thanks for joining me again this week, coming to you.

right from the old log cabin in the deep woods of Minnesota. Not kidding this week, we are experiencing an unusual spring snowstorm where we're getting up to about eight inches and it's just begun. I got a fire in the fireplace, keeping the place warm and it's starting to look beautiful outdoors. And you think I'm kidding. So I actually had a couple people write me and say, Are you really in a log cabin in Minnesota? And the answer is I absolutely am looking out over the lake, which is frozen because we in Minnesota walk on water.

I don't know if you knew that, but we do. But yes, I am. I'm in an oak log cabin with snow all around. I've got the fireplace going and really look forward to coming out here. This is actually where I write. I write books in this cabin. And I also speak to you. I come out here and just spend some time talking to you about everything that really relates to discipleship and our relationship with the Lord.

And I can't tell you. And I'm being, I'm totally transparent when I say this. I think about you all throughout the week because I'm always thinking, what can I share? I love to share something, you know? And the Lord has me in this place right now where it's just a beautiful thing to talk to you about the Lord and the good things of Jesus. And so much of what I'm sharing with you, to be honest with you, is what he's doing in my own life as well. And I'm really enjoying that. I'm also recently, I don't know if you've noticed on Twitter, my name on Twitter is just Jeff Kaven's. And I am putting up something every day

that is something that is thought-provoking, something that makes you think, you know, about your relationship with the Lord. And it's not something I'm just coming up with. They're things that I'm thinking about in my own life and I'm sharing with you. So I encourage you to go over to Twitter and to subscribe there and follow. And every day I'm trying to share, I'm trying to share something with people that will really make a difference in their life. In fact, just today, I put up two things. One was related to the topic today. Do not be discouraged if you're on fire for the Lord, but find yourself in an atmosphere. where others are not. God has always worked through the remnant. The Messiah came through a remnant

people, Israel, and you'll continue to work through people like you. And that's just a word of encouragement that I put up today. And in less than a half an hour, already 44 people have said, man, that speaks to me. And so that's what I want to share with you is that type of thing. Also put up one just a few minutes ago. Please pray for all those who are going to the Holy Land with Father Mike Schmitz and myself in May. Your prayers will make a difference in the lives of our pilgrims. Thanks for your faithfulness. And some of you have been writing me actually about our pilgrimages to the Holy Land. And at jeffcavens.com, I have all the information for next January's pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Man, I wish you had come with us. We have such a great time. And every trip is such

inspiration in my own life as I see the Holy Land as the stage on which the biblical drama takes place bring great meaning to people's lives and it's just it's it's it's so much fun by the way so many of you have gone to iTunes and Google and you have you have ranked the show and you've made comments about the show and we really thank you for that that's been a great a great blessing to me and I encourage you that if you're going to listen to the show go ahead and and some comments because it does something to the algorithm that allows other people to find the show a little bit easier. Well, today I want to talk about, are you feeling alone in your parish? Are you? So many people will say to me, whether on the road or an email or a tweet,

they'll say, I'm feeling so alone. I'm feeling like a minority within my own parish. I want to get Bible studies going. I want to get adult faith formation programs going. But I can't seem to get anybody on board or more often what people are telling me is that there's not a program in their church. They don't have a Bible study. They don't have an adult ed programmer or they don't have anything for the teens, you know, those types of things. And they want to know, well, what do I do? Well, what I want to share with you on this particular show is, number one, don't be discouraged. And I'll tell you why. I'm going to go through the Bible in just a moment and show you that God actually works through the remnant, the remnant.

And I looked up that definition. The remnant is defined as a small remaining quantity of something. And if you are feeling alone in your parish at St. So-and-so church in somewhere USA, and you're feeling like there's just not a lot going on there. Well, it might be because you are feeling like part of the quantity, this remaining quantity, of something and that it's not getting the job done. But here's the second part of it. God may be calling you to do something extraordinary, even as a minority, as a remnant in your parish. And I know what that feels like. You know, I think a lot of people know what it feels like to be in a parish

where there's not a lot going on, but they get on Twitter, they get on Facebook, they get on the web, and they, you know, they watch TV and listen to radio. And they hear about all kinds of wonderful things that are happening around the country and parishes, and yet they feel like their own parish is not on fire. And there's a number of reasons that people give, you know, for that lack of zeal in their parish. It might be their pastor. It might be a deacon. It might be just a, you know, a lack of parents getting involved, whatever it might mean. But I don't want you to be discouraged. I want you to be encouraged because God can do amazing things through a remnant. is one of the beautiful things about the kingdom of God is that the Lord is not dependent upon

numbers. He really isn't. He's not dependent upon numbers and he's not dependent upon movie stars and rock stars and, you know, politicians and all that. I mean, yay, that's great that they're with us and all that. But that's not what he's dependent upon. He is actually dependent upon the remnant. He's dependent upon those who are weak that give their lives to him, and he depends upon them to bring the gospel to the world, and they do. If you look at the lives of the saints in each of their stories like Mother Teresa, St. Therese, or Teresa of Avala, or if you go back to some of the earlier Saints, Athanasius, and others, I mean, these are not rock stars in their culture. You know, in fact, they're the least of the least in many cases, and yet God use them to do very extraordinary things, and that is a lesson for all of us, that it isn't the talent, and it's not the ability that you exhibit that will be translated into a powerful parish. It is the talent that God has given you exercised by God, and it's not your ability, but your availability to be used.

in your parish. And the exciting thing, and I run into this all the time. The exciting thing that I notice happening in parishes around the country is when people who feel like they're alone begin to do things in their parish and they see the wonderful work of God in individuals' lives. And I want to encourage you to start thinking about that. What can God do through you in your parish rather than waiting around for God to send someone to feed you or bless you. You might be the person. In fact, every time someone comes up to me and they say, I've got this idea. I got this idea in our parish, you know, that we want to have this adult ed program where they meet with their teens once a month and they do this and that and they come up with a, you kind of a plan. And I'll say,

great, that sounds fantastic. And who's going to do that? And they go, well, we don't have anybody. Well, you might be the one to do that. Seriously. you might be the one. So if you're feeling alone at church, don't be discouraged. God works through the remnant. And again, what's the remnant? A small remaining quantity of something. And that's something in your church might be the faithful who love the church, love Christ, love the blessed mother, love all of all that the church has to give us. But the temptation is to be discouraged. So as I said in my tweet earlier this morning, do not be discouraged if you are on fire for the Lord, but find yourself in an atmosphere where others are not. God has always

worked through the remnant. The Messiah came through a remnant people, Israel, and he will continue to work through people like you. And my friend, that is the truth. That's the truth. And the DNA, one of the things that I am always in marvel of is the DNA, the spiritual DNA of apostolic ministries of people who exercise apostolic zeal. There's a DNA there that even though they know they're in the minority, even though only a few people show up, they continue on because they know that God does something phenomenal with mustard seeds that nobody else can do. He can multiply. And I see this particularly in the young, in teenagers and young adults who have this wonderful apostolic zeal to change the world.

I remember when I was, let's see, what was I? I think I was 19, 19 years old in Bible College in Dallas. Texas. And I can't tell you that the zeal that all of us had was so contagious, you know, that God was going to do amazing things in our lives, even though we were so small, so little, nobody knew who we were, but yet, man, we had that zeal. And I think that's part of the DNA, the spiritual DNA of the young in the church. And if you ever get around somebody who has that kind of zeal, don't ever squelch it. You know, encourage you. You know, encourage you. And them. You can do it. God will use you. God will use you to turn the world upside down.

And I would say that more times in my 20s than my 30s or 40s or 50s, more times in my 20s did I say, all things are possible through Christ who strengthens me. We can do anything through Christ. We'll turn the world upside down. Everybody's going to hear about Jesus. We've got to get that back. We've got to recapture that perspective on life in the face of what looks like a small, small group of people because that's the way the Lord works. He started with 12 disciples and he turned the world upside down. Now what I want to do, I'm going to take a break here and when I come back, I'm going to go through some parts of the Bible with you. I want to show you how God works through the remnant, through this remaining small, small remaining quantity of something,

which is you. And he can do amazing things, okay? You're listening to The Jeff Kaven Show. And if you're looking for a way to learn more about your Catholic faith, I invite you to check out the Ascension Presents YouTube channel. You're going to find tons of free videos featuring Catholic presenters like Matt Frad, Leodero, Jackie Bobby Angel, and Emily Wilson. Go to YouTube.com slash ascension Presents.

That's YouTube.com slash ascension presents. And if you like what you see, please share and subscribe. Hey, thanks for coming back. Staying with us. We're talking about feeling alone at church. Well, God works through the remnant. Don't be discouraged. And he delights in working through the remnant.

He delights in working through the minority and through the weak. And in the week, he's strong. And that's what Paul said. You know, Paul said, when I'm weak, I am strong. and you feel like you're not the wisest, fantastic, that's who he uses. And so it's an upside down kingdom, and I love it. So let's look at the Bible here for a moment, shall we, and see the pattern of God working through the remnant.

You can go all the way back to the early parts of the book of Genesis, and you'll see that the world was populated with people at this point, and that the majority of the people were not quite on board with what God was doing, but Noah and his family were. And so God chose Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, their wives, Noah's wife. And so you've got eight all together there. And in the face of overwhelming odds with the wickedness of that generation, God moved through the remnant. He moved through the small remaining quantity of something. and that something was the faithful. That was Noah.

And so you have the story of Noah and the flood going on the ark with two of every kind of animal, 40 days and 40 nights of rain. And then afterwards there's the subsiding of the water. And Noah and his family come out and God makes a covenant with Noah. There you have one of the first examples of God working through the remnant. He worked through the remnant. Now, Noah could have sat back and said, you know what, this plan is so screwed up. I mean, look at this.

There's eight of us, and look at how many wicked people perished in this flood. But he didn't. He kept going on. And then you move on to Abraham. Abraham and his wife, Sarah. They lived over in modern-day Iraq, Ur of the Chaldeans, it was called back then. And here's God choosing one man. and one woman as a rock that will be a force to deal with, and they will start a movement

that today, you know, we consider Abraham our father in the faith, and yet he was a minority. He was raised in a place where they worship the moon God, and he was faithful, and he sought God out. and in the midst of a culture where they worshipped many, many gods, polytheistic culture, God revealed himself to Abram and said to Abram, there's really, there's one God, and that's me, and he ent challenged Abram to move from Erv the Chaldeans over to Heron, which is northwest, and then down to the land of Canaan, to the land that he would show them and give them. And so again, you see God moving through the remnant to do something, something special. spectacular. Now, Abram could have said, hey, where is everybody else? Why am I the only one that

seems to be on board here? What about everybody else? I'm not going to get involved with this if there isn't some quorum, you know, if there isn't some kind of majority that we can work from. That's never been the way that God worked in history. And he's not going to work that way in your church either. He's going to work through the remnant and something beautiful can happen and thousands of people's lives can be changed. But if you're waiting for everybody to get on board before you throw your, you know, your hand into the ring, so to speak, that's the wrong attitude. So you got Noah, you got Abram. And then there's Moses. Moses was certainly in the minority in Pharaoh's court. And it's really beautiful what God did with Moses is that he took Moses and literally felt, I'm sure,

he felt isolated. You know, when he was a young man, he ended up killing another Egyptian who was hurting fellow Hebrews, and as a result, he had to go into exile out into the desert. For 40 years, he was out there. You talk about feeling like a minority. You feel like, feeling like you're a remnant. All your people are back in Egypt, and here you are on the backside of the desert, and God speaks to you and says, Moses, go to Pharaoh and say, let my people go.

And I imagine Moses felt like, oh, am I the only one? But God used him in a powerful way. And he used him, even in his name, Moshe, which means to draw out in a prophetic way. He was named Moses. He would draw his people out of bondage, but it wasn't from the perspective of strength. in numbers. It was the lack of numbers and minority. And God used him in a powerful way. In fact, he says, I love this as a result of Moses and the Hebrews coming out of Egypt. Then later we see that we have the nation of Israel. And God reminds Israel in Deuteronomy 7. I'll put this in the

show notes for it. In fact, I'm going to put all this in the show notes. We do every week. and pause time out we're going to send all the show notes to you from now on if you will sign up if you'll just simply send me an email this is a major time out you got to hear this if you send me an email at the jeff kaven show at ascensionpress.com the jeff kaven's show at ascensionpress.com and ask for the notes we will send them out to you every week we'll put you on a list we'll send you the notes including these right here Back to the show. Here's what Moses said in Deuteronomy 7, 7 through 9 about Israel. This is so beautiful. And maybe take it to heart.

Maybe you feel like this in your parish. Quote, it was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love upon you and chose you. For you were the fewest of all peoples. But it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath which he swore to your fathers that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.

unquote. Isn't that beautiful? Ah, I love that. And that's a word from God for you today. It's not because you were more in number. It's not because you were more beautiful or you were more educated or that you're taller or shorter or from the right side of the tracks or whatever that the Lord set his love upon you and chose you because you were actually the fewest. That's what he says to Israel. You want to know the truth.

You were the fewest. It wasn't you weren't the greatest. And again, we see there that God works through the remnant. He works through the small remaining quantity of something. It's like the feeding of the 5,000 in the New Testament. In the feeding of the 5,000, they got 5,000 men plus women and children. And Jesus wants to feed them. And he asks them, what do you have?

And they said, well, we've got five loaves and two fish. And Jesus says, fine, give it to me. And he blesses, Baruchata, Adonai, Elohino, melech haulam. Hamotzi lecham, min ha'rits. Blessed are you, Lord our God, king of the universe, who causes bread to come forth from the earth. And he took that remnant, and he fed the 5,000 plus. Do you get it? That's how he works.

Don't be afraid of minority numbers. Don't be afraid of the fact that nobody else. is participating. If you know the truth, then get involved because he'll work through you in a powerful way. You weren't the greatest. The Lord loves you and he's keeping the oath which he swore to your fathers that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand. You can go on after that and you see the book of judges. You see Gideon. Gideon was called on by God to fight the Midianites. guess what Gideon's excuse was. My parish is too small, and I'm not even on a committee. That's my modern translation. Take that up with the theologians.

Gideon was the least of his tribe, and his tribe was the least. It says this in judges, pray, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? This is what Gideon says to the Lord. How can I deliver Israel. Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manassah, and I'm the least in my family. And the Lord said to him, but I will be with you, and you shall smite the Midianites as one man. Now, let's take that apart for a second there, because that's actually very, very powerful, isn't it? And what we see there is that God calls Gideon to deliver Israel from the Midianites. and Gideon is just full of excuses. Do you know people like that?

Maybe you're like that. Maybe I've been like that. I'm sure I have from time to time. We're filled with excuses and the excuse goes something like this. Well, I don't come from real great background, you know? I mean, I'm not really skilled and talented at this or that. And in fact, I'm the least of my family. And that's the excuse that Gideon comes from.

but listen to what the Lord says and this is the key right here this is the good news for you this and that is this god says to gideon who's filled with excuses god says but i will be with you lord i don't have enough money but i will be with you lord i'm not real talented at speaking but i will be with you lord i don't have an education in this area but i will be with you but the people don't know me very well. But I will be with you. But I wasn't raised on the right side of the but I will be with you. But it's a new pastor. He doesn't know, but I will be with you. No matter what we throw at the Lord in terms of excuses as to why he can't do a great work in our parish, he will always come back with yet I will be with you. I will be with you. I will be with you.

and that is a beautiful, beautiful thing. King David, you can move on in salvation history. King David was what? He was the youngest of his brothers. He was the little kid that showed up when his oldest brother was going to fight the Philistine giant. Remember him? Goliath?

And this little twerp, David comes from Bethlehem, and he's listening in and he says, what's the reward for the guy that kills the Philistine? Well, he gets the daughter of Saul, Michael, is her name. And his brothers were bothered because the remnant, the little dude, was coming up to the battle line. And they said, well, you're just showing off, you know, you want to make a name for yourself. And King David's, no, no, no, no, the Lord can do this. And it was the remnant.

It was the, what did I say earlier at the beginning? It was the small remaining quantity of something that's King David. it. And you know the story. In Hebrew, it says he beat the snot out of them. It's a little more severe than that in Hebrew, but he defeated Goliath. That's right. The small remaining something defeated the giant. And then, of course, you come to the New Testament. You've got the disciples and the disciples were chosen by Jesus. But remember, if you've heard my podcast in the past on and how to become a disciple of a great rabbi, you'll know that the fact that they were all fishing

when they were chosen means they were not chosen by some great rabbi. They were told to do their father's work, fishermen, carpenter, you know, a shoemaker, whatever it might be. They were out there making a living when Jesus called them, which means that they were not chosen.

And again, we see in the choosing of the 12 that those who were not chosen were chosen to change the world. It's the remnant. It's all through the Bible. It's all through Scripture. And if you're feeling like that that's happening in your church, then rejoice because God can use you in a powerful way. I love it. You know, I'm really reminded of also the hidden riches of God. that we don't see in our parish.

It's true that you might feel like the only one that is there and you're the only one that is quote unquote orthodox, not that we use these terms, you know, liberal and conservative and so forth. It's faithful and unfaithful, actually. But we oftentimes will think we're the only one and God will sneak in sometimes and say, hey, hey, I got a lot more here that you don't even know about. If you start networking with other people in your church, you're going to find other people who feel like you. You're going to find other people that feel like they're part of the remnant and they want something to happen in the parish.

You can lock arms with them, lock visions with them, and make things happen in your parish. I'm reminded of Elijah, the prophet. Remember when he took on the prophets of bail and afterwards it says, and there he came to a cave and lodged there? I'll have it to know it's First Kings 19. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah, in this cave? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the people of Israel, have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword.

And I, even I only, am left. And they seek my life to take it away. Unquote. Bring on the violins. It's all over. that's the way Elijah felt and God comes back and says I have so many more that you don't even know about who are faithful to me and oftentimes that's the way it is and perishes when we feel so alone and God says you know what you're not really alone not only am I with you which is number one

yay but there are other people too and so I want to encourage you this week if you feel like this to know that, number one, you're not alone. God is with you. And there may be, number two, there may be more people than you think. And number three, God works through the remnant. He delights in showing forth his power in weakness. He loves to do it. And if you feel weak and you feel dumb and you feel inadequate,

quit. You are ripe for being used by God. Just give yourself to them this week. Give your gifts and talents, your vision, and your apostolic zeal to Jesus and watch what he does with it. Don't be afraid of the numbers. You know, when I first put the Bible timeline out there, if you're not familiar with it, it's a series that I teach it, which takes people all through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. You can find it on ascensionpress.com. come. When I first went to publishers with the idea of teaching Catholics the entire Bible in 24 weeks, you know what I was told? They'll never do it. It's too long. It's too deep. Catholics don't read the Bible. They're sacramentally oriented and they're not going to go that way. You know what

I said to them? It's not true. It's God's Word. And I felt so alone and so small in the face of publishing companies. But there was one, a good friend Matt Pinto in Ascension Press that said, let's do it. Let's do it. And today, some would argue it's the largest Bible study in America now. And that's due to the fine work of Ascension Press and all of the people that work there and the great work they're doing. Yeah, we've all felt like a minority. We have. But look what God is doing. And perhaps he's doing that with other ministries as well that I'm not. I'm not. not even aware of, and I'm sure of it. And that's the way he is. So be encouraged. Hey, by the way, if you are, as I said at the beginning of the show, if you're interested in going

a little bit about my schedule, I go to Israel every January and I lead pilgrimages there, they tend to fill up quickly. If you're interested in going to Israel with me next January, go to my website, jeffcavens.com. Up at the top, there's a tab for pilgrimages, and you can get your space locked in on that trip. This one's proving to be a very popular one. We're going to have a good trip, good people. Coming up in April, I'm going to be going to Ireland. And in May, Father Mike Schmitz and I are going to Israel.

I'm not sure when that's going to happen again, but every few years or so, the two of us will lock arms and fly on over and lead people on wonderful pilgrimages. but if you're interested go there and and oh by the way ascension press is also this year releasing the great adventure for kids stay tuned for that i'll have a show on that it's going to be really good might even bring my wife emily on the show and let her talk to you a little bit about how these ladies have been working hard at bringing the great adventure to um to kids so having a good time serving the lord every morning my wife

wife and I will get up and we'll pray together and read the Bible and have some tea. And I hope you have a routine in your own life as well. That routine of meeting with Jesus every day faithfully will also contribute to this sense of inadequacy that we have when we feel like a remnant in our parish. My friend, God is going to do great things through you. Give your life to him and allow him to use the foolishness of this world to confound the wise and the weak to astound the strong. That's you. That's me. Shall we pray? In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Jesus, we rejoice in you today and thank you for allowing us to walk with you. It is so fun. It is so life transforming to walk with you on a daily basis and to see what you do. We give you

our lives, Lord, and help us not to be afraid of being remnant, a remnant in our parish, but help us to have vision and to do your work even in the face of overwhelming odds. We thank you for this in Jesus' name. Amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. My friend, go back to your parish, be the remnant and be successful and give God the glory. Amen. We'll see you next week. Thank you.