“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
When Jeremiah shared this prophetic promise, the Jews were in exile in Babylon. Being in exile did not mean you were sent away for a vacation. Exile was very much like going to prison and serving a hard sentence as a slave in a foreign and hostile nation.
The Jewish nation had become so corrupt and disobedient that God decided to bring an end to it. God decreed defeat and exile for the rebellious and corrupt nation, hoping to bring it back to its senses. Jeremiah prophesied to the Jews and told them exactly what would happen, and how long they would remain captives and be in exile. The drama unfolded precisely as he said it would.
The Jews were in a very discouraging and troubling time as the conditions of the exile unfolded. To make the situation more confused for the exiles, false prophets began to say that Jeremiah had God’s message wrong; that everything was going to be fine; that very shortly the Jews would be going back to Jerusalem.
It is into this confusion and discouragement that Jeremiah shares this powerful promise that has strong implications for us in the “tough times” in which our world has found itself.
Here are a few thoughts for your consideration:
“For I know” - The Hebrew word for know is yada. This is the word used in Genesis 4:1: “And Adam knew (yada) Eve.” This phrase speaks of the very intimate involvement of the Lord in our circumstances. The fulfillment of this promise is not just for the nation, but for you as an individual.
“The plans I have for you” - The picture here is of the thoughtful preparation and planning by a master craftsman as he begins to work on a piece of art. He carefully selects just the right materials, the right colors and the right tools to bring the work to perfection. The craftsman knows exactly how and where the finished work will be used and under what conditions, and his plan takes all that into account. God has personally laid out detailed plans for you for your future; no detail has missed His attention.
“To prosper you” - This encompasses all aspects of your life—your safety, health and well-being. The promise is that God will watch over and protect, provide for, and bring prosperity to those who return to Him. God’s plans for you are not only thorough but are thought-out with your best interests at heart. The word “prosper” is a bigger word than just the limited definition of financial blessing, for it includes all aspects of our physical, spiritual and emotional health.
“Hope” - This is an extremely interesting word. It speaks of an expectancy that God is going to do something great, but it also speaks of a rope (see Joshua 2:18, 21). Joshua tells us the story of the scarlet cord that Rahab the prostitute hung out her window that protected her during the Jewish invasion. The Hebrew word used in Joshua for cord/line is the same word that is used in Jeremiah 29 for hope. Hope, then, is a type of spiritual lifeline for us to hold onto when things around us are not going well at all. Hope is not inferior to faith; hope is the expectancy that as God has worked for us in the past, so He will again. We are literally to grab onto hope and not let go. God has thrown us a prophetic lifeline and it is hope; it is trust in Him and His eternal purposes and plans for our life.
Into the chaos of circumstance, with a laser-like sharpness, there comes a promise that the Holy Spirit quickens to our heart and we realize that we have not been forgotten, we have not been abandoned, we are not adrift on a sea of chaos—but God is still on the throne and is still guiding the affairs of our life.
Like all promises, this promise is conditional. We have to ask ourselves, “Will we accept it, will we embrace this truth?” Will we pursue the heart of God knowing that He has our best interests at heart or will we try to tell Him how He should do things? Are we ready to pray as Jesus did, “Thy will be done” (Matthew 26:42) or will we, through our actions, say, “My will be done, what I want is what counts”?
God’s will is that you will know Him in His fullness in 2009!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Christmas can be a frustrating time of the year for many Christians. We know it’s our time and yet it has become so commercialized that sometimes a feeling of guilt gets in the way of celebrating the birth of Christ. We struggle with how to celebrate the birth of our Savior and not let the commercial aspects of Christmas cheapen the whole season. If that describes the way you feel, please know that you are not alone.
Yes, Christmas is our time of the year but one almost feels that the Christmas of today was dreamed up in a smoke-filled room deep inside a Madison Avenue advertising agency for the benefit of “retail establishments and the economy.” Recently, on the national NBC evening news, there was a segment on the changing of the wording from Christmas to Holiday Day. Some cities no longer have Christmas trees in the city square; instead, they have Holiday trees. It will always be Christmas, not Xmas, not Holiday Day—it will always be Christ’s birthday for me and if that is offensive to anyone, I really don’t care!
The very fact that you feel the slightest discomfort with the commercialized and secularized aspects of Christmas means you are on the right track.
We love to give gifts in our family and we do, in moderation, every year. But we have also chosen to keep Christ as the focus of Christmas and to give gifts and do things for people less fortunate than we are. One year, when our daughters were younger and we were living in Los Angeles, we spent Christmas Eve at the Fred Jordan Mission in downtown Los Angeles. Several of our friends and their families also went and together we spent the evening out in the streets with the homeless, giving out blankets (it was cold in L.A.) and hot food. It was a memorable evening for all of us from the suburbs as we got to share with people and distribute gifts, food and a brief witness for Christ. My wife and I still remember it and so do our children. Every year we give to others we have never met and probably never will; we try to “send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared!” (Nehemiah 8:10).
The apostle Paul never seemed to be at a loss for words about anything. He was, by far, the most prolific of the New Testament writers. Paul was well educated and in a wonderful freedom with words, he seemed to enjoy being able to describe the great doctrines of the faith in writing.
One of the absolute gems of Paul’s writings almost seems to be an afterthought, like it is in the wrong place. In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul spends the first 14 verses commending the Corinthians and encouraging and teaching them about giving. Then comes verse 15 and Paul drops into the teaching this absolute diamond: “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
Paul, of course, is describing the Father’s gift of love in sending His Son to earth. The Apostle goes on to say that the magnitude of the gift is not just breathtaking in scope but it leaves him speechless, incapable of adequately describing the meaning of “the gift.” The original word here translated “indescribable” means that words fail him, it is “unspeakable,” a gift beyond the description of mere words.
Two thousand years later the meaning of “the gift” is still being revealed in hundreds of millions of lives worldwide. It was as though by the eye of faith Paul saw that “the gift” would bring the touch of grace upon millions and millions of people over several thousand of years and the sheer magnitude and beauty of what would happen left him…speechless with gratitude. And then there was the understanding that “the gift” would be freely available to all who would receive it, and that makes it “priceless” and far beyond the capacity of human conversation to describe it.
Recipients of “the gift,” we wish you a Merry Christmas!
Yes, Christmas is our time of the year but one almost feels that the Christmas of today was dreamed up in a smoke-filled room deep inside a Madison Avenue advertising agency for the benefit of “retail establishments and the economy.” Recently, on the national NBC evening news, there was a segment on the changing of the wording from Christmas to Holiday Day. Some cities no longer have Christmas trees in the city square; instead, they have Holiday trees. It will always be Christmas, not Xmas, not Holiday Day—it will always be Christ’s birthday for me and if that is offensive to anyone, I really don’t care!
The very fact that you feel the slightest discomfort with the commercialized and secularized aspects of Christmas means you are on the right track.
We love to give gifts in our family and we do, in moderation, every year. But we have also chosen to keep Christ as the focus of Christmas and to give gifts and do things for people less fortunate than we are. One year, when our daughters were younger and we were living in Los Angeles, we spent Christmas Eve at the Fred Jordan Mission in downtown Los Angeles. Several of our friends and their families also went and together we spent the evening out in the streets with the homeless, giving out blankets (it was cold in L.A.) and hot food. It was a memorable evening for all of us from the suburbs as we got to share with people and distribute gifts, food and a brief witness for Christ. My wife and I still remember it and so do our children. Every year we give to others we have never met and probably never will; we try to “send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared!” (Nehemiah 8:10).
The apostle Paul never seemed to be at a loss for words about anything. He was, by far, the most prolific of the New Testament writers. Paul was well educated and in a wonderful freedom with words, he seemed to enjoy being able to describe the great doctrines of the faith in writing.
One of the absolute gems of Paul’s writings almost seems to be an afterthought, like it is in the wrong place. In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul spends the first 14 verses commending the Corinthians and encouraging and teaching them about giving. Then comes verse 15 and Paul drops into the teaching this absolute diamond: “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
Paul, of course, is describing the Father’s gift of love in sending His Son to earth. The Apostle goes on to say that the magnitude of the gift is not just breathtaking in scope but it leaves him speechless, incapable of adequately describing the meaning of “the gift.” The original word here translated “indescribable” means that words fail him, it is “unspeakable,” a gift beyond the description of mere words.
Two thousand years later the meaning of “the gift” is still being revealed in hundreds of millions of lives worldwide. It was as though by the eye of faith Paul saw that “the gift” would bring the touch of grace upon millions and millions of people over several thousand of years and the sheer magnitude and beauty of what would happen left him…speechless with gratitude. And then there was the understanding that “the gift” would be freely available to all who would receive it, and that makes it “priceless” and far beyond the capacity of human conversation to describe it.
Recipients of “the gift,” we wish you a Merry Christmas!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
HUNGRY AND THIRSTY!
A blazing hot sun, no shade for miles, empty canteen, dry mouth—and no water anywhere near! You think this is trouble? Hang on, there’s more! On top of everything else, you are hungry. It’s now midday, and you haven’t eaten for about eighteen hours. You are miles from anywhere on what was supposed to be a fun day of hiking.
It’s one thing to be hungry or thirsty but to be both at the same time is a painfully uncomfortable situation and has potentially dangerous consequences. And yet, that’s the level of intensity that Jesus was describing as He sat on the mountainside near Galilee and verbalized what has become known as The Beatitudes. Jesus said that those who are painfully, intensely hungry and thirsty for righteousness would be filled to overflowing. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
This verse is truly one of the great keys to personal revival and personal growth in Him. The key to all spiritual growth is hunger: hunger for more of Him and more of His Word; hunger that causes us to shut the door on some of the noise and demands of life and get up close and personal with Him. The concept is not complicated but often is overlooked, perhaps because we think it’s just too simple.
Let’s look at the verse for a moment:
Blessed means “to experience the fullness of all that God is, to be happy and spiritually prosperous.” Happiness is a by-product of righteousness. This is not a smiley-face type of happiness; it is the joy, the peace, the contentment that comes from a life that has been made right with God. The only happiness that has enduring value comes from being in right relationship with Him.
Food and water are physical necessities and when we find them difficult to get, we can become rather intense in our desire to satisfy our needs. Righteousness (to be in right standing with God) is shown here to be a spiritual necessity. Just as it is not wrong to desire food and water in the natural, so it is fully natural to desire righteousness in our spiritual life.
In Luke 15 we see an illustration of a believer who goes astray in his pursuit of righteousness. The prodigal son thought that pleasure, possessions, and popularity would bring him the satisfaction he craved and so he wandered away from a correct relationship with his father. As he came to the end of his empty pursuit, he made this telling statement: “How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough to spare, and I perish with hunger!” (Luke 15:17). The prodigal was intensely hungry and there was no answer for him in the direction his path was taking him.
Could the story of the prodigal be a parable about the contemporary church? Is it possible that much of the discontent in the church today is because the focus has shifted from righteousness to substitutionary things? Twenty million believers have left the church in the last few years. Many of them are now experimenting with or attending a home church, some have left the faith, and some are just wandering in a spiritual vacuum.
I know that this kind of teaching about hunger and righteousness is not the popular fare of the moment. Some of the biggest churches in our land are teaching people how they can have the best life now. Many contemporary churches are teaching people how to manage their time, their money, their businesses, and their families but are not teaching them how to attain and continue in right standing with God. “I perish with hunger!”
Jesus teaches people how they can have the best life ever, how they can be really happy now and for all eternity.
Jesus finishes his poignant statement in Matthew 5:6 by saying, “They shall be filled.” This is a promise of spiritual fulfillment, a promise to the spiritually famished: “Your hunger and thirst will be satisfied!” The word “filled” speaks of being completely satisfied, of being fed to the point that you are “stuffed.” “Filled” is saying that God will make us happy and satisfied in Him. This “filling” that Jesus speaks of has a double fulfillment; there is an initial filling that takes place when the hungry heart reaches out to God, and a continual refilling that takes place as the relationship proceeds. Notice that I said “as the relationship proceeds.” We are to grow in our relationship with Him just as a husband and wife do in a successful marriage.
There is no spiritual disappointment for the hungry heart that is reaching to Him!
Psalm 107:9: “For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.”
It’s one thing to be hungry or thirsty but to be both at the same time is a painfully uncomfortable situation and has potentially dangerous consequences. And yet, that’s the level of intensity that Jesus was describing as He sat on the mountainside near Galilee and verbalized what has become known as The Beatitudes. Jesus said that those who are painfully, intensely hungry and thirsty for righteousness would be filled to overflowing. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
This verse is truly one of the great keys to personal revival and personal growth in Him. The key to all spiritual growth is hunger: hunger for more of Him and more of His Word; hunger that causes us to shut the door on some of the noise and demands of life and get up close and personal with Him. The concept is not complicated but often is overlooked, perhaps because we think it’s just too simple.
Let’s look at the verse for a moment:
Blessed means “to experience the fullness of all that God is, to be happy and spiritually prosperous.” Happiness is a by-product of righteousness. This is not a smiley-face type of happiness; it is the joy, the peace, the contentment that comes from a life that has been made right with God. The only happiness that has enduring value comes from being in right relationship with Him.
Food and water are physical necessities and when we find them difficult to get, we can become rather intense in our desire to satisfy our needs. Righteousness (to be in right standing with God) is shown here to be a spiritual necessity. Just as it is not wrong to desire food and water in the natural, so it is fully natural to desire righteousness in our spiritual life.
In Luke 15 we see an illustration of a believer who goes astray in his pursuit of righteousness. The prodigal son thought that pleasure, possessions, and popularity would bring him the satisfaction he craved and so he wandered away from a correct relationship with his father. As he came to the end of his empty pursuit, he made this telling statement: “How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough to spare, and I perish with hunger!” (Luke 15:17). The prodigal was intensely hungry and there was no answer for him in the direction his path was taking him.
Could the story of the prodigal be a parable about the contemporary church? Is it possible that much of the discontent in the church today is because the focus has shifted from righteousness to substitutionary things? Twenty million believers have left the church in the last few years. Many of them are now experimenting with or attending a home church, some have left the faith, and some are just wandering in a spiritual vacuum.
I know that this kind of teaching about hunger and righteousness is not the popular fare of the moment. Some of the biggest churches in our land are teaching people how they can have the best life now. Many contemporary churches are teaching people how to manage their time, their money, their businesses, and their families but are not teaching them how to attain and continue in right standing with God. “I perish with hunger!”
Jesus teaches people how they can have the best life ever, how they can be really happy now and for all eternity.
Jesus finishes his poignant statement in Matthew 5:6 by saying, “They shall be filled.” This is a promise of spiritual fulfillment, a promise to the spiritually famished: “Your hunger and thirst will be satisfied!” The word “filled” speaks of being completely satisfied, of being fed to the point that you are “stuffed.” “Filled” is saying that God will make us happy and satisfied in Him. This “filling” that Jesus speaks of has a double fulfillment; there is an initial filling that takes place when the hungry heart reaches out to God, and a continual refilling that takes place as the relationship proceeds. Notice that I said “as the relationship proceeds.” We are to grow in our relationship with Him just as a husband and wife do in a successful marriage.
There is no spiritual disappointment for the hungry heart that is reaching to Him!
Psalm 107:9: “For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.”
Sunday, December 7, 2008
SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED!
“That the things which cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:27, NKJV).
There is a certain surreal quality to what is happening as I write this. Our nation is deeply divided over the recent Presidential election. The world’s economy appears to be falling apart and technology lets us see the meltdown in real time. Terrorists continue to thumb their noses at the U.S, Israel and the rest of the civilized world. Remnants of the old Soviet Empire are again rattling their swords. Natural disasters continue to occur worldwide…we even had a small earthquake in Dallas. And now, just when you think, “What else could possibly happen?” we have pirates! Yes, I said pirates, plundering ships on the high seas. Are we living in a cartoon world or what?
Chaos is also striking the church world. A few weeks ago we were all shocked to hear that a very well-known Christian recording artist had come out of the closet and announced that he was gay and was leaving his wife and family. And then another well-known worship and recording artist left his wife and ran off with one of the women in his travelling group. A few days ago it was announced that several mega-churches were either on the verge of bankruptcy or being forced to close their doors because of financial insolvency. Government continues to look at the financial sleight of hand of several televangelists. In the last few years, over 20 million evangelicals have abandoned the traditional church. In one city here in Texas, at least one “Christian” church is closing its doors every week. Nationally, more and more pastors are leaving the ministry for good!
“That which can be shaken is being shaken.”
I’m kind of slow at times but when the Lord awakens me at midnight and my first conscious thought is a Scripture, I know I had better pay attention. So it was a few nights ago, and I awakened to Hebrews 10:39.
The writer to the Hebrews (I think it was Paul but since that is a controversial subject and you know how I try to avoid controversy, forget that I said Paul was the author, okay?) takes quite a bit of time in chapter 10:19-39 to exhort the Jewish believers to remain steadfast no matter what circumstances they are facing.
Some of the highlights of this wonderful teaching passage for believers in “tough times” are:
• Let’s be bold in our prayers (10:19-22). We cannot let persecution or stress cause us to become timid or sissy (that’s not Greek) pray-ers!
• We are to hold tight to our confession of faith because God is faithful and will show Himself faithful to His people that stay strong in adversity (v. 23).
• Stay close to your brothers and sisters in the Lord; stay in church; stay in fellowship! This is more vital than ever as the end of the age approaches and it is one of the keys to “tough times” survival (v. 25).
• Verses 26 -36 give a strong exhortation about living by faith and not by sight. Our confidence must be in the eternal qualities of God’s work and not on what we can see with our physical eyes. Living by sight means we have our attention fixed on the temporal; living by faith means we have our spiritual eyes on the eternal truths of God and His kingdom, on the things that cannot be shaken!
In verse 39, as the writer gets ready to launch into the next chapter and his classic teaching on faith, he makes this unusual statement:
“We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” (NIV)
In the King James Version this reads “turn back to perdition” and immediately visions of going to hell leap into our mind. That is not what the writer is attempting to emphasize here. The writer is saying, “We are not the kind that back away from difficulties and return to the destructive patterns of the carnal life, the life that we knew before we embraced Christ as Savior. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances of our life are, what the problems and pain are that we are confronted with…it doesn’t matter! We will not turn back but we will continue to believe, we will stand fast in our faith, and we will see the salvation of the Lord!”
I have been saying in my blog for months that I believed we were going to enter into a time of “stormy weather.” I still believe that! I didn’t know that it was going to come this fast but here it is and while there will be brief periods of rest, the storm will not be over for a long time.
Is God behind the shaking? Certainly He is allowing it and in some cases He is doing the shaking! (See Hebrews 12:26.)
During stormy weather everything that is not tied down and secured gets blown away, so don’t be surprised when that happens. Whole ministries will just disappear like what just happened to the over-hyped "Lakeland revival"! When stress and pressure come, they force impurities to the surface. Issues that have been ignored (sometimes because people are unwilling to face them) will be dealt with and don’t be surprised when that happens, either! (Remember Ted Haggard.)
We are of those who stand fast in faith and will see the salvation of the Lord!
There is a certain surreal quality to what is happening as I write this. Our nation is deeply divided over the recent Presidential election. The world’s economy appears to be falling apart and technology lets us see the meltdown in real time. Terrorists continue to thumb their noses at the U.S, Israel and the rest of the civilized world. Remnants of the old Soviet Empire are again rattling their swords. Natural disasters continue to occur worldwide…we even had a small earthquake in Dallas. And now, just when you think, “What else could possibly happen?” we have pirates! Yes, I said pirates, plundering ships on the high seas. Are we living in a cartoon world or what?
Chaos is also striking the church world. A few weeks ago we were all shocked to hear that a very well-known Christian recording artist had come out of the closet and announced that he was gay and was leaving his wife and family. And then another well-known worship and recording artist left his wife and ran off with one of the women in his travelling group. A few days ago it was announced that several mega-churches were either on the verge of bankruptcy or being forced to close their doors because of financial insolvency. Government continues to look at the financial sleight of hand of several televangelists. In the last few years, over 20 million evangelicals have abandoned the traditional church. In one city here in Texas, at least one “Christian” church is closing its doors every week. Nationally, more and more pastors are leaving the ministry for good!
“That which can be shaken is being shaken.”
I’m kind of slow at times but when the Lord awakens me at midnight and my first conscious thought is a Scripture, I know I had better pay attention. So it was a few nights ago, and I awakened to Hebrews 10:39.
The writer to the Hebrews (I think it was Paul but since that is a controversial subject and you know how I try to avoid controversy, forget that I said Paul was the author, okay?) takes quite a bit of time in chapter 10:19-39 to exhort the Jewish believers to remain steadfast no matter what circumstances they are facing.
Some of the highlights of this wonderful teaching passage for believers in “tough times” are:
• Let’s be bold in our prayers (10:19-22). We cannot let persecution or stress cause us to become timid or sissy (that’s not Greek) pray-ers!
• We are to hold tight to our confession of faith because God is faithful and will show Himself faithful to His people that stay strong in adversity (v. 23).
• Stay close to your brothers and sisters in the Lord; stay in church; stay in fellowship! This is more vital than ever as the end of the age approaches and it is one of the keys to “tough times” survival (v. 25).
• Verses 26 -36 give a strong exhortation about living by faith and not by sight. Our confidence must be in the eternal qualities of God’s work and not on what we can see with our physical eyes. Living by sight means we have our attention fixed on the temporal; living by faith means we have our spiritual eyes on the eternal truths of God and His kingdom, on the things that cannot be shaken!
In verse 39, as the writer gets ready to launch into the next chapter and his classic teaching on faith, he makes this unusual statement:
“We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” (NIV)
In the King James Version this reads “turn back to perdition” and immediately visions of going to hell leap into our mind. That is not what the writer is attempting to emphasize here. The writer is saying, “We are not the kind that back away from difficulties and return to the destructive patterns of the carnal life, the life that we knew before we embraced Christ as Savior. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances of our life are, what the problems and pain are that we are confronted with…it doesn’t matter! We will not turn back but we will continue to believe, we will stand fast in our faith, and we will see the salvation of the Lord!”
I have been saying in my blog for months that I believed we were going to enter into a time of “stormy weather.” I still believe that! I didn’t know that it was going to come this fast but here it is and while there will be brief periods of rest, the storm will not be over for a long time.
Is God behind the shaking? Certainly He is allowing it and in some cases He is doing the shaking! (See Hebrews 12:26.)
During stormy weather everything that is not tied down and secured gets blown away, so don’t be surprised when that happens. Whole ministries will just disappear like what just happened to the over-hyped "Lakeland revival"! When stress and pressure come, they force impurities to the surface. Issues that have been ignored (sometimes because people are unwilling to face them) will be dealt with and don’t be surprised when that happens, either! (Remember Ted Haggard.)
We are of those who stand fast in faith and will see the salvation of the Lord!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
THE STING
In the hit 1973 movie The Sting, Paul Newman and Robert Redford play con men that set up an elaborate “sting.” One of their friends had been killed and they set up a high stakes con to take away the money and business from the crook who ordered the killing. It’s an interesting movie to watch.
In Joshua 9 we see that the leaders of the nation of Israel were victims of an elaborate “sting.” Joshua and the nation of Israel had crossed the Jordan River and were beginning to rampage through the Promised Land, dispossessing the inhabitants as they went. One of the tribes that was about to be “sent packing” was the Gibeonites. The Gibeonite leaders decided that instead of fighting the Jews and getting killed, they would set up an elaborate deception and try to fool the Jews into signing a peace treaty with them. The ruse the Gibbys decided on was to send a delegation to Joshua and pretend that they had come from far away, that they had heard of the great victories that God had given the Jews, and they wanted to be the friends of Israel and sign a peace accord. To make the situation look real, the delegation dressed in the oldest clothes they could find, saddled their animals with decrepit equipment, and filled their sacks with moldy bread and rotten food. Off they went toward the camp of the Jews and the con was on.
Arriving at the camp of the Jews, the delegation was taken to Joshua. The Gibbys told Joshua and his leaders that they had come from far away and wanted to be at peace with Israel. Joshua and his crew looked at this bedraggled group with their shabby clothes and worn-out equipment and heard one of them say, “Our equipment, food, and clothes were all new when we left to travel here.”
Joshua and his men bought the con. It says in Joshua 9:14: “The men of Israel sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the LORD.” A peace treaty was signed and the delegation from “faraway” left. Within days Joshua knew that he had been tricked.
We read a story like this, we watch the Newman/Redford movie, and we are amused and entertained. But here is what we have to be aware of. The Gibeonites were petty con men who pulled a trick on the Jews that was a nuisance to the nation; however, none of this had to happen. The Jews fell for the ruse entirely because they did not employ their first line of defense—they did not inquire of the Lord.
The spirit of the con is loose in the world today, and it’s loose in the church.
More than once when I have expressed caution about a particular ministry, people have said to me, “But the Bible says that a tree is known by its fruit” (see Matt.12:33). Yes, the Bible does say that, but it does not say that is the only criteria by which we should evaluate the validity of a ministry or a life.
The Jews sampled the provisions that the Gibeonites brought with them and said, “This stuff is really old and yucky and tastes like camel dung, so that proves they came from a long distance because worn-out clothes, moldy bread and green cheese are the ‘fruit’ of a long journey.” They are also the “fruit” of an elaborate con.
We daily face an enemy whose native tongue is lying and whose basic character trait is deception. The focus of his deception is you; he wants to deceive, disrupt and destroy your life. The enemy will attempt to deceive us into believing that certain actions or beliefs are acceptable because on the surface they appear acceptable.
Our first line of defense is to learn how to inquire of the Lord. Children tend to take things at face value and say childish things like, “Well, the Bible says we will know them by their fruit and that’s good enough for me,” and they never inquire of the Lord.
Inquiring of the Lord is not simply asking in prayer; that’s a large part of it, but not the whole.
1. What does the Bible have to say? Is this ministry/life fully in agreement with the Scripture or is it operating in some questionable doctrinal and extra-scriptural practices? “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105).
2. What are trusted counselors saying? Don’t go to the Internet to see what the chatter is. That’s fun but cannot be trusted. Go to people whose walk with God you have confidence in and ask them. “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14).
3. Most importantly, “What is the Lord saying” to you about this? Pray over it. Pray and fast about it! Not a little one-sentence prayer! Get on your knees or on your face and talk to God about it. It may take several prayer sessions over a few days or a week or longer, but you will get an answer (see 1 John 5:14-15).
Inquiring hearts will get to know!
In Joshua 9 we see that the leaders of the nation of Israel were victims of an elaborate “sting.” Joshua and the nation of Israel had crossed the Jordan River and were beginning to rampage through the Promised Land, dispossessing the inhabitants as they went. One of the tribes that was about to be “sent packing” was the Gibeonites. The Gibeonite leaders decided that instead of fighting the Jews and getting killed, they would set up an elaborate deception and try to fool the Jews into signing a peace treaty with them. The ruse the Gibbys decided on was to send a delegation to Joshua and pretend that they had come from far away, that they had heard of the great victories that God had given the Jews, and they wanted to be the friends of Israel and sign a peace accord. To make the situation look real, the delegation dressed in the oldest clothes they could find, saddled their animals with decrepit equipment, and filled their sacks with moldy bread and rotten food. Off they went toward the camp of the Jews and the con was on.
Arriving at the camp of the Jews, the delegation was taken to Joshua. The Gibbys told Joshua and his leaders that they had come from far away and wanted to be at peace with Israel. Joshua and his crew looked at this bedraggled group with their shabby clothes and worn-out equipment and heard one of them say, “Our equipment, food, and clothes were all new when we left to travel here.”
Joshua and his men bought the con. It says in Joshua 9:14: “The men of Israel sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the LORD.” A peace treaty was signed and the delegation from “faraway” left. Within days Joshua knew that he had been tricked.
We read a story like this, we watch the Newman/Redford movie, and we are amused and entertained. But here is what we have to be aware of. The Gibeonites were petty con men who pulled a trick on the Jews that was a nuisance to the nation; however, none of this had to happen. The Jews fell for the ruse entirely because they did not employ their first line of defense—they did not inquire of the Lord.
The spirit of the con is loose in the world today, and it’s loose in the church.
More than once when I have expressed caution about a particular ministry, people have said to me, “But the Bible says that a tree is known by its fruit” (see Matt.12:33). Yes, the Bible does say that, but it does not say that is the only criteria by which we should evaluate the validity of a ministry or a life.
The Jews sampled the provisions that the Gibeonites brought with them and said, “This stuff is really old and yucky and tastes like camel dung, so that proves they came from a long distance because worn-out clothes, moldy bread and green cheese are the ‘fruit’ of a long journey.” They are also the “fruit” of an elaborate con.
We daily face an enemy whose native tongue is lying and whose basic character trait is deception. The focus of his deception is you; he wants to deceive, disrupt and destroy your life. The enemy will attempt to deceive us into believing that certain actions or beliefs are acceptable because on the surface they appear acceptable.
Our first line of defense is to learn how to inquire of the Lord. Children tend to take things at face value and say childish things like, “Well, the Bible says we will know them by their fruit and that’s good enough for me,” and they never inquire of the Lord.
Inquiring of the Lord is not simply asking in prayer; that’s a large part of it, but not the whole.
1. What does the Bible have to say? Is this ministry/life fully in agreement with the Scripture or is it operating in some questionable doctrinal and extra-scriptural practices? “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105).
2. What are trusted counselors saying? Don’t go to the Internet to see what the chatter is. That’s fun but cannot be trusted. Go to people whose walk with God you have confidence in and ask them. “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14).
3. Most importantly, “What is the Lord saying” to you about this? Pray over it. Pray and fast about it! Not a little one-sentence prayer! Get on your knees or on your face and talk to God about it. It may take several prayer sessions over a few days or a week or longer, but you will get an answer (see 1 John 5:14-15).
Inquiring hearts will get to know!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
LIVING THE FAST LIFE!
My first attempt at fasting was a disaster! I was about eighteen and knew very little about this mysterious subject called fasting. I had been told that it would release God’s power and presence into my life in a strong way and I was hungry for that. About all I knew was that you were to stop eating and make yourself available for God to meet you. I was ready to go to new heights in Him and so one morning I got up and said to myself, “This is the day,” and I ate nothing for about five hours. Around noon hunger got the better of me and I made a stealth trip to MacDonald’s. Wow, was that cheeseburger good!
While my first effort to fast was a rather dismal failure, whether I understood it at the time, I was on the right track. Later I would learn much more about fasting and would come to value it as a part of my spiritual life. I believe in fasting and I believe it is important for hungry believers to fast, but I resist any attempts to turn it into something legalistic or ritualistic. Fasting is a choice that I make to assist me in pressing into Him, shutting out the noise of the world, and quieting the base appetites of this carnal man called “me.”
Right up front let me say that there is no indication that Jesus commands his followers to fast. However, there is clear evidence that He believed in fasting. He fasted for forty days before He went into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. In His teachings He assumes that His followers will be fasters. There is very little indication that any of the New Testament writers taught on fasting!
I said a moment ago that I resist the legalistic or ritualistic tendencies that seem to creep into teaching about fasting. An acquaintance of ours from the ‘70’s was a very arrogant, prideful proponent of fasting. He would tell everyone he ever met that he fasted every Saturday, eating nothing from sundown Friday until sundown on Saturday. He wore his fasting like a Boy Scout merit badge. What he failed to mention, and I discovered by accident, was that he would eat a huge meal late on Friday afternoon, and I mean a big meal. Then he would proudly say, “I fast one full day every week.” Actually, he didn’t fast; he overate and then skipped some meals. This is phony legalism with no spiritual value at all.
Let me share with you a couple of reasons why I fast:
1. I want to get close to Him; I want to know Him better and fasting helps me do that.
2. I occasionally need to shut out the screaming voices of the world (and no, I’m not talking about my wife and daughters). I mean the unrelenting voices/noise of the world system that are continually beckoning for our attention. Sometimes I need to close the door on the clamor of the world and have some extra time in praise, worship, prayer and the Word.
3. I have found that fasting is a key that unlocks the door to personal victory in many areas of my life. Let me explain! The desire to eat is one of the basic appetites of our life. When we bring the desire for food under our control and we dictate to it (and not it to us), it is my experience that this helps me establish control in other areas of my life.
So I do fast and will continue to throughout my life. I am a purist when it comes to fasting; I drink water, juice or broth, and that’s it. Personally, I think the “Daniel fast” is somewhat of an illusion. Daniel fasts tell you what you can eat and what you can’t; that’s not fasting that’s dieting! If you’re going to fast, do it right, not with some pseudo-contemporary dietary system.
There is a paradoxical element to fasting. The key to getting started in fasting is “hunger,” to be hungry for more of Him, for more of His presence in your life, hungry to see Him break through obstacles. How are we to respond to this hunger? We respond by denying ourselves natural food, becoming increasingly hungry in the natural in order that we might press in and be fed in the spiritual.
In 1968 I was travelling with David Wilkerson as his crusade director and we were in Dallas, TX, for several days of meetings. While driving to a meeting I was listening to Christian radio station KSKY, which in those days had a lot of local preachers broadcasting. The preacher that afternoon was really going to town on prayer and fasting and the more he preached, the louder he got; he shouted until I could almost feel the sweat coming right through the car radio. The over-heated preacher began to talk in a sing-song voice about his love for prayer and fasting and he said something that I can still hear, “Oh, brothers and sisters, I have to tell you that I love to live the fast life!”
And my heart says, “Right on, brother, ’cause I know you meant well and I know your heart was right. Me, too. I want to live the fast life!”
While my first effort to fast was a rather dismal failure, whether I understood it at the time, I was on the right track. Later I would learn much more about fasting and would come to value it as a part of my spiritual life. I believe in fasting and I believe it is important for hungry believers to fast, but I resist any attempts to turn it into something legalistic or ritualistic. Fasting is a choice that I make to assist me in pressing into Him, shutting out the noise of the world, and quieting the base appetites of this carnal man called “me.”
Right up front let me say that there is no indication that Jesus commands his followers to fast. However, there is clear evidence that He believed in fasting. He fasted for forty days before He went into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. In His teachings He assumes that His followers will be fasters. There is very little indication that any of the New Testament writers taught on fasting!
I said a moment ago that I resist the legalistic or ritualistic tendencies that seem to creep into teaching about fasting. An acquaintance of ours from the ‘70’s was a very arrogant, prideful proponent of fasting. He would tell everyone he ever met that he fasted every Saturday, eating nothing from sundown Friday until sundown on Saturday. He wore his fasting like a Boy Scout merit badge. What he failed to mention, and I discovered by accident, was that he would eat a huge meal late on Friday afternoon, and I mean a big meal. Then he would proudly say, “I fast one full day every week.” Actually, he didn’t fast; he overate and then skipped some meals. This is phony legalism with no spiritual value at all.
Let me share with you a couple of reasons why I fast:
1. I want to get close to Him; I want to know Him better and fasting helps me do that.
2. I occasionally need to shut out the screaming voices of the world (and no, I’m not talking about my wife and daughters). I mean the unrelenting voices/noise of the world system that are continually beckoning for our attention. Sometimes I need to close the door on the clamor of the world and have some extra time in praise, worship, prayer and the Word.
3. I have found that fasting is a key that unlocks the door to personal victory in many areas of my life. Let me explain! The desire to eat is one of the basic appetites of our life. When we bring the desire for food under our control and we dictate to it (and not it to us), it is my experience that this helps me establish control in other areas of my life.
So I do fast and will continue to throughout my life. I am a purist when it comes to fasting; I drink water, juice or broth, and that’s it. Personally, I think the “Daniel fast” is somewhat of an illusion. Daniel fasts tell you what you can eat and what you can’t; that’s not fasting that’s dieting! If you’re going to fast, do it right, not with some pseudo-contemporary dietary system.
There is a paradoxical element to fasting. The key to getting started in fasting is “hunger,” to be hungry for more of Him, for more of His presence in your life, hungry to see Him break through obstacles. How are we to respond to this hunger? We respond by denying ourselves natural food, becoming increasingly hungry in the natural in order that we might press in and be fed in the spiritual.
In 1968 I was travelling with David Wilkerson as his crusade director and we were in Dallas, TX, for several days of meetings. While driving to a meeting I was listening to Christian radio station KSKY, which in those days had a lot of local preachers broadcasting. The preacher that afternoon was really going to town on prayer and fasting and the more he preached, the louder he got; he shouted until I could almost feel the sweat coming right through the car radio. The over-heated preacher began to talk in a sing-song voice about his love for prayer and fasting and he said something that I can still hear, “Oh, brothers and sisters, I have to tell you that I love to live the fast life!”
And my heart says, “Right on, brother, ’cause I know you meant well and I know your heart was right. Me, too. I want to live the fast life!”
Saturday, November 15, 2008
UPPERS AND DOWNERS
Mountaintop vistas are etched into the human psyche as a symbol representing triumph. When confronted with a problem/challenge, it is common to respond with chest-thumping bravado and proclaim, “I’ll climb that mountain!” The whole world celebrated when the highest mountain in the world finally succumbed to the skills of adventurer Sir Edmond Hillary.
I think it is natural that we talk about mountaintop experiences as being essentially positive. In contrast would be the valley experiences, which are tended to be viewed as essentially negative. We talk about being “down” in contrast to being “up.”
All this is great rhetoric for motivational speeches and inspirational books but not so great when it comes to teaching us to actually live a productive and victorious life.
The mountaintop is a great place to visit; the views are magnificent, but frankly the top of the Colorado Rockies is not a great place to live. When Hillary finally triumphed over the treacherous Everest and planted his feet on the highest peak in the world, he took a look around, stayed just a few minutes, and began the descent back to real life. He had not come to the mountaintop to stay, just to visit. A city is almost never located at the top of a mountain. The corridors of life are almost always built in a valley or on the plains that lead up to the mountains.
Valleys are the places of everyday life. They are the places where most of the fruit of life is grown and harvested, where most of life is lived. None of us really derive the character qualities God desires for our lives while we are on the mountain. It’s in the valley where fruit is planted, nurtured and harvested. In the valley, it is more difficult to see ahead; the clouds often cover the valley and limit our sight. It’s in the valley that we learn to live and walk by faith.
Whenever we stand on the mountain, we are able to see clearly. It is the best vantage point from which to view what lies ahead. God allows us the mountaintop experience at times. Go to the mountains whenever you can, clear your head, look into the future and enjoy the grand vista. But remember that the fullness of your life is not there; we go to the mountains so that we can cross them and continue our journey of faith.
Our God is the God of the mountains and the valleys. Real life is the continual experience of having “ups” and “downs.” Those who teach that all of the spiritual life is only an “up” experience are seriously misguided.
In 1 Kings 20:23 an enemy army brought an accusation against Israel, and especially against God, when they said, “Their gods are gods of the hills.” The enemy leaders then went on to say, “If we can fight them on the plains, we can destroy them!”
Why would they say something like that? They were not members of the Jewish faith, so what would lead them to that particular observation and accusation?
Could it be that they had observed the Jewish people living excitedly for God when things were going well, when victory over enemies had been achieved, when life was good and they were “up”? Could it be that the Amereans also saw Israel when things were “down” and they were struggling, grumbling, complaining and generally not living for God? And so the enemy came with a railing accusation, “You have a good-time god! Your god is a god of the mountain because the only time you worship and live righteously is when things are going well and you are ‘up.’ Your god is a god of the mountain and not the valley because you sure don’t live for him when you are ‘down.’”
God sent an unnamed prophet to the king of Israel with a message, “Because the Amareans think the Lord is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands and you will know that I am the Lord” (1 Kings 20:28).
The message was not for the enemy, it was for God’s people! The message was for God’s people to know that “I am the Lord.” He is the Lord of the mountains and the valleys—He is the Lord of all of life’s experiences—He is the Lord!
The Psalmist David understood this principle well! “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, FOR YOU ARE WITH ME….”
He’s the God of the mountains and the valley; He is our God, and whether we are “up” or “down” He is always with us!
I think it is natural that we talk about mountaintop experiences as being essentially positive. In contrast would be the valley experiences, which are tended to be viewed as essentially negative. We talk about being “down” in contrast to being “up.”
All this is great rhetoric for motivational speeches and inspirational books but not so great when it comes to teaching us to actually live a productive and victorious life.
The mountaintop is a great place to visit; the views are magnificent, but frankly the top of the Colorado Rockies is not a great place to live. When Hillary finally triumphed over the treacherous Everest and planted his feet on the highest peak in the world, he took a look around, stayed just a few minutes, and began the descent back to real life. He had not come to the mountaintop to stay, just to visit. A city is almost never located at the top of a mountain. The corridors of life are almost always built in a valley or on the plains that lead up to the mountains.
Valleys are the places of everyday life. They are the places where most of the fruit of life is grown and harvested, where most of life is lived. None of us really derive the character qualities God desires for our lives while we are on the mountain. It’s in the valley where fruit is planted, nurtured and harvested. In the valley, it is more difficult to see ahead; the clouds often cover the valley and limit our sight. It’s in the valley that we learn to live and walk by faith.
Whenever we stand on the mountain, we are able to see clearly. It is the best vantage point from which to view what lies ahead. God allows us the mountaintop experience at times. Go to the mountains whenever you can, clear your head, look into the future and enjoy the grand vista. But remember that the fullness of your life is not there; we go to the mountains so that we can cross them and continue our journey of faith.
Our God is the God of the mountains and the valleys. Real life is the continual experience of having “ups” and “downs.” Those who teach that all of the spiritual life is only an “up” experience are seriously misguided.
In 1 Kings 20:23 an enemy army brought an accusation against Israel, and especially against God, when they said, “Their gods are gods of the hills.” The enemy leaders then went on to say, “If we can fight them on the plains, we can destroy them!”
Why would they say something like that? They were not members of the Jewish faith, so what would lead them to that particular observation and accusation?
Could it be that they had observed the Jewish people living excitedly for God when things were going well, when victory over enemies had been achieved, when life was good and they were “up”? Could it be that the Amereans also saw Israel when things were “down” and they were struggling, grumbling, complaining and generally not living for God? And so the enemy came with a railing accusation, “You have a good-time god! Your god is a god of the mountain because the only time you worship and live righteously is when things are going well and you are ‘up.’ Your god is a god of the mountain and not the valley because you sure don’t live for him when you are ‘down.’”
God sent an unnamed prophet to the king of Israel with a message, “Because the Amareans think the Lord is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands and you will know that I am the Lord” (1 Kings 20:28).
The message was not for the enemy, it was for God’s people! The message was for God’s people to know that “I am the Lord.” He is the Lord of the mountains and the valleys—He is the Lord of all of life’s experiences—He is the Lord!
The Psalmist David understood this principle well! “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, FOR YOU ARE WITH ME….”
He’s the God of the mountains and the valley; He is our God, and whether we are “up” or “down” He is always with us!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
IT'S TIME TO STRETCH
I like real easy growth. I enjoy being able to stay in my comfort zone, in my spiritual easy chair, and never have to put forth any kind of effort to grow. It is very easy for me to become addicted to being lazy and sloppy in my spiritual life. Now that I’ve got that off my chest, let me push back in my comfortable chair, turn on Christian television (sometimes known as Comedy Central), and let somebody else do all my thinking about growth.
I hate being stretched…I hate it. “Tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope” (Romans 5:3-4). That’s a nice way of saying that stretching is going to happen, like it or not; it’s a part of the process.
Yes, I know the end result is good but the process is not easy. Say it anyway you want and talk as euphemistically as you can, but stretching is now and always will be a painful process. I am honest when I tell you that I think I have been through enough pain, and the thought of going through more does not thrill me. I think much of my apprehension of stretching/expanding is the fear of giving up my hold on the familiar, the comfortable, and stepping into the unknown of the new.
Two hundred years ago the church was largely dominated by extreme Calvinism that said, “If God wants the heathen to be saved, He will do it without any help from us.” Swimming against the tide of prevailing thought came a young Baptist preacher who delivered a message that has become known as “the sermon that will not die.” The young preacher’s name was William Carey and his sermon text was Isaiah 54:2-3:
"Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.” (NIV)
Carey’s message was very simple with only two points
One: EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD
Two: ATTEMPT GREAT THINGS FOR GOD
William Carey’s message ignited a worldwide flood of missions and evangelism and he became known as the Father of Modern Missions. It was his faith, vision and personal sacrifice that opened nations like India to the Gospel and his dedication and commitment that inspired thousands of others to leave their home countries, step out in faith, and follow his example.
So when Isaiah said, “Enlarge, strengthen, lengthen and stretch,” just what was he talking about?
I believe that Isaiah was talking about the conscious desire to grow as a follower of Christ, to improve yourself, to step out in faith. Conscious growth is a choice that you make about your personal limits, about how big you want to grow in Christ.
Unconscious growth is what happens naturally and without your decision-making process being involved. I didn’t make a decision when I was a child to grow to be six feet three inches tall….it happened naturally. Isaiah is challenging us on the level where we can choose to grow, to grow in faith and in our knowledge of God. We can choose to expand our vision. We can choose to expand our levels of commitment. Isaiah is saying, “Grow in God, grow in faith, grow in good works because you choose to. Set some new personal markers farther out than you have ever gone before and then step out and go for it.”
These areas of growth are our choice. The Apostle Paul was talking in this same way when he said “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). Paul was using the picture of a runner who leans forward as he approaches the finish line and stretches toward the prize. The Apostle was indicating that he had made a personal choice to press on, to stretch toward the goal.
I have never seen this portrayed more dramatically than during the last Olympics. Michael Phelps, the champion swimmer, was in one of his final races and as the swimmers came to the finish line, it was anybody’s guess who would win. The camera shot we saw was from underwater and it looked like the swimmer on Phelps’ left was a tiny bit ahead of him. Both Phelps and the other swimmer reached for the electronic pad at the finish line at virtually the same time, but Phelps was able to push himself and stretch just a little quicker and farther than the other did and, of course, he won. It was incredible!
William Carey heard the call to stretch, and because he responded to the call, the era of modern missions in the church was born. What area of your spiritual life is the Lord speaking to you about? Listen to Him and respond as He says, “I know you don’t like it, but it’s time to step out, to stretch!”
I hate being stretched…I hate it. “Tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope” (Romans 5:3-4). That’s a nice way of saying that stretching is going to happen, like it or not; it’s a part of the process.
Yes, I know the end result is good but the process is not easy. Say it anyway you want and talk as euphemistically as you can, but stretching is now and always will be a painful process. I am honest when I tell you that I think I have been through enough pain, and the thought of going through more does not thrill me. I think much of my apprehension of stretching/expanding is the fear of giving up my hold on the familiar, the comfortable, and stepping into the unknown of the new.
Two hundred years ago the church was largely dominated by extreme Calvinism that said, “If God wants the heathen to be saved, He will do it without any help from us.” Swimming against the tide of prevailing thought came a young Baptist preacher who delivered a message that has become known as “the sermon that will not die.” The young preacher’s name was William Carey and his sermon text was Isaiah 54:2-3:
"Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.” (NIV)
Carey’s message was very simple with only two points
One: EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD
Two: ATTEMPT GREAT THINGS FOR GOD
William Carey’s message ignited a worldwide flood of missions and evangelism and he became known as the Father of Modern Missions. It was his faith, vision and personal sacrifice that opened nations like India to the Gospel and his dedication and commitment that inspired thousands of others to leave their home countries, step out in faith, and follow his example.
So when Isaiah said, “Enlarge, strengthen, lengthen and stretch,” just what was he talking about?
I believe that Isaiah was talking about the conscious desire to grow as a follower of Christ, to improve yourself, to step out in faith. Conscious growth is a choice that you make about your personal limits, about how big you want to grow in Christ.
Unconscious growth is what happens naturally and without your decision-making process being involved. I didn’t make a decision when I was a child to grow to be six feet three inches tall….it happened naturally. Isaiah is challenging us on the level where we can choose to grow, to grow in faith and in our knowledge of God. We can choose to expand our vision. We can choose to expand our levels of commitment. Isaiah is saying, “Grow in God, grow in faith, grow in good works because you choose to. Set some new personal markers farther out than you have ever gone before and then step out and go for it.”
These areas of growth are our choice. The Apostle Paul was talking in this same way when he said “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). Paul was using the picture of a runner who leans forward as he approaches the finish line and stretches toward the prize. The Apostle was indicating that he had made a personal choice to press on, to stretch toward the goal.
I have never seen this portrayed more dramatically than during the last Olympics. Michael Phelps, the champion swimmer, was in one of his final races and as the swimmers came to the finish line, it was anybody’s guess who would win. The camera shot we saw was from underwater and it looked like the swimmer on Phelps’ left was a tiny bit ahead of him. Both Phelps and the other swimmer reached for the electronic pad at the finish line at virtually the same time, but Phelps was able to push himself and stretch just a little quicker and farther than the other did and, of course, he won. It was incredible!
William Carey heard the call to stretch, and because he responded to the call, the era of modern missions in the church was born. What area of your spiritual life is the Lord speaking to you about? Listen to Him and respond as He says, “I know you don’t like it, but it’s time to step out, to stretch!”
Monday, November 3, 2008
THE FINAL AUTHORITY
Militant atheism is on the attack!
In a 9/15/08 news article in The Christian Post, one of the leading voices of militant atheism in America is quoted: “I want to get them away from relying on inspired texts and come up with their own conclusions, adopted by themselves based on their own reasons and evidence.” This was said by a former Church of Christ preacher who is now leading a crusade targeting students at Christian colleges. This pastor-turned-atheist is attempting to reach thousands of students studying in Christian colleges and cause them to question the authority of Scripture.
I am having an ongoing dialogue with a family friend who has embraced a tradition of following Jesus that is quite different from ours. One of the issues we have talked about is the authority of Scripture. My friend’s church has a strong view of the authority of Scripture but they also have a very high view of the edicts of the church. They view the proclamations of the church as being on a par with Scripture and the way they express this is by asserting that the doctrinal decisions made the by the church’s council are infallible.
Some would say that it is not logical that the Bible is the final authority for Christianity. It is the belief of some churches that the edicts and proclamations of the church councils down through history are needed because they balance out Scripture.
While I am totally in favor of commentaries, lexicons, the study of the original languages and the issuance of position papers by church bodies or denominations, none of these have a level of importance and value that is anywhere close to that of Scripture. To say that a position paper thought out by a group of men is infallible is, in my view, a step on the road to heresy.
I believe that those who struggle with the authority of Scripture and attempt to find logical arguments to back up their thinking may not realize it but they are not being honest. I don’t believe that their concern is over “the final authority of the Bible.” I believe their struggle is actually with their trust in God. As one man was heard to say, “If I don’t trust the man, there is no way I’m going to trust his word.” It is as though some in the church feel that God just couldn’t quite get it done right in the Bible so He needs a little help from us. So that no one misunderstands me, what I am saying is this: “Those who question the veracity of the Word are really saying, ‘We don’t fully trust God and therefore we don’t fully trust His Word!’”
Let me briefly tell you what I believe about the Bible and why I accept it as the final authority. I believe that Scripture is inspired (God-breathed) and inerrant (in original form without error).
1. 2 Timothy 3:16,17
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
2. Hebrews 4:12
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
3. Psalm 12:6
“The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.”
When I present this verse, I am not attempting to elevate one translation or version over another. I believe in the intent of Scripture, that the truth being presented, the wisdom, the insights into God’s working, His character, His nature, the plan of salvation through Jesus Christ, etc. are not limited to accuracy because we are reading one translation or another. Those who argue that God can only bless a certain translation ARE MISSING THE POINT ENTIRELY! (I put that in caps so you could tell I’m shouting.) The Word of God is pure and is not wrapped up and finding its highest form of expression in the King James English or in a modern translation. The purity is found in the “intent,” the inspiration of Scripture as it reaches into our hearts and minds and does its work in us. It definitely does not need a church council that arrogantly proclaims its own infallibility.
It is because Scripture is inspired and inerrant that atheism attacks it with such ferocity. The enemy is afraid of the Word and afraid of believers who know the Word.
In a 9/15/08 news article in The Christian Post, one of the leading voices of militant atheism in America is quoted: “I want to get them away from relying on inspired texts and come up with their own conclusions, adopted by themselves based on their own reasons and evidence.” This was said by a former Church of Christ preacher who is now leading a crusade targeting students at Christian colleges. This pastor-turned-atheist is attempting to reach thousands of students studying in Christian colleges and cause them to question the authority of Scripture.
I am having an ongoing dialogue with a family friend who has embraced a tradition of following Jesus that is quite different from ours. One of the issues we have talked about is the authority of Scripture. My friend’s church has a strong view of the authority of Scripture but they also have a very high view of the edicts of the church. They view the proclamations of the church as being on a par with Scripture and the way they express this is by asserting that the doctrinal decisions made the by the church’s council are infallible.
Some would say that it is not logical that the Bible is the final authority for Christianity. It is the belief of some churches that the edicts and proclamations of the church councils down through history are needed because they balance out Scripture.
While I am totally in favor of commentaries, lexicons, the study of the original languages and the issuance of position papers by church bodies or denominations, none of these have a level of importance and value that is anywhere close to that of Scripture. To say that a position paper thought out by a group of men is infallible is, in my view, a step on the road to heresy.
I believe that those who struggle with the authority of Scripture and attempt to find logical arguments to back up their thinking may not realize it but they are not being honest. I don’t believe that their concern is over “the final authority of the Bible.” I believe their struggle is actually with their trust in God. As one man was heard to say, “If I don’t trust the man, there is no way I’m going to trust his word.” It is as though some in the church feel that God just couldn’t quite get it done right in the Bible so He needs a little help from us. So that no one misunderstands me, what I am saying is this: “Those who question the veracity of the Word are really saying, ‘We don’t fully trust God and therefore we don’t fully trust His Word!’”
Let me briefly tell you what I believe about the Bible and why I accept it as the final authority. I believe that Scripture is inspired (God-breathed) and inerrant (in original form without error).
1. 2 Timothy 3:16,17
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
2. Hebrews 4:12
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
3. Psalm 12:6
“The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.”
When I present this verse, I am not attempting to elevate one translation or version over another. I believe in the intent of Scripture, that the truth being presented, the wisdom, the insights into God’s working, His character, His nature, the plan of salvation through Jesus Christ, etc. are not limited to accuracy because we are reading one translation or another. Those who argue that God can only bless a certain translation ARE MISSING THE POINT ENTIRELY! (I put that in caps so you could tell I’m shouting.) The Word of God is pure and is not wrapped up and finding its highest form of expression in the King James English or in a modern translation. The purity is found in the “intent,” the inspiration of Scripture as it reaches into our hearts and minds and does its work in us. It definitely does not need a church council that arrogantly proclaims its own infallibility.
It is because Scripture is inspired and inerrant that atheism attacks it with such ferocity. The enemy is afraid of the Word and afraid of believers who know the Word.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
I REMEMBER YOU!
What’s wrong with this picture? Father God suddenly slaps His forehead and says, “Oh, yes, I remember you!” And yet that’s what the Word seems to say in 1 Samuel 1:19: “Then they rose up in the morning early, and worshiped before the LORD, and returned, and came to their house at Ramah; And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her.”
Out of this encounter Hannah and her husband conceived a child who would be known as Samuel, one of the great judges of Israel. Isn’t it delightful to know that God had a slight memory lapse but just in time remembered who Hannah was and also remembered the tremendous need in Israel for strong and righteous leadership? When His memory returned, God saw Hannah and her husband enjoying a little morning friskiness and opened Hannah’s womb for the first time.
Of course, I jest about God’s memory loss. Sometimes our beloved English language lets us down or maybe it’s just the archaic translation of the King James Version. Well, again I jest, but this time at the expense of the language and the translators.
A little background here will be helpful before we tackle this troublesome phrase, “and the LORD remembered her.”
Hannah was one of two wives of Elkanah. The other wife had numerous sons and daughters but Hannah was barren and it broke her heart.
Each year the whole family went to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts.
Hannah was so discouraged by her barrenness that one day while in Shiloh, she went alone to the tabernacle to pray. She went before the Lord and cried and prayed a prayer of bitter disappointment. In her brokenness she made a vow that if God would give her a male child, she would give the boy to the Lord for his entire life to be one of service to God.
The corrupt priest Eli saw this broken woman praying and because he could not hear any words coming from her mouth, he wrongly assumed that she was drunk. Eli rebuked her and told her to put the wine away, to stop drinking. Hannah’s response was, “No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord.”
Eli corrected himself and said, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition” (v. 17). And Hannah then uttered one final prayer, “Let your maidservant find favor in your sight” (v. 18).
This is the background that takes us to verse 19 and the phrase, “and the Lord remembered her.”
Had the Lord God forgotten Hannah? Had He pushed her over to a corner of His mind where she was literally out of sight and so then out of mind? The answer is a clear and unequivocal NO! God does not forget or give up on His people.
“And the Lord remembered her.” So what does this mean then?
In large part, this was the Lord God responding to the brokenhearted cry of a barren woman. Remember, the word as it is used here means that God was reflecting on her, on her prayers; it means to be mindful of, to literally be held in the memory of. It means that God was thinking about her, thinking about her situation, and listening to her prayers. It means that we are never, ever out of God’s mind. We are His children and His attention is continually focused on us.
As the technological advances of our age continue at an accelerating rate, it seems as though we are constantly being reduced to another number, another password. I don’t need my name to get onto the Internet, get into my bank account, or check my pyramid of offshore investments. All I need is an impersonal set of numbers and letters in the right sequence. I have gone from being a person to a code, a password! All of this technological forward movement is reducing the sense of personal value, of meaning, to so many in our culture. There is a greater sense of loneliness, meaninglessness and isolation today than ever before.
It cannot help but affect those of us in the church; we live in this world too. (At least most of us do—there are a couple of you reading this that I’m not sure what planet you are on. Of course, I jest again, except for people from Florida.) It has even crept into the church. It seems to me that some of our contemporary worship songs reflect a feeling that God is somewhat distant and removed from the everyday needs of His people. I believe that many of these songs are really cries for help from a generation that is lonely and has not fully grasped just how much God cares for them.
“I have formed you, you are My servant;
O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me!” (Isaiah 44:21)
Father God is always thinking about and responding to His people. Our relationship with Him is not impersonal, distant or forgotten!
“And the Lord remembers you” (1 Samuel 1:19).
Out of this encounter Hannah and her husband conceived a child who would be known as Samuel, one of the great judges of Israel. Isn’t it delightful to know that God had a slight memory lapse but just in time remembered who Hannah was and also remembered the tremendous need in Israel for strong and righteous leadership? When His memory returned, God saw Hannah and her husband enjoying a little morning friskiness and opened Hannah’s womb for the first time.
Of course, I jest about God’s memory loss. Sometimes our beloved English language lets us down or maybe it’s just the archaic translation of the King James Version. Well, again I jest, but this time at the expense of the language and the translators.
A little background here will be helpful before we tackle this troublesome phrase, “and the LORD remembered her.”
Hannah was one of two wives of Elkanah. The other wife had numerous sons and daughters but Hannah was barren and it broke her heart.
Each year the whole family went to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts.
Hannah was so discouraged by her barrenness that one day while in Shiloh, she went alone to the tabernacle to pray. She went before the Lord and cried and prayed a prayer of bitter disappointment. In her brokenness she made a vow that if God would give her a male child, she would give the boy to the Lord for his entire life to be one of service to God.
The corrupt priest Eli saw this broken woman praying and because he could not hear any words coming from her mouth, he wrongly assumed that she was drunk. Eli rebuked her and told her to put the wine away, to stop drinking. Hannah’s response was, “No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord.”
Eli corrected himself and said, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition” (v. 17). And Hannah then uttered one final prayer, “Let your maidservant find favor in your sight” (v. 18).
This is the background that takes us to verse 19 and the phrase, “and the Lord remembered her.”
Had the Lord God forgotten Hannah? Had He pushed her over to a corner of His mind where she was literally out of sight and so then out of mind? The answer is a clear and unequivocal NO! God does not forget or give up on His people.
“And the Lord remembered her.” So what does this mean then?
In large part, this was the Lord God responding to the brokenhearted cry of a barren woman. Remember, the word as it is used here means that God was reflecting on her, on her prayers; it means to be mindful of, to literally be held in the memory of. It means that God was thinking about her, thinking about her situation, and listening to her prayers. It means that we are never, ever out of God’s mind. We are His children and His attention is continually focused on us.
As the technological advances of our age continue at an accelerating rate, it seems as though we are constantly being reduced to another number, another password. I don’t need my name to get onto the Internet, get into my bank account, or check my pyramid of offshore investments. All I need is an impersonal set of numbers and letters in the right sequence. I have gone from being a person to a code, a password! All of this technological forward movement is reducing the sense of personal value, of meaning, to so many in our culture. There is a greater sense of loneliness, meaninglessness and isolation today than ever before.
It cannot help but affect those of us in the church; we live in this world too. (At least most of us do—there are a couple of you reading this that I’m not sure what planet you are on. Of course, I jest again, except for people from Florida.) It has even crept into the church. It seems to me that some of our contemporary worship songs reflect a feeling that God is somewhat distant and removed from the everyday needs of His people. I believe that many of these songs are really cries for help from a generation that is lonely and has not fully grasped just how much God cares for them.
“I have formed you, you are My servant;
O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me!” (Isaiah 44:21)
Father God is always thinking about and responding to His people. Our relationship with Him is not impersonal, distant or forgotten!
“And the Lord remembers you” (1 Samuel 1:19).
Saturday, October 18, 2008
FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS
There is a lot of chatter on the Internet about the story of a pastor from a small Ohio town meeting John McCain and Sarah Palin and telling Sarah that he had a message from God, “You are a type of Esther.” Google “Sarah Palin Ohio Esther” and you will get about 22,000 bits of chatter to read in your spare time.
“Is Sarah Palin a type of Esther?” Before there can be any kind of answer, let’s look at two things:
1. Does God speak to His people today?
When the news media lampoons a story like the one that has caused all this particular Internet chatter, they are not questioning the spiritual ramifications of being an Esther. No, they are calling into question the fundamental question, “Does God speak to people?” When elements of the church question a “word from the Lord,” they are often driven by the same spirit of unbelief.
God is not silent; He is still speaking to His people. For one thing, the Bible is like a digitally recorded conversation from heaven. “For the Word of God is alive and powerful” (Hebrews 4:12). Let them that have ears to hear, hear!
2. Esther came out of nowhere to be a deliverer of her people.
The story of Esther and its comparison to today is fascinating. Esther came out of obscurity; she was beautiful and smart and she rose to the second highest position in Persia (are you picking up any parallels here?). Soon after her ascension to power, a holocaust-type plot was revealed that would have seen hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of Jews murdered in a region stretching from India to the Mediterranean. Esther’s uncle brought her the details of the plot and told her that she needed to take the information to the king. Esther tried to defer to someone else, to let someone else take the risks.
Esther’s uncle got right in her face and told her (this is my paraphrase): “Do you think that somehow you are going to escape the terrible consequences of the evil? You and your family will suffer under this, too. You must do what you know is right, that which you have the ability to do. Do you honestly think God bestowed all this favor on you and that, therefore, it has somehow insulated you? God put you in this place for now! You have come to the kingdom for such a time as this” (4:12-14).
Several of the chapters in the book of Esther (5-7) tell the story of how God used Esther to bring the conspiracy of evil to the attention of the king and then how the perpetrator of evil was dealt with.
So now back to the original question: “Is Sarah Palin a type of modern-day Esther?” My answer is, I think so. I say that with emphasis!
I believe that Sarah Palin has a destiny that is yet to be fully revealed. Before the biblical Esther could be a deliverer for her people, she had to come to the palace and be established in a place of authority. This preparation period takes time and when it is complete, then suddenly God will reveal His plan, as He did with Esther.
How will God use Sarah Palin? I don’t know and neither does anybody else, yet. No matter which direction the voting goes in the next few weeks, we have watched Sarah come out of nowhere and begin to be established as a major player in the American political scene. I see in her an ability to communicate with middle America that very few politicians have; the latest and greatest was Ronald Reagan. (Here’s a little info for you. When Margret Thatcher began her ascendency toward becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, the elitist liberals in English politics and most of the English media were very dismissive of her. They thought of her as a commoner—and just a woman—and therefore unworthy for high office! The Iron Lady, as she became known, went on to be one of the greatest of England’s modern leaders.)
There is one more part of the answer to the question, “Is Sarah Palin a type of a modern-day Esther?” I have briefly tried to answer the first part, and the second part of the answer is, “Yes, and so are you!”
Every believer is a type of Esther. Every man, every woman who is honest in his or her pursuit of God, is an Esther. Let’s get over the childishness of thinking of the Esther spirit as being somehow feminine. This is not a gender issue, this is an “anointing of the Holy Ghost” issue. Frankly, there are a lot of men who need to stand up and become half the woman of God that Esther was. If they did so, they would be a lot more of a man than they are now! All those who are hearing the voice of the Lord need to embrace the understanding that God has brought us to His Kingdom for such a time as this!
“Is Sarah Palin a type of Esther?” Before there can be any kind of answer, let’s look at two things:
1. Does God speak to His people today?
When the news media lampoons a story like the one that has caused all this particular Internet chatter, they are not questioning the spiritual ramifications of being an Esther. No, they are calling into question the fundamental question, “Does God speak to people?” When elements of the church question a “word from the Lord,” they are often driven by the same spirit of unbelief.
God is not silent; He is still speaking to His people. For one thing, the Bible is like a digitally recorded conversation from heaven. “For the Word of God is alive and powerful” (Hebrews 4:12). Let them that have ears to hear, hear!
2. Esther came out of nowhere to be a deliverer of her people.
The story of Esther and its comparison to today is fascinating. Esther came out of obscurity; she was beautiful and smart and she rose to the second highest position in Persia (are you picking up any parallels here?). Soon after her ascension to power, a holocaust-type plot was revealed that would have seen hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of Jews murdered in a region stretching from India to the Mediterranean. Esther’s uncle brought her the details of the plot and told her that she needed to take the information to the king. Esther tried to defer to someone else, to let someone else take the risks.
Esther’s uncle got right in her face and told her (this is my paraphrase): “Do you think that somehow you are going to escape the terrible consequences of the evil? You and your family will suffer under this, too. You must do what you know is right, that which you have the ability to do. Do you honestly think God bestowed all this favor on you and that, therefore, it has somehow insulated you? God put you in this place for now! You have come to the kingdom for such a time as this” (4:12-14).
Several of the chapters in the book of Esther (5-7) tell the story of how God used Esther to bring the conspiracy of evil to the attention of the king and then how the perpetrator of evil was dealt with.
So now back to the original question: “Is Sarah Palin a type of modern-day Esther?” My answer is, I think so. I say that with emphasis!
I believe that Sarah Palin has a destiny that is yet to be fully revealed. Before the biblical Esther could be a deliverer for her people, she had to come to the palace and be established in a place of authority. This preparation period takes time and when it is complete, then suddenly God will reveal His plan, as He did with Esther.
How will God use Sarah Palin? I don’t know and neither does anybody else, yet. No matter which direction the voting goes in the next few weeks, we have watched Sarah come out of nowhere and begin to be established as a major player in the American political scene. I see in her an ability to communicate with middle America that very few politicians have; the latest and greatest was Ronald Reagan. (Here’s a little info for you. When Margret Thatcher began her ascendency toward becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, the elitist liberals in English politics and most of the English media were very dismissive of her. They thought of her as a commoner—and just a woman—and therefore unworthy for high office! The Iron Lady, as she became known, went on to be one of the greatest of England’s modern leaders.)
There is one more part of the answer to the question, “Is Sarah Palin a type of a modern-day Esther?” I have briefly tried to answer the first part, and the second part of the answer is, “Yes, and so are you!”
Every believer is a type of Esther. Every man, every woman who is honest in his or her pursuit of God, is an Esther. Let’s get over the childishness of thinking of the Esther spirit as being somehow feminine. This is not a gender issue, this is an “anointing of the Holy Ghost” issue. Frankly, there are a lot of men who need to stand up and become half the woman of God that Esther was. If they did so, they would be a lot more of a man than they are now! All those who are hearing the voice of the Lord need to embrace the understanding that God has brought us to His Kingdom for such a time as this!
Saturday, October 11, 2008
THE CONNECTION
(I was going to entitle this “Getting Hooked Up” but my wife’s good sense prevailed over my childish and slightly risqué attempt at humor.)
Carol and I have just returned from a weekend of ministry in West Texas. I have not driven Interstate 20 between Abilene and Midland for close to twenty years. We enjoyed the drive out and back and especially the time of ministry at the Dream Center in Odessa. Our friend Jimmy Dennis is doing a great work in that area. The Dream Center is reaching a lot of people for Christ; they have a men’s home; they are touching the community with Christian love and service; and God is building a great church there.
On the drive out I was fascinated to see the huge wind farms that have been built in the last few years. There were hundreds and hundreds of giant wind turbines, their massive blades driven by the invisible force of the wind. Each of the majestic turbines is connected to a local power grid that either uses the electric power locally or feeds it on to a regional power grid. From the regional power grid, electricity is then distributed sometimes nationally and who knows where? Maybe just a little of the power that perked your coffee this morning came from West Texas.
Harvesting energy from the wind seems to have a very bright future. Wind power is environmentally friendly, there is a phenomenal supply of wind worldwide, and new technology is continually bringing down the price of generating power from this source. Some countries, like Denmark, are already getting nearly 20 percent of their electrical power from the wind.
One of the difficulties that I understand faces the harvest of the wind for power is that you cannot just find a windy place and build a turbine and poof, you have usable electricity. Unless the turbine is put near a local user like a home or a business or is plugged into a grid where the electrical power can be sent, then the turbine, while perfectly good and capable of producing lots of usable power, is not usable.
Without the availability of an outlet. the majestic wind turbine is nothing but a rotating piece of art generating power with nowhere to go!
The fastest growing segment of Christianity in the world is the Pentecostal/Charismatic community. While modern Pentecostalism is just slightly over 100 years old, it has experienced phenomenal growth that shows no sign of slowing down. It is estimated that at least 600 million people are now “Pentecostal/Charismatic” Christians and some surveys indicate that close to 40 percent of all Christians (globally) are Pentecostal/Charismatic.
The cornerstone scripture for most “Spirit-filled” Christians is Acts 1:8:
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; AND you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
How many dozens of messages have you heard preached on the power of the Holy Spirit?
How many messages have you heard about being witnesses in your local community and beyond?
How many messages have you ever heard on the word “and”?
What pulls these two powerful concepts/truths together is the often overlooked word “and.” “And” is a conjunction, a connector; it hooks the two truths together and makes them the hallmark statement of Pentecost.
If Pentecost is all about power and that’s all it’s about for us, then we are missing the point. The word “and” takes the power of Pentecost and joins it to an outlet of meaningful service and witness. “And” is the connection that takes the lethal elements of the power of the Holy Spirit and joins them into the grid of powerful service; it brings to life the purpose of Pentecost.
Too much of modern Pentecost is nothing more than wasted power. The majestic turbine of Holy Ghost power is standing in the midst of the roaring wind of Pentecost and is spilling its power on the ground because it is plugged into nothing, it has no outlet. It has taken the power of God and engaged in spiritual self-gratification.
The power of Pentecost is to be connected to the grid of outreach, service and missions. Pentecost is not a plan to empower the individual believer for personal gain and enjoyment of spiritual highs. The power of Pentecost is to be connected to the grid of the whole of God’s church and if it is not, then it is simply a waste of “the power.”
(Whoops, I used the word “hook” a couple of paragraphs ago and I think I see my wife coming this way with an eraser in her hand!)
Carol and I have just returned from a weekend of ministry in West Texas. I have not driven Interstate 20 between Abilene and Midland for close to twenty years. We enjoyed the drive out and back and especially the time of ministry at the Dream Center in Odessa. Our friend Jimmy Dennis is doing a great work in that area. The Dream Center is reaching a lot of people for Christ; they have a men’s home; they are touching the community with Christian love and service; and God is building a great church there.
On the drive out I was fascinated to see the huge wind farms that have been built in the last few years. There were hundreds and hundreds of giant wind turbines, their massive blades driven by the invisible force of the wind. Each of the majestic turbines is connected to a local power grid that either uses the electric power locally or feeds it on to a regional power grid. From the regional power grid, electricity is then distributed sometimes nationally and who knows where? Maybe just a little of the power that perked your coffee this morning came from West Texas.
Harvesting energy from the wind seems to have a very bright future. Wind power is environmentally friendly, there is a phenomenal supply of wind worldwide, and new technology is continually bringing down the price of generating power from this source. Some countries, like Denmark, are already getting nearly 20 percent of their electrical power from the wind.
One of the difficulties that I understand faces the harvest of the wind for power is that you cannot just find a windy place and build a turbine and poof, you have usable electricity. Unless the turbine is put near a local user like a home or a business or is plugged into a grid where the electrical power can be sent, then the turbine, while perfectly good and capable of producing lots of usable power, is not usable.
Without the availability of an outlet. the majestic wind turbine is nothing but a rotating piece of art generating power with nowhere to go!
The fastest growing segment of Christianity in the world is the Pentecostal/Charismatic community. While modern Pentecostalism is just slightly over 100 years old, it has experienced phenomenal growth that shows no sign of slowing down. It is estimated that at least 600 million people are now “Pentecostal/Charismatic” Christians and some surveys indicate that close to 40 percent of all Christians (globally) are Pentecostal/Charismatic.
The cornerstone scripture for most “Spirit-filled” Christians is Acts 1:8:
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; AND you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
How many dozens of messages have you heard preached on the power of the Holy Spirit?
How many messages have you heard about being witnesses in your local community and beyond?
How many messages have you ever heard on the word “and”?
What pulls these two powerful concepts/truths together is the often overlooked word “and.” “And” is a conjunction, a connector; it hooks the two truths together and makes them the hallmark statement of Pentecost.
If Pentecost is all about power and that’s all it’s about for us, then we are missing the point. The word “and” takes the power of Pentecost and joins it to an outlet of meaningful service and witness. “And” is the connection that takes the lethal elements of the power of the Holy Spirit and joins them into the grid of powerful service; it brings to life the purpose of Pentecost.
Too much of modern Pentecost is nothing more than wasted power. The majestic turbine of Holy Ghost power is standing in the midst of the roaring wind of Pentecost and is spilling its power on the ground because it is plugged into nothing, it has no outlet. It has taken the power of God and engaged in spiritual self-gratification.
The power of Pentecost is to be connected to the grid of outreach, service and missions. Pentecost is not a plan to empower the individual believer for personal gain and enjoyment of spiritual highs. The power of Pentecost is to be connected to the grid of the whole of God’s church and if it is not, then it is simply a waste of “the power.”
(Whoops, I used the word “hook” a couple of paragraphs ago and I think I see my wife coming this way with an eraser in her hand!)
Saturday, October 4, 2008
STAYING FRESH!
In our last devotional, we looked at the story of Onesimus, the runaway slave of Philemon. The powerful change that came into O’s life is captured in Paul’s magnificent statement in verse 11, “Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.”
We have to speculate about how O got with Paul in Rome. In the previous article I raised the question, “Is it possible that O ran away from his employer, Philemon, because he was attracted to the message of Jesus but for unexplained reasons would not or could not respond in that environment?” The beauty of the story is that he did get to a place where he could respond and the results were radical.
Paul’s approach to Philemon is very affirming and gracious. He calls Philemon his “beloved friend and fellow laborer” (v. 1). He assures Philemon of his constant prayers on his behalf and compliments his wonderful testimony of love and faith (vv. 4 and 5). And then in verse 6 Paul makes this somewhat provocative statement:
“I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.”
Is it possible that as he writes to share the news about O’s conversion, Paul also has a corrective word? Is it possible that the church in Colosse had become primarily a believers’ gathering, that little or no evangelism was taking place?
Some would say that is just speculation! I don’t think so. I believe Paul was lovingly addressing a problem in the Colossian church. One of the fundamental truths of church life is, “as the head goes, so goes the body.” Philemon was one of the keys leaders of the church that met in his home and if Philemon was not sharing the message of the gospel and that had become his way of life, you can mark it down in indelible ink that was the way of the church.
Paul appeals to Philemon with a very rational argument. He maintains that as we share our faith, we gain a fuller understanding of all that Christ died to provide for us (see v. 6).
Our home sits on the south side of a small man-made lake, one of four small lakes in a chain. Because they are man-made, it is a struggle to keep them full of water, so the homeowners’ association installed a recirculation system. The water in the lakes flows from east to west and then is pumped back to the eastern end. Problem solved? Well, not quite. In our warmer climate, it is difficult to keep recirculating water fresh. Health and vitality in lakes happens when there is a strong flow of fresh water coming in one end and an outlet on the other; it is the flow of new water that keeps the lake fresh and the water clean and clear.
The same is true with the spiritual man. If there is mostly recirculation, then the water is going to become murky and strange things are going to start growing.
Paul’s challenge to Philemon was couched in delicate terms because the Colossian church was not one that he began and, in fact, he had never been there. His challenge, however, was clear: “For you to fully realize who you are in Christ you have to begin sharing your faith with others.” Why would he say this? Because the Colossians were not doing this!
The lack of evangelism in the Colossian church is a tragedy of incredible proportions. When the church stops sharing the gospel to those around it, people pass into eternity without Christ and the blame lies with the church. Because of the failure to share the gospel, the church grows stagnant and that makes it even more repulsive to the world. Stagnant water is smelly and germs and disease begin to grow.
One of the arguments of today is that this generation will not hear the gospel in a style that it was presented 40 or 50 years ago, and I agree wholeheartedly. The shouting, sweating, Bible-thumping days are gone—and thank the Lord they are! But the gospel is still as powerful today as it ever was. Has heaven shut off all the creativity? Are there no new ideas left? If there are no fresh ideas flowing, it’s because we have shut off the intake of fresh water!
The church of Acts was not a church of big events; it was primarily a church filled with people who made it their business to take the gospel to their neighbors. Paul did not go around the Mediterranean world holding big crusades. He went to an area, found a few people who responded to the message of Christ, taught them, formed a church, and moved on. Paul lovingly challenged Philemon with this as he also taught the early church.
“Lord, help us to shake off all timidity and fear. We do not want to live in the murky waters of recirculation. We want to be receiving from You and at the same time giving Your love and truth to those in need. Help us, Lord, to stay fresh in You!”
We have to speculate about how O got with Paul in Rome. In the previous article I raised the question, “Is it possible that O ran away from his employer, Philemon, because he was attracted to the message of Jesus but for unexplained reasons would not or could not respond in that environment?” The beauty of the story is that he did get to a place where he could respond and the results were radical.
Paul’s approach to Philemon is very affirming and gracious. He calls Philemon his “beloved friend and fellow laborer” (v. 1). He assures Philemon of his constant prayers on his behalf and compliments his wonderful testimony of love and faith (vv. 4 and 5). And then in verse 6 Paul makes this somewhat provocative statement:
“I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.”
Is it possible that as he writes to share the news about O’s conversion, Paul also has a corrective word? Is it possible that the church in Colosse had become primarily a believers’ gathering, that little or no evangelism was taking place?
Some would say that is just speculation! I don’t think so. I believe Paul was lovingly addressing a problem in the Colossian church. One of the fundamental truths of church life is, “as the head goes, so goes the body.” Philemon was one of the keys leaders of the church that met in his home and if Philemon was not sharing the message of the gospel and that had become his way of life, you can mark it down in indelible ink that was the way of the church.
Paul appeals to Philemon with a very rational argument. He maintains that as we share our faith, we gain a fuller understanding of all that Christ died to provide for us (see v. 6).
Our home sits on the south side of a small man-made lake, one of four small lakes in a chain. Because they are man-made, it is a struggle to keep them full of water, so the homeowners’ association installed a recirculation system. The water in the lakes flows from east to west and then is pumped back to the eastern end. Problem solved? Well, not quite. In our warmer climate, it is difficult to keep recirculating water fresh. Health and vitality in lakes happens when there is a strong flow of fresh water coming in one end and an outlet on the other; it is the flow of new water that keeps the lake fresh and the water clean and clear.
The same is true with the spiritual man. If there is mostly recirculation, then the water is going to become murky and strange things are going to start growing.
Paul’s challenge to Philemon was couched in delicate terms because the Colossian church was not one that he began and, in fact, he had never been there. His challenge, however, was clear: “For you to fully realize who you are in Christ you have to begin sharing your faith with others.” Why would he say this? Because the Colossians were not doing this!
The lack of evangelism in the Colossian church is a tragedy of incredible proportions. When the church stops sharing the gospel to those around it, people pass into eternity without Christ and the blame lies with the church. Because of the failure to share the gospel, the church grows stagnant and that makes it even more repulsive to the world. Stagnant water is smelly and germs and disease begin to grow.
One of the arguments of today is that this generation will not hear the gospel in a style that it was presented 40 or 50 years ago, and I agree wholeheartedly. The shouting, sweating, Bible-thumping days are gone—and thank the Lord they are! But the gospel is still as powerful today as it ever was. Has heaven shut off all the creativity? Are there no new ideas left? If there are no fresh ideas flowing, it’s because we have shut off the intake of fresh water!
The church of Acts was not a church of big events; it was primarily a church filled with people who made it their business to take the gospel to their neighbors. Paul did not go around the Mediterranean world holding big crusades. He went to an area, found a few people who responded to the message of Christ, taught them, formed a church, and moved on. Paul lovingly challenged Philemon with this as he also taught the early church.
“Lord, help us to shake off all timidity and fear. We do not want to live in the murky waters of recirculation. We want to be receiving from You and at the same time giving Your love and truth to those in need. Help us, Lord, to stay fresh in You!”
Saturday, September 27, 2008
MAN ON THE RUN
“O” was a man on the run. He had robbed his boss, run away from his job, and was “on the lam”— running from the law. In many ways, O was like the postmodern generation that is now reshaping the cultural landscape of our world. They are not committed to much of anything—not to their jobs, and not to the sanctity of marriage. They are willing to jettison at a moment’s notice pretty much anything from the past that asks for commitment. Their word is not their bond and loyalty is not a concept they embrace tightly. They are a generation on the move, on the run. They are running away from themselves and from anything that smacks of responsibility. They are also a generation that is running and hiding from the law. Illegal drug use among postmodernists is at an all-time high, and cheating on work, cheating on loved ones, and cheating on marriage is pandemic.
O was such a man. Who was he? His name is Onesimus and in many ways he is the central character in one the shortest books in the Bible, Philemon. O was a servant in the employ of Philemon and he had robbed his employer, broken his word, and run away. What he did was illegal and that meant he was on the run from the law, from his employer and from his past.
Paul’s letter to Philemon is an appeal and a statement, written from one friend to another. Paul wrote to his friend to say that O was with him in Rome. Philemon lived several hundred miles away in Colosse and the Colossian church met in his house.
We really don’t know how O ended up in Rome and how he connected with Paul. So let me speculate. Paul had never been to Colosse, but it’s possible that Philemon had come to Ephesus and that Paul had led him to faith in Jesus Christ. Since the Colossian church met in Philemon’s home, I am certain that O had heard a lot of teaching on Jesus and the Christian life and most likely he had heard Paul’s name referred to again and again.
Is it possible that O was running away because he was trying to get to something that he found attractive and yet could not get there where he was? I think it is feasible that he found the message of Jesus compelling and was drawn to it, but for some reason was unable to respond while still in Colosse. So he ran away to get to the message of life!
There is a fascinating amount of wordplay in this short book. The name Onesimus means “useful.” When Paul refers to O in verse 11, he first describes him as “[he]who once was unprofitable” or useless. The verse goes on, “but now [is] profitable to you and to me.” The man whose name meant “useful” had never lived up to his name. Instead, he had been useless but now had become useful. What an incredible statement! What had taken place?
Again we are only given glimpses but they lead us to some conclusions. Either Paul or one of his team in Rome had led O to faith in Jesus and he had experienced the power of the gospel. His conversion was so strong and so complete that his “before” and “after” life stood in sharp contrast to each other. His absolutely useless life and behavior has been transformed by the power of God into a life that Paul describes as profitable, useful.
Perhaps we need to be reminded again of the power of God that is unleashed when we share the gospel with someone. Paul said it this way to the church at Rome, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). The word power in the Greek is dunamis, from which the word dynamite is derived.
The unleashing of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ in O’s life had blasted him out of his old life and into the fullness of a new and profitable life in Christ. “The old is gone, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
I do not fully embrace a lot of the theories and thinking kicking around in the church today. These theories analyze the culture and project it onto the presentation of the gospel. I do agree that a lot of the methodology of the past is no longer relevant and I fully understand that. What I do not agree with is the limp-wristed presentation of the message of the gospel that is prevalent in many churches. Is it any wonder that many in the church are confused and nearly 40 percent of evangelicals think that Jesus is not the only way to get to God? When the message is so watered down that there is no way for people to respond, that is just clearly wrong. Has the gospel lost its power? No, but some of the messengers have lost their way!
The testimony of Onesimus is that the gospel of Jesus Christ can change a life completely. A life that by all accounts was wasted and useless can be completely changed by the power of God. The useless life becomes a life of focus, meaning and usefulness.
Every time you share the gospel, the potential exists that the dynamite of God’s power will envelope that person. Go ahead, light the fuse!
O was such a man. Who was he? His name is Onesimus and in many ways he is the central character in one the shortest books in the Bible, Philemon. O was a servant in the employ of Philemon and he had robbed his employer, broken his word, and run away. What he did was illegal and that meant he was on the run from the law, from his employer and from his past.
Paul’s letter to Philemon is an appeal and a statement, written from one friend to another. Paul wrote to his friend to say that O was with him in Rome. Philemon lived several hundred miles away in Colosse and the Colossian church met in his house.
We really don’t know how O ended up in Rome and how he connected with Paul. So let me speculate. Paul had never been to Colosse, but it’s possible that Philemon had come to Ephesus and that Paul had led him to faith in Jesus Christ. Since the Colossian church met in Philemon’s home, I am certain that O had heard a lot of teaching on Jesus and the Christian life and most likely he had heard Paul’s name referred to again and again.
Is it possible that O was running away because he was trying to get to something that he found attractive and yet could not get there where he was? I think it is feasible that he found the message of Jesus compelling and was drawn to it, but for some reason was unable to respond while still in Colosse. So he ran away to get to the message of life!
There is a fascinating amount of wordplay in this short book. The name Onesimus means “useful.” When Paul refers to O in verse 11, he first describes him as “[he]who once was unprofitable” or useless. The verse goes on, “but now [is] profitable to you and to me.” The man whose name meant “useful” had never lived up to his name. Instead, he had been useless but now had become useful. What an incredible statement! What had taken place?
Again we are only given glimpses but they lead us to some conclusions. Either Paul or one of his team in Rome had led O to faith in Jesus and he had experienced the power of the gospel. His conversion was so strong and so complete that his “before” and “after” life stood in sharp contrast to each other. His absolutely useless life and behavior has been transformed by the power of God into a life that Paul describes as profitable, useful.
Perhaps we need to be reminded again of the power of God that is unleashed when we share the gospel with someone. Paul said it this way to the church at Rome, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). The word power in the Greek is dunamis, from which the word dynamite is derived.
The unleashing of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ in O’s life had blasted him out of his old life and into the fullness of a new and profitable life in Christ. “The old is gone, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
I do not fully embrace a lot of the theories and thinking kicking around in the church today. These theories analyze the culture and project it onto the presentation of the gospel. I do agree that a lot of the methodology of the past is no longer relevant and I fully understand that. What I do not agree with is the limp-wristed presentation of the message of the gospel that is prevalent in many churches. Is it any wonder that many in the church are confused and nearly 40 percent of evangelicals think that Jesus is not the only way to get to God? When the message is so watered down that there is no way for people to respond, that is just clearly wrong. Has the gospel lost its power? No, but some of the messengers have lost their way!
The testimony of Onesimus is that the gospel of Jesus Christ can change a life completely. A life that by all accounts was wasted and useless can be completely changed by the power of God. The useless life becomes a life of focus, meaning and usefulness.
Every time you share the gospel, the potential exists that the dynamite of God’s power will envelope that person. Go ahead, light the fuse!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
RED DAWN
Red Dawn is a 1984 war film about a fictional invasion of the United States by the Soviet Union and Cuba, and the resulting guerrilla actions of a group of high school students in a little town in Colorado. The fictional adventure movie was not a giant hit at the box office but 24 years later it has become a staple on the action/adventure cable movie channels.
The title of the movie is actually lifted from a passage of Scripture, Matthew 16:1-3: “The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, When evening comes, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.'”
As a boy growing up on the west coast of Canada, I heard the following saying repeated dozens and dozens of times by my parents.
“Red sky at night, sailors delight! Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning!”
Again this saying is lifted from the same passage of Scripture as the title of the movie.
It’s time for the Laodicean church (that’s us, the end-time church) to understand that the night is almost over, the dawn is breaking, the sky is red and we are not alert—we are not ready!
I wonder what is needed in the church of today to re-sensitize us to the stormy weather that is in our immediate future. What will it take to get the western church to behave as though they are actually a vibrant, living New Testament church?
Let me ask the question another way. How do you awaken someone who is soundly asleep? Maybe they have overslept and you have the wonderful task of awakening them. How do you do that? Do you begin to softly sing a gentle lullaby? Do you just slowly open the drapes and let the light into the room? Sound sleepers usually awaken only when they are prodded or spoken to sharply. Sound sleepers are generally unmoved by gentle, nurturing sounds and touches.
Am I suggesting that the church is asleep? Yes! Yes, I am! I can hear the sound of snoring from here!
I have mentioned frequently that I live in what is considered the buckle of the Bible Belt. Within two miles of my home is one of the largest Southern Baptist churches in the nation with an estimated 17,000 in attendance on the average Sunday. Within 15 miles of our home are at least a dozen evangelical churches that consistently average between 5,000 and 10,000 or more in attendance.
Could you guess how many times our home has been reached out to in any kind of evangelistic effort from these bastions of successful “Christendom”? We have lived here for nine years. Have you made your guess yet? Let me make it easy on you…the answer is zero. I am not aware of any church in the area that actually reaches out to the people of the surrounding neighborhoods! Sure, they send out the occasional mailing announcing a new spectacular sermon/teaching series or inviting us to their Easter musical. The majority of these churches are so concerned about lost souls that they never give an altar call, not ever!
Asleep? No, the churches here are comatose! They have gorged themselves on the fallacy called transfer growth. They have cannibalized hundreds of smaller churches and because they have become large, they actually think they are fulfilling the great commission. What is it going to take to awaken those who have fallen asleep doing the work of God?
I am taking a fresh look at something Jesus said about the end times. In Luke 21:23, Jesus speaks of there being distress in the land. The word distress as it is used here means necessity imposed by external circumstances, including the lack of material things.
Let me pose some additional questions to you. If God loves His people and the church, would He be willing to orchestrate end-time events in such a way that prod the church awake? Would God bring pressure and circumstances to bear on the church to jerk it out of its sleepwalking? How did God deal with Israel when they failed to live up to His plan for them? Did God withhold painful circumstances from Israel? Would God treat us differently?
Is it possible that the primary reason for the end-time signs is that they are for the church, to snap the church out of its slumber and into wakefulness?
Look around. Dawn’s coming and the sky is red!
The title of the movie is actually lifted from a passage of Scripture, Matthew 16:1-3: “The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, When evening comes, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.'”
As a boy growing up on the west coast of Canada, I heard the following saying repeated dozens and dozens of times by my parents.
“Red sky at night, sailors delight! Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning!”
Again this saying is lifted from the same passage of Scripture as the title of the movie.
It’s time for the Laodicean church (that’s us, the end-time church) to understand that the night is almost over, the dawn is breaking, the sky is red and we are not alert—we are not ready!
I wonder what is needed in the church of today to re-sensitize us to the stormy weather that is in our immediate future. What will it take to get the western church to behave as though they are actually a vibrant, living New Testament church?
Let me ask the question another way. How do you awaken someone who is soundly asleep? Maybe they have overslept and you have the wonderful task of awakening them. How do you do that? Do you begin to softly sing a gentle lullaby? Do you just slowly open the drapes and let the light into the room? Sound sleepers usually awaken only when they are prodded or spoken to sharply. Sound sleepers are generally unmoved by gentle, nurturing sounds and touches.
Am I suggesting that the church is asleep? Yes! Yes, I am! I can hear the sound of snoring from here!
I have mentioned frequently that I live in what is considered the buckle of the Bible Belt. Within two miles of my home is one of the largest Southern Baptist churches in the nation with an estimated 17,000 in attendance on the average Sunday. Within 15 miles of our home are at least a dozen evangelical churches that consistently average between 5,000 and 10,000 or more in attendance.
Could you guess how many times our home has been reached out to in any kind of evangelistic effort from these bastions of successful “Christendom”? We have lived here for nine years. Have you made your guess yet? Let me make it easy on you…the answer is zero. I am not aware of any church in the area that actually reaches out to the people of the surrounding neighborhoods! Sure, they send out the occasional mailing announcing a new spectacular sermon/teaching series or inviting us to their Easter musical. The majority of these churches are so concerned about lost souls that they never give an altar call, not ever!
Asleep? No, the churches here are comatose! They have gorged themselves on the fallacy called transfer growth. They have cannibalized hundreds of smaller churches and because they have become large, they actually think they are fulfilling the great commission. What is it going to take to awaken those who have fallen asleep doing the work of God?
I am taking a fresh look at something Jesus said about the end times. In Luke 21:23, Jesus speaks of there being distress in the land. The word distress as it is used here means necessity imposed by external circumstances, including the lack of material things.
Let me pose some additional questions to you. If God loves His people and the church, would He be willing to orchestrate end-time events in such a way that prod the church awake? Would God bring pressure and circumstances to bear on the church to jerk it out of its sleepwalking? How did God deal with Israel when they failed to live up to His plan for them? Did God withhold painful circumstances from Israel? Would God treat us differently?
Is it possible that the primary reason for the end-time signs is that they are for the church, to snap the church out of its slumber and into wakefulness?
Look around. Dawn’s coming and the sky is red!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT?
A few days ago I was talking with a friend about how the Lord leads us into new areas of service for Him. My friend said something like, “I think God will open a new door of opportunity before we drop what we are currently doing.”
I encouraged him not to approach getting guidance with preconceived ideas of how he thought God would lead and then I told him the following story.
In 1967, David Wilkerson asked Carol and me to move to New York and join his growing crusade ministry. A year later David asked me to take over as his Crusade Director and I was in that position until late 1974. These were incredible years in the midst of a powerful move of God and I loved what I was doing. In late 1974, God began to speak to me about resigning and being available for another assignment in His Kingdom. I balked big time and said, “Lord, I don’t need to move—I like it here!” The Lord never wavered, He just repeated His instruction. My next line of argument was, “Okay, if You will open another door, if I get a good offer, I’ll resign and go.” That didn’t move the Lord either so I went to another level. “I am a husband and a father of two small children. I have responsibilities!” The Lord responded to this fine piece of logic with, “Your primary responsibility is to be obedient to Me!” And that was the heart of the issue: my willingness to be obedient, to listen and to do.
I resigned a few days later although I did not have another place to go. But God is faithful and another door opened in short order. God has not changed, nor will He. He is always faithful!
My friend asked me if I thought he should start to put out feelers for other places of ministry and opportunity. I responded that I believe he should to go to prayer and listen for the voice of the Lord.
In John 10:4 Jesus speaks of Himself as the Good Shepherd: “….he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.”Jesus is out in front, we hear His voice, and we follow…because we trust Him. Not every word of guidance will immediately make sense to you, but everything will become clear as you closely follow Him.
If we are committed to following Him and we put preconditions on His direction for us, it’s because we don’t trust Him to take us to the greatest point of fulfillment and service. We don’t trust Him because we think we know the vineyard and our needs better than He does and sometimes we even think He may need a little help from us.
A side note here. If you don’t recognize the voice, it’s not Him! Don’t follow! (See John 10:5.)
In Mark 14 Jesus is getting ready to celebrate the Passover with His disciples. In verse 12 the disciples asked, “Where do you want us to go and what do we do?” (Sound like a familiar request? At some time everyone who is serious about following Jesus asks Him that question.) Jesus responded to the disciples, “Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him” (Mark 14:13).
At first these directions don’t seem to make a lot of sense but they will. Our primary responsibility is to hear the voice of the Lord, to be obedient, and follow one step at a time.
The disciples met the man with the jar of water and followed him to where he entered into a house. Inside the house the disciples followed the instructions of the Lord and the owner of the house showed them a large upper room furnished and prepared (see Mark 14:15-16).
When the Lord gives directions and we follow them, we can be assured that there is a place already prepared for us to do His service. He will have a way to lead us to that part of the vineyard that He knows we can be useful in.
"The disciples....went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them" (Mark 14:16).
Listen for His voice!
I encouraged him not to approach getting guidance with preconceived ideas of how he thought God would lead and then I told him the following story.
In 1967, David Wilkerson asked Carol and me to move to New York and join his growing crusade ministry. A year later David asked me to take over as his Crusade Director and I was in that position until late 1974. These were incredible years in the midst of a powerful move of God and I loved what I was doing. In late 1974, God began to speak to me about resigning and being available for another assignment in His Kingdom. I balked big time and said, “Lord, I don’t need to move—I like it here!” The Lord never wavered, He just repeated His instruction. My next line of argument was, “Okay, if You will open another door, if I get a good offer, I’ll resign and go.” That didn’t move the Lord either so I went to another level. “I am a husband and a father of two small children. I have responsibilities!” The Lord responded to this fine piece of logic with, “Your primary responsibility is to be obedient to Me!” And that was the heart of the issue: my willingness to be obedient, to listen and to do.
I resigned a few days later although I did not have another place to go. But God is faithful and another door opened in short order. God has not changed, nor will He. He is always faithful!
My friend asked me if I thought he should start to put out feelers for other places of ministry and opportunity. I responded that I believe he should to go to prayer and listen for the voice of the Lord.
In John 10:4 Jesus speaks of Himself as the Good Shepherd: “….he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.”Jesus is out in front, we hear His voice, and we follow…because we trust Him. Not every word of guidance will immediately make sense to you, but everything will become clear as you closely follow Him.
If we are committed to following Him and we put preconditions on His direction for us, it’s because we don’t trust Him to take us to the greatest point of fulfillment and service. We don’t trust Him because we think we know the vineyard and our needs better than He does and sometimes we even think He may need a little help from us.
A side note here. If you don’t recognize the voice, it’s not Him! Don’t follow! (See John 10:5.)
In Mark 14 Jesus is getting ready to celebrate the Passover with His disciples. In verse 12 the disciples asked, “Where do you want us to go and what do we do?” (Sound like a familiar request? At some time everyone who is serious about following Jesus asks Him that question.) Jesus responded to the disciples, “Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him” (Mark 14:13).
At first these directions don’t seem to make a lot of sense but they will. Our primary responsibility is to hear the voice of the Lord, to be obedient, and follow one step at a time.
The disciples met the man with the jar of water and followed him to where he entered into a house. Inside the house the disciples followed the instructions of the Lord and the owner of the house showed them a large upper room furnished and prepared (see Mark 14:15-16).
When the Lord gives directions and we follow them, we can be assured that there is a place already prepared for us to do His service. He will have a way to lead us to that part of the vineyard that He knows we can be useful in.
"The disciples....went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them" (Mark 14:16).
Listen for His voice!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
THE TABLE OF THE LORD!
I absolutely love the 23rd Psalm. For over 40 years I have been enjoying the riches of this incredible series of insights that flowed out of David’s heart and spirit. Just when I think I have discovered everything possible, I turn the diamond just a bit and the light catches a whole new brilliance of God’s love and care and it just lights up my life. That happened earlier today.
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over” (v. 5, emphasis mine).
This verse is a trilogy of blessing! A God-prepared table, an anointing, and an overflowing cup!
What is it that drives us to the dinner table in the natural? We get hungry and we eat to meet that need! What is it that drives us to seek God? Hunger in the inner man! What is God’s promise to the hungry? “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6, emphasis mine). The word hunger means to crave ardently, to seek with eager desire, to be painfully hungry. God promises to meet those who earnestly, wholeheartedly, hungrily seek Him.
God tells us in Psalm 23:5 that He has prepared a table, a spread of spiritual food that is designed to meet and fulfill our deepest and most heartfelt needs. Each table is prepared for us alone! Go ahead, it’s all right, you can call it designer food because that’s exactly what God had in mind for you.
The table finds its best expression, its fullest ability to satisfy your deepest longing and desire, in those moments when you quietly meet with Him in personal worship, in the Word, in prayer and in quiet meditation. In those moments you have the greatest access to the full spread of the table. In those moments God begins to feed you with exactly what you need to fulfill your innermost hunger and to grow your spiritual man/woman.
It is in those personal moments of intimate contact with Him that the full impact of His designed nourishment begins to flow into you. He prepared this table with you in mind: your needs, your struggles, your growth. He has prepared a meal just for you that will meet your exact needs and strengthen you to become that man, that woman of God that He has destined you to be.
Please listen carefully to what I am going to say now because I know that some will misunderstand. When you do not take the time to eat at your own table but rush to eat at others’ tables, it’s not a mortal sin, it’s just the wrong food at the wrong time and it brings less than the desired response.
Your spiritual nourishment is found at the table the Lord has set just for you. This nourishment will come because you step up to the table and partake of the meal that was meticulously designed with you in mind.
We need to be faithful to the church. Hebrews 10:25 has not been taken out of your Bible and Ephesians 4:12 is not going away. Jesus is still calling some to be pastors and still empowering pastors to equip us for the work of the ministry. We need to sit under our pastor’s teaching and inspiration; we need to be in Bible study; we need the fellowship of others on the journey of faith. These are the between-meal power snacks along the journey of our life of faith. But if you are counting on what you get at church, see on Christian television, hear on Christian radio, or read in the latest inspirational best seller to be your primary source of spiritual nourishment, you are eating at the wrong table.
There is a RESERVED sign and a name card on your table. The table is reserved for you and the name on the card is yours. There are only two chairs at your table, one for you and the other for Jesus. Your time at the table is meant to be an occasion of intimacy: eating, talking, listening and worshiping.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20, emphasis mine).
Dinnertime is coming, the table is set, and I can hardly wait!
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over” (v. 5, emphasis mine).
This verse is a trilogy of blessing! A God-prepared table, an anointing, and an overflowing cup!
What is it that drives us to the dinner table in the natural? We get hungry and we eat to meet that need! What is it that drives us to seek God? Hunger in the inner man! What is God’s promise to the hungry? “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6, emphasis mine). The word hunger means to crave ardently, to seek with eager desire, to be painfully hungry. God promises to meet those who earnestly, wholeheartedly, hungrily seek Him.
God tells us in Psalm 23:5 that He has prepared a table, a spread of spiritual food that is designed to meet and fulfill our deepest and most heartfelt needs. Each table is prepared for us alone! Go ahead, it’s all right, you can call it designer food because that’s exactly what God had in mind for you.
The table finds its best expression, its fullest ability to satisfy your deepest longing and desire, in those moments when you quietly meet with Him in personal worship, in the Word, in prayer and in quiet meditation. In those moments you have the greatest access to the full spread of the table. In those moments God begins to feed you with exactly what you need to fulfill your innermost hunger and to grow your spiritual man/woman.
It is in those personal moments of intimate contact with Him that the full impact of His designed nourishment begins to flow into you. He prepared this table with you in mind: your needs, your struggles, your growth. He has prepared a meal just for you that will meet your exact needs and strengthen you to become that man, that woman of God that He has destined you to be.
Please listen carefully to what I am going to say now because I know that some will misunderstand. When you do not take the time to eat at your own table but rush to eat at others’ tables, it’s not a mortal sin, it’s just the wrong food at the wrong time and it brings less than the desired response.
Your spiritual nourishment is found at the table the Lord has set just for you. This nourishment will come because you step up to the table and partake of the meal that was meticulously designed with you in mind.
We need to be faithful to the church. Hebrews 10:25 has not been taken out of your Bible and Ephesians 4:12 is not going away. Jesus is still calling some to be pastors and still empowering pastors to equip us for the work of the ministry. We need to sit under our pastor’s teaching and inspiration; we need to be in Bible study; we need the fellowship of others on the journey of faith. These are the between-meal power snacks along the journey of our life of faith. But if you are counting on what you get at church, see on Christian television, hear on Christian radio, or read in the latest inspirational best seller to be your primary source of spiritual nourishment, you are eating at the wrong table.
There is a RESERVED sign and a name card on your table. The table is reserved for you and the name on the card is yours. There are only two chairs at your table, one for you and the other for Jesus. Your time at the table is meant to be an occasion of intimacy: eating, talking, listening and worshiping.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20, emphasis mine).
Dinnertime is coming, the table is set, and I can hardly wait!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
THE IMMORAL WOMAN
I wonder about the identity of the “immoral woman” that Solomon speaks of in Proverbs.
In the second chapter, the first eleven verses are a wonderful litany of the value of wisdom and the search for it. In verse twelve the passage takes a darker, more somber tone as it begins to address what wisdom will keep us free from. In verse sixteen the writer addresses the immoral, adulterous woman, the seductress with her flattering words.
“To deliver you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words” (v. 16).
So who is this immoral woman Solomon is warning about? Solomon was no slouch with the ladies. I don’t think it would be wrong to characterize him as a “ladies man.” So if he is warning about an adulterous woman, he would be the man who would know. Is she a part of the cast of the television program Desperate Housewives? Is she one of the current crop of “pop tarts” that the paparazzi are constantly chasing and documenting their “hook-up” lifestyles? Is it a lonely woman or man that you meet by accident and are attracted to? Is it a co-worker or friend that you can’t keep your eyes and thoughts off of?
The answer is—perhaps, but probably not!
The adulterous woman may not be a woman at all. Wait a minute, what am I saying here? What am I suggesting? The reality is that the writer of Proverbs is addressing anything that attempts to seduce us, to draw us away from our relationship with Christ and our journey of faith. It could be a member of the opposite sex or a member of the same sex (although for me it couldn’t), but it could also be money, power, peer acceptance, position, educational pursuit. It could be religion; it could be any number of issues or philosophies. Many things have the power to seduce; many things have the power to entice us to move away from our commitment to follow Jesus. These are the “immoral seductresses” Solomon warns us about.
Jesus addressed the same issue when He said, “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).
The most common definition of mammon is money or wealth and that definition is not wrong, it’s just incomplete. Mammon is a demonic spirit that was worshipped by the Philistines. Mammon wants to be worshipped, wants to control people’s lives, and wants people to put their trust in him. Mammon wants to be a god to people. Mammon is a lying spirit that says that money, influence, wealth, position, intellect all have power and because they do, they seductively encourage people to put a disproportionate value on them. Money is the most common vehicle that mammon uses to influence and seduce.
Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24)).
This demand for singleness of heart is perfectly consistent with the picture that is developed in the Old Testament of how God led and dealt with His people. In Deuteronomy 32:12 we read about the Jewish nation: “So the Lord alone led him, and there was no foreign god with him.” This is a picture of God’s jealousy over His people. This is not the angry, vengeful jealousy of a cheap romance novel (not that I know anything about them, so save your comments). This is the pure love of a God who is declaring that I AM everything you will ever need and to look elsewhere is insulting to Him.
So when Solomon warns us, and Jesus warns us, then we have been amply warned to stay away from the seducing spirit of the “immoral woman.”
In the second chapter, the first eleven verses are a wonderful litany of the value of wisdom and the search for it. In verse twelve the passage takes a darker, more somber tone as it begins to address what wisdom will keep us free from. In verse sixteen the writer addresses the immoral, adulterous woman, the seductress with her flattering words.
“To deliver you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words” (v. 16).
So who is this immoral woman Solomon is warning about? Solomon was no slouch with the ladies. I don’t think it would be wrong to characterize him as a “ladies man.” So if he is warning about an adulterous woman, he would be the man who would know. Is she a part of the cast of the television program Desperate Housewives? Is she one of the current crop of “pop tarts” that the paparazzi are constantly chasing and documenting their “hook-up” lifestyles? Is it a lonely woman or man that you meet by accident and are attracted to? Is it a co-worker or friend that you can’t keep your eyes and thoughts off of?
The answer is—perhaps, but probably not!
The adulterous woman may not be a woman at all. Wait a minute, what am I saying here? What am I suggesting? The reality is that the writer of Proverbs is addressing anything that attempts to seduce us, to draw us away from our relationship with Christ and our journey of faith. It could be a member of the opposite sex or a member of the same sex (although for me it couldn’t), but it could also be money, power, peer acceptance, position, educational pursuit. It could be religion; it could be any number of issues or philosophies. Many things have the power to seduce; many things have the power to entice us to move away from our commitment to follow Jesus. These are the “immoral seductresses” Solomon warns us about.
Jesus addressed the same issue when He said, “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).
The most common definition of mammon is money or wealth and that definition is not wrong, it’s just incomplete. Mammon is a demonic spirit that was worshipped by the Philistines. Mammon wants to be worshipped, wants to control people’s lives, and wants people to put their trust in him. Mammon wants to be a god to people. Mammon is a lying spirit that says that money, influence, wealth, position, intellect all have power and because they do, they seductively encourage people to put a disproportionate value on them. Money is the most common vehicle that mammon uses to influence and seduce.
Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24)).
This demand for singleness of heart is perfectly consistent with the picture that is developed in the Old Testament of how God led and dealt with His people. In Deuteronomy 32:12 we read about the Jewish nation: “So the Lord alone led him, and there was no foreign god with him.” This is a picture of God’s jealousy over His people. This is not the angry, vengeful jealousy of a cheap romance novel (not that I know anything about them, so save your comments). This is the pure love of a God who is declaring that I AM everything you will ever need and to look elsewhere is insulting to Him.
So when Solomon warns us, and Jesus warns us, then we have been amply warned to stay away from the seducing spirit of the “immoral woman.”
Sunday, August 24, 2008
I WITNESSED A MIRACLE TODAY!
By Carol B. Patterson
Heeding the instruction of the pastor, the pretty, well-dressed twenty-six-year-old rose from her seat.
“What is your condition?”
“I have a brain tumor and I also had a stroke.”
She quietly explained that she had been given only six months to live and had been brought to church by a friend—and she knew God was going to heal her. I have two daughters and my heart instantly ached for this girl. I could only imagine the agony of those who cherished her.
“Come here, come out into the aisle.”
There was silence as an air of expectancy filled the room. The pastor was very gentle with her and told her not to be afraid if his voice got a bit loud. “I’m not shouting at you. I’m commanding this sickness to leave you!”
She smiled faintly. From where I sat I had a clear view of her expressions. What a sweet face, so trusting, so completely faith-filled, more questioning than emotional. Her stroke had left her right arm useless and it dangled at her side. Also, her right leg had been affected and she walked with a slight dragging motion. When she spoke, her speech was slow and labored, as well.
This was definitely a moment to be frozen in memory. The anointing was intense, a crystalline, brittle snap of purity and power, reminiscent of the cool, biting winds that cut into my face on the ski slopes years before—never with pain but with forceful awareness, quickening and vitalizing. But beneath the sense of anointing and authority was the warmth of great compassion. Jesus had walked in, wrapped in love and caring and restorative power.
After the pastor prayed, the young lady stood speaking with him quietly—when suddenly her face took on a glow of quizzical awe. Disbelief, mingled with delight, danced across her face. The pastor had his hand on her right arm and she said slowly, “I can feel your hand on my arm.” Then she looked at her arm, again with a puzzled expression. “I can feel your hand on my arm,” she repeated.
“Couldn’t you feel my hand before?”
“No, I couldn’t feel anything.” Then she began to raise the arm, slowly, slowly, but steadily, and she fixed her eyes on it, as though viewing a disembodied appendage that had attached itself to her. Suddenly her expression changed again, reflecting total amazement, her eyes widening.
“Look at my hand!” She slowly moved her fingers, then she made a fist, and her face was dazzling! “Look at my hand. Look what I can do!”
Then she looked down at her foot. “My foot has straightened out! Look! It’s not like it was. I couldn’t walk right. My foot always turned.”
“Well, let’s take a little walk.”
So off they went across the front of the sanctuary, the pastor and his newly-healed friend. The friend who had brought the young woman to church was weeping and laughing at the same time and a good percentage of the congregation was joining in.
“My foot is straight, isn’t it? Look at my foot!”
After they made their way back across the auditorium she said, “My head doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“Did it hurt when you came in?”
“Oh, it’s been hurting for weeks. It hurt all the time; I just got used to it and went ahead and did my work. But it hurt all the time.”
“And it doesn’t hurt now?”
“No! It doesn’t hurt anymore. And look, I can raise my right arm and make a fist. I told my friend that when I could make a fist (I have been in therapy two hours a day for a long time), she was going to be the first one I hit. Come here!” And her friend, who was barely able to stand because of her joy and amazement, hugged her and got a friendly punch on the arm.
I saw all this, close-up and personal, and I felt the sweetness and purity and compassion and power, all wrapped up in one astonishing miracle.
I love miracles! And most of all, I love Jesus because, you see, that’s what happens when He shows up!
Heeding the instruction of the pastor, the pretty, well-dressed twenty-six-year-old rose from her seat.
“What is your condition?”
“I have a brain tumor and I also had a stroke.”
She quietly explained that she had been given only six months to live and had been brought to church by a friend—and she knew God was going to heal her. I have two daughters and my heart instantly ached for this girl. I could only imagine the agony of those who cherished her.
“Come here, come out into the aisle.”
There was silence as an air of expectancy filled the room. The pastor was very gentle with her and told her not to be afraid if his voice got a bit loud. “I’m not shouting at you. I’m commanding this sickness to leave you!”
She smiled faintly. From where I sat I had a clear view of her expressions. What a sweet face, so trusting, so completely faith-filled, more questioning than emotional. Her stroke had left her right arm useless and it dangled at her side. Also, her right leg had been affected and she walked with a slight dragging motion. When she spoke, her speech was slow and labored, as well.
This was definitely a moment to be frozen in memory. The anointing was intense, a crystalline, brittle snap of purity and power, reminiscent of the cool, biting winds that cut into my face on the ski slopes years before—never with pain but with forceful awareness, quickening and vitalizing. But beneath the sense of anointing and authority was the warmth of great compassion. Jesus had walked in, wrapped in love and caring and restorative power.
After the pastor prayed, the young lady stood speaking with him quietly—when suddenly her face took on a glow of quizzical awe. Disbelief, mingled with delight, danced across her face. The pastor had his hand on her right arm and she said slowly, “I can feel your hand on my arm.” Then she looked at her arm, again with a puzzled expression. “I can feel your hand on my arm,” she repeated.
“Couldn’t you feel my hand before?”
“No, I couldn’t feel anything.” Then she began to raise the arm, slowly, slowly, but steadily, and she fixed her eyes on it, as though viewing a disembodied appendage that had attached itself to her. Suddenly her expression changed again, reflecting total amazement, her eyes widening.
“Look at my hand!” She slowly moved her fingers, then she made a fist, and her face was dazzling! “Look at my hand. Look what I can do!”
Then she looked down at her foot. “My foot has straightened out! Look! It’s not like it was. I couldn’t walk right. My foot always turned.”
“Well, let’s take a little walk.”
So off they went across the front of the sanctuary, the pastor and his newly-healed friend. The friend who had brought the young woman to church was weeping and laughing at the same time and a good percentage of the congregation was joining in.
“My foot is straight, isn’t it? Look at my foot!”
After they made their way back across the auditorium she said, “My head doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“Did it hurt when you came in?”
“Oh, it’s been hurting for weeks. It hurt all the time; I just got used to it and went ahead and did my work. But it hurt all the time.”
“And it doesn’t hurt now?”
“No! It doesn’t hurt anymore. And look, I can raise my right arm and make a fist. I told my friend that when I could make a fist (I have been in therapy two hours a day for a long time), she was going to be the first one I hit. Come here!” And her friend, who was barely able to stand because of her joy and amazement, hugged her and got a friendly punch on the arm.
I saw all this, close-up and personal, and I felt the sweetness and purity and compassion and power, all wrapped up in one astonishing miracle.
I love miracles! And most of all, I love Jesus because, you see, that’s what happens when He shows up!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
INTO THE STORM
The signs of cultural change are all around us and the signs of change in the church are just as striking as those in the world. One of the tension points between moderns (that’s me) and postmoderns (that’s my children) is their taste in music (or as this dad lovingly points out to his children, their lack of taste in music).
This past weekend, Carol pointed out to me an article in our local weekly paper about a church that has started in our city just for people 50 and older. It advertises that it has been organized specifically for those who do not identify with contemporary Christian music. This church is not the future, it is a sad attempt to hold on to the past. In fact, in my opinion it is not a church, it is a self-supported Sunday school class.
When I started writing this weekly devotional/editorial several years ago, I wrote an article entitled “The Emerging Church.” The essence of the article was that the church must continue emerging. The church has been emerging for 2000 years and it can’t stop now. To stop going forward is failure; to retreat is failure; denial is failure.
The rate of change in the culture and the church is intensifying. I got my first cell phone in the early 90’s. I got my first laptop computer at the same time. Both of them are so simple in comparison to what is available today that it is laughable. Now we have cell phones with most of the features of a laptop. What’s next? The changes we experience don’t take decades any more. The future is now!
As the changes have dramatically accelerated in the church, many have felt frustrated and confused about what is happening. Gordon MacDonald tells the story of an encounter between a pastor and one of his elderly parishioners who was deeply troubled by all the changes. This led to her outburst, “Who stole my church?” which became the title of MacDonald’s book.
The dramatic changes in the culture are influencing the changes in the church. The confluence of these changes coupled with the rise of militant atheism and other forces are moving us headlong into a stormy period.
All of this begs the question: If we are headed into stormy weather, where is Jesus in all this? Hold on to your life preserver because we are about to find out.
One of my favorite Bible stories is found in Matthew 14:22-33. Let me briefly present this story and perhaps we can see it in a fresh new light.
• Jesus made His disciples take this boat ride but He did not go with them (v. 22)
• A fierce storm struck the lake and threatened the disciples (v. 24)
• Jesus went to the disciples by walking on the water (v. 25)
• The disciples responded to seeing Jesus walking on the water by screaming in fear (v. 26)
• Jesus spoke reassuringly to the disciples and calmed their fears (v. 27)
The disciples never expected to see Jesus in the middle of the storm!
The boat is a type of the church, yesterday’s church, and the disciples are a type of today’s frightened and confused church attendees. Peter is a type of the believer the Lord is calling us to be. At first, when he saw Jesus out in the storm, Peter was frightened and confused. Weren’t he and the other disciples doing what the Lord had asked them to? So how could this storm be happening to them? And then Peter heard the voice of the Lord say to them, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid!” and a revelation struck Peter. He knew that the safest place in the storm was to be where Jesus was and so he called out to the Lord, “Lord, can I come out there where you are?” (v. 28).
The Lord’s response to Peter is His response to us today. He knows that so many in the church are bewildered by all the accelerating changes going on around us, troubled by the changes that strike close to home, in our churches and in our families. The questions rage within, “How can this be happening? Where is God in all of this?”
Our Savor’s word rings out loud and clear to us as it did to Peter’s question. His call is to “Come” (v. 29), come to Him. The safest place you can be in the midst of a storm is with Him. He is in the storm and He will keep us safe. The Lord is calling us to get out of the boat and come to Him.
Some nitpickers may leap on this article and condemn it, saying, “David, you are telling us to leave the boat, which is a type of the church.” And to you I would say, “That’s exactly right and exactly what I am saying!” You need to get out of the form of yesterday’s churchianity and heed the call of the Lord. When you let go of the form of the past, the real church goes with you! I am telling you to get out of the boat of yesterday’s ideas and follow Him. I am telling you to get out of that which is manmade and can easily be destroyed in a storm and cling to that which cannot sink or be destroyed, because He is eternal.
The church is not found in tradition or buildings or institutions, no matter how old and magnificent they may seem. The real church is where we are and when we are with Him.
Where is Jesus? In the middle of the storm, exactly where we thought He would never be.
This past weekend, Carol pointed out to me an article in our local weekly paper about a church that has started in our city just for people 50 and older. It advertises that it has been organized specifically for those who do not identify with contemporary Christian music. This church is not the future, it is a sad attempt to hold on to the past. In fact, in my opinion it is not a church, it is a self-supported Sunday school class.
When I started writing this weekly devotional/editorial several years ago, I wrote an article entitled “The Emerging Church.” The essence of the article was that the church must continue emerging. The church has been emerging for 2000 years and it can’t stop now. To stop going forward is failure; to retreat is failure; denial is failure.
The rate of change in the culture and the church is intensifying. I got my first cell phone in the early 90’s. I got my first laptop computer at the same time. Both of them are so simple in comparison to what is available today that it is laughable. Now we have cell phones with most of the features of a laptop. What’s next? The changes we experience don’t take decades any more. The future is now!
As the changes have dramatically accelerated in the church, many have felt frustrated and confused about what is happening. Gordon MacDonald tells the story of an encounter between a pastor and one of his elderly parishioners who was deeply troubled by all the changes. This led to her outburst, “Who stole my church?” which became the title of MacDonald’s book.
The dramatic changes in the culture are influencing the changes in the church. The confluence of these changes coupled with the rise of militant atheism and other forces are moving us headlong into a stormy period.
All of this begs the question: If we are headed into stormy weather, where is Jesus in all this? Hold on to your life preserver because we are about to find out.
One of my favorite Bible stories is found in Matthew 14:22-33. Let me briefly present this story and perhaps we can see it in a fresh new light.
• Jesus made His disciples take this boat ride but He did not go with them (v. 22)
• A fierce storm struck the lake and threatened the disciples (v. 24)
• Jesus went to the disciples by walking on the water (v. 25)
• The disciples responded to seeing Jesus walking on the water by screaming in fear (v. 26)
• Jesus spoke reassuringly to the disciples and calmed their fears (v. 27)
The disciples never expected to see Jesus in the middle of the storm!
The boat is a type of the church, yesterday’s church, and the disciples are a type of today’s frightened and confused church attendees. Peter is a type of the believer the Lord is calling us to be. At first, when he saw Jesus out in the storm, Peter was frightened and confused. Weren’t he and the other disciples doing what the Lord had asked them to? So how could this storm be happening to them? And then Peter heard the voice of the Lord say to them, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid!” and a revelation struck Peter. He knew that the safest place in the storm was to be where Jesus was and so he called out to the Lord, “Lord, can I come out there where you are?” (v. 28).
The Lord’s response to Peter is His response to us today. He knows that so many in the church are bewildered by all the accelerating changes going on around us, troubled by the changes that strike close to home, in our churches and in our families. The questions rage within, “How can this be happening? Where is God in all of this?”
Our Savor’s word rings out loud and clear to us as it did to Peter’s question. His call is to “Come” (v. 29), come to Him. The safest place you can be in the midst of a storm is with Him. He is in the storm and He will keep us safe. The Lord is calling us to get out of the boat and come to Him.
Some nitpickers may leap on this article and condemn it, saying, “David, you are telling us to leave the boat, which is a type of the church.” And to you I would say, “That’s exactly right and exactly what I am saying!” You need to get out of the form of yesterday’s churchianity and heed the call of the Lord. When you let go of the form of the past, the real church goes with you! I am telling you to get out of the boat of yesterday’s ideas and follow Him. I am telling you to get out of that which is manmade and can easily be destroyed in a storm and cling to that which cannot sink or be destroyed, because He is eternal.
The church is not found in tradition or buildings or institutions, no matter how old and magnificent they may seem. The real church is where we are and when we are with Him.
Where is Jesus? In the middle of the storm, exactly where we thought He would never be.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
LIVING IN THE FAVOR OF THE LORD?
Joseph was in deep trouble. His pride and immaturity had unleashed a torrent of difficulty in his life. His brothers had become so upset with him that they conspired to kill him. At first they threw him into a pit to die but then relented and sold him to a passing group of traders. “Problem solved,” thought his brothers. “We make a little money off this mess and Joseph goes far away to Egypt.” They thought this was a place they would never travel to.
Being away from his brothers didn’t make things better for Joseph, however; in fact, things got worse. He had been sold into slavery and taken by force hundreds of miles from his home. When the traders arrived in Egypt, they made arrangements to sell Joseph to a wealthy and important Egyptian and Joseph began a career as a house slave. Genesis 39 indicates that Joseph was good in this role and became successful. Just when his life had begun to turn for the better, Joseph was falsely accused of attempted rape and thrown into prison. In essence, this was the end of the line, a death sentence. Joseph had been put into prison by one of the king’s closest confidants and the keys had been thrown away. In the natural, Joseph’s life was over and he had no future.
And then we read Genesis 39:21:
“But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.”
Wait just a minute! This verse says that God gave Joseph favor! It doesn’t say he earned it and it doesn’t say he deserved it, although I am sure he was a nice guy once he dealt with his pride. But how can it be that in the middle of a downward spiral of trouble, God steps in and gives Joseph a gift of mercy and favor that causes his circumstances to be improved?
It is perfectly consistent with the character and nature of God to give His favor to one of His children. It is undeserved and unmerited, but God gives it anyway. In the New Testament this is called grace and it is clearly tied to our salvation and our new life in Christ. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9; see Romans 5:1 also).
In the OT we do not see it tied the same way to salvation but we do see it clearly as a part of God’s dealing with His children. Over and over we see God gracing or gifting His children with His favor (Daniel, Esther, Nehemiah, David, Joseph and on and on goes the list). This extending of favor was supernatural in that it caused painfully difficult circumstances to suddenly turn and favor God’s children. In Exodus 3:21 God said to Moses, “And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed” (see also Exodus 11:3 and 12:36).
This manifestation of grace as favor is as much ours today as is the grace gift of new life in Christ. I believe that as God’s children we are to live in and experience His grace in all aspects of our life as much as Joseph experienced it in the bowels of prison. When all hope seemed to disappear with his freedom, and the situation became increasingly desperate, God gave Joseph favor and his situation began to reverse itself. It is a gift that will manifest in your life when God determines the circumstances are appropriate according to His sight, not ours (Romans 8:28).
Here are a couple of verses to lay hold of for your life and circumstances:
“For whoever finds me finds life,
And obtains favor from the LORD “(Proverbs 8:35).
“For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
The LORD will give grace (favor) and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11).
My declaration: “I am God’s child and I know His favor is a gift to me. I don’t always understand the circumstances of my life but I know God does and He is in charge of all things. When it is right in His eyes I will see His favor manifested in my life because He has given His word.”
Being away from his brothers didn’t make things better for Joseph, however; in fact, things got worse. He had been sold into slavery and taken by force hundreds of miles from his home. When the traders arrived in Egypt, they made arrangements to sell Joseph to a wealthy and important Egyptian and Joseph began a career as a house slave. Genesis 39 indicates that Joseph was good in this role and became successful. Just when his life had begun to turn for the better, Joseph was falsely accused of attempted rape and thrown into prison. In essence, this was the end of the line, a death sentence. Joseph had been put into prison by one of the king’s closest confidants and the keys had been thrown away. In the natural, Joseph’s life was over and he had no future.
And then we read Genesis 39:21:
“But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.”
Wait just a minute! This verse says that God gave Joseph favor! It doesn’t say he earned it and it doesn’t say he deserved it, although I am sure he was a nice guy once he dealt with his pride. But how can it be that in the middle of a downward spiral of trouble, God steps in and gives Joseph a gift of mercy and favor that causes his circumstances to be improved?
It is perfectly consistent with the character and nature of God to give His favor to one of His children. It is undeserved and unmerited, but God gives it anyway. In the New Testament this is called grace and it is clearly tied to our salvation and our new life in Christ. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9; see Romans 5:1 also).
In the OT we do not see it tied the same way to salvation but we do see it clearly as a part of God’s dealing with His children. Over and over we see God gracing or gifting His children with His favor (Daniel, Esther, Nehemiah, David, Joseph and on and on goes the list). This extending of favor was supernatural in that it caused painfully difficult circumstances to suddenly turn and favor God’s children. In Exodus 3:21 God said to Moses, “And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed” (see also Exodus 11:3 and 12:36).
This manifestation of grace as favor is as much ours today as is the grace gift of new life in Christ. I believe that as God’s children we are to live in and experience His grace in all aspects of our life as much as Joseph experienced it in the bowels of prison. When all hope seemed to disappear with his freedom, and the situation became increasingly desperate, God gave Joseph favor and his situation began to reverse itself. It is a gift that will manifest in your life when God determines the circumstances are appropriate according to His sight, not ours (Romans 8:28).
Here are a couple of verses to lay hold of for your life and circumstances:
“For whoever finds me finds life,
And obtains favor from the LORD “(Proverbs 8:35).
“For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
The LORD will give grace (favor) and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11).
My declaration: “I am God’s child and I know His favor is a gift to me. I don’t always understand the circumstances of my life but I know God does and He is in charge of all things. When it is right in His eyes I will see His favor manifested in my life because He has given His word.”
Saturday, August 2, 2008
WITH SALT OR WITHOUT?
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men” (Matthew 5:13 NIV).
When I say, “Salt!” what images immediately spring to mind? Perhaps it’s a salt shaker, salty french fries, saltwater going up your nose when you are swimming, rock salt in winter, rings of salt on your clothes after you have been sweating. We all have different images that pop up.
What was Jesus saying when He said that we are salt?
In Bible times salt had two main purposes:
1. Preservative — Salt was used to preserve meat, for example. When things were rotting around it, meat was preserved by an ample application of salt. Salt has cleansing and preservative qualities. On long trips, travelers would carry meat packed in salt.
2. Seasoning — Salt was put on food of all kinds as an agent of taste enhancement. Most people think food tastes better with a just-so-subtle use of salt as a seasoning.
In both cases, in order to bring its qualities to bear, the salt must be brought into contact with the object; otherwise, the power of the salt is lost. Sitting on a shelf or resting in a shaker, salt is wasted power. It might as well be thrown out.
When we put these two purposes together, we get a clearer picture of what Jesus had in mind when He said, “You are the salt of the earth.” Jesus was saying, “The salt is there but what are you going to do about it? Are you going to rise to the occasion and be what you should be or will you lose your flavor by sitting on the shelf?” The idea presented is that we are salty and this is the destiny of a believer.
When we speak of salty Christians, we are talking about seasoned warriors who have been tried in the combat fields of real life and over the years have proven that they not only “talk the talk” but they “walk the walk.” These are warriors who have weathered storms, had desert experiences, gone through dry spells and been bewildered at times. They are believers who have experienced much and have grown and matured in their faith and in their walk with God through their trials. Their experiences have brought them to a level where their faith is not easily shaken by circumstances. They have been preserved in trials and times of wilderness wandering; they have struggled but they have emerged triumphant. They are truly seasoned believers; the salt has been rubbed in and they have embraced their saltiness.
I personally believe that the church is already in the early stages of a very stormy period. Some theologians and futurists that I read are talking about an approaching perfect storm. It will be the confluence of three or four major storms, including the cultural storm of postmodernity and the religious storm of postChristianity (in the West).
Storms tend to have a purifying effect on everything they touch. In Texas we are assaulted by thunderstorms, tornadoes and the occasional hurricane. Some of the familiar scenes shown on TV news are the aftermath of an area hit by a storm. Everything that is not tied down or is without a good foundation seems to get blown away. The buildings that are built with a solid foundation may have some cosmetic damage but they normally survive.
So it will be in the “stormy weather” that we are heading into. Those who lead and help others in this coming cataclysm will not be the “Sunday morning Christians” who just don’t have time to read and pray, to study and grow, and be active in their church. Most likely these foundationless friends will have difficulty surviving the winds and fury of the change that is coming. The survivors will be the seasoned (read “salty”) saints who have already endured their own personal storms. They have been tried and didn’t fade, but instead they grew in grace and love. The “salty” ones will be leading in the coming storms.
When I say, “Salt!” what images immediately spring to mind? Perhaps it’s a salt shaker, salty french fries, saltwater going up your nose when you are swimming, rock salt in winter, rings of salt on your clothes after you have been sweating. We all have different images that pop up.
What was Jesus saying when He said that we are salt?
In Bible times salt had two main purposes:
1. Preservative — Salt was used to preserve meat, for example. When things were rotting around it, meat was preserved by an ample application of salt. Salt has cleansing and preservative qualities. On long trips, travelers would carry meat packed in salt.
2. Seasoning — Salt was put on food of all kinds as an agent of taste enhancement. Most people think food tastes better with a just-so-subtle use of salt as a seasoning.
In both cases, in order to bring its qualities to bear, the salt must be brought into contact with the object; otherwise, the power of the salt is lost. Sitting on a shelf or resting in a shaker, salt is wasted power. It might as well be thrown out.
When we put these two purposes together, we get a clearer picture of what Jesus had in mind when He said, “You are the salt of the earth.” Jesus was saying, “The salt is there but what are you going to do about it? Are you going to rise to the occasion and be what you should be or will you lose your flavor by sitting on the shelf?” The idea presented is that we are salty and this is the destiny of a believer.
When we speak of salty Christians, we are talking about seasoned warriors who have been tried in the combat fields of real life and over the years have proven that they not only “talk the talk” but they “walk the walk.” These are warriors who have weathered storms, had desert experiences, gone through dry spells and been bewildered at times. They are believers who have experienced much and have grown and matured in their faith and in their walk with God through their trials. Their experiences have brought them to a level where their faith is not easily shaken by circumstances. They have been preserved in trials and times of wilderness wandering; they have struggled but they have emerged triumphant. They are truly seasoned believers; the salt has been rubbed in and they have embraced their saltiness.
I personally believe that the church is already in the early stages of a very stormy period. Some theologians and futurists that I read are talking about an approaching perfect storm. It will be the confluence of three or four major storms, including the cultural storm of postmodernity and the religious storm of postChristianity (in the West).
Storms tend to have a purifying effect on everything they touch. In Texas we are assaulted by thunderstorms, tornadoes and the occasional hurricane. Some of the familiar scenes shown on TV news are the aftermath of an area hit by a storm. Everything that is not tied down or is without a good foundation seems to get blown away. The buildings that are built with a solid foundation may have some cosmetic damage but they normally survive.
So it will be in the “stormy weather” that we are heading into. Those who lead and help others in this coming cataclysm will not be the “Sunday morning Christians” who just don’t have time to read and pray, to study and grow, and be active in their church. Most likely these foundationless friends will have difficulty surviving the winds and fury of the change that is coming. The survivors will be the seasoned (read “salty”) saints who have already endured their own personal storms. They have been tried and didn’t fade, but instead they grew in grace and love. The “salty” ones will be leading in the coming storms.
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