NOT BY MIGHT NOR BY POWER!

“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).

Fifty thousand exiles had returned from Persia to rebuild the altar and the temple in Jerusalem. When they arrived they were excited and enthusiastic about the rebuilding. But opposition arose from the neighboring Samaritans and soon the enthusiasm and interest began to dwindle.

Finally weariness set in among the exiles. It had been twelve years and when they came back they did not know how big the task was. After all these years the people were tired and discouraged and the task was far from finished. No matter what the leaders did, the people refused to go back to work and the situation began to look hopeless.

Into this dreary mess of discouragement and an unfinished task God sent a prophet with a message for the exiles. It was not just for them but it is for all who have ever faced the discouragement of an unfulfilled promise or the frustration of the inability to finish a task that looked so possible in the beginning.

“This is the word of the Lord . . . Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”

When I was a boy, my home church frequently sang a chorus using these words. We sang the chorus often but I’m not sure how well I understood what the catchy tune was really about.

If you are like me, you have been taught to make life happen using your own gifts and talents. We have been told that the world loves winners and that we have to finish the fight in our own strength. But then God comes along and tells us that His ways of doing things are simply not the ways of the world system.

“Not by might nor by power.” The Hebrew word for might can be used to describe the strength of an army and is often used to imply financial power and wealth. The word might generally describes what the world system considers symbols of strength and the same is essentially true for the meaning of the word power.

God spoke to the exiles and said that the rebuilding would not be done or completed by human means. Abraham and Sarah had no physical way to produce a child (see Genesis 17:15-19). But God made it happen! David was an insignificant teenaged shepherd going out to face a battle-hardened giant but God gave him the victory (see 1 Samuel 17).

God comes to us in the middle of our struggle and quietly tells us that He is looking for those who acknowledge their weakness, that His rules are not the same as the world’s, and that He brings victory to those who trust Him and His ways.

“But by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.” The Hebrew word for Spirit, ruah, is used extensively in the Old Testament to describe the Spirit of God. To the Hebrews this word describes the mysterious power and working of God and is used to describe the breath of life in all living creatures, but especially man.

The prophet Zechariah came with a message for the exiles about God’s way of bringing this unfinished project to completion. God makes it clear that He does not choose to always use the ways that His people may think are best. He works through His Spirit and not through the best intentions of man. It was by the Spirit that life was brought to man; it is the Spirit that brings the Word of God alive in us; it is the Spirit that becomes our Comforter and leads us and reveals truth to us. It is the Spirit that brings us power to live overcoming lives and enables us to share the Gospel with the whole world!

No wonder the apostle Paul wrote that we should “live in the Spirit” and we should also “walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). We should be “led by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:18) and should show forth “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23). If any man had a strong grasp on “not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” it was the apostle Paul. The circumstances that Paul faced in taking the message of God’s love and grace to the pagan world were impossible to the max. For Paul, building a megachurch in Dallas, Texas, would have been like going to a prekindergarten class at Spirit-Filled University.

Why did Zechariah finish his prophetic message to the exiles with the command to shout, “Grace! Grace!” to the impossible situation? Because God’s sending His Spirit to bring life into a dead situation, to bring an answer to an impossibility, is a demonstration of His unmerited favor; indeed, it is a demonstration of His grace. So go ahead and face that difficulty; begin to worship and thank the Lord that His Spirit is alive in you and is active on your behalf. Lay down your self-reserve and shout, “Grace! Grace!” Declare God’s goodness and favor to that impossible situation.

Different Christmas Poem

 The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughters beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.  
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.

Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

“What are you doing?” I asked without fear,
“Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!”

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts,
To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light
Then he sighed and he said, “It’s really all right.

“I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night.
It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,

I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

“My Gramps died at Pearl on a day in December,”
Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas Gram always remembers.
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ’Nam,
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

“I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.”
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue . . . an American flag.

“I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.  
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.

“I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother.
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.

“So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”
“But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?

“It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,
For being away from your wife and your son.”

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
“Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.

“For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.”

                                                                                Author Unknown

NOT BY MIGHT NOR BY POWER!

“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).

Fifty thousand exiles had returned from Persia to rebuild the altar and the temple in Jerusalem. When they arrived they were excited and enthusiastic about the rebuilding. But opposition arose from the neighboring Samaritans and soon the enthusiasm and interest began to dwindle.

Finally weariness set in among the exiles. It had been twelve years and when they came back they did not know how big the task was. After all these years the people were tired and discouraged and the task was far from finished. No matter what the leaders did, the people refused to go back to work and the situation began to look hopeless.

Into this dreary mess of discouragement and an unfinished task God sent a prophet with a message for the exiles. It was not just for them but it is for all who have ever faced the discouragement of an unfulfilled promise or the frustration of the inability to finish a task that looked so possible in the beginning.

“This is the word of the Lord . . . Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”

When I was a boy, my home church frequently sang a chorus using these words. We sang the chorus often but I’m not sure how well I understood what the catchy tune was really about.

If you are like me, you have been taught to make life happen using your own gifts and talents. We have been told that the world loves winners and that we have to finish the fight in our own strength. But then God comes along and tells us that His ways of doing things are simply not the ways of the world system.

“Not by might nor by power.” The Hebrew word for might can be used to describe the strength of an army and is often used to imply financial power and wealth. The word might generally describes what the world system considers symbols of strength and the same is essentially true for the meaning of the word power.

God spoke to the exiles and said that the rebuilding would not be done or completed by human means. Abraham and Sarah had no physical way to produce a child (see Genesis 17:15-19). But God made it happen! David was an insignificant teenaged shepherd going out to face a battle-hardened giant but God gave him the victory (see 1 Samuel 17).

God comes to us in the middle of our struggle and quietly tells us that He is looking for those who acknowledge their weakness, that His rules are not the same as the world’s, and that He brings victory to those who trust Him and His ways.

“But by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.” The Hebrew word for Spirit, ruah, is used extensively in the Old Testament to describe the Spirit of God. To the Hebrews this word describes the mysterious power and working of God and is used to describe the breath of life in all living creatures, but especially man.

The prophet Zechariah came with a message for the exiles about God’s way of bringing this unfinished project to completion. God makes it clear that He does not choose to always use the ways that His people may think are best. He works through His Spirit and not through the best intentions of man. It was by the Spirit that life was brought to man; it is the Spirit that brings the Word of God alive in us; it is the Spirit that becomes our Comforter and leads us and reveals truth to us. It is the Spirit that brings us power to live overcoming lives and enables us to share the Gospel with the whole world!

No wonder the apostle Paul wrote that we should “live in the Spirit” and we should also “walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). We should be “led by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:18) and should show forth “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23). If any man had a strong grasp on “not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” it was the apostle Paul. The circumstances that Paul faced in taking the message of God’s love and grace to the pagan world were impossible to the max. For Paul, building a megachurch in Dallas, Texas, would have been like going to a prekindergarten class at Spirit-Filled University.

Why did Zechariah finish his prophetic message to the exiles with the command to shout, “Grace! Grace!” to the impossible situation? Because God’s sending His Spirit to bring life into a dead situation, to bring an answer to an impossibility, is a demonstration of His unmerited favor; indeed, it is a demonstration of His grace. So go ahead and face that difficulty; begin to worship and thank the Lord that His Spirit is alive in you and is active on your behalf. Lay down your self-reserve and shout, “Grace! Grace!” Declare God’s goodness and favor to that impossible situation.

THE TRIUMPH OF POLYCARP

“I know your works . . . and your poverty (but you are rich)” (Revelation 2:9).

I am teaching a Bible class on the book of Revelation at our church. Believe it or not, Revelation is one of the greatest studies of victory in all the Bible. In the second and third chapters, Jesus describes the seven churches of Asia and He has nothing negative to say about the church at Smyrna.  History tells us that the apostle John pastored the church at Ephesus and, as an elder, oversaw the other six churches of Revelation. One of John’s acts as an elder to the church at Smyrna was to appoint a pastor named Polycarp.

According to history, Smyrna was a prosperous city, yet the Christians there were poverty-stricken. The word used here for poverty actually means deep poverty. The Christians of Smyrna knew poverty because they were being fired from jobs, their businesses were being destroyed, and their homes taken away as they experienced persecution from an anti-Christian community.

Late in Polycarp’s life, a heavy wave of persecution came upon the Christians of Smyrna. His congregation urged him to leave the city until the threat blew over. So, believing that God wanted him to be around a few more years, Polycarp left the city and hid out on a farm belonging to some Christian friends. One day on the farm as he prayed, Polycarp had a vision of his pillow engulfed in flames. He calmly told his companions, “I see that I must be burnt at the stake.”

Meanwhile, the local authorities had issued a warrant for his arrest. They seized one of Polycarp’s servants and tortured him until he told them where his master was. Soldiers came to the farmhouse where he was hiding and when they found him, they were embarrassed to see that they had been sent to arrest an old, frail man.  

On the way back to the city government, officials tried to persuade Polycarp to stand before a statue of Caesar and simply declare, “Caesar is Lord.” That’s all he had to do and he would be off the hook. They pleaded with him to do it in order to escape the dreadful penalties. At first Polycarp was silent, but then he calmly gave them his firm answer: NO. The chief official was angry with the old man and pushed him out of his carriage onto the hard ground. Polycarp, bruised but resolute, got up and walked the rest of the way to the city.

A large, bloodthirsty mob had gathered to see Christians tortured and killed in the arena. One Christian named Quintis had boldly proclaimed himself a follower of Jesus and said he was willing to be martyred. But when he saw the vicious animals in the arena, he lost courage and agreed to publicly declare that Caesar was Lord. However, another young man named Germanicus did not back down. He marched out and faced the lions, and died an agonizing death. Ten other Christians gave their lives that day, but the mob was unsatisfied. They cried out, “Away with the atheists who do not worship our gods!” To them, Christians were atheists because they did not recognize the traditional gods of Rome and Greece. Finally, the crowd started chanting, “Bring out Polycarp!”

When Polycarp was brought into the arena, he and the other Christians heard a voice from heaven saying, “Be strong, Polycarp!” As he stood before the authorities, they tried one more time to get him to renounce Jesus. Polycarp was told to agree with the crowd and shout out, “Away with the atheists!” Polycarp looked at the bloodthirsty mob, waved his hand toward them and said, “Away with those atheists!” The authorities persisted. “Take the oath and revile Christ and we’ll set you free!” Polycarp answered, “For eighty-six years I’ve served Jesus; how dare I now revile my King?” The authorities finally gave up, and announced to the crowd: “Polycarp has confessed that he is a Christian.”

The crowd shouted, “Let the lions loose.” But the animals had already been put away. The crowd then demanded that Polycarp be burnt. The old man remembered the dream about the burning pillow, and took courage in God. He said to his executioners, “It is well. I fear not the fire that burns for a season and after a while is quenched. Why do you delay?”

They arranged a great pile of wood and set up a pole in the middle. As they tied Polycarp to the pole, he prayed: “I thank You that You have graciously thought me worthy of this day and of this hour, that I may receive a portion in the number of the martyrs, in the cup of Your Christ.” After he prayed and gave thanks to God, they set the wood ablaze. A great wall of flame shot up to the sky and when this happened, witnesses say they saw a dove fly up from the smoke into heaven. At the very same moment, a church leader in Rome named Irenaeus said he heard God say to him, “Polycarp is dead.” God called his servant home.

Current studies tell us that persecution of Christians is increasing all over the world. Every eleven minutes, somewhere in the world, a Christian dies for professing that Jesus Christ is Lord!  Persecution is increasing everywhere and it is increasing here in North America. The word of the Lord to all is, “Be strong!”

LIFE IN THE VINE

“I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides [lives] in me and I in him, he it is that bears much [abundant] fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5, ESV). 

When John wrote the fourth gospel, he was not writing for the saints at the headquarters church in Jerusalem or for the executives of this new movement called The Way. John was writing to help new believers get grounded in their faith. He lived in Ephesus in what then was known as Asia Minor (Turkey) and was the pastor of the growing church there. The focus of his writing was to assist the newly saved grow in faith while living in a community that was overtly hostile to Christianity.

I am convinced that it is extremely important for a believer to prioritize his devotional life. Everything else in the believer’s spiritual life is secondary; other things may be important but not as much as being tightly connected to the Author and Finisher of our faith. The devotional life makes or breaks the success of our walk with God. It is also of great importance to understand that John was telling his friends that in order to handle the pain of persecution, they had to be connected to the Vine; otherwise, they had nothing that would sustain them.

John begins this verse with a clear declaration of identity: “I am the Vine; you are the branches.” The question and struggle over identity goes right back to the Garden (Genesis 3:5) and the age-old struggle of man wanting to be like God. John highlights Jesus’ statement because he understands that until the identity issue is settled, there can be no forward progress. There can only be one Vine but lots of branches. So this has to be settled: “He is the Vine and I am the branch! He is God and I am not!”

One reason I stress so strongly in my writing and teaching the importance of the devotional life is clearly spelled out in this verse. Fruitfulness comes from the relationship of the individual with Jesus. The branch draws life from the vine and from that life comes fruit. Before a branch can be fruitful, it must be in continual contact with the vine. We draw life from Him and then we give out to others and it cannot be otherwise. The vine feeds and nourishes the branch. “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit” (NIV)

.

I am concerned for the sloppy Christians who think that going to church once a week carrying a Bible, singing loudly, putting a few dollars in the offering, smiling, and shaking hands is all that is needed to fill up their spiritual batteries. There is nothing wrong with a lively teaching and worship service but that does not, I repeat, does not, replace the importance of your regular personal time with Him. And then there are the millennials who come to church most Sundays in jeans and T-shirts, carrying a big cup of coffee and smiling as they listen to the rock-and-roll worship band and the 25-minute teaching. For many of them, that is the totality of their spiritual life. To them, Jesus is worth sixty minutes on Sunday morning as long as the pastor is cool, the worship band really rocks, and they can have a cup of coffee and see friends at the same time. For many of these millennials, personal prayer and Bible study has no place in their lives. Pretty sad commentary on the state of spiritual vitality flowing into them.

Try this experiment! Get a knife or a pair of scissors and go into your yard. Pick out a hedge or plant and cut off one of the smaller branches. Put that little cutting on a piece of paper in a safe place and see what happens over the next couple of days. Some of you are shaking your heads, saying, “This is silly. I know exactly what will happen. Once the branch is disconnected from the plant, it will begin to die,” and you are exactly right. The point is very clear—Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches and disconnected from Him we are helpless. We cannot survive, we will wither and die, because “apart from me you can do nothing” (NIV).

The little cutting that we set aside is now dead. Within hours dryness began to set in and within a few days the cutting dried up and withered. The possibility of its ever being fruitful is over and gone. So it is with the man (or woman) who habitually neglects his personal communication with the Savior. Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” The Greek for nothing is there is no prospect of success, none! Apart from the Vine there is no fruitfulness that counts.

Dryness in us does not begin as quickly as it does in that little plant, but don’t fool yourself, it will start and continue unless we get back to being connected to Him.

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4, NKJV).  

SPIRITUALISTIC HUMBUGGERY!

I’ll explain the title in a moment.

Several years ago I read The DaVinci Code, an extremely well-written book that created quite a stir. I love fast-paced novels that move from one crisis to another; perhaps this book could be described as “Robert Ludlum goes to church.” I decided to read the book so I could at least be aware of what the buzz in the Christian community was all about.

As I started into the novel, I found myself mentally going to 1 John 4:1-4:

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (ESV). 

At first my attention was drawn primarily to verse four—“For He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world”— but then I realized the tremendous value of what this full passage conveys and I began to give attention to the reason why the apostle John had written this. He was writing to protect the church in Asia Minor from the infiltration of heresy.

Since the birth of the church, the enemy has attempted to kill it. He has attacked the church from the outside by sending persecution. Persecution against the church is currently happening throughout the world in Iran, Egypt, Kenya, China, Nigeria, and this will continue until Jesus returns. Persecution in John’s day was very intense and would result in his being exiled to the Island of Patmos—and what happened there is another story for another day.

More difficult to handle are the attacks on the fundamentals of the Christian faith that come in the form of false prophets or from those with seemingly impeccable academic credentials. These attacks sometimes come from within the church and sometimes through the media. The DaVinci Code was simply another well-crafted attack on our faith.

This passage in 1 John helps us know how to separate, as it were, the sheep from the goats, the good from the bad, the right from the wrong.

Verse one is quite straightforward. The instruction here is that we are not to believe something simply because the “message carrier” announces that he is from God or that he has a new revelation. We are to test and see if the “message carrier” is of God or not. It is of special importance that we be cautious of those with whose life and ministry we are not really familiar.

Verses two and three tell us how to discern if the message or the messenger is truly “of God.” Not everybody who tells you they believe that Jesus is the Son of God is “of God” and, consequently, neither is their message. The apostle James says that even devils recognize who Jesus is (James 2:19). Verse two says that we can tell if the message or messenger are “of God” if they confess that Jesus has come in the flesh. What the writer was saying here was that when a person confesses that Jesus is the Son of God and has come in the flesh, he is not just verbally saying this but he is confessing (coming into agreement with) that Jesus is the Son of God. He is confessing faith in Christ and he is confessing that he is living his life in submission to Christ’s sovereignty.

I have heard those with an antichrist spirit (verse 3) say that Jesus is the Son of God. But when confronted, they would not confess (come into agreement with) that He was the Son of God, that He had come in the flesh, that they had repented of their sin and embraced by faith His death, burial and resurrection. The antichrist spirit will not confess Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior.

Verse four says, “You are from God.” The writer says this to contrast the believer with the false teacher who is of the world and speaks of the world system. Verse four goes on to say, “. . . and have overcome them.” The group that John was writing to was not being taken in by the false teaching that was prevalent in their day. They had gained a complete victory over these false teachers and their heresies because “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 

A.T. Robertson in his classic book Word Pictures in the New Testament, writing about this passage, says, “Some believers fall easy victims to the latest fads in spiritualistic humbuggery.” I have no idea what that last word means but I love the way it rolls off my tongue.

A DARK COMEDY!

I am deeply burdened for our nation!

I was not born in this country. I was born in Canada and grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, where I graduated from high school and began my university studies. At 19 I responded to the call of God to prepare for ministry and after a diligent search, decided that going to a Christian college near the beach in California would be a good thing. It was there in Santa Cruz, California, that I met, courted and proposed to the love of my life, Carol. We have been married for 48 years and involved in ministry for 47 years.

I chose to become an American citizen because I love this country. And as a patriotic American, I am deeply burdened for the tragic mess our nation is in.

I am not talking primarily about the political mess that has now enshrouded the land. And I certainly am not talking about being a Democrat or a Republican. The mess in our nation has little to do with politics and nothing to do with leaning to the right or the left. Our fundamental problem is much deeper than the silliness of politics and the dark comedy routine that is being played out by the current batch of politicians in Washington.

Our underlying problem has to do with sin . . . yes, I said sin. Our nation and much of the church has embraced sinful living as the norm. We have become relatively numb to what is going on around us. Please take a moment and consider the following:

• When I was a boy, about four to five percent of married couples divorced; today 51 percent of couples (in and out of the church) divorce. What does that say to us? What does that say about us?

• Nationwide 65 percent of singles have sexual relations before getting married and the statistics are not much lower for singles in the church. Does the contemporary church care? What does the Bible say about this?

• In the last forty years, 55 million unborn babies have been aborted in America. This is a staggering and blatant disregard for the sanctity of human life. There is no excuse for this!

• For the first time in U.S. history, over 50 percent of births are out-of-wedlock. The consequential problems in fatherless households and the resulting orphan mindset will be fully realized in the years ahead. One only has to look at the tragic problems now plaguing the inner city because of out-of-wedlock births to see what problems are beginning to descend on the suburbs.

• Homosexual lifestyles, including same-sex-marriage, are endorsed and celebrated, even by our national leaders. New laws promote and protect this unnatural lifestyle—even though the gay population is only about two percent of the population. Homosexuality is in clear violation of Scripture—or perhaps we don’t believe that!

• Graphic sexual activity and nudity are now just a click away on computers and smartphones. In the U.S. 33 percent of women regularly watch pornography (and this percentage is growing) and 70 percent of men between the ages of 18 to 24 visit porn sites at least once a month. It is estimated that 40 percent of church-attending men regularly view pornography.

• The latest polls reveal that support for legalization of marijuana has risen from 12 percent in 1969 to 58 percent today.

I use the above to illustrate what I call “the mess” our nation is in.

God has given His people a very clear prescription for action in times such as these. But it is my opinion that the majority of the church community in America doesn’t care or doesn’t believe that God’s plan can work in contemporary society. Simply put, the church has believed the father of lies and has begun thinking that the situation is beyond fixing, that it’s hopeless! 

What is the plan? It is simple but it is also embarrassing because it calls for humility and repentance on the part of God’s people.

The Lord said to Solomon, “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14, NKJV).

I wish that I could invoke a national revival . . . and if it were in my power to do so, I would. But I can’t! What I can do is pray and humbly ask God to forgive me, to forgive our nation for the gross sins being committed around us, and to forgive us for turning a blind eye to what is happening. And to please come and heal our land!

Carol and I pray together almost every morning before we start our day. We pray over our family, over our day, over our friends and over our church. We ask God every day to send a healing to our land as we pray for our leaders and our pastors.

Will you join us in praying for a national healing? Together we can make a difference!

HE FAILED AND HE BAILED...BUT THAT IS NOT THE END OF THE STORY!

One of the more intriguing characters of the New Testament is John Mark, the writer of the gospel of Mark. His account of the gospel is thought by many scholars to be the first of the gospel narratives. Mark was a close associate of Peter and it is thought that many of his concise stories about the ministry and teachings of Jesus are drawn from his conversations with Peter.

Mark was a cousin to Barnabas, who traveled with Paul on his first missionary journey. Christian Jews had gone to Antioch because of the outbreak of persecution in Jerusalem (see Acts 8:1) and a church started there was comprised, at first, mainly of Jewish believers. Antioch was one of the larger commercial cities in the Roman Empire and filled with Gentiles, who were receiving Christ in large numbers. Very quickly there were more Gentiles in the Antioch church than Jews and this seemed to trouble the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. They sent Barnabas to check it out and he immediately recognized that God was birthing something very special. Barnabas also recognized that “this new thing” was going to be controversial with the Jerusalem church and would need leadership from someone who understood what God was up to and was not afraid of controversy.

About three years after Paul’s conversion, he went to Jerusalem and attempted to join with the disciples but they were afraid of him. Barnabas was the one who finally mediated a peace between Paul and the original apostles. After a while, because of the controversial nature of Paul’s conversion and ministry, the leadership in Jerusalem sent Paul to his hometown of Tarsus.

After Barnabas saw what God was doing in Antioch, he went to Tarsus and found Paul (Acts 11:25-26) because he knew, by the Holy Spirit, that Paul was the man who understood what God was doing with the Gentiles. According to some historians, under the leadership of Paul and Barnabas, the Antioch church grew to about 30,000. They had no buildings and met wherever they could, but they had the raw power of the Holy Spirit and the blessing of God, and the first expression of the gospel penetrating the Gentile world was underway. It was in Antioch that the expression “Christian” was first used (Acts 11:26). Paul was the architect of taking the gospel to the Gentiles and along with it began the controversy of his message and ministry being misunderstood by many in the Jewish church.

After a while Paul seemed to be bored with the work of the local church and he and Barnabas set out on their first missionary journey. Accompanying them was John Mark. Paul’s team set sail for Cyprus (Acts 13:4) and after a time of ministry there, the team headed for what today would be Turkey. But landing there, “John (Mark) left them and returned to Jerusalem” (Acts 13:13). At this point we are given no further insight about why this happened.

After completing their trip, Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch, visited Jerusalem, and then returned to Antioch and continued their ministry there. After a while Paul wanted to go back on the road. Barnabas agreed and wanted to take John Mark with them again, “But Paul thought best not to take with them the one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia” (Acts 15:38).

We are now given an insight as to what happened with Mark on the first journey. The word withdrawn used here means “to fall away, to become faithless, to withdraw from.” Was Mark too young? Was there too much pressure? Did Mark have a crisis of faith? We don’t have a concrete answer to exactly what happened with Mark, but he did withdraw . . . he failed and he bailed!

But that is not the end! Whatever caused him to bolt and return home did not destroy him. I believe that between Peter, in Jerusalem, and Barnabas, they ministered to and restored Mark. If anyone was capable of counseling Mark on how to overcome failure, it would be Peter, and I believe he did just that. Peter had been the king of failure; he knew all about facing failure and rising above it.

Although Paul was reluctant to have Mark with him again on his second trip, Paul later expressed a love of Mark (2 Timothy 4:11) and it is very likely that Mark was with Paul in Rome when the apostle was killed (Philemon 24).

Mark’s account of the gospel is very compelling to me. His book is shorter than the other gospel writers, his writing is brisk, and his stories are concise and quick moving. Mark seems to be in a hurry to tell his story. I love it!

Mark is like many of us. We get saved, we start strong, and then we make some mistakes and we bail . . . just as Mark did. That does not need to be the end of the story but it will be if we quit. Mark didn’t quit. Yes, he went through some kind of “withdrawal” but he went back to his roots; he went back to Jerusalem and to the people he knew could help him—and they did.

Yes, Mark failed and he bailed but that is not the end of the story! Do not let it be the end of your story, either. Be like Mark and come back stronger than ever. Go back to your roots, back to your first love, and let Him restore you!

WHAT IS THAT?

In the late 1970’s, a portion of my ministry responsibilities included oversight of several groups of men who traveled representing the organization I was serving at that time. As Vice President I not only directed the business affairs of the ministry but also was involved in the continuing spiritual development of our staff. At one point I asked all the traveling representatives to read Exodus 16 every day for two weeks and then send me a brief report on how the passage had ministered to them. I chose Exodus 16 because personally I had found it very meaningful. It had spoken volumes to me about God’s provision and faithfulness. About ten days into the exercise, one of my closest friends called and in frustration blurted out, “Dave, I have read this passage every day and I am getting absolutely nothing.” We had a good laugh together and I shared with him what the Lord had quickened to my heart from this passage.

When the children of Israel exited Egypt, they did so riding on the power of several explosive events. First, it was a miracle that Pharaoh would release them. The exodus began because of a series of miraculous occurrences, including the visit of the Death Angel. The Israelites plundered the Egyptians and God protected them on their way to the shores of the Red Sea. Then the Red Sea opened for them and the Egyptian army was destroyed by the very miracle that allowed the Jews to escape (see Exodus 14:28-31).

 

Once in the wilderness, the lifestyle of the escaping Jews changed dramatically. In Egypt they had been slaves and servants who worked for a living, but in the wilderness there was no way for them to work and so they had to learn to trust in the faithfulness of God to provide everything. This was new to them and the lesson was not embraced fully right away. Trusting in the faithfulness of God has always been a difficult but important lesson for God’s people to learn.

When my friend called me in frustration and said emphatically, “I’m getting nothing here, nothing,” it was not because he was dead spiritually. He is a marvelous, Spirit-filled follower of Jesus, but at this time he did not see anything in this passage that ministered to him. His blindness does not make him worse or better than any of us. We all have areas of blindness that we grapple with in different areas of spiritual truth—or at least I certainly do. Sometimes we try too hard to make Scripture “talk to us” and in our desire to find the “deeper truths,” we miss the elegant simplicity of the obvious.

The provision of the manna was new to the Jews. They had never seen anything like it and they did not know what to think of it. The meaning of the word manna in Hebrew is, “What is it?” (Exodus16:15).

Here are a few of the more obvious lessons from Exodus 16. (If you have others and want to send them to me, use the COMMENT button below.)

·     God is faithful! For forty years, twice a day, six days a week, God sent enough provision to feed hundreds of thousands of people. This is the first recorded example of “fast food” catering!

·     Manna is an example of God’s commitment to provide for the needs of His people.

·     Each family was to take just enough for one day and on Friday, enough to get them through to Sunday morning; otherwise, the provision would begin to breed worms and stink. I wonder what that says about trying to store up faith and trust like you were adding money to a bank account. There is no bank account in which to deposit trust for tomorrow. Trust cannot be built up and held for use in the future. Our trust in Him is to be refreshed every day because yesterday’s just won’t cut it today!

·     When the lesson of the miracle of the manna was over, it was over. As the children of Israel crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, the miracle of the manna stopped (see Joshua 5:12). Methods change! God has never done it just this way ever again.

·     The lesson is not about manna, it’s about obedience and trust. Manna is temporary but faith/trust will carry us through all the ups and downs of this life and into eternity. God was teaching His people to live by faith/trust (see Joshua 5:6).

• God’s ability to provide for the needs of His people is unlimited. (Please note that I said needs, not wantsǃ Wants indicate greed and covetousness.) God’s ability to care for us is as limitless as eternity is big!

When the Jews looked at the manna, they asked, “What is it?” How will God provide? I don’t know! His methods continually adjust and change. I just know it will be there when we need it.

THANK YOU, JOHN MacARTHUR

I want to say a heartfelt thank you to John MacArthur for his stinging slap of rebuke to the Pentecostal/charismatic global family.

I am sure that some of my friends are wondering why I would thank John MacArthur and I will answer that in a moment. But first, a little perspective.

I am a Pentecostal. My grandfather, a Methodist lay preacher with a passionate desire to follow the Lord, brought our family into Pentecost about 90 years ago. My parents were very strong, conservative Pentecostals and they raised my brother and me in a Bible-centered, Spirit-filled home. I received Christ as my savior when I was in grade school and received the baptism in the Holy Spirit fifty-eight years ago.

It is vitally important to understand that controversy/persecution has always accompanied the outpouring of God’s Spirit. In fact, the Pentecostal movement was birthed in controversy. Within hours of the outpouring on the Day of Pentecost, criticism arose (see Acts 2). The heaviest criticism of the early Church arose from the religious establishment and ended up with portions of the Church being scattered throughout the world (see Acts 8:1).

In 1906, in a rundown building on Azusa Street near downtown Los Angeles, the modern-day Pentecostal outpouring began. Within weeks an article appeared on the front page of The Los Angeles Times ridiculing “the weird Babel of Tongues” occurring in the Azusa Street Revival. From that inauspicious beginning, the modern expression of Pentecost has spread all over the world.

Up to the 1950s, the mainstream of the Protestant church viewed the Pentecostals as a sect and, in fact, Pentecostal pastors were often not welcomed into local ministerial associations. With the eruption of the charismatic movement in the late ’50s and early ’60s, much of the criticism of the Pentecostals began to wane. Part of the reason was that the charismatic renewal was sweeping into mainstream evangelical and historic denominations. As a result, many of the historic church leaders were beginning to understand that while the Pentecostals did have a different view of the gifts and operation of the Holy Spirit, the rest of their doctrinal beliefs were within the boundaries of orthodoxy.

  

As acceptance among mainline evangelicals rose, Pentecostal churches slacked off in their distinctive doctrine of the Holy Spirit and His gifts to the church. In the last thirty years, the average Pentecostal church has gone from being a church with a distinctive Pentecostal expression to, at best, a middle-of-the-road evangelical church.

Today 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 surveys indicate that over 40 percent of all Christians (globally) are Pentecostal/charismatic. The largest areas of growth currently are in Asia and Africa. The growth of the Pentecostal/charismatic movement in North America is very anemic but perhaps that’s about to change!

Why did I start this article by saying thank you to John MacArthur? Because I believe MacArthur has done the current North American Pentecostal/charismatic movement a tremendous favor. Our movement has been given a hard slap and we needed it. We have had a wake-up call—but are we going to respond or will we roll over and go back to sleep?

The Pentecostal/charismatic movement in North America has gotten fat and sloppy. Many of our younger leaders have wanted nothing to do with the sting of criticism and the shunning that sometimes accompanied being known as a “Pentecostal.” Since the 1990s, the heroes of many of the younger Spirit-filled pastors have been Bill Hybels, Rick Warren and John Maxwell. Many of the most talked about churches with a Pentecostal heritage are now consumed with looking good to the public, having a cool, contemporary style, and not offending anyone. As a result, many of our churches have no prayer meetings, the worship style is concert type rock and roll, and services are barely more than one hour long. The previous drive for evangelism and world missions has largely been blunted and people are rarely invited to openly declare themselves for the Lord! The North American Pentecostal church has given itself a vasectomy and if it stays on this current course, within another five or ten years we will be nothing more than another dying church movement.

I believe the Lord used John MacArthur to deliver this much-needed message. The heart of the wake-up call has nothing to do with our movement blaspheming the Holy Spirit (as MacArthur stated). That is simply an unfounded accusation—but it certainly got our attention. It is always wrong to take an anecdote and say that one abhorrent act or belief represents the whole of a movement. It does not and never has! The bad behavior of a few Pentecostals/charismatics no more represents the whole movement than the young couple in MacArthur’s church who are engaging in sex before marriage represents the conduct of all the unmarried couples in his congregation.

So again, thank you, John MacArthur. You've done the Pentecostal/charismatic movement a tremendous favor. You have slapped some of us awake—and we needed that!