The Good News

A Call To Prayer

2011-07-21T07:01:00.001-07:00

This church is about to embark on one of the most difficult tasks any church can do—finding a new pastor. It is a time of danger. Not only can you choose the wrong pastor, but you can go astray in other ways. You can turn against each other. False shepherds can enter and do great damage. You can become obsess ed with internal matters and give up your witness in the world.

On the other hand, it is also a time of great opportunity. The church can pull together in a way that it has never before. You can find greater purpose and direction, become better focused. You can be fed good pastors and preachers who can add new depth and insights, above what I have given you in the past.

Courageous Grace

2011-07-21T06:59:00.001-07:00

What constitutes courage? It is not the absence of fear. The absence of fear is stupidity. Instead, courage is the willingness to ignore fear. If there is no fear, there is no courage.

What constitutes tolerance? It is essentially the same. Many people think that tolerance is the same as being non-judgmental. But real tolerance is a kind of moral courage. It is not the absence of judgment, but we willingness to love in spite of our revulsion at the behavior of others.

Worldly tolerance is based on the belief that there is no right or wrong. Worldly tolerance teaches that we should see nothing wrong with alternate lifestyles, other religions, or other political views. Worldly tolerance is intolerant only with intolerance. The Ten Commandments are therefore “intolerant.” There is no judgment of anything or anyone.

That is not tolerance. It is stupidity.

How to Get Rich

2011-06-28T11:22:00.000-07:00

Luke 12:16-21
"The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
21 "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

Webster's dictionary defines "fool" this way:
A person lacking in common sense
A harmlessly deranged person who lacks simple understanding
A clown kept in a large household for other people's amusement.
Jesus says in the sermon on the mount that anyone who calls another a fool will be in danger of hellfire. In other words, it’s a sin to call another person a fool (Unless they actually are a fool, of course.)
But what if God calls you a fool.?

The Clean Cup

2011-06-28T11:19:00.001-07:00

Washing dishes is not just for looks. We do it to keep from getting sick. It makes a difference whether a dish is clean on the inside or the outside.

Suppose you sat down in a restaurant and the waitress brought you a cup of coffee with a wee bit of food stuck to it. Does it matter to you if it is on the outside or inside of the cup? Wouldn't you rather find it on the outside?

Out of this unlikely picture Jesus fashions one of his little parables. He compares the Pharisees to a dirty dish.

Right Before Our Eyes

2011-06-01T09:50:00.000-07:00

I once was on a plane with ex-president Jimmy Carter, but I did not notice it. Maybe it was just that I did not expect to see him there, but I dismissed what my eyes were seeing. It was not until I came off the airplane and someone told me that I knew I had seen the ex-president. When our minds are preoccupied and when we see the unexpected, our minds are more likely to dismiss what they are seeing than to believe it.

The Prince of Terror

2011-06-01T09:47:00.000-07:00

We all know what a terrorist is. It's easy to think of them as crazy people. They are not. They are warriors who use terror as a means to an end.

They plan their attacks carefully so as to spread terror and chaos. To them, chaos is their friend. They believe that if they cause enough chaos and upheaval in a community, they will have the opportunity to create a new kind of order. Muslim terrorists want to create a Muslim world. Right-wing terrorists want to create a different kind of world. Terrorists are trying to tear down society so they can create a new society.

The Greatest Gift

2011-05-19T19:34:00.001-07:00

Which of you, if your son asks you for a fish will give you a snake or if he asks for an egg will give him a scorpion? If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Spirit to those who ask him?

Choosing the right gift for the right person is a difficult process. Should we always give people what they ask? What if it is bad for them? Should we give people what makes them happy right now, or what be useful to them in the long term? What message are we sending by the gifts we give?

It is not just us who struggle with these questions. So does God. “Struggle” may not be the right word, since God knows even before we ask what is best for us. Nevertheless, the same consideration that we give to gift giving are the same ones that God Himself must ask as well.

That is why when we pray, we don’t always get what we want. God’s concern for us is too great for Him to simply be a gift-giving machine. He takes our whole lives into consideration when he answers a prayer.

In this passage, we see three issue that God considers when He answers prayer.

Is it what we want?

“Which of you, if you son asks for a fish, will giver a snake instead?” this passage actually exists in two textual forms. One says “stone” and the other says “snake.” There is a big difference between a snake and a stone—one will bite us and the other will not. But whether we are talking about snakes or stones, the are poor substitutes for a delicious fish dinner.

God wants to give us what we want, just as we want to give our loved ones what they want. It is our joy and pride to do so. If we could, we would give more to those we love because they are special to us, and want them to be happy.

Nevertheless, there is a school of thought that suggests that God is different, that he makes us take what we need, not what we want. It is the belief that whatever we get we ought to appreciate because God gives it.

When I was a child, I did not like to go to church, just as many children don’t today. The music was boring, the seats were hard, the people seemed unfriendly, and the preaching was boring. Nevertheless, when I went to church, we always began by saying “I was glad when they said to me, ‘let us go into the house of the Lord.’” Talk about mixed messages! Not only was I supposed to go and put up with all this, but I was supposed to be glad about it!

As I grew up and became a pastor, I also became aware that many people had not really outgrown this dislike of church, not even the people who attended. Their parents drilled into them that God wanted them to be here, whether they enjoyed it or not. In truth, their parents didn’t like it either. They just grew up with a sense of duty that said they should go, and that they should pretend that they enjoyed it. So their hearts were far from God, even when their bodies were in His house every day.

Unfortunately, they had developed an unhealthy picture of God. God was a person who punished us for telling the truth about what we do and do not like. Instead of a God who wanted us to be happy, we have often pictured God as someone who wanted us to be unhappy, unless we did things absolutely correctly. He was a God of discipline, not love.

This is not the real God. The Catechism says that our chief end is to “glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” God want us to enjoy his company and his presence, without pretense or hypocrisy. It Is His desire to give us what we want, not to make us want what He gives.

God will not give us what hurts us. “Or if he asks for an egg, will give Him a scorpion?” The first rule of His gift giving is that He will not harm us. He will give us nothing that will bring us to harm. We would not give a baby a set of steak knives, nor would we give a blind man a car. He knows what will and will not give us the greatest long-term benefit.

Let us suppose that a man prays to win the lottery. A sudden fortune can ruin a man a surely as sudden poverty. Many lottery winners have found that it only brought pain. Marriages are put under strain. They are besieged with con artists and beggars. Relatives and friends fight over the winnings. Many have even gone on to die in poverty, because they could not handle newfound wealth they did not know how to manage.

There is a secret to giving that God knows, and few others. You cannot give anything to anyone without taking something else away. If we lift a person out of poverty by giving him what he needs, we take away his responsibility of earning it. If we give advice, we take away a person’s need to figure things out for themselves. If we give people everything they want, we take away their right enjoy what thy earn. If we give people leadership, we take away their freedom.

God is capable of giving us everything. But God knows that we are better off when we learn responsibility and self-reliance. He protects us, but he will not work for us. This is not because he hates us, but because He lobes us and wants us to be happy. He does not overprotect His children.

Third, God give th4 Holy Spirit, the greatest gift of all. This verse also exists in two forms. In Matthew 7, Jesus sasy “How much more does your Heavenly Father know how to give good gifts to His children.” Here it says the Spirit, not good giftd. This is not a contradiction, but an expansion of interpreta6tion. The Spirit is the best gift of all.

Think how rare and beautiful this statement must have been, especially to the Jews who first heard it. Having the Holy Spirit was an extremely rate commodity to them. The first person who had it was Moses. Anyone who wanted 6o know God had to go to him. Then, he shared it with Aaron, and then with the elders. But the average person could not even get near the spirit. Later, a few other people had the Spirit—Joshua, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, and the prophets, but it was never more than a very few people at any time. Most people knew God indirectly, not directly.

That was all about to change. The prophet Joel predicted it.

The time is coming says the Lord When I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh And your sons and your daughters will prophesy,

And your old men will dream drieams, and hyour yound men will see vision

Evern upon your maid an your manswervant wil I pour out my spirit, says the Lord.

In Jesus day, they all agreed that John the Baptist was a prophet and that he had the Spirit. Many ebelived that Jeus had the spirit. But how could an ordinary man or woman have the Spirit. Would God let everyone know the Spirit.

Think of what the Spirit meant. It meant that they could talk to God, and hear from Him. It meant that God himself wiould comfort them, that He would empower and direct them.

Think of a world where everyone has the Holy Spirit. There wouldnot need to comfort or encourage one another, because all comfort and encouragement would come form God. There would be no noeed for teachers, sinsce all teaching would come from God. There would be no sorrow, because the Spirit could cause us to understand. There would be no error, becauwe the Spirit wuld keep us from it. No one would ever be lonely, because we would have God with us always. We would be powerful an successful, because we woul have the power of God.

Most of all, God would be with us. That is the greatest blessing of all.

There was story in the news last weak about Ryan Smith, an officer in a national Guard unit who was coming home from Iraq aft4r a month’s deployment. He was told that his eleven year old son Colemen was having a concert at his school in Colorado Springs. He arranged to come home two days early. He contacted a friend who was a helicopter pilot. The pilot flew him to his son’s school just in time for the concert. The children of the school were given a surprise assembly outside. Then the helicopter landed, and Coleman’s father steppedout. His son rushed to his arms.

What was the greatest gift Colemen received that day? Was it the sight o the helicopter? Was I the present which his father had in his backpack? No, it was his father. His father was the present.

When we come to God, God gives us the greatest gift of all—the Holy Spirit. His presence is the gift. It ist the blessing that surpasses all others.

And it is free to anyone for the asking.

The Unwelcome Guest

2011-05-19T19:32:00.001-07:00

Luke 11 begins with a truly shocking statement. It’s not shocking to you and I, but to the people of Jesus’ day, it was mund-blowing.

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."

He said to them, "When you pray, say: "'Father,”

“Father.” No one called God Father. No one would dare call Him Father. In the Old Testament, God is sometimes referred to as being like a Father. He is called the Father of us all, in the sense he created us. But the only one who addresses God as “Father” in a personal sense is the Messiah. Yet Jesus began his instruction on prayer with the statement “Our Father.”

How different this Christian view of God as father is from the views of the religious leaders of Jesus time, and for that matter the view of the religions of our time. To them God was all powerful and eternal, but he was distant, cold, and for the most part uncaring what happened to ordinary people.

Worshipping God as they knew him was a formal act. God was like a parade passing by—majestic, grand, but utterly oblivious to us and our petty feelings towards Him. It was like standing in the crowds outside Buckingham Palace and watching William and Kate’s bridal procession. It may be a thrilling sight, but you do not expect them to invite you to the reception. We do not think a great person, like a King or President is not going to know us personally. That would be insanity. The thought of God as our personal Father might be equal insanity.

Consider how big God is. The universe is light centuries across, comprised of millions and billions of galaxies. Yet God created us all. To think that God has some special relationship with us is truly inconceivable.

Yet Jesus called Him Father, and taught us to call Him Father, too. Jesus said that God has a special, personal relationship with Him, and with us.

The Lucan version of the Lord’s prayer is part of a longer passage on prayer, only thirteen verses long. The last passage closes with another passage about God as Father.

If your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?

Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Because God is our Father, He wants to give us good things. It is his delight to reward us.

How does a parent love the child? On Christmas, we spend money on Christmas presents so we can see the look of delight on our child’s face. Our only regret is that we cannot delight them by giving them even more. A loving husband delights in giving gifts to his wife. Or Mother’s Day, we give gifts to our mothers just because we love them. Their happiness is our happiness. That’s what it means to love—to delight in giving gifts If God is our Father, why would He be any different? He is not. He enjoys giving us presents.

So why are we so timid about asking for things if our Father wants to give?

The love of the Father is what Jesus explores in this parable, which is told between these two bookends of thought about God being Father.

5 Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight

and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6 because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'

Once there was a man on a journey. At midnight, he showed up at the door of a friendd and asked to be housed and fed.

Now, this is as highly unusual thing for a man to do. In 5how days if a person were on a journey, and could not find accommodations, he either had to sleep under the stars or in a home. If a traveler were to come to your home, they would come by nightfall. The did not come in the middle of the night, unless necessity forced him.

So this traveler was not late out of disrespect for his host. Maybe he was camping and a storm started. Maybe he was delayed. Only because circumstances forced him did he arrive so late..

We don’t want to impose on others. We don’t want to ask for help. It is only when we can do nothing else that we ask for help.

Self sufficiency is a commendable trait, but it does not apply when deal with God. Other people have limited resources. Any request for help takes something away from their lives. God owns everything, has everything, gives everything. Dusk and midnight are the same to Him. God is not diminished by our asking, an nither are we.

Timidity before God is not a virtue. We do Him no favors by not asking. Even if we constantly impose on God we do not diminish Him or exhaust Him. The only thing that exhausts God is our not asking. When we do not ask, we insinuate that God is limited or stingy.

Don’t just ask God for big things. Ask Him for small things. Don’t just ask for small things. Ask Him for big things. He wants to give us all things, if only we will ask all things from Him.

But the friend whom the traveler visited in the middle of the night, was not God.

The friend reluctantly comes to the door. The homeowner looks at his friend. At once, he knows something is wrong. The homeowner lets him in.

The traveler is tired and hungry. His friend’s heart goes out to him. But when he goes to the kitchen, he discovers that he has no food left.

We are like that homeowner. We may have received from God for all we need, but then when the time comes to help others, we become uncertain again.

We believe that Jesus can meet our needs, but it isn’t enough. He brings the needs of others to us. He doesn’t not just give us what we need. He also gives us to give to others allowing us to share in the generosity of giving.

Giving time, talents, and money to God’s work is not a burden. It is a privilege. He allows us the honor of giving. He gives us what others need, so we can give it to them. If we don’t have what we need, God will make sure that someone else will give to us.

The homeowner is not willing to let the traveler go hungry. He goes to his r neighbor.

It would make more sense for him to have a good night’s sleep and go find some bread in the morning. But he does not. He goes to his neighbor at midnight and asks on his friend’s behalf.g

He knocks on the door. His neighbor growls back “What is it?”

“This is your neighbor. I need to borrow three loaves of bread.”

7 "Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.'

8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

He doesn’t just ask for one loaf. The asks for three.

His neighbor gives all kinds of excuses. It’s late, his kids are asleep. His kids will need to be fed in the morning. He can’t spare it.

But the neighbor does not want to be embarrassed. If he doesn’t help him, he will tell the rest of the street. Then he will not be able to show his face in the town without people judging him. So to keep from being embarrassed for purely selfish reasons, he give thim what he asks.

9 "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Let’s recap. God is our Father, and our Father wants to give us all things, because He is good. But He does not give until we ask. When we ask, He provides.

How long does He want us to ask? Until we receie. Then, when He has provided us with all we can need, He wants us to keep asking for more, not for ourselves, but for others. He wants ust o be as generous to others as He is to us.

But how can we be generous when we have nothing? No problem. God will give us what it takes to feed the poor around us. He will provide though our own strength and efforts. He will also provide through other people, IN this way, we are part of a great chain of giving. From God, to our neighbors to us to others who need what God gives us. Even if others do not want to give us us, God will make sure that they give anyway, so we an be generous before God.

But to key to all this—the trigger that starts it all—is asking. If we do not ask we do not receive. If we ask, then the receiving never ends.

God wants to bless you, and to make you a blessing. All we have to do is to ask.

Jephthah

2011-04-09T12:27:00.001-07:00

When you think about the heroes of the faith, Jephthah is not who usually comes to mind. But when the writer of Hebrews listed them in chapter 11, Jephthah came to his mind. Jephthah, like Gideon and Samson was a very flawed hero, but he was a hero nonetheless.

Jephthah was a complicated man who may not easily be classified as a hero or a villain. He truly was in line with God's heart, but he did not always know what God wanted him to do.

Perhaps if we knew the whole story of Jephthah, we would understand him a little better.

Jephthah was the son of a man named Gilead, who lived in the Jordan valley of Israel. His mother was a prostitute and a Gentile. His half brothers drove him out of the home. He grew up without a father and without proper religious instruction.

Jephthah turned to a life of crime. He gathered around him a group of people who were called "empty men" (think bandits) who preyed upon the surrounding countries. That was where he was when he heard the call of God.

Judg 11:4-11 Some time later, when the Ammonites made war on Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. "Come," they said, "be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites."

Jephthah said to them, "Didn't you hate me and drive me from my father's house? Why do you come to me now, when you're in trouble?"

The elders of Gilead said to him, "Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be our head over all who live in Gilead."

Jephthah answered, "Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them to me — will I really be your head?"

The elders of Gilead replied, "The LORD is our witness; we will certainly do as you say." So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And he repeated all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.

Jephthah struck a deal with them that he would lead them in battle in exchange for being the leader of the country. When he became king, a change came over him. He became a true leader, trying to do what was right in God’s eyes.

So far, so good. Until then, he deserved his position as a hero of faith. Then Jephthah made a rash vow. He said that if the Lord let him win, he would sacrifice the first thing through his gate when he came home. When he came home, the first thing through his gate was his own little daughter. Since he was the new leader of the country, he could not appear weak in the eyes of his subjects. He had to fulfill the vow he made.

We must be fair here. Some commentators argue that Jephthah did not sacrifice his daughter. They argue that instead of sacrificing her, his daughter was consecrated to Him as a nazirite. I sincerely hope they are right, but the majority of scholars believe she was actually sacrificed.

The story of Jephthah does not get any better after that. He then got into an argument with another Hebrew tribe—the Ephraimites.

Judges 12:1-3 The men of Ephraim called out their forces, crossed over to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We're going to burn down your house over your head."

Jephthah answered, "I and my people were engaged in a great struggle with the Ammonites, and although I called, you didn't save me out of their hands. When I saw that you wouldn't help, I took my life in my hands and crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave me the victory over them. Now why have you come up today to fight me?"

Today, we are not sure what the issues were or what the truth was that brought Jephthah in conflict with a tribe of Israel. Each side tells a conflicting story. It escalated into full-scale war between Gilead and Ephraim. It only ended when the Ephraimite army was defeated.

Was this war necessary? Could Jephthah not have negotiated peace with his Hebrew brothers? It appears that he did not even try. War was the only form of negotiation he knew, just as killing was the only way he knew to honor God.

So why does the writer of Hebrews include him?

The greatest evil is not always done by evil men, but by good men making evil choices. It comes from people trying to do the right thing in ignorance and arrogance. Jephthah’s story is a cautionary tale of what happens when faith goes wrong.

Paul talked about this in his early persecution of Christians in Galatians. He said his persecution of Christians was done out of Godly zeal. Luther called for the extermination of the Jews. Sir Thomas Moore oversaw the burning of non Catholics in England. Many of our ancestors tolerated the enslavement of an entire race in the south. These were not bad men but good ones. How can good men participate in such evil?

In Jephthah’s case, his bad choices came about for two reasons.

The first reason is that we have a partial understanding of God, then become to lazy or arrogant to dig deeper. When faith leads us in the wrong direction, then it becomes wrong. Jephthah was a rough, unlettered man who had done no serious study of God’s law. If he had, he would have known that human sacrifices were forbidden by God. He could have consulted with the priests and scholars of Israel to determine what alternatives he might have for executing his daughter. Jephthah did none of that. Jephthah was convinced that he knew all there was to know about the Law of God. To him, the only thing that was important was that he had taken a vow.

God gave us Ten Commandments for this reason—we could not get along with five. Even the Ten Commandments were not sufficient. God had to add an eleventh—to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. How can we say that fulfilling a vow is so important that it gives us the right needlessly to take another life?

The Law of God did not require that he take his daughter’s life. The Law required that when a child is consecrated to God that the parents pay a tax on their heads. It was done with every firstborn child of Israel. But Jephthah did not know that, because he was not raised in Israel. He just assumed he knew what was right.

This is what happens when we know only part of the Law, or enforce part of the law, not just a portion of it.

Once I asked a man if he would come to Sunday School. He gave me an honest answer. He said that he went to Sunday School as a child, and therefore learned all he needed to learn about the Bible. But we really never get to the place where we can say that. The Bible contains a fully nuanced, balanced approach to righteousness, based on proverbs and stories that give us specific examples for specific situations. We need to know it all if we are to use it properly, and we never learn enough.

For example, a man abuses his wife and children. He claims the right to do so because the Bible says he is the head of the household and they should submit to him. He remains absolutely convinced that he can do as he pleases, based on a Biblical mandate. In fact, he is convinced it is his duty to maintain order.

He remembers the passage that says, “Wives submit to your husbands” in Ephesians 5. But he has forgotten the passage that says “Husbands, love your wives.”

In another example, a man feels cheated by a store. He sues the store for damages and gets a big settlement, so big that it forces the owner into bankruptcy. H is convinced that he has done the right thing, since he has taken vengeance upon someone who had hurt him. But he has forgotten the command to “love your enemies.”

If we only look at part of the Bible and not at the whole, we can get a distorted picture of what we are to do.

The second reason Jephthah missed it was because he kept a vow to God, but did not know God’s heart. God demands more than just obedience to a few commandments. We must believe in Him, and understand His nature.

Jephthah’s faith did not extend beyond the battlefield. He knew how to cling to principles, and not back down from a fight. But Jephthah did not understand God. He did not know his heart and feelings. God requires us to know His commandments. More than that, He requires us to know His heart and Spirit.

For the Christian, the law of God is not our only guide. His Spirit is as important as the Law. That is why the Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3:6 “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

You may know about God, but do you know Him? You may pray properly, but do you know to whom you are praying?

When Jephthah had a disagreement with this fellow Hebrews, he did not know how to make peace. He only knew how to make war. A thousand years later, Jesus would say “blessed are the peacemakers.” If only Jephthah could have known and understood this, many lives would have been spared.

Jesus did not come to give us more law. He came to give us grace. He offered God’s hand of forgiveness and love o all people, so that any person might receive who is willing to believe.

Don’t think that just because you think you are a good person that you know God. If you know Law without God’s person, you are not better than Jephthah or anyone else who followed rules as religion.

Isn’t it time you quit pretending that you know God, and actually meet Him? Jesus is the way to salvation, and to finding the heart and soul of God.

Samson

2011-04-09T12:25:00.001-07:00

Samson is the most unworthy hero in the Bible.

There are only five men who’s births stories are told in the Bible—Moses, Samuel, John the Baptist, Jesus, --and Samson. Moses was the bringer of the Law of God, Samuel was the beginning of the prophets of God, John the Baptist and Jesus were—well, John the Baptist and Jesus. Samson was not in their class.

Samson’s father was Manoah. One day his wife was in the field, when a man came and announced that she was going to have a baby. She was not to touch strong drink or eat anything unclean, nor was he to ever to get a haircut, because her child was to be a nazirite from birth.

A nazirite was a man separated by a vow of God. He was a soldier in the Lord’s army, given over full time to the work of God. There were two kinds of nazirites—those who fulfilled a temporary vow and those who made the vow permanently. Samuel and John the Baptist were permanent nazirites. Jeremiah was also likely a one, as well as some of the other prophets. It was a great honor to be Nazirite, but it was also a great responsibility.

This is true for anyone who bears God’s name and is dedicated to the service of God When we bear God’s name, we are scrutinized more carefully. People judge God by our behavior. We are in the same position as Samson. If we bear the name, we must also bear the responsibility of living up to it.

Samson did not choose to be a nazirite. This was decided long before he was born. So he rebelled. He drank. He caroused with women. He got into fights. Samson was an incredibly foolish and arrogant man.

Samson’s behavior may have been foolish, but it is not all that unusual. There are millions of believers engaging in the same kind of moral brinksmanship. We engage in addictive behaviors and think we will not be hooked. We flirt with women, and think we will not be seduced. We watch enticing movies and television programs, and think we will not develop a craving for sin. We fan the flames of passion and think we will not be burned.

After a while, we get used to sin. It is the sin were used to that is the most dangerous. That is why Bunyan said.

“Sin is a monster of such awful mein

That to be hated is merely to be seen

But see too oft, familiar with his face

We first, tolerate, then pity, then embrace.”

The sensible thing for Samson to have done if he didn’t want to be a nazirite was to stop being a nazirite. jThen at least he would not be hypocritical. But Samson could not do this, because he truly was a believer. Samson kept two and only two signs of the nazirite life.

First was his hatred of Israel’s enemies. The Devil objects to us loving God, an loving Christians, but if we want to hate sinners and other faiths, the Devil has no objections at all. In fact, he encourages it. He is for anything that divides people and keeps the Gospel confined to only one group.

It’s amazing how many people forsake their faith, yet think they are holy because they are against what God is against. God doesn’t care if you oppose Islam. He wants you to be for Christianity. God does not care if you are anti-Communist. He wants you to be pro-Jesus. Samson was anti-Philistine, but that did not make him a good Jew.

Samson’s hatred of the Philistines did not come from his faith, but his sense of his own worth. He thought he was better and smarter than they, so he felt justified in hating him. He forgot that the only thing that separates believers and unbeliever is belief. Other than that, we are all pretty much the same.

Second was his hair. A nazirite’s hair was a witness to his special relationship with God. Anyone who saw his hair knew that this was a man of God. Anyone, that is, but the Philistines. Samson was not about to tell them. Among the Philistines, though, he was just one more frat boy at the party.

Samson wore his hair long as a witness for God. Then he refused to witness. No one knew what it was for. In fact, Samson was being an eloquent evangelist against God, since he was living proof of ineffectual faith

Eventually, it caught up with Samson, as it will eventually catch up with us. When we try the limits of God’s patience, eventually we will fall.

Samson took up with a Philistine spy named Delilah. He knew she was a spy. Three times she begged him for the secret of his power. Three times he lied. But eventually, Delilah wore him down, and he gave her the secret of his power—his special relationship to God.

Judg 16:4-22 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, "See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver."

6 So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued."

7 Samson answered her, "If anyone ties me with seven fresh thongs that have not been dried, I'll become as weak as any other man."

8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh thongs that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the thongs as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered

Samson knew that Delilah set him up, but he did not care. He foolishly thought he could outsmart her, so he came back for more.

10 Then Delilah said to Samson, "You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied."

11 He said, "If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I'll become as weak as any other man."

12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.

For the second time, she betrayed him. For the second time, he did not care.

13 Delilah then said to Samson, "Until now, you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied."

He replied, "If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric [on the loom] and tighten it with the pin, I'll become as weak as any other man." So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric 14 and tightened it with the pin. , and he performed for them.

Again she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.

A third time she betrayed him. This time he got nearer to the truth.

15 Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength." 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death.

17 So he told her everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man."

18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, "Come back once more; he has told me everything." So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.

20 Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!"

He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him

21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison. 22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

Samson’s life as a judge of Israel was an utter failure, and it ended in failure. He lost his strength, his eyesight, and his freedom. He was a physically blind as he had been spiritually blind all his life. But there is redemption at the end. Verse 22 turned the corner. His hair grew back.

We can throw away our faith. We can deny our special relationship with God, and we can suffer th consequences. But in the end faith can grow back. It always grows back. God is ready to restore our faith when sin breaks us.

That is why Samson is in the hall of fame of faith. For most of his life, he had been a failure. But at the end of his life, Samson finally realized what God had been saying to him all his life—that the strength of our arm is not enough. It takes God’s strength to save us, and make us the man or woman of God we were always intended to be.

Don’t wait until the end of life to find life. Don’t run from God. Accept His power and his grace.

What would Samson’s life have been if Samson had acted more like a believer than a brat? Samson would have judged Israel. but that did not happen. God redeemed us by his grace, and keep us by His blood. Now we an experience God’s love and grace in our life. Jesus is the power of God onearth. Do not confine him, but let Him have full possession of you, and He will use you greatly.

barack

2011-03-26T16:17:00.001-07:00

The next name in our hall of fame of faith is Barak. Again, Barak seems to be an odd choice. It’s not that Barak isn’t a mighty warrior, but Barak is not the most important person in this story. That honor goes to a woman named Deborah.

Let’s look at the story.

Judge 4: 1 After Ehud died, the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the LORD. 2 So the LORD sold them into the hands of Jabin, a king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. 3 Because he had nine hundred iron chariots and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the LORD for help.

Judges is a book that tells the same story over and over again. God’s people would forsake Him. Then God would allow them to be persecuted and punished by some other country. Then God would raise up some judge who would lead them and save them. This leader would rise up against Israel’s enemies. Then that leader would leave the scene, and the cycle would begin again.

Barak was a mighty warrior. But Barak was not a judge. Deborah was the judge. So why is Barak mentioned in the hall of fame of faith and not Deborah? It cannot that she was a woman, since Rahab has already been mentioned. So why Barak?s

There is an answer to this. But before we get into that, let’s look at the situation.

Jabin was no ordinary enemy. Jabin had ambition beyond just raiding his neighbors. Jabin wanted to retake the northern part of Canaan for his own, and drive the Hebrews out.. To do this, Jabin got some powerful allies. The first one was Sisera, the war chief. Sisera was not from Canaan. The most likely nationality for Sisera was Hittite or Hurrian, since it mentions that Sisera had nine hundred iron chariots. The only country that had iron chariots at this time were the Hittites. Other countries had weapons of bronze. Iron sliced bronze like butter. Sisera commanded nine hundred of these machines. They were an Eleventh Century BC. Weapon of mass destruction.

Ancient writings still echoe the fear people had towards Sisera. The Midrash--an ancient collection of Jewish writings outside the Bible--say that Sisera’s voice was so loud and powerful that it could shake walls and slay wild animals. He was a frightening and formidable foe.

4 Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. 5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided

On the other side was the prophetess Deborah—a holy woman against an unbeatable army. Deborah did not have any real authority except moral authority. Her judgeship probably did not even extend to all welve tribes, but just two or three.

Sisera had nine hundred iron chariots, but Deborah had the living God of Israel.

Here’s what Deborah did.

6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, "The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you: 'Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor. 7 I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.'"

Barak was a strong man—the best that Israel had to offer. But even Barak did not want to stand up against Sisera.

Barak was a humble man—not in the sense that humility is misused today, but in its original sense. Humility is not self doubt, nor is it pretending to be less that we really are. Humility is an honest assessment of our abilities, when compared to the absolute strength of God.

When we pretend we can’t do what we can, that is not humility. Humility is when we do what we can, with the understanding that we cannot do everything. It is knowing our place in the universe, that we do not rule it. There is always something bigger than we are.

Barak knew he was strong, but he knew he could not defeat Sisera alone

8 Barak said to her, "If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go."

9 "Very well," Deborah said, "I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman."

Barak would not go unless Deborah went with him. He knew that he needed God on his side, and Deborah was his connection with God.

This is why Barak made it into the hall of fame of faith, and not Deborah. Of course the prophetess had faith. She was constantly in communion with God. But here was a strong man, a soldier, who understood that God was bigger than he was. He was willing to take a risk and go up against the greatest enemy of his time, provided he knew that God was going with him.

Pride is the enemy of faith. Pride is the presumptuous belief that we can handle things without God’s help.

We don’t like to admit we need help. We refuse to look at road maps because we do not want to admit we are lost. We insist on taking care of ourselves when we are too weak to do it. We don’t want anyone messing with our business. The think of this as virtuous self-reliance, but really it is is pride—one of the seven deadly sins. It is called that because our pride can kill us.

Pride destroys us in three ways. First it destroys us because it keeps us from facing the truth about our predicament. We don’t want to admit we have a problem. We avoid going to the doctor in the mistaken believe that we don’t know about it, it won’t hurt us. We don’t want anyone pointing out our faults.

Second, it kills us by making us unwilling to seek help. Pride isolates us from others. No man is strong enough to face the dangers of the world without God’s help and the help of other people.

Third, pride destroys us because it causes us to jealously insist on getting credit. In a prideful person’s heart, it is more important who gets the credit than that the job is done.

Deborah announced to Barak that he will not get the credit for destroying Sisera. Actually a little woman named Jael will be the one to kill Sisera, not the mighty warrior Barak. It is not Barak who is listed among the judges, it is Deborah. God wants to make sure that He, not Barak, gets the credit.

After Deborah agrees to go, then Barak lays his plan, using the skills he has.

So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh, 10 where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him. . . .

12 When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13 Sisera gathered together his nine hundred iron chariots and all the men with him, from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River.

Barak chosesthe location of the battle—Mount Tabor. This is a brilliant plan. Mt Tabor is a mountain that juts up out of the flat terrain of the Jezreel valley. Like Stone Mountain in Georgia, Mount Tabor is a horst, a slab or rock that is pushed up out of the ground by techtonic movements. It is a cone of solid rock, which is so high that today it requires a four-wheel drive vehicle to reach the top. It has thickly wooded, rocky sides on all sides. Furthermore, it is on the border of three different Israelite tribes. In order for Sisera to take it, he must fight three different battles at once with three different tribes. This make a prolonged siege out of the question.

Sisera cannot use his chariots. They will not go up the mountain. If the tries to drie them put the mountain, it is simple for the Israelites to rain down rocks and arrows on their heads. All they can do is abandon their chariots and attack on foot.

When Sisera’s troops abandon their chariots, then Deborah and Barak command theirs.

14 Then Deborah said to Barak, "Go! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the LORD gone ahead of you?" So Barak went down Mount Tabor, followed by ten thousand men. 15 At Barak's advance, the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot. 16 But Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim. All the troops of Sisera fell by the sword; not a man was left.

Barak is a hero of faith, because he understood the meaning of humility. He was a great warrior, not because he thought he was strong, but because he understood that there were limits to his strength. There was no limits to God’s strength, though. difference between faith and presumption. Presumption is thinking we know what God will do next, and acting upon it. Faith is learning to wait for God to show us the way, before we run out in our own direction.

There is a story later in the Bible of a king who acted on presumption. His name was Josiah. Josiah heard the Egyptians were passing through their territory to fight a battle with the Assyrians, far to the north. The Judeans had no love for the Assyrians, but they did not like a foreign army passing through their land. All Josiah’s spiritual advisors told him to let it go, and not attack the Egyptians. Josiah would not listen. He stubbornly held on to the belief the he knew what God wanted. As a result, he was killed, his army was slaughtered, and Judah was sacked by the Egyptians.

We must act, but only when God leads.

Our dog is in obedience school. Recently we learned how to keep a dog from pulling on the leash. The dog pulls on the leash because the dog thinks she knows where you are going, nad she is in a hurry to ge there. When we more in random directions first, then the dog learns not to assume she knows what the master wants, but to wait until the master commands.

We are like that. We go along thinking we know what God wants. But suddenly, God takes us in a random direction. We must follow closely behind Him, or we will get lost.

Are you following the Lord today, or are you thinking the Lord is following you? Are you doing what the Lord commands, or presuming upon your own knowledge. Proverbs 3:5-6 says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not upon your own understanding. IN all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path. Let He be your guide. Listen to what God says, and you can win over any enemy. Follow your own understanding, and sooner or later you will fall. Only through the mercy of Jesus Christ can we be saved, and find a way out of the problems we face.

Gideon

2011-03-26T16:16:00.000-07:00

What does a man or woman of faith look like? Faith has nothing to do with appearance. Any ordinary man or woman can do fantastic things if he trusts in God, even for a little bit.

Of all the people mentioned in the hall of fame or faith, Gideon is probably the most flawed. Even so, Gideon became for a period of time, one of the judges of Israel, and a man. Gideon is to us both a positive and negative example. We learn as much from his failures as from his success.

We read about Gideon in Judges 6 and 7.

1 The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.

Gideon was from the tribe of Manasseh and the family of Abiezer--not a very distinguished family. His father Joash was not very distinguished, either. Gideon was for his part an undistinguished son.

When we first meet Gideon, he doing something that probably seems odd. He is threshing wheat in a wine press. Threshing was the process of separating the kernels of grain from the wheat stalks. The thresher wraps a sheet around the wheat and pounds it on a rock until the grains separate from the stalks. Then he throws what remains in the air. The wind carries the husks away, leaving only the grain. This is usually done outside where there is a good wind.

A wine press is a circular stone vat. It would not be the best place to thresh wheat, since there would be little wind, and you would probably get grape juice all over your wheat.

So why is Gideon threshing in a wine press? He does not want anyone to see him, lest someone steal his grain. Specifically he is afraid of a people called the Midianites.

At one time, the Midianites were the friends of the Israelites. Now they were their worst enemies. They were desert nomads, who came upon the tribes of Israel like locusts, stealing their crops and goods, and disappearing into the desert again. In Gideon's time, they have become very strong, and deeply feared. No one could stop them, they pillaged wherever they chose.

Then Gideon hears a voice 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon , he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."

Wait a minute. This has to be a mistake. If Gideon were a mighty warrior, he wouldn't be threshing wheat in a wine press. He'd be daring the Midianites to appear. There is no way that anyone would mistake Gideon for a mighty warrior. Yet God sees a mighty warrior in him.

Faith in God doesn't make any practical difference in our lives if we have no faith in ourselves. God may see in us a mighty warrior, but if we do not believe it about ourselves, then we will act like a wimp. The faith to do great things is tied to our faith in ourselves.

This may sound like some new age or positive thinking kind of philosophy, but it is thoroughly based in a Biblical understanding of our nature. It is based upon the sovereignty of God. If God says we are mighty warriors, who are we to doubt His word? If God created us, and if He has promised to give us the strength to endure, then we should also believe that God has in fact given us sufficient gifts to do it, or will give it. To say we are not good enough to do what God says it so call God a liar. We cannot have faith in God without also believing in ourselves.

Immediately, Gideon starts giving God excuses.

First, he says, "God doesn’t care about us.".

13 "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."

Gideon's reaction has been broken in spirit. When thrown into catastrophe our first reaction is to say "God doesn't care about us." Gideon's family had lost most of their crops. The winepress is empty of grapes, because the Midianites took them all. They left some bread, but the took all the joy of the wine with them. What is left is meager and grim.

It is easy to give in to doubt, but it is also the worst thing we can do. Without God, there is no security, not meaning, and no hope. It is also incorrect. God really does still care.

14 The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?"

God in effect said to him. "You say I have abandoned you. I gave you the greatest thing in the world for fixing your problems. I gave you you." Gideon had forgotten that even though he had lost much, he had much, and what he had was sufficient emerge victorious in the crisis.

Gideon was discouraged. Courage is the confidence that we can endure and withstand whatever comes our way. Gideon could only see the obstacles. He had abandoned his goal.

Second, Gideon said "I'm too weak."

15 "But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."

16 The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."

Self doubt equals God doubt. We do not success because we do not believe we can.

Gideon's excuse was that he came from the weakest tribe in Manasseh, and that he was the least in his family. So what? God was still with him.

It's the mathematics of heaven. If finite power is added to God's infinite power, and that is not enough, then is God’s power really infinite. If we are weak and God is strong, then won’t God’s strength completely cover our weaknesses, with infinite power? God says the one thing that can calm us. "I will be with you."

Gideon's third excuse is "But God, how do I know it's really you?"

17 Gideon replied, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you."

.And the LORD said, "I will wait until you return."

Is this is really an angel? Gideon demands proof before he proceeds.

This argument with God is probably Gideon's most rational. It is , however, the mt dangerous and most devastating. We are paralyzed by doubt not just from doubting God’s existence, but from doubting that a specific word from God is really meant for us. If God sent us a letter, we would probably think the mail carrier put in the wrong mailbox!

But God has prepared a surprise for Gideon.

19 Gideon went in, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.

20 The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And Gideon did so. 21 With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared.

Gideon sets up an altar, but he does not burn the meat. The angel touches the rock it is on, and fire comes out.

Think of how many times in the Bible God reveals himself in fire.

• To Moses, God appears in fire from the bush.

• To Israel, He appears in fire from a cloud.

• To Elijah, God appears in fire from the sky.

• To Gideon God appears in fire from a rock.

• In Acts, God appears in fire from the heads of the apostles and prophets.

• On the road to Emmaus, the two disciples who met Jesus said they knew him because their hearts burned within them.

God reveals Himself to us still in fire. He puts the fire of the Spirit in our hearts.

Fourth, Gideon fears God more than he loves Him.

22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, "Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!" 23 But the LORD said to him, "Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die."

Verse 22 sounds like a statement of faith, but look closer. He is afraid to be with God. He is sure that God will kill him.

Many who fear God and are too afraid to approach Him. This is not faith. It is just another kind of self-doubt. If we allow our fear of unworthiness to keep us from approaching God, then we can never effectively serve Him.

When I was a boy, I used to see The Wizard of Oz on television every year. I loved the movie up until the part where they meet the Wizard, and that great floating head appears. It scared me so badly that I would leave the room.

But by the end of the movie, though we see that the Wizard is not scary at all. He is a kind and generous man. The big head just there to frighten away those who did not belong there. The real Wizard welcomed them into his presence.

Many people have much the same reaction to God. God really is great, majestic, and fearsome. But do not think that He is inapproachable. He's also good. If God were truly inapproachable, no one would want to be in his presence. We would serve him in fear, like slaves. But God cares about us, and wants us to love Him back. Being God fearing is not enough. We must also have a relationship with Him. That is impossible if we are too afraid.

Those who are His people, His servants, have nothing to fear from Him. They are the ones who are specially blessed out of the whole world. They are His children.

24 So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

When he lost all his excuses, he got peace.

I wish I could say that Gideon remained faithful all his life, but he did not. He vacillated all his life between faith and doubt. That is the beauty and the glory of God. In order to receive, God's peace, we don't have to have faith yesterday. We don't even have to have faith tomorrow. We just have to believe today. God can uses even struggling and doubtful Christians.

Don't be fooled by the Devil's lies, or blinded by our own self doubt. God is still capable of using you, if you will only believe Him for today.

Rahab

2011-03-14T07:55:00.000-07:00

Heb 11:30-31 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days. By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

Why is Rahab in faith’s hall of fame?

In Florida, some of our women were involved in a woman’s prison ministry. One woman, (we’ll call her Lucy) made a profession of faith. She had been a prostitute like Rahab. The life she described to me was not glamorous, not in the least. She had AIDS, and knew she would never see her child grow up.

Our church accepted her, even embraced her. But no one suggested that she was a shining example of faith.

The woman’s name was Rahab, and she appears in Joshua, 2:1-2 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. "Go, look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho." So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

This story occurred just before the Israelites finally crossed over into the Promised Land. Joshua needed reconnaissance before they entered the land, so he sent spies to scout the town of Jericho. Jericho was the largest city in Canaan and was directly between them and the rest of the land. It had an enormous wall that protected it from g invasion.

The two spies decided that the safest place for them to hide was in a house of prostitution. Though this appeared morally objectionable, from a military standpoint it made sense. Israel’s enemies knew that they did not approve of prostitution, though it was acceptable among the Canaanites, so a house of prostitution would be the last place they would look. Besides, a house like that would be a good place to pick up information.

Rahab was common, though successful harlot. She had her own house in a prestigious part of town, next to the city wall. She had money, she had no respect, any more than she would today.

We certainly would not approve Rahab’s way of making a living. But we have to ask, why why would this woman be thought worse than other kinds of sinners? Should she be treated as an outcast while other women did the same thing in the pagan temples, and were treated as priestesses. The respected the women who gave themselves to men in the name of a pagan god were no better than she. In fact, in our eyes they would be worse, since the practiced both prostitution and idolatry.

God does not rate sinners. He treats all sinners the same. If a sinner, no matter how wicked repents, then they can find forgiveness from Jesus. It did not matter what Rahab had done in the past, she could be forgiven.

Last week we talked about two kinds of faith-saving faith and living faith. Moses exemplifies that living faith. But Rahab exemplifies saving faith—which is the belief that even the worst of sinner can find forgiveness through the mercy of God.

There is good in all people, and there is evil there as well. Everyone who ever lived is the sa,e mixture of God’s breath and Adam’s mud. The person we don’t want to pass on the street may be closer in God’s eyes than a deacon in church or a pastor, if we knew their heart. We cannot judge others according to our standards. In Rahab’s case, a pagan woman in a horrid profession is treated with more honor than a thousand saints. .

How can God do this? Because it is not what we do, but what God does that saves. Faith makes the difference. It is not whether fail or whether we succeed, but whether we have faith to believe God can shine His mercy on both the just and the unjust. The only thing that saved her among all other people in her city was that she believed God.

Rahab had heard stories of the approaching Israelites. The king and the leaders of the land feared the Israelites numbers and military might. Rahab knew better than that. She knew it was not the military might of Israel that made them invincible, but Israel’s God. Here is what she said about them.

Josh 2:9-11 "I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

Here is a common prostitute speaking to the spies in her house of prostitution. Yet she mentions three times the true name of God, which even the priests fear to mention. She realizes that the success of the Israelites had nothing to do with the numbers or skill in battle, but was because of the power of their God.

Do we really look to God’s power or to our own? Can we follow Rahab’s example?

We have something in common with the ancient citizens of Jericho. God’s wrath may well be coming on us very soon. We cannot look at the world today without seeing a cataclysm ahead. The Old and New Testament speak of the day of wrath. When that day comes, there will be little difference in what we we did before. The only difference will be who we will trust to get us through. If we trust in our own strength or cleverness, we are doomed to fail. But if we put our trust in the forgiveness and mercy of Jesus, who was sent to rescue us from death, then we will escape the day of wrath.

Imagine you were in a store in Japan in the great earthquake and tsunami. . Some of the survivors make it to the roof, and wait for rescue. All kinds of people wait—church deacons, gamblers, schoolteachers, prostitutes, gay people, straight people—all kinds.

A helicopter appears over our heads. Someone throws down a ladder. “Come up,” the pilot says. “Catch the rope.”

Will the helicopter pilot say “all you good people come up. You sinners stay down?” No, the offer of rescue would be to any and all who will take hold of the ladder. Those who trust will travel.

Jesus is God’s rescue operation. He came to earth to save sinners. Any who will trust Gun will be saved. Our previous lives do not matter. The only thing that matters is whether we are willing to hold on to Christ and His grace.

When Rahab saw these spies, she saw an opportunity to save herself and her family.

Josh 2:12-13 Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death."

The spies agreed on two conditions—the same two conditions God makes today.

First there has to be a public confession

,Josh 2:17 The men said to her, "This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us 18 unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down

Rahab needs to have a sign that this is her house. This sign has to be public.

God wants to rescue us. But God insists that that rescue be open and visible. He does not rescue people in secret. We must be willing to confess Him publicly.

Jesus said Luke 12:8-9 "I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.”

To be saved has implications in every area of life. It is to become new person with new ideals and new interests. It is impossible to be a new person and keep it secret from everyone else. If we try, it will forever hinder us from being what God wants us to be, and prevent us from following Jesus where He leads. For that reason, we must make our decision for Him public.

Second, we must reconcile with others.

18-20 “and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. If anyone goes outside your house into the street, his blood will be on his own head; we will not be responsible. As for anyone who is in the house with you, his blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on him.

In our culture, single women do not live with their parents forever. But in Joshua’s day it was different. Single women lived with their families forever.

So why isn’t Rahab’s family already in her house? Her profession as a harlot kept her from either living with her parents, or having her parents live with her.

To save her family she had to make peace with them. It was probably not easy.

Jesus said in Matt 6:14-15 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

We must reconcile with others to be reconciled to God.

Rahab did everything the spies told her. So she and all her family were saved. More than that she became only one of five women who were mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus.

Faith is not just for good people. It is for all people. All of us must lay hold of faith.

Today, our time is getting shorter. Whether or not Jesus comes in our time, we know that our lives on earth can end at any moment. It’s time to take hold of the rescue ladder of fath. Don’t worry about what you have done in the past, all that matters is that you have faith in Jesus today.

Mercy is not easy. It is not cheap. Mercy can be a desperate rescue effort. Mercy may require that we swallow a lot of pride and that we suffer a lot of pain. W must we willing to go after them not just sit back and let them come to us.

.The Footsteps of Moses

2011-03-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

When I was a boy, my dream was to be a marine biologist. I wanted to explore the oceans, and the weird creatures living there. I have since found that it is not an uncommon dream. A lot of children have it. There is something about the hidden world of the sea that fascinates us. The thought of us, being land animals, being able to go to the very bottom of the ocean in our submarines and diving suits is exciting. In that world, the strange creatures we see are the native, and we are the aliens.
Christians are aliens in this world, too. Our real native land is fare above, in heaven with God.
Imagine you are a deep sea diver. You spend hours each day exploring the ocean. You interact with the creatures of the sea. Then one day, you become so comfortable with the sharks and the octopi that you forget you don’t belong there. You take off your mask, and you immediately find yourself in trouble. As much as you think of yourself as belonging in the ocean, you don’t. You cannot breathe what they breathe. You were born to the land.
Being aliens, we must stay disentangled with this world. We must keep our focus and remember that at the end of the day we are going to our true home, and our true world.
It requires faith to remember who we are as we stare out into this alien landscape. It is easy to think that this world is our world. By faith we keep our vision and our sanity.
In Hebrews 11:24-29, we read about Moses, who kept his vision and his faith, in spite of some great temptations to the contrary.

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of pt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

In the Hall of Fame of faith, there’s wing devoted to Moses. Last week’s story about Moses’ parents was just the beginning of the tour. There’s a lot more to see. This week, we are going to see three separate acts of faith performed by Moses in his early life, and a surprise act of faith, performed by someone else.
These four separate acts are marked off with the simple words “by faith.”
First, Moses chose humility over status.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
We do not know how much Moses knew of his inheritance as a Hebrew. Moses did not have a Hebrew name, but an Egyptian one. The greatest Pharaohs had similar sounding names --Ramses, Thutmose. The first parts of these names refer to the God they worshipped. Take away that name, and you get Moses, This gave us an idea that Moses must have been raised thoroughly Egyptian and in the royal family.
We do don’t know how much he knew about his Hebrew heritage. He had some inkling, to be sure. He may have been instructed by his mother/nursemaid, but we do not know when or how he knew he was not Egyptian.
But we know he knew the Egyptian court. It was a great place for a boy to enjoy. There were pleasures and delicacies in abundance. If you were going to live in the ancient world, it is better to be in the court of a king than anywhere else.
As a boy, Moses must have enjoyed it. But as he grew into manhood, he would discover that it was not a good place to be. Take the example of the most famous pharaoh--King Tut. Forensic examination of King Tut's mummy revealed that he was only nineteen when he died, and that he was probably murdered. It may be good to be the king, but it is also dangerous. You can enjoy the privileges of being a kingdom if you didn’t mind murdering people, and possibly getting murdered yourself. The court was a beautiful place, but a cruel place as well.
Moses saw the best Egypt had to offer, and rejected it. He realized that it was lie. People were not happy. All the pleasures of the court were nothing compared to the wickedness of people in it.
Moses had a choice. Did he stay with adopted family and become a ruler, or did he choose his God-fearing relatives and become a slave? Moses chose God over power. He chose to be a humble servant, rather than being a cruel master.
What would you choose, if you had the chance—wealth and power, or truth and Godliness? In the end, Moses clearly made the right decision. .
Second, he chose loneliness over the wrong company

By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
Moses angered the Pharaoh. He could have worked his way in Pharaoh’s graces, but he chose not to. Instead, he left all his relatives, friends, and servants, and went alone into the Sinai desert.
The desert must be a profoundly lonely place for a man traveling alone without even his wife and children. But Moses endured and was rewarded.
The term they use in the Bible is persevered. We can live alone, but we cannot survive as Christians if we choose those who will undermine our faith. The greatest fear Moses had was not the snakes and scorpions of the desert, but the corrupting influence of a world which did not know God. Moses believed in the invisible God, who judges all men, and to whom he must answer in the end.
Third he chose to fear God more than worldly power.

By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

The writer of Hebrews recalls an event which happened at the end of Moses’ confrontation with Pharaoh. God brought plague after plague upon Egypt until Pharaoh agreed to let them go. The last plague was the word of all—the plague of the firstborn sons. God was going to send an angel to kill the firstborn of every household. God told Moses to mark the doorpost of his house, and all the other Hebrew houses with the blood of a lamb, to assure the angel of their faithfulness, as well as a means of atonement for their own sins. Moses did exactly as he was told.
Picture the contrast in what Moses is doing. Moses has appeared ten times before the mightiest ruler on earth. Ten times, he has shown himself to have no fear of him. He did not obey his commands. He did not respect his position. But God tells him to mark the door with blood, and he does it without hesitation.
He knew that Pharaoh was utterly ruthless. He could kill his entire family on a whim. Yet Moses is unconcerned. He does not even take unusual precautions against assassination. He stays in the open. But when the first-born faced the angel of death, Moses offered an atonement to God. He knew that people could not hurt him. But he also knew that God could. By faith he feared a sovereign he could not see more than one he did not.
Which do we fear more, Man or God? Most people fear people more than they fear God. But Moses had the faith to believe in the invisible God, which he had not seen, except as a voice form a burning bush. He did not doubt that God was going to do what He said he will so, so he protected himself and his family from the wrath of God.
Then the writer of Hebrews tells us of a fourth great act of faith from a surprising source.

By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

Notice those words—by faith, the people. This is the last exhibit in the Moses wing, and the greatest. It was not only Moses who had faith. All the people who followed him had to have faith as well. A million and a half people at least went down into the Red Sea, walking between two walls of waters, and started for the Promised Land.
Moses was a mighty man of God, but he was just one man. If Moses had all the faith in the world, and no one shared it, it would be useless. If God gave us a Moses today, to lead our nation out of spiritual bondage to the light, it would do us no good, unless someone followed him.
God has given us great leaders—people like Luther, Calvin, Knox, Wesley, Asbury, Moody, and Billy Graham. These were men of God who followed humbly the directions of God. But you would have heard of none of these if it were not for the millions of people who were called to faith by them and responded.
A pastor cannot have faith for the church. The church must have faith for itself. A pastor cannot evangelize a community. The church must evangelize the community. If the people of God do not have the faith, courage, and desire to leave the comfortable ways of the past and to set out on a new adventure from God, then no leader, however effective will do them any good.
But what if we do follow? Then there will not be one Moses, but a thousand Moseses, a million, a hundred million. Whenever people choose to leave their pleasurable lives full of comfort and ease, and follow a risky course, then they follow the steps of Moses.
More than that, they follow the steps of Christ.

Moses' Parents

2011-02-28T06:05:00.000-08:00

Is “a bird in the hand worth two in the bush?”
You have all heard that expression. But what it doesn’t say is this—those who go for the two in the bush may wind up with one more bird than those who settle for the one in hand.
Going for the two in the bush requires boldness and willingness to risk. You must believe in your ability to catch birds. If you fail to catch the two, you might catch one. If you fail altogether, at least you’ve learned an important lesson in catching birds which may help you later.
A bird in hand is fine for those who don’t know how to catch them. But for those who know how to catch birds, it is no enough. The only thing that makes that lonely bird better than the other two is if you are not convinced that you can catch the other two.
That’s what faith is—going for the two in the bush.
Sometimes we take risks because we have no other choice. Usually, though there is a choice. We can choose to be cautious or to act boldly. If we are cautious, we risk little. We may survive today. But the more cautious we are, the more likely we are to achieve nothing in the end. We cannot keep our lives, our property, our relatives, our friends, or our fortunes. Eventually, we lose them all. If we never take risks, we may keep what we have in the end, but in the end, we will lose everything else.
Faith is trusting God enough to take risk. If we really trust in God—I mean really—there is nothing we cannot do. If we really trust in God—I mean really—we can move mountains, defeat armies, stop storms, walk on water, and win the prize.
But if we don’t trust God enough to try, we will achieve nothing.
As believers, we have put our trust in Christ as our Lord and Savior. That is called Saving Faith—the faith the Jesus has forgiven or sins and that we will go to heaven when we die. Saving faith is vital to every Christian.
But Saving Faith is not the only kind of faith we need from God. We need living faith. too, to use in our daily walk with Him on earth. Saving faith is for the future. Living faith is for today.
Living faith is trusting God enough to take bold and decisive action. Living faith is not being satisfied with surviving, but is interested in thriving. Living faith is the willingness to take God at his Word that He created us for greater things than the ordinary.
We may be believers, but that doesn’t mean we have a living faith. We know we have a living faith when we are ready and willing to sacrifice our present comfort for future blessings. Living faith is when we give our money sacrificially to God’s work, instead of holding onto it ourselves, because we believe that God is capable of providing for all our needs. Living faith ins being willing to try a new thing for God, instead of fretting that we don’t have the time, or don’t have the training, or because we’ve “never done it before.” Living faith is crossing social, ethnic, or class barriers, without fretting that we might have our hand slapped when we do. We trust God that we can handle how others respond, and we trust God to bring results from our sacrifices.
Living faith is not being satisfied with just a bird in the hand. It’s going for the two in the bush as well.
The next exhibit in the Hall of Fame of Faith is a splendid example of living faith. Their real names were Amram and Jochebeb. They are better known as Moses’ parents.
Without their faith, there would have been no Moses, no Exodus, and not Jewish people. In fact, if it were not for four people and three bold acts of faith, Israel would be no more than a memory.
The first act of faith happened before Moses was born. Look at Exodus 1:6-22.
Moses was born four hundred years after Joseph, when God’s people had become slaves in Egypt. They had been slaves for almost ten generations—or the same length of time between us and the Pilgrims.
What happens to people after they’ve been prisoners for a long time? The longer we are in bondage, the harder it is to imagine ever being free. Multigenerational slaves lose all hope for rescue. Their captors appear all-powerful. They not only believe it, but they also teach it to their children. Their hopelessness travels from one generation to the next.
But no matter how docile a group of people become, there are always limits in what they will tolerate. Pharaoh went one step too far when he ordered the death of all male Israelite babies. Pharaoh was smart enough to know that if he sent his troops into the slave villages demanding their little boys, not even his might could protect him. So he hit upon a much more subtle and devious kind of genocide.
Pharaoh called the Hebrew midwives together, probably in secret. He told them that it was their responsibility to kill the male children. “Do it quietly” Pharaoh would have told them. That way, there would be no riots, just a lot of grieving parents. In a generation, the Hebrew women would marry outside their tribe, and the Israelites would simply disappear.
But there were two midwives who resisted. Their names were Shiphrah and Puah. These two could not have been all the midwives there were—after all, there were over a million Hebrews! They were just the two who resisted.
There must have been other midwives, too. The reason we don’t hear about them is probably because they went along with Pharaoh. These other women had a choice to make, and they chose the other way. They must have had their rationalizations for doing it. But there would only be one real reason—they were afraid for themselves. Proverbs 16:2 says “All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD.” In other words—we can rationalize anything.
But Shiphrah and Puah stood their ground They refused to kill children. If it weren’t for these two women, there would be no Israel.
But two greater acts of faith would follow it.
Hebrews 11: 23 By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.
One of the children they saved was Moses. After his birth, Moses’ parents kept him hidden for three months, I violation of Pharaoh’s orders.
How do you keep a baby quiet for three months? They did not live in a palace. They lived in a slave village, with no glass on the windows, where every house was up against every other house. They had little or no privacy. How many times did his mother have to get up in the night to shush a baby that was not supposed to be there? How many narrow escapes must they have had when some overseer came down the crowded streets just before feeding time? If they were discovered, then the whole family would have been put to death for the sake of the children.
Moses’ parent risked their whole family for the sake of one boy. They did this because they believed that God had a special destiny for him, and that He would take care of the family.
But the greatest faith was yet to come.
After three months, Moses’ parents realized they could not keep the boy hidden. At the same time, they came to believe that this boy was the promised deliverer. We do not know how they came to that conclusion, but they did. If this boy was called by God, then he must be saved.
Mrs. Moses wove a basket. Mr. Moses covered it with pitch. Mrs. Moses got her finest blanket out of her chest. She wrapped her little baby Moses in that basket. Then they both kissed him goodbye, and set that basket in the Nile River.
The Nile river! Along its shallow banks live crocodiles, hippos, rats, and wild animals. The cities upstream from them dumped their sewage in that water. Yet somehow, these two people had such faith in God that they took their precious baby and let him loose in the wild waters of the Nile. Could there be in our wildest imaginations a greater act of faith than that?
The suffering of that woman and man must have been horrible. She cried because she believed she would never hold her baby again. He wept to think his son-his future—just floated off down the river. There was earthly reason to believe that anything would happen to that little reed basket except sink in the Nile. Even if by some miracle he survived, they would never see him again. They had just released their baby boy. All they to cling to was a feeling that God was in charge.
Some parents today make similar sacrifices. When a man or woman sees their child go to war, they do not know if they will ever return. When mother or father waves goodbye to their child going off in a mission trip, they put them in God’s hands. They may have saving faith, and know their child is saved. But they need more—they need a living faith to sustain them for the moment. They must believe that God is in charge, and that He is a rewarder of those who believe in Him.
God has other calls and other sacrifices that require the same living faith—when we move to a new home, when we leave a for a new job, when we decide to take a woman’s hand in marriage. We have no guarantees. But God is in control, and that He will honor our willingness to step out on faith.
Moses parents and the midwives all had choices. What if his parents or those midwives had acted differently? Suppose they decided to go along with authority, or to try to keep that baby boy all to themselves? What would have happened? Perhaps nothing. But there would never have been a Moses. There would never have been a deliverer. The Hebrew people would have been just a memory, and their God a distant but fading light.
Faith is required for living. Nothing is required for dying. Faith is required to find success. Failure may be achieved without it.
The problem with us is that we follow the path of least resistance, fight only the battles we are sure we win. If we encounter opposition, we shrink away, because we do not have faith. When we take the safe path is that we are content to exist rather than live.
In the next chapter of Hebrews, the writer says “Therefore, being surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses, let us run the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, he author and finisher of our faith.” Moses’ parents are two of those witnesses. Moses is another. And all those other people mentioned in Hebrews 11 are on the sidelines, too, cheering us on. “Fight, run, persevere!“ They shout at us. We are the latest of their generations. We have been passed the baton. It is our time to run out race. One day, we will receive a crown of life, but only if we run with bold and fearless faith.

Isaac and Jacob

2011-02-28T05:55:00.000-08:00

Heb 11:20-21 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
Hebrews only wants to show us examples of faith, choosing to highlight what seems to us to be a seemingly insignificant detail of Isaac and Jacob’s stories--the blessing of their sons. Isaac blessed his two sons Esau and Jacob. Jacob blessed his twelve sons before he died.
These blessings were not fatherly affection. Some were not affectionate at all. Look at the blessing Isaac gave his sons: To Jacob he said.
Gen 27:27 May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. .Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed."
But to Esau he said. Gen 27:39-40 "Your dwelling will be away from the earth's richness, away from the dew of heaven above. 40 You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother.But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck."
An underwhelming blessing, t o be sure.
Jacob's blessing to his children in Genesis 48, this is even more blunt. He predicts the future of each tribe. Some get bad news, like Simeon and Levi
Gen 49:5-7 Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.
Some got good news, like Judah in Gen 49:10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.
Imagine if we talked to our children that way. They would probably have to answer to the Department of Social Services! Not only would it be cruel, it would also be presumptuous!.
Yet Isaac and Jacob blessed their children, and everything they said came true. How did they know?
They knew by faith. Faith is "The substance of what is hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith is looking beyond what appears to be with our eyes, and predict seeing with God’s eyes. Faith is not about how things look today, but how they will look tomorrow. Faith is believing that God is in charge, and that He hears and listens to the words we say. Then he grants us a future according to our faith.
Isaac and Jacob knew his voice. They heard His sayings. Therefore, they knew That God’s will would be one. The world would proceed according to the rule He sets. Nothing is up to chance. It is all in the hands of God.
We do not know what tomorrow hold, but we know who holds the future. This is true in the future of the world, the future of our children and family and our own future.
Right now, the future of the world is uncertain to us. Secularists are prophesying that in a hundred years or so, religion would cease to exist.
Recently a writer in Russia predicted that within a year, the United States would break apart. Twenty years ago climatologists warned us that we were approaching an era of global cooling, a new ice age. Now they say we are experiencing global warming. Either way, they are covered.
Yet Isaac and Jacob blessed their children, and everything they said came true. How did they know?
God will not let us down. Religion will not pass away. Evil will not triumph. Heaven and earth will pass away before God’s word passes away. We may not understand Revelation, but w know its central message--we win in the end. Our faith is based in the fact of God’s eternal Word.
We do not know what will happen to those we love, either. We have no guarantee that they will survive us, or that we will survive them..
It is appointed that a man die once and after that the judgment. But the time or our death and the length of our lives are unknown. Stephen, the first martyr, died young. Methuselah died very, very old. Good people die young and sometimes bad people hand on forever.
We may not be able to predict the length of a life, but we can see the things that will lengthen it or shorten it. They blessings of Isaac and Jacob may have been based on divine knowledge, but they also rest on God-given knowledge about where sin will lead. If we see a man who is filled with violence, the man will never see one hundred. If we see a man who lives according to God’s word, then he has every reason to believe he will have a long and fruitful life. If he does not, then something better awaits him in the next life. This man will probably live longer than the man who doesn't. The results of righteousness are all around him.
You cannot control what happens to your children, but God can. Trust God for them. Worry is a failure of faith. We trust God for them while we go on and live.
Faith is the confidence of our children’s welfare, the evidence of their unseen survival. No matter how things may seem, they are still in His hands, and He will never let them go.
Faith for the future is not just about our loved ones.. It is also about ourselves.
One of my fathers in the ministry was Dr. Robert Marshburn. When he was the age I am now, he had his first heart attack and almost died. He told me later how he did not know if he would ever come home. Then God laid a verse on his heart--Jeremiah 29:13. 'For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. 'Plans for God and not for evil, to give you an end and a purpose.'" he remembered this verse and knew that God had something else for him. God was not finished with him yet.
Ten years later, he died of a second heart attack at the age of 67. But during those last ten years of life he accomplished wonderful things. He finished raising seven children, the youngest of when went on to fly on the space shuttle. He mentored and several young men in the ministry, including two pastors of this church. Along with them, his ministry produced church planters, missionaries, youth workers and even a professor at Erskine Seminary. He helped start our first Korean church and went on to serve as moderator of Synod. The prediction the Holy Spirit gave to him was true. God was not finished with him yet.
God has a two-fold promise for your life. The big promise is this--you will go to heaven if you trust in Jesus. But the other one is almost as wonderful--that as long as you live, there will always be a future and a hope. We will always have purpose as long as you are willing to find it.

Joseph

2011-02-28T05:48:00.000-08:00

Heb 11:22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.

Joseph— Of all the characters in the Old Testament, none is more deserving to be called a hero. Strong, handsome, brilliant, and morally pure, Joseph kept the faith under the most difficult circumstances. No matter what struggles he had, Joseph was an example of a good and godly man.
The word that best describes Joseph is resilient. It is the ability to return after setbacks, to adjust to new realities, and to believe in an optimistic outcome. It is the product of true faith in God.
A resilient person resembles the punching clowns we had when we were children. No matter how hard you punched them or kicked them they always came back up with a smile on its face, ready for the next blow. That was Joseph. He sure knew how to take a punch!
Consider Joseph’s story. When he was a boy he had a dream that he was going to rule over his family some day. Then he had a second dream, which told him the same thing. Joseph believed these dreams were the key to his destiny. Even though he was the eleventh of twelve boys, he began preparing himself for that inevitable moment when he would lead his family. His father saw a great potential of leadership in that boy. He even gave him a special coat as a sign of his pleasure in him.
His brothers resented him. Who can blame them? If your dad trusted your little brother more than you, you’d probably resent it, too! But Joseph’s brothers took sibling rivalry to the nth degree!
They were out in the field one day when Joseph was sent home for something. When he returned, they had all moved. When Joseph found them, they tied him up, stole his coat, threw him in a pit, and sold him to a caravan of Egyptian slavers. Then they put blood on his coat and told Dad that he was dead! This was the worst case of picking on a little brother ever!
But Joseph never felt sorry for himself. He knew God had a better plan.
The slavers sold him to rich Egyptian—Potiphar. Potiphar recognized immediately his leadership abilities. He made Joseph the steward of his house—the major domo of a mighty family. Potiphar trusted Joseph with everything he owned. But Potiphar’s wife wanted more from him. The wanted to have an affair with him. When he refused, she claimed that Joseph tried to rape her. Potiphar was furious and had him thrown in jail.
But Joseph did not despair. He never felt sorry for himself. He knew God had a better plan.
Joseph did well in prison—as well as any prisoner can do. The jailor made the head trustee, and gave him the run of the prison. When Pharaoh’s butler and the baker arrested and thrown in with him, Joseph interpreted their dreams for them, and their dreams came true. With the boldness that only comes from an intimate knowledge of God, he told them the truth. The baker would be executed, but the butler would be restored. It happened just as he said. The baker was executed, but the butler was released. The butler promised to remember Joseph when he was back to Pharaoh’s court.
But the butler forgot him. He left Joseph to rot in jail.
Joseph did not despair, though. He never felt sorry for himself. He knew that had a better plan.
Then one night Pharaoh had a dream. He asked his wise men to interpret it, but no one could. Then the butler remembered what Joseph did in jail, and told Pharaoh. Pharaoh took Joseph came out of prison and brought him to the palace. Not did Joseph give him the correct interpretation, but he also gave him a plan to save the country. Pharaoh immediately saw Joseph’s poise and his confidence, and he made him second in command of everything in Egypt.
Then one day, Joseph’s brothers came to town, begging for food. What a perfect opportunity for revenge! For the first time, Joseph had an opportunity to avenge himself on the many people who had abused him—his brothers, the slavers, Potiphar and his wife. He could have them all killed if he wanted to. Or he could make them suffer. But Joseph chose the way of forgiveness instead of revenge, and saved his family, just as his dream told him long ago.
Joseph could have avenged himself. But he didn’t. He knew God had a better plan.
After that, Joseph, his eleven brothers, and his father lived in luxury in Egypt. But Joseph knew it would not last. One day, the imprisonment that happened to him twice before would fall on all his descendants. They would be enslaved in Egypt. So Joseph, when he was an old man, left word to have his bones carried back to the Promised Land, as a sign to them that God always has a plan. There he was, a living symbol, carried on a cart in the heart of that Exodus mob. He was a living symbol of what they had become—one who rises from pison again and again. Even after death, Joseph rose and pointed the way to freedom.
Now that’s resilience!
Joseph’s confidence was not fake. It was real. That is why wherever he went, people made him a leader. There was something about this man that gave other people confidence, too. He exuded faith, and gave confidence to everyone he met. Because Joseph was resilient, then the other people around Joseph could be resilient, too.
Where did Joseph’s resilience come from? It came from his faith—faith in God, himself, and in others.
First, Joseph had an optimistic faith in God. Joseph always knew God was with him, and that he would not forsake him.
I picture Joseph as a little boy, sitting around the fire with his family. His father is telling them stories of the Lord, and how He saved him, his grandfather and his great-grandfather Abraham. Could you imagine what it must have been like to hear these stories from someone who was there?
But just because we tell things to our children does not mean they hear them. Jacob tried to explain to them that they did not have to be afraid or ashamed. God had chosen their family for greatness. As he talked, the older brothers slept or stared out the window. They had heard it all before.
But Joseph listened and believed. Joseph was certain that the same God who rescued his great grandfather, his grandfather, and his father would be with him when he needed it. And God did.
Most of you grew up in church. You went to Sunday School. You’ve logged hours in church listening to sermons. But that doesn’t mean that anything said in Sunday School or church sinks in. We still worry, we still doubt, and we still think that it is only by our efforts we get through in life. In other words, we just don’t get it.
But every so often a Joseph comes along who hears the Word and believes it. That boy is destined for great things, because he will go through life on the shoulders of God.
Joseph also had an optimistic faith in himself. You cannot separate faith in God from faith in yourself. They have to go together. If we have one, we can have the other, if we do not have one, the chances are that we will not have the other.
Last week we heard one of the great promises of the Scriptures--Jeremiah 29; 13. “For I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, to give you an end and a purpose.” This verse tells us that God has a plan for our success and happiness. God has such a plan for you, then you must have value to Him. That is the link between our own success and God’s success.
We do not always define success the way God does. It may not be in gaining money or fame. Such things are unimportant to God. Real success is about finding happiness and purpose in life. If we are happy, we might be a pauper, but we we better off than a king. We are fulfilling God’s plan and purpose, and enjoying His favor.
But what if we are not happy? What if we doubt ourselves? Then we will eventually come to doubt God Himself. If God made us, and we think we are no good, then either we have to deny that God made us, or God is guilty of shoddy workmanship. If God made you, and God is good, then you are good as well. You have been given the special gift of life.
Because Joseph had confidence in God and confidence in himself, Joseph had faith that he could do the best he could do, and his efforts would be rewarded. Joseph did not work for Potiphar, he did not even work for Pharaoh. Joseph worked for the glory of God. Joseph believed he was capable of great and wonderful things.
Third, because Joseph had confidence in God, he also had confidence in others. One interesting thing about Joseph is that he was likable. Potiphar like him, the jailer liked him, even Pharaoh liked him. You cannot achieve that level of likability without liking others back.
Keep in mind that Joseph had no reason for liking others. Why should he like a man who enslaves him or one who keep him prisoner? Why should he expect that they will treat him fairly?
Joseph could like others because they were made in God’s image. No one can expunge completely the image of God out of their hearts. People no matter how evil they may be, have some vestige of the image of a loving God within them.
Mostly, though Joseph expected the best out of others because he trusted God. Peopl may not have our best interest at heart, but God does. He can turn the human heart for us r against s. God often works through unbelievers to bless His people.
The Bible is full of such people. Joseph’s Pharaoh, Cyrus the Persian, and Publius Paulus in the book of Acts and many others. They were God’s instruments to protect His people. Joseph had people like this around him, too.
Christians today sometimes think that you can love the world without liking it. But if you don’t recognize God’s beauty in the people you are trying to help, they will soon turn on you. God prefers to help us though other people whenever possible. That is why it is so important to be civil and kind to your neighbors, and to work diligently for your employers. Be at peace with everyone, as much as it is possible to do so. This is not out of trust of people, but as an act of faith in a loving God who holds the hearts of all men.
Finally, Joseph was resilient because he knew his sins were forgiven. We spend far too much time being ashamed of our past. But Jesus came to erase the shame in our hearts, an grant us grace to begin anew the blood of Jesus on the Cross paid the price for al our sin, and gave us the gift of forgiveness.
How resilient are you? You can be very resilient if you have faith in God, and through Him faith in yourself and in others, just like Joseph did.

abrraham

2011-02-28T05:32:00.000-08:00

Heb 11:8-19 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

By faith Abraham, even though he was past age — and Sarah herself was barren — was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country — a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.
He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
In the hall of fame, Abraham surely must have the central display. Abraham occupies the central eleven verses of this chapter. He is the greatest example of faith in the Old Testament.
Because of this long discussion of Abraham’s faith, we have an opportunity to see that faith comes in several flavors. It is not just one thing, but at least three. All of these three aspects are found in in Abraham’s life.
Faith has three aspects—Boldness, Patience, and Hope.
Boldness is the kind of faith it takes to take extraordinary risks, based upon the promises of God. Boldness is not being foolhardy, neither is it recklessness, but it is being willing to stand upon God’s promises and God’s promises alone. Boldness is miracle-producing faith. It is the kind of faith seen in Abraham, Elijah, Peter, Joseph, Paul, and (naturally) Jesus.
Most people are rabbits, not lions. They would rather hide in their houses than have adventures. The thought of actually following God outside heri comfort zone, appalls them.
The kingdom cannot be advanced by rabbits. It requires people who are willing to trust God’s promises on the battlefields of life. Abraham was such a lion.
Abraham showed the boldness of his faith in two great actions. First, he left his home and his family and went into a land he did not know, at the age of eighty-seven.
There are few things more adventurous than starting a new life when you are old. The old adage “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is sadly too often true. But when we begin anew in advanced years, then the world gapes in awe at us.
Moses led his people beginning at the age of eighty. Grandma Moses took up painting in her seventies. We still talk about those people because they are true heroes of faith.
Tennyson expressed his admiration for such boldness in his poem Ulysses,
“Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
The second example of this in Abraham’s life is when he took his son Isaac to he mountain, to sacrifice him according to God’s command. Abraham had a radical faith that was willing to follow God wherever He led, even if it did not make sense. Sacrificing Isaac was against everything that God had ever told him. The rejection of human sacrifice was ont of the things that made Abraham’s God better than the gods around him. Abraham thought he knew this. He believed in a God of love and justice. Besides, it appeared that God was asking him to surrender everything he had wanted in his life—a son. But he did it anyway, because he trusted God more than he trusted his own wisdom, his own preconceived ideas, his upbringing, and even his own conscience.
Sometimes we must think differently than or parents or family. Sometimes e must admit that our old notions are wrong. Sometimes we have to put on the line the happiness we have enjoyed for so long. “He who saves his life will lose it,” Jesus said. “But he who give his life will gain it. “He who surrenders houses and family and lands for the Kingdom of God will gain houses and family for Him” This takes bold faith. There is no substitute for it.
Boldness is the hallmark of a trusting relationship with God. Peter exhibited this when he stood before the men who had crucified Jesus and shouted “You crucified the Lord of Glory.” John had it when the the said to a lame man “in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.” Missionaries show boldness when they leave their homes. Martin Luther showed boldness when asked to deny the truth and embrace the Catholic church. He shouted “here I stand. I can do no other.” St Francis had it when he stood before the Muslim caliph and preached Christ, even when Muslims and Christians were slaughtering each other. None of these men thought of themselves as bold. They just thought of themselves as being faithful.
Patience is the second aspect of Abraham’s faith. This is the kind of faith that is necessary to achieve long-term goals. Abraham was willing to wait forever, if necessary fo the reward that was promised to him. He was willing to work for days, months, or even years before he ever saw any results because he knew that the rewards would be worth it.
Noah was willing to work on the ark, day after day, year after year while the rest of the world though him crazy, because he knew it would save his family. Moses waited in he desert for forty years, to see his people save through the promised land. Solomon worked for forty years on the temple. No great thing is ever accomplished unless we have the patience to see it through.
Abraham refused to settle down, even though he had the means, because he wanted his family to have the land God’s way. He waited for God to bring a son out of he and his wife’s nonagenarian bodies, even though in the entire history of the world, it had never happened. He had to tell his children to wait for he proms, wait for he ime when he promised would be.
Patience is not just having faith. It is leaning on the faithful one. We all get tired. We all think we need a rest. But there is no glory or profit in rest. We have to be willing to go beyond the ordinary if we are ever to see extraordinary results.
An Asian woman recently wrote a book about the Chinese style of parenting, and how it differed from ours. One thing she pointed out was that Chinese parents often insist that their children play an musical instrument. In America, we think we are doing good when we have them practice a half hour a day. But in China, they make them practice two or even three hours a day. Their theory is this. That the fruit of the practice does not begin until after the first hour. At first learning an instrument is just scales and repetition. It is boring. But it is not until we master the boring things that we can really begin to enjoy what we are doing.
Patient faith brings no fruit until we have endured for a long time. When it does, it brings great fruit and great joy. Without patience, we can accomplish nothing.
Hope is the third aspect of faith. Abraham could not have acted boldly or waited patiently unless he also possessed the ability to see into the future with excitement, believing in a reward that was before him. The second time Abraham showed this boldness was when he took his son Isaac up the mountain to kill him, as a sacrifice to God. Kierkegaard wrote a book about this story. He pointed out that Abraham’s boldness in following God was such that he was willing to stand against his own preconceived ideas, his upbringing, and even his own perceived conscience. Sometimes we must think differently than or parents or family. Sometimes e must admit that our old notions are wrong. This takes bold faith. There is no substitute for it.
Boldness and perseverance are active things. We start upon a bold course and day by day see it though. But hope on the other hand is passive. We do not pursue hope, we have it. It isdoes not come from what we do or say, but from God’s assurance to our heart. Hope is what helps us endure hardships and setbacks, ridicule and shame. We know that one day we will be vindicated.
Hope is not just about what we want to happen. It is about what God says will happen A hope is not a wish. We may wish for a million dollars but we do not hope for it. But we all may hope for heaven, because God says we can have it. If we trust in God, and beliee His promises, then we have hope.
I remember the first time as a boy that I ever saved to buy anything. It was a wooden portable chess set, and it cost seven whole dollars. Every week I saved my fifty-cent allowance until I had enough to buy it. Never in my life had anything looked so beautiful as that chess set when I bought.
There was only one way I could have saved for that chess set. I had to have hope that it would be there for me when I had the money to buy it. We must have a certainty that what we want will be there, if we continue to live on less than they can by. Then one day, greater rewards than we can ever imagine will be ours. Hope is what keeps us denying ourselves when we know we could be indulging. We hope for something better down the road.
Where do we get hope? Hope comes from God. It comes from realizing that there are things larger and more important than what we see with our eyes and ears
Jesus came that we might have hope, not just for this life, but for the next. That hope was the reason people went to crosses and stakes for His sake.
Boldness, patience, and hope. If we are going to follow God, and be used by Him, we must have all three.

Noah

2011-02-28T05:27:00.000-08:00

"Nothing is ever simple," I disagree. Some things are very simple. A man proposes "Will you marry me?" An employee says "I quit." A doctor says "if you don't have this operation, you will die." There may be confusion and uncertainty before we get there, but it all comes down to a simple choice.
We either choose to obey God or to disobey. There is no third option. Either we do what God says or we don't. If we obey there is forgiveness, comfort, assurance, and eternal life. If we don't, there is confusion, death, and destruction.
But simple things don’t stay simple. A woman accepts his proposal, and then there is a lifetime of making marriage work. A man quits his job and it may take a year to find another. We have that operation, and spend months at home recuperating. What begins with a simple choice continues as a long, difficult path.
When Noah chose to listen to God, it was the beginning of a long process. He had to remake that choice day after day, every day of his life, until the ark was built.
We read his story in Genesis 6 through 9.
Gen 6:5-8 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth — men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air — for I am grieved that I have made them." But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
Why did Noah find favor? Perhaps the next verses will help us see.
Gen 6:9-14 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.
The words describing Noah are translated "just and blameless." But that's not what they actually mean. The word "just" or "righteous" is a legal term meaning "fair," or "even." A righteous judge respects the law. He judges by the law alone.
Biblically, a righteous man cares that way about God’s law. If he has some habit, of which God disapproves, he will stop it. If God says to help the poor and the needy, he will do it. If God says avoid hanging around with sinners, he does that, too. Sometimes, he fails to live up to his own standards. Other times, he misinterprets God’s will. But his heart is right. He will return to the Lord when he comes to his senses.
“Blameless." would better be translated as "real" or "authentic." He doesn't pretend to be a better man that he actually is. He says what he is, even to his own disadvantage. He is real.
Honesty is not the same as perfection, but it is a necessary step towards it. An honest, righteous will always correct himself. A dishonest person is building a house of lies.
Noah was a builder before he ever started on the ark. His life as a work in process. Using God's Word as ca blueprint, he was constantly remaking himself. He was a project that was never finished. This is the person who finds grace in the eyes of the Lord.
The Bible describes Noah’s contemporaries with two words, too--"corruption" and "violence." While Moses was getting better through his life, the others were falling apart. The word "violence" doesn't just mean physical violence, but unfairness and dishonesty. The truth was setting Noah free while lies were destroying everyone else. God could do something with Noah. He could do nothing with a bunch of deceitful liars.
13-22 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark — you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them."
Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
It took only a little faith to get into the ark. If took no faith to stay in the ark. But faith was absolutely necessary to build the ark. Every day Noah and his sons worked on that ark, they showed faith. The ark had no useful purpose unless God was real.
A common misconception about the ark was that it was a ship. The ark was not a ship. An ark means a box. A ship had sails or oars. It has a wheel and rudder. It has a bow and a stern. It has a keel to keep it from slipping sideways in the water. The ark had none of that. It was only designed to stay afloat. It was completely at the mercy of God, under His command.
For two or three hundred years, Noah and his sons built a big waterproof box.
The path to success often seems impossible. School means years of sacrifice. Going on the mission field means fundraising and language instruction. Diets are—well, they are tough. But if we want to be real about following God, we will stay with it.
Faith is a long obedience in the right direction. It is not getting saved in a revival. It is getting up every morning and having devotions. It is not saying yes to a call to tdhe ministry, it’s paying seminary tuition, learning Greek or studying for Presbytery exams. And fool can start. It takes faith to finish.
For years, Noah got up and worked on a box, with no earthly idea what he was doing, enduring the laughter and scorn of others. Yet he kept on, because God told him to.
Now, that’s faith!
Gen 7:6-12 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month — on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
In the hall of fame of faith were a real hall, with portraits on the wall, the portrait of Noah would not show standing on the ark or under the rainbow with the animals. It would be him in those long days before flood, swinging a hammer and chopping wood, while the rest of the world called him crazy. It would be Noah believing that the world was going to end, because a voice inside his head said so. That is the true picture of faith we need to emulate.
In Israel, there is a mountain outside Jerusalem called Herodium. It was the location of one of King Herod's many fortresses. The top of the hill is flat. There is a story that when Jesus said in Matthew 21:21 "if you have faith, you can say to this mountain be cast into the sea, and it will be done" He was looking at that mountain. That is literally what happened to that mountain. The top of it had been removed and cast into the Dead Sea.
But it did not happen at once. Soldiers and slaves took the top off, one shovelful at a time. It was taken by carts down the road, where it was used as fill in some of Herod's other projects towards the Dead Sea.
If that story is right, it gives us a very different picture of how faith works. We can move mountains, but not all at once. Most mountains don't fly. Instead, we take them way by God's command, one shovel full at a time. We accomplish God's will because we have enough faith to believe that what God says we can do, we can do.
Most people never accomplish the goals they set before them. There are two reasons for this. The first is that most never begin. They look at the mountain and say it cannot be moved. Noah could have looked at the blueprint for the ark and said. "I'm six hundred years old, and you expect me to build this?" But he believed that God would accomplish what he needed to accomplish. He sincerely and authentically believed that this was God's purpose for him.
The other reason people fail is because we lose faith along the way. We don't expect the obstacles or the setbacks or the distractions or the moments of discouragement. We take these setbacks as signs thact God really didn’t want us to begin, or that we cannot do it.
In Hebrews 11:7, there is a single, sobering statement.
By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
How did Noah’s faith condemn? Here's how. When we see what God wants for us to do and which we fail, we make all kinds of excuses. We say it's tough luck, or it was impossible. Then we see Noah--a man who finished and impossible task--and we know ourselves to be lying. If Noah can build a giant box, fill it with animals, and live with them in it for a year on the open sea at the age of six hundred, what right do we have to say there’s something we can’t do for God?
Faith is not the best way to salvation. Faith is the only way. It is only when we persevere by faith that we can find eternal life.

Enoch

2011-02-28T05:21:00.001-08:00

The second exhibit in the hall of fame of faith is Enoch.
No other person in this list is as obscure as he. This is the sum total of what the Old Testament says of him.
Gen 5:18-24 When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. And after he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Jared lived 962 years, and then he died.
When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
That’s it. The only thing anyone knows about Enoch is that he walked with God, and that God took him. The Hebrew is the same phrase that described Elijah disappearing in a fiery chariot. This had led most readers to believe Enoch did not die, but went directly into heaven.
Enoch was one of two people who did not die. We are not told why he did not die, or what deeds he did. He simply did not die.
To us it’s an interesting footnote, no more. But to the Jews of Jesus’ day, Enoch translation into heaven was considered one of the great mysteries. He became the subject of at least three books which claimed to be written by or about him. None of these books were the truth, since any records of Enoch's life would have been lost in the flood. Even so, two references to these books show up in the Bible. These references are used to illustrate points, not to propound doctrine. They were illustrations based on popular literature of the time, not on history. Like we might quote Shakespeare, they quote from the books of Enoch.
Can we blame those ancient Jews for about being so curious about Enoch? Aren't you curious? What did he do that was so great that he alone escaped death? Wouldn't you like to know his secret of escaping death? What did Enoch do that was so right.
The writer of Hebrews believes that he knows Enoch’s secret. He tells us in Heb. 11:5-6
By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Here's Enoch’s secret--he had faith. The writer of Hebrews did not discover this by divine revelation but by logical deduction. Enoch pleased God. Faith is the only way to please God. So Enoch must have been a man of great faith.
Most people don’t believe that. They think that if we get anything special from God, it must be because we are an exceptionally good person. It is based on what we do, not what we believe. But the Bible teaches it is faith, not good deeds, by which we please God.
Let’s assume that Enoch was a good man. How good do we had to been to escape death? What could he have done that was so good? Was he kind to his neighbors? Did he give everything to the poor? Did he dedicate his life to preaching? I have known people who did all those things and more, and yet they had one thing in common. They are all ded. What could Enoch have done that was beyond the goodness of St Francis, Martin Luther, or Mother Theresa?
Then there’s another problem. There was another man who also escaped death— the prophet Elijah. We must assume that Elijah knew the same secret, since he got the same reward. We know more about Elijah than we do about Enoch--too much, in fact. He was a great prophet to be sure. but he was also at times suicidally depressed. He was quick to fuss at God, and think God had forsaken him. I know men today who are better than Elijah, at least in that respect. They don’t doubt God, and they don’t give into pessimism. Yet none of them rode to heaven on a fiery chariot. They died in bed and were buried like most men do. If they were superior to Elijah in their outlook on life, why weren't they translated into heaven like him?
We all die, but we would rather not. We'd rather just skip all that. I think that is why books like Left Behind are so popular. We all hope to be in that generation that gets to skip dying. But so far, only Enoch and Elijah are the only ones who did.
No one pleases God by what he or she does. Our actions are not what makes God happy. It is ourselves who make God happy. The people who receive great things from God are not the extremely good, but those how have faith in a God who is better than we are. It's not up to us, but up to Him. Blessings come to us, because we believe in Him.
So the writer of Hebrews deduces that Enoch must have had faith because he pleased God. And no one pleases God except by having faith in Him. It is God’s goodness that saves us, not our own.
When God wanted to turn the world from sin and back to Him, He did it in a most peculiar fashion. He had given us commandments, but we didn't keep them. He had given us blessings but we did not recognize them as coming from Him. He had given us guidance, but we ignored it. But finally, his own sacrifice to us. He did not require we sacrifice from us, but that we receive the sacrifice He made for us. He sacrificed Himself on the cross. He set Himself to please us. All he asks is that we believe have faith.
Faith is more than belief. Enoch did not escape death simply by belief. Enoch had faith. That is why the writer of Hebrews adds a footnote to the Enoch story, in verse 6.
Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Here the writer of Hebrews tells us three things that were from the story of Enoch.
First, trusting God pleases God.
It is impossible to respect someone we do not trust. When someone puts their trust in me, they are saying that I am worthy to offer them help. They are saying I am strong, and that I recognize how much they love me.
God more than anything wishes to be trusted. When we trust Jesus, we trust the Father. When we think we must earn our own salvation, we are not pleasing God, because we are not recognizing the love He has for us.
Second, Believing God pleases God.
We must believe that God exists.
Atheism is a growing threat in the world, especially in this country. Atheists are organizing against faith. If we think that Christians are evangelistic, in this world we don't hold a candle to the atheists.
We aren't atheists, of course—at least, not outwardly. But there is far more doubt of God's existence in the church that we like to admit. We know this, because of worry. If we really believe God existed, what could worry us? If we really believed God existed? Then why do we fear leaving this world? If we really believed in God's existence, then how could we call anything impossible? To believe in God is to believe in miracles. To believe in God is to believe in God is to believe that death itself has a master, and that it cannot take us away.
Third, believing His existence is not enough. We must also believe he rewards us.
William Barclay paraphrases this statement this way "We must believe that God exists, and that He is pleased with us." That second statement is harder to believe than the first.
God is pleased with you. He is pleased with you, because you are His child, and Christ had died for you. He is pleased with you because He chooses to be.
This is terribly hard for us to imagine. We have trouble believing this because it is not the way we are. We expect something out of those we are pleased with. We expect proper behavior, and respect. The thought that God might be pleased with us simply because he chooses to doesn't seem right.
We cannot believe it because we know ourselves too well. We know the stuff that no one else knows. We can make a list of things we have done wrong that would shock everyone else in church. Yet God sees all that and does not care. He is still pleased with you.
We cannot believe it because the Devil is screaming in our ear that it is not true. People always think of Satan as the great tempter, who wants to tempt us to sin. He is that, but it is not is main line of attack. He is called in the Bible the "Accuser of the brethren" His main attack is by suggesting to us that God will not reward us, if we diligently seek Him. Satan brings up everything we have ever done wrong--all the evil thoughts, all the evil deeds done in the shadows--and he builds a case against us. Then he argues that case in the court of our own conscience. He suggests to us that God is not pleased with us, so there is no point in having faith. Others may have faith, but it will do us no good, since are not so righteous.
Few Christians will admit to doubts about God. But many Christians walk like orphans before him, because they do not think themselves worthy of His reward.
What did Enoch do right? One thing for sure, Enoch was not a perfect saint! He sinned just like the rest of us. But the difference between us and Enoch is that Enoch did not dwell on his sins. Instead he forgot his sins, as God did. Instead, he concentrated on the goodness of God, and God's ultimate reward. Enoch so rested in God's arms that God gently lifted him oup and took him out of the world.
In all probability, we won't escape death. But that doesn't mater. Whether we die or not, we can rest in Jesus' arms. We can know His love nd forgiveness, because God has given it to us. For those who seek him, that forgiveness is there. All we have to do is to reach out fo Him in faith.

Abel

2011-02-28T05:18:00.000-08:00

The first exhibit in the "hall of fame of faith" is Abel. Hebrews 11 4

By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

Why is Abel here? Other than his death, the only thing we know about Abel is that his sacrifice was more acceptable than his brothers. But the Bible is not clear as to why it would be.
Scholars have all kinds of theories about this. Adam Clarke, for example, says that Abel, being a keeper of sheep, offered a blood sacrifice, while Cain offered grain. But nowhere are we told that God required animal sacrifices from them. It was not until Abraham where there is any specific command for animal sacrifices is given.
Other commentators, such as Barnes, suggest that Abel pleased God not by the content of the sacrifice, but by his attitude. Abel was humble before God, while Cain was proud But again, the Biblical evidence is spotty for this. We do know with certainty that this was the reason.
Maybe Abel’s inclusion in the hall of fame of faith has nothing to do with what he did, but the unique place he occupied in history. Maybe we remember Abel not for being the best or most faithful, but simply the first. He was the first man in heaven. He was the first to receive eternal life by faith.
Abel gave us no great inventions, made no great journeys, wrote no books, built no kingdom, endured no hardships, of brought forth no great generations. He was an ordinary man who died before his time, leaving nothing behind. But he was a fortunate man, because he trusted God. His trust gave him the first home in heaven.
Or maybe there was some other reason. Let’s look at the story closer and see if we can see what Abel had to do with faith.. Gen 4:1-12
Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man."
Whenever we look at the Bible it is important to remember the context from which hit came. Genesis 4 follows Genesis 3, which contains the story of the first sin, and our first parents’ banishment form Eden. Before they left paradise, God punished them for their sins. But along with that punishment, God gave them a promise. The promise came in Genesis 3:15, , when God said to the serpent.
"And I will put emnity between you and the woman, and between your seed and the woman' seed, and he will crush your head, while you will bruise his heel."
Today we take these words to refer to Jesus, the Messiah. The seed of the woman is one who was to come, who would be born of a woman but not of a man--a virgin-born man. This is Jesus, the messiah who would put to death the power of the serpent--Satan.
But Adam and Eve did not have the luxury of seeing it through the lenses of history. They thought of it as something that would happen to them in their own lifetimes. So when their first son was born, they saw him as the fulfillment of this prophecy. So when she became pregnant, and brought forth a son, they named him Cain, which meant "received from God." –in Hebrew "quaanyity."
But “Cain” may not actually actually mean “received from God.” The Hebrew may come from "quayin," which literally means "pierce through," or "lance." Thus name seems to refer to the warfare that would exist between the woman and the serpent. He was God's spear to crush the Devil. This first born son was to be the promised one that would win eventual victory over Satan. Or so they thought.
Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.
The Bible doesn’t bother to say what Abel means, but we know. It means "emptiness or transitory, unsatisfactory." In other words, they did not know what to make of Abel. He wasn’t the chosen one, so he must be second best. Imagine your parents naming you “the other kid!”
Abel didn't measure up to Cain in his parents’ eyes.. He was the other one, the weaker one. Cain was the promised child. Abel was just an extra, or so they thought. That was why they gave him the least important job. He was to tend the flocks, which producd wool, while Cain tilled the ground, which produced food.
In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.
We don’t know what the “course of time” means. Some suggest that it might be the anniversary of creation. Others suggest that it was the Sabbath day. But whatever it was, it was a time of worship, where each member of the family expressed their love for creator and sutainer, God. Worship was part of our existence from the earliest days of earth. Sacrifice just seemed to be a natural part of worship.
The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Why was Abel favored? Maybe the key is sacrifice. Cain offeed the fruit of the ground, knowing that the next year there would always be more fruit. Abel offered the sheep themselves, not the wool. Abel offered something that was substantive, and hurt him to offer. Cain just offered what was left over after the harvest.
Cain out of his pride, offered a small sacrifice. Abel, out of his humility, offered a bigger one. Therefore, God was pleased with one and not the other.
Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."
This was not about the size of the sacrifice, but the attitude of the heart behind the sacrifice. God may not have favored Cain’s offering, but he did not regard it as sin. It was just indicative of a heart not fully surrendered to Him. As long as he continued to worship and obey, he would eventually come to understand what a proper sacrifice was. But Cain had never been bested by his brother before. He was filled with jealousy. He could not stand it.
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Here we have two boys---one loved and one hated, one a hero and one an extra. Cain was the leader. Abel was the follower. Cain was the strong one. Abel was the weak one.
Now most of us would think that it should be Abel who resented Cain not the other way around. But Abel did not. He accepted his place in God's plan without complaint. Abel knew that the position we have on earth has nothing to do with our Father’s love in heaven. What a man owned, or how others looked at him did not make a difference to God. All that matters is what God thinks of us.
Cain’s sin was one which was basic to all of us. He was proud. He saw himself as God’s chosen instrument, and the thought of God choosing someone else was a thought he could not stand.
What is real faith? There are two faith stories. There is a secular, worldly faith and there is Biblical, Godly faith. j world is pushing a secular faith story, which in most cases obscures the Biblical view.
The secular faith story goes like this. We are strong. We are capable of doing great things. All we have to do is to believe in ourselves. We just need a little positive thinking. Whatever we set our minds to do, that is what we are.
Cain did not lack self confidence. From the earliest days he was told he was special, and his brother was not.
Abel represents Biblical faith. He had no illusions of competency. But his weakness turned out to be his strength. Instead of looking to himself. Abel looked to God. He knew he was unworthy. So he made a larger and deeper sacrifice. He offered a sheep, trusting God to give him another. Abel could have given a sacrifice similar to Cain's. He could have set aside some of the wool at sheep-shearing time, and burnt it before God. He had plenty. Besides he could be certain that the wool on his sheep would grow back.
The self confident express gratitude to God for what they have. But the God confident express their need for God to meet what they don’t have. They are willing to surrender to God everything, if it means gaining God’s favor and love.
We have a confidence that Abel did not have. We know that our redeemer lives. We know that if we give our live to him, he has already given His life for us. God accepted Abel's sacrifice, because it truly was a sacrfiioe. Cain's was only a light inconvenience..
Abel reminds us that it isn't what we do in life, it is who we do it for. If we do what we do for God, then God will reward us. But if we are rewarde dwy the whole world, and we do not have God's favor, then nothing matters anyway.
What was Abel's reward? First of all, he was rewarded by being the first man in heaven, and the forgiveness of his sins. His name was ascribed in the Bible, in the hall of fame of faith.
Cain's did not understand his own sinful nature. He denied that sin was a problem in his life, until he murdered his brother. His name became a curse upon him and his family forever. Instead of being the chosen child, Cain became a hunted man.
Faith is not for exceptional people. It is for ordinary people. Anyone who puts their faith in God, and takes hold of the sacrifice of Christ, can receive eternal life in the end. If we have confidence in ourselves, we fail. But if we have confidence in God, we succeed.

Faith

2011-02-28T05:11:00.000-08:00

Hebrews 11:1-6 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.
By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

There has never ever been a better time to have faith than today.
Some people might dispute this. This is the age of skepticism. People are leaving churches in alarming numbers. In its place, they follow no religion--only a worldly materialism. Many of those who remain are troubled by doubt and wonder if it isn’t true that one religion is as good as another.
But all of this doesn’t make it a bad day for having faith. In fact, that is why it is a good day for faith. Sometimes it is all we have to count on.
In the next several weeks, we are going to be looking at what it means to ha ve faith. Our guide on this will be Hebrews 11, the "hall of fame of faith.”
Hebrews 11 begins Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Faith differs from belief. Any fool can believe in God. Belief is common, but faith is rare. Chances are good that as you read this, you believe. Very few people read religious articles or listen to a sermon will not at least believe something about God and Jesus. But that does not mean we act upon our belief. We may believe, but still worry about dying. We may believe God will provide, and still worry about our finances. We may believe God wants us to spread the Good News and we not act upon it. There is a huge gap between what we believe and what we have faith in. We believe, but God help us our unbelief.
Even so, it is a good day for faith.
What it always this way? Probably not. Never in history has this gap been so wide.
There are, I believe several reasons for this:
First, are our miraculous scientific advancements. Today all the miracles we see are scientific ones The scientific method has replaced faith. The result of this has been the advancement of human knowledge to the point that e have been able to produce secular miracles. The machines we have in our pocket and we take for granted would have been considered magic by our ancestors.
Second, is competition of world religions.. Thanks to the shrinking of the world through communication, we have knowledge of other religions. It is easy for us to think that our religion is no different. But if all faiths are the same, then no faith has any merit.
Third, is rampant materialism. Many proponents of the “health and wealth” gospel insist that if we just turn to Jesus, we’ll be rich and prosperous. It doesn't take a genius to see that this is not the case. In fact, many godless people are more prosperous than we are. When our faith fails, we look to things. We expect them to give us what God will not.
Fourth, are hidden sins. We live in a very private society, where no one outside of our homes know what we are doing or what we are watching. This was not always the case.Now there are dozens of hidden addictions which are sapping our faith--pornography, video games, television, shopping, to name a few. These addictions stand between us and God. They are a form of spiritual adultery. They replace God in our soul.
Fifth, is the frantic pace of life. There is no time to ghik about anything longer than the day. We must race on impulse, not on thoughtfulness. So we have no time to think about anything unseen. We are too busy reacting to what is right before us.
Remember, faith is acting on what we do not see. The more difficult faith becomes, the more pure it becomes.
Today many are losing their faith. But the faith they are losing is not true faith. It is a half-faith, based partially on belief in God and partially in believing in an old way of life that is disappearing. When that old way of life disappears, for many people so does their faith in God. But for those who continue on in faith, who trust in God in spite of their circumstances, they experience a deeper kind of faith than they have ever known.
Before coming to this church, I left a church with a large manse and a good salary, because I believed God wanted me to. It was frightening to say the least. Both of us had to find new jobs, and new ways to live. Like Abraham, we started off into the wilderness. We did not know what would be out there for us.
The very first day we arrived in our apartment in Pineville, I received a call from a pastor I did not know. He had heard about me, and wanted to check to see if I was all right. I had acquired a new friend. I went to the bookstore and got a job there. God provided in little pieces for us. In the story of Elijah, there is was a time when Elijah was out in the wilderness, and God fed him by ravens, dropping off their tiny loads of food. I felt like Elijah. We were walking not by sight but by faith. It was a most uncomfortable experience, but it was real.
In order to have true faith, we must lose our half faiths. We must put aside those props which keep us secure, so we can completely follow Him.
What are those props?
One is the Christian community. If we surrounded by those who have faith, then how will we even know when we don't? Our faith must be more than the faith of our fathers. It must be our own.
Another prop is our own strength. This shows up in our own expressions. "God helps those, who help themelves." If we are able to help ourselves, how do we know that God is helping? Trust in God, but keep your powder dry." Sure, God will defend us, but just in case God doesn't, we'd better be armed and ready. What we are doing is to imagine the world as an equal partnership between us and God, where he works only if we do, and he works only to the amount we do. There is no real room for faith in such a view. Faith that risks nothing, that costs nothing, that dares nothing is not faith. It is complacency.
A third prop is caution. We play it safe. We never take risks. Then we thank God that we haven’t had to risk anything.
Paul had no such timidity. He dove into his work with a reckless caution, trusting God would protect him,and he did. Jesus had no such caution. He mixed with the criminal element, yet never feared for his own safety. Peter had no such caution. He stayed with the Roman authorities—the same group that would later kill him. Yet he did it by faith, and God kept him safe until his work was done.
Toda is a great time for faith. Real faith begins when all reason for faith ends. It is standing on belief when there is nothing else to stand on. It is a leap, not a casual walk.
You don't have faith when you stand in the middle of the church to testify. But when you are stand on a street corner, and people all around you are shouting for you to sit down, yet you keep on testifying, then you have faith.
You don't have faith when you are wealthy and testify of God's blessings. But when you are poor, and you've been out of work for a year, and the bank is going to repossess your car, and you still thank God for His blessings, then you hfave faith.
You don't have faith when you love your friends. But when you love your enemies, as Christ loves them. then you have faith.
You don't have faith when you give God what you can afford. But when you give what you cannot afford, then you have faith.
You don't have faith when you praise God on Christmas Eve. But when the church is filled with strife, when Christians around you are judging you and acting like hypocrites, yet you still thank God for Him being there, then you have faith.
Faith is not reacting to what you can see. It is reacting to what you can't see.
One of my favorite testimonies of faith comes in the sixth chapter of John. Jesus had just said some difficult words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. The people in the audience didn't know what he was talking about. They thought he was a nut and walked away. Even his own disciples didn't understand.
Then Jesus asked them if they will go too. They answer "Where else will we go? You only have the words which lead to eternal life."
That's faith. Nothing is going right, but they believe anyway.
Sometimes, faith is a desperate holding to what you believe to be true, even when everyone else says it is false. For generations, we have been denied the privilege of learning what faith truly is. We have not been comforted by faith, because we have no need no be comforted. We have not been strengthened by faith, because we have so many to strengthen us. It is only when there is no one, and no place else to go that we have to rely upon the evidence unseen and can enter the hall of fame of faith.

The Dawning Light

2010-12-26T05:32:00.000-08:00

"Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.

See, darkness covers the earth

and thick darkness is over the peoples,

but the LORD rises upon you

and his glory appears over you.

Nations will come to your light,

and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Isaiah 60:1-3

The know very little about the nativity of Jesus, but there is one thing of which we may be fairly certain—he was not born on Christmas.

We know this for three reasons. First, we have the statement in Luke 1:26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, This may refer to Elizabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy, but this is not likely, since it would be a repeat of what the angel said earlier. More likely it would mean that Mary conceived in the sixth month of the year, and gave birth in March of April. Second, shepherds did not abide in the field in December. Shepherds stayed in the field so the sheep could fatten themselves on the spring grass. In December, it would have been as barren as our grass. Besides it would have been terribly cold. Third, the earliest celebrations of Jesus’ birth were held in April, not December.

Some people say that the reason Christmas is celebrated on December 25 is because of a Roman holiday called Saturnalia. Personally I do not believe it. There was a much deeper reason.

The selection of December 25 was a stroke of genius. It is four days after the Winter solstice, the darkest time of the year. What better time to celebrate the coming of the Light of the World?

From the very earliest days, Christmas has been a festival of lights, because He was the Light of the World. John wrote of him “in him was life, and that light was the light of men.”

The coming of the Light of the World has astounding implications. Think of it! Thousands and thousands of years ago, Adam and Eve committed the first sin. Darkness entered the world. For our whole existence the dark implications of that one sin have been growing on the earth, not only affecting people, but all of creation as well. The world grew gradually darker with sin.

In the first eleven chapters of Genesis, we can trace the progression of sin. Adam and Eve had two children--Cain and Abel. Cain murdered his brother out of rage. Perhaps it was premeditated, perhaps not. Perhaps Cain felt sorry, perhaps not. But we cannot deny that killing a human being seems a more manifestly evil act than stealing fruit from a forbidden tree.

The third recorded sin was worse. Cain's great-great-great grandson Lamech not only killed a man, but bragged about it to his wives. There is no fear or shame in him. He said.

wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times."

It got worse from. Just before the story of Noah, the Bible says "When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose." Gen 6:1-3

The "sons of God" refers to angelic beings. These “sons of God” are really fallen angels, or demons. In six chapters we have gone from fruit stealing to consorting with demons. The darkness is spreading, growing thicker.

In Genesis 9, we have a new dawn of sorts. God wipes out the whole world except for the eight people—Noah’s family. But sin rode on the ark along with the animals. Noah got drunk, his children go bad to worse, and soon the world is back as before, full of sin and corruption. Soon they all gather at the tower of Babel, and sin has become the victor again.

No one knows how much time elapsed between Adam and Noah, or Noah and Abraham. But we know that sin continued to thicken and darken, like smoke pouring into the atmosphere from a hundred hellish flames. The thicker it became, the more it obscured the light of God.

God made a promise to Abraham, that through Him would come a seed that would bless the whole earth. But Abraham never saw that child, or even dreamt what that redemption would be. When he did up in heaven, Abraham rejoiced to see it.

Two thousand years elapsed between Abraham and Jesus. During that time, sin continued to grow. We have a record of it in recorded history. There were wars, famine,d slavery, human sacrifice, ritual slaughter, torture, and genocides. By the time of Isaiah in the seventh century BC, the world had already seen several evil empires, as evil as Babel--Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Egyptian, Hittite, and many we cannot know. All these empires were built on sin—pride, idolatry, greed, and cruel oppression. Isaiah, looking out from his position as advisor to King Hezekiah, would have seen the wickedness first hand. Isaiah had every reason to believe sin would destroy everything good and holy that was left on earth.

But Isaiah saw the heart of God, too. Even then the dawn was approaching. He wrote.

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. "

Isaiah saw that sin was thick and the world was dark. Even so dawn was coming. God was going to part the clouds of sin, and the light of God would eventually sign through.

But this parting did not come in Isaiah’s time. Far from it! The seventh century BC was terrible but the sixth century was even worse. The Assyrian Empire was followed by the Babylonians, who were followed by the Persians, who were followed by the Romans.

We could not say if the Romans were the worst people who ever lived—but they certainly had to among the worst. They brought order to the world, but they did it through war and oppression. They destroyed whole nations without a hint of remorse. We would be shocked by the level to which they sank. Some emperors were insane like Nero ad Caligula. But there were sane ones were much, much worse, because they were systematically wicked. Today's mafia was based on Roman "virtues" such as vengeance and ruthlessness.

But the rest of the world was not any better. Even the religious leaders of those days were corrupt beyond belief. The whole world was a cesspool of slaughter.

The child of Bethlehem was born into the world of the Romans. He was the light of which Isaiah spoke. But he only came to a small place, and only a few knew. Nevertheless, the light broke through.

Think about what it is like during a thunderstorm. You know the storm is over when you see a small cloud get out of the way for a moment and light break through. A single ray cames down, refracting from the moisture in the atmosphere. A rainbow appears.

Jesus was that rainbow, appearing in the midst of a dark and messed up world. His appearing signaled the end of a long, long night.

Thirty-three years later, Jesus was died on the cross. It was a dark time for him, but it was the beginning of the light. On the cross Jesus paid the penalty for every sin ever done--for Cain and Lamech, for Noah's children, for the Nimrod, of the builders of the Tower of Babel. He paid the price for the Akkadians, Babylonians, Persians, and even for the sins of the Romans who nailed him there. He looked down at the Roman guards and said "Father Forgive them."

Now understand, this was not the end of darkness. It was the beginning of the end. The clouds parted, but there was still plenty of dark. Sin still happened. But gradually the forgiveness and glory of God in Jesus spread throughout the world until now, there are citizens of every country who rise up and call him Lord.

Now it is two thousand years after the manger and the cross. Sin is still thick. But we can no longer say (as some do) that the world is worse. Now it can be better, because the light of God is in it.

Sin Is not gone. Injustice exists, temptation exists, death exists, but it no longer has to be. Now, there is a light we can go to, and a forgiveness that has been bought for us

Jesus said "father forgive them" He meant it for the Romans as well as the Jews. He meant it for all the remaining generations of people until this very day. Now he offers us forgiveness. He offers the same forgiveness to the Arab terrorists and to the militant atheists and secularists. The light has come for them, if they will see it. They may be forgiven and have a new life because of the Baby of Bethlehem.

For the past two thousand years, the light and the darkness have been warring with each others. Sometimes the light is on the top. Other times it is th darkness. Our final victory is assured. But not before the last battle in our war is fought.

In Revelation we read that the darkness will gather for one more great push. Ut will be blown away like morning fog. The light will finally come to every part of the world. Adam's sin will at last be finally repaired.

But until that day, we have Christmas. We have the Bible, We have the Holy Spirit to point us in the direction of the light.

Many Christians despair this Christmas. Do not despair. The light has already come. We have Christmas to remind us, along with the Bible and the Holy Spirit. The Glory of the Lord is coming.

Rejoice that the light has come, and morning has broken over us.

The Woman, The Child, and the Dragon

2010-12-26T05:30:00.001-08:00

What is the “true meaning of Christmas”? For the practicing Christian it is the celebration of the coming of Christ, the Messiah. For those who are not practicing Christians, Christmas may be about family, getting along with people, having a good time, giving gifts, or pretty much whatever positive feelings we want to make it. For the merchants, it is about making lots of money. For everyone else it is frantic shopping, partying, decorating, spending, obligations, reunions, and of course football. Christmas is an overdone, overblown, excuse to end the year with a week-long party.

Let me let you in on a secret. Christmas has always been this way. We have records, going back the Middle Ages, of complaints over the excessive celebration of Christmas. Even in ancient times they overdid it. People just like to party.

I like to party too—I’m not against it. But I like to have a reason to party. Meaning is important. Christmas has been sanitized, fantasized, stretched and pulled like taffy to make it palatable to the most number of people. We’ve added trees, snowflakes, presents, reindeer, sleighs, and of course Santa, but none of these things have anything to do with Christmas. One reason we have done this is because we really don’t want to talk about what really went on at the birth of Christ.

Here’s the truth about Christmas It was the decisive battle in a great war that has been going on since the dawn of time. It begins in Genesis 3: 14-15.

This refers of course to the events in Eden at the dawn of time. God put Adam and Eve in the garden to tend creation and to enjoy life. God gave only one commandment—“Of all the other trees you may eat. But do not eat from the tree of life, an do not touch it, lest you die.”

The Devil, taking the form of a serpent, tempted Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. Then she gave some to Adam. As a result, God evicted them from Eden.

Before they went, God had a session with Adam, Eve, and the serpent. First He asked Adam if he had eaten. Adam made an excuse. “It was my wife,” he said. Then he asked Eve if she had eaten. “The serpent made me do it,” she said. So God called he serpent forward.

"Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals. You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

Here’s what he said. First, he would crawl on his belly forever. Second, the serpent and the woman would be enemies forever.

But God promised that one day the seed of the woman would crush he serpent’s head—that is, destroy him. God doesn’t say the seed of Adam but of Eve. People usually referred to the seed as being from a man, not a woman. This seed would only be of the woman. This seed, (descendent) would be wounded by the serpent, but he would destroy it.

We are not just talking about snakes. This is the Devil. Snake was just the form he took. This seed of a woman would destroy the Devil.

Until the coming of this seed, Satan has the upper hand. But when the seed of the woman comes, his reign would be over. Sin’s power will at last be broken.

This passage forms the basis of Revelation, chapter 12. Revelation is a a book of symbols, but when we interpret the symbols, everything becomes clear.

12:1-4 A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born.

What began as a simple story of a woman and a snake now has grown to cosmic proportions. The woman s not just a simple woman. She is Eve. She is also Israel. She has the moon under her feet and twelve stars in her crown. This is the promise to Eve promised in Genesis.

The serpent has grown, too. Now he is a dragon, the symbol of all worldly and Satanic powers. The enmity mentioned in Genesis has become a cosmic war.

Things are going badly for the woman. The woman is going into labor. Everything seem lost. What good is a pregnant woman against a dragon?

But wait a moment! What child is this she’s bearing? It is the seed of the woman who was promised to crush the serpent’s heel. His appearance on earth spells the end of the serpent’s reign. In desperation, the serpent-dragon-Devil lashed out at the woman, trying desperately to stop him from coming.

5-10 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down — that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

"Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.

Thus begins the final battle of the war begun in Genesis. The Devil tries to stop the coming of the child. He throws everything he has at the woman, but none of it works. Remember the accusations when it was discovered that Mary was pregnant out of wedlock? Remember how Joseph himself almost put her away? Remember how at the very moment the child was to be born suddenly they suddenly had to take that arduous journey to Bethlehem? Remember how they almost had to sleep out in the cold? Remember how Herod tried to deceive the wise men to find the child? Remember how he struck down the innocents of Bethlehem? All of this is the snarling fury of the beast, trying desperately to keep Christmas from coming.

Satan knows that this baby is destined to destroy him. First he tries ridicule. Then he tries bureaucractic confusion, then he tries outright murder, but none o it works. Jesus comes anyway, and it is the end of his kingdom, and his life.

God intervenes to protect the woman:

13-16 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.

John speaks poetically and symbolically, of course. God bears her up on angel wings. Satan spews venom at her, but God stops the venom. God did not allow Satan to have the upper hand over the mother of His child. Jesus came anyway.

But still, this does not stop the Devil’s fury. He just redirected it.

17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring — those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

For the last two thousand years, Satan has still been railing against those who believer. It is useless, of course. Once Christmas came, there is nothing he could do. Unable to stop it, he set out to make war against believers. If he can’t stop Jesus coming, then he tries to smash those who believe it, so there will be no one to tell.

Satan is still trying to obscure Christmas from our eyes. He hides is behind a wall of pretty fantasies. He dazzles us with lights, so no one will notice what it is really about. Don’t let them know what He came to do, or what Christmas is all about. Let them continue to think whatever else they wish, as long as they don’t hear of God’s salvation. Let them think the Garden of Eden was a myth, that the Bible is a fantasy, and that it is all just a pretty story.

Lately, Satan has been following a plan that he believes will assure him victory. He has been pushing people to think it is all a myth. Philosophers for the past half century have developed a view called post-modernism, which says (rightly) that our minds think in terms of stories. But they have added (wrongly) that one story is as good as another. You can base your life around the Bible or Star Trek. It makes no difference. It doesn’t matter if it’s true.

So tell the Christmas story (the Devil says.) But tell of Santa Claus, too. Tell of Scrooge, while you’re at it, say It’s a Wonderful Life. It doesn’t matter, the Devil says. One’s as good as the other.

But a myth cannot save us. If you’re trapped under a car, does it matter whether you call 911, or yell for Superman? Jesus’ story is vital to us because it is true. God promised the Seed of the woman, and the seed of the woman came. God promised to defeat Satan and protect us, and he will. Christmas is glad tidings of great joy, only because it is real, and so is God.

Every year, we tell this story. We tell it because you must believe it. Jesus ties all history together. From Genesis to Revelation.

So as you celebrate Christmas this year, don’t let your family forget the real story behind the season. Don’t let them forget that there is only one who has ultimately defeated the Devil—and that person is the one we celebrate on Christmas Day, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Gift of the Blessing

2010-12-26T05:29:00.001-08:00

He was his father's favorite boy. When his father Jacob was dying, he sent for him.

Esau was out in the field. He hurried home to his father's side. But before he could arrive, his brother Jacob to see his blind father and impersonated his brother.

His father put his hand on Jacob's head and pronounced the blessing he intended for Esau.

May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness — an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed." Gen 27:28-29

No sooner had his father finished and Jacob left, then Esau entered the room to receive his blessing. But his father had already given it. He burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me — me too, my father! Gen 27;34

For the last four thousand years, scholars have been reading this story and scratching their heads. Just what was Esau after? Why was the blessing so important?

Perhaps Esau sought his father's blessing so he could be the leader of the family. But Jacob had already stolen the birthright. Esau had sold it fo a bowl of lentil soup. Jacob did not have to trick him again. He had already done it.

Perhaps the blessing was a prayer for God’s protection. But since when does our prayer for one child preclude us from praying with another?

The blessing incorporated both these ideas, but it was not either of them. The blessing was--something that is both special and unique. No two people can have the same blessing. Only one child can walk away with any specific blessing.

Isaac’s blessing was what he intended for Esau’s ears alone. He had carefully thought it out beforehand. Esau never heard those words to him. Esau had to settle for a much lesser blessing, hastily thought out and definitely not the same.

Parents love their children the same, but they do not treat them the same. Each child needs to be treated differently. A careful parent does not just divide their estate equally, they think through what each child needs and give that to them. That is what Isaac did. He planned his blessing to Esau specifically for Esau’s ears.

All this happened four thousand years ago in a culture so different from ours that we can barely imagine it. So what does this mean to us? Does it make any difference to us?

A blessing is hard to define. It is not just a word, but a feeling, an acceptance. The best we can define it is this—it is a specific statement or action expressing unqualified love and acceptance. A blessing is something that parents give children. It is also something children give parents. Husbands give it to wives and wives to husbands. We all give it to God, and God gives it to us. We can live with opposition and hatred, as long as we fell that someone somewhere has blessed us. None of us can survive without it.

I had a friend who was an amateur gardener. He had heard that talking to plants made a difference in how they grew. He planted two identical bushes across from one another on his garden path. Every day, he would turn to one plant and say "You are a good plant, I am pleased with you." He would turn to the other and say, "You are a bad plant. I hate you." Sure enough, the plant he complimented grew faster than the other. Then he reversed it. Sure enough, the hated plant began to grow, while the other plant wilted.

I don’t know if my friend was right about his plants. But I do know that it is true about people. When people are loved and appreciated, they grow. When they are belittled and criticized, they do not. A person who blesses a child is like the sun. If we shine upon her, she will thrive. But if we keep her in our shadow, she will never be what she was meant to be.

A parental blessing is a very personal and earthly need which every one of us experiences from our earliest days. A child builds a tower with blocks, and says "daddy, come see!" He wants approval. He wants blessing. A little girl climbs up in her daddy's lap. She wants a blessing. A boy goes out on the baseball field, hits a long drive, and looks back to his dad, to see if he is looking. He is looking for his blessing. A bride will not start the service until her father arrives to give her away.

Unfortunately, many missed the blessing. Maybe their parents did not give it. Maybe they were like Esau and stayed out in the field, to far from their parents to know how they felt. We looked for approval and it never came. Instead, we grew up thinking that we had to earn the love of others. We go on to teach our children this, so they never got the blessing, either.

A child grows up insecure and suspicious. He never knew there were people who could be trusted. A bride marries her husband but never feels good enough for him. A parent becomes dependent upon a child “liking” her, so she never disciplines, fearful of losing the child’s conditional love. All through life, the unblessed child has broken relationships, insecurity, fear, and hostility, and never fully understands why.

But there is good news. We have another father--our heavenly Father. He has promised us a blessing that no one can steal. That blessing is better than the ones our parents, crippled by sin and ignorance could ever give. Best of all, it is for all God’s children.

We have been studying the all-important horizontal relationship of our faith—our relationship with others. The blessing is the essence and substance of that relationship. It is what we are left on earth to do—to give others God’s unconditional love. God’s expressed love has the power to restore broken people--if only we know how to give it.

One of the most influential books I have ever read regarding my ministry is a book by Gary Smalley and John Trent—The Gift of the Blessing. In it, these two others identify five elements of a blessing. With some modification, here are the five elements we need to give others.

Verbal encouragement. When Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau he used words. Words are vital. It is not enough to love our wives, we must tell them we love them. It is not enough to love your children. You must tell them. For every criticism you throw in their direction, there should be twenty words of encouragement.

Many men especially confuse concern with blessing. The only way they know how to express love is with criticism. The cannot say anything positive without putting a critical sting in it. They believe they have to criticize, to make their loved ones better.

Perhaps. But criticism does not work in a relationship where there is no trust. If people do not know you are on their side, then your criticism will drive people away. Before we criticize we must first bless.

Healing touch. When Isaac blessed Esau, he touched his arm, and laid his hand upon his head. Often we forget that there are people in this church that never receive a touch from anyone all week. Our ritual of hugs and handshakes may be the only time that some people will get a hug all week.

When was the last time you hugged your children? Your wife? Your mother? Your friend? These meaningful touch mean more than a thousand words of praise.

Intelligent praise. Isaac admired his son for his abilities as a hunter and outdoorsman. His blessing of his son incorporated that admiration.

Jacob had other positive traits, but it was wholly inappropriate to praise him as a hunter. Jacob could cook it, but he couldn’t shoot it. His father Isaac knew that, and would not have praised his son for something he did not do.

Nothing smells worse than an insincere compliment. Complements need to be the result of having studied another and found something you genuinely like.

Even so, there is something to admire in all people. We are all created in God's image, which means there is something wonderful about everyone. All we need to do is find it.

Use imagery to tell their story. The human mind organizes our feelings into story and imagery. That’s why we illustrate sermons. We may not understand something complicated, but often a single image or a story will bring it home to us.

Use your imagination when you are trying to deliver a blessing. Know their story, and find some simple way of saying it. Give them something their imagination can grasp and understand how special they actually are.

“You have always been a failure.” “You’re a rotten egg.” “You are a loser.” Can you imagine how statements like that can affect a child’s self-image negatively?

“You’re a survivor.” “You’re gifted.” “You can do it.” Those kinds of statement can affect us for a lifetime. We hold onto images like that, and become what others predict. We need to intelligently seek out ways of expressing our positive images of others, to help them experience the grace of God.

Isaac's blessing to Esau invoked some of he same language that God gave to Abraham and Abraham gave to Isaac. Isaac is giving his son a story that goes back to God’s covenant with his grandfather. Jacob remembered that blessing, and told it ot his children. It was the family story for all generations.

Give them a destiny. Isaac did not just talk about Esau’s past. He gave him what was intended to be his future. He said he would rule over his household. All nations would be blessed by him. He looked at Esau’s story and his ability, and gave him a sense of destiny.

No one achieves in life without a vision of destiny. One of my middle school teachers had worked as a secretary in the statehouse in Texas. One day, her fellow secretaries were excitedly talking about a new, young state senator who had just begun his first term. He was tall and handsome, and made quite an impression. His name was Lyndon Johnson.

“Lyndon Johnson,” she said. “Never heard of him.”

She did not know that Johnson was in the room. He walked over to her, took off his cowboy had and bowed. “Well lady,” he said. “You will.”

Johnson became what he knew he would become—president. Someone in Johnson’s past had blessed him with a vision of what he could be, and had believed that he would become it. Johnson caught that confidence and carried it to the White House.

Bless your children with the gift of faith. Believe in them, and trust that God will do good things with them. Your faith in others is not based on what they can do, but on what God can do through them.

Give others a blessing, and they will bless you in return.

A Good Conversation

2010-12-26T05:27:00.001-08:00

A good conversation can be a life changing event. A superficial conversation is forgotten almost immediately. We can be surrounded with geniuses, but never know it, because we never got beneath the surface.

The words of a man's mouth are deep waters,but the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook. Prov 18:4

As iron sharpens iron ,so one man sharpens another. Prov 27:17

The purposes of a man's heart are deep waters ,but a man of understanding draws them out. Prov 20:5

These proverbs say the more we talk to people, and the deeper our conversation the smarter we are going to get. Conversely, if you want to make a people stupid and dull, then get them to stop talking, or else keep the conversation superficial. When God wanted to stop the tower of Babel, He simply made it so people could understand each other. Soon, they gave up in frustration and never finished the project. Satan has conquered the world by setting up walls of division between us so we could not learn from each other.

But if we learn to talk to each other--really talk--then the Kingdom of God can shine through us.

If we just learned to talk to each other, we would be far along the way towards knowing God. God made us so that every portion of us has a separate piece of God, since we are part of a body. Without that part, we will never be whole. So if we are together in churches or even in Bible studies, it stands to reason that we ought to grow in strength, stature, and godliness. If we hold together and communicate God's love with each other, we ought to be awesome.

But we aren't, why is that?

Do you know the "five second" rule? It's the rule that some people have, that says if some food hits the floor, if it isn't there more than five seconds, you can still eat it. Whether or not it is true, the theory behind it is simple. It says that if the contact we have with something is superficial, we are unlikely to catch anything from it. If ou know the five second rule, then so does the Devil. If the Devil can keep our relationships superficial, then we are unlikely to experience the Holy Spirit from each other. Just keep people talking about things that have no bearing on them--contestants on a reality show, movies, the weather, for example, and you avoid any danger of people becoming better people just by talking. Let all communication be frivolous, and we will remain frivolous, too.

Acts 3:1-9 gives us an excellent example of this. Peter and John were going to the temple. They were really only about a half mile from the temple so they probably passed by that direction several times a day. By the side of the road was a lame beggar who stuck out his hand. There is no telling how many times they must have seen that beggar.

Now we mustn’t think that a beggar as a parasite on society. Actually, they provide a very useful service. Religious people were expected to give alms to the poor. It was part of thir religious duties. This beggar was providing a service. If you gave him a coin and you gained a sens of righteousness. In truth, the worshippers would not have liked it if there were no beggars at the gate. If they did, they would have had to actually go where the poor people lived, and they wouldn’t like that. It would have upset the balance between beggars and giver.

Then Peter did something unexpected. He stepped out of the role that beggars and givers had. He said "look at us! Don't look at my hand. Don't look at my purse. Look me in the eye!"

This was a violation of he rules. Beggars looked down, humbly, or else they looked up sadly, like a puppy dog, humbly beseeching their wonderful masters for coins. That was the superficial relationship people expected from beggars. You gave them a coin, they gave you praise and appreciation. But Peter would have none of this. He wanted a deeper relationship with this man.

When he got his attention, he said. "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk."

If Peter and John had left that relationship on a superficial level, nothing miraculous would have happened. But Peter and John refused to see a beggar as a beggar. He saw him as a human being.

The majority of our days are spent in superficial conversation and shallow relationships. I say “shallow” because we are only able to see a small portion of people. We do not look them in the eye, but define them by only one characteristics.

For example:

Judging. I hate cigarettes. Personally, I think cigarettes are a thoroughly unattractive habit. I would rather ride in a car full of skunks than a car full of people smoking. . My parents smoked, even though it made me nauseous and gave me asthma.

But I have never met a smoker. I know people who smoke, but they are not smokers. Te I cannot reduce person who smoke to one a nasty habit. Smokers can be kind and witty and considerate. They can be Christians or Jewish, or Republicans of Democrats, but they are not just smokers. I cannot let that one action which I dislike define them. So even when I do not like smoking, I cannot allow smoking to define my relationship with them.

The same is true of other things people do that I disagree with. Can I be friends with people who disagree with my politics. Can I be friends with homosexual or adulterer, or atheists. Jesus was. The Pharisees labeled and pigeonholed people according to their sins --homosexual, adulterer, coward, tramp, liar, fat. Then they would declare that we should never associate with people like that. But if all we see in one another is our faults, who could stand? We must rise above the faults of others and see the worth of a person as a whole if we are ever to have a helpful conversation.

Using. Once I got a phone call from a political candidate. He wanted to come to speak to our church. I told him we did not get involved in politics, but I would like to find our more about his candidacy, and where he stood. He hung up on me. If he could not use me to get votes, he wanted nothing to do with me.

We often reduce people to what they do for us. We call them customers, clients, salespeople, workmen, bosses, officers, and audiences. We count noses, and are always wanting to see how many we can add.

This is a necessary part of what we do, but we must always remember that a person is not a number. There is no reason we should not be in business. But we should never forget that the people we do business with are not just clients. They are real people with real needs.

Comparing There is nothing wrong with healthy competition. But when there is competition without respect, it can be poisonous. Competition reduces people to a measuring stick. We derive our own value from seeing what others do and have.

A Christian derives his opinion of himself from looking at God, not from looking at his neighbor. Comparing not only hurts our opinion of ourselves, but it also causes us to miss the needs of our neighbor as well.

Condescending. There was a young man when I was in college named Joe. There was something about Joe that was just creepy. He had an expression like he was always smelling something bad. He would often make inappropriate comments, that left everyone wondering if he was from this planet. One Christmas Joe rang bels for the Salvation Army. People would walk away from the store just to avoid running into Joe. Joe seemed destined to a life of weirdness.

Then in his final year of school, something came over Joe. He began to soften. He was known to actually say intelligent and insightful things on occasions. Finally, we got the nerve to ask him--what went right?

That year, Joe got a new roommate. His name was Will. He was an ex-hippie who had become a believer. He was used to weirdness. Will didn't treat Joe as if he were strange. Instead, before he came to college, he prayed to God to send him the right roommate, one who needed God's love. He got Joe.

"He didn't treat me strange," Joe said. "He treated me as if I were everyone else." That was all it took. One person saw through Joes odd exterior to the person underneath.

Over the years, I have seen many other "problem children" as I call them. Some were parishioners who no one liked. Others were beggars on the street. Still others were friends and family members. The one thing they all had in common was not that they had needs, but that people could only see their needs. They were labeled as needy, and treated as if they were nothing else. But when can see the value in those people, they can become our best friends.

Doctors see our illnesses. They probably talk to one another about us, saying, "I've got a diabetes at three, and a head cold at three fifteen." Lawyers see our legal problems, They have a divorce at four and a bankruptcy at five. Policemen see our crime, salesmen see our wallets, hatmakes see our bare heads. But we often miss the people beneath the problem. People do not exist for us to help. They exist because God has a purpose for them. We should not just pray for those in need. We should give thanks to God for the special and unique gift that every human being is to us. God has a reason for everyone who is in the world, and we should thank Him for that reason.

Tomorrow, you may meet a beggar on the street, or a salesman on the phone, or a teenage kid behind a drive through window. He or she will have their hand out to you. They will want your silver or gold, or they will want your business. To them, you are a potential tip or a momentary meal. I don't know who that person might be, but one thing will be true of them. They will be broken in some way. They may have a broken heart, a broken marriage, or a guilty conscience. They will be thinking that in one way or another, you're silver or gold will fix it. It won't. They will take your money and still be broken.

There is one thing you can do, though, that can make a difference. You can say, "Look at me." and you can look at them. You can see them as a human being, and invite them to see you as a human being. You won't be able to help them much with silver or gold. There is not enough money in the world to truly fix a broken soul. But you can offer them something greater. You can offer them God's love and power. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, you can offer them compassion, faith, and power. Then, at last the can rise up and walk, healed and reborn. Then you and they can both walk, and leap, and praise the Lord.

The Land of the Liars

2010-12-26T05:26:00.001-08:00

I call on the LORD in my distress, and he answers me.

2 Save me, O LORD, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.

3 What will he do to you, and what more besides, O deceitful tongue?

4 He will punish you with a warrior's sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom tree.

5 Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar!

6 Too long have I lived among those who hate peace.

7 I am a man of peace; but when I speak, they are for war. Ps 120

John Noble was an industrialist who worked in the Soviet Union during the ‘50’s. During this time, he was arrested and spent time in a Soviet prison. His book I Found God in Soviet Russia, Noble wrote about his life behind the Iron Curtain. The Soviet system, he said, had a common trademark that ran from one end to another—lies. Everyone lied all the time. The people lied to the government and the government lied to the people.

The Soviets had a constitution which guaranteed democracy, as well as freedom of speech and religion. Nobody kept it. The people in the Soviet Union officially loved their government. Inside they resented it. No freedom really existed. It was all a lie from one end to another. It was a land of Liars.

Like John Noble, the composer of Psalm 120 livedj in a faraway land. Woe to me he said that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar! John Noble and the Psalmist are separated by nearly three thousand years, yet they have the same observation about the land of their captivity. Both were lands of liars. Lying was the primary characteristic of both places.

The early Christians lived in another land of liars—Rome. In Rome Caesar was worshipped as a god. Everyone knew that Caesar was not God. They pretended to believe. As long as a nation was willing to pretend that Caesar was god, Rome left them alone. If the early Christians had just gone along with that fantasy, they would never have been persecuted.

What about now? What about our day? Lying is on the upswing. Story has become more important than truth. Lies are the rule rather than the exception.

Christianity has always existed in a land of liars. The lies of unbelievers should not concern us. The lies of Christians are far more dangerous.

Christians are no less liars than their non-Christian counterparts. In fact, they may be more. Rather than following the grace of the Gospel, and trusting in the forgiveness of sins, Christians have become convinced that they are more morally upright than others around them. They have interpreted their mission in life to be moral and upright. This is the root of our lies.

That statement requires some explanation. Before we explain it though, let’s talk about what lying actually is.

Lying is first of all not about facts. It is about truth. It is possible to get the facts wrong, and not be lying. If we say untruths that we actually believe, then it is a mistake, not a lie. There is no moral culpability for it. Lying is not about getting things wrong. Some people call a lie anything opinion with which they do not agree. But if lying is a wrong opinion, then we are all liars because we are all wrong somewhere.

On the other hand, we can lie and not say a single incorrect fact. I we can mislead with the truth. If the intent of the truth is to mislead. In California, a used car dealership once advertised a car having a “deleted heater.” Of course, this means it had no heater, but most people who read the ad thought otherwise. He did not tell anything that was not factual. But it was a lie, nevertheless.

Actually, a lie is anything we use to deliberately avoid the truth.

A lie can be silence. It can be a distraction. It can be misdirection. It can be a shift of blame. If I let you think that something is not my fault when it is my fault, then that is a lie as well.

By this definition of lying, we are all been guilty of lying. Christians are some of the worst liars, because we pretend to be more holy than we are. We lie to the church. We lie to the world. We lie to God. Most of all, we lie to ourselves.

Now, what’s so bad about that? Many people argue that a little lying is good for us, that it greases the gears of social discourse and make things run more smoothly. I see their point. Sometimes, it is better not to say everything we think. But any amount of lying or secrecy adds distrust to our relationships.

Three weeks ago, we discussed how God transforms the world through us. We are salt and light. We live a clear relationship with Him, and we will clearly reflect Him to others.

But having this vertical relationship with God is only half of what it means to be salt and light. We also need clear horizontal relationships with others. We were not put on this earth to transform the world into a utopia. We were put here to carry God into the world. We are only effective when we walk in the power of God. God transforms the world as we reveal His light.

But the less transparent we are, the less of God’s light can shine. If people cannot clearly see our insides, then our light is invisible. The more we open ourselves up to others. The more we give glory to God.

Why do Christians lie? Several reasons.

First, we do not think we can face the truth. We put off facing what is the case about us, like a fat man who does not want to get on a scale, or fudges his weight to make him feel better. As long as we do not face the truth, we cannot fully repent or be forgiven.

Second, we think we need to justify ourselves to God. Most of us think of God as a judge, But what kind of judge is He? Does He judge us like we judge a beauty contest? Does he choose who is going to heaven based upon our attractiveness, righteousness, or intelligence? Is there some standard which, if we fall below it, we will be condemned? Deep down, I think many Christians believe so. They think that they must be better than other for God to love them. So we are constantly pleading our case to God and to others, letting them know how good we are, how righteous, and how smart--as if any of that made a difference to our ultimate destiny

God is not that kind of judge. He is an absolute judge. No on can stand innocent before Him. No one deserves heaven. He is an absolute Judge, and in His eyes all of us deserve condemnation.

But this is only one part of God’s judgment. Our guilt only establishes our need for forgiveness. A human judge, sitting on the bench is not there just to determine who’s good or bad, or right or wrong, but what to do about it. H is there to give mercy where it is needed. But without an admission of guilt, we cannot get mercy.

Faced with an all-knowing judge, lying is useless. The only thing that helps us is to confess our sins to God, and to receive His promised love and forgiveness.

Third we lie because we think we are doing God a favor. We have told the world a lie—that if they are believers, all will get better, that believers do not sin, that they do not get angry, that they love one another with a warm and sincere love. We all know this is not true. There are Christians who hate each others. There are Christians who sin freely and without remose. All of us get angry and frustrated on occasion. We know it isn’t true, and the non-Christians around us certainly know it is not true. So why do we do it? Because we think that we need to maintain an illusion of goodness, even when there is no goodness. There is a word for this. It is niceness. We have learn to act nice, even if we are not nice. We learn to talk with civility even if we are doing rotten things.

But niceness solves nothing. It just delays conflict. Niceness does not give an opportunity for God’s love to shine through. Most of all, it makes the assumption that we know what part of our live experience God and and cannot use. God often shines brighter through our failures than through our successes. Who’s to say that an admission of our own weakness, may not be the thing that God will use to help someone else learn the grace of God. God needs us to admit our sin and our failings. Sinners reach sinners. The nice only attract the nice.

But the last and deepest reason Christians lie is because we do not believe that God matters. We are public Christians and practical atheists. We do not fear God, we fear men. If we lay ourselves open and vulnerable, then we do not think that God can protect us. We think we will be savaged by others, and that God will not be there to help.

I have a friend who was recently arrested for stealing from his church. For thirty years he was a trusted elder, well respected, but he was living a double life. Yet he continued to witness for Jesus, to attend prayer meetings, to do all those things expected of an elder in the church, even while he was stealing from it.

I do not know exactly what motivate him to start stealing, but I think I know what keep him stealing. He kept this awful secret inside him because he feared people more than he feared God. He did not worry that God knew about it. He worried that people would find out about it. God already knew. Loss of God’s blessing did not bother him, but loss of status in the community did.

Which did he fear more—God or men? God already knew, and he was already feeling God’s wrath in separation from His Spirit. His prayers rang hollow, yet this did not bother him. The only way we can do this is if our own relationship to God is already practically nonexistent. We assume that God will forgive, so we don’t talk to Him about it. We do not know how much our sins hurt him. We don’t want to know.

But letting others know our sins would bother us greatly. Yet only when our sins are exposed and out in the open that we can truly find forgiveness. We have to trust God, that He will take care of us when we allow others to see our true self.

Sunlight dis the best disinfectant. Truth is the best antidote for the creeping lies that establish themselves sin our minds. If we do not turn our lives over to Him, how will we know what it means to be clean, and know the power of God in us?

Let’s leave the lies. Let’s throw ourselves upon God’s mercy. Only then will we experience the grace that God promises through Jesus.

Forgiveness

2010-12-26T05:24:00.001-08:00

I thought I knew what forgiveness meant. That was because I had so little to forgive. But then I got hurt—really hurt. I discovered one day that there were people who were misrepresenting my motives and my intentions. Then my daughter went through a divorce due to mistreatment. Then I finally had to learn what forgiveness really was.

Here's what I have learned.

--Forgiveness is necessary to keep our relationship with God. Jesus' words are clear in Matthew 6: 14-15 “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

--All relationships need forgiveness. Without forgiveness, no relationship can last.

--A grudge poisons all relationships--even those relationships which have no connection with the grudge. We cannot be salt and light to the world if our light is hidden by unforgiveness. How can we show someone God’s love if we are not willing to let go of our grudges?

-- Forgiveness cheaply given is quickly gone. Forgiveness is a process, not a pronouncement. Deep hurts take time to heal. Forgiveness that is arrived at cheaply had no lasting power.

In first part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has a lot to say about forgiveness. If we look at some of these statements in reverse order, we see four stages of restored relationships.

First, we must forgive. Matthew 6:14-15 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Many people say "I can never forgive." But as soon as they say, they run directly into Jesus plainly worded statement. Does our forgiveness damn us for all eternity? This statement was intended to get our attention. It is supposed to make us thoroughly uncomfortable.\

Biblical forgiveness has nothing to do with how we feel. It is about taking vengeance. In the Old Testament there were no police and few courts. Families and individuals were expected to enforce moral law. If someone killed you or robbed from you, you had the freedom to extract an “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” Forgiveness was forgoing the pleasure of taking the law into your own hands.

Vengeance may have been allowed, but it was hardly profitable. It is also hard for individuals to know what proper vengeance would be. That is why w have turned it over to the courts. As Christians, we turn vengeance over to God. Paul says in Romans 12:19-21

Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

When we take vengeance in our own hands for wrongs suffered, we become part of the evil we are supposed to despise, and we become our enemies. This action gets us nowhere. This is what Jesus means in Matthew 5:25-26

"Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.'

Jesus' argument is not with the moral right to justice, but its’ cost. Vengeance is an unproductive act. It may make us feel a little better, but all it produces is more vengeance. We can get our eye for an eye and tooth for tooth, but when we are all blind and toothless, we will also be helpless and alone.

Second, we learn to tolerate. When we feel someone has wronged us, we will cross the street to avoid meeting them. We do not want to see their face.

These feelings are understandable--but consider the cost. Why should their presence restrict our movements? Our inability to tolerate their presence limits our freedom of movement.--where we go, what we do, where we worship. We can be in a room full of people who love us, but if that one person who hates us is there, he will be the only one we think about in the room.

Tolerance is not learning to like a person. It is just acknowledging that that they have a right to the same air and to occupy the same planet.

Tolerance is not forgiving and forgetting, but forgiving an ignoring. We do not allow our feelings to rule our lives. At this stage, we treated them no better than a stranger, but no worse either. Matthew 5:43-48

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Jesus does not say that God loves is enemies. He is just allows anyone--friend or foe--to drink from the same rain and to feel the same sunshine. He gives each the same chance for survival on this earth, because He hopes that one day to reconcile with Him.

If you can’t love your enemies, treat them like everyone else. If they are sick pray for them. If they are hungry feed them--not for their sake, but because we want to imitate God.

Once we’ve managed to tolerate, then we can move on to step three.

Third, we try to reconcile. Matthew 5:21-24

"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”

Reconciliation is an important goal, but it is important to understand that we might never achieve it. Unlike forgiveness, reconciliation involves agreement. You cannot achieve it alone.

Let me illustrate. Suppose a woman walks out on her husband, because he beats her and he cheats on her. Afterwards, her husband says. "You say you are a Christian. Doesn't the Bible says that we are to forgive? You have to take me back. Otherwise you are not being Christian."

This man is mistaken. He assumes that forgiveness and reconciliation are the same. She is forgiving by not pressing charges or shooting him herself. To take him back into the home is not forgiveness is reconciliation, not forgiveness—and that needs a change in his behavior.

God does not expect a person who is abused to march blindly back into another abusive situation. Reconciliation only comes about through honest, open conversations and a building of trust. As Reagan said—“trust, but verify.”

What does it take to reconcile with another? What is the example of Jesus? What did it take for God to reconcile to us? God did not draw back from the sacrifice of His own Son to reconcile with us. Reconciliation always requires a willingness to sacrifice. We may have to sacrifice our freedom or our money or our dignity, but we will never have to sacrifice so much as Jesus had to sacrifice for us.

Once we have reconciled, then we can move on to final phase

Last, we seek restoration. This is the place where sin is not only forgiven but forgotten.

Great Britain is our strongest ally as a nation. But our first two wars were fought against Great Britain. Japan is our ally, too, as well as Germany. But we fought our bloodiest was against them. North and South were enemies once, but now we are one nation. Over time, the relationships were restored.

But in a human lifetime, we do not have the time to fully heal every wound. But we have the potential to heal all wounds through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus died on the cross for all our sins so that we may be reconciled, not only to God, but to each other. At the Cross we not only bury our sins against God, but the sins others commit against us..

In Charles Colson's book Born Again he writes about his conversion in prison after going to jail for Watergate-related crimes. Before he was released, he was sent to a halfway house with three other Christian inmates, who were all in prison for notorious crimes, but had like himself found salvation in jail. His three other companions in this journey were 1) A liberal Democrat congressman who had been arrested for graft charges, 2) a former grand dragon of the Klu Klux Klan, and 3) A former member of the Black Panther Party. How could four more unlikely men ever get together? They could, because all four had found redemption and new life in Christ. In Christ, not only reconciliation bur restoration and unity are possible.

In Elizabeth Elliot's book Through the Gates of Splendor, she write of how her husband, Jim Eliot and four other missionaries were slaughtered in the Amazon by Auca tribesmen. They ambushed them by the river and cut them to pieces with machetes. Later, Elizabeth went back to the same tribe and became accepted, preaching the gospel to them. Years later, she appeared at the Conference on World Evangelism with one of her converts, a minister and elder of the local church. "And" she said. "This is the man who murdered my husband."

How is such forgiveness possible? Because we have been forgiven. We are tolerated by God. We are reconciled to Him by the cross, and we have been restored to His fellowship.

How is it, then that divisions can exist among us? They do not have to, if we will take them time to work on that restoration that we all need.

The Leaven of the Pharisees

2010-11-04T05:55:00.000-07:00

When I was in college, I read a book entitled The Leaven of he Sadducees, or Old and New Apostasies by Ernest Gordon. It was an old volume, published in 1926, long out of print. I wish someone would reprint it, because it is an important book. In it, Dr. Gordon chronicles the descent of modern denominations into Unitarian/liberal beliefs. Many long-standing bastions of Christian thought, such as Harvard, Andover, and Princeton became in a relatively short time secular institutions, indifferent or in most cases hostile to the Gospel. It is a lesson we today must still keep in mind.

However, It is not the only lesson we need. One thing that Gordon and others who have fought long and valiantly against encroaching secularism often fail to ask is what makes Christian institution susceptible to these influences in the first place?

Creeping liberalism, like most heresies and apostasies, is more common in well-evangelized countries. The Third World, where Christianity is even today on the rise, seems to have little worry of it. It is in Europe and America, where Christianity had long been held to be safe, that we see the rise of universalism and the devaluing of Scripture. If we suppose that this apostatizing trend is simply the work of the Devil, or some function of human depravity, then how do we explain that it mainly happens in one kind of Christian community--the ones which have mainly already been evangelized? Why don't we see the same trend among developing churches? They have other problems with apostasy, to be sure, but not this same liberalizing trend.

Think of apostasy as a virus. Viruses strike us all, but they afflict some people more regularly. If we are already weakened, or our immunization system is suppressed, then we are more likely to get sick. If the spiritual life of the Body of Christ is weakened, then it is more likely to catch a spiritual disease, such as apostasy. In the wild, termites and other decay-producing organisms do not strike live plants, but dead ones. Where there is life there is resistance to such diseases. Where there is sickness and death in the Body, all kinds of apostasy grows.

What immunizes the church against such attacks? Good preaching and doctrinal teaching certainly helps. But it cannot be the only answer. Every Christian church, which has fallen to apostasy, once taught solid doctrine yet fell anyway. Doctrinal truth does not change over time, unless something else moves to change it. If solid doctrine alone did not save our ancestors from apostasy, then it alone cannot save us. It is not our doctrine, but the life of the Spirit in us that provides the antidote to doctrinal decay.

Which brings us to the Pharisees. What did Jesus have against the Pharisees? He agreed with much of what they taught. The were certainly closer to Jesus' teachings than either the Sadducees or the Essenes. By the standards of his day, Jesus would have been considered a Pharisee. Yet he condemned them more than any other group--so much in fact that the word "Pharisee" has become synonymous with "hypocrite. "

Jesus did not condemn the Pharisees for their erroneous doctrine, but for their erroneous lives. It was their lack of love, lack of compassion and, more than anything, their lack of passion for communion with a living God that made them slide into error.

This, I think, is what has happened in our churches, and most of the churches of what used to be called "Christendom." We had great doctrine, but we abandoned it because it did not work without the Spirit. We kept the teachings, but we lost the life. As a result, the teachings inevitably decayed. A dead body rots, but a living body does not. A dead church loses its faith, while a living church keeps the faith.

Would we have to argue over whether or not the Bible miracles were true if we were seeing them every day? Would we have to argue over the inerrancy of Scripture, if we were obeying it, and seeing results all around us? Would we have to argue over who was and was not a true church, if the Spirit were moving in our midst, and we experienced the presence of God all around us? The first great dispute in the church, about whether or not Gentiles were to be included in our number, was not decided by exegetical scholars, but by evidence of God's power and the presence of His Spirit. If we had waited for a definitive answer from Biblical scholars we would still be having the argument.

In 1926, when Gordon wrote his book, I believe he was answering the most important issue of his day, the creeping erosion of doctrine. Today, some of us are still fighting Gordon's war. We no longer live in Gordon's world. Christians are no longer the majority. Now, we who are Christians must demonstrate again the power of the Spirit as well as up holding the truth of the Word. It is no longer the leaven of the Sadducees that is our main affliction, but the leaven of the Pharisees as well--doctrinal correctness without Spiritual life or genuine love. We have escaped one ditch, only to run into another. Before we divide ourselves any further through doctrinal battles, we should look at what unites us---one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God, who is above all. He is the one we need to get to know.

Becoming Light

2010-10-22T07:28:00.001-07:00

In his later years, Albert Einstein came to America, and lived near Princeton University. Once a young physics student was walking in a park near the school, and came upon Einstein looking over a bridge at a stream.

What a wonderful opportunity. Here was the greatest genius in physics the world had ever known. What secrets were locked up in that brain! He desperately wanted to have a conversation with the great man. So he came and stood on the bridge next to him, and looked down in the water.

There are two great relationships in every Christian’s life. The first is a relationship with God. The second is our relationship with others. Without both of these, then the Gospel will die.

The Devil attacks us on two fronts. First, he tries to destroy our relationship with God. If that does not work, then he tries to wreck our relationship with others. If we want to have a private relationship with God, the Devil usually leaves us alone. He has already neutralized us into having an ongoing relationship with others. But if we have a vital relationship with God along with openness to people inside and outside the church, then the Devil has something to fear from us.

We looked at the first relationship, that divine relationship with God through prayer last summer. We presented a series of prayer skills that enable us to have a strong relationship with God. For the next few weeks, we are going to work on developing our second relationship—the horizontal relationships we have with other people so that our relationship with God can have a real impact on the world, and the relationship that others have in God can have a real impact on us.

We are going to start our study in the first letter of John. Though it is a little book, it packs a powerful wallop. It can revolutionize our walk with the Lord and our walk with others. I know, because it has had a powerful influence on me.

We don’t know much about the circumstances of writing this letter. We do not know when he wrote it, or exactly to whom. It is a general epistle, which meant it was written to be the whole church, not just a part of it. We think it was written fairly late in John’s life, after the rest of the New Testament. Many of the apostles of Jesus were already dead. The church was falling into doctrinal disputes and organizational debates.

John saw his mission to restore and poetic and mystic side of the church. He was not mainly concerned with the fine details of what they should believed. As long as people accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, they were in. He was more concerned with how they believed what they believed. We can believe right and live wrong. We can have the right goal but have the wrong attitude. If all we do is to believe in Jesus, and do not believe on Him we have not understood the Gospel. Without a living relationship with Jesus and others, we are nothing.

John gets right into a discussion of relationships in 1 John 1:1-4

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched — this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.

In verse 2 John tells us what he is talking about—the Word of Life. Not just the Word, but the life as well. The Word is not just propositional truth, but a living Person who we may know intimately. The word is Jesus, revealed by the Spirit in our lives.

John says four things about the word.

1. The Word has always been there. There is nothing new about it. The Word is like the stake you take out of your freezer and thaw for supper. All the ingredients are already there. It only takes the flame of the Spirit to bring it to life.

2. We have already heard the Word. Yes, the church already has its doctrine right. Christ is the God, the second person of the trinity. He died for our sins. John knew this, because he heard it from Jesus’ own mouth.

3. We have seen the Word lived before us. John saw this truth lived out by the Son of God. John did not have to wear a bracelet that said WWJD. He knew what Jesus would do, because he knew him personally.

4. We can still know the Word today. The eternal Holy Spirit is still with us, and is constantly revealing Jesus. John had the Holy Spirit with him constantly. His divine presence was revealed to him. He depended upon Him. He was his meat and drink.

So John intimately knew the Word of Life, and that life filled him with great personal joy. We write this to make our joy complete.

What do you do when you see a TV show or a movie you like, or hear a good song, or eat at a good restaurant? You can’t wait to tell someone about it. John is the same way. Once he has encountered the living presence of God in the Spirit, he wanted to share it with others, so that his joy—and ours—will be complete. Good things are so much better when there is someone we can tell about them.

John is not just joyful about the Word of Life—he is transformed by it.

In verse 5, John makes a “metaphorical leap.” He changes images. He no longer talks about the Word of life. Now he starts to talk about God as light. This is not really a change of subjects. A word is how we convey a thought or idea. The word we receive from God is more than a thought. It is a life. That life transforms us, and causes us to present a new word to others. The Word of Life becomes light not just to ourselves, but to others.

He has become a living container for the presence of God. Like electricity through a light bulb, the power of God was flowing through John, providing light to the world.

Who was John really? He was no one special. But the Word of Life in John was very special. God’s presence and power was inside of him. That made him very important indeed. He was part of God’s plan to occupy mortals, fill them with the Word of Life, until they illuminated the world.

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus said “You are the salt of the earth.” Their salt was mined from the Dead Sea in blocks. It was not pure salt, but had many inert materials in it. The substance the Bible calls "salt" is actually a complex substance, which contained salt, among other things. If the salt was not in the grain, then it was useless. If Christ is not in our hearts, we are no good to God.

In Matthew 5:14, Jesus said “you are the light of the world.” What good is a lantern without a flame? A light bulb is garbage when it no longer can burn. It is no good without a glow. It is God’s light inside that is important. That is why John says in verses 5-6

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.

Did you know that race cars have no headlights? They don’t need them. Some race cars have fake headlights, but they do not work. They are fake. Many Christians are fake, too. The light inside of them has grown dim. We do not see unbelievers converted, nor do we experience genuine spiritual relationships with other Christians. We are just pretending to have a fake light inside of us.

How do we really show others the Word of Life? There are only two things we need to do. First, we must have a clear relationship with God. Then we must have a clear relationship with other people. We have to be real and transparent.

God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. God hides nothing. He pretends to nothing. His is honest and true.

Somehow, we think that witnessing is something we must work at. We treat Jesus like a product to be sold. We treat Christian fellowship the same way. We dress up to come to church, put on a churchy way of talking and acting, because we are afraid to be ourselves. But if the Word of Life is really inside, we do not have to pretend. All we will need to do is to be Christian. We don’t have to hide our doubts and deficits and put on a pretend piety. If the light of Jesus is in us, we just need to get out of the way and let the light shine through. John says in verse 7

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

“Walking in the light” is how John describes our relationship to each other. All we have to do is to be honest, and we will win the world for Jesus.

Why is it so hard to have real Christian fellowship or witness? There are several obstacles that to being real with others. In upcoming weeks, we are going to look at five of them.

1. Distance—before we can be real with others, we must physically be with them.

2. Dishonesty—we must trust that God can use us even when we are not perfect He will shine as brightly through our failures as through our successes.

3. Rejection—we need to learn to accept people who are different, and who do things that are sinful, without judging them.

4. Resentment—it is hard for us not to want to hurt back but we must learn to forgive people who have hurt us. We cannot be salt and light to people we resent.

5. Indifference—the opposite of love is not hate but indifference. We cannot be salt and light without also being lovers of those whom God loves.

In order to answer these five blocks, we are going to offer five answers—hospitality, honesty, acceptance, forgiveness, and love. These traits are not something we learn one time. They are skills to be honed and practiced. The more we practice, the more we become the Word of Life in the world. It is not easy to do any of these things, but the closer we draw to Jesus, the easier it can become.

Come back next, week, and we will begin to learn what it means to walk in the light.

The True Gospel

2010-10-22T07:27:00.001-07:00

Galatians begins with Paul losing his cool. He and Barnabas had just returned from a missionary journey through Galatia, where for the first time he preached directly to the Gentiles. God responded and they witnessed a great move of the Spirit.

Nevertheless, Paul and Barnabas wanted to be sure that what he had done was of God. So he went to Jerusalem and met with the disciples. When they heard about it, they rejoiced. The Holy Spirit witnessed that this was from God.

But the Devil is always stirring up trouble. He was already trying to undo what God had done in Galatia. A group of false Christians called the Judaizers had heard what had happened in Galatia and went to the same towns Paul visited, preaching a different message. They convinced these young new believers that they were not yet good enough to be accepted by God. These people old them that they should be circumcised, keep the Sabbath, and all the other Jewish laws. In short, they were turning these young believers into legalistic Pharisees.

This group had a different Gospel. To them, the Gospel Paul preached it was too easy. They believed that Christians were just Jews with extra laws tacked on. They did not understand that as Christians they were free from the Law. If anything, they were more bound to the Law than the Pharisees Jesus condemned.

It’s not surprising that a group of people who grew up in the Jewish Pharisee community might adopt this view. What is surprising is that these Gentile believers would so readily accept it, too. Why should Gentiles so quickly accept the restrictions of the Jewish Law?

This question has a direct bearing on us. Legalistic religion has always had a strong appeal. You only have to look around us, and you will see that churches which emphasize legalistic practices attract many followers. Some of the largest churches in town are also some of the most legalistic.

The Gentile environment that the Galatians knew also had much legalism. Some religions required that mark your body with tattoos or piercings. Others required that you wear special clothing or underwear. Others required that you join a temple and make regular sacrifices to a pagan God. Other religions required their followers to give up certain foods, or worship on a particular day of the week. So the message of the Judaizers had a great appeal to them. Paul’s Gospel seemed too easy to them, too. Legalism seemed more natural.

I am convinced that faith is an unnatural act. It is natural for us to want to do something for our salvation. After all, when we do something, we are in control. Works put us in control. We decide whether or not God is worth following, and whether we will adopt the symbols of that faith. Faith requires that we do nothing except believe what Jesus has already done.

Faith has always been strange to us, because it requires the surrender of our control of our own life. People would rather do almost anything than to feel as if they are losing control.

In Exodus, when Israel fled from Egypt and into the desert, God led them by day and by night. He provided miraculous food from heaven. But God’s miraculous provision and leadership had a down side. The people were no longer in control. Every day they had to get fresh guidance and fresh provisions from God. They could not even store manna for more than a day!

It did not take long for them to grow tired of being helpless. They wanted to be independent again. They wanted to be somewhere –anywhere—where they did not have to depend on bread falling from the sky each night. People would rather live caged in slavery forever, than to live with uncertainty and freedom. They would rather endure almost in any circumstance however bad than to face the discomfort of feeling helpless.

Faith is being willing to trust in only Jesus, and follow where He leads. God doesn’t tell us what is coming next. He only tells us what to do at the moment. God doesn’t give us what we need tomorrow. He only gives us what we need today. Those who want security and regularity ought not to try actually following God. They will be disappointed.

Let me make this clear. There is nothing you can do to save yourself—nothing. You are not saved by church. You are not saved by tithing, you are not saved by grace before meals, any more than our country is saved by a prayer at a football game.

Have you ever been with a person who had OCD—obsessive compulsive disorder? OCD people have what seems to others to be meaningless rituals which make them feel safe. They horde things, because they feel that someday they might need them, even though it is nonsense. They will not step on a crack in the sidewalk. They think they must wash their hands over and over, even when they are clean. They do this because they believe that these rituals cause them to be in control and save. If they can stave off bad luck by not stepping on cracks, they have some control over the universe.

These rituals seem strange to us but how much stranger are they than some things that are done in church every week? What about the people who say that you have to be baptized in a full tank of water or you are going to hell? Or the people who say that if go to confession and say six “Hail Marys” God will automatically absolve you of your sins? Does it make any more sense to say that if you join a Presbyterian church or give ten percent of your income, you will automatically get what you want from God? Yet I know Christians who believe all those things.

So the Judaizers fulfilled a need in their lives—a need for regularity, order and control. In responses, Paul wrote them a letter to the Galatians. Here is how it begins.

1:1-2 Paul, an apostle — sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— and all the brothers with me, To the churches in Galatia:

Paul’s letter begins by letting them know he really is an apostle sent from God. An apostle is a messenger. He is saying to them. “Look, I’m not making this up, It comes from God. Those who are with him are the other apostles—the disciples plus Barnabas and others who preached the Gospel to them. Paul s reminding them that the others agree. As crazy at is may sound, God wants them to do nothing but trust Jesus. That’s grace through faith.

I know how Paul felt. I’m not making this up, either. It may not feel natural to you—in fact, if probably doesn’t. But listen anyway. You must let go even of that sense of being natural, and embrace the message of the Gospel.

What do you do when you when your car starts to skid? Turn in the direction of the skid. It seems unnatural. It feels like you should turn in the opposite direction. But do that and you’ll have a wreck. If you follow your feelings and turn the other way, you’ll be wrong.

Salvation is the same way. Our instincts tell us that salvation lies in doing something. God’s Word is that salvation lies in simply trusting. That’s because Jesus has already done all that is necessary for you.

3-5 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Christ died for our sins to rescue us from hell. More than that, He died to rescue us from hell on earth, too. Paul calls that hell the “present evil age.” The Roman Empire days were truly hell, too. There is not one of us who would last a week in all the disease, injustice, superstition, and oppression that people endured in Roman times. They did not know this, of course, because the people of the time did not know any better. But Jesus came to be with people in the middle of that chaos. He gave these people His Presence to help them through the worst of times. Ours is also an evil age. The only hope we have is to depend upon Him utterly.

That’s what Paul told the Galatians. But they left that teaching very quickly, as we can see from verses 6-7

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

I once got an ad in the mail that said “congratulations! You have been named to be a member of Young America’s Who’s Who. Now you are entitled to all the rights and privileges thereof. For the live of me, I could not find what rights and privileges went with this high honor, except the privilege of buying a book for the low price of fifty dollars. Beyond that, I know no other right or privilege to being in their book. This was a false good news. There were no privileges.

What are the “rights” and “privileges” of fake churchianity? We have the privilege of going to church. We have the privilege of tithing. Without communion with God, there are burdens, not blessing. We have the “privilege” of cutting out what we enjoy and replacing them with things we do not enjoy. We have the “privilege” of managing on our own, without divine intervention. Then we wonder why no one wants to join our church!

The real good news is actually good. It actually gives them a new, clean life. It does not put extra burdens on us, but relieves us of the burden that guilt and the false gospels of the world pile on our heads.

Paul is serious about this, as he shows in verses 8-9

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

There is not another place in Paul’s writings where he is this angry. “Eternally condemned” in Paul’s native language was anathema maranatha—cursed until the end of time.

I am angry, too. I am angry with generations of people who have told the church one thing when salvation is another. Over and over again, in all the churches I have served, I have met people in the sixties, seventies, and even eighties, who still do not know that all they have to do is trust Jesus. They have been taught by preachers, Sunday school teachers, and even mothers and fathers that they are saved by following some rituals. They cannot conceive of God saving them without making them get baptized in a certain way, or joining a particular church. They live their lives in perpetual guilt, because they are afraid that there might be something they have left out.

Living Water

2010-10-10T18:45:00.001-07:00

Joy and I had dinner with some friends. They announced they wanted to share in a special occasion. When they were married some thirty years before, someone had given them a bottle of wine, made that year. They had been holding onto it for all that time, and had decided to uncork it that night. They wanted us to share in tasting it. Though we rarely touch wine, felt that it was important that we sample a glass.

Our friends uncorked the bottle an poured us each a small glass. Then-disappointment! It was not very good. It had not only fermented, but gone beyond fermenting. It was barely drinkable.

Think about that wine. For years it sat in their house, waiting to be uncorked, waiting for that special moment. In the bottle, the anticipation of it brought a special sense of joy. But they waited too long. The right time slipped into disappointment.

Don’t we behave that way when it comes to the Gospel? When we received it, it was the greatest gift we could imagine. God almighty wants to be our friend and give us eternal life. We always intended to share it. But we are too cautious. What if we don’t do it right? What if they laugh at us? There are a thousand reasons for not sharing the Good News.

The Gospel doesn’t change. But we do, and so do circumstances. We let opportunity slip though our fingers. There is never a better time to share than now.

God has a moment for us to share. That moment is now. If now now, when? Tomorrow is not as good as today.

Presbyterians are cautious people. We want to pick the best time and the best place, to minimize our risk. It’s amazing they ever get married. It’s even more amazing that we ever see anyone won to Christ, when we are so timid about opening our mouths.

Our Lord was not that way. Jesus was driven by an overwhelming desire to see others in the Kingdom of God. One place we see that is in John 4. 4-30. In this story, Jesus did not sit down and rationally plan a strategy for bringing the Gospel to the Samaritans. Instead He was compelled by the Holy Spirit that this was the right time, and he was compelled to do so.

The story begins like this--And he had to go through Samaria. Now why did Jesus have to go through Samaria? There were two other and better routes from Jerusalem to Galilee that did not involve going through Samaria. Both of them were safer and more comfortable.

Samaria was hill country. Anyone would get tired going up and down those hills all day.

But that wasn’t the real problem. Samaria was unsafe for a Jew. The relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans was very bad. No one wanted to go through there.

I read recently that the most dangerous neighborhood is in Chicago. That neighborhood t is so bad that there is a one in four chance for someone walking in broad daylight to be attacked. Most of us would not even think about going there. That was what Samaria was to the Jews.

But Jesus had to go through Samaria. Why?

He had to go through Samaria for one reason. It is where the Samaritans were. The Samaritans needed him, and somebody had to take it there. He had the Gospel, and it was time had to uncork it. If he waited the wine of the /Spirit might turn to vinegar.

Let’s set the scene. Samaria was, by the standards of the day, a slum. It had once been an important place, the capital of the Northern Kingdom. Jacob’s well was there, probably, covered with dirt and graffiti.

Even so, Jesus led his disciples there. They came to Jacob’s well about three in the afternoon. The disciples went into town to get food. Jesus stayed behind at the well.

The well was deserted. It was too late for the breakfast crowd, and too early for the supper crowd. But one woman did come--the kind of woman your mother warned you about.

In those days you did not talk to strange women. But Jesus did, breaking a social taboo.

“Give me something to drink.”

She looked at Jesus contemptuously. The probably assumed that this strange man was about to proposition her. These Jews were all alike, she thought. They pretend to be all high and mighty, but they are no different from other men.

She answered, “How is it that you, a Jew ask me, a Samaritan, for a drink? The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans.”

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

“Living water” meant running water. It was not a stagnant pool, like this well. It was good, clean water like a mountain spring.

"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

Clean, clear water is symbolic of a Spirit set free by the Holy Spirit. It washes us clean and keeps us clean, so we can stay fresh in the world.

Wouldn’t any of them want some living water? Wouldn’t they want some joy that would keep coming even if everything else seemed to be falling in around them? That sense of resilient joy is what Jesus had to offer.

The Gospel is resilient joy. No matter how far you have fallen, no matter many times you fail, God forgives you. Even if you were the worst person in the world, you could be clean if you turn your sins over to Jesus, and experience His love and forgiveness.

Here’s the problem with us Christians. We have the Gospel but we don’t believe it. We say we believe that Jesus has the power to make a saint out of the worst of us. But then we have a whole list of people who we believe will never change. We’ve got whole classes of people that we think we don’t have to love or care for—other races, other nationalities, strangers, aliens, and so on.

We might come around to loving them eventually. But in the meantime, we hesitate too long. We can’t wait until they are gone, and then pretend to be looking for them. We might as well be fishing in a bathtub as to be seeking the lost only when they come to us.

He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."

"I have no husband," she replied.

Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."

Jesus is not condemning this woman’s bedroom behavior, nor is He condoning it. He is demonstrating His knowledge and power. He knows her secrets but doesn’t care. He is not interested in her past, but her future. He wants her to have eternal life.

People look at our past. Jesus looks at our future. He loves us where we are. He wants to see them have that pure water coming up from inside us.

When do we truly walk like Jesus? When we know that we have to go through Samaria. We cannot be truly Christians and not love those whom Jesus loves. God despises our churchy pretensions and wants us to embrace his love for lost sinners.

This woman was impressed.

"I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."

Incredibly, this was the first time Jesus told anyone He was the Messiah. He hadn’t told his disciples, but he told this woman He was the savior, because she needed a savior.

Do you need a Savior? Do you think your sins are bad enough to send you to hell? If you don’t need a savior, you don’t need Jesus, because that’s what Jesus is.

Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"

There is no difference in God’s eyes between you and a bum on the street. You both need Jesus. Only by God’s grace and the accident of birth are you not a bum on the street, if you don’t know Jesus. He has come to seek and save the lost, and we are among their number.

The end of this story is inspiring.

Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,

"Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

There is a moment when the Good News must be told. This woman told. When she told, they came. Hundreds, maybe thousands of Samaritans poured out of those hills to meet this man that the woman told them about. As they met him, they changed, too—lepers were cleansed, sick people were healed, the demon possessed were set free, addicts were made whole, all kinds of things happened, because this woman believed. The living water flowed from her, into the lives of so many other people;

I have always wanted to see one of those moments, like the disciples experienced in Samaria and elsewhere, where people came down of their own accord, looking for the Messiah. We can’t call it a revival, because there was nothing there to revive. It is a move of the Holy Spirit, where He reveals Himself through changed lives, answered prayers, and unusual power and love. I have spent my whole life trying to get people into churches. It would be nice just once to see people who didn’t have to be persuaded to come. These Samaritans experienced the move of the Spirit, and th came.

I attended a Methodist school in Kentucky which had experienced such a move of the Spirit. That move swept across this country in the Seventies. For thirty-five years, I’ve wanted to be in such a flow of living water. But I have never seen it in this denomination. I am convinced that is why we are so small.

We have the Gospel of Christ, but we have kept it to ourselves. We have put it on the shelf and left the cork in it. We keep saying one day we are going to let it loose, tell the world, but we do not. The time never seems ready. One day it will be too late. There are other believers who will be obedient and willing to be channels of the Spirit, if we will not. If we do not use what we have been given, God will give it to others. But if we are willing to turn the Spirit loose, God can do great and mighty things.

Born Again

2010-10-03T12:51:00.000-07:00

“Born again” is not a term that is bandied about often in the Bible. In fact, it is only used twice in the New Testament, only once by Jesus. The first is In John 3, in a discussion with a man called Nicodemus.
“Nicodemus” is probably an alias. It means “ruler of the people.” He was one of the most powerful religious and social leaders in Israel, visited Jesus alone by night. He visited by night, because he did not want anyone to see him going to Jesus. He was an honest man, but not a brave one. He began with a startling admission. “We know you are from God, for no one can do the miracles you do if you were not from God.”
Notice he says “we” not “I.” Today, we would call him a whistle-blower. Some on the Sanhedrin secretly believed Jesus was from God—at least a prophet, possibly the Messiah.
Nicodemus did not ask for anything. Perhaps he was letting Jesus know that he could be of use. Nicodemus’ power and influence could keep Jesus out of trouble. It’s always helpful to have friends in high places.
Jesus is not impressed. Instead, he said, “You must be born again.” Jesus does not care that he is a ruler of the people. He does not care that he believed He was from God. Not even belief is enough unless we are born again.
People want change, but how much change do we really want? When a person sets out to change his or her life, there are three levels of change.
First, there is refocus and redirection. They don’t want to change much, just change a little. Most everything remains the same. They say, “You know, maybe I should pray more
or “Maybe I should start back to church,” or “maybe I should straighten up a bit.”
That’s how most people see religion--just cleaning what is already there. They get rid of their worst traits, treat each other nicer, clean up their language and kick nasty habits, but they don’t change much beyond that.
Or maybe it’s reformation we need—to reform or and rearrange. We rearrange the furniture of our lives, and things look new. But we are still made from the same stuff we’ve always been.
I knew a man once who had been a radical in the Sixties. He marched in the peace marches, demonstrated against the war, wore long hair and love beads—the whole hippy scene. Then he changed and became a conservative. He marched in antiabortion marches, demonstrated against high taxes, and wore short hair and a necktie. But he had not changed. He was the same radical he always was. He took the same pieces and reformed them into a different shape.
But Jesus did not talk about redirection or reformation. He talked about regeneration--a life change so complete that you are not the same person.
“Born again” was not a new term to the Jews. It was used for a Gentile but wanted to become a Jew.
Maimonedes, the twelfth century Jewish philosopher, summarized what the ancient rabbis said about this process.
“By three things did Israel enter into the Covenant: by circumcision, and baptism and sacrifice. When a gentile is willing to enter the covenant…He must be circumcised and be baptized and bring a sacrifice…And at this time when there is no sacrifice, they must be circumcised and be baptized; and when the Temple shall be built, they are to bring a sacrifice…The gentile that is made a proselyte and the slave that is made free, behold he is like a child new born."
There were three steps—circumcision, baptism, and sacrifice. It was only done to the male head of the family. He was baptized in the nude. Every hair of his head was shaved off. Then he was given a new name, to indicate he had become a new person.
John the Baptist redefined this Jewish ritual. He made Jews do it. John was saying that you can be religious and rotten at the same time. You must start all over again as a new person.
Jesus did not tell Nicodemus to be baptized, but to be born again. If he had asked Nicodemus to be baptized he would probably have done it. But it would just be one more expression of his “superior” piety. Jesus didn’t want him to simply be baptized a new person. He actually wanted him to be a new person.
What does it mean to be born again?
It means that we don’t want our old lives any more.
We are creatures of habit. We like things to remain the same. Old habits give us a sense of control. We like to know what’s coming. It makes us feel we are in control.
Because we like regularity, we learn to live with imperfection. If our lives are not what they once thought they should be, we don’t let it bother us. If our lives are less than perfect, we on’t care, as long as they are steady and predictable.
In the old days, when chickens were taken to the market, they tied their legs together. When they cut the chickens loose, they would lay on the ground as if their legs were still tied. They may not have liked having their legs tied, but once they got used to it, they thought itw as always supposed to be that way. Like those chickens, we have settled into habits and mindsets that do us no good. They may in fact be killing us, but as long as they are predictable, we don’t care.
It means we give up control to the Spirit.
When we are born again, the first thing to go is our sense of control. We have to rely on someone else to save us. We revert to being babies before God, A baby does not mind being controlled by others, as long that that other is a loving mother and father. We start over, nurtured by a new parental figure—God.
The enemy of our salvation is not the Devil but ourselves. True faith ends when we try harder or work harder, trying to master our own fate.
If someone asks you if you are a Christian, or if you are born again, how do you answer? Some say “I try to be,” Have you ever tried to be a puppy? You either are one or you aren’t-- trying has nothing to do with it. We must be born that way. Just so, you must be born again as a Christian, It is not something you aspire to. It is something that comes when we cease to try, and allow God full control.
Nicodemus could not understand this “How can a man be born again when he is old?” He took Jesus literally instead of figuratively. But Jesus corrected him
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth,no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'
We are born of water--the waters of birth. We come out of our mother’s womb wet. When we are born again we are born in the Spirit. We come out wet with the Spirit.
Baptism is an act of the flesh, not the Spirit. Joining a church, quitting smoking and drinking, keeping ourselves pure are all good, but they are not the Spirit. They are byproducts of it. We need new birth in the Holy Spirit.
8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
We are reborn like a feather on the wind. We do not control, we are controlled by Him. We cannot tell the reasons why God puts us here—where the wind came from. Neither can we tell our destination—where the wind goes to. We ride the Spirit like a surfer on a wave or a gull on the air.
It is to be enfolded into the life of Christ.
"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.
"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things?
1 tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven — the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
We die in Christ. This seems harsh, but we must understand. We are not the first to die. Jesus died before us. He went to the cross on our behalf. He lost his will, his power, his blood so that our birth might be possible.
Because we live, we can live with him.
When Jesus uses an illustration that he new Nicodemus would know. He referred to an Old Testament story—Num 21:4-9. The Israelites complained about the uncertainty and the quality of their food. God punished them by sending snakes to bite them. But as soon as the presented the illness, He also presented the cure. If they would only look up one more time at a bronze serpent on the pole, they would live. Some refused to look and died. But for every one who looked up, they were given a new life.
Jesus said He is the serpent on the pole. His own death would be the sign.
This is a difficult treacherous world. It is too treacherous, in fact for us to walk through u unguarded. We will all fall. In fact, we have all fallen. We are like pigs in a pig trough None of us can boast that there is no mud on us.
But if we look at Jesus, there is a cure. In Him, we can have new life, not be caught in an old one. He is the answer to all our needs and our longings. He is the bronze serpent put on a pole to remind us of the one who made the serpent.
But it is not a serpent on a pole. This a man on at cross. Our sins became His sins. His death became our death. His resurrection became our invitation to be born again. Jesus represented us in death so that He could represent us in live. In this ultimate act of sacrifice. He became our Savior and we became born again.

Six Questions

2010-09-27T06:52:00.001-07:00

I preached my first sermon when I was seventeen years old while I was working with Southern Baptists in Tennessee. It was a church of eight people who met in a house in Raccoon Valley. I was given two hours notice. At that time, I was on the high school newspaper staff, and had learned the six questions reporters are supposed to ask--who, what, when, where and why and how. I had also served as a youth counselor at a Billy Graham Crusade, and learned my first six verses—John 1:12, John 10:10, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Romans 5:8, John 1:12. Somehow, it occurred to me to put those two lists together, so my topic was "the who, what, when, where, why and how of salvation."

It has now been forty years since that afternoon, I have never preached that particular sermon again, nor could I recall exactly what I said. Lately, though, I have often thought tha I should preach that sermon again, not for your sake, but for mine.

Over the years I have become a “sophisticated” preacher. I have learned Greek, Hebrew, systematic theology, archaeology, anthropology, and psychology. But the more sophisticated you become, the harder simplicity becomes. You want to show off how much you know. It has become harder to simply tell the story of salvation in a way that will change lives.

I am sorry for that. Being a believer is the most wonderful thing in the world, and we have made it into “religion”—rituals practiced without meaning, worldly organizations instead of spiritual reformation. We have turned the simple gospel into complex beliefs, and in doing so lost the power of the simple.

So today instead of giving you something new and hard, I want to give you something old and easy. I want to tell you about the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the gospel.

First, who needs to be saved? You do. I do. We all do. God loves us, and wants us to spend eternity with Him. John 3:16 starts "For God so loved the world" You are part of the world that God loves, and so am I. He wants us all in heaven.

He loves you more than your mother does. He loves you more than your father does. He loves you more than you love yourself. God wants us to live with him forever, and to be with Him for all eternity.

Think of it. God the king of all the universe knows your name. He hears your prayers. He loves you with all his heart. More than anything else, God wants us to have eternal life--John 10:10 "I have come that you might have life, and have it ti abundance."God does not want us living a lives of quiet desperation. He wants us to have lives of purpose, value, and joy.

We live in a world that desperately want to be seen as happy, but inwardly is miserable. People pretend all the time. Our heroes are actors and entertainer. Our businessmen are taught to appear strong and powerful, even when they are small and weak. Our politicians pretend to have answers, when they have none. Our teachers pretend that they know their subjects, when they do not have any idea whether or not what they have been handed from their teachers is actually true. Loves pretend to love, partygoers pretend to have fun. People pretend to believe what they don't believed. All around us are people who need salvation, but are two afraid to admit it. For all these people Jesus promises life .

Second, what do we need to be saved from? In a word--sin. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, were created to live in a perfect world. Then sin entered the world, and the world was never right again.

What is sin? The Bible offers two definitions for sin. The first is James 4:17--"If any man knows what it right to do, and does not do it, to him that is sin." Sin is when you don't do what you believe you are supposed to do, or when you do what you believe you should not do. Don't get hung up on all the laws of the Old Testament, and all the complexities of interpretation. Sin is not just drinking, smoking or cussing. It is not individual acts. Sin is the act of being willfully disobedient to God. The act of sin varies from one person to another, but the fact of sin does not vary. We are all sinners, because we all are guilty of acting against the conscience God had given us.

The other definition of sin is Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and come short of God's glory." Sin is falling short of God's perfection. It is thoughts, actions, intentions, and omissions that are less than what God wants for us.

Are some sins worse than others? Not according to God. You cannot be a little pregnant. Nor can you be a little rebellious. We are either rebels or saints. There is nothing in the middle.

How good to you have to be to not be considered a sinner? Jesus said "be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." If you are not perfect, then you are a sinner, because you fall short of God's glory.

All sin has the same punishment--death. "The wages of sin is death, "Romans 6:23 says. There are no exceptions. Wages are what we earn by what we do. If we work at a job, then our wages are money, but if we work on a chain gang, our wages are our just punishment. Once our debt has been fully paid, then we can go free. The only thing we earn by sin is eternal death. We owe death for sin, and not until our lives are over have we fully paid it. But Paul goes on and says "But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." God gives us what we have not earned an not given us what we have.

Third, when were we saved? This answer may surprise you. You were not saved in your lifetime. You were not saved in this century. You were saved two thousand years ago, when Jesus died on he cross. Romans 5:8 "For God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

God made the offer of redemption before you were ever born. He paid for your redemption before you ever asked. Your redemption is yours to have, through the death of Jesus Christ.

Think on this. If the wages of sin is death, then someone has to die for sin. You can't do it. I can't do it for you. The only person good enough to die for the whole world is Jesus Christ, who was God in human form.

Jesus anticipated our birth. If he anticipated our birth, he must then have anticipated our sin. If he anticipated our sin, the He also anticipated our salvation through His blood.

In the Old Testament, people atoned for sin by an animal sacrifice. This may seem strange to us, but it was not to them. They knew that the only way to redeem a person who deserved to shed blood was by the shedding of blood. But the blood of animals was not an adequate shedding for all sin. Only the blood of a pure person, who never committed any sin, was pure enough to atone for the sins of the whole world. Jesus endured the most horrible punishment imaginable, so that you would not have to be punished for your sins.

Fourth, why were we saved? Because He loves us.

I John 2:1-2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

In the end, it is not just the Jesus' blood that saves us--it is his love. We are saved by such an overwhelming love, that He would not shirk from the most humiliating death imaginable.

Crucifixion was the most humiliating death that the Romans could imagine--and they could imagine some pretty horrible stuff. A person was stripped naked. Then he was physically nailed to a wooden pole or cross. Once he was on the cross, he was forgotten. He was considered dead, even while he was alive. He was never taken down from the cross. He was left there to decay, in front of the entire world, until the vermin picked his bones clean, and he fell into a rotting pile of corruption. No one could touch him once he was on the cross. Everyone looked away in horror.

The point is not how horrible the Romans were, but how deep God loved us. God loves us enough to endure the suffering Himself on our behalf. He literally shed blood to buy us from sin, and offer us a new life. We are saved by His love.

Fifth, Where were we saved to? The world "saved" has been used so much in the context of the church that it risks losing its meaning. "Saved" means to be rescued, just like a person is rescued from a burning building or a sinking ship. What is most important in any rescue is not where we are rescued from, but where we are rescued to. Where does God take us?

We are rescued to everlasting life with Jesus. "God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever would believe in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life." Everlasting life is heaven--an eternity with God.

I don't understand heaven any more than I understand hell. But God occasionally gives us glimpses of what it will be. All human joys and blessings are simply foretasts of what heaven is supposed to be for us. Every sunrise gives us a glimpse. Every clear, starry sky displays heavens distant lights. Every roll of thunder or purple mountain reveals it's majesty. I do not know exactly what heaven will be, but when we get there, I believe we will say "of course, this is what life was supposed to be all along."We will know it when we get there.

Sixth, How are we saved?

Admit that we are sinners and cannot save ourselves.

Believe that Jesus Christ died for our sinners

Confess publicly that that we receive Him as our Lord and savior.

John 1:12 tells us "For as many as have received Him, to them He gave the power to become the children of God, even to those who believe on His name."

It is not hard. We just confess and believe. We put our trust in Him, and He saves us.

What is the path to God? There isn't one. There is only salvation from God. We cannot go to Him unless He first came to us. When he does, then we must receive what He has offered---eternal life.

There are no time limits in heaven, but there is on earth. We have a limited time offer of salvation. It is limited to this time and this place. So if we are to receive Him, we must do it now, during this brief time on earth.

None of us know how brief that time will be. You never know when death may come over you, or with what suddenness. For that reason, it is vitally important we know what we believe now. If you are not sure what will happen to you after you die, then make sure. Take the time to know for a fact, that you are saved. It is the simplest truth in the world.

The Bucket List

2010-09-27T06:51:00.000-07:00

There is a weird contradiction in the modern evangelical Christian. We say that Jesus is the only way. Yet we act as if there is no urgency or even need to share that way with others..

It’s like this. Suppose your mother were in the hospital with inoperable cancer. Now suppose you are suddenly given the cure for that cancer. Is there any doubt that you would rush hospital to give it to him?

Suppose it wasn't your mother, but a person you had never met. Is there any doubt that you would hurry to the hospital out of a sense of common decency and give them the cure?

Suppose that person were of another race, or a Muslim, an illegal alien, or your worst enemy? Wouldn't we go for the sake of his wife and children, or just out of common decency?

Yet here we are with our belief that all are eternally lost, and that Jesus is our only hope. Yet we are slow and timid to tell anyone. Based on the actions of contemporary Christianity, we must conclude that either we don’t believe what we claim to believe, or that we literally think that the rest of he world can go to hell for all we care. I cannot think of any other possibilities.

The atheist magician Penn Gillette once praised a man who gave him a Bible, though he did not believe it. He recognized it as an act of love. He observed that it was not a question of how much should we love a person to give him the gospel,, but how much do we have to hate a man to wish him an eternity in hell.

I confess that I do not understand hell.. Heaven and hell are both beyond our grasp, and may only be discussed in metaphors. Jesus' description of it as "outer darkness" might be the closest thing to a literal description of it,

It may be (and I think it is) that heaven and hell are not just places we go after we die, but states of being that begin on earth, and continue on for eternity. Where Christ is, heaven begins. Where Christ is not is the outskirts of hell. That would mean that millions of people (thousands in this very community) are in hell right now, walking through the day with the flame licking at their feet. Every time we go to a ball game or a shopping mall, we are surrounded by people who are already in hell and do not yet know it. Oh, they may have moments of happiness, as they enjoy communion with God’s creations. But there is a worm eating at their insides,. There is a cancer in their souls that is eating them alive, and only we have the cure. They don't see it, of course. But they are experiencing the outskirts of hell.

Hell was a place created not for people, but for Satan and his minions. Satan desires to bring the whole human race with him into his dark prison. No one in their right mind would choose to go to hell, so Satan has to deceive them and drag them in with him. Satan fishes for our souls. He dangles before us tasty treats and dainty delicacies. W see the bait. We do not see the hook. But when we feel the barb embedded in our sins, hell’s punishment begins. It never ends

How many lost souls are in our midst? How many are tasting the bait, and have not yet found the hook? How many are struggling to throw off the barb, even though they hide their predicament from others? Just because we cannot see the pain of sin does not mean that is isn't there.

Those are the people that God wants us to save. They are all around us, in our very homes, our churches, and our community. In fact, God loves them so much that He sent messengers into their lives to show them a better way. These messengers exist on earth solely for the purpose of saving them form their hell and pointing them towards God.

We are those messengers. That is our purpose on earth.

St. Jude, wrote about this in Jude 20--23

Be merciful to those who doubt;

snatch others from the fire and save them;

to others show mercy, mixed with fear-hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh."

Some people doubt that there is a God. Their minds are clouded by Satan. Show some mercy to them by helping them find their way.

Others are tasting the bait on Satan’s hook. They are very close to being hooked. Pull them away, if you can. Pray for them, talk to them and, if necessary snatch them awayl

Others are already caught. They are being pulled into the flames. Reach them befoe they are lost, even if you risk getting singed yourself. Unles we put ourselves in danger for the sake of the lost, we have not done all we can to help them. But take precautions that you do not get caught yourselves.

Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He did not pursue them in Sunday School and in church on Sunday. He went where they were. He made friends with people others would not touch. He risked his safety and his reputation to bring people to himself. Should we be any different? Shouldn’t we do what he did?

Maybe we don’t see the urgency. Maybe we think that if we don't tell them, someone else will. After all, we Presbyterians believe in predestination—the belief that God will save who He wishes and He doesn't need out help to do it.

I believe in predestination, too. But God does not allow us the luxury of sitting on the bench and waiting for Him to play the game. He expects us to be on His team and to fully participate in the work of saving His portion of mankind.

The apostle Paul makes that clear in Rom 10:11-15

For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

We may be right about predestination, But who's to say who's chosen? Am I? Are you? Does he save one kind of people?

People thought so in Paul's day--if you were Jewish, you were going to heaven. Today we seem to think that God will save our good chuch-going families and no one else.

It's not that simple. There isn't one whit of difference between Jew and Gentile. Anyone, whether inside or outside the church, may be forgiven. All we have to do is to let go of our. False hopes and take hold of our false hopes and take hold of the real hope. We cannot save ourselves from Satan’s hook. But Jesus broke the power of Satan when He died on the cross for us. Any claim that Satan has on us is broken in the cross.

"There is no difference between Jew and Gentile" Paul says. There is also no difference between right and poor, black and white, churchgoer and sinner, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, or Catholic. Anyone from any place or any background who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Most of the world does not know this. Many who do do not believe it can be this simple. They think it has to do with joining a church, getting baptized, giving up cussing, and voting Republican. They have no idea that is it just calling on God's name, trusting Jesus--nor will they know, unless somebody explains it to them.

How then can they call on the one they have not believed in?

And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?

And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

And how can they preach unless they are sent?

The only way they can call on God's name is if they believe. The only way they can believe is for someone to tell them . The only way they can really be told is if you and I tell them, or at least send someone on our behalf , supporting them with our prayers and money. Without crossing the great divide between believer and unbeliever, then people will ensnared by Satan will eventually go to hell.

I believe in God’s sovereignty. I believe that those God has prepared will accept him. But I want to do my part in helping them to accept. Every person we help to come to Christ becomes a trophy of God’s faithfulness and our obedience.

In the basement of our church, there’s a trophy case, containing trophies our church earned playing in a softball league. We haven't had a softball team for years, so these trophies are largely forgotten. Most of us have forgotten they are there. When you don't play ball anymore, who remembers the trophies?

It makes me wonder—where are our spiritual trophies? Can we point to those whom we have brought to Christ? If we have them, we no longer talk about them. Is it possible that we have quit the game, and therefore forgotten that we once had trophies? If we had a trophy case to display our spiritual trophies, I fear it would be empty.

Let's get in the game .Let's get busy doing what God put us here to do. It doesn't start in the pulpit. It is not something that I can do. It is something that we all must do. Let me tell you how.

Have you ever heard of a "bucket list?" It’s a list of things that we want to do before we "kick the bucket"-- adventures we want to have, places we want to go, things we want to build, and so forth.

I propose that we all have a new kind of "bucket list"--people that we want to see trust Jesus before they kick the bucket.

For the Christian, death is just the next chapter of life, that's all. But for our friends, relatives, neighbors, acquaintances, co-workers, and total strangers who occupy the space around us, who don't know Christ, death is the deadline for getting right with God. What we do from now until our death is inconsequential. What they do is vital for their eternity.

List five people you know that you don't know are believers. Pray for them daily. Make it your responsibility to see that they are given the chance to hear the Gospel before they die. Don't let them kick the bucket without an opportunity to know that God loves them and has a better plan for their eternity. If you get the chance, tell them how to know that Jesus is their Lord and Savior.

Signs and Wonders

2010-09-27T06:49:00.001-07:00

I don't believe in Bigfoot. Oh, I've seen films and the plaster casts of his foot, but they are unconvincing. I've heard the eyewitness accounts, but they are debatable. Eyewitnesses can be deceived, pictures can be faked, footprints can become distorted with time. The reason I don't believe Bigfoot is because there are no real signs of his existence. A seven or eight foot tall animal cannot exist in the woods without leaving some trace of himself behind. Without better signs, I can't not believe in Bigfoot.

I do believe in skunks, though. I've never seen a skunk. I hope I never do. But I have smelled enough skunks to know they are real. I do not have the witness of my eyes, but I sure have he witness of my nose. A skunk leaves abundant evidence of his presence.

The same is true of the Holy Spirit. Is it reasonable to think that God can be active on the earth and not leave some sign of His existence? Whenever He appears in the Bible, things happen. We see signs of His existence.

We have utterly failed to reach the lost. We are not alone in this. Almost all churches in America, of whatever denomination, have also failed to make a significant impact on the lives of the Godless. Whatever we have tried in the past hasn't worked. We've had sports teams, ice cream socials, advertizing, door-to-door campaigns, and nothing has seemed to make any difference. No matter, what ever we are doing isn't working.

The first few generations of the church were fantastically successful. People came to Christ by the thousands, without outreach committees, purpose statements, or church planning consultants. They succeeded for one simple reason. The Spirit of God was at work. He moved in their midst, performing signs and wonders which gave evidence of His existence.

We have always been told that we are more blessed if we walk by faith and not by sight. But is that what we are really so? Are we supposed to believe that God exists in the spiritual world, but no longer ventures into the physical? That’s s Deism, not Christianity. Without evidence, is it any more reasonable to believe in Him than Bigfoot?

Jesus praised His disciples when they believed without seeing. But they had already seen many miracles. Jesus urged them to act upon the evidence they had already seen. Do we expect unbelievers to have more faith than the disciples? Before unbelievers can believe, they must see some evidence that all this is real. That evidence is called "signs and wonders."

"Signs and wonders" is used eleven times in the New Testament. Jesus used it once in John 4:46-48

Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

"Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders ," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."

This is often taken as a put-down by Jesus of their lack of faith, but I do not think it is. It is a simple statement of fact. They would not and could not believe until they saw some evidence of God's presence with Jesus. They wanted some hard evidence. They did not want to take someone's word for it. Nor would I.

49-53 The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."

Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live."

The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour."

Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.

Would they have believed without seeing some kind of sign? I don't think so.

"Signs and wonders" is used eight time in Acts. Each time we see signs and wonders, it is a time when God's people needed special assurance that they were headed in the right direction. Do we need them any less today? I am convinced if we are ever to persuade people this skeptical age that God is here, it will not be through reason, but through signs and wonders.

I will explain what I mean by signs and wonders later. Before I do, let me with a couple of misconceptions.

Signs and wonders are not ordinary events. Believers see proof of God in the ordinary joys of life, like babies and sunrises. Unbelievers do not see God there. Unbelievers are not less intelligent than believers because they do not see God in all things. They just do not think of beauty as a work of God. That’s why they are called unbelievers. These are not miracles, but the natural/ At best, it proves that God was once here, but it does not prove that He is still hear and still active now.

The second misconception is this--that God is no longer doing signs and wonders. Miracles were for ancient times, people say, not now. They were signs of Jesus and the apostles, not signs of His presence in the church today.

Signs and wonders have not ceased. Some people say that miracles ceased in the time of the apostles. I cannot accept that. A sign is evidence of God’s continued existence and work in the world. Is it reasonable to assume that a living God does not leave evidence of His work? The same God who made the world, raised Jesus from the dead, and began the church with miracles at Pentecost is the same God we worship today.

What are signs and wonders meant to show? Not someone’s qualification for office, but the presence of a living God. Jesus’ miracles were a sign that God was with Him, and therefore was the true Messiah. The Apostles’ miracles showed God was with them. Paul’s miracles showed that God was present with him. Hebrews 2:3-4 says this:

This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Signs and wonders attest to God’s salvation. God’s salvation is still with us.They are also a witness of the presence of God today.

Now, what are signs and wonders? A sign is any definitive and extraordinary evidence—however great or small—that God is working today. Where do we find that evidence? Let me suggest three places/

A changed life. In all the universe there is nothing so hard to change than the human heart. How many times do we see a person completely turned inside-out, so much that he actually becomes someone new? Have you ever seen a drug addict get clean? A homosexual change sexual orientation? A drunk leave the bottle? A violent man turn gentle or a shy person turn bold? I have seen all these things happen through the power of the Gospel. These are signs and wonders.

A prayer answered Imagine you're playing driveway basketball. A man comes up and wants to join you. You don't know who he is, but you pass him the ball. He immediately throws a basket. Lucky, you think. But then he does it again and again. Now you know he is no ordinary player. He is a professional, or one who will be soon.

It isn't just hitting the basket that proves who he is. It is the consistency and the difficulty of his shots. It isn’t just one answered prayer. It is the consistency and the difficulty o those answered prayers that prove God’s existence. Most of our prayer are for nothing difficult, and not much, so we have little to report when we testify. But when we consistently see difficult prayers answered, we realize His power. Answered prayers are a sign and a wonder.

A love exhibited. "By this will all men know you are my disciples," Jesus said, "By your love for one another." In the eighth century, Irish monks evangelized Britain and Scotland by building monasteries right in the middle of cities. They lived lives of charity and love among the people. They opened their doors and took in those no one else wanted. They converted them by the signs and wonders of unusual love. Love can be a sign and a wonder, too.

But signs and wonders alone will not persuade the unbeliever. Those signs and wonders have to be told. Somehow the Devil has planted it in the hearts of churchmen that it is rude to talk about God, that a person’s religion is his own business. If we don’t open our mouths and tell about the evidence of God’s power in our own experience, how can the world benefit from it? The world must hear what God has done, and what He is still doing. Anyone who’s life has been touched by the power of God in anyway, no matter how great or small, has an obligation to tell others. You are the witnesses to God’s salvation.

I had a friend who was a walking miracle. He was a student at a Christian college that did not believe in modern miracles. He fell out of a top bunk and injured his head. They told him that much of his brain was damaged beyond repair that he would never see or walk again. He went into despair. Then a cleaning lady in the hospital prayed for him. Over time, he regained first his sight, then his legs. His doctor, who had been an agnostic, gave his life to Christ, along with twenty-six other people who heard the story.

But imagine if no one heard the story. Where would those twenty-five be? Imagine that that maid had not talked to him? Where would he be?

Tell of the great things that God has done. Don't be shy. Tell it over and over, tell it proudly. Don't worry that it may be too small or unimpressive.

We are a church with many difficulties today. Frankly, I don’t' know he answers. I don't have any plans, I can't recommend any programs, I don't think revivals or recreation is going to fundimentally change our situation. But I believe in the Holy Spirit, and I believe in signs and wonders. Signs and wonders will change our church.

How do we have signs and wonders? The same way they happened in Jesus' day--one person at a time. They greatest sign and wonder is you. Let Jesus change your life, then tell about it, and that will change not only our church, but the whole world.

A handful of Grain

2010-09-04T13:16:00.000-07:00

When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion,

We were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter,

Our tongues with songs of joy.

Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”

The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.

Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negev.

Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.

He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow,

Will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him. Ps 126

The farmer looked at his storehouse with satisfaction. The grain was golden—literally and figuratively. This grain would feed his family for several seasons. With this grain, his family had a future. Without it, they would starve.
It was good that he had the foresight to store the grain, instead of eating or bartering with it. A war was coming. The Babylonians were threatening invasion.
But with this grain, the farmer needn’t worry. His family could withstand a siege. They could retreat within the fortified walls of the city and last for months. Even if (God forbid!) something happened to him, there was enough here to feed his family for the rest of the season.
Then war came. The enemy laid siege to his town. Day after day they looked for help, which never came. Each day he opened his storehouse and took out their daily rations. Each day there was less. The farmer grew worried as he watched his precious sacks of grain grow thinner.
He conserved as much as he could. He cut the rations by half, then half again. Now there wasn’t enough to feed them all. For many days, he went without eating, so the children would have enough. Only one small pile remained—about a day’s ration. Tomorrow, even that would be gone.
The farmer took a small sack and carefully, precisely put every last remaining grain into it. He tied it up, took it to his house, and put it in a safe place. He and his family had nothing that night. His wife complained, “If we still have grain, we should eat it.” He shook his head. The grain would be needed later for other purposes.
The next day, his town surrendered. The Babylonians took everything they could find of value. But they missed the last of the farmer’s grain, because he had hidden it carefully. He lost everything else, but he still had the grain.
The Babylonians marched them away into exile. They were to be resettled on the banks of the Euphrates. They would never see their city again.
But they were not completely destitute. They still had something of their old lives—that handful of grain.
The farmer scratched a ditch in the mud. He opened his little sack and took out his handful of grain. Kernel; by kernel, he laid it carefully along the furrow, and covered it up with earth. Then he waited…
First the shoot appeared—then the stalk, then the tassel. New grain grew from the old. In the fall, they harvested the new grain. For the first season, they ate sparingly, putting most of the grain in storage for the next season. In the spring they planted again. Year by year, little by little, the garden grew into a farm. The single handful of preserved grain spread over many acres.
Seasons rolled by. The farmer grew old and died, but his son took over and managed it the way his father had taught him. When his son grew old, his children carried on. Seventy years—a whole generation—passed in the land of Babylon.
The family was successful in exile, but never happy. They wanted more than anything to plant in their own soil and to raise children in their own country. Every year, they said the same thing “Next year in Jerusalem.”
Then the word came down from the government that they could return to their homes. They lost no time in deciding to go. They celebrated just as this singer tells us—their mouths were full of singing and their houses with laughter.
Before they left, they harvested the grain. They put some into a small sack for seed. Then they left for Israel, bringing their sheaves with them.
The return journey took months. Finally, though, the family stood on the ground their grandparents left.
The first thing they did was to carefully plant the grain—the offspring of the very grain they carried into exile.
The grain had returned home.

The story that frames this psalm is the return of the exiles—how they reentered the land, sowed the seed, and harvested their crops. It is the story of how the people of Israel preserved their most precious traditions—their faith, their family, their God. They returned with their identity and principles intact. No wonder they sang it again every time they traveled from their homes to Jerusalem.
We enjoy the benefits of faith, but are we continuing to pass it on to the future? Faith must be planted in new soil every season. If we do not plant anew, our faith will disappear.
The world is changing. The old ways are dying. New generations are fleeing the parochial community of the past and becoming citizens of a much more complex global world. In this interaction with different cultures and traditions, Christians are in danger of losing their distinctiveness. Christians find themselves in a world they do not recognize, cut off from their roots by time and change. The world we knew will never return again. Instead, we are entering a world of diversity, where Christianity is one of many voices in a cacophony of competing cultures.
We should not worry about this. Christianity is ready for it. We were born for such a time. Old Testament Judaism was in constant competition with the religions of surrounding nations. The early church thrived in such a culture. Christianity was born in Galilee—the “circle of the Gentiles”—a melting pot of Jewish, Eastern, and Greco-Roman culture. Our journey is not that different from the one our ancestors made.
by the time we reach the middle years, we no longer look to our elders as leaders. We discover that we are the leaders. So it is important that we know what to abandon and what to preserve.
Much of what we think of as “traditional” Christianity is not traditional at all. Our music, our church sanctuaries, our liturgy, even robes and pulpits are not as ancient as we think they are. “Traditional” Christian churches maintain the outer trappings of a tradition, but may neglect the essence. Organs and choirs, and pulpit robes are not necessary expressions of our faith. We can abandon all the trappings of the past, so long as we preserve devotion to His Word and devotion to His Spirit. This is our handful of grain. As long as we stay true to Him, we need not fear assimilation into the world.
To preserve this grain, we need to plant it. Our generation has to plant that old faith in new soil. We may believe in a two thousand year old faith, but our ancient faith means nothing if it is not planted in contemporary soil.
The world is changing. We may enjoy prosperous times now, but lean times will come. When they come, our children—spiritual and physical—will continue our faith into the future. God will preserve them as He has preserved us. But there is one condition. We have to preserve the purity of our faith; so that one day we can return and rejoice, bringing our sheaves with us.

What is God For? A Future Worth Having

2010-08-29T13:13:00.001-07:00

Do you remember the old movie The Time Machine? In it, a scientist sits in the machine, and pushes the lever forward. Time begins to accelerate. The sun and moon pass rapidly before his window. Furniture scoots around the room. He pushes the lever forward faster. The room itself disappears. He is now in a vacant lot. He sees the mannequin in a store window--skirt hemlines go up and down with the changes of fashion. Then the store itself disappears. The town disappears, too, and greenery grows around him. Finally, he is encased in rock and then the rock itself wears away.

The older I get, the more I feel like that time traveler. Everything I know fades away. Old friends age and die. My hair turns from black to white. Just as soon as I get used to one bit of technology it's obsolete.

Think of the things we have known--records, black-and-white television, newspapers, books, full service gas stations, board games, milkmen, door-to-door salesmen, big cars, written letters, balancing your check book, soft drinks in glass bottles—all are either gone or fading. Those things we thought would last forever fall away and we are in an unfamiliar world. We are the strangers in our own homes, even strangers in our own bodies.

Desperately we try to slow things down. We pull on the lever. But the world will not go any slower because we want it to. Everything disappears--including ourselves.

Every generation has experienced obsolescence, decline and death. No one grows old gracefully. Everyone hates to see the old go.

Our reaction to aging depends on one thing--what we think comes afterward. If I were that man in the time machine, I would enjoy the ride only if I knew I was going back to my own time. If I thought it aging was permanent, then I would fight furiously to slow the world down. .

"To be, or not to be," Hamlet said. "That is the question." When he thought of ending his life, he thought of eternal judgment and changed his mind.

Either we believe that we are headed for oblivion, or we believe we are headed for heaven. Which is more appealing? Which give some reason for living?

The Bible gives abundant evidence of the existence of heaven. Consider these verses.

1 Thess 4:13-18. Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.

Rev. 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, he new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

John 14:1-4 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

What is heaven like? We cannot really know. The pearly gates, streets of gold, wedding feast, and thrones are all just metaphors meant to express to our earthly something indescribable.

Forget everything you have heard about heaven. Forget everything you imagine it to be. There is nothing this side of heaven that can even begin to express its true nature. What kind of existence we will have we could not begin to grasp. The images we get of heaven are either our attempts to grasp the ungraspable or God's method of expressing the inexpressible. It is the fulfillment of all things on earth, and the surpassing of all human joys. It is a real place where all the pleasures and joys of this world are multiplied many times over.

What do we know of heaven? We can at least say four things about it.

First, in Heaven there is no time. When God chose a name to give Moses, He called Himself “I am.” "I exist always in the present." When Jesus wanted to tell who he really was, he said "Before Abraham was, I Am." He lives in a present, which was before Abraham.

Eternity is beyond time and beyond space, when we live in all moments at once, as God does. I do not understand this, I only know it is.

I don't know about you, but this is a great comfort to me. In heaven I will literally have all the time in the world to enjoy what I want forever.

Second, in heaven there will be no sin. Once upon a time, God created a perfect world. We messed it up, by not obeying Him. This led to all the problems of the world, disease, war, famine, destruction, and death. Jesus redeemed out of this world those who would believe. One day when the world ends and our lives end, we will live happily ever after.

We would live happily ever after now, if it were not for one thing--sin.

We all suffer because of something someone has done, either ourselves or someone else. Drug use leads to addiction which leads to poverty. Promiscuity leads to unplanned pregnancy which leads to poverty. Drunken driving leads to accidents which leads to poverty. But many, many more suffer because they are victims of someone else. In a world without sin, there would be no poverty, either. And if there is no poverty without sin, then it must also be true that in a place where there is no poverty, there was no sin.

We battle sin our whole lives. But once we get to heaven, that battle is over. The drunkard is clean, the lustful are faithful, the lazy are industrious, the proud are humble, the greedy are satisfied, and the violent are calm at last. God wipes away every tear from our eyes and every temptation of our heart.

Third in heaven, there is love.

Yes, we will see our mothers and fathers and all those who have gone before (assuming they have trusted in Christ and arrived safely) But this is just a tiny part of heaven's joys. Without the restrictions of this world, and the sin of this world, our love broadens, as so does everyone else. There will not be separate families in heaven. Instead, we will all be part of one great family. Instead of one mother, we will have millions. We will have millions of fathers, too. Everyone we meet will be our brothers and sisters. In heaven, all children will be our children, and we will be children of all.

Love is the substance of heaven, as it the substance of God. We will live in it. Every relationship in heaven is rooted and grounded in the love of God.

Remember what Jesus said "Those who do the will or My father are my mothers and brothers." Remember when He said no one will give up father and mother without having a hundred more in the kingdom of Heaven. Remember when He said that in heaven there is no marrying or giving in marriage. We will all love each one. Divisions on earth are so ridiculous—if we are going to spend all eternity together, who why quarrel about what doesn't matter?

Fourth, in heaven will be the living presence of God. Here's the best part.

In Revelation 21: 22-26 John likens heaven to a city, shaped like an enormous city. The streets and the avenues of the city on every level are transparent gold, like glass

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.

The glory of God lights the city, from top to bottom. It fills every nook and cranny of the dwelling place of the dead with glorious light.

On earth, we only catch glimpses of that light Imagine what it would be like to experience that moment of glory every moment of every day, for the rest of eternity, to be frozen in wonder forever.

In James Hilton's novel, Lost Horizon, a man visits a place called Shangri La, a place so beautiful that he spends the rest of his life trying to get back to it. Heaven is such a place. It is worth everything to go there.

So how do we get to heaven? It is simple. We put our trust in Jesus. Jesus' death on the cross washes away not only the guilt, but the power of sin in our lives. Whatever our sinful minds have done, whatever sinful lusts have driven us, he breaks the power of them, so that we can walk free of them.

Don't let the littleness of this life get you down.. God is in charge. He has a better place waiting for us, if we will only believe.

What is God for? Hope

2010-08-29T13:12:00.001-07:00

Today, I want to talk about a third aspect of what God is for—a hope for the hopeless. Before we discuss this, let’s talk about what hope actually is. Hope includes two aspects-- reality and feelings. In order for hope to help us, is must be both.

Let me illustrate. Suppose someone else did in my name and bought me a lottery ticket. I neither believe in nor approve of the lottery. Nevertheless, if you own a lottery ticket, there is an element of real hope associated with it. Any lottery ticket has the possibility, however infinitesimal, of financial gain. I certainly would not go out and run up my credit cards in anticipation, however.

Now, suppose that I had this ticket, but I did not believe it had any possibility of any real gain from it, and I tore it up. Whatever real hope there might be in that ticket would be lost. It would be worth nothing. It would be foolish on one hand to feel the ticket had value when it didn’t, and go borrow money on that basis. It also be foolish to tear it up, without at least waiting to see whether it actually had some value.

Or lets suppose you have a rare and serious illness. The doctors tell you there is no hope, so you give up treatment. Then one doctor says there is a possibility of a new treatment that might work. If you don’t believe it will work, you will not take the treatment, and it will do you no good. But if you think it has a possibility of working, you’ll move heaven and earth to have it.

Real hope is based on a possibility of gain. But without believing in that possibility—perceived or felt hope, then the real value does us no good.

If we perceive hope where there is none, we are just being delusional. If we have no hope where there is real hope, we are being fatalistic. Without some degree of hope, we give up the struggle. We must have hope to continue to live.

It is difficult to overestimate the value of hope. If we have hope, we will do anything, try anything,endure anything. But if we have no hope, even the most routine of activities becomes pointless.

The word "hope" in English is not strong enough to convey what the Bible says about hope. Our word means the possibility of improving situations. The word "hope" in both Hebrew and Greek means a great deal more than that. I means our improvement Is certain, if we stay on the right course.

In Hebrew, the word used is tiquvah. Translated literally int English, it means a rope or a cord. If we are going through a treacherous place, then a rope may be what we hold onto. It is a sure and certain guide before us.

In Greek he word is elpis. It is a word which mean, not only he possibility of improvement, but the certainty of it. Hope is acting on what is promised tomorrow today.

Recently, Joy and I got some new furniture for our living room. It took two weeks to deliver from the store. Druing that time, we were stuck with having to get rid of the old furniture. It took three trips and several house, but we finally got our furniture own to Hope, incorporated to distribute to a burned-out family. When we wer done we sat in a nearly empty living room for a day. If the furniture had not arrived on time, we would have been in a mess. But the furniture did arrive right on time, and our hope was validated.

Every day we make decisions based on hope. We cast our furniture in anticpation of another. We unpack one house and move into another. We reach out because we know we will be of use. Without hope, we would sit in our hoes and do nothing. Hope is something we must have to do anything. It is a necessary commodity to anything we do.

When we lose faith, we lose hope. If we really don't trust politicians, why vote? If we think we have no chance of making friends, then why be a friend? Everything we are and ever will be depends upon hope.

Christians know where hope comes from. It comes from Jesus Christ. Christ is the bringer of hope, more than anything else. The story of Christ's birth is a hopeful story. It shows us that God can come to earth in the most unlikely of places. The story of Christ's baptism brings hope, since it shows that the Messiah can come from anywhere. The story of Christ's miracles bring hope, since it shows that God can overcome anything, even death itself. The story of Christ's death and resurrection brings hope, since it shows that nothing not even death, can separate us from the forgiveness of sins that Jesus gave through his atoning work.

Our faith in Jesus is not vain. It is a real hope. Jesus really did die on the cross for our sins, and he really promises us forgiveness and true life forever. This is not an illusion.

But this hope does us no good unless we feel it. Hope is a thing we must have for ourselvs. It cannot ge given to us b others.

Paul says in Romans 5:1-4

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Hope is an upward spiral to the Christian. As we practice hope that God will accept us by faith in Him, and we anticipate that by praising Him, we learn perseverance, which develops our character, including that characteristic of hope.

Christ gives brought us four kinds of hope to us.

1. He gave us hope for an experience of God.

I believe that everyone instinctually has a desire to see and experience God in their lives. We see this in the way all cultures have developed a sense of divinity, whether it be true or false. We all want fellowship with Him.

In our modern age, many have turned away from all divinity, and declared themselves atheists or agnostics. Even so, they we have kept in our stories, a longing for wonder, a hope for something truly amazing to break into our lives. The reason people seek our ghosts, UFO's and psychic phenomena is because they want to believe there is something greater than ourselves who will come and rescue us. In Communist countries like China and North Korea, their leaders are woshiped as gods. Having done away with the true God, they put worldly rulers in His place

But the only hope we have of speaking to God is through Jesus Christ. Sin has separated ourselves form the truth. We cannot restore is, s we must rely upon God's mercy through Jesus to ope n the door that would otherwise be shut to us. "For there is just one name in heaven and earth by which ou must be saved." .

2. He gave us hope to change our lives and attitudes.

When do you think personality is formed--College? High school? Preschool? When does it become too late for a person to change?

Some people believe that there is no possibility to change. Behaviorists, racists, and gay rights activists all have one thing in common--they believe there are aspects of who we are that came from birth, and cannot be changed later.

We do not have to be any one of those to believe we are predetermined from birth.

As we get older, more and more we accept the lie that we cannot change. In time, we quit trying. But Jesus can still change us, whether we are two years old or a hundred. We can always start again. When we trust Jesus, we are born again. A new life begins, and a new hope comes with us.

3. He gave us hope for eternal life.

When we are young, we think we will live forever. In our country, death is far from most of us for a long time. So we never sit and contemplate the reality of death. One day we will exist on this world, and the next day we will not.

The Bible says that there is another life waiting for us--heaven. Heaven does not have the limitations of this life, nor does it have the temptations. Heaen is forever, and the joy of heaven is forever.

The way we understand heaven makes all the difference in the way we understand this life. If there is no heaven, it doesn't matter what we do. Eefyting will be ther same. But if there is a heaven, then we should live and obey in a way that helps us get there. If there is no heaven, then we should do everything we can to stay alive, no matter what it does to others. A live coward is better than a dead hero. But if ther eis a heaven, then death is not the worst thing. Missing out on eternity is the worse thing, and death which leads to heaven is the best thing we can ever have.

4. He gave us hope for a new world.

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth" John said. "For the old heaven and the old earth have passed away." To which the believer will no doubt say "Well, It's about time!" Sin had left this world with some terrible flaws. It is a tough, selfish world to live sin, and it is getting worse. Mark Twain once said that man was a little lower than the angels, and has been getting a little lower ever since. But the hope that we have for ourselves also extends to the whole world. God will make it right. We do not have to despair.

Let us have hope, then. Let us live in that hope and die in that hope. God's hope will not disappoint.

What is God For? A Pattern For Living

2010-08-29T13:09:00.001-07:00

There are two kinds of people in the world—“thinkers” and “doers.” (This doesn’t men thinkers don’t do or that doers don’t think—it’s what they like to do first that puts them in these categories.

Statistically, the doers outnumber the thinkers four to one. Yet in the church, the majority of preachers are thinkers and the majority of their congregations are doers.

Preachers are rarely practical. They are fond of concepts and ideas, so they figure everyone else should be, too. But most people are much more interested in what to do than why. No wonder so many people are lost in church.

Let’s assume that the majority of you are doers rather than thinkers. What can God do for you doers, who are not interested in theological nuggets of truth? Well, neither is God. God is more interested in us doing and obeying than in us understanding and thinking.

The original name for the Christian movement was the Way, It was a way of life, not some kind of vague theology. Early Christians were more interested in following Jesus than they were in arguing about theology. Jesus really expects us to pick up our crosses and follow Him, not just talk about Him. He demands our obedience and not just our thoughts.

Which brings us to Moses.

When Moses led God’s people to the gates of the Promised Land, I think he knew that chaos was coming. Each tribe, village, and family would be governed by their own set of rules. There would be no central authority. It would be a mess for centuries.

God foresaw this, too. That is why He had Moses preach five final sermons before they entered. These sermons were called Deuteronomy—the second law. He laid before them God’s way one more time.

Over and over, Moses tells them to obey God, and follow His commandments. Let them be your pattern for living.Deuteronomy 5:32-6:25 is very typical. In it, God tells us of all the benefits that will come to us if we follow God’s pattern of life.

1. When we follow God’s pattern, we live long and prosper.

32 So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.

God has a way of punishing the wicked. He does not usually swoop down from the sky like some superhero. More often, God punishes sin by His absence, not His presence. He stays out of our affairs and the natural results of sin does the rest.

Every evil we can name--financial ruin, famine, war, climate change, drugs, violence, AIDS—comes as a result of sin. The ultimate product of sin is the wrath of God.

God’s rules are safety instructions for the long road of life. If we run up our credit cards, don’t be surprised if we run out of money. If we don’t take care of our bodies, don’t be surprised if we have health problems. If we get into our cars, and do not fasten our seatbelts, don’t be surprised when we fly around in a crash. If we disobey God, don’t be surprised if we suffer.

There are positive rewards, too, if we obey Him, If we do, we live longer, more pleasant, and more fruitful lives. His rewards are piled up on us—more than we deserve.

2. When we follow God’s pattern, He keeps the blessings flowing.

6:1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.

3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.

If we have learned anything from the financial mess this country is in, it is this--you can give a man a loan for a house, but that doesn’t mean he can afford to pay it back. If there is no discipline involved in getting a gift, there will be no responsibility to care for what is given.

The Israelites were in a similar position. For hundreds of years, God promised them a land, a paradise, flowing with milk and honey. But when they got there they discovered that is was not a paradise yet. You can’t have milk unless you tend the cows. You can’t have honey unless you harvest the hive. It wasn’t ever intended just to flow out of the ground. Happiness involves work. Work is the means God uses to bring us His blessings.

3. When we follow God’s pattern, we love Him.

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Do you love the Lord? Moses is not talking about a feeling. It is having the resolve to serve him with every portion of our being. You don’t always feel it, but it’s something you do, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

Loving God means we take on a new purpose in life—obeying Him. When you die, it will not matter how much you leave behind. You children may squander it anyway. It will not matter what you’ve accomplished in life. All that will matter is who you have accomplished it for.

4. When we follow His pattern, we get more than we deserve.

10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you — a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant — then when you eat and are satisfied,

When we love God, He loves us back. He gives to us, not based on what we earn, but based on His unbounded love.

Life isn’t fair. We deserve we don’t get and we get what we don’t deserve. We don’t deserve heaven. We don’t deserve God’s presence in our lives. We don’t deserve to be called God’s children. Yet he gives all this and a thousand times more to us anyway.

Moses says that when they go into the promised lands, they will move into the abandoned houses and fields of the previous tenants. They will have gardens they did not plant and fields they did not clear. It isn’t fair. But it’s love. God will move others out of the way so that His people can have what they need. Like any parent, he is partial to His children, and he will not withhold any good thing from us—even if it belongs to someone else.

5. When we follow God’s pattern, we survive.

20 In the future, when your son asks you, "What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?"

21 tell him: "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.. . . 24 The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. 25 And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness."

A tour guide in Israel once told me about visiting a Bedouin sheikh in his enormous tent in the wilderness. He was rich and educated, yet he still lived in a tent. She asked him why.

He replied that his people had been there since before the days of Abraham. Other people became greedy or insecure and wanted to settle down. But their people were content to live in tents, following the ways of their ancestors. When people tried to hold on to this land, they eventually were run off. But they were there to pick up the pieces.

We are not just individuals. We are part of something larger—a family of God. We follow a pattern of life that is at least as old as the Bedouins. That pattern gives us security and comfort, knowing that it will be there for our children, and our children’s children. God’s pattern will never be rescinded. It will be there forever. And so will we.

What is God for? Comfort

2010-08-06T10:22:00.000-07:00

Comfort is one of the great benefits of believing. Of all the benefits of God, the comfort is recognized the most necessary. Even companies, hospitals, and police recognize the need for a chaplain knows that he wants to have a chaplain.

But religion is a more than comfort. In fact, the comforting nature of religion, if pushed too far, can actually get in the way of some of the other beliefs.
What's wrong with comfort? The first problem is that most of the time, we don't need it. If things are going well, the last thing we need is someone telling us that it's all right and that we should just take it easy. But to many people, that is the main purpose of religion. Karl Marx once said that religion is the opiate of the masses. He typifies the unbelievers' view of religion as no good for anything but comfort.
May Christians have bought into this, too. They only go to church when they need comfort. They keep their religion on upper shelf of their medicine cabinet, and only take it out when we are hurting. The rest of the time, they pretty much avoid it.
Young people particularly have a problem with "comfort" religion. They are not so much looking for a comfort as the are challenge. Yet when they go to church, they see a lot of older, hurting people who want to hear about the sweet heaven, while they are looking for some meat to chew on. No wonder they think that God doesn't have anything to say with them. Maybe someday when they get old and feeble, they'll need the comforting of God, but for not now.
Preaching to people's needs is a challenge for any pastor, because their needs are not all the same. Those who need comfort really need to hear the gentle word of God. Those who need challenge really need the challenge of God. So how do you feed both at the same time?
It might help if we understood what "comfort" actually is. It means "to strengthen together." To be comforted is to be fortified for a siege. God comfort us when He comes along and fortifies us to face the challenge of life.
Comfort is not safety from battle. It is strength in battle. Comfort is not ease, it is courage and confidence.
Let me illustrate this by pointing to a passage that we often use to comfort people when they are hurting--Psalm 91. Next to Psalm 23, it's probably used at more funerals and sickbeds than any other chapter. It begins:
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust."
The psalm starts off with exactly what we want and need to hear. If we live in the shelter of the Almighty, we can hide under His shadow. WE are under his protection, and we can hide under his shadow. We can sleep in perfect trust , because we know that He is watching over us.
Then the psalm goes off in an odd direction.
Surely he will save you
from the fowler's snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers,
And under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be
your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you make the Most High your dwelling
— even the LORD, who is my refuge —
Then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
What wonderful words! No one can lay a trap for us! No disease can touch us. No terror can overtake us by night! No warrior can shoot us by day! Thousands may be mown down like grass to the right of us and to the left, but we are left standing, proud and protected, with the Lord at our side. We may have to see what happens to those wicked people when they get what they deserve, but it won't happen to them us! At the end of the day, we will still be standing!
What wonderful words--If only it were true.
I do not question the veracity of God, or that these words were true when David wrote them. I must point out, however, that these words which were given by God for a specific set of circumstances, do not reflect the reality of what happens every day. Anyone who has had a bit of mileage on them knows that Go does not always shield us from disaster.
Steve Brown in his book When the Rope Breaks tells the trut story ofa woman and her children who were caught in a fire. The fireman told her to take hold of a rope and climb out the window. So she did, with her children behind her. He assured her that the rope would hold, and that they would be there to catch them.
Only the rope did not hold. It broke, and they fell to their deaths.
Last year, three deacons and a pastor from that Baptist church in Georgia, who were coming back from a golf outing with the church men at Myrtle Beach. Here at 903 and Potter Road, somehow the lost control of a car, hit a truck and the were all dead.
I think about the first funeral I ever did--a four year old boy who died of cancer. I think about the missionaries in the '60's who went to the jungles of South America and were slaughtered by the natives.
I think about the countless men and women over they years who have looked at me in times of distress and ask "Why?"
Sometimes we get mowed down with the rest of the grass. Sometimes, trouble does not come near us, and sometimes we're caught right in the middle.
We've all asked the question from time to time--why didn't you do what you said you would do in Psalm 91? If the comfort God promises in times of trouble is based upon His protecting us from bad things, then His promises aren't worth the paper they are written on.
We preachers try to answer this question all the time. Truthfully, we usually don't handle it much better than anyone else.
Our first response is just to repeat the words, only louder. We see the problem here. We know that that God really doesn’t save us from every harm, but we don't want to admit it. So we just repeat it, over and over again. It is comforting to hear someone say that God will spare us from suffering, but we know it isn't the whole truth. So we just assert over and over, and suggest that anyone who doesn't believe it doesn't have faith, anyway, and so they won't be protected. If anyone suffers, it must be because they aren't claiming the promises loudly enough, and with enough sincerity..
Our second response is to change the subject. Liberal preachers (who never believed the Bible is true anyway) do not look for miracles or divine protection. They just say that David was being too simplistic, and that we should not take it literally. Instead, they mumble on about the divine inside us all, and how we should be loving to the poor, and hope that their congregations do not notice that they have basically stopped believing in the comfort of God years ago. The only comfort they offer is the thought that somehow they are smarter and more sophisticated than others.
But neither wishful thinking nor elite dismissal is what the Bible means by comfort. God still protects us most of the time. When He does not, He still comforts us all the time.
Suffering is part of the human condition. God created people with a limited life span. Not everyone will die of old age, or in old age People die of a variety of causes, not just one.
While we ae here, God doesn't expect us to live without suffering. We grow old. We get up in the morning with aches and pains. We get headaches. We get the flu. The weather produces heat waves and hurricanes. This is not because of any sin we have committed, but because we live in a material world which has a beginning and an ending. Sickness and death entered this world at the time of the Fall, and will not cease until our death or Second Coming, whichever comes first.
So if God saved us from every fowler's snare, or every deadly pestilence, or if every arrow missed his mark, we wouldn't be a human life. We might as well be Superman.
This is where comfort comes in. Comfort is being in the middle of this fallible, suffering, human world, but with the power of God at our side, helping us to negotiate the hard parts.
David says this at the end of the Psalm
14 "Because he loves me,"
says the LORD, "I will rescue him;
I will protect him,
for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call upon me,
and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him
and show him my salvation."
Where is God when we are suffering? He is with us, giving us just the right amount of help to get us through this tough world.
He does not always rescue us at the moment, but he eventually does, when He it is time.
He does not always protect us, but he eventually does, so that our souls survive.
He does not always give us long life on earth, but it does not matter since we have an eternity in heaven.
But at all times and in all circumstances He is with us.
"I am always with you," Jesus said, Even till the end of the age." God entered into our world. Sharing our suffering, so that we may know that our suffering is not in vain. He took on suffering so that He could comfort us in suffering, too. If Jesus could endure the pains of all humanity, then so can we, with His help. Suffering is not all there is to life, but when we must suffer, we do

A Reason to Live

2010-08-02T08:37:00.003-07:00

On September 11, 2001, nineteen men boarded four airplanes, gained entrance to the cockpits, and hijacked them. Three of the airplanes hit their targets. One crashed in an open field

Two weeks later, a friend from Rock Hill--Kyle Torreyson, left for New York with the Red Cross. He served doughnuts and breathed the poisoned air of the World Trade Center. Years later, Kyle got cancer from being there. He knew it was a possibility when he went, but he was willing to risk his life to serve doughnuts and ground zero.

In the last nine years, hundreds of thousands of men and women have gone into harm’s way in Iraq and Afghanistan—every one a volunteer. Thousands did not come back. But they went, believing in a cause greater than themselves.

There is a big question that hangs over all of this. Why do people walk into danger, even certain death? There is one simple answer--because they believe in something greater than self, greater than comfort, and even greater than family.

It was the same reason that Christ went to the cross. If life is all there is, then it doesn’t make sense.

Spirituality is not just a matter of religion. Just as there is a Holy Spirit, there is a human spirit--a part of all people regardless of their beliefs. That spirit fulfills an essential function in who we are and what we do.

Think of the human soul as a triangle. The top two sides are our physical and the psychological self. The physical side contains our bodies and the needs of our bodies. It involves our health, our jobs, houses, etc. Our psychological self is everything that it non-material--our relationships, social standing, memories, intellect, and our wants and needs.

But underneath all this, there has to be a foundation. The foundation is our spiritual self. It is the system of belief and values that keeps us going. It helps us resist temptation, take the difficult road, keep on enduring, and put ourselves in harm’s way, when necessary. It is what makes a man fight for his country, and a missionary travel to the ends of the earth. It is what we love and believe.

This spiritual basis is not just a feeling. It is farther down than feelings. People will act contrary to all their feelings if they do it for love or loyalty. There is something that cries out to be part of something greater than ourselves. We want to have contributed, not only to our family, but to our world.

Years ago there was a psychiatrist named Maslow, who came up with an idea he called the "priority of need." He said that if a man is hungry he will think about nothing but food. If he is insecure, he will think about nothing but security. But if a man is full and if he is secure, he will think about other things--love, a family, friendship. If he has those things, then he will seek for something else--something he called "self-actualization." It is having a purpose in life. We do not want to think that we've lived and died in vain.

I disagree with Maslow in one way. I think that this desire for a reason to live is far deeper than food or drink, or security. I think everyone, no matter where they might be, needs to have a reason to live.

And the first place people go who need a reason to live is to their church.

God promised Jeremiah this when he said “For I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not evil to give you an end and a purpose.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

God has a plan and purpose for our lives.

Unfortunately, many will walk away from church without a reason. They will leave frustrated and disappointed, because the church does not give them a reason to live.

Try to imagine what it is like for the poor seeker who comes to church. He comes looking for a challenge, a real God, and real love. He wants to be part of God’s great movement in

But what does the seeker get instead? He hears tired old songs, incomprehensible messages, meaningless rituals, and people who look as though they can't wait to get out and go home. The messages are aimed at soothing and comforting those who are already saved. The seeker does not want soothing and comforting. He wants a fresh challenge and a holy cause. It's frustrating for a seeker, especially a young seeker, to find that the church has no reason to exist, except to keep its own members comfortable. It is as though they showed up at the army recruiters and discovered they were meeting inside the lobby of a nursing home. They take one look at the people around him, and leaves because he thinks he’s gone to the wrong place.

What is your reason for living? Don’t say that your reason for living is to get to heaven—that’s our reason for dying, not living. That’s like saying that the reason for doing your job is to retire. We need more than that—some reason for being here in this life. We need to know why we are doing what we are doing.

There was once a king named Solomon. He had great wisdom and knowledge. He had literally hundreds of women at his beck and call. He had all the money he could stand. He had absolute power. But none of this gave him a reaon to live. He said of it all, "Meaningless--it is all meaningless." After he explored wine, women, wealth, and wisdom, he still could not find a reason to live.

Most people live like Solomon without the wealth and power. They live for pleasure, wealth, or fame. As long as they can have a good time, then they do not care whether life has a meaning or not. In the end, though, money fades, along with power and glory. Even the people we love on earth, even our family disappears in the end/

Suppose some day we stand before God and God asks us "what have you made with the life I have let you borrow?" Would we say. "I sat six hours a day in front of my big screen TV all week, and spent two days on the lake in my motor boat. I owned a vacation home, listening to my music, and partied whenever I got the chance?" Meaningless, Solomon said--all is meaningless.

There is something I've noticed about some people who become wealthy. They are no happier than the poor. The rich seem to go through three stages. First, they use their wealth to meet their needs, and their family's needs. That ought to make them happy, but I usually doesn’t. Then they feel the need to play with their wealth. They fulfill their wildest desires. But after a while, this, too becomes boring. Finally, they get an itch to do something important with their money. They give to charity, politics, or religion. They look for a reason to spend, and a cause to suppoer.

I wish it were true for all rich people, but it is not. Some people never grasp that were given what they have to give what they can. Too late, they recognize Solomon’s words-- "Meaningless--all is meaningless."

It was not until late in his life that Solomon understood it’s meaning. He wrote in Ecc. 12:13-14 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.

You don't have to be as rich or as smart as Solomon to find the meaning. You don't even have to read Solomon’s book. Just flip to the back page and read the conclusion. We exist to fear and obey God. He is the meaning of life.

How do we do that?

First know what you believe. Don't settle for secondhand faith. Is fearing God and obeying His commandments really foremost in us? Or do we say that because we think we are supposed to say it?

We are all too quick to let others think for us. We often are guilty not putting what we hear to the test. As a result, when tests come, we find that our faith is not as strong as we thought. Second hand religion produces secondhand lives--lives that are carbon copies of those we have observed, without any divine spark of purpose. Secondhand faith does not really inspire

us to deep purpose or sacrifice.

In Herman Hesse's novel Siddharta, a seeker after truth in India spend years searching for the Buddha. When he finally meets the Buddha, he receives an invitation to become a disciple. The man turns him down. When the Buddha asks why, he replies tha the wants what Buddha has, not just o follow him. He wants bo be enlightened, not to live off he enlightenment of others. This ought to be the vision of we Christians. We want to now Christ, not to just know those who know Christ. We want to serve Christ, not to serve those who serve Christ. This kind of faith cannot be arrived at without struggle.

Second, know what is really important. Don't waste time on secondhand goals.

There is only one leading north from Waxhaw--highway 16. They have been working on that intersection and it has been shut down. Now, suppose I went to the drug store, taking my usual, and came to that detour. Instead of going around, I park my car and wait until they reopened the street. My real goal is not to pass through that intersection, bt to get to the other side. That would be confusing the road with the destination.

We confuse our road with our destination. The church could use a building, but our goal is not to build church buildings. We make money, but now to have money. We don’t even raise children for their sake, but to instill in them the same reason for existence as we have ourselves. God is the purpose for our being, and all other things take second place.

Third, constantly reinforce the truth. Don't settle for being a "cross-eyed" Christian. Know our purpose does not end our struggle. Our minds must be conquered for Him, bringing every thought into captivity for His divine purpose.

Faith requires constant reinforcement. Even Paul had to to this. See Phil 3:13-14

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Moses put it this way in Deut 6:4-9 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Today, no doubt, he would put it differently. He might say “Hang them as pictures on your walls. Put them as bumper stickers on your cars. Make them the screen savers on your computers. God wants us to put Him in before us at all times. That’s because God knows how easily we forget. So we must keep being reminded that we have a reason to live.

A Reason to

Listening

2010-08-02T08:36:00.001-07:00

1 Kings 19:11-13

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

There are two kinds of people in this world—those who hear God speaking, and those who do not. Most of us fall in this latter category. We hear God only rarely, if at all. When we do, it is usually through some indirect means such as the Bible or a sermon. We do not expect that God will speak directly to us, because we live in a world that is rational and pragmatic. To us, a thunderstorm is just a thunderstorm, and an earthquake is jus an earthquake. We don’t listen for the voice of God in them as Elijah did.

We don’t hear directly from God very often, and truthfully we like it that way. Divine revelation comes from a world we cannot control or understand. It upsets our feeling of being in control of our own existence. That is why we neither seek nor do we expect to hear God’s voice. We wake in the morning and go to bed at night with no expectation of dreams, visions, or omens.

Even so, there are a few people who fit into the former category. They hear from God all the time. They hear from God in the same way others hear from their wives or husbands. Everything that happens to them is a sign of God’s presence.

Most of my life has been spent among people who did not regularly hear from God. Even as a believer, I had no expectation that I would regularly hear from Him. Outside of some vague feelings of peace, I really could not say there was much actual communication from Him—neither did anyone I knew claim to have direct contact with the Almighty.

Then in the summer between high school and college I worked at a Christian summer camp in the mountains of Tennessee. There were church services twice a day at the camp, and all kinds of pastors and evangelists came and went from the camp. One of them was a man who claimed to have seen angels. I asked him if he had really ever seen an angel. He replied “Yes, there’s one standing over there in the corner.” Was he crazy? Or was he a man who actually was able to see angels.

In the Bible, some people had the ability to peer into the spiritual realms. Jacob had dreams of angels. Joseph was an interpreter of dreams. God spoke regularly with Adam and Eve. Noah heard from God and built the ark. Abraham heard from God and left his country. Moses heard the Ten Commandments and the Law. During the Exodus, God went before his people in a pillar of fire. The Prophets were all called by God, and spoke the oracles of God. John heard from God and wrote about the end of the world. Throughout the Bible people communicated directly with God.

The great men and women of the Bible all had this in common—they heard God. Think about the wisest man in the Bible (Solomon). His intelligence did not make him wise. Whatever wisdom he had came from his communication with God. Think about the most foolish hero in the Bible (Samson). He became great in spite of being foolish, because he knew how to draw on the power of God. Listening to God is made both of them great. Neither were paragons of virtue, but when they listened and obeyed, they were great.

Yet most Christians do not expect to hear from God. Why?

We have been told that God speaks to man only infrequently--and there is some justification for this. In the Bible, there are often hundreds of years between divine visitations. When God speaks, not everyone hears Him. Even if He is speaking, we may not listen.

Why God chooses to speak clearly only infrequently I do not know. But God has caused a veil to fall between us and the full extent of His majesty and presence. In the Bible, we sometimes see examples of people who encounter God, and anyone who did was permanently changed. The direct sight of God in our bodies of flesh strikes us with fear and terror. God usually appears veiled to us in the natural, so that we may stand His presence.

But God does reveal Himself in indirect ways. God shows Himself in the creation of the World. He has also revealed him in the written record of His acts on earth—the Bible. God handles us with the gloves of this rational world. But if we are discerning, and recognize His presence behind all things, we encounter him every day.

Prayer is part talking, but mainly listening. So why don’t we hear His voice more often? Why don’t we see angels, or have visions? Why do we not hear the quiet whisper?

Hearing God requires three things—faith, calmness, and discipline.

Faith is the assurance that God still speaks to people today. In the Bible, God sometimes spoke in an audible voice--through dreams, visions and signs. The way God speaks is through impressions in the heart. We feel His voice more than hear it. This is where faith comes in. We learn to trust the inner voice of the Father.

Those who hear God’s voice often believe that they will. They are looking for it. Everything that happens might be an omen. Every dream might be a message. Every impression of the heart must be paid attention to. God can speak through anything and anywhere.

I do not mean to say that every impression is of God. But some impressions of the heart are from God, so we had better listen to them.

In regard to divine impressions, it is a good rule to keep four harbor lights in sight when we navigate those waters. First--the written Word of God. Second--the witness of the Spirit in our heart. Third--circumstances that God arranges. Last--the witness of others. Before we make a serious decision based on an impression, we should wait until the lights line up.

Here’s a rule of thumb on divine impressions. If it involves no risk or inconvenience, then we should do it immediately. But if God is telling us to do something that is life-changing, we should seek careful confirmation before we act upon it. That confirmation should come from circumstances, other believers, the Bible, as well as the inner voice of the heart. If God wants us to move in a certain direction, He will make it abundantly clear before we go.

Calmness is a second prerequisite to hearing listening to God. We must stop what we are doing and listen. To hear the voice of God, we must learn to be calm. Psalm 131 says I have calmed and quieted my soul. Until we learn to be calm, we cannot hear that still small voice.

How do we get calm? First of all, we need to turn off the noise and distractions. We who live in a technological age are seldom calm and quiet. We are bombarded with sensory overload. If we are to hear God clearly, then we must break free of all this. We must get away and listen.

This cannot happen overnight. But it can be done, even in the busiest of lives. Remember that God wants time alone with you, even if you don’t want time with Him. He desires to speak with you more than you desire to listen.

We are not likely to hear God’s voice over the television or radio noise. We have to get alone in a quiet place. If you are still trying to have devotions between commercials or driving down the road, you will probably miss much of what God is saying. So lay aside your outward distractions, and concentrate on that “still small voice” within.

There are many techniques. One is to take a single verse each day, repeat it to yourself, over and over until you have memorized it. Concentrating on one verse or phrase can help you focus on Him. Clear your mind of everything but thoughts of Him, and then look at the world around you.

Have you ever seen a “magic eye” picture? When you first see it, it looks like a meaningless pattern. But usually there are two dots at the bottom.

If you look at the two dots, then cross your eyes until the two dots seem to come together. Then when you look at the picture and be still, a picture seems to emerge from the mess, and hover above the page. By focusing on the dots and looking away, you see the message in the mess. The same is true with hearing from God. Once we focus on Him, we can see the method in the mess around us.

The third prerequisite is discipline. Discipline is denying those feelings which we think of as natural instincts for a higher purpose.

Listening to God also must become a habit. God speaks to us primarily in two ways—through the Word of God, and the Spirit of God. If we are to hear God, we must discipline ourselves to constantly seek the Word of God. The Word of God to us is the Bible.

One thing we can know about God is that He will never contradict the truth that He has already said. Our God is a God of consistency and order. That is why we need to make a constant, lifetime study of the Bible. The Bible is a record of what He said to the people of God in the past. Nothing that God says to us today will contradict what He has said in the past.

One of the names for the Bible is the “canon” of Scripture. “Canon” means a plumb line, a weight on a string used to test whether a building is truly perpendicular. The words of the Bible give us a measure of whether or not we have heard correctly.

As we begin to listen, it is vitally important that we read the whole Bible in a systematic fashion. If we only read portions of it, who knows what we might be missing.

We need to have humility while we read. There are many things in the Bible that a casual reader may not comprehend. That is why commentaries and other Bible helps are so important. Those who know the Bible can help us interpret it correctly.

Throughout church history, whenever God wanted to change His people’s direction, he usually did it through someone reading the Bible, and discovering something they had missed. When the church of the Middle Ages was going in the wrong direction, God showed Martin Luther a single verse in Romans “The just shall live by faith.” This revelation from the Scriptures changed the course of world history.

God may not change history through what He shows you in the Bible, but He will certainly change your life and direction.

God has a message for you. You must seek that message through faith, calmness, and discipline.

The Prayer of Asking

2010-08-02T08:35:00.001-07:00

We have been learning about the various skills that go into effective prayer.

The meaning of the word "pray" means “to ask.” This aspect of prayer is also called petition.

Jesus said this.

Matt 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 for everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Luke 18:6-8 and will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?

John 14:13-14 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Jesus wants us to ask, so he can give. Yet we act as if it is an imposition!

re are dangers in petition, of course. Here are a few examples of prayer that God will not answer.

“God, I want to die!”

“God, punish him!”

“God, help me win this game!”

“God, let me win the lottery!”

“God, let me live forever!”

“God, take away this test!”

I confess that there is much about prier I do not understand. But one thing I do not, God desires us to be utterly dependent upon Him in all things. He wants us to uphold us, because He loves us. There is no good logical reason for this. It is an emotional desire of God to be loved. Just as worldly parents desire to care for their children, so our heavenly father desires to take care of His.

But how do we petition God? What do we ask for? How do we know what He wants us to ask? God has given us a pattern for effective petition in the Lord’s Prayer.

The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to prayer. Other rabbis often gave his disciples prayers to pray. But there is nothing in the passage to suggest that Jesus was giving them the Lord’s Prayer simply to repeat. This was a pattern prayer—an example that still applies today.

The Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6: 9-13.

The Lord’s Prayer is not some kind of mantra to be repeated by rote. It is a pattern for our prayer life, and a revealer of God’s desire. It shows us both in what order we should pray for things, and how we should pray or hem. It is a brilliant piece of work.

Let’s see it piece by piece.

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed is Thy Name.”

The first lesson we learn from the Lord’s Prayer is that God cares more about the “who” in our relationship than the “what.” God doesn’t care what your prayers sound like, or if you get the words right. All he cares about is that first and foremost we acknowledge Him to be our holy Lord as well as our divine Father. Our relationship matters to Him.

In New York they have automats. It is a mechanical restaurant, without waitresses or cooks. Everything is prepackaged. You just stick your coins in the appropriate slots and out comes fruit, apple pies, sandwiches, and soups, whatever. You never have to talk to a real person at all.

This might be an efficient way of distributing food, but it is not very appealing. People like to receive their meals from people, not from slots. We like to have waitresses take our order. We enjoy the touch of a human hand. It’s nice to know the person giving us the food.

God is not an automat. Our spiritual nourishment comes from a relationship with Him. Prayer begins with an acknowledgement of that relationship. If we cannot say that God is our Father and our Lord, then don’t ask for anything until we get our relationship straight. He is our Father, and He is holy. This is praise—the acknowledgement of who God is and what He has done for us.

“Our Father” he says--not just “My Father“ but ours. There is a second relationship at play here. We are not just related to God, but to all who stand praying beside us. Our prayers are not just something we do as individuals, but we also are part of a praying and loving group of people. We are first part of an “our” and secondarily a “my.” God wants us to pray for our group needs first before e pray for our personal ones.

“Thy Kingdom Come.” This is a call to join in God’s battle against global darkness. Darkness. Before we pray for anything else, remember that the needs of the world are greater than our own little circle. It is a desire to see God’s kingdom grow.

Imagine we were praying for our country. “Lord, let America grow.” What would that prayer imply? It would imply that America was to perfect, that it was not yet big enough. We would be saying that we want America to encompass more land and more people. We would be praying that the government we enjoy would be expanded to include others.

That’s the problem with most of our prayers. We really don’t want God’s kingdom to grow. Can we truthfully say we want the people around us in the church? Do we want all races, all classes to be represented in the church? Or would we rather see only our faithful few people our own race, our own culture, our own music.

Culture is defined by the externals—language, clothing, music, customs. When we want the church to look like it always did and sound like it always did, and when we resent others who might make it different, then we are saying essentially that we are only interested in the Kingdom of God coming to those who are already much like ourselves. We would rather see the kingdom isolated. Therefore, we cannot pray with all sincerity “Thy kingdom come.” We only want the kingdom to come to our own little place and group.

When we pray “Thy Kingdom come,” We need to get down to specifics. What part of the world do you want Jesus to come to? Where are the greatest needs? Who needs to be overcome by the Kingdom of God? When do you want to see it? How can we best help in the bringing in of the Kingdom? These specifics make it more real to us.

“Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” Do we pray for social improvement? Are there places in our world that do not conform to God’s will?

Often this petition is misunderstood. It is prayed as a kind of fatalistic acquiescence to the will of God, a kind of excuse for our prayers not being answered. If all “thy will be done” meant was, “God do whatever you wish,” then why pray it at all. Do you think that a sovereign, almighty God needs our approval or encouragement to do His will? This is not necessary, and may even be hindrance to effective prayer. God already knows His will.

This is a call to action, not passivity. We should be praying that His Will be true in all the earth.

Before we pray for ourselves, lift up the needs of others. Pray “God, let Your Will come in my neighbor’s life” before we ask that it come in our own.

Again, this calls us to ask for specifics. What specific circumstances in the world need to change? Where is the world tour of God’s will? Where does it need to be more like heaven?

Think about the Christians who behind the Iron Curtain. They prayed for the Berlin Wall to come down. Then one day it did. Think about the Christians during World War II. They prayed that Hitler would be defeated, and one day he was. Think about the many slaves who prayed for their freedom and then were free. They were praying for the Will of God to come. Prayer was an effective a weapon as tanks, planes, or the atomic bomb.

When you pray for the will of God, pray for specifics. Where in your community, in your world, in your neighborhood does the will of God need to be realized? When we ask specifically we get specific answers.

“Give us this day, our daily bread.”

Pray for our own needs—after we have prayed for others. When we do, we should boldly state them.

“Daily” is a key word. Most of us desire a safe, regular, and predictable life. But a safe, predictable life does not force us to pray. God wants us to seek safety in Him, not in careful planning or worldly security. He is our refuge for the future. Anything else that appears to guarantee us safety forever eventually becomes an idol.

There are three reasons for this. First, because He loves us and wants us to be happy. Second, because he wants us to be effective in our service of Him. Third, because it builds our faith.

Faith is like exercise. The more you stretch, the stronger you become. Start of by asking for little things. Then you can believe for big things.

Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

Near the end, the Lord’s Prayer includes a petition of confession and forgiveness. Notice that this confession comes after our daily bread. God’s provision for us is not based on our confession or our forgiveness, but upon His love for us, which has no conditions. He gives to us because He wants to give.

Because of His love to us, we owe a debt to him. This is not a legal obligation, but an obligation of love. When we fail God, we need to ask his forgiveness. First, we acknowledge that we have sinned. Then we acknowledge that we have been saved. It is a process that Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ called “spiritual breathing.” We exhale our sins and inhale forgiveness.

Then Jesus connects our forgiveness with the forgiveness of others. God is very serious about us forgiving those who have wronged us, just as He is serious about forgiving us. Our unforgiveness of others is the single greatest sin we commit that comes between us and Him.

Again bring this down to specifics. Who has wronged you that you have not forgiven? What specific thing sod you need forgiveness for? It is up to God to show us what forgiveness really means.

“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from The Evil One.” Temptation is inevitable, but yielding is not. We can resist. There is an Evil One. We pray not only for deliverance from temptation but also for deliverance from the Devil.

Anyone who thinks he can defeat Satan by his own power is a fool. Any one of us can defeat Satan, and resist temptation, but only by relying on the power of God.

There is one more portion of the Lord’s Prayer, as we are used to say it. “For Thine are the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.” There is a textual problem in this passage. Some ancient manuscripts include it that others do not. It is possible that these words may have been authentically Jesus’ words, and it was only recorded in some manuscripts. It is also possible that it was a translator’s note that got included later by copying. Whether or not it is authentic, it is true. It is His Kingdom, His Power, and His Glory. He is glorified by giving us what w asks and we ask to glorify Him. Anyone who asks Him will not be ashamed. God will give us what we ask, when we take the time to ask.

Positive Confession

2010-08-02T08:34:00.001-07:00

The other night I saw a program on the Navy Seal training, about how rigorous and frightening the training was. Only one in three persevere to the end.

Seals are the first who are called in on dangerous and deadly missions. Since they will be facing fear constantly, from the first moment they begin their training, they are constantly put in terrifying situations.

In one exercise he soldiers are put in a swimming pool with diving gear. While they are underwater, their trainers do everything in their power to cut off their air supply. The Seal must free himself from their trainers and survive underwater. Most people fail this test because of panic. So many failed, in fact that their trainers created a special program for those who failed to deal with panic.

The program involved three aspects. First, they must have a clear purpose. Second, they had to rehearse it mentally before they did it. Third, and most important, they were given a list of affirmations to say to themselves. We all have an inner dialogue going on at all time, which can either work for us or against us. They must answer fear with faith, despair with hope, and “I can’t” with “I can.”

What the Seal trainers his upon is old wisdom. It is the wisdom of confession.

Last week we began discussing of the skill of confession. Confession means agreeing with God. We agree that is sin and that righteousness is righteousness.

In the NIV version of the New Testament, “confess” is used ten times. Out of those ten time, only two times does it mean confession of sin (and one of them is problematical). I John 1:9 and James 5:16, though in the latter case, we are not told to confess our sins, but our shortcomimgs. In the other eight uses, it refers to the confession of Christ.

John 1:19-20 Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Christ."

Rom 10:9-10 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Phil 2:10-11 At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Heb 3:1Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess

Heb 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that confess his name.

In each of the passages, we confess we that Christ is sufficient.

This has a direct bearing on our prayers. When we pray, we should not pray in faith, nothing doubting. Yet our minds are full of doubt. Our faith is tentative at best. We can name a thousand reasons for fear. Fear is basic, animal instinct. Panic is natural.

But positive confession is the answer to fear. It is God’s way to reprogram our hearts and minds to obey and believe the voice of God.

Romans 12 1 says “Brethren, urge you by the mercies of God that you present yourselves a living sacrifice to God, wholly and acceptable to Him, and to not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind through the Word.”

Confess the truth to renew our hearts and minds. Prayer depends upon faith, and faith depends upon a renewed mind. It is a gift that God gives us through our agreement with Him. ]

So many things seem impossible. But when we look at the world from God’s perspective, nothing is impossible. In our worldly vision, we are brief candles, easily blown out.. We are simply bags of meat and chemicals, holding together for seventy to a hundred years, and then falling apart, We are tiny specks on a giant world, hardly significant at all. But when we look at things from God’s perspectives, we are greater than the angels. We are eternal children of an eternal God, not bound by time and space forever, but the most endurable thing in the entire universe. When the rest of the universe has collapsed in upon itself, we will still be with God.

So in prayer, we need to reaffirm what we confess.

Many Christians misunderstand the concept of positive confession. This is not positive thinking. Neither is magical manipulation of circumstances. It is rather our minds agreeing with God’s mind, and affirming what has always been true.

The dangers misapplication of positive confession are obvious. Once I attended a hospice seminar where a chaplain/psychologist was lecturing a group of volunteers about helping dying patients. One volunteer raised his hand and told about a wonderful patient he had. He said the man was told he was dying and refused to accept it. Instead, he told everyone that he would recover and refused to let anyone else tell him differently. To the volunteer, this was a good thing. But the lecturer merely said. “If you stand in the middle of the road while a truck is coming, and refuse to believe in the existence of trucks, you will be just as dead as if you did.” Positive thinking if it is not real can ruin faith, not encourage it.

So here are some guidelines to keep in mind.

\1. Positive confession must also be true confession. No positive confession will a dog into a cat, or poison into healthy food. Whatever we confess to must be true. No amount of belief in our athletic abilities will compensate for a lack of talent, training, and conditioning. No amount of positive faith will hold back the clock or guarantee us eternal life on this world. We will not win every battle, neither will we stay alive forever. Neither can everyone be rich and popular just by claiming that we will be. It is not God’s will that we all live forever on this world, and if God intended for there to be no sickness, then why did He not wipe out all germs. No, We must accept what is true, and what is from God’s hand.

2. Positive confession is Christ confession. The Gospel is our standard of truth.

The Gospel declares

--We are sinners. We should not tell ourselves over and over that we are good people when we are not.

--We cannot save ourselves. The ability to be good people comes from God, not from our own inherient nature. Jesus is the atonement for our sins.

-- Jesus died for us as an expression of a benevolent and caring God.

--Anyone can start over with God. No matter how many times we have sinned, the blood of Jesus still cleanses us from all sin. Any belief that leaves us at odds with God does not understand the nature of the atonement, or the Gospel.

3, A positive confession must be what God has said. The best positive confessions are those which reflect Biblical truth.

The Bible is a treasure trove of helpful affirmations. For example.

“Nothing is impossible with God.”

“I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”

“He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is fixed on You.”

“For He will never leave you or forsake you.”

“For you are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”

“God is working in all things for good for those who love God and are called accorgind to His purposes.”

“Nothing can separate us from the Love of God.”

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

There are thousands more verses from which me may form our positive confessions. The more we study the Scriptures, the more His promises leap out at us. We can use those verses as a basis for our prayers.

4. Positive confessions should be personal and specific. Do not just claim a general list of promises Do not just say “nothing can separate us from God.” Say “Nothing can separate me from God.” Just as last week we saw that if we keep our negative confession general, it is no good for cleansing our sins, so we also know that the same is true for positive confessions. We need to claim God’s promises for ourselves and not just for others. Make those claims personal.

5. Positive confessions should be repeated often. People who have trouble with faith do not accept a positive confession on the first hearing. They must repeat to themselves over and over. Studies habve shown that we are constantly talking to ourselves, saying in our minds more than three hundred to a thousand words a minute to ourselves. Much of what we say is negative and doubtful. If we are so prone to say the wrong things to ourselves over and over again, why should be not also say the right things, over and over again? The more we repeat the truth, the more it wbill cast out the lie.

6. Positive confessions should be public. Confess not just to ourselves, but to others. Tell others what you are saying. Let them know what you affirm. By telling others, it becomes more real to ourselves.

9. Positive confessions should be accompanied by positive action. Step out on faith. Do what you say you are going to do. Keep with people who are positive, and do not wallow in negativity. We become like the company we keep. Keep repeating the truth, and do not conform to the lie. Don’t allow yourself to fall into patterns that would be true if God’s word were not, but fill your mind with positive faith and joy.

For with the mouth, confession is made, Positive confession is the key to faith, just as faith is the key to prayer. Keep telling yourself the truth and it will take root in your heart.