And Worthy of Praise

The scroll of Rev. 5 contains the Will of God for the events that are to happen. It has often been called the Last Will and Testament of the Lord.  How do we know the Will of God? Whether it is as significant as this passage or a small matter in our lives, how do we know the Will of God? It is a great question.  Are we worthy to do what God is to do, wants done, or is doing. No. Who is worthy? I am glad you asked.  Revelation 5.12 provides the answer-                                                      “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,  
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”

Only Christ is worthy to know such.  However, we are in Christ and through Christ, we may know as well. Do you want to know the Will of God? Walk with Christ. Whether all your questions are answered or not (they won't be), you will be better off. 

Notice the sevenfold praise to God. Seven is considered a biblical perfect or complete number because the earth was completely created in 7 days. That kind of praise points to perfect praise.  Praise Him today!

Worthy of Worship

The scene of heaven in Revelation 4 is breathtaking.  The elders around the throne is quite a scene.  The creatures sound scary.  They are not intended to.  They are intended to sound overwhelming.   What is going on in this glimpse of heaven that we are let in on?
The twenty-four elders represent all the saints of God.  They are representatives of a nature.  Twelve represent the twelve tribes or all of God's People.  The other twelve represent the disciples or all that are reached by their sharing.  In other words, the second twelve represents Christian believers.  Twelve is considered a perfect number in the numerology of Revelation because it represents the twelve tribes of God's people.  What you have is a double perfection:  all saints before Christ and all saints since Christ.
In addition you have the four creatures.  They represent the cream of the crop of living beings.  You have the lion, the king of the wild, the ox, the king of domesticated animals, the human, the king of the living, and the eagle, the king of the air.  What are all believers and all living things doing?  They are laying down any reward that they have (their crowns) at the Lord's feet and giving Him praise saying:
Rev. 4.11-“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things
    and by your will they existed and were created.”
(www.lifejournal.cc)

They are remembering where they came from, giving praise to their Creator, and acknowledging Him as Lord of All in active worship.

We ought to do the same thing...today...all day...every day!

My Coffee

I learned to drink coffee in seminary.  They have a wonderful coffee shop on the campus of New Orleans Seminary and it was there (20 years ago) that I first tasted flavored coffee.  They had all kinds of favors and if there was a Starbucks around then, there was not one around where I was.  I had never seen different favors of coffee or chocolate covered coffee beans.  (Don't eat handfuls of those on a night before a test.  Too much caffeine will make you goofy.) I learned that I loved coffee hot and that if you let it cool off too much, it gets nasty.  I like hot coffee.

I also drank iced coffee for the first time.  I loved it as long as it was cold.  Lukewarm iced coffee when the ice is all melted is just nasty. 

Revelation 3 teaches me in the letter to the Laodiceans that God wants us on fire for Him, proclaiming Him loudly, if we are His Children, or to not claim Him at all.   Notice how He says it:
  “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.- Revelation 3.15-16 (www.lifejournal.cc)

There is no choice between the two!  We must be Hot for the Lord!  Be Steamy for Jesus today!  As fresh in Christ as a brand new poured cup of coffee.

Burning Bright

How is your light burning for the Lord?  It is easy for us to come up with reasons why we do not serve the Lord like we once did.  Maybe we have faced hard times.  Maybe things have not went our way.  However, if in the midst of our difficulties, we no longer burn with a love for the Lord, that is our problem, and we must repent.  You can work tirelessly doing the 'things of God' and not have your heart sold on God.  The consequences of doing that are crucial.  Read how John warns the church of Ephesus.
I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. ⁴ But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.- Revelation 2.3-5 (www.lifejournal.cc)
If the lampstand is the witness burning bright for the Lord, what will happen when we are just busy staying busy?  We will not be effective. 
Burn with the love of God!  Let nothing dampen your flame, slow you down, or get in your way. 
Love the Lord so much that you flame up for Him in all you do.

In the Midst

I have the joy this morning of writing on one of my favorite passages in all of Scripture.  In 2004 after finishing all of my doctoral seminars, I had finished all my requirements except the dissertation.  I struggled with what to write on.  I had always wanted to do indepth research on the book of Revelation and gain a better understanding of it.  I had never really been satisfied with what I had read and heard.  Most, that I have heard or read, believe that the entire book concerns what will happen in our tomorrows with no true revelance to the 1st century (at least, that they would spend any time on).  Others that I had read simply saw it has history and not as futuristic at all.  I firmly believe the answer is somewhere in between.  So I set out to start studying the book of Revelation.   The study culminated with a 250 plus page dissertation on the book, followed by a year long sermon series.
I said all that to say:  my favorite passage in all of the book of Revelation is the following: ¹² Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, ¹³ and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.- Rev. 1.12-13 (www.lifejournal.cc)
The lampstands represent the seven churches that the revelation was written to.  Those seven churches sat on a Roman postal route and the letter was intended to be copied by each and passed on.  The churches were under the pressure of the Roman Empire and looking for answers in the darkness of their world.  When John writes from the island of Patmos, his place of exile, he writes to give them hope in the midst of their circumstances.  How did he do that?  He begins by telling them how grand Christ is and where Christ is: walking among them...Christ is the midst of the lampstands.  The lampstands represent them.  

So where is God when the hard times come?  He is in the midst.  He is in there with you.  You are not alone.  He is In The Midst and in your midst.

Walking In Truth

I want the best for my children.  That does not mean I am going to measure the possessions that other children have and try to make sure that mine have it all.  It does not mean when they want something that they are necessarily going to get it.  I often remind them- you are not in charge.  That may not be the popular way to parent today but I do believe it is the correct way.  Some may claim that I do not want the best for my children because I expect them to obey, respect, and submit, but I beg to differ.  I want the best for my children that is why I attempt (sometimes with limited success) to lead them properly.

Of all the things I want for my children, I want them to walk with the Lord the most.  It is the greatest priority.  If that is the priority, then I must live like that is the priority.  The beloved disciple, John, saw those that he had discipled as his children.  He called them his children.  We know from his letters that he worked diligently with them.  He tells them what brings him the greatest joy in
3 John 4- I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. (www.lifejournal.cc).

I spent this morning reflecting on the joy that I will receive if, as  my children grow, they continue to walk toward the truth or in the truth.  I believe there is no greater joy.    

Walk in the truth of the Lord today and experience His Joy and we all will be blessed by it.

The Writing on the Wall

When Barney Fife got the new convicts in the Mayberry jail, he wanted them to know right off that it was not some cracker jack, small town, easy out jail. Therefore in the eloquence that only Barney could provide, he lectured the new transfers: Here at the Rock, we have two rules: 1) Obey all rules. 2) Do not write on the walls because it takes a lot of work to get writing off the walls. Then he strutted back over to Andy and reassured him that all would be fine now. You've got to love Barney! They still have never reproduced, even with all the channels, technology, and variety, anything that even compares to the Andy Griffith Show.

This morning as I read our passages (www.lifejournal.cc) I was drawn to John's twofold rule to the elect lady (that is the church) that is found in 2 John 5-6- And now I ask you, dear lady— not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning— that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. That reminds me of the words of Jesus when He was asked what is the greatest commandment. He replied in Matthew 22:37-40- And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."
Therefore what Christ is saying is that the Old Testament is dependent upon it and it is the priority of the New Testament as well. That is a big deal, my friend!
If you think about it, all sin is either a direct action against God or a direct action against someone else (your neighbor). Therefore all we have to do today is two things: We need to love the Lord with all that we have and we need to show that love and reflect that love unto everyone we come in contact with. If we do those two things properly, everything else will fall into place.

Remember something though: You are not going to do it perfectly today, but do your best. You will get another shot tomorrow....and the next day....until the Lord returns or takes us home. Therefore we ought to be getting better at it.

Work on it today...and no writing on the walls.

A Certain Understanding

In a world where it is hard to understand how a lot that is happening can really happen in our world and when it is hard to get a handle on what is the real truth in the midst of the lies that surround us,  it is good to read I John 5.20- And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.  (www.lifejournal.cc)
The more our world gets cloudy and somewhat confusing, the more we need to prioritize Christ in how we live, how we think, what we say, and what we share.  When you don't know what the truth is, know WHO truth is.
He has a way of putting everything else in proper perspective.

Road Signs in Life

I am thankful for road signs.  Someone has went before us on the roads in which we travel and provided proper speeds, warnings, and indicators concerning what we are about to face.  I like to know there is a school ahead, or a curve, or a city speed zone.  I don't always agree with the limit set or the particular warning, however, I am still responsible for following it.

In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet is lamenting about the waywardness of the people of God.  They have went to far away from God's standard and it is distressing.  However, Jeremiah also preaches the hope of being able to come back into a right relationship.   In that conversation he also encourages them to put up warnings for themselves along the way.  It is found in Jeremiah 31.21-
Set up road markers for yourself; make yourself guideposts;
  consider well the highway, the road by which you went. (www.lifejournal.cc)
That passage struck a chord with me this morning because I know that one has gone before us to pave our path and guide our way.  We need to heed the warnings and instructions that God gives us through His Word.  From that guidance we can post warnings, limits, and signs upon our mind and heart to keep us on the right road for the Lord. 

Mark the road of your life with the guidance of God and obey the warnings as they come along life's way.   May your day be marked with such guidance.

Overused but Seldom Shown

The dear frustrated wife looked at her husband and asked, "Honey, why don't you ever say, 'I love you' to me anymore?"
He glanced over at her and answered, "Baby, I told you I loved you when I married you and if I ever change my mind, I'll let you know."
Pretty sad, huh?  I would say.  Ol' boy needs to be taken behind the woodshed.  However, more often, the word love is overused.
I would go as far as to say that love may be the most misunderstood and overused term in the American language.  We are quick to talk about it and we often use the word in a very generic and general way.  However, you do not see that kind of use of the word, love, in the Bible.  The love that Christ proclaims is quite clear.   
I John 3.18 makes it clear-  Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
When we love, it is not about merely saying it, it is about showing.  It's about showing it to those who are closest to us as well as those that God puts in our path unexpectedly.
Love today.  Don't just say it...and make sure you say it, but also show it in what you say and what you believe in.
Have a great...and loving...day!

Planted to Grow

 I love the grace of God.   The more you reflect on the grace of God, the more you are amazed.  It is a bottomless well of blessing. 
God also chastising and corrects.  That doesn't sound as glorious but it is as necessary.  The prophet Jeremiah spoke in a day that preceded some rough days.  Days of exile was coming.  Seventy years of exile was coming.   Jeremiah's heart was broke about the days of which he spoke and the actions of the people of his day.  His message was distressing, but also gave hope. As I read the following passage, I could not help but be blessed by the grace of God.
Jeremiah 24.6b-7-  I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not pluck them up. ⁷ I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
God does not give up on His People.  We don't need to give up on Him when we don't understand.  He loves us dearly and desires for better days in our lives.  He wants to build us up and help us grow. 

Let's not give up on each other.  Let's not misunderstand the Lord's actions, but, instead, admit His Ways are beyond our understanding.  Let's live our lives reflecting on the wonderful grace of God.  

Willing and Able

It is one thing to be willing to do something. It is another thing to be able to do something.  Everyone that is willing is not able and everyone that is able is not always willing.  When it comes to the most important matter in all of life, I am so glad that the one who is able is also willing and the one who is willing is also able.   Notice a key passage for our lives:
I John 1.9-   If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (www.lifejournal.cc)
If He was able to do it but was not willing, we would still be unforgiven.  If He was willing but not able, lost in sin we would have to be.  However, He is faithful and that means He is willing.  He is just and that means He is able. 

Now the burden of change is upon us- If we confess...that means if we agree with God on our sinful circumstances.  That does not mean we water it down, blow it off, or try to ignore it.  It means me see it for the ugly thing that it is, agree with God on it and commit to walk away from it. 
Thank God, when we do that, He is willing and able. 

That is one to hang your hat on....today!

Not the Half

I love the way John ends the Gospel of John:
John 21.25- Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
The Queen of Sheba said of Solomon's wisdom- 'not the half has been told.'  So it is with the Lord.

For the Christian that speaks to two matters:  1) What a world we have waiting on us. 
I am not an escapist, always craving another world; however, the promise of eternity is beyond our imagination.
2) We can never say enough.  When we have said all we can say, praised the Lord vocally all that we can praise, and told everyone we know of the hope in Christ, we have still not even scratched the surface of fully comprehending what we have in Christ. 

What a thought!  Worship Him today!

The Comforting Word

They did not want to hear the Word of God from Jeremiah.   They banned him from going to the house of the Lord so he asked Baruch to come and dictate what God was telling him.  Baruch dictated it and then Jeremiah told him to go and read the Word publicly.   He then got a private reading with the king.  However, the king shredded the scroll and burned every bit.  When Baruch returned to Jeremiah, Jeremiah 36.32 tells us what he did- Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire.

You cannot stop the Word.  You can ignore it, but that does not take its validity away.  You can fail to read it or listen to it, but it is not that God does not speak. You just are not listening.  You can try to stamp it out, ban it, even burn it but it still stands.  The Word does not change.  That could be haunting to you or it could be comforting to you.  Either way, that does not change the timeless truths of the Word of God.

Now that is a comfort to me...

What a Place!

One of the highlights of my trip to the Holy Land last spring was going to the Garden Tomb.   It was a profoundly Christian spot.  People working there had a special presence about them.  It was unique.  It was also a beautiful place.  The tour led us through an ornate garden to the back of the property.  On the back of the property was a deck that overlooked a bus depot.  It was somewhat strange and loud.  Cesar, the guide in the garden, showed us a picture of what that scene had looked like 50 years ago.  At that time a cliff that rose about forty feet from the foot of the bus depot parking lot looked just like it had two eye sockets with a mouth, and a nose that pertruded from the mountain.  It was easy to see why it would have been called the Hill of the Skull.  It is thought (and I believe) that Jesus was crucified at the foot of that cliff.  On a map it is not far from the old city wall and probably 200 yards from the garden tomb.

My favorite places to visit in the Holy Land were the places that had remained as they were in the days of Jesus.  The great chapels that have been built are amazing but not near as amazing as the remains that lie in their basements that they are protecting.  I wanted the Hill of the Skull to stay the same.  I did not want a city bus depot parking lot to cover the very soil where my Savior hung on the cross.   I did not want erosion (with a little help from people) to change the look of the cliff that was the backdrop of the cross.  I did not want there to be a wall on the top of the cliff that had a message written in Aramiac and praising Muhammad to be in the place where my Lord was crucified.

It then came to me....

This is the kind of atmosphere that Christ was crucified in.  Read how John describes it in
John 19.16-20  -So they took Jesus, ¹⁷ and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. ¹⁸ There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. ¹⁹ Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” ²⁰ Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek.
George McCloud put it this way:
I simply argue that the cross be raised again at the centre of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves, on the town garbage heap, at a crossroad so cosmopolitan they had to write his title in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. It was the kind of place where cynics talk smut, thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. That’s where he died. And that’s where Christians ought to be and what Christians ought to be about.

Jesus died where the people lived, died for the people, and provides hope for the people.  Let's not get so caught up in the nostalgia of that and instead get caught up in the mission of that. 
Share with someone today.

What Is Truth?

In John 18.38 a great question is asked by Pilate that I believe has been and is being asked over and over again through history:  Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” (www.lifejournal.cc)
It is a great question.  I took a philosophy class at a junior college over twenty years ago and through a lot of convaluted conversations the class tried to come to an answer about that.  I have had a lot of conversations since that time with folks looking for the answers in life (whether actively pursuing it at the time or not) who asked many similiar questions.  I have heard many spout off about how 'the truth can set you free' who had no idea what the 'truth' really was. It is a great question.  It is about as great a situation as when Pilate later tried to wash his hands of the death of Jesus, although he sentenced Christ.  Pilate so represents the general public that it is amazing. 

'What is truth?' is a great question, but, thank God, there is also a great answer.  In John 18.37 Jesus dealt with it- Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world— to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

What is truth?  Truth is the person of Christ and the answer of His Message and Mission to the many difficulties and questions that folks have in this life.  When it comes to answers for the questions that people have in this life, the only answer is truth.   Yes, by truth, I mean the man, the God, the Godman and the message and mission that He came proclaiming and fulfilling.  The hardest questions of this life...the most important questions...the most soul searching questions... are all found in Christ and His opportunities to us for salvation. 

Never wander too far from that lifeline.  As a matter of fact, spend the day, flinging that hope at the drowning that surrround us. 
And have a great one!

Holding Up In the Midst

In the middle part of the book of John we have some very special passages.  Jesus spent his last private moments  with the disciples (before the Garden of Gethsemane) preparing them for a  time when He would not physically be with them.  That culminates with John 17 which is a prayer that Jesus prayed for the disciples and those they would reach. In that sense it was for us as well for we are products of previous generations of Christians continuing the message on.  It is often called 'The High Priestly Prayer' because He is the High Priest and He was interceding for us.  Notice how He was interceding and what He wanted for us. 
He speaks of oneness.  How important it is that God's people are united, not just in any cause, but for the cause of Christ.  He prays for us to be strong in love for the Lord, for His Message, and for those that need to hear it. 
I want to encourage you to let John 17.15 grab your attention though.  In that verse He prayed:
I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
Christians often have an escapism mentality.  We just want Calgon or Jesus to take us away.  However, Jesus did not pray that we would urgently be gone.  Instead Christ prayed that we would sustain...that we would hold up in the midst... that the evil one would not get the best of us.  There will be a day when Christ comes back to receive us unto Himself that where He is, we will be also.  However, that has not happened yet.  We do no good to pine away for that day.  Instead we need to stand strong today, while we are still here, and be one...and be strong in love...and to stay away from the evil one, his ploys, and his ways. 
May we sustain until we see Him face to face! 

Down By the Riverside

I don't know about you, but I want to grow.  Not outward, but inward.  I have grown outward about as much as a man needs to grow.  It ain't about getting bigger anymore, but getting better.  How do I do that?  Jeremiah 17 tells me-
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
⁸ He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”  -Jer. 17.7-8  (www.lifejournal.cc)

I don't know anybody who does not want to be blessed.  The blessing comes when we sink our roots deep in the soils of the Lord and set ourselves very close to the flow of the Word of God.  When the heat comes, we shall sustain.  It is not about simply holding up, but remaining 'green' and continuing to bear fruit. 

May we all plant ourselves in the right location and sink our roots in deep...and be blessed! 

Planted, Budding, and Bearing

 There was a custom during Biblical days that a sojourner could pick the grain as he went by someone else's field and eat it. He could not use a bushel basket nor the slack in his shirt, but a handful was to be expected. I hope, when I was a kid, my neighbors lived off such a principle, because I sure did. When I was a kid and walked into my neighbors' yard and saw their apple tree, I expected apples.  When I walked into my other neighbors' yard and saw their grapevine, I expected grapes.  When I walked to the peach tree in my own backyard, I expected peaches-  worming ones, but still I expected peaches.  You ought to bear what you are planted to bear.  With that in mind read
John 15.16- You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.  (www.lifejournal.cc)
Wherever God has planted you today, go and bear fruit!  Blossom for Jesus!  Delight the spiritual appetite of others by allowing Christ to live through you.

Out Of This World

Big Day Yesterday!  Millie turned 6, just two days after her first day in K-5.  She so anticipated the day that we wanted to make it special for her.  She got a cedar wood playhouse that was suppose to be easy to assemble.  It is...if it is put together by three carpenters who have had two days to study the instructions.  One homeboy that cannot nail a nail straight is in for it. I started at 4 PM Friday and told Dawn that I would 'whip this little job out' and go to an early supper.  At 5:30 I said 'Forget supper...I'll be here all night.' Christmas Eve has never been that bad...and I have pulled some long shifts for the fat man in red.  I'm sympathic of his cause.  After six hours of blood (not really, unless it was under the surface), sweat, tears, and washed out knees (190 lbs. man should not be on his knees in a playhouse for hours...can you imagine what it was like for me?).  I told someone that I lost my religion there and then got it back.  Give me plastic and pre-fab furniture anyday.  I have degree in cheap bookshelves and plastic kitchens, but a drill and some pre-drilled holes was awful.  I got up early Saturday morning to go to Walmart to get replacements for the dead watch batteries in the doorbell and to finish up the window boxes and attached bench.   I finished it, held my own little ceremony with my two man team (me and myself- also named Jekyel and Hyde), found me a real helper and put the house in place.  If there was any pride in me on Friday, it is gone now.  I have been humbled.  It was all worth it though...Millie had a great day!

John 14 is made up of some of my most quoted passages.  It is seldom that I do a funeral when John 14 is not mentioned in some format. They are comforting verses and verses that give ease concerning the questions of tomorrow.  John 14.27 is a key verse.  Christ speaks of the peace that He gives and the uselessness of our fear when He loves us so and walks with us daily. However in the middle of that verse is a phrase that we should not pass over.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.
The Lord does not give like the world, does not love like the world, does not comfort like the world.  Never try to judge the Lord's actions by your experiences in the world, by people of this world, by merely what you see in this world.  He does not work like this world does.  Trust Him today.  He is out of this world!

Mixed Motives

When you do what the Lord tells you to do and people criticize you for it or question it, don't worry about it.  You are not trying to please others.  Your aim is to please the Lord.  Do that and you will be right.  Now, some things people say the Lord tells them, does not come from the Lord.  It may come from late night pizza or delusional dysfunctions, but everything that has been attributed to the Lord does not jive with Scripture.  If it does not jive, it is not alive...or something like that.  However, if it is consistent with the Lord and IS from the Lord, who cares what anyone else thinks?  They say what they say with mixed motives.  Let me show you an example-
Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. ⁴ But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, ⁵ “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” ⁶ He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. - John 12.3-6  (www.lifejournal.cc)

Mary did what God told her to do.  That is what matters.  Judas said what he said for the wrong reasons.  We don't always know why people say what they say (they may-except for Jesus- not have known why he said what he did), but what does it matter?

Do what the Lord tells you to do and don't worry about what other people think.

Oh, and by the way, let others do what God tells them to do and don't get so worried about what other people do.  Just do what the Lord tells you to do!

Walking In the Light

The storms messed up my wi-fi this morning and delayed my ability to blog when I normally do.  The storms always scare my dog.  She was a 'walk up' a couple of years ago and had been seen (before she came to my house) living in a culvert with her siblings.  I would imagine a storm is scary when the doors at both ends of your 'house' are open and the harder it rains, the more water comes in. Her first book will be My Life in a Culvert.  Needless to say, she is now scared of storms.   This morning in a desperate search for internet, I went into the bedroom to retrieve my iPad in hopes that it would get better wi-fi service.  I was walking around in the dark to not bother Dawn that early and I noticed my dog right beside me.  She kept bumping into me.  She wanted me close because she was scared.  The darkness of this world and the storms of life can cause difficulty.  Jesus spoke of that in a text I read this morning. 
John 11.9b-10- Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. ¹⁰ It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
Instead of stumbling around in the darkness of this world, let's walk in the light of the love, guidance, and direction of the Lord.  We have a much greater chance of staying upright!

Can't Hold Water

We had a dog walk up a couple of years ago and claim us.  She is an outside dog and loves the yard.  She comes in at night and sleeps in a kennel in the house.  She appreciates the break from 'working' in the yard, but she loves her yard.  We keep a bowl of fresh water outside and try to make sure that there is plenty in it and that it is clean.  However, there is a container in the backyard that holds water when it rains.  It is not clean and is not intended to hold water but it does and when it does, she will drink it. Its crazy ain't it!  She has fresh water at her disposal and she will leave it to go drink stagnant, unclean water.  It may sound crazy but God says that we do the same thing too often:
Jeremiah 2.13- for my people have committed two evils:   they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. (www.lifejournal.cc)

Fresh, flowing, refreshing, clean water available to us but too often neglected.  God's very best is His Direction, His Guidance, His Cleansing, and His Refreshing Blessing  upon our lives.  However, we get so caught up in our schedule and our world, we leave this cleansing blessing for the mud puddles of the world's options.  Besides the world's offerings being stagnant and dead, it also is full of leaks. 
Nothing the world offers nor nothing that you try to dig out for yourself in this life will ever hold water.  Don't try it your way or the world's way.  Do it God's way today-- you will find it refreshing!!

Just Tell What You Know

You are not suppose to know it all.  No one does...even when they try to act like it.  You do not have to be able to answer everyone's questions.  Most questions they ask will be off-centered and will draw you off the cause, if you are not careful.  All you have to do is be a witness has to what you know from His Word and what you have experienced in your walk.  The healed blind man said it best.  They were questioning him about whether it was right to heal on the Sabbath and, since healed on the Sabbath, wasn't his healer a sinner.  The blind man did not understand all the religious, legalistic struggles. He just got to the point in   John 9.25- He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” (www.lifejournal.cc)

Get to the point and stay on point!  The point:  Be a witness for Christ.  At your level, telling what you know, telling how He has changed you...just tell what you know, but TELL IT!

Yes, tell it!  Tell it today!

The Trust Fall

When I was a senior in high school, I had a psychology class and one of our lessons concerned the 'trust fall.'  The trust fall tested how much we trusted others.  Someone would stand on a ledge about 5 or 6 feet off the ground, back up to the edge of it, and then, without looking, fall backwards into six people waiting to catch you.  Well, if you have ever been around high school seniors when they are together, you know the last thing that you should do is trust them.  Although I remember the catches were very inconsistent, I don't think anyone got hurt.

Life is sometimes like a trust fall.  We don't know what is around the corner of tomorrow.   We don't know what even this day holds for us.  However, we must remember that God knows what is coming.  He has been preparing us better than we know and He will be there for us when the struggles come.  Listen to the wise words of Habbakuk this morning:
Habakkuk 3.17-19- Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
 ¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord; 
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹ God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places. (www.lifejournal.cc)

It may not always go right.  A lot may go wrong today.  Hold on!  Keep trusting!  He hasn't left you...don't you dare leave Him!

May you fill the mighty strong power of His Presence today in your life!

Busting Up the Stills

If God would have given us boys instead of girls, one of them would have been named Josiah. His life has always amazed me.  When God told him to reform, he got serious about it.  Many kings tried to correct what was wrong, but hardly any ever touched the high places.  The high places were the highest hills or mounts of Israel and they were set aside for worship...the wrong kind of worship.  Most tops were marked with some type of cultic worship temple.  It seems that every time reform came, the high places were left.  After great revival, the citizens would end up back on the mountaintop before long doing the wrong thing.  Reforming without removing the high places is like quitting smoking, but keeping a fresh pack  (I don't know if cigarettes are ever considered 'fresh') in the sock drawer.  It is like going on a diet and buying a half gallon of Blue Bell ice cream at the same time (I DO know all about that).  It does not lead to success. 
Josiah made sure the sweep was clean:
2 Kings 23.14- Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah.  (www.lifejournal.cc)
What are our high places? 
I have always aligned the high places with the pet sins in our lives.  There are, sometimes, sins that we, too often, fall back into, can't seem to get away from, and really don't want to let go of.  Some of them are just bad habits, some are security blankets for us, but all are big trouble spiritually for us.  For real reform to happen we have to wander down into the personal woods of our lives and bust up the stills that we too often go back to.  The 'stills' are the fallbacks that we too often find ourselves relying on.  For real reform to happen we have to rely upon the Lord and the Lord alone.  It is best if we remove any distractions that may ever come in our way.

Let nothing distract you!  Worship the Lord today!  Give Him this day!  And go on and give Him all of you!

Finding the Word

There is a wonderful event that happens during Josiah's reign that needs to happen again today.  The Temple is in disrepair and has not been used properly for a long time.  Josiah is led by God to get it in order and while cleaning it up, they FIND the book of the law.  That implies that they have not had it all this time.  That explains a lot. 
2 Kings 22.13- “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”
Once they find it, they celebrate it, they worship together, and they live by it.

American Christians need such a cleaning.  We have made our struggle be one where the left is against the right, the red is against the blue, and, many times, the Christian is against the world.  Now, the first response most Christians would give is "No, the world is against us."  Yes, that may be so, but we are not to be against the world...at least, not the people that make it up.   Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities of the air that we cannot see, but we can definitely sense and feel...that is, if we are in the Book. 

This struggle that Christians have today to separate the sin from the sinner is mighty hard. When you multiply that by the fact that we are all sinners, it is like we have to battle to know how to respond to the difficulty.  That is, unless we follow the full counsel of Scripture, not picking particular verses to take potshots at folks about, and, instead, stand for what is right and to love and have a burden for those who do not stand for what is right.

I appreciate the support the Christian community gave to a corporation that stood up for what is right without taking 'potshots' at anyone.  A lot of other people have said some dumb things through this, but Dan Cathy did not.  I appreciate that.  However, please know, that standing in a Chick-Fil-A in the beaming heat for a $3 sandwich will not change the world.  What will change the world is lovingly leading folks to Christ.  We can only do that properly when we get our own temple out of disrepair, blow the dust off the Word, and read it and apply it to our lives.

 

A Question to Ponder

I love the way Jesus interacts with people.  Yes, interacts, not interacted. Not only did He do it His way, He still does it His way.  Let me show you what I mean.  Notice what he says to lame man at the pool: 
John 5.5-6-  One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”
What kind of question is that?  The guy has been laying out there for nearly two score, of course he wants to be healed, right?  Well, yes, he did...but some people don't.  Some people kinda like it the way it is.  They bellyache about it, but they like it that way.  Now, I am really not talking about an invalid.  Instead my focus is on those that have been sick for years with 'sin'. 
People all the time tell me, 'oh, preacher, I wish I could stop' or 'I am trying to do better' or 'Lord, have mercy on me.'  Stop it!  Do you want to be healed?  Or do you just what to wallow in it?

If there is a sin pattern in your life that shows sickness, I ask, as Jesus did, do you really want to be healed?  If you are a child of God, you know that you have the power of the Holy Spirit in you to walk away from it.  So, as the great theologian, Nike, put it: Just Do It!

Do you really want to be well?  Then take up your bed of whiningness and walk.  May God give you the strength today to face your 'sicknesses' without excuse and claim healing in Him!

Word of Mouth

Don't ever underestimate your testimony and your opportunity.  God uses each one of us uniquely.  Sometimes we are just a small part of a process as God plants and cultivates in someone's life.  Sometimes we get the opportunity to see life change harvested.  Either way, do not underestimate your influence.  In John 4 Jesus spoke to the woman at the well.  He met her where she was and took her where she needed to go.  Her experience with Jesus changed here life, so she told others.
In John 4.28-29 it tells us what happened next- So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” ³⁰ They went out of the town and were coming to him.   Now this lady did not have the world's greatest reputation.  She was not perfect in any way.  Of course, we need to remember that she needed Jesus.  After she met Jesus, she told others about Him.   From her testimony they listened to Him for a couple of days.  A couple of days later they were saying, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”(v.42)

Two things that you ought to never doubt:  The Power of Your Testimony and the Power of God at work around you.  Stake your life...and your day....upon those two thoughts and have a great one!

The Boxing Battles

I like boxing.  I haven't watched much of that new full-blown fighting stuff, so I am more familiar with boxing.  I haven't watched too much boxing in the last several years.  However, I did when I was a kid.  My neighbor had HBO.  HBO had Fight Night.  My neighbor, like a grandfather to me, would pop popcorn.  He would air-pop popcorn.  Kids would not know today what an air popper was, if you showed it to them.  What a shame!  He would pop enough popcorn to fill a grocery bag.  Not those plastic things, but those brown paper bags.  Dad, me, and him and sometimes my brother, or some other 'guest' he let in, would sit in his living room and watch boxing and eat popcorn and probably spill Pepsi. 

This was in the early days of Mike Tyson.  Iron Mike was something to see before he bit Holyfield's ear, got knocked out by Buster Douglas, or went to prison, or tattooed his face, or married several women.   It was just he, his coach, the streets he was raised on, and that poor guy across the ring.  We would watch a couple of preliminary fights and then Mike would knock a guy out in a matter of seconds.  I have seen his uppercut drag the mat, come up like an engine piston, nail a guy under the chin, propel the guy INTO the air, and watch him drop seemingly lifeless on the mat.  That was all it took.  He was like a machine.  He fought about every six weeks ( a break-neck schedule in boxing) and was contracted to HBO for every one of them.  It was full of  memory makers. 

Every now and then, some guy was foolish enough to last through the first couple of rounds and Mike would continue to batter the boy around the ring for several rounds.  Have you ever felt like you have been in the ring with a brute like Tyson, battered around the ring?  How about spiritually, emotionally, mentally?  Those days are rough.   It seems that you do not know which way is up or when the bell is going to ring.  I have seen those days in a lot of people recently.   The last half of July has been pretty rough on a lot of folks.  Yesterday, it hit closer to home as my in-laws are suffering.  My wife is escorting them through the toughest days of their life and it is a tough toll.  One simple verse spoke volumes to me today and I really cannot tell you why, except to say I believe it, I rest it, and I proclaim it.
Psalm 62.11-12a- Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,
¹² and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.

Thank you for your prayers.  Dawn and her parents journey will not end soon. We rest in the 'power' that 'belongs to God.'  I hope you will today as well.