God and You – unstoppable!

24 hours ago I stood in the pulpit and delivered a message that was about the gifts of the Spirit, about the ways that God, the Holy Spirit, empowers you and me. I asked a question repeatedly of the congregation – “What do you want to do for God, with God, to change one thing in your world?”  I invited them to dream God-sized dreams.  At a meeting that evening, I listened to Peter, the man who will be taking the position as our Head of school, talk about his vision for that place and I heard someone dreaming aloud.

Do you dream anymore? Share your dream, especially one involving significant change, and a common response will be something like this – “Get Real!”  The world is full of people like Mr. Wonderful on “Shark Tank.” Ever watch that TV program?  Entrepreneurs bring their dreams to the panel looking for partners and funding.  Kevin O’Leary, a member of the Sharks, is frequently beyond critical, mean, making fun, predicting failure. Why does doubt, fear, and negativity come so easily to us?  Why are faith, courage, and positive attitudes so scarce?   

I want to take you to the story of a man with a God-sized dream- Moses.  It was the divine time for the descendants of Abraham to return to Canaan, the Promised Land, after living in slavery in Egypt for 4 centuries.   The tiny clan that went to Egypt to avoid starvation during a famine had grown.  We are not sure but most likely their numbers exceeded a half million persons!  The Lord needed someone to lead them and he selected a man who was a former prince of Egypt, now a fugitive off  'on the far side of the desert' tending Jethro's sheep. Moses had been there for 40 years. He had put his dreams away and settled down!  God needed to get his attention and He did so with a desert shrub that appeared to be on fire but which was not actually burning up.   When Moses went over to check it out, God spoke his name.   He tells Moses that He is ready to move, that He has a plan, and then He says - "So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt." (Exodus 3:10, NIV)

So now, go! Moses needed a lot of coaxing, offering excuses as to why he was not suited, why the task was too big, what was impossible. But, God told Him – “I will be with you.” It was the answer to all Moses’ objections.  Interestingly, the Lord did not say, “All the problems are solved. The path is cleared. It’s a smooth road.”  It wasn’t. Moses met opposition, disappointments, and hardships, but his anchor was the Presence of the Living God. 

God is calling you, too!   He says,  "So now, go!"  to your family, to your neighbors, to the people with whom you work, to your city, to the world.  There are people to love that only you can reach. There is a something that needs to be done in a place that only you can fill.  Nobody can love your kids like you do.  So now, go.  Let yourself dream God-sized dreams;  not fantasies of escape, not silly dreams about riches or fame, but real visions of making God’s love real to others.  

 Stop stammering your excuses!  Paul was inspired to tell us that "Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people!" (1 Corinthians 12:7, The Message)  Decide to obey and a hundred voices will tell you why you cannot or should not do this. The enemy of God and good wants you to live an insignificant life safe on your living room couch letting day after day drift by.

I want to be all that He wants me to be, to do all He wants me to do, to risk it all for the glory of God.   I know I will not always get it right.   My history proves that too true.   I know I am not perfect (I heard that loud "Amen!")   I know that I will fail for reasons that are sometimes my fault and sometimes beyond my comprehension.  But I also know this - God is greater than my flaws,  has promised to never leave me to fight alone, and has a rich reward in reserve for me when I finish the race obediently.   The results are in His hands.  Obedience is my responsibility!

Meditate on this passage today.  Ask the Spirit to cause it to inspire you to respond with a ready, "Yes, Lord," when He says, "So now, go!" 

" Pray diligently. Stay alert, with your eyes wide open in gratitude. Don’t forget to pray for us, that God will open doors for telling the mystery of Christ, even while I’m locked up in this jail. Pray that every time I open my mouth I’ll be able to make Christ plain as day to them. Use your heads as you live and work among outsiders. Don’t miss a trick. Make the most of every opportunity. Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out. " (Colossians 4:2-6, The Message)

_______________________

I Want To Know You

(a worship song and prayer at this link)

I've tried in vain a thousand ways

My fears to quell my hopes to raise

But what I need your word has said

Is ever only Jesus

You died you live you reign you plead

There's love in all your words and deeds

This weary heart finds all it needs

In ever only Jesus

I want to know you Jesus my Lord

King of the Heavens king of my soul

I trade my treasure and all my rewards

Jesus to know you then know you more

Though some should curse me for your name

I have no fear I have no shame

You stand with me for all my days

My ever only Jesus

Like wave after wave on the ocean

Like all of the sand on the shore

Your beauty and glory are endless

O Jesus I must know you more

James Proctor | Jonny Robinson | Michael Farren | Rich Thompson

© 2016 Farren Love And War Publishing (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing (Integrity Music [DC Cook]))

Integrity's Alleluia! Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing (Integrity Music [DC Cook]))

CCLI License # 810055

Saved to the Uttermost!

TGIF – thank God it’s Friday. Is that what you’re saying today? We all have weeks when we stumble into the weekend in a kind of emotional stupor, don’t we?  Life can turn into a maelstrom; confusion, fear, doubt, fatigue, disappointment, demands, temptation, too many demands wrapping us up, robbing our peace.

Let me remind you of something true. There is Someone who is there for you, who knows your emotional state, to Whom you can cry.  If you’re reading this blog, I am fairly certain that is not news, but we can forget it, doubt it, even reject it when it all just seems ‘too much’ to take. 

Meditate on this word for a moment. "Since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Hebrews 4:14-16, NIV)  Go back and re-read that passage one more time;  slowly!

At the beginning of His final week before the Cross, Jesus was met with palm branches and acclamation when He entered Jerusalem. Sounds good, right? But, it broke His heart because He knew that the crowds were fickle, that they would turn on Him in a matter of days. All that week He struggled with the men who were His friends knowing that He was about to entrust the Kingdom message to them, yet seeing them bicker about their status, fail to grasp what was really going on.  

One of them turned on Him, betraying Him in the worst way.  In His time of great crisis, as He wrestled with the will of the Father, He asked them to pray with Him and … they fell asleep!  I cannot even imagine how isolated and alone He must have felt.  He was subjected to physical torture, psychological games by political hacks, and then sent to a horrific death.  For me the most wrenching cry from the Cross is this: “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?”  It is the anguish of One torn from all that has defined Him from eternity!

That Jesus is YOUR Great High Priest this morning. Given that single week from His life, can you actually say He does not know what you’re dealing with today?  Stop trying so hard to make the hurt go away. Stop trying to work it out ‘til it makes sense. 

Focus on this - "Because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens." (Hebrews 7:24-26, NIV)  The older translation has a beautiful phrase I want you to hang onto today: “He is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by Him!”  

He is praying for you, for me, for this busted up world we live in, right now before the Father God.  Contrary to what you might be feeling at the moment, He has not lost control of your life. You maybe did, He never did. You can cry. You can scream. You can sit in angry silence.  Regardless, He is able to save to the uttermost!  Will you trust Him?

The word from the Word for this Friday is one that I hope will remind us that we cannot save ourselves, that it is not from us that salvation comes. " Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up." (Hebrews 12:1-3, NLT)

“We do this … by keeping our eyes on Jesus, our Great High Priest, Who saves to the uttermost!”

_________

Jesus! what a friend for sinners!
Jesus! lover of my soul;
Friends may fail me, foes assail me,
He, my Savior, makes me whole.

Hallelujah! what a Savior!
Hallelujah! what a friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end.

Jesus! what a strength in weakness!
Let me hide myself in Him;
Tempted, tried, and sometimes failing,
He, my strength, my vict'ry wins.

Jesus! what a help in sorrow!
While the billows o'er me roll,
Even when my heart is breaking,
He, my comfort, helps my soul.

Jesus! what a guide and keeper!
While the tempest still is high,
Storms about me, night o'ertakes me,
He, my pilot, hears my cry.

Jesus! I do now receive Him,
More than all in Him I find,
He hath granted me forgiveness,
I am His, and He is mine.

Public Domain

Secret Disciples?

Who among us, regardless of our political persuasion, has not learned to keep our opinions under wraps these days? It’s a time of strong feelings about so many choices made by our government, a time when one can lose a friend by offering support to or criticism of party or President. We are much poorer as a nation for our inability to have a real conversation, speaking as we do, in sound bites, clichés, and Facebook posts. Fear has destroyed the engaged discourse that helps us better understand the complex issues of the day for which neither side has complete answers.

Have you become a ‘secret disciple’ of Jesus, too?  It’s tempting, isn’t it? Christians are often targets for criticism, some of it well-deserved I believe. Using snippets of Scripture completely out of context to support political opinion leaves us looking silly or ignorant. Being unable or unwilling to talk about our convictions, to examine which ones are just our traditional understanding and which are foundationally rooted in the complete revelation of the Holy Word, gives us closed minds. Thus, being a conservative (not politically, but Biblically) Christian in our time often invites ridicule.  Then, too, there is the fact that the true disciple of Jesus will offend ‘the world’ just like our Lord did!  So, some choose to become a secret disciple.

John tells us about a good man who felt the heavy weight of fear, who had much to lose in ancient Jerusalem because he had become convinced that Jesus was Who He claimed to be. He says, "Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews." (John 19:38, NIV)  

Secret discipleship misses the mission Jesus gave to us.  Our words, our actions, are intended to shed light on a very dark world.  “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father." (Matthew 5:14-16, NLT)  Perhaps if we were less concerned about for whom we were baking a cake, if we were more intentional about caring for those in need with real love, if we stopped making certain political positions the test of a ‘true’ Christian – His light shining out of us would actually cause people to thank God for us.

Real disciples of Jesus have changed the world. In the Roman empire, a brutal place full of death, Christians stood out for their love for all particularly the downtrodden.  The church was unique in the first century as a place where slave and free worshiped side by side, where women were treated as equals, where hope was available to everyone.  Those people claimed unwanted children and raised them in spite of their own poverty. They refused violence, actually ‘turning the other cheek’ like Jesus taught. Centuries later, in the time of the plagues in Europe, Christians cared for the sick when others fled, abandoning family. Their loving concern won them great admiration. Why did they do these costly things?  Because their true course was guided by eternal hope! They did not fear ‘having less’ because they took on another orphan. They did not fear death because they knew they were going Home to the Father’s house.

Is the Light of Jesus hidden in your life?  Perhaps it is obscured by a selfishness that has wrapped itself around your salvation making Jesus into a way to gain more for yourself. Listen to your prayers to see if this is true of you. Are your prayers primarily about your own circle of concern; more money, better health, blessings for your children?  This preoccupation with Self will dim the light in us and make us an unintended ‘secret disciple.’  Or, like Nicodemus, perhaps you have chosen to keep your love for Jesus under cover because you fear the rejection of friend or family.

Let the Light Shine!  The word from the Word today is challenging, not easy to digest, but compelling. "Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels." (Luke 9:23-26, NLT)

Abba, secure us in Your love.
Set hope in us so that fear is gone.

Teach us to radically love,

to know how to speak, to think,

to act in ways that lets the Light of Your Son shine

brightly through us.

Amen

________________

We Are

Ev'ry secret ev'ry shame

Ev'ry fear ev'ry pain

Live inside the dark

But that's not who we are

We are children of the day

So wake up sleeper lift your head

We were meant for more than this

Fight the shadows conquer death

Make the most of the time we have left

We are the light of the world

We are the city on a hill

We are the light of the world

And we gotta we gotta we gotta

Let the light shine

Let the light shine

Let the light shine ooh

We are called to spread the news

To tell the world the simple truth

Jesus came to save there's freedom in His name

So let His love break through

We are the light we are the light we are the light

So let your light shine brighter

We are the light we are the light we are the light

Jesus You are the light You are the light

You are the light

We will lift You high and shine shine shine

Let the light shine let the light shine

Let the light shine let the light shine

Chuck Butler | Ed Cash | Hillary McBride | James Tealy

© 2011 Centricity Music Publishing (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

All Essential Music (Admin. by Essential Music Publishing LLC)

Wonder Down Under Music  (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)

Wondrously Made Songs (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)

CCLI License # 810055

The Grand Restoration

Don’t you love to finish a project? There is a feeling of accomplishment that comes when it’s complete. Perhaps there is even some relief that the job is finally done, especially if the work was long and difficult. I admire people who buy an old house and renovate it, particularly if they are doing it themselves and living in the middle of the mess!  But, how joyful to see the finished product, a new beautiful kitchen or bathroom – and knowing that it was the work of their own hands makes it all the more appreciated.

God made a beautiful world, one full of beauty, and then evil found an entrance. Genesis tells us that through disobedience sin came. The result of sin was death, destruction of the perfect balance. Our relationship with our holy, loving God was wrecked.  He, of blinding perfection, awesome majesty, was abandoned for lesser things with tragic results. Hatred overturned love.  Want replaced plenty. Perfect harmony was lost to misunderstanding. Mere idols, gods of our own making, took the place of the One True God. Until … "when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” (Galatians 4:4-6, NIV)

God, who might have destroyed it all chose to come to redeem us all.  Redemption was a word understood in terms of those who were placed into slavery to pay off a debt. Those so enslaved could be ‘redeemed’ – bought back and freed.  Sin had enslaved the world but God freed us with the price of His Son.  What a wonder, what a mystery;  what love!

John recounts the story of the sacrifice for sin, the awful crucifixion of Christ Jesus in few words. Captured near the end of the story are Jesus’ words that should evoke a great joy in us.  As He senses the end of his life coming, He says, “It is finished!”  He is not saying, “I’m done.”  He is not declaring that He’s finished. The plan of salvation known to God before time began was complete. The grand restoration of creation was now possible, the time of slavery was done! "Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and released his spirit." (John 19:28-30, NLT)

This is the Gospel, the good news of Christ. "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." (Romans 5:1-2, NIV)   The words are rich revelations of His love towards us.  Justified! Made right, all debts settled.  At peace! Our uncertainties erased by Truth’s declaration, made at the Cross, that sin could no longer enslave those who receive the Gift by faith.  Rejoice!

And, how did He choose to make this happen?  "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. … God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." (Romans 5:8-11, NIV)

Will you live as a restored child of God? Will you let go of lesser things to receive the gift of Jesus?

It IS finished, on our behalf.  Life and more life for us provided by our Abba’s love.

_________

No Longer Slaves
(listen and worship)

You unravel me with a melody

You surround me with a song

Of deliverance from my enemies

Till all my fears are gone

I'm no longer a slave to fear

I am a child of God

I'm no longer a slave to fear

I am a child of God

From my Mother's womb

You have chosen me

Love has called my name

I've been born again into Your family

Your blood flows through my veins

You split the sea so I could walk right through it

My fears were drowned in perfect love

You rescued me so I could stand and sing

I am a child of God

Brian Johnson | Joel Case | Jonathan David Helser

© 2014 Bethel Music Publishing

CCLI License # 810055