Pastor Jesse's Blog

The Secret to Wisdom and Knowledge

2008-07-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

Solomon tells us why he has written the book of Proverbs in the first few verses. “The purpose of these proverbs is to teach people wisdom and discipline…their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair.” To break down the way to this kind of life Solomon tells us the secret. The answer is to acquire wisdom, understanding, and knowledge and then he even tells us what true wisdom is, “Fear of the LORD is the foundation of true knowledge” and he repeats it again in 9:12, “Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.” Solomon tells us over and over to pursue wisdom more than anything else in life whether it be gold, silver, or worldly success because it will provide for you biblically defined success. This is the only success that truly satisfies. As I have read through Proverbs very quickly this year there is something that must be present in your life if you are going to acquire this wisdom. It is repeated over and over again so that we don’t miss it.

My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. 3:11-12
People who accept correction are on the pathway to life, but those who ignore it will lead others astray. 10:17
Without wise leadership, a nation falls; with many counselors, there is safety. 11:14
To learn, you must love discipline; it is stupid to hate correction. 12:1
Fools think they need no advice, but the wise listen to others. 12:15
Pride leads to arguments; those who take advice are wise. 13:10
Only a fool despises a parent's discipline; whoever learns from correction is wise. 15:5
…whoever hates correction will die. 15:10
Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many counselors bring success. 15:22
If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise. If you reject criticism, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding. Fear of the LORD teaches a person to be wise; humility precedes honor. 15:31-33

Are you seeing a trend? By the way these are just a handful of the verses in this book that encourage us to seek discipline, correction, and advice. If you want to become a person who truly Fears the Lord you will, like all of us, need to have people in your life that will encourage you to pursue Godliness but who also have the right to speak correction into your life. Do you have that? So many times when someone corrects us our first response is to become defensive. I know that I do that at times. Scripture encourages us to seek people who will speak truth into our lives and it even goes so far to say that even if someone is wrongfully maliciously speaking out against you to not retaliate but to openly look into their statements just in case there is any truth to what is being said. My friend, seek the wisdom and understanding that can only come from God and in doing so you must have advisers in your life.

Trust and Obey

2008-06-09T14:13:00.001-07:00

Although I am still very young, 35, the older I get, the more I read scripture, the more knowledge I receive about it, the more I study it, the more I understand it, the more I meditate on it, I realize the simpler the solution to this life really is. The fact is that I love the Bible. I have been to seminary, been to many conferences, wrote many papers, read many books, read through the Bible quite a few times, preached through much of the New Testament and a few books of the Old. I do believe there are many themes to scripture but I have come to the realization that success in this life really comes down to one belief and one action. Trust God and obey (Ps. 37:3). That’s it. As I read through Psalms this year that is really what almost every Psalm is singing about. Here are some of the verses I have read from the last few mornings.

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.” 20:7
“For the king trusts in the LORD; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken.” 21:7
“Your goodness is so great! You have stored up great blessings for those who honor you. You have done so much for those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world.” 31:19
“The best-equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a warrior. Don't count on your warhorse to give you victory — for all its strength, it cannot save you. But the LORD watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love.” 33:16-18 (Essentially, only God can save)
“Trust in the LORD and do good.” 37:3 (This is the key to life)
“I will boast only in the LORD; let all who are discouraged take heart.” 34:2 (Boast means confidence. Essentially he is saying he will only put his confidence in the Lord)
“Why am I discouraged? Why so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again my Savior and God.” 42:5; 11; 43:5
“Only by your power can we push back our enemies; only in your name can we trample our foes. I do not trust my bow; I do not count on my sword to save me. It is you who gives us victory over our enemies.” 44:5-7
49:16-20 essentially says that wicked people may be rich and may seem that they are living the good life. But they will take nothing with them to the grave and although this life may seem long, they will face what they sowed in this life for eternity. The point is as it says in Ps. 37:1, “Don't worry about the wicked. Don't envy those who do wrong.” God will work it out for he is just and right.
“Be still, and know that I am God.” 46:10

My friends, this is what it is all about. Do you really trust God? Here is how it works for me. I ask myself, “Do I believe that God is sovereign, meaning completely in control.” The answer is yes. Then I ask, “Do I believe that God is good, meaning do I believe that God will allow or do what is best in all circumstances for the kingdom of God and for me.” The answer again is yes. So what is the problem? It is hard for all of us because although I totally believe that God is sovereign and good I also know that the best way that he produces what he wants in us is often through difficulty. Now, that I don’t like. So what am I to do? In all circumstances I am to trust that God is in complete control and working in my life what is best for me and the Kingdom of God and obey his commands through the difficulty. That, although simplistic, can be one of the most difficult things to do in life. But, I promise it is the most fulfilling life to live here on earth and with out a doubt the most rewarding for eternity.

Stand Firm

2008-06-02T14:51:00.001-07:00

In my devotional time today I came across one of my favorite Psalms ever. I will ask you the same question that I ask myself. Do you really want to stand firm for the Lord? If the answer is yes, David shares with us in Psalm 15 what it will take.

Those who lead blameless lives
and do what is right,
speaking the truth from sincere hearts.
Those who refuse to gossip
or harm their neighbors
or speak evil of their friends.
Those who despise persistent sinners,
and honor the faithful followers of the LORD
and keep their promises even when it hurts.
Those who do not charge interest on the money they lend,
and who refuse to accept bribes to testify against the innocent.
Such people will stand firm forever. Psalm 15:2-5

I would encourage you if you truly want to stand firm for God in this ungodly culture to take seriously this charge. Prayerfully ask God to help you achieve these characteristics in your life. You can’t do it by yourself. For the next five days just take one Godly attribute and try to work on it that day.

Day 1: Do what is right in situations that you are tempted to do otherwise.
Day 2: Speak truth from your heart
Day 3: Refuse to gossip
Day 4: Keep your promises even if it hurts. One translation says, “keep your promises even if it ruins you.”
Day 5: Be generous

Don’t forget to ask the Lord for help.

What is the Answer to Suffering?

2008-05-19T10:05:00.001-07:00

Job is one of the most famous stories in all of scripture mainly because of the theme, suffering. Anytime a pastor wants to teach on difficulty it seems as though they will preach from Job or at least address the book. Interestingly enough the book of Job is 42 chapters long yet I have never heard a sermon series on Job lasting more than a couple of weeks. I guess the point that I am making is that when dealing with suffering there really isn’t one perfect easy answer to solve our difficulties. The book of Job is very long, very intense, and the answer in the end to all the difficulties that Job faced was essentially; “who are you to question me? I am the God of the universe. I am good and I am in control. I created the heavens and the earth. I created you. It is impossible for you to understand my actions so…here’s the answer… trust me.” I don’t know about you but I have a lot of questions about the book of Job. I will only share a few. First of all, why did it take over 42 chapters to say that and secondly is that really the answer to dealing with suffering.

As I have studied and meditated on this book many times I have come to realize that most of the book of Job excluding the first chapter and last 4 chapters is incorrect human reasoning for suffering. The interesting thing to me is that some will argue that the book of Job is the oldest book in the Bible yet they are asking the same questions about suffering that we ask today. I think it is good for us to read these chapters because I think all of us at times have acquired quite a few of these incorrect thoughts about suffering. Secondly, I have come to the conclusion that the answer really is that easy. Trust God. As cliché as that sounds that is truly the answer to all difficulties. God is in complete control and he is good. That means that whatever happens has either been caused by God or he has allowed it. There are some tragic stories that we could all share that make this answer difficult but in the end God is good and he is in control. That means because his thoughts are much higher than ours and he is continually thinking eternally so whatever happens has happened for the believer’s good and the advancement of the Kingdom of God even if it makes absolutely no sense to us. Do you truly trust God? I believe that it is true that hardship in life is the test tube for our faith. It is in those times that we find out how much we truly trust God. It is in these times that we are obviously not experiencing what we are praying for, we are uncomfortable, hurting, and wondering why God won’t either relent or step in to do something. But the reality is we don’t know what God is doing. Who knows, Satan may have gone to God and said “the only reason ‘your name here’ is such a faithful servant of yours is because they have it easy.” God’s response may have been, “I believe your wrong, so…go ahead and see if ‘your name here’ will stay faithful. But I will not allow you to attack ‘your name here’ more than they can bear.” God may be using you as an example of faithfulness to the spiritual world. I don’t think Job ever found out about the discussion between Satan and God in chapter 1 until he entered God’s presence in eternity. So again, I ask you, do you truly trust God? The answer to your suffering isn’t a magic formula. In fact, the reality is that you may never be released from it until you enter eternity. But I promise you God is using it for your good and the good of the Kingdom of God. So the answer to your difficulty is, “At this terrible news…Job fell to the ground in worship…and in all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God with wrongdoing.

I know that it’s easier said than done but the only thing that will get you through your suffering regardless if you are delivered from it or not is to worship God. Trust Him my friend. God is doing something bigger in your life than you can see.

He Will Do It Regardless

2008-05-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

I would say most of us are familiar with the story of Esther. She through a miraculous set of circumstances becomes queen of the largest empire of the world. Then a few years later the king promotes one of his servants Haman to second in command. Through another set of circumstances Haman grows to hate the Jews and manipulates the king to send out a decree that on March 7th of the next year all Jews; men, women, and children, are to be put to death. After the decree is sent out Esther’s cousin Mordecai, who raised her as his own daughter, challenged Esther to appeal to the king. Esther’s first response was fear because the punishment for anyone to go before the king uninvited was death. Mordecai’s response to Esther’s fear in 4:14 has become one of the most beloved passages in all of scripture, “Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” I have preached on this verse, used it to challenge friends, and have honestly redirected my own life a few times because of Mordecai’s words. It is an incredible challenge; right now, today, right where I am at, with the difficulties and opportunities that I have, God has placed me here for such a time as this.

I believe that is very true of all of us. He has directed our lives so that we can be in place to do his work. Usually it will take a leap of faith to accomplish his will but he is there, guiding and directing our paths. With that said, this year as I read through Esther the insight came from a different part of the verse that I haven’t paid much attention to before. Right there in the middle of the passage it says, “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place.” Here’s what it doesn’t say, “If you don’t step up and do this the Jews will be lost forever.” What’s the point? God has a plan. He is going to accomplish that plan regardless if we step up to the plate or not. God was going to deliver the Jews from Haman regardless if Esther in faith went to the king. God has set up the events of her life so that she would have the opportunity to be used by God, yet, it was still her choice to make. If she follows the leading of God, God will use her to accomplish his will and she will be incredibly blessed. If she doesn’t, God will still save the Jewish people but she misses out on the blessing of obeying God. What about you? What is God leading you to do yet because of fear you find yourself baulking. Here’s the point; God isn’t leading you to do whatever he is leading you to do to put a burden on you. He isn’t saying to you, if you don’t do this it won’t get done. What he is doing is giving you a piece of the pie. He is giving you an opportunity of a lifetime. But, if you don’t step up to the plate, he will use somebody else to accomplish his plan, they will be blessed for their obedience, and you will miss out. So my advice to you is this; grab the bat, step up to the plate and trust God for the results. It may be the blessing of a lifetime.

Answer the Call

2008-05-05T12:13:00.000-07:00

This week in my read through the Bible I went through Ezra and the first two chapters of Nehemiah. My head is swimming with so many different insights that I want to share but as I step back and look at my notes over the last week there is a common thread through the stories in these books. These two books tell the story of the three different times God brings his people back from captivity to Jerusalem. In case you’re not familiar with the story, because of the people’s rebellion God allowed the Judeans to be exiled in Babylon. Through Jeremiah he told the people it would be for 70 years. Then, as you would guess, exactly 70 years later God stirred the heart of the people and King Cyrus to send the first group of Hebrews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. That group was led by Zerubbabel. Then a few years later under the rule of King Artaxerxes God again stirred the heart of the king and of Ezra to return to Jerusalem to restore the people spiritually. Then again just a few years later, still under the rule of Artaxerxes, God stirred Nehemiah’s heart to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls around the city.

All three cases have two aspects that are common. It was God who led the charge by stirring the heart of one of his servants to lead his people back to Jerusalem and in all three cases the servants of God faced tremendous obstacles to seeing the call of God realized. Here are just a few of the obstacles: First: they were living a great distance from Jerusalem, approximately 1,000 miles. By the way, that’s a tremendous distance to travel through hostile territory with donkeys and camels as your moving vans. Second: in all three cases they were traveling with a great amount of valuable objects made of gold and silver through territories known for their pillaging of travelers. Third: there was a great deal of materials needed to build the temple and the wall around the city that they did not possess. Fourth: there was a great amount of opposition from nations living around Jerusalem that did not want to see the Hebrews rebuild the city. Fifth: in all three instances there was also internal opposition from leaders within the Hebrew people. I think for many of us today it takes far less for us to either quit on or question what we feel God is calling us to do.

Yet in all three instances the servants lead the people to answer the call of God and in all three instances God provided what was needed to accomplish his will although it seemed impossible when they began the journey. What’s the point? I have come to a conclusion in my personal walk with God that He is in the business of calling us to do the impossible. He often calls us to things that force us to respond in action yet depend on him for the results. My friends, that is Christianity. I heard this long ago but I believe it is still so very true today; God will never call you to do something without providing the means to accomplish his will. What is God calling you to do today that in your eyes seems impossible? Answer the call! It is in those times that you will experience God the most.

Priorities

2008-04-28T13:09:00.000-07:00

I received a phone call from an old college buddy who is very close to my heart this last weekend that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. He and his wife of sometime are having some real difficulties in their marriage and they have begun tossing the old D word around. I can’t stop thinking about the situation. It breaks my heart, makes me frustrated, fills me with compassion, angers me, and the list of emotions goes on and on. I could probably fill a couple of pages of all the things that are going wrong. The list would be full of things like terrible decisions, miscommunications, times of not communicating at all, to sin, heartache, tragedy, fear and on and on and on. There are so many things to fix that not only does it seem hopeless to the participants but if they are going to try to fix it, where in the world do they start? With all that said there is one thing that really is the foundation to all the problems, misplaced priorities. Somewhere along the way for many reasons, some probably intentional and others not, God and the commitment to make him #1 in life has greatly slipped behind other things that seem important but are destroying their lives. Honestly, if they together, and it needs to be both of them, would just recommit themselves to making Christ #1 many of the issues that they are dealing with would be resolved. Of course there are past hurt, pain, and situations that would still need to be worked out but 1) many of the hurtful actions that the participants are dealing with would begin to stop and 2) they would have a solid foundation to start from again. But that is a big “if.”

I want to ask you, is Christ really #1 in your life? What situation or situations in life are you dealing with that are mainly because you have become the priority in your life over Christ? I’m reading through the Old Testament right now and I can not tell you how many times we see a follower of God, who is experiencing the blessings of God, make the mistake of moving around their priorities. For many different reasons they begin to make themselves #1 in their own life and from that point on life begins to fall apart. I will give you one example, King Uzziah. We don’t talk a lot about him but in my devotional time today I read about his reign. He became king when he was only 16. In his early days he followed God in a time when being an evil king was the thing to do. He was an anomaly. Then 2 Chronicles 26:16 says, “But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall.” From that point on his life fell apart. When we hear "pride goes before the fall" we think about people who are arrogant and cocky. That isn’t the only pride that this is talking about. It is also prideful when we begin to take our lives into our own hands putting our wants, dreams, desires, etc. ahead of God. So, again, "pride goes before the fall." When we take the reigns and push God down on the priority list life begins to fall apart. I would urge you right now to self-evaluate. The consequences of you misplaced priorities maybe in the baby stages which if that is true is easier to deal with as opposed to catching it later when we have made such a mess of things it literally takes miracle to put you back again.

Oh, it is so hard to wait!

2008-04-14T10:37:00.000-07:00

The story of King David teaches us so much about life and following God. In that one man's life we learn about obedience, God's promises, God given blessings because of obedience, trusting God when the odds are against us, sin and the consequences of sin, repentance and forgiveness, and the the list could go on and on. In David's early years there is definitely one incredible lesson we can learn from him that actually is not talked a lot about. David in his youth was incredibly patient and had an incredible ability to wait on the Lord which most of us have trouble doing at any age.

David was very young when Samuel was led by God to go to Jesse's house in the obscure town of Bethlehem to find the next king of Israel. We don't know for sure how old David was at this point. Josephus, the famous ancient Jewish historian, says that he was 10 years old when he was anointed king. Most modern scholars believe that because of the circumstances involved that 10 is too young of an estimation but even still most scholars would agree that he was between the ages of 12-15. Any way you look at it he was young when he found out that he was going to be the next king of Israel. Think about the things that happened after he found out that he was going to be the next king. He served king Saul as a musician, he defeated Goliath, he's cheered by the crowds for his victory, he befriends Jonathon, he becomes an very successful commander of armies, and because Saul tries to kill him multiple times out of jealousy David has to spend years living on the run. During all these events he knew that he had been anointed the next king. We also know that he didn't become king of Judah until he was thirty and he didn't become the king of the rest of the tribes of Israel until he was 37. Think about that for a second. He had been promised the throne from God yet it was over 20 years before it came to complete fruition.

Do you think there was a moment in which he began to think, “God, when is this king thing going to happen?” Do you think there was a moment in which he was tempted to take that promise into his own hands so that it would happen on his own timing. Of course there was. We know that there were years in which he was living in obscurity outside the land of Israel. There had to be moments in which he questioned if God was ever going to come through on his promise. Yet through all of that time David just obeyed God, went where God led, and didn't try to manufacture God's plans on his own time and in his own way. There were two times that David could have killed Saul and his men encouraged him to do so. It seems from an outside perspective that he had every right to kill him. Not only was he promised to be the next king but Saul was trying to take his life. Yet David trusts God through all these years that God's timing is better than his. In I Samuel 26:10 David says, “surely the Lord will strike Saul down someday, or he will die of old age or in battle. The Lord forbid that I should kill the one he has anointed.” David knew that it would be a sin for him to kill Saul. So...he trusts God, lives obediently, and waits over 20 years through difficult circumstances for God to deliver His promise. That is patience. But because he waits, God establishes Israel under David as one of the most powerful kingdoms to ever exist on earth.

What promise are you eagerly waiting on the Lord for? We learn from David that waiting obediently for God is much better than taking things into our own hands. Conversely we see people of the Bible continually take God's promises into their own hands and really mess things up. If you want to see one of these stories look at Jacob’s life in Genesis as he continually tries to grab hold of God’s promises for him on his timing and terms. It is often through waiting that God does some of the greatest work in our life.

Jonathon, Man of God

2008-04-07T10:29:00.000-07:00

1 Samuel 18-23
In contrast to his father Saul, Jonathon is one of the greatest men of character in all of scripture. He is often referred to in teaching because of his incredible faithfulness in friendship to David but it is a rare sermon heard about his incredible Godliness. From a worldly perspective Jonathon had every right to feel anger and jealousy towards David. Jonathon was the first born son of the king. Jonathon was the rightful heir apparent. Jonathon was an incredible faithful servant not only to Israel but to God himself (take a look at last week's blog, chapter 14). Yet when Saul was rejected by God it was David who received the anointing. It only seems right that if God took the kingdom from Saul because of his disobedience that Saul's son Jonathon, if he was a Godly man and he was, would have the first right to the throne. But that is not what God chose to do. It was David that God powerfully came upon to kill the giant Goliath. It was David that the crowds praised singing “Saul has killed his thousands and David his ten thousands.” It was in description of David that the Bible says “he succeeded in everything he did because the Lord was with him.” It was David, not Jonathon, that God through Samuel anointed as the next chosen king of Israel. Yet despite all of that it was Jonathon who stood up for David to his father. It was Jonathon that told David of Saul's scheme to kill him. It was Jonathon that swore his allegiance to David. And it was Jonathon who took David's side even though it that meant the loss of the kingdom for himself. Jonathon was not only an incredible friend to David he was Godly man of character who even though it meant a loss for him personally did what was right in God's eyes simply because it was right.
What can we learn from the story of Jonathon? First, this is another great reminder from scripture that it’s not about you. It’s not about what you are going to get for doing what is right. It is about God's glory and His plan. Jonathon was a Godly man whose life was about loving others and serving God regardless of how that adversely affected him. Secondly, it is a story that teaches an important Biblical truth that following God and doing what is right does not necessarily mean physical blessings on this earth. Many Christians living in America have an incorrect understanding of scripture believing it teaches that if we obey God our life then will be full of nothing but blessing. It is true that we will be blessed but that doesn't necessarily mean by materialistic pleasures. What did Jonathon receive on earth for obeying God? He gave up the right to be the next king and all the privileges that go along with that and then died in battle because of his father's sin. That doesn't sound like God blessed him for his faithfulness. But again, it's about eternity. I believe that today as Jonathon stands before God in heaven he is being blessed forever because of his Godliness.
As we follow God we need to make decisions based upon what is right not what is in it for us.

Reckless Abandon

2008-03-31T14:17:00.000-07:00

This little story in 1 Samuel 14 is embedded in the middle of the tragic fall of King Saul. It is a story that is often overlooked and is rarely taught on but I have to say that if it isn’t my favorite story in all of Scripture it definitely is in the top 5.

In working with teenagers for so long there is something that they often have that we as adults can often lose. It’s their reckless abandon no holds barred approach to living out their faith. Although God is calling us to respond with our lives for the advancement of the Kingdom of God we often find a way to rationalize why at this point in our life we can’t. We are too busy, we don’t have the skills, we don’t know enough about the Bible, honestly I have probably heard them all. I once heard in a sermon that there are three types of Christians; rowboat Christians, sailboat Christians, and steamboat Christians. Rowboat Christians need to be pushed or shoved along. Sailboat Christians move when a favorable wind is blowing. Steamboat Christians move forward regardless of calm or storm. What type of Christian are you as it pertains to answering God’s call on your life. Do you need to be pushed into action? Do you respond only when it is easy? Or do you answer God’s call with passion regardless of the circumstances.

Read 1 Samuel 14:1-23. As they often say in sports, Jonathon is one of the most unheralded characters in scripture. I love this story because of Jonathon’s reckless abandon no holds barred approach to following God. Jonathon knew that God was with the people of Israel, Jonathon knew that God had already handed the Philistines over to Israel they just had to take them, Jonathon was not afraid of his call, and Jonathon was tired of watching Saul and his soldiers do nothing for God as they just sit under a pomegranate tree ooing and awing over Ahijah’s priestly robe (italics; my loose interpretation).

What excuses are holding you back from starting (or finishing for that matter) what God has called you to do?

Are you too busy?
What important things in your life are holding you back from accomplishing the great things he has for you? As a friend and mentor once told me, good is often the enemy of great.
Are your own agenda’s getting in the way?
Saul’s agenda was his own glory. At some point in time his pride created a fear of failing that immobilized him from taking action for God. Simply put: I don’t think he was fighting because I don’t think he wanted to look bad.
Are you afraid of what God’s calling you to do?
I want to have the faith of Jonathon. He simply says if God wants us to go up there and fight the army by ourselves then we will go because God is with us. So Jonathon and his armor-bearer climb up the mountain and fight for God killing some twenty men. The incredible part of the story is that is when God stepped in and did the miraculous. It was at that point, after Jonathon took action for God, that God created the panic in the Philistine army with an earthquake. I love it. He waited for Jonathon to take action yet still wanted Jonathon to know that it was only through Him that Jonathon could have success.
Verses 20-23 are my favorite part. It was after Jonathon had moved into action and God had done the miraculous that the rest of Israel joined the battle. I love the way the NIV says it, “they joined the battle in hot pursuit.” My friend, when you jump into action for God, God moves ahead of you, people see the exciting things he is doing, and because of your availability for God to do great things in and through you people join in!

So I ask again, what kind of Christian boat are you captain of, a rowboat, sailboat, or steamboat?

Saul's Fall from Grace

2008-03-24T11:45:00.000-07:00

1 Samuel 9-15
Over the years the story of Saul has not only been discouraging and depressing to me but it has also been confusing. Saul never sought or asked to be king of anything let alone God's anointed one over all of Israel. In fact when Samuel gave Saul the news he said, “But I'm only from the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel, and my family is the least important of all the families of that tribe! Why are you talking to me (1 Sam. 9:21)?” and later when Samuel was to publicly anoint him Saul was hiding in the luggage (some argue that this was a sign of his lack of trust in God that later grew into willful disobedience). Then we see the Spirit of God come powerfully upon him and make him a new man: “...you will be changed into a different person 10:6”; “Saul turned and started to leave, God gave him a new heart...”

Even though this was true Saul made two major mistakes that moved God to reject him as king. In chapter 13 we see Saul facing great odds with only 3,000 troops against the “...Philistine's 3,000 chariots, 6,000 charioteers and as many warriors as the grains of sand on the seashore (13:5).” He is supposed to wait for Samuel to make a sacrifice to the Lord before the battle begins. Saul waits and waits but can wait no longer so he offers the sacrifice himself which was in direct disobedience to the command God gave him (13:13) not to mention it was against the levitical law of Moses . Then after Samuel called him out on that disobedient act in chapter 15 God commanded Saul to completely obliterate the Amalekites but Saul kept the choice animals alive as well as their king. It was after this partial obedient act that God said through Samuel, “so because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king (15:23b).”

This story of scripture has always bothered me a bit. Relatively speaking it doesn't seem that these mistakes of Saul were that great. It is somewhat troubling to me because I know that I have made a lot more and maybe even a lot worse mistakes than the ones that moved God to reject Saul. So what can be learned from the story of Saul? I think there are probably many things but here are two that have been powerful for me.

In the story we see that the Spirit of God comes powerfully upon Saul. The story tells us that he was a changed man and that he would never be the same again. Like I mentioned before it actually says that God gave him a new heart. Yet, he choses to take things into his own hands and therefore sins directly against the command of God. It is true when we put our faith in Christ that the Spirit of God comes upon us powerfully as well. Scripture tells us that at that moment we become a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17). It is true of us as well that we receive a new heart from God. But, it is also true that even though we now live powerfully by the Spirit of God we still have a choice to make everyday between our sinful nature and obedience to God. Although the Spirit of God was upon Saul he still had a free will. Because Saul was driven by his impatience, lack of faith, and selfishness he chose sin instead of God. Although, because we live under the new covenant once we receive Christ as our personal savior we will never be rejected by God, when we put our faith in God we are still faced with decisions everyday that can lead us away from God's chosen path for us. So we must intentionally pursue holiness. It won't just happen even though we have been given a new heart.

The second thing that really sticks out to me in Saul's story is the driving force behind his sinful decisions. Saul struggled with faith. He had a hard time believing in the promises of God especially when the physical evidence seemed to be stacked against him. That is when he stepped in and took things into his own hands. Why did this frustrate God so much? God is in the business of allowing the odds to be stacked against Him so that he can be proved faithful. God is in the business of performing miracles based upon his promises. When Saul took things into his own hands he was stealing God's glory for himself. That is also true in our lives. When we impatiently step in ahead of God not only do we mess things up but we are stealing God's glory for ourselves. That is definitely one sin in scripture that we see that God will not put up with. So...in what area of life is God asking you to wait on him to miraculously step in yet because of your impatience you are trying to step in and take control? It may not be your intention but when you impatiently take things into your own hands your are stealing God's glory as well as missing out on God's miraculous promise. It can be hard to wait on God but I promise you that his results will far outweigh the results that you try to manufacture. “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD (Psalm 27:14)”

God in a Box

2008-03-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

Take a moment to read 1 Samuel 4.

Let me give you a little background to the story. Samuel is referred to as the last judge and the first prophet. This gives us the timeline in which this story takes place. The time of the judges was not a period in which the Israelites were following God. It tells us twice in the book of Judges “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes (Judges 17:6; 21:25).” Even though God had provided Samuel for the people we can still see their rebellious attitude as they reject God as their king and demand that Samuel anoint a human king:

But the people refused to listen to Samuel's warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said. “We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will govern us and lead us into battle.” 1 Samuel 8:19-20.

So as we go into chapter 4 it is important to note that the people of Israel were not following God wholeheartedly. The Philistines then come and attack the Israelites defeating them soundly. The people cry out, “Why did the Lord allow us to be defeated by the Philistines?” Then they come up with a great idea (I am being sarcastic in case you missed it). “Let’s bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from Shiloh. If we carry it into battle with us, it will save us from our enemies (italics mine).” This time the Philistines kill some 30,000 Israelite soldiers and take the Ark of the Covenant from them.

Where did the Israelites go wrong? Well, first of all they were already in a rebellious state when they went into the battles. Secondly, we never see anyone ever consult God about what they should do. And thirdly, they use the Ark as some kind of superstitious rabbit’s foot as though the Ark in itself could bring them victory.

What can we learn from this story? 1.) We can’t expect God to bless us when we are living in sin. Even if we are doing all the activities in which we think are holy such as going to church, reading the Bible, praying, etc. 2.) One of the things that I have done myself and often see people do that gets us into trouble is jump into a direction in life without consulting God and then when it goes wrong we ask, “where were you God?” What we often do is see a direction we want to go and then inform God that’s were we are going and pray that he blesses us. Instead, what we ought to do is present the choices before the Lord, ask Him to lead us in the direction He wants us to go, and then follow. 3.) Although we probably do not use physical trinkets to bring us blessings as the Israelites used the Ark we do use spiritual activities that we believe are holy so that God will give us success. For instance, there are times that we pursue the spiritual disciplines in our life such as reading the Bible, going to church, praying, fasting, etc. not to draw close to God, not to become a fully devoted follower of Christ, but rather we try to use them as a method to success. Maybe that is not you but I am speaking from personal experience. I won’t go into the details but I will never forget this one time in my life that I desperately wanted God to give me something. It wasn’t materialistic in nature but it definitely was selfish. So what I did is go on a 3 day fast. I wasn’t doing this to pursue God, I wasn’t doing it to grow spiritually, I was using a spiritual discipline so that God would give me my selfish desires. I, as the Israelites did, was trying to put God in a box and direct him to act on my behalf for my selfish desires. So I ask you the question, why are you pursuing God? Is it truly to do the will of God regardless of personal cost or is it almost a superstitious action to get God to work on your behalf. Now, God will bless us tremendously as He did Israel when we pursue him with pure motives but that is not the reason why we should pursue him. Take some time to evaluate your motives as you pursue the almighty living God.

The Son of a Prostitute

2008-03-10T10:32:00.000-07:00

Judges 11
You may not be familiar with the story of Judge Jepththah but for most people who are they remember him not because his story is one of the most encouraging, uplifting stories in Bible but because of his part in one of the most confusing, difficult, misunderstood passages of scripture. Let me address as quickly as possible the distracting part of the story. When Jepththah was called by God to fight the Ammonites he made a vow to the Lord. “If you give me victory over the Ammonites, I will give to the LORD the first thing coming out of my house to greet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering (11:30-31).” The Lord then gives him victory and on his way home his daughter is the first thing that comes out of his house to greet him. Obviously Jephthah is distraught and tells his daughter that he cannot take his vow back. His daughter tells Jephthah that a vow to the Lord must be kept. She then goes into the mountains for 2 months to mourn the fact that she will die a virgin. Then verse 29 says, “when she returned home, her father kept his vow, and she died a virgin.” So when we read this in our English Bibles we think this wonderful hero Jephthah sacrificed his daughter as a burnt offering. To fully explain why this could not have happened would take a 10 page essay so let me quickly explain why Jephthah did not sacrifice his daughter as a burnt offering. The first and most convincing reason is because Jephthah was a man of God and to sacrifice a human would be completely inconsistent with the law of God (Lev 18:21; 20:2-5; Deut 12:31; 18:10). Secondly, when reading it in the Hebrew there is evidence that dying a virgin (actual translation: she would know no man) did not mean she would be sacrificed but that because of this vow she would never be married and would end her life, whenever that might have been, a virgin. The last reason that I will mention was that in the law there where alternatives to a burnt offering. One of those alternatives was a life long devotion in service to the Lord in the sanctuary. When a woman was set apart for this kind of service she would never be married and therefore would die a virgin. Almost every commentary you can find will make the argument that this was the action Jephthah took to fulfill his vow. So these verses tell us that she fulfilled a life-long dedication to the Lord in the sanctuary meaning she never was married and died a virgin.

So, now with that out of the way, lets get to the exciting part of the story that we so often miss. Jepthah was an outcaste because of his lineage. Jephthah was the son of a prostitute. His half-brothers rejected him and forced him to leave their land claiming he had no rights to their father’s inheritance because he was not the son of Gilead’s (Jephthah’s father) true wife as they were. He then left and it tells us in verse 3 that a band of “worthless” men followed him. Wow, sounds like life is really going great for him. But in the end those who hated him pleaded with him to come and save them. It was Jephthah that God chose to deliver His people from the oppression of the Ammonites and become a hero. It tells us in verse 29 that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he then brought victory to the people of Israel. The reason why I love this story is because it is another powerful example that God is not concerned with how men
define greatness. He can and will use anyone who puts Him first in their life to advance the kingdom of God. He is in the business of using “worhless sons of prostitutes” to bring glory to himself.

This is why I share this story. It doesn’t matter to God who your parents were or what they did, it doesn’t matter to God what neighborhood you grew up in, it doesn’t matter to God if you make the big bucks or not, what matters to God is that He is number one in your life and when He is the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, He will redeem your background, and will use you to advance the kingdom of God. That is greatness.

Stones of Instruction

2008-03-03T10:52:00.000-08:00

If you missed last week’s blog I would encourage you to read it before reading today’s because today’s thoughts build upon what we talked about last week. I mentioned last week if I were to communicate the central theme of Deuteronomy in one sentence it would be something like: Obey the Lord, take sin seriously, and God will bless. As we continue through this wonderful book it seems as though Moses continually pleads for obedience and even gives them the tools to find success. It is interesting how many times he commands them to take physical action so that they can find success in obedience. People with good intentions often have the faulty thinking as they pursue God that if they just desire obedience enough it will surely come to them. Pursuit without action will leave you wanting. I came across something in chapter 27 that I had never noticed before in all the times that I have read through this book. That’s why I love the Word of God so much. Every time that I read through it God points out new and exciting spiritual truths that when applied can help us to become the fully devoted follower of Christ that we are striving for.

When you cross the Jordan River and enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. Then write all the terms of this law on them… set up these stones at Mount Ebal and coat them with plaster, as I am commanding you today. On the stones coated with plaster, you must clearly write all the terms of this law. Deuteronomy 27:2-4, 8

I read that passage a few times because it really triggered my curiosity. I then did some research. I found out that Mt. Ebal’s location is approximately at the center of Israel. Then I looked further into it and discovered that Mt. Ebal is the highest peak of the central mountain range of Israel. (So that I don’t have a ton of e-mails: Mt. Ebal is not the highest peak in all of Israel but it is the highest peak in center section of Israel.) So…as the people enter the promise land God commands them to take large stones covered in plaster with the law written upon them and erect them on the highest mountain in the center of Israel (for those who are curious Joshua obeyed this command in Joshua 8:30-34).

Remembering that the central theme of Deuteronomy is the call to obedience what is the significance of such an action? The first thing that struck me was how this made the law accessible to everyone. I had always pictured that the law was written on just a few tablets that only the priests had access to. Yet with this new information anyone who could read and had the desire to spend time in the law could climb Mt. Ebal (3,080ft.) and read the Word of God for themselves. Secondly, I think God was making a statement to the people of Israel about the importance of the Word of God by placing it where he did, at the center of Israel. Thirdly, what does this mean for us today? Again, God was making a symbolic statement in setting the law at the highest peak at the center of Israel in a book calling for obedience. I think it what it means for us today is if we want to find success in obeying God we must also set the Word of God containing his expectations visibly in front of us. This means we must continually come to the Word of God on a daily basis if we are expecting to find success in obedience. We are not to worship the Word of God but as we strive for God his Word must be central to our lives if we want to find success in obeying him. I will say this; I have never yet met a person in all of my life who is finding success in obedience who hasn’t had the Word of God as a regular part of their life. So I would encourage you again, as I have done so many times, to set an appointment in your schedule everyday to spend time in God’s word. Yeah, there will be days where it isn’t fun, there will be days in which you don’t understand it, there will be days in which you don’t even remember what you read earlier, but as we spend time in God’s word daily through Holy Spirit it permeates into our hearts and we will begin to change.

Obedience Doesn’t Just Happen

2008-02-25T11:25:00.000-08:00

The book of Deuteronomy is not a book that many Christians spend much time in for their devotional life and not many believers who do spend time in this book walk away with the warm fuzzies. But this book is so vital in understanding the call of God on all believers to strive for holiness. Sixty-six times in the book of Deuteronomy the NLT uses the word obey. In every instance either Moses or God through Moses is calling the people to obedience. Although this book has such great power I could translate this whole book into one sentence. Obey the Lord, take sin seriously, and God will bless us. Although the whole book seems to be iniltrated with this theme of obedience it seems to be heightened in chapters 5-7. The word obey in the NLT is used 15 times in these short chapters not including the additional times that the word may not be used but the call for obedience is still inferred.

Here are a few examples of how we are to look upon obedience and sin from these chapters:

5:32: You must be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God.
6:6: You must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands…
6:17: You must diligently obey the commands of the Lord your God…
7:2-6: Paraphrase: Completely obliterate sin.
7:16: Paraphrase: If we allow sin to remain in will entrap us.
7:26: You must utterly detest such things.

Here are an incredible Biblical truth that I have learned from these passages. We must not let even “small” sin remain within our lives. If we do it will grow and eventually entrap us. We must take on the attitude given by Moses. We must “utterly detest” sin. And if we don't it will creep into our lives so we must remove it immediately. Here are a couple problems that many of us face. Most of us do not “utterly detest” sin. This is often seen in what we allow into our homes, what we watch on TV, etc. And because this attitude is often lacking we allow sin to linger in our lives until it is so big that it is very difficult to remove.

Now with that said there are some key words in these chapters that I think will help us find success in this area. Here are a few phrases Moses uses in regards to obedience; be careful, commit, wholeheartedly pursue, diligently. These words denote a constant awareness and re-commitment to the Lord. This tells us that we are to be careful in how we live, that we are to commit to holiness, that we are to with our whole heart pursue God and that all of this will take great diligence and discipline. This tells us that we are to be constantly and honestly evaluating our spiritual status and when we see sin, whatever it might be, we are to “completely obliterate it” immediately.

This means that if you want to continue to become who Christ desires you to be that you must set aside time with God daily to evaluate your spiritual status, confess sin, and to strategically make plans to remove habits of sin. If we just hope for holiness we will not see it lived out in our lives.

A Reminder

2008-02-18T09:42:00.000-08:00

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: Throughout the generations to come you must make tassels for the hems of your clothing and attach them with a blue cord. When you see the tassels, you will remember and obey all the commands of the Lord instead of following your own desires and defiling yourselves, as you are prone to do. The tassels will help you remember that you must obey all my commands and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt that I might be your God. I am the Lord your God!” Numbers 15:39-40:

I hope that you fall in love with the Old Testament as you continue to see how relevant it is to living for God today. This command was given to the people of God because they were continually sinning. God gave them very specific commands to follow yet everyday they were “following their own desires and defiling themselves.” Now there is a very important implication that I don’t want you to miss in that statement. The implication made is that when we follow our own desires we defile ourselves or another way to say this is when we do what we want to do when we want to do it, it usually leads to sin because of the human condition. We are all sinful by nature. If left to our own desires we will sin against a holy God. So, he tells the people to get a physical reminder in front of their eyes that they can see at all times so that when they find themselves leaning towards sin they will see that object, the blue tassel, and be reminded that it is better to obey God that their own desires.

It is important to note that one very significant thing has changed since the Old Testament was written. When we put our faith in Christ the Holy Spirit takes residence in our hearts. This then actually allows us to have the power to have victory over our sinful desires and because of Him our desires can actually begin to change as we allow Him to take charge of our lives. But even with that we have a constant internal battle within our hearts for who will be in control, our sinful nature or the Holy Spirit (for further insight read Galatians 5:10-16).

So today I would encourage you to find something physical that will be very visible to you through out the day to remind yourself to obey God and allow the Holy Spirit to lead your life rather than to follow your sinful desires and sin. I want you to know that I did this on February 13. I put a very small piece of tape around one of my fingers. My intention was to find something that wouldn’t be very noticeable to others but would constantly be a reminder to me. A very interesting thing occurred. Although I discovered that it rarely kept me from my sin before it took place it did, however, allow that sin to become instantly apparent to me. Whatever it might have been, a selfish action, an unkind word, a judgmental thought, I immediately felt that tape and emotionally fell to my knees before the Lord for his forgiveness. It was a great reminder to me of how Holy he is and how sinful I am. I was very aware of my sinfulness that day. I thank the Lord for his grace and forgiveness. I thank God that through his gracious Holy Spirit he never gives up on me and continues to work in me a right spirit! Through his work in me I do believe that I look just a little bit more like Jesus today than I did yesterday.

Praise the Lord.

The Greatest Honor

2008-02-11T10:58:00.000-08:00

Who are the Levites? It can be confusing at times when in church we throw around terms like the Levites, a Nazerite, the Nazerines, etc. and just assume that everyone understands these very important terms. To answer the first question simply, the Levites were one of the tribes of Israel that God set aside specifically to minister at the Tabernacle. So where do the priests come from? Not every Levite was a priest. The priests came from the tribe of Levi but they were specifically descendants of Aaron, Moses brother, who was a Levite, the first high priest.

So where am I going? It was important to have that background as I discuss what I am learning as I go through Numbers. The first 8 chapters of Numbers spends a great deal of time on the job of the Levites. The Levites were split into 3 groups of people from the 3 sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, for 3 specific assignments as it relates to the Tabernacle. When I was reading this I was thinking if I was one of the Levites it would be so awesome to be part of the group that was able to work with the sacred objects such as the Ark of the Covenant, the lampstands, the golden alter, etc. Think about it, if you had your choice of jobs in the Tabernacle would you want to be in charge of the Ark or the tent poles. Carrying, moving, and setting up the tent poles just doesn’t sound very exciting to me even though someone had to do it. But working the Ark, that is a big time job!

The Kohathites were given this incredible honor of working with the sacred objects. Before I read everything I definitely wanted to be a part of that group. But then I read Numbers 4. I would encourage you to read this chapter so you can see the incredible detail in which God gave them in working with the sacred objects but let me just give you two verses:

When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the sacred utensils, the Kohathites will come and carry these things to the next destination. But they must not touch the sacred objects, or they will die. Numbers 4:15

Otherwise they must not approach the sanctuary and look at the sacred objects for even a moment, or they will die. Numbers 4:20

After reading this I wasn’t quite as excited to be a part of that group. What a risky job. We don't read about the other two groups risking their lives in their work. It was an incredible honor to be able to work with these wonderful sacred objects but it also came with great consequences if it wasn’t done exactly as God instructed.

What is the point? As I was reading I asked myself the question, how does this relate to today? To quote Spiderman the movie, “with great power comes great responsibility.” I would change that to “with great privilege comes great responsibility.” The same is true as we mature in Christ. When God gives us the incredible honor of leading someone to Christ and then becoming responsible to disciple them or in other words help them grow in their faith, it is the most incredible honor given to man by God working with the most sacred object created by God, the human soul. As you grow God will entrust other’s spiritual growth to you. I don’t think God blesses us more in any other circumstance than we help others become like him. In the end it is every believer’s highest calling. I can not say this more directly, if you have put your faith in Christ as you mature God wants you to help others grow in Christ. Every believer is to be a disciple maker or as we say it at First Covenant, every believer is to help others become fully devoted follwers of Christ. You may not be there but that is where God wants to take you. It truly is a sacred honor and privilege. But I will say this, please do not take it lightly because God doesn’t and we are dealing with souls. This passage was a good reminder to me to take seriously the privileges that he has given me to help others become fully devoted followers of Christ. Because when we are handling sacred things God is very interested.

Questions to think about:

1. Who are you helping become a fully devoted follower of Christ?
2. If don't have a name for this question, what is hindering you from truyly believing that God wants to use you in this way?
3. What must you do to grow in Christ so that you can help others grow?
4. What are you going to do to fulfill this calling from God?

You Must Read the Old with the New

2008-02-04T15:27:00.000-08:00

I will admit that there are times that the Old Testament can be a little difficult to read but there is a reason why Paul wrote in Romans “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us (Romans 15:4).” In reading through the Bible this year I am right in the middle of Leviticus, the part of most of our Bibles that the pages still stick together. Although this book can be a little dry it is one of the most profound books in the Bible foreshadowing the work of the Christ. This book was given to the people of Israel as the official book of worship as a solution for two problems. 1) How can a sinful people come into the presence of a Holy God (Animal Sacrifice) and 2) how can they maintain that fellowship with Him (obedience to God’s Word).

As I was reading about how different types of bodily discharges can make one unclean (just some light reading) I came across a passage that made a New Testament story come alive for me. Take a moment to read Leviticus 15:19-27 (NLT):

Whenever a woman has her menstrual period, she will be ceremonially unclean for seven days. If you touch her during that time, you will be defiled until evening. Anything on which she lies or sits during that time will be defiled. If you touch her bed, you must wash your clothes and bathe in water, and you will remain defiled until evening. The same applies if you touch an object on which she sits, whether it is her bedding or any piece of furniture. If a man has sexual intercourse with her during this time, her menstrual impurity will be transmitted to him. He will remain defiled for seven days, and any bed on which he lies will be defiled. "If the menstrual flow of blood continues for many days beyond the normal period, or if she discharges blood unrelated to her menstruation, the woman will be ceremonially unclean as long as the discharge continues. Anything on which she lies or sits during that time will be defiled, just as it would be during her normal menstrual period. If you touch her bed or anything on which she sits, you will be defiled. You will be required to wash your clothes and bathe in water, and you will remain defiled until evening.

Now take a moment to read Luke 8:43-48 (NLT):

And there was a woman in the crowd who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years. She had spent everything she had on doctors and still could find no cure. She came up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped. "Who touched me?" Jesus asked. Everyone denied it, and Peter said, "Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you." But Jesus told him, "No, someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me." When the woman realized that Jesus knew, she began to tremble and fell to her knees before him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed. "Daughter," he said to her, "your faith has made you well. Go in peace."

I have been very familiar with that story for many years. It was a very encouraging story to me because of the suffering that Jesus relieved but somehow I never fully realized the tremendous impact this physical ailment was having on her life. I had always know that it was obviously impacting her physically and financially but as I read Leviticus I realized that it had destroyed every area of her life. Think about living under the guidelines stated above in Leviticus 15 for 12 years. It is almost unimaginable.

There are two things that I want to leave with you. First, Jesus not only showed how much he loves us but how we are to love people. As it states in Leviticus 15 when he allowed her to touch him he became unclean. Jesus allowed himself to become unclean to heal a soul. That is how much God loves you but at the same time are you willing to love people in the same way risking your own reputation to love another person. Secondly, it is just another great reminder to me how important the Old Testament is to understanding Jesus Christ. Don’t ever stop reading the Old with the New!

Come Join Us

2008-01-28T10:14:00.000-08:00

Well…I’m back. If you have been checking the blog the last few weeks I apologize for my absence. But, as many of you know, my life drastically changed on January 3rd as Holly and I received an incredible gift from God in our second child, a daughter, Kegan Lane. I try to remind myself that we are only the trillionth couple to be taking care of an infant all day long and all through the night while at the same time chasing a two year old energizer bunny of a son through out the day. It was my birthday on Saturday and Holly asked me what I wanted and I said a nap. I received one of the most beautiful gifts that Holly has ever given me as I slept from 1pm to 4pm on that day. I never knew that I would covet a nap so badly. I know, I know that the majority of you are snickering as you read thinking to yourself, been there done that. But it is so fresh for me. I just keep telling myself, this too shall pass.

Although I have been obviously very busy I have been diligent about staying in the Word these last few weeks. At the new year a large portion of our staff and I have begun reading through the same Bible together. We would love for you to do it with us. If you want to pick it up you can get it at cbd.com. It is called the Daily Walk Bible. If you are a regular to the blog I would encourage you to do so because most of my blogs this year will be coming from my devotional time in this Bible. So far it has been very encouraging talking with the staff about what we are learning because we are doing it together. I have already learned so much because as I read God points out one thing to me but as others read he guides them to different insights. So, I am not only learning what God is directly sharing with me in my time but also what he is teaching others. My learning curve has been greatly multiplied! I am looking forward to meeting you here next Monday as I begin to share what God is teaching me through this journey.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Christmas Memories

2007-12-17T09:21:00.000-08:00

One thing that could be easy for me to take for granted is how my parents lead our family when I was growing up. I think for all of us when living life as a child we just think that what we are experiencing is normal. Whether it is terrible or great we just go on as if it is just the way it is for everyone. Now that I have grown up (my wife may beg to differ) I have come to realize that some of the things that my parents intentionally implemented into our family experience is not necessarily normal and many children don't have the incredible childhood that I had. Now as I parent I find myself doing those same things out of instinct but for many parents because they didn't have the everyday example that I had must be intentional about creating the family experience that not only they wished they had for themselves but what they want for their own children.

One of the great experiences that my parents created for us as we were growing up was a wonderful Christmas tradition. I could probably write a 10 page essay on all the incredible things that they intentionally did during this season that made Christmas not only something to look forward year after year but but they created cherished memories that I will think about for the rest of my life. With all of that said the Christmas tradition that I am most thankful for was the intentional time that we spent as a family around the Christmas tree before all the wrapping paper went flying worshiping God because Jesus was given to us that beautiful night some two-thousand years ago. Every Christmas eve after my dad finally got home from the Christmas eve services (by the way, it was torture waiting for him) we would sit down around the Christmas tree and celebrate Jesus. When we were younger each of us would contribute something to this time. Cheri might read a story, Todd would play a Christmas carol on his trombone, and I, well, I would struggle through a song on my alto saxophone. Then one of us, usually my mom, would read the real Christmas story:

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

I would just like to encourage you to be intentional and take some time this Christmas with your family to create some great traditions that can be remembered for years to come. Within those new traditions take some time to celebrate with your family Jesus. Even if it is as simple as reading the real Christmas story in Luke 2 before you crack open all the wonderful presents! Have a merry Christmas and happy new year. I'll meet you back here in the new year.

The Truth about Jonah

2007-12-10T11:15:00.000-08:00

The book of Jonah doesn’t read like I remember the story being told in Sunday school. It always amazes me how Sunday school has really shaped my understanding of God and of Scripture. I am often surprised how often my understanding of a Biblical story can usually be traced back to all the different times we learned about Biblical characters on Sunday mornings when I was little.
Even up to a few years ago when I thought of the story of Jonah I remember it as a positive story with a happy ending. Here’s essentially what I remembered: Jonah was told to go to Nineveh and preach to the people that they must repent or be destroyed. Jonah didn’t want to do it so he ran from God. He ended up on a ship that was being tossed here and there by the waves until the crew finally threw Jonah overboard as the storm instantaneously stops. Jonah is then swallowed by a whale where he spends three days and nights until he finally repents and tells God he will do whatever he is told. The whale then spits him up on the shore and he does exactly what God told him to do in the first place. The people of Nineveh actually listen and repent. God then forgives them and holds back his wrath. So...everybody is happy, The End.
There is only one problem with this understanding of the story. It's incorrect. It is pretty much correct until the people of Nineveh actually listen and God forgives. Jonah was not happy about this. In fact he actually has the gall to say, “Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this, LORD? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. I knew how easily you could cancel your plans for destroying these people. Just kill me now, LORD! I'd rather be dead than alive because nothing I predicted is going to happen (Jonah 4:2-3).” What is happening? Jonah hates the people of Nineveh. That is why he didn’t want to tell them to repent in the first place because he was afraid that they would and God wouldn’t destroy them. God isn’t happy with Jonah’s response and the story ends with Jonah pouting outside of the city.
That’s not the story I remember from Sunday school. Here is what I think the book of Jonah is really about. God does call us to obey. But he doesn’t just want our obedience, he wants our hearts as well. Jonah did what God wanted him to do but was very unhappy about it. He wants us to have the proper motivation for obedience. This motivation is based upon our love for our God. What has God called you to do recently? Now we are called to obey regardless of how we feel but my question for all of us is what is your heart saying about it? Are you obeying just to avoid his wrath or is your obedience rooted in your love for God? I would encourage you to spend some time with God evaluating that question and asking him to change your heart if it isn’t correct.

Come Back to Me

2007-12-03T11:07:00.000-08:00

The book of Hosea give us one of the most shocking, distressing, even offensive yet perfect analogies of what our rebellion to our loving God looks like. In chapter one God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute so some of her children will be born to him from other men. He says “…this will illustrate the way my people have been untrue to me, openly committing adultery against the Lord by worshipping other gods.” Wow. I don’t know about you but that analogy is a little depressing. I know that there have been times that I have put other things at the center of my life such as my career, relationships, money, etc. Although we don’t have physical idols in our culture anything that we put ahead of God in our lives is an idol. That means that all of us at one time or another have in the analogy, prostituted ourselves to other things than God. Again, shocking, distressing, even a little offensive but God wants us to see how serious sin is. Even in the midst of this kind of sin God says to you “I will make you my wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice, unfailing love and compassion (Hosea 2:19).”

Now as difficult that analogy can be to hear think about how loving God really is. He loves you so much that even though you and I when we put things in life ahead of him commit adultery by prostituting ourselves with those idols of life God will not abandon you. He is waiting for you to return and when you do, he is waiting with open arms of love.

There are times in reading scripture that I come across a verse that says it so simply, a verse that says it in such a way that if people could just get this one verse Christianity world wide would be so different. “So now, come back to your God! Act on the principles of love and justice, and always live in confident dependence on your God (Hosea 12:6).”

I would encourage you to memorize that verse today. Take a moment to analyze your life. Has anything taken over the position in your life that God deserves? Are you living in the simple principles of love (selflessness) and justice (actively caring)? Are living with complete dependence on God? If the answer is no to any of those questions God says to you, “Come back to me.” He also promises unfailing love and compassion. Amen!

Integrity

2007-11-26T10:10:00.000-08:00

In reading Daniel this morning I came across the famous story of Daniel and the Lion’s den. For those of us who have been in the church since childhood this is a story that most of us could recite without even reading the passage out of Daniel 6. That actually can be a great determinate to us because when we come to passages like this one we can read them so fast because we are so familiar with the story that we miss some of the great challenges of the story.

Here is the story in case you are not familiar with it. Darius, basically the new king of the world, set up his kingdom with 120 governors to rule throughout the kingdom and 3 administrators (Daniel was appointed as an administrator) to rule over those 120 governors. Everything Daniel touched or did resulted in great success. Because of this Darius decided to set Daniel in charge of the whole kingdom. At this, many of the other governors and administrators were filled with jealousy so they plotted to bring Daniel down. These verses are the ones we can sometimes overlook:

At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.” Daniel 6:4-5

The question for us is what if someone dug as deep as they could into our lives to bring us down? Could they find a deficiency in how we handle everyday affairs at work, home, school, etc.? This is the part that amazes me about Daniel. Not only did he live life with incredible integrity in all of his affairs but his enemies decided that the only way to bring him down was to create a law that went against the law of the God he followed. Think about that. He was so faithful and consistent to God that they knew if they outlawed even a small part of being faithful to God Daniel would not compromise. This was the only way they could bring him down. That is the challenge for you and for me. The question isn't just are we living above reproach in everyday affairs but are we so consistent in our obedience of God that if someone wanted to bring us down that would be the only way an enemy could do it? I don't know about you, but that is an incredible challenge.

Let's Move

2007-11-19T11:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, there are times in which God is just telling us to wait. Wait on me. We desperately want to move forward, in any direction, but God is just telling us to be patient and wait. I find this very difficult but there have been many times in my life in which I have ignored his voice and wished I would have just waited. With that said, though, there are many times in a person’s life in which God just wants us to move. Some of us are built in such a way that we need to have all the information and all the angles calculated before we take action. The problem with this is God so often tells us to trust in him and with that statement usually does not come a blueprint of future events. And so, we wait. We do nothing even though we feel God nudging us to move forward but because we don’t have knowledge of exactly what to do or how it will all exactly turn out, we do nothing.

Ecclesiates 11:4 speaks to this, “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.”

To be honest there were some times when I was working with college age students that I was very frustrated with some of them because they were waiting for God to give them the exact college to go to, the exact career to pursue, the perfect job opportunity, the exact girl or guy to marry, and that list could go on but because they didn’t have the exact answer from God they would do nothing. The problem with that kind of pursuit of God is that it isn’t how he usually works with us. He has laid out Godly living for us in scripture, he has given us a mind to discern and he often allows us to make our decision within his boundaries. This, for some, is very difficult because they want to know exactly what God wants them to do. So the wisdom of Solomon speaks to us today, “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done,” and “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:4-5).” God doesn’t always give us exactly what we are supposed to do but within his scriptural boundaries he is often nudging us to move forward. So, if that is you today, I would encourage you to look at your circumstances, to pray, to read scripture, to get advice from Godly men and women, and then move forward. It may be scary but I promise that God is in control.

Pleasant Words

2007-11-12T10:57:00.000-08:00

When I read through Proverbs I often get frustrated because although every verse is full of such incredible life changing wisdom I can’t remember them all! So, as I have said before, I try to mark just a few in every chapter that I want to keep at the front of my mind for that day. Proverbs 12:4 was one verse that I marked during this specific journey through Proverbs to meditate on:

A worthy wife is her husband's joy and crown...

It would be easy for all of us to read a verse like this and just keep on reading. I will be honest I was tempted to do the same because chapter 12 had so many other proverbs that were so applicable to life but I decided to camp on this verse for a moment or two. I re-read it a few times and then spent some time thanking God for my incredible wife. Now it would have been easy to leave it there but I decided to e-mail my wife this verse and let her know what a joy and blessing she is to me. You know how long it took me to write that note, about 3 minutes! Probably the best 3 minutes I spent all day.

If you are married I encourage you to take some time today to write a short e-mail or note sharing with your spouse how blessed your are to be married to them. Even if you are going through a difficult time in your marriage find something that is good about that person and let them know how thankful you are for that something. If you aren’t married I would encourage you to take a moment today and pick a person who has been a great encouragement to you of late and let them know it. If you have kids I would encourage you to do the same with them. Receiving a note of love for no other reason other than to communicate their worth is an incredible blessing to people. Those 3 minutes will probably make more impact on the people's lives around you than any other minute you spend today.

Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Proverbs 16:24