Follow The Leader

I had a professor in college who liked to teach life lessons as well as impart knowledge. By using real life applications for the facts that he presented, he kept a class of freshmen interested for an entire semester. When it came time for our final exam, he told us it would be a two-part test. The first part was a written exercise that we were to complete before class. The second was a 100 essay question exam to be taken in four hours. The first statement on the exam was an instruction to read through the entire list of questions, and then begin. As you have probably guessed, the last statement was an instruction to place our name and the time of day at the top of the page and sit until he asked for our papers. Those who followed instructions finished in less than five minutes.

Isaiah 40
²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
       and increases the power of the weak.

 ³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
       and young men stumble and fall;

 ³¹ but those who hope in the LORD
       will renew their strength.
       They will soar on wings like eagles;
       they will run and not grow weary,
       they will walk and not be faint.

At the end of his song of praise for the comfort God wants to give His people, Isaiah offers a word of hope to a weary nation. After years of war and unrest, God’s people are in a period of relative calm, but Isaiah knows how the Israelites are. He knows they tend to drift away from God when times get better. He also knows that the Babylonian captivity is coming in the not so distant future. As a result, he gives them this song of praise for God’s goodness and protection.

After his prayer for comfort and his discourse on the qualifications of Almighty God to take care of His people in all circumstances, Isaiah throws in a word of caution. The times ahead are going to be trying times. Even the invincibility of youth will not keep them from the effects of the battle. The only source of strength available to God’s people comes from God Himself. If they don’t depend on this source of energy, they will give up and the battle will be lost.

Then comes the good news! God has already provided the supply necessary for the victory. The trick to tapping in to this supply is making sure that God is out front, and He can’t lead if we are continually running ahead to see what is around the next bend. The expert marksman carefully prepares his equipment, looks down the firing range for his target, methodically places the crosshairs on the bulls-eye, and then gently squeezes the trigger. Ready – Aim – Fire. As Christians, our tendency seems to be that we hear about the target practice and start shooting. Fire – not ready or aim – and wonder why the target has no holes in it.

God tells us that if we wait on Him, not only will we find the strength we need for the task ahead, but He will also provide the victory. If we walk in His footsteps, the ground is already prepared.

We serve an awesome God!!!!!

Proverbs 26
¹² Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?
       There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Time

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to spend some time in Europe. One of the things I remember most was the sense of going back in time. As I toured the usual spots, I looked at the dates on buildings and artifacts, and realized that I was walking on the same ground that the kings and knights of the history books walked. The feet of those entering the building had worn some of the marble steps in Westminster Abbey down. All but two of the monarchs since William the Conqueror in 1066 had been crowned in this building. I realized that my sense of time was very restricted.

Revelation 1 (NLT)
⁸"I am the Alpha and the Omega--the beginning and the end," says the Lord God. "I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come, the Almighty One."

The book of Revelation contains some of the most vivid word pictures in all of literature. The scenes of worship and judgment described by John are almost like looking at a movie of what is to come. If we are not careful, we can get caught up in the imagery and miss the message. After each of the letters to the churches, we are told that “anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” There is a lesson for each of us to learn in from Revelations.

We are a temporal society. Everything we do is related to time. We probably hear and ask the question – “How long will it take?” – more than any other. It seems that we are driven by the need to know how old, how young, or how long about everything in our lives. This orientation in our thinking makes it hard to grasp the concept of forever. We think it takes an eternity to get through the drive in lane at the bank.

God tells us in this passage that He is not constrained by the passage of time. There is no atomic clock to which He must synchronize His every activity. His perspective contains no reference to duration. When we begin to try to understand the character of God, we must factor in the absence of the passage of time.

While God may not work to schedules, as we know them, He does have a plan for every one of His children – and for the church universal. He has worked out all of the details necessary for this plan to come to fruition. What we must realize is that this plan will take place as He has laid it out, not as we have determined is in our best interest. God allows us to be a part of His plan, but He does not need us to tell Him when something should be done.

“In the beginning” does not refer to God - it refers to His creation. God has no beginning and no end.

Neither does His love for us.

We serve an awesome God!!!!!

Little Bird

We used to try to surprise my mom and dad by dropping in on them unexpectedly. We don’t do that any more because we have realized that my mother has the uncanny ability to sense when we are coming. She is always waiting up for us when we get there, even when we didn’t decide to make the trip until the last minute. When I was little, she always knew when I did something wrong – before I even got home. She always said it was a “little bird” that told her. She can also tell when there is something wrong with me. I can’t count the times when she has called to check on me. I have learned over the years that the “little bird” has followed me everywhere I have gone and still reports faithfully to my mother.
Romans 8 (NLT)
²⁶And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don't even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. ²⁷And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will. ²⁸And we know that God causes everything to work together^[k] for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. ²⁹For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters. ³⁰And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And he gave them right standing with himself, and he promised them his glory.

This passage should be a source of hope and strength for all who claim the name of Jesus Christ. The last two verses provide the context for the rest of what Paul tells us. God not only accepts us into His family, He accepts us with the full knowledge of who we are and what we are. Paul says, “God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son.” We have been selected to be the brothers and sisters of our Lord and Savior. Not only that, we will share in His glory in Heaven. What an incredible promise! God chose us to be His children, even though He already knew that we were sinners.

Knowing that we have this kind of relationship with our God, we have the freedom to boldly approach Him and talk to Him about what is going on in our lives. But there is more to it than this. Paul tells us in this passage that we can lift our hands to our Father when we can’t even find the words to say. As brothers and sisters of Jesus, we have within us the third person of the Trinity – the Holy Spirit. He knows what we need to say and will express these things to the Father for us in a language we can’t even understand. Paul calls it “groanings that cannot be expressed in words.” But that is not the best part.

Scripture tells us that “the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.” Think about that! When we don’t even know what to pray or how to pray, God knows what we need because the Spirit within us talks to Him in His language. Then, “God causes everything to work together for the good” of those who love Him and have been adopted into His family. We know that we had nothing to do with what happens. We were so tongue tied that we couldn’t even figure out what to say, but God knew and worked things out. Now, the Bible doesn’t say that He took away our burdens or our problems; it says He caused them to work for our own good.

Christians, we have a God who wants what is best for us. However, we must communicate with Him – even when we can’t figure out what we need to say or how we need to say it. Sometimes the silence of a broken heart will say more than words could ever express. Our “little bird” is the Holy Spirit and He will carry our requests and praises to our Heavenly Father even when we don’t know how to express them. Daddy will understand.
We serve an awesome God!!!!!

A Round Tuit

At a trade show some years ago, I was given a small box containing a round, wooden disk, about the size of a half dollar.  On it was written, in bold letters – TUIT.  Also on the box was a piece of paper on which was written, “You can no longer say you just didn’t get around to it.”  Somebody, who was either an entrepreneur with a sense of humor or very frustrated at dealing with all the excuses they heard for people not doing what they said, had produced a nice marketing gimmick. 

 James 1

²² And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. If you don’t obey, you are only fooling yourself. ²³ For if you just listen and don’t obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. ²⁴ You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. ²⁵ But if you keep looking steadily into God’s perfect law—the law that sets you free—and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

 James has just finished a lesson on interpersonal relationships.  He wrote that those who claim the name of Jesus should be good listeners, controlling the urge to speak.  He also cautioned against allowing one’s natural tendency toward anger to control their life because actions born out of anger instead of love will never “make things right in God’s sight.”  If James had been preaching these words from a pulpit, I am sure that you would have heard a chorus of hearty amens.

 In this passage, we see that James was not content with a superficial response to the divinely inspired words he was passing on.  If we did not know the source of these verses, we might tend to think that they were words from a sermon heard last week.  The message is just as applicable today as it was when James penned this letter.  In fact, if we don’t take this message to heart, God will have to find people who will, and they will get the blessing He promises.

 How many times have we heard a message from God through our Bible study, a message delivered by one called to spread the Gospel, or even a song that pointed out something we needed to be doing?  How many times have we truly acted on what we heard or read?  Too often, we nod our heads or maybe even give the pastor an attaboy, and go on about our business as usual.  James is telling us that hearing and not acting on God’s Word to our hearts is foolishness.  He says it would be like looking in the mirror and seeing that your hair was a mess and your clothes were all wrinkled, then going out in public without cleaning up, convincing yourself that you look just fine.

 There is only one way for us to be what God intends for us to be.  James tells us that we must “keep looking steadily into God’s perfect law.”  In other words - read His Book.  Learn what God expects of you in His Kingdom’s work.  Listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you through Scripture and Bible-based teaching.  Then, and most importantly, do something about it.  Apply what you hear and read to the way you live your life.

Do you want a blessing from God?  Then do what He is telling you to do!   

 
We serve an awesome God!!!!!

Wisdom

The primary definition of the word wisdom is, “understanding – the knowledge and experience needed to make sensible decisions and judgments or the good sense shown by the decisions and judgments made.” 

James 3 (NLT)  

   ¹³If you are wise and understand God's ways, live a life of steady goodness so that only good deeds will pour forth. And if you don't brag about the good you do, then you will be truly wise! ¹⁴But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your hearts, don't brag about being wise. That is the worst kind of lie. ¹⁵For jealousy and selfishness are not God's kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and motivated by the Devil. ¹⁶For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and every kind of evil.

    ¹⁷But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no partiality and is always sincere. ¹⁸And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness.

James is definitely a man of action.  In the first chapter of his letter, he tells us that the message that God has planted in our hearts is not just information to be stored away, it is something to be obeyed and acted on.  (James 1:21-22)  He goes on to tell us that we should quit looking at faith as a noun (person, place, or thing), and begin thinking of it as a verb (something we do).  (James 2:17)  In this passage, he begins to look at wisdom.  Most of us look at wisdom as an accumulation of knowledge, but that doesn’t cover the entire meaning of the word.  The definition taken from a dictionary makes it clear that the word carries a connotation of action.  It speaks of the judgments and decisions made as the test of wisdom, thereby implying that understanding without action is just an accumulation of knowledge.

In this passage, James describes two types of wisdom – that which comes from God and that which is not of God.  The wisdom imparted by God creates positive action.  The good deeds that result from the understanding of God’s ways accompanied by humility are the proof of wisdom.  He goes on to say that there is a wisdom that comes from the Devil.  While there is knowledge and experience that evidence themselves in sensible decisions, the decisions are made for personal gain, at the expense of others.  Notice that James says that the wisdom motivated by the enemy creates jealousy and selfish ambitions that result in disorder.

Just as we can identify faith by the actions it produces, we can also identify wisdom by the impact is has.  James tells us that true wisdom comes from heaven.  There are no ulterior motives involved in the decisions made by one with this type of wisdom.  The advice of one with true wisdom is impartial and sincere, always looking out for the well-being of others.  The wisdom that comes from God is always accompanied with humility. 

Why is this important to me today?  We are to actively seek wisdom.  The first two chapters of Proverbs are dedicated to the subject of wisdom.  Obviously, true wisdom comes from God.  However, Scripture tells us that we can learn from other sources.  We all know that we are to honor our parents, but Proverbs 1:8-9 tells us that we are also to learn from them.  While the beginning of our quest for knowledge comes from our respect for God, the things we learn from our parents are essential in our quest for wisdom.  As is the case with much of our accumulated knowledge, we also learn from those who have gone before us.  Proverbs 2:20 tells us, “Follow the steps of good men instead, and stay on the paths of righteousness.”

Christianity is not a spectator sport.  When God plants the Holy Spirit in our hearts, the fun is just beginning.  Jesus didn’t tell us to sit and wait, he told us to go and do.  Our salvation, our faith, and any wisdom God plants in us will manifest itself in our actions.  Don’t just sit there, fight the good fight and finish the race.

We serve an awesome God!!!!!

Stuff

It has been said that the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.  I think the same could probably be said of women and girls.  We seem to think that the only way to prove our worth in today’s society is to be worth a lot of money.  While there is nothing intrinsically wrong with money itself, it does seem to become an end rather than a means to some people.  I have heard people say that this is just human nature, but I am not sure.  Think back to your childhood, or if that is a bit too much of a stretch, think about when your children were very young.  Remember watching them sit and play for yours with a feather or a piece of tape?  It wasn’t the quantity or the cost of the toy; it was the imagination that was stimulated by whatever was at hand.

Ezekiel 44

²⁸"As to property, the priests will not have any, for I alone am their inheritance.

Ezekiel had just seen the valley of the dry bones that God had used to illustrate how he was going to breathe new life into His people.  He had seen the coming reunion of Judah and Israel into one nation – under God.  He knew that the enemies of the people would soon be destroyed and that the time was coming when God would bring His people back to the Promised Land.  After all these things had been revealed to Ezekiel, God began to show him in a vision what the new Temple area would look like.  After describing in great detail all the dimensions and all the equipment that would be in this temple, He let Ezekiel see the glory of the Lord once more occupy the Holy of Holies.  He then told Ezekiel to describe this Temple to the people and tell them that the most elemental law of this new Temple would be holiness.

After the Temple was fully described, God told Ezekiel how he would choose those who would serve in His house.  Only those who had remained true to the Mosaic laws concerning the office of the priest would be allowed to serve in the new Temple.  Those who had allowed themselves to be corrupted by the influence of foreign gods would not be allowed to come into His presence, regardless of their family heritage.  Those serving in the new Temple would be as holy as the temple itself.

In this passage, as God is preparing to tell Ezekiel how the land would be distributed among the returning people, He made a statement about the earthly possessions of His priests.  God told Ezekiel that His priests would have no property – none of the symbols of wealth that people look at.  Nothing that could be accumulated as an inheritance to be left to their children.  “I alone am their inheritance,” God said.  He was all that the priests would have and all that they would leave when He called them home.

The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 2:9 -
”But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are a kingdom of priests, God's holy nation, his very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.”  All of those who follow Jesus Christ are priests.  As such, our inheritance is not anything that can be accumulated on this earth; it is God, our Heavenly Father.  No matter what stuff we gather to ourselves, it is not really ours.  It came from the Father and it is to be used to bring glory and honor to Him and Him alone.

If we allow ourselves to get wrapped up in the stuff of this world, we are practicing the very thing that sent God’s people into captivity in the Old Testament.  We are worshiping a false god.  God wants what is good for His people (Jeremiah 29:11).  However, if we are not careful, the very things that He gives us that are good can become our god.  We must look at everything we have as an investment that God has made in our ministry – and spend it accordingly.

We serve an awesome God!!!!!

Want Tos

One of the things we have lost over the years is much of the language of our ancestors.  I wish I would have had a tape recorder to sit in the middle of the room when my Grandma and Great Grandma were talking to my aunts and uncles.  The words would not be politically correct today, but they spoke to a young boy in ways that the greatest evangelists of today could not speak.  My grandma, who was an eloquent speaker, used words that not only defined the situation, they depicted it.  You could see what she was saying. 

 

Philippians 2 (NIV)

¹²Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

When I read this passage, I can almost hear my grandmother talking.  “You kids are growing up and there will come a time when you’ve got to make a decision on you your own.  I know you are good kids.  You have made me proud the way you have done what was needed here at home.  Now, you have to keep on doing those things you know are right when you aren’t home.  You all have the seed Jesus planted in you, so let it grow.  That’s God’s way and He won’t leave you alone when the time comes to make these decisions.  In fact, God has planted a new ‘want to’ in you.  You are going to want to live for Him, but the Devil is going to try and pull you away.  But God not only gave you this ‘want to’, he gave you a ‘how to.’  You will be able to fight off the Devil because God gives you the strength.”

Many of you probably didn’t know that ‘want to’ could be a noun.  In my grandma’s book, it not only could be – it was.  A ‘want to’ is that thing inside of you that drives you to do what you do.  Some people think of it as a conscience, others as that ‘still small voice’.  Paul says that it is the working of God in the lives of His people.  We have in us a will that is usually contradictory to where God is leading because we are born with a sinful nature.  When we invite Jesus into our lives as our Lord and Savior, we receive a new nature.  That doesn’t mean that our old nature goes away.  We will battle it until Jesus comes.  Until then, we will be making choices between the old and the new nature.  Therein lies the warfare in the Christian life.

My Grandma would say that we have to change our ‘want tos.’  Those things desired to do before we knew Jesus become less important than the things God is leading us to do.  Those places we couldn’t wait to go into lose their appeal.  The images that we poured into our minds are replaced by the picture of Jesus and His life, death, and resurrection.  The life of a Christ-follower requires a change of mind as well as a change of heart.

Lest one get the idea that this is a “poof” and it is don’t type thing, look at what Paul says – “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”  Getting your ‘want to’ changed is a process – not an event.  The good thing is that God is there, working in us, to show us how to act within His will.  He desires us to have the strength to do those things that please Him, so He places that power in each of us.  So He not only changes our ‘want to’, but he also gives us the ‘how to.’  

Paul closes out this part of his letter by giving us some guidelines for recognizing our new ‘want tos.”  He says that we will do things without complaining or arguing.  Our lives will take on the newness and innocence of a new-born baby.  This will result in our becoming shining stars in a universe that is dying in darkness. (Philippians 2:14:15 paraphrased)  Paul was pretty good at writing pictures also.  I bet he and Grandma are swapping stories right now.

We serve an awesome God!!!!!