Marching Forth!

Something my mum said about children's ministry provoked good thought, that there is a difference between management and ministry.  Sitting the kids in front of a TV or allowing them to play on their devices in class may manage their behaviour, but it won't minister to their souls.  A manager conjures up images for me of a hireling, but a minister is a servant of all.  In a Sunday School lesson, the end does not justify the means--especially when our ends do not line up with God's.  Do we tolerate people or do we love them?  To love others requires an investment of time and effort which benefits others. Jehosheba and the high priest Jehoiada provide a good illustration of the conduct fitting of God's faithful ministers.  2 Kings 11:1-3 reads, " When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal heirs.  2  But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ah...

God's word is profound and enduring, and even portions of scripture which seem mundane or repetitive can be treasures hidden in plain sight for those who seek God by reading them.  Instead of looking at reading the Bible as a task to be endured it is better to view it as an intentional opportunity to hear God speak into our lives today.  I discovered such a passage today in the book of Ezekiel as the prophet described a vision he saw. Ezekiel 47:2-4 reads, " He brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gateway that faces east; and there was water, running out on the right side. 3 And when the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the water came up to my ankles. 4  Again he measured one thousand and brought me through the waters; the water came up to my knees. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through; the water came...

People struggle with the unknown.  We like to plan, prepare, and strategise.  We all have expectations we hope are met.  Fluid situations, changed conditions, and chaos cause us to feel unsettled and can produce stress.  Fundamentally we prefer to be in control or at least have a sense of control of our lives.  There are aspects of life we do have a degree of control over, but even the most controlling realise there are things beyond us, things which are “out of our hands.” Knowing God is sovereign and reigns over all is quite comforting when it seems the world has gone mad.  We rest in God’s hands as His beloved people, yet He is not in any way controlled by or dependent on people.  Our prayers might be hindered but His arms are not shortened that He cannot save.  He will accomplish His will regardless of the schemes of Satan or perceived ineptitude of His people.  Knowing God’s will is different than my will helps in trusting Him, for ev...

Today at Calvary Chapel Santee a message was preached on Acts 4  and focused on the transforming effect of a relationship with Jesus.  Through the name of Jesus Christ spoken by Peter a lame man was miraculously healed before many witnesses.  The only explanation for the man previously lame suddenly walking, leaping, and praising God was the power of God through Jesus' name.  The physical healing of the lame man provided an opportunity for Peter to preach the Word to an intrigued and engaged audience. Religious leaders who did not believe Jesus was the Son of God or in the resurrection from the dead took offense to the preaching of Peter and other Christians and brought them before the Sanhedrin, rulers of the Jews.  Acts 4:8-10 says, " Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders of Israel:  9 If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well,  10 le...

In the Disney cartoon Robin Hood , the minstrel rooster sang of the depressed state of Nottingham and the overtaxed inhabitants under the rule of Prince John:  " Sometimes ups outnumber the downs, but not in Nottingham ."  In life there will always be ups and downs which can ebb and flow as the tide.  Calm and serenity can be suddenly overwhelmed with a tsunami of negative emotions.  Unexpected trials and tragedies can knock us off our feet like little children happily playing on the shore as we are having the time of our lives.  Praise the LORD we are not at the mercy of the wind and the waves because God is with us, for us, and helps us. Life brings with it pains and struggles all people must face, and God provides much more than positive thinking or a means of coping.  He provides comfort, hope, and salvation far beyond our ability to claim or grasp because He is good and with us.  God takes a continual interest in us due to His gracious love for...

Last night I read  Psalm 143:1-2 , " Hear my prayer, O LORD , give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness. 2  And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified ."  David made his appeal for God to take heed due to His faithfulness and righteousness, for David could not rightly claim these qualities for himself.  David believed in God and laboured to honour and glorify God, yet he was far from perfect.  His sins were ever before him.  There is no way justification could come by attempts to keep God's law. Paul confirmed this in  Romans 3:19-20 , " Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20  Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. "  The Law of God brought ...

Knowing a thing is from the LORD impacts our perspective.  To fight against what is from the LORD is to fight against Him.  Realising God is good and sovereign over all provides rest for our souls even when circumstances are out of our control.  By God's grace we can seek Him and the God who breaks can also make whole. When it was revealed to King Hezekiah he would surely die, he prayed earnestly to the LORD with weeping.  He asked God to remember the good things he had done for God's glory.  In his sickness he mused, "How can I praise and honour you in the grave?  It is the living that will praise God!"  God graciously caused Hezekiah to recover and added 15 years to his life.  God even provided a miraculous sign that Hezekiah would be restored and go up again to worship in the house of the LORD by causing the sundial to reverse 10 degrees. After Hezekiah recovered of his grave illness, a delegation from Babylon came with a gift.  King...

God had strong words for the negligent and greedy shepherds of Israel, those God had appointed to guide, protect, and instruct God's people.  It would not be a stretch at all to compare the roles of the priests and Levites to the role of ministers in the church today which provides valuable personal application.  Instead of lording over people, the sanctified priests were to serve God and the people faithfully.  A shepherd was responsible to lead sheep to good and safe pasture, and pastors are to present the wholesome Word of God to strengthen and nourish the sheep of God's pasture. A couple of times in the passage God told the ministers He would judge between sheep and sheep, between cattle and cattle (depending on the translation).  Instead of having many shepherds, one shepherd (the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ) would be placed over them all.  See what is written in  Ezekiel 34:20-22 :  "' Therefore thus says the Lord GOD to them: "Behold, I Mysel...

A theme often repeated throughout scripture is people who spoke the truth were ignored.  God sent many prophets to warn His people of coming judgment for their sin, yet many who heard the truth did not engage with it.  We might assume all who heard God's Word were scorners or mockers, but a passage in Ezekiel shows this is not always the case.  People flocked to hear the prophet Ezekiel share and complimented his discourse and delivery, but God's words did not actually impact their faith or practices.  They listed to Ezekiel because it pleased and profited them in some way, but not with intent to please God. Ezekiel 33:31-33 reads, " So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain.  32  Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; fo...

" Consider the work of God; f or who can make straight what He has made crooked? 14  In the day of prosperity be joyful, b ut in the day of adversity consider:  s urely God has appointed the one as well as the other,  s o that man can find out nothing that will come after him ." Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 Written by the wisest king who ever ruled, Solomon affirmed the sovereignty and goodness of God.  God allows the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust, and He allows situations we view as good and bad.  Though God's ways are higher than ours, He can be known by all as the loving, compassionate, gracious, and awesome God He is.  Knowing He is in everything and can redeem it for our good changes the way we view prosperity and adversity, for He has appointed one as well as the other. It is erroneous to assume "bad" things which happen are of the devil, and that good things are the product of our deserving them.  God created our bodies to feel...

I have been reading through A.W. Tozer's A Cloud by Day, a Fire by Night , a short compilation of selected sermons by James L. Snyder.  Tozer enjoyed poetry and hymns, and last night I read a poem by Oswald J. Smith titled "Deeper and Deeper" on page 107: Into the heart of Jesus Deeper and deeper I go, Seeking to know the reason Why He should love me so, Why He should stoop to lift me Up from the miry clay, Saving my soul, making me whole, Though I had wandered away. The key to appreciating the sentiments of this poem are found in the first line:  it is Jesus we are to seek as we relish His grace and love.  It does us no good to look to ourselves to see why we are worthy of God's compassion, deliverance, and salvation because in our flesh no good thing dwells.  The world looks at Jesus through many lenses of unbelief, seeing no beauty in the One crucified on Calvary.  But those who have received His love and redemption through faith in Jesu...

In all seasons of life God provides opportunities to walk in humility before Him.  Today I saw a video of a young teen playing baseball who hits home runs with ease.  That was always a dream of mine in Little League:  to hit a home run over the fence.  Though a proficient player and coming close several times, it was a goal I was never able to achieve.  I bounced balls off the fence, but never hit one out. A high degree of skill or below-average ability in sport both have ways of exposing pride and our need for repentance and humility.  The trouble about being good at something is we begin to have high expectations of ourselves we never had when first starting out.  As my bowling average rose with practice, so did my expectations of better scores.  Games I would have been pleased with years before when I was just "having fun" became a source of frustration.  But it wasn't 10-pin bowling, my team, my poor technique, or the score which was t...

" Train up a child in the way he should go, a nd when he is old he will not depart from it. " Proverbs 22:6 When I was an apprentice, a big part of my training was following the example set by my foreman concerning how he wanted work done.  Over many years I spread my time between several different foremen and they all had different standards and expectations.  My conduct was a mix between standards of quality established in the classroom as well as in the field on the job among my peers.  I was required to switch gears quickly between tasks and multiple job sites, remembering how particular bosses wanted duct wrapped, chillers covered with rubber, or how exposed metalwork should be completed.  I benefited from working under and receiving training from journeyman who had different specialities. Solomon exhorted parents to train up children in the right way applying knowledge of God's wisdom and truth.  Being a proverb, however, this is not an absolute...

I don't think anyone prefers troubling times, feeling insecure, or realising we are in danger.  These seasons of hardship can provide a blessing and benefits ease and comfort cannot.  Recently I saw an example firsthand of how trials shift our perspective.  I observed a new social media acquaintance share a series of posts on what bothered them, pet peeves concerning politics and church.  But when there was a diagnosis of cancer in the family, the perspective shifted to seeking God in prayer with tears.  The awful, sudden illness shifted focus from self to God for the better. The Bible has many such examples.  The book of Judges has a repeating cycle of people doing what is right in their own eyes, crying out to God, then God raising up a deliverer.  Yet as soon as the judge through whom God wrought deliverance and rule died, they ceased from following the LORD.  God revealed this predictable outcome concerning His people in  Deuteronomy 3...

When God says His thoughts and ways are above ours, He isn't wrong.  How often we look at situations without knowledge necessary to understand what God's purposes are!  Samson's parents faced such a dilemma with their son's choice of a spouse.  He demanded they go to Timnath and arrange a marriage with a Philistine woman who lived there. Initially Manoah and his wife gently rebuffed the idea, suggesting there must be a woman among their countrymen who would be a more suitable match.  But Samson would not be deterred.   Judges 14:4 reveals this particular choice was of God:  " But his father and mother did not know that it was of the LORD --that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel ."  It seems odd God would "seek an occasion" against the Philistines in such an...unorthodox way...as if there is an orthodox way.  Reading this emphatically demonstrates God is ...

It is a natural tendency for us to focus on faults we perceive in ourselves or others.  Sometimes these faults are merely a matter of preference, style, or opinion.  Yet in all of us there are genuine faults, damning sins to be repented of:  selfishness, pride, deceit, greed, and covetousness.  These blemishes cannot be covered up or ignored because everyone does them.  Bad behaviour and sinful characteristics in people provides instruction for the wise coupled with the insight of the Holy Spirit:  every fault we see in someone else and condemn, we are guilty of the same. Finding fault in others might be the easiest task ever.  Doing this also plays to our own pride, thinking we are somehow superior to others because we have not made the same mistakes.  What we fail to recognise is whilst we may not have made the precise mistake because our circumstances differ, the sinful heart and mind found in us is just as deeply flawed and calls for judgme...

My memory was jogged the other day during conversation to look up a passage in 2 Thessalonians.  Paul wrote in his first letter to the Thessalonians the day of the LORD would come as a thief in the night, suddenly and unexpectedly.  This commonly employed phrase "day of the LORD" throughout the scriptures means a time of judgment from God.  With the persecution and tribulation of the early church, it appears there were some who taught the day of the LORD had already come.  Perhaps they wondered if they had somehow missed the rapture of the church.  Paul refuted this in his second letter, explaining necessary events which much happen first. Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 , " N ow, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2  not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come ."  Paul wrote intendi...