Give Accordingly

The example of giving generously has been demonstrated by God to all people.  There is nothing we are or possess which did not first pass through His hands graciously to us.  The question which can stump people is, "How much should I give?"  When I read Deuteronomy 16:17 this morning, it answers the question well:  "Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you."  The question then becomes, "How much has God blessed me?"  We are to give cheerfully to God according to the blessing which He has given us.  We humans are funny creatures:  we want blessings with no end in sight, but we set limits on giving unto God.

Jesus says in Matthew 7:12, "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." This is commonly called the "Golden Rule."  Long before that in Deuteronomy, God had established what could be called the golden rule of giving:  according to the blessing you have received, give as you are able.  We know that when God calls us to do something, it is He who will provide the strength and means to accomplish His purposes.  Therefore God would never call us to give unless we are able to do so.  As long as we have life, we are called to give unto God as we are able according to the blessing God has given us.

All throughout scripture we see examples of this cheerful giving.  When Abram and his servants defeated four kings, he gave tithes of the spoil to the King and High Priest Melchizedek.  David refused to give unto God what cost him nothing.  The poor woman put her two mites into the treasury in the Temple, giving more than even the most wealthy because she gave all she had.  Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus, broke an alabaster box filled with precious oil - the value of roughly a year's wages - and poured it over the head of Jesus.  The greatest gift was when Jesus gave Himself freely into the hands of sinners and embraced the cross in obedience to the Father.  He gave Himself according to the will of the Father so that all might be saved through His atoning sacrifice.

Take some time to count your blessings and consider what great things God has done for you.  May those who recognise the blessings God has given us say with the Psalmist in Psalm 116:12, "What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits toward me?"  Those who have been blessed much should give much.  Instead of feeling guilty for the blessings God has graciously provided, choose to give to God as you are able according to the blessing which He has given you.  The Holy Spirit will guide you to give according to His perfect will.  All you can give has already been given you by God!  Whoever said, "You can't out-give God!" was right.  It's not a contest, but it should be a daily practice as we give unto God the glory due His name.

God's Word Stands

Yesterday I was afforded the very rare privilege to watch a San Diego Padres baseball game.  I set the DVR to record and watched bits and pieces during the day.  It had been years since I actually watched a Padres game.  When I lived in San Diego I would watch a majority of the games (or bits of them) on Channel 4.  Even though the Padres lost to the Red Sox, it was fun and nostalgic to see the many new faces of a team I have followed since 1984.

Now I always smile to myself when people are sympathetic to sports teams who have historically been doomed to defeat.  Not once have I heard commentators mention the San Diego faithful.  Neither the San Diego Padres or Chargers won a world championship on the biggest stage.  The Chargers were smashed in the 1994 Super Bowl, and the Padres were whooped in the MLB World Series in 1984 and 1998.  Man, it's been a long time since we were even that good - or bad, however you want to look at it.  Maybe, just maybe, the Padres or Chargers will win it all.  If recent seasons are any indication, I could be waiting awhile.  But that's OK.  If I have endured this long as a die-hard fan, won't the wait make it that much sweeter?

It's a funny thing how people are deeply affected by their team winning or losing the "big" game.  After all, it is a game.  After I turned off the game yesterday I thought to myself, "How would my life be different if the Padres had beat the Red Sox?"  I might have been happy for a few minutes, but that's about it.  I thought back to San Diego's playoff losses:  "How would my life be different if the Chargers won the Super bowl in 1994 or the Padres won in 1998?"  Absolutely nothing!  I might have some good memories, but that would be it.  As it is, I still have some very fond memories of Dave Jordan's hot wings I ate during the Charger's loss.  In the grand scheme of things, what does it matter?  In time my memories will fade, and when I go the way of the earth they will be lost forever.

There are an innumerable amount of things that seem so important to us that in the light of eternity are trite and passing away.  Take politics, for example.  Some people are as rabid over party policies and legislation as the most faithful cricket or rugby supporter.  When a bill is approved, flags are waving and cheers erupt  to commemorate the victory.  The "losing" side grits their teeth and wonders what the world is coming to.  The fact is, God is the ultimate Judge who only does right.  Man can never legislate righteousness, for God has already ordained and established it.  The straying of men to the right or left cannot alter God's perfect standard.  Let us stand for righteousness; let us stand for what the Bible says is right.  But as this world waxes worse and worse, may it confirm to our hearts we are indeed in the last days.  As legislation is passed around the world that stands in direct opposition to scriptural truth, a Christian still can rejoice that God's truth stands regardless.  God's Word is untouched by the accusations, ravings, or legislation of men.

Paul sums it up well in 2 Timothy 3:1-17:  "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: ² For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ⁴ traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! ⁶ For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, ⁷ always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁸ Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; ⁹ but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was. ¹⁰ But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, ¹¹ persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra--what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. ¹² Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. ¹³ But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. ¹⁴ But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,¹⁵ and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."

The One Who Forgives Sins

Jesus was invited by a Pharisee to his home for a meal.  During the meal, a woman - a well-known "sinner" in the town - came to see Jesus.  She was so moved she washed Christ's feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.  She then kissed his feet and anointed them with precious oil from an alabaster box she broke for that purpose.  Not everyone was pleased by this display of affection and generosity.  Luke 7:39-40 reads, "Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, "This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner." ⁴⁰ And Jesus answered and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." So he said, "Teacher, say it."

Did you see that?  The critical Pharisee spoke to himself, meaning this was an internal conversation he had in his mind.  What happened next proved that Jesus was more than a prophet:  He answered him!  This is one of many evidences that Jesus truly is the Son of God, a discerner of the hearts of men.  Simon the Pharisee had something to say, but social decorum demanded he keep it to himself.  Jesus had an answer for his unbelief and criticism, if he would hear it.  Jesus explained to the self-righteous Pharisee that the woman poured out a sacrifice of love upon Christ because she loved much.  She loved much because she had been forgiven much.  Simon was offended that Christ did not rebuff the woman because she was a great sinner.  What he did not know is Jesus has the power to forgive sins because He is God!  She no longer was stained by her sin because she was made righteous by grace through faith.  Therefore her sacrifice of love and praise was acceptable and pleasing in God's sight.

Luke 7:48-50 concludes the passage:  "Then He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." ⁴⁹ And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" ⁵⁰ Then He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."  Not only does Jesus know the hearts and minds of people, able to discern thoughts and answer them, but He forgives sins.  This woman's faith was accounted to her as righteousness like Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the harlot Rahab before her.  The shed blood of Jesus Christ through repentance and faith is able to cleanse us from all sin and make us righteous before God.  1 John 1:9 says of Christ, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Do you love God much?  Those who have been forgiven much love much, but those who have been forgiven little love little.  Does your life demonstrate you have been forgiven much by God?  Praise the Word who became flesh, the One who is more than a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart!  He is the only One able to cleanse us with His shed blood and present us faultless before the Father with exceeding joy.  Hear Him!

Final Visa Update!

This long awaited day has finally arrived, a day that at times I wondered would ever come:  our family received word from immigration that we have been approved for permanent residency.  The notification reads, "You have been granted a permanent visa which allows you to remain in Australia indefinitely."  It feels unreal even as I read those words now.  The walk of faith in Christ provides unimaginable twists, turns, and surprises.  It is like a roller coaster where one feels the anticipation of the slow ascent, big drops, corkscrews, the sickness in the pit of the stomach, and g-forces all combine to make it a ride that at the conclusion you laugh and say, "Let's do it again!"  Well, almost like that.  I am glad beyond words the forms, documentation, physicals, and expense is concluded with a positive result.  I am blessed that this chapter of our immigration process is complete.  God-willing citizenship is only a year and a half away!

It feels so good to know that I'm not crazy - or at least, crazy in a good sense.  When God placed the east side of Australia on my heart in 2005, I wasn't sure if I was going insane or if God was truly calling me to quit my career, later resign from my ministry position, sell my house, uproot my family and move to OZ.  He confirmed His Word again and again that "I would preach, and I would be sent."  It became clear that the only way that I could immigrate to Australia, much less serve in a church as pastor, would be through His doing.  Over the years there were wilderness experiences, doubters, rejections, questions, and the ever-oppressive uncertainty.  Even during this final stretch of the visa application process there were obstacles to overcome when we had to re-submit our application and payment.  A time came when I was forced to hand over everything to the LORD again:  "God, if you just wanted us here for a short season, your will be done.  If this obstacle is your doing, we embrace it.  If it is the work of the enemy, overcome it!"

With the granting of our permanent visa, it is the stamp of God's gracious approval.  It is His will we are here.  It is God's will that I should serve Him and the flock at Calvary Chapel Sydney.  All those years ago when God gave me a vision to reach the east side of Australia with the gospel, I wasn't insane.  Yet I do not see the granting of the visa primarily as validation of my perception, but a demonstration of the guidance, provision, grace, mercy, and power of my God.  Coming to Australia was never my idea.  It was God who put Australia on my heart because He loves all people and is not willing any should perish but that all should come to repentance.  He has graciously provided a window of my time on earth to labour for His glory in OZ, and I rejoice He has established my family and me here.  My desire is to live out the rest of my days in Australia, moving rocks, sowing seed, and reaping a bountiful harvest of souls for His glory.

Thanks to everyone who has laboured in prayer, helped with finances, submission of the paperwork, and supported our family through this visa process.  We are grateful and humbled with the open door God has placed before us.  By His grace, we are walking through the door.  The end of the visa process brings a new beginning as permanent residents.  As you rejoice with us, please remember to thank God for all He is doing - not only in Australia, but in your life and across the globe for generations.  You never know the plans God has for you or where He will send you.  God will give you the discernment, wisdom, and strength to march forth in step with Him!  The question remains to be answered:  will you go where He leads?

Hasn't God Been Good?

This morning as I walked home from the bus stop, I thought back on God's faithfulness.  He was guiding, protecting, and providing for me even during times I was far from him.  The thought that I could possibly be who and where I was then to where I am now is absolutely incredible.  It is not that I have attained or am bragging in any sense, but rather am amazed and overcome by the way God moves and works.

While in high school, I applied and was accepted to attend Baylor University.  For whatever reason, I didn't even care to go.  When I look back I have no reasonable explanation why I didn't.  But what I do know is if I had gone to Baylor I would have not met my future wife Laura in Spanish class.  She was also for a season planning to go to UNLV, but she had a change of heart as well.  A year and a half after meeting we were married.  We have remained married almost 17 years and have been blessed with two sons.  I am very, very thankful I didn't go to Baylor!

After I was accepted into the Local 5 Union as a mechanical insulator, I applied myself in the classroom and the field and by God's grace managed to impress the teachers and fellow students alike.  Many people approached me and encouraged me to teach the apprentices.  Even the apprenticeship coordinator at the time was pleased with the idea.  But whenever I sought to look into obtaining the necessary accreditation, doors were slammed in my face.  Trying to move forward felt like I was headbutting a brick wall.  And then God spoke clearly, stating again something I began to realise in my heart:  "You will not teach insulators.  You will teach my people.  I have called you to be a pastor."

It became a repeating theme between Laura and myself that if God presented us with an open door, we would walk through it.  A door opened to join the staff of our church, Calvary Chapel El Cajon.  A year later I was ordained by our pastor and board.  If the story stopped there it would be crazy enough.  But God placed a call upon me to go serve and pastor in Australia, a place I had never been and knew very little about.  We have now been living in Australia for over 2 and a half years and more has happened than I could possibly convey.  He has joined us with a beautiful church filled with people who love God and us.  It is all God's doing, and it is marvelous in my eyes.

Looking back, it is as if God had me on a razor's edge:  one move to the left or right would have had a massive effect on my life now.  While I was unknowingly walking that line God knew where He was taking me.  To me it looked more like a dark forest with twists and turns of disappointments which led into rich green pastures of great delight and back again.  I could have never imagined how God would bring me to this point of my life in the supernatural way He has.  It fills me with gratefulness and appreciation that even now when I face trials, twists, and turns, He will bring me through them to His desired end.  Even as He has led and sustained me, He will continue.  In Christ we need not dwell in the past, but can rejoice in the present and our certain future - no matter how uncertain life may seem!  2 Samuel 7:21 says, "For Your word's sake, and according to Your own heart, You have done all these great things, to make Your servant know them."

Take a few moments today to think about what God has done and how He has brought you to the place you are now.  Can't you testify that God has been good to you all the way?  We have not always been faithful to Him, but He has remained true to us.  Following Christ is not easy, but when we look back on our travels we see how He expertly navigated us around unseen pitfalls, kept us fed, protected us night and day, provided comforts and rest, and brought us safely to where we are.  Hasn't the LORD been good to us?

Broken AND Contrite

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart-- these, O God, You will not despise."

 Psalm 51:17

If we desire to be usable in the hands of God, we must first be broken by God.  This is a marvelous thing, how God breaks a man to heal him.  Like a horse must be broken before he can do the work of His owner, so God must break us to make us usable.  When things are shattered into tiny pieces the only thing we can do is to toss them out as rubbish and look for a replacement.  What is impossible with man is possible with God.  He can turn us rotten sinners into new creations by the transforming power of the Gospel.

When we are born, we are born broken - but not in this sacrificial sense the scripture speaks of.  Every descendant of Adam is born spiritually dead, bound with pride, and blinded by sin.  We face every manner of disappointment in life.  We can be hurt, betrayed, ignored, offended, or forgotten by those we love.  Disillusionment and depression may lay us low.  We also must face the bitter effects of our own sinful choices and find ourselves without hope in bondage.  Just like the nursery rhyme of Humpty Dumpty who had a great fall and was beyond repair, so we are in our natural condition.

God, who is rich in mercy, gave us His Law so we might see ourselves in truth as broken without remedy.  He gave us the scriptures, sent prophets and even His own Son Jesus Christ to reveal His love and message of salvation to all people.  After we catch a glimpse of God's perfection, holiness, and righteousness, we recognise how far we are from His standard.  His word clearly states the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through repentance and faith Jesus Christ.  Perhaps you have acknowledged your guilt and great need for salvation from sin, death, and hell.  How sorry you were for your faults!  How desperate you were for eternal life!  But even after people are born again through the Gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit, further breaking is required.  Being broken is not enough.  God wants our response to our brokenness to make way for contrition.  Only then does our brokenness become a sacrifice through which God is pleased.

When something in life breaks your heart, what is your response?  Do you feel angry or vengeful?  Do you resort to gossip?  Do you drown in self-pity and even resent God for allowing such a fiery trial?  When your life feels shattered to pieces, how do you cope?  When your heart is bursting with grief, are you willing to collapse into God's everlasting arms, casting your cares upon Him because He cares for you?  The meaning of "broken" in the Strong's Concordance is "to burst, break (down, off, in pieces, up), bring to the birth, crush, destroy, hurt."  "Contrite" means, "to collapse (physically or mentally)."  How our pride resists the very things that are pleasing in God's sight.  Our flesh hates to be seen as weak or frail.  We must be strong!  We need to keep up the appearance of having everything under control.  We don't want people to know we are broken, and we resist the breaking God must do before He can use us.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart.  God is pleased when we stop fighting to fix our lives and hand over the little pieces to Him to mend and restore.  So often we approach our lives like a stubborn two-year old fighting to complete a 1000 piece puzzle without a border:  "I do it!  I do it!"  We have a way of doing things, and we cry if God should intervene.  Godly sorrow brings repentance.  When we are broken for our sin and respond with a contrite heart before God, He is pleased.  Too many times we confuse brokenness with our pride being damaged.  When your ego is bruised, that is not this brokenness of the heart that pleases God.  Jesus points to those who will be blessed and ultimately happy in Matthew 5:3-5:  "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. ⁵ Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."  This is a beautiful description of what is meant by a broken, contrite heart and spirit.  Those who are poor in spirit, mourn, and are meek who learn to depend on God alone will be blessed.  Our contrite response reveals we are learning the lesson God intends through breaking.

God has great blessings in store for those who are broken and contrite before Him.  These are followers of Christ who have learned through suffering to rely upon God alone and lean on their own understanding.  David wrote in Psalm 51:7-13, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. ⁸ Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice. ⁹ Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. ¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. ¹¹ Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You."

When God breaks our bones, may we rejoice to have experienced His touch.  When we submit to the breaking, He will bind up our wounds, heal, and make us new.  And we will be stronger than before as we learn to collapse into His arms of love!

Abominations Bring Destruction

This morning I read Deuteronomy 7:25-26 during my devotional time:  "You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God. ²⁶ Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing."  Verse 26 grabbed my attention.  Living in Australia, it is very easy to bring abominations into our houses unwittingly.  With uncut movies and internet, abominations can be digitally ushered right into our homes.  When we do this, scripture warns we will be doomed to destruction.  These are hard words intended to impact hearts hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

As a Christian man, I would never think to invite a woman to disrobe in my living room and perform sex acts.  I would not invite gangsters into my house to swear and curse, nor would I gather the family around to watch people fornicate from the lounge.  Yet this is exactly what happens if we watch television programming or internet videos without discernment.  The potential is great for us to bring abominable practices right into our homes and after a while not even notice we have done so.  When it comes to sin, we are to "utterly detest it and utterly abhor it."  Once we have been exposed to such abomination our conscience becomes seared and we no longer notice.  For this very reason I believe a lot of Christians are weak, sick, and unable to recognise we have compromised.  When we compromise, we are spiritual compromised.  Sometimes we are overtaken in trespasses, and other times we invite it freely.  What did our mothers teach us about playing with fire?  Not only can we be burned, but the destructive power can spread and be fanned out of control.

Be on guard, brothers and sisters.  If we give place to the devil, he will not rest until he increases his hold on our hearts and minds.  He always seeks to bring us back into bondage.  True freedom comes when we recognise our sin and repent, choosing to live a life of holiness and righteousness for God's glory.  1 Thessalonians 4:1-7 reads, "Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; ² for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. ³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴ that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, ⁵ not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶ that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. ⁷ For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness."

The will of God is that we not only abstain from immorality, but we keep our hearts and minds pure and holy from this sin-steeped culture.  Sin is a snare, and those who see it and avoid it are wise.  Snares are carefully concealed for the purpose of trapping and killing hapless victims.  In light of scripture, let us be discerning with what we bring into our homes and what we set before our eyes.  We lose nothing when we walk uprightly.  This is the way to an abundant life with Christ, walking in the way that pleases God as He sanctifies us by His grace.

The God who Cries

It is inspiring how God uses the past circumstances of our lives to use us profitably for the future.  Only He is able to redeem the wreckage of our lives and make it new and beautiful.  Unlike some Christians who have a radical conversion out of drugs, alcohol, and sex, my background is one of a self-righteous Pharisee.  My sinful condition was not on display through crime or gang violence, but through pride as I was brought up in the church.  People talk about "at risk" youth, but there is hardly a precipice more risky than self-righteous pride and arrogance - in a collared shirt, combed hair, and a Bible in hand in Sunday School.

One of the greatest risks in church is we know much of God but never actually hear from Him.  Hearing God speak is not and expected part of many people's daily walk with Jesus Christ.  It should be!  How can we know we are following Christ if we are too distant to hear His voice?  Knowledge of the Bible does not mean a person knows God.  Somehow we have neglected this remedial fact.  I would rather someone doubt their salvation than to assume he is heaven bound because he knows doctrine.  It is not doctrine that saves but the applied blood of Jesus Christ through faith to the heart of a damned sinner who repents.  The Gospel for some people never gets past their heads and into their hearts.  If the Gospel is reduced to a mental exercise, it is rendered impotent of saving power.

Proverbs 8:1 says, "Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice?"  Jesus has become for us wisdom (1 Cor. 1:30).  Seven times in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 Jesus said, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches."  Jesus stands at the door, knocking and crying out.  The question is not, "Does God speak?" but "What is Jesus saying to me today?"  God has put in me a great longing to see people in the church tuned to hear the small, still voice of God.  There are others who have a great burden for people who have never heard the Gospel.  I want to see those people saved too.  But they will not be saved until the people in the church hear God and respond to His call to go.  How will unreached people hear unless someone tells them?

Dear friends, there are unreached people who come to church every Sunday.  God is speaking, but His words fall on soil not prepared to receive the good Word.  Hosea 10:12 reveals the onus is on us:  "Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, till He comes and rains righteousness on you."  The paradigms of our flesh are fallow areas of our hearts that we must break up.  We must humble ourselves, be willing to clear the rocks from our hearts in God's strength, yield ourselves to the plow (though painful to our flesh), and receive the Word God speaks with joy.  God is the source of our fruitfulness.  Any effort of the flesh will fail, but those who walk by faith in the Spirit and abide in Christ will lack no good thing.

God is speaking; Wisdom is crying out.  Are you listening?  What is God saying to you today?  And what are you doing about it?

God Knows: Trudge On!

This morning I read in Deuteronomy 2:7, "For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing."  The passage resonated in me, reminding me of my own calling and slow unfolding of God's plan for our family to immigrate and serve Him in Australia.

From a human perspective, God's seems to employ painstakingly slow, inefficient means to accomplish His purposes.  In farming, the cultivation and preparation of the soul takes much longer than the actual planting.  The breaking up of sun-scorched clods and amending the soil is far greater work than the scattering of seed!  When the call to Australia came to me, my whole outlook was affected with excitement and expectation.  I did not know when, how, or where God would establish us.  I did not know the shape of the ministry He intended me to do.  All I knew was, "You will preach, and you will be sent."  I knew God had called me to be a pastor, but how it would come about was completely unknown.

The great challenge after the call was to maintain focus upon the LORD and where He had me at that current time.  The temptation was to focus on the unknowns which loomed like iron gates.  Expending time and effort trying to figure out how and when God would fulfill His Word to me proved to be a useless waste of time.  God reminded me of Yoda's rebuke of Luke Skywalker in "Empire Strikes Back."  Having no experience, never having trained, Luke was ready to take on the whole Empire himself.  Yoda shot back:  "Ready are you? What know you of ready? For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained. A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing."

As a missionary in a foreign field, you must learn first at home to faithfully "suit up and show up."  How you handle the little things is an indication of how you handle bigger things.  We can foolishly think, "Well, if I was in the field I would spend more time in prayer" or "I will be more faithful when my responsibilities increase."  Stop kidding yourself.  Jesus says in Luke 16:10-12:  "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. ¹¹ Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?¹² And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?"  If you cannot be faithful to take care of something as simple as brushing your teeth daily, showing up on time every day at work, or reading the books you borrowed, how do you expect to progress spiritually?  Does God reward sloppy servants with greater responsibility?  In the grand scope of things, being prompt or brushing your teeth are very little things - but our faithfulness with the little things is a sight-glass with a view into our heart, character, and priorities.  Those who are faithful in least are faithful also in much.

The children of Israel expected to be ushered into the Promised Land without a struggle.  Had they known they would have entered the land of Canaan after 40 years of trudging through the desert, many of them would have refused to leave Egypt!  But God is looking for faithful servants who stare at 40 years in the face like nothing, set their face like a flint, and stay faithful like Caleb and Joshua - without grumbling, arrogance, or pride.  These are the men who will enter in, overcome, and be established in the land God prepared them for.  In those 40 years, God purged and refined His people.  He conditioned them to become completely dependent upon Him.  During the years of waiting and trudging, God is preparing you and the field where He is sending you.  Trudging on is not drudgery when God is with you, leading you to His expected end!

Though we are often in a hurry, God is not.  He will be true to His Word, for He is faithful.  Even when you face obstacles, detours, and apparent setbacks, God's plans are pushing forward with unstoppable force.  You will be ready when God says you are.  Set the alarm, pray, read, seek, and brush those teeth!  Be faithful in little, and God will entrust more to you according to His grace.

Keep the Unity of the Spirit

Unity in Christ is critically important.  Sometimes conformity or uniformity can pass for "unity" because we look at externals and cannot see the heart.  A smile can hide great offense, and outward compliance can mask deep wounds.  I have been enjoying a book written by Francis Frangipane called, House United:  How Christ-Centered Unity Can End Church Division.  I have appreciated his many insights, but none more than the portion I read yesterday concerning unity in the early church:

One may argue, "If we had their power, we would be united as well."  Let me emphasize:  they were of one mind before Pentecost (see Acts 1:14).  If there had not been unity among the disciples prior to Pentecost, there would not have been an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.  The outpouring did not create unity; unity made the way for the outpouring.  The order was first, then came the power of the Spirit.  Frangipane, Kindle highlight Loc. 991-94

We all desire the empowerment of Pentecost, but are we willing to make the sacrifices necessary for true unity, the most basic of which are faith, humility, repentance, and submission before God?  We are very often like the animals in the fable of the Little Red Hen:  desiring to eat the bread but not willing to do the work required to harvest the ingredients, prepare, and bake them according to the recipe.  If we want to eat cake, we will need to do the work first.  God is all about doing this work in desperate souls who see their sin and need as great and their ability and strength as small.  In us no good thing dwells, but we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Unity starts with me.  It does not start through outer conformity but through inner transformation by the Holy Spirit.  God has created the Body of Christ with many different members with unique functions and perspectives.  Yet He has also given us all the same Head, Jesus Christ, who is to direct and govern all our functions through divine love.  How versatile and useful is a body where all the parts work together in harmony for the good of all!  This unity can only be fostered by faith in Christ.  It takes trust.  We need God's Word and the power of the Holy Spirit.  When Jesus is the head of my life, I can walk in step with Him and lead others to do the same despite any differences we may have.  May Paul's exhortation ring in our ears in Ephesians 4:1-3:  "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, ² with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, ³ endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

Fools Walking Wisely

"He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered."

Proverbs 28:26

In this "politically correct" world in which we live, a verse of scripture like this is a cold bucket of water to a drowsy soul.  Long has Satan whispered the diabolical lie:  "Follow your heart."  The devil knows in man's natural condition, the heart is a wicked and deceitful guide which only leads to destruction.  It is only through the mirror of God's Law that we can perceive the ever-expanding stark outlines of how rotten we truly are.  There is none good in this world, no not one.

Man is deluded to think he is wise apart from God.  The claims of scripture are absolute, unwavering divine truth:  "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool."  This opposes the satanic propaganda of the world's wisdom.  Man prides himself in his skepticism, his denial of God's wisdom exposing his nakedness like the Emperor's new clothes.  Strutting around in unbelief with doubt his only refuge, he is left helpless to wallow according to his own devices.  His steps on the sinking sand of humanism blindly lead to enslavement, bondage, blindness, and death.

The proverb contains an indictment but also a promise:  "...whoever walks wisely will be delivered."  The God who created all things in wisdom founded our earth.  Proverbs 9:10 reads, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."  God, desiring to be known, has revealed His beauty and wisdom in the workings of nature, the Bible, His holy Laws, and in the person of Jesus Christ.  To believers it is written in 1 Corinthians 1:30-31, "But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God--and righteousness and sanctification and redemption-- ³¹ that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the LORD."  Man believes through knowledge he can save himself, but alone he remains in darkness adrift on a treacherous sea.  Jesus Christ is the Light of the World, mankind's only chance for redemption, forgiveness, and salvation.  Those who are born again through repentance and faith in Christ are the truly wise.  From the intellectual elite to the man on the street, those who make Christ their Rock are lightly esteemed by the world's standard, branded as fools, bigots, haters, and ridiculous.

The wisdom of God is past finding out, yet He has made it plain in the person of Christ.  1 Corinthians 1:20-29 reads, "Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. ²² For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. ²⁶ For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. ²⁷ But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; ²⁸ and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, ²⁹ that no flesh should glory in His presence."

This world and the wisdom of it will pass away, but God's Word will by no means pass away.  Jesus gives to all who will repent and believe deliverance, for that is why He has come.  Galatians 1:3-5 says, "Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."  He who walks wisely will be delivered.  Do you need deliverance?  Come to the Light and walk in wisdom!

The DMV Test

After my two week trip to the States, it is good to be back home in Australia.  My ultimate home is in heaven, but Australia works perfectly for the present!  It was a whirlwind of activity:  visiting family, friends, speaking at churches, attend the Calvary Chapel senior pastor's conference, was the best man in a wedding, and everything seemed to involve food.  Fine with me!

Living overseas certainly complicates things.  Thankfully we have the help and support of people in the States to assist.  During this trip, God was so faithful to provide for my needs:  food, housing, transportation, and even some cash to handle incidentals.  A prime example of God's awesome provision took place at the dreaded DMV.

My driver's license was set to expire in a year's time.  Since I could not say for certain when I will be back in the States, it seemed like a wise option to renew my driver's license.  I had to renew in person because my address had changed.  I also was not able to make an appointment in the amount of days I had left.  So 15 minutes before the Department of Motor Vehicles in El Cajon opened last Wednesday, I claimed a spot in line - which was already 60 people deep!  In about half an hour I arrived at the "Start" desk and filled out my application for license renewal.  I took a number and sat down only to hear the announcement:  "Our system is down.  Payment can only be made with cash or check."

Oh no, I thought to myself.  I didn't even think to bring my checkbook (it's been forever since I've written a check!).  I prayed, LORD, help me to have enough money!  When my number was called, thankfully I had enough money to pay the fee - with eight dollars left over!  I was very grateful to those people who had given me cash without even knowing my ATM card was expired and useless.  Then it was off to another line to check my eyesight.  And then to my surprise, I had to take a refresher test of 18 random questions.  If I missed 6, I would have to reschedule on another date in a week's time.  Trouble was, I had a flight booked the next day!  The pressure was on.

Now I had not expected to have to take a test.  It had been over 20 years since I have taken a written test in the DMV, and for over two and a half years I have been driving in Australia!  But how hard could it be, right?  My test must have been comprised of the most obscure, strange questions ever!  There were questions about freezing bridges, time frames concerning notifying the DMV, and parking uphill without a kerb!  As I was taking the test, I saw a woman go up to the counter and was told she needed to reschedule.  I was feeling the stress, I can tell you.  But I continued casting my cares upon Christ as I read and re-read the awkwardly phrased sentences.  The LORD gave me a peace about it, and I turned it in.

Would you believe that I aced the test?  I was ecstatic.  I can affirm with David in 2 Samuel 22:31-33:  "As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. ³² "For who is God, except the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God? ³³ God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect." God has not promised that all things will go according to our plans, but He has plans which will certainly come to pass.  He knows when a single sparrow falls, and He will provide for us even when our faith is small.  Even when I was sitting there waiting for my results at the DMV, God's Spirit was there to comfort and strengthen.

No matter where you are, God is there for you.  Try Him!  Whether we pass or fail, we find He bears us up in His everlasting arms of love and grace.  When we walk in faith, we pass the true test.

Take Heart!

"And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way."

Numbers 21:4

How true it is, that God's ways are not our ways!  The way God often uses is the way that is inefficient, long, difficult, and indirect.  Instead of bringing us directly to His desired end, He leads us on the most roundabout course.  The children of Israel were not strangers to this feeling.  They reached the very doorstep of the Promised Land and were turned back because of their unbelief.  Even with the presence of God leading the people, they often had to circumvent land they would have preferred to pass through.  They were continually having to leave the well-worn track and trail blaze.  Having to go the "hard way," the people were discouraged.  Their souls were "much discouraged because of the way."

There is no shortage of trials and difficulties we experience during our lives which give reason for discouragement.  The children of Israel thought that following God would be easy, but it wasn't.  It was hard because it was a walk of faith.  God tested and challenged the faith of His people, leading them through wilderness filled with enemies.  They became disillusioned because their focus was on the difficulty of the path and forming judgments rather than trusting looking to God for sufficiency.  As long as they questioned God's plan and direction, they found no rest or peace.  For those who have been born again, the same thing can be true.  We know in theory that "God is on the throne," but when the way becomes hard we can become discouraged.  Discouragement comes when we recognise our inability, frailty, and failures and do not believe God will redeem our circumstances for good.  Discouragement springs from a selfish perspective.

We can take heart even in disheartening circumstances when we look to God and His promises.  When Paul was tempest tossed, starving after eating nothing for two weeks, with plots of violence upon his life by guards, and no hope for survival in his strength, he took heart in what God told him.  Paul bravely addressed the soldiers, crew, and fellow prisoners in Acts 27:22-26:  "And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. ²³ For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, ²⁴ saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.' ²⁵ Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me. ²⁶ However, we must run aground on a certain island."  God had a plan that involved mortal danger, starvation, storms, huge financial loss, even running aground and being shipwrecked!  In the end, God would deliver all the soldiers, crew, and prisoners from their stricken vessel.  God used this situation to strengthen Paul's faith in the midst of a horrible ordeal and glorify His name.  The word God spoke to Paul came to pass, and the everlasting Word He has spoken to us will no doubt all come to pass.

In Luke 18, Jesus told the Parable of the Unjust Judge to teach people to pray and not lose heart.  This is something we must learn because it is not our natural tendency!  I cannot convey this important lesson better than Paul illustrated in 2 Corinthians 4:7-18:  "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed-- ¹⁰ always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. ¹¹ For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. ¹² So then death is working in us, but life in you. ¹³ And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak, ¹⁴ knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. ¹⁵ For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. ¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, ¹⁸ while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

If we look upon our trials or difficulties as man sees, we will lose heart.  Even as Christians filled with the indwelling Spirit of God we will faint and be discouraged unless our inward man is renewed by faith in God's Word day by day.  We are unwise to drift on the undercurrents of discouragement.  This will always cause us to veer far off course and lose sight of God and the ultimate destination He desires for us:  that we would be transformed, refined, and fashioned into the image of Jesus Christ!  Dig in those oars and pull!  PULL!  Invite God's Word to establish your proper course, even your thoughts, attitudes, and desires.  Let the mind which was in Christ be also in you, who humbled Himself and was made of no reputation.  Stay on course, keep the faith, and finish with joy.  God can bring encouragement and strength even from disheartening circumstances.  Won't you trust Him today?

Home With Him

In a few days, I will be taking a flight from Sydney to Los Angeles.  As the day of my departure draws nigh, the occasional sound of a plane in the distance reminds me of that fact.  It has been two years since my last visit to the United States.  It's a strange thing to have lived in the San Diego for most of my life but to feel like a stranger heading back.  Don't get me wrong:  I know most of the streets, freeways, suburbs quite well.  By God's grace I should be able to recognise family and friends, though I probably won't remember all the names I once did.  I am coming back to people who have changed, and I have changed too - hopefully for the better and wiser!

I was born in San Diego, but San Diego is no longer my home.  This was settled even before I left San Diego for Sydney in 2010.  God brought my heart to Australia long before my family came or our stuff arrived in a container.  Sydney is where I currently reside, yet technically it is not my home either.  Though ultimately my home is in heaven, God has provided a way for me to always be home.  Jesus says in John 14:23, "Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him."  Often we think of "home" as a fixed point on the earth, yet God comes to those who love Him and makes His home with us wherever we are!  The Holy Spirit takes up residence in the heart of every believer.  Jesus is called "Immanuel," meaning "God with us."  We will never be "home" - we will never find true rest - until we enter into a relationship built upon the truth of God's Word.

They say "Home is where the heart is" and there is truth in this cliche, though perhaps not in the way intended.  More important than having a house for my body is that God makes His home with me.  Whether I travel far or stay near, if I live or die, God and I will be together forever.  This is a comforting thought not only for me, but for my family that I will be leaving behind.  I will be leaving for a while, but God will never leave or forsake them.  Praise God for the confidence, peace, and rest we find in Him! 

Sanctify the LORD

This morning I found the passage when Moses struck the rock at Meribah most compelling.  When the people complained about the lack of water, Moses wisely sought the LORD.  God told him to speak to the rock and water would flow from it and supply water for all Israel.  Understandably annoyed by the complaints and murmuring of the people, the frustration of Moses was evident:  "Hear, you rebels!  Must we fetch you water out of this rock?"  Instead of speaking to the rock according to God's command, Moses struck the rock twice and water issued forth.  The people were glad to have water, but God was not pleased with Moses and Aaron.

Now I have often heard people say the sin of Moses was the fact he "misrepresented God."  I am sure Moses was guilty of this infraction as all people are, even those who have been called to lead in various church ministry.  But that is not the sin God cited.  Numbers 20:12 makes it clear:  "Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them."  The sin of Moses and Aaron was primarily unbelief, and unbelief leads to all manner of sin.  A little background is after the rebellion of Korah, the staff of Aaron budded to prove that God had indeed placed them in leadership over His people.  Numbers 17:10-11 reads, "And the LORD said to Moses, "Bring Aaron's rod back before the Testimony, to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put their complaints away from Me, lest they die." ¹¹ Thus did Moses; just as the LORD had commanded him, so he did."

Moses was to hold this rod as a testimony against the rebels, but the words and actions of Moses did not not make God holy or sanctified in the eyes of the people when he struck the rock as he had previously (Ex. 17:6).  The credit for this deed could have been attributed to the power of the rod or the favour Moses had in the sight of God.  For their sin, God disciplined Moses and Aaron by refusing them entrance to the land of promise.  The people did not enter because of unbelief, and that was the sin of Moses and Aaron as well.  They trusted God and relied upon Him often, but to whom much is given much is required.  They paid a heavy price for their unbelief, though they had faith to trust God when most would faint.

Let us believe.  All is possible to those who trust in God.  May we remember to sanctify God in our hearts and display His power for His glory with meekness and grace.  1 Peter 3:14-15 reads, "But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. ¹⁵ But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear..."  We do not speak our wisdom, nor can we generate living waters from our own merit.  All we have and all we can offer is all God has given us by His grace.  As I am sanctified, may He be sanctified in me!

Things New and Old

In our natural state we cannot discern spiritual truths.  When we are born again by grace through faith and receive the indwelling Holy Spirit, we can become Christian "yes" men.  We read the Bible and nod our heads in approval, but we can fail to see that the radical precepts and truths of scripture have yet to be actually lived out in our lives.  We know the truth in a superficial and theoretical sense, but there has not been implementation.  The things we agree with have not been put into practice, or we have put the scripture into practice with rigid inflexibility.  Like a child dancing in a circle with his hobby horse, we can come to a point when we do not seek or even desire further transformation according to God's Word.  We have established beliefs through which all scripture is filtered, and even God cannot change our minds.  Instead of allowing scripture to challenge us to see things in a new light, we can become stuck in a rut A.W. Tozer called "a circular grave."

How am I able to speak of such things?  I have experienced this condition myself!  I remember times of refinement when I would ask God earnestly, "You want me to give that up?  You want me to change this too?  How much more of my life do I need to give up?"  He simply said, "All of it."  See, I knew that's what He would say.  Even though I knew it is my reasonable service to commit my beliefs, thoughts, lifestyle, career, wife, and children to His control, I didn't feel like doing it.  I was more concerned about what I was giving up than what God had already given!  My perspective was all wrong.  I came to this conclusion through reading the scriptures and the Holy Spirit opening my eyes and convicting me of my sin.  It may be better said this conclusion was given to me by God, and it took me quite a while to agree with Him.  I am far from perfect, but He has established the fact that I am the one who needs to change.  Change will be required in me until I put off this body of flesh and am glorified in the presence of God.  God's Word should confront my flesh, challenge my mind, and reform me until the day I die.  I will be reading and studying the scriptures for eternity and never learn all.

God reiterated this to me when I read a passage in Matthew.  In context, Jesus spoke parable after parable to His disciples.  I almost laughed when I read Matthew 13:51:  "Jesus said to them, "Have you understood all these things?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord."  How hilarious are Christ's disciples?  They thought they understood everything when they didn't even grasp the basics!  Instead of pointing out their great delusions, Jesus continued in Matthew 13:52:  "Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old."  Scribes were trained in how to rightly handle the Word of God.  They were men revered for their mastery of scriptural texts, able to teach and interpret the law, and copy it precisely according to Jewish tradition.  The role of the scribes was illustrated in Nehemiah 8:8: "So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading."  Because Christians have the Spirit of God living within us, we have received instruction from God concerning God and His kingdom.

Once we are regenerated by the Holy Spirit, He takes up residence within each believer and guides us into all truth.  God has provided a great treasury of knowledge and wisdom in the Bible of far greater value than a million universes.  Through God's Word we can know God, learn of His love, justice, and character, what He requires of us, and how to live in the way that pleases Him.  The old truths of God's Word should never lose their lustre, for God has many new things to teach us through them.  Some passages are new to us, while other passages are very familiar.  God has an infinite amount of new things to teach us and to apply personally from old, well-trod passages.  God can apply an old passage in a new way without forsaking the truth.  A householder may know his stock very well, but as he digs through some old boxes while organising he will find many useful things he had forgotten or misplaced.  Both the Old and New Testaments are relevant, practical, and useful to aid us in knowing God, leading others to Him, and walking righteously.

When we think we have mastery of the scriptures, we have begun to be entrenched in our own thoughts.  Our God is the One who makes all things new.  He wants to make us new daily as He renews our minds and strength through the scriptures.  If we think we know all, then we know nothing as we ought to know.  Speaking for myself, my theology has changed over the last few years, and I trust years from now it will be radically different - different not because God has changed or I am bold to take liberties to wrest scriptures according to my opinions - but because God has changed me!  If I am willing, humbled by my great lack, He will open my eyes and mind to understand truth I cannot now comprehend.  Unless we are born again and renewed, we will not progress.  We are to called to put off the old man, be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and put on the new man that we might walk in newness of life (Eph. 4:20-24).  The world looks at progress this way:  "Out with the old, and in with the new!"  Yet scripture should never become old to us.  The only way we will be renewed is if our lives are consciously brought into obedience to the scriptures in faith.  Out of His treasury He provides things new and old!

Grapsing the Sword

"Your fingers would remember their old strength better... if they grasped your sword."

 Gandalf, "Lord of the Rings:  The Two Towers" to King Theoden

This quote is from one of my favourite scenes in the Lord of the Rings movies directed by Peter Jackson.  King Theoden had long been under the the control of the evil wizard Saruman, and as a result the king was decrepit and listless.  He was a puppet in the hands of an oppressive ruler who sought to destroy him and his kingdom.  In his ear whispered Grima Wormtongue, a once loyal adviser to Theoden who had covertly become a servant of Saruman.  Gandalf was wise to see who truly was in control and "drew Saruman like poison from a wound."  Once freed of the magic bonds, Theoden transformed back to the king who could recognise friend from foe.  His long nails and wizened beard melted away, as the king came to his senses.

It was at this moment when King Theoden looked at his hands and said, "Dark have been my dreams of late."  Gandalf replied, "Your fingers would remember their old strength better... if they grasped your sword."  The king slowly reached out to touch the hilt of his sword, and slowly took hold of it.  The moment his hand closed around it, his eyes sparked with memory.  It was like taking hold of the sword had instructed him, and he knew the right course to take.

So it is with Christians.  God has given us His Word the Bible, and it is called the "sword of the Spirit."  Hebrews 4:11-12 reads, "Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. ¹² For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."  In our lives we face trials and difficulties far beyond our ability to handle.  We do not have the wisdom to know the right course to take.  Yet if we will lay hold of the Scriptures, they will reveal our heart and motives.  The words of God are relevant for every situation, and reveal God's righteous judgments to us.  If we make the Bible a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, we will not stumble.  God leads us through deep valleys, dry deserts, even through the furnace of affliction.  If we will fix our eyes upon Him and walk in obedience, we know He will doubtless bring us into a broad pasture where rest is found.

It is one thing to read words on a page, but how much more important is it to grasp them!  We can only grasp the truths of God's Word when He reveals them to us through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Thankfully, the Father has sent the Spirit to indwell and empower every follower of Jesus Christ.  When we grasp the scripture we do not recall former strength, but God renews our strength and adds to it!  We are then able to discern the voice of God from the whispers of Satan.  Praise God that when we walk in His ways, we can be strong in the LORD and experience victory in the power of His might!

The Meekness of Moses

In my morning devotions, I am reading through Numbers.  How impressive is the meekness of Moses!  He was a man who remained faithful to God despite opposition and struggles.  Here is a man who did not fight for himself, but committed his life - trials, reputation, and all - into the awesome hands of God.  He is really an Old Testament foreshadowing of how Jesus Christ lived (1 Pet. 2:23).  Moses was meek because he knew God.  He couldn't for a moment allow his authority given him by God go to his head.  He was an vagabond killer, a shepherd, and a servant of the Most High God.  When challenged, he fell on his face before God and submitted to His rule.

After the rebellion of Korah, the people were upset about the outcome.  They assembled against Moses and Aaron, and accused Moses of murdering God's people.  God sent a plague among the people and they began to die.  Seeing this, Moses quickly moved into action to save the people from God's wrath.  He commanded Aaron to atone for the sins of the people so they would be saved.  What a heart of love and compassion, despite their hurtful accusations.  Numbers 16:47-48 reads, "Then Aaron took it as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and already the plague had begun among the people. So he put in the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸ And he stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped."  Aaron, the High Priest, stood between the dead and the living after making atonement for sin.  This is what Jesus our Great High Priest has done through His shed blood.  He is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance and be saved.

That is the heart of love I desire, the heart of Christ!  Meekness is a fruit of the Spirit, a supernatural humility that springs only from God.  It comes from having our eyes on Christ, casting our cares upon Him.  What comfort we have when we commit ourselves into His loving, secure, nail-scarred hands.  Jesus says in John 10:27-28, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸ And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand."  Jesus tasted of death so His sheep might live with Him forever.  How grateful I am of such sacrifice!  What value God has placed on us sinners to purchase us with the shed blood of His own Son!  Rejoice in this and be exceedingly glad!  May we be meek, seeing we have such a Saviour who calls outcasts and murderers friends through the Gospel, cleansing us from all sin, and making us His own children of light.

The Scars Speak

There is a story behind every scar.  Some are a result of an accident or work injury.  On my body I have scars from injuries I caused, and some caused by others.  Over time the scars may fade, but the wound is not easily forgotten.  I used to have a scar running down the bridge of my nose given me by my brother.  He wanted to "play dinosaurs," and my dinosaur playing days were over seconds after I agreed to the game!  I still bear the scar of a see-saw being slammed into my face and opened my lower lip on the playground in primary school.  In my right eyebrow is hidden a scar I am responsible for.  When I worked in my trade a pulled on a wire with end-nippers.  The wire snapped and boom!  I whacked myself in the face and opened up a deep gash.  For the most part, my scars are a testimony of carelessness or folly - either mine or of someone else.

There is one scar I earned worthily.  I was probably around eight or nine years old when my dad asked me to hold the lead of our dog Max in the front yard.  Max was a strong dog, an Akita-Lab mix that certainly outweighed me at the time.  He was not yet trained to "come when called" and whenever he ran off, he was tough to catch.  I remember my dad telling me:  "Don't let go!"  Then he went back into the house for some reason.  Max was content to stay in the yard...for a minute anyway!  Suddenly he became aware of a dog or a cat across the street and jumped through our split rail fence.  I was immediately yanked off my feet and pulled headlong through the fence, and my dangling legs kept me from being pulled Indiana Jones-style down the footpath.  I had wrapped the lead around my wrist and hung on, remembering what Dad said.  So as Max strained I balanced on my belly on the lower rail and yelled for rescue.  It was not long before my dad responded.  After he extricated me from the fence and lead, I noticed blood on my right hand.  As Max pulled me through the fence, the wood took a little chunk of skin from my middle finger.  It has faded over time but it remains a testimony of my hanging on with stubborn obedience to please my dad.  It is a worthy scar.

There are no scars more worthy than the nail pierced hands and feet of Jesus Christ.  In obedience to the Father with a heart filled with joy and love, Jesus embraced the cross for sinful man.  Today, almost 2,000 years later, His scars still speak.  They speak of love, sacrifice, and obedience.  They are proof of Christ's divine condescension, that He is God made into human flesh.  He knows what it feels like to be rejected, ridiculed, tortured, abused, and murdered, though innocent of all crimes.  Scars are not revered for their beauty, but those scars on the brow, hands, feet, and side are the most beautiful of all.  God has provided Jesus Christ's suffering on the cross as the primary portrait of His everlasting, gracious love toward all people.  May His sacrifice never be cheapened or forgotten.  His scars still speak to all who will listen.

What is your response to those scars, those wounds Christ bore for you?  He died so you might live.  Are you willing to reach out in faith and acknowledge those scars were made for you?  John 20:26-31 describes a scene after Christ's resurrection from the dead:  "And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!" ²⁷ Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." ²⁸ And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" ²⁹ Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." ³⁰ And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹ but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name."

Praying or Fainting?

On Wednesday evenings, we hold a prayer meeting at our church building.  Last night was a special blessing.  It is wonderful to gather with fellow Christians to praise God, intercede for others, and lay petitions at His feet.  What made the time more special still was the silence.  There is no "awkward silence" when we approach the throne of God.  It is in those times of silence when God often speaks because we have given Him permission by waiting on Him, without demands or selfish expectations.  No one enjoys a relationship that is based upon someone always wanting something:  the only time they contact you is when they want you to do or give something to them.  I think our relationship with God can be like that.  We tend to pray when we want something.  But just like you appreciate friends who love and simply enjoy spending time you, so we ought to approach God to spend time with Him - not just to achieve our ends.  God is gracious and good, delighting in us even when we are shortsighted and self-centered.  But He has a special blessing for those who delight in Him, drawing near with expectant hearts of faith to spend time with Him because we love Him too.

With the historically low turnout to prayer meetings in churches these days, it is obvious people really do not comprehend prayer.  It is true one should have a "prayer closet," or personal time of prayer on a regular basis.  Yet should the opportunity be provided to meet and share a meal with Jesus in bodily form on a weeknight (for free!), I would imagine the whole church would turn up and invite friends.  But when we talk about corporate prayer - entering into His throne room of grace with other like-minded believers - the draw is not the same.  This is a curious thing.  People will attend a prayer meeting once or twice and never come back.  Why?  Perhaps they had an expectation that was not met.  Perhaps other things in their lives are more important.  Maybe they don't believe it is making a difference.  Or their son has soccer training on those days!  Whatever the reasons, without prayer each of us - and therefore the church of God of which we are each a necessary part - will grow increasingly weak as we drift from our Saviour.

G. Campbell Morgan had some profound remarks on prayer in his sermon titled, "Prayer or Fainting."  He suggests we are doing one or the other:  either we are praying, or we are fainting.  He says in the sermon:

We may now consider our Lord's philosophy of life.  He puts these two things into opposition (Luke 18:1).  He declares in effect that this is the alternative before every one of us, to pray or to faint.  There is no suggestion of a middle course...Prayer is the opposite of fainting.  Fainting is a sudden sense of inability and helplessness, the cessation of activity, weariness which is almost, and ultimately is death.  Pray, and do no faint.  To pray is to have the vision clear, the virtue mighty, the victory assured. (The Westminster Pulpit, Volume 3, Morgan, pg. 55-56)

Morgan continues:

The prayer life does not consist of perpetual repetition of petitions.  The prayer life consists of life that is always upward, and onward, and Godward.  The passion of the heart is for the Kingdom of God; the devotion of the mind is to His will; the attitude of the spirit is conformity thereto; and the higher we climb in the realm of prayer, the more unceasing will prayer be, and the fewer will be the petitions.  It is the opposite of importunity that is taught here.  The thought that Jesus gave of God is that of one compassionate, just, mighty, quick to respond to the forward wish of the weakest soul., so that in the midst of the stress and strain and struggle there need be no fainting. (Ibid., 58)

He concludes:

"They ought always to pray, and not to faint."  If we do not pray always, we never pray.  The man who makes prayer a scheme by which occasionally he tries to get something for himself has not learned the deep, profound secret of prayer.  Prayer is life passionately wanting, wishing, desiring God's triumph.  Prayer is life striving, toiling everywhere and everywhen for that ultimate victory.  When men so pray they do not faint.  They mount up with wings as eagles, they run without weariness, they tramp the hardest, roughest road, and do not faint. (Ibid., 61)

May our prayers be constant, persistent with patience, as we seek to discover God.  When we know Him, we will then be able to grasp His will.  Too often we desire to know where a road leads instead of following Christ on the road wherever He leads.  Let us seek the LORD while He may be found, and call upon Him while He is near.  He is seeking such to worship Him in spirit and in truth.  He has promised that those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength.

God, Change Me!

People face many challenging circumstances during their lives, Christian or not.  When we are in the midst of a bitter trial, it is natural for us to desire God to change the difficult circumstances we face.  As much as we want our situation to change, God wants to change us right where we are.  A lot of time in my Christian walk I was crying out to God to change my circumstances when God instead desired to use them to change me!

Just like repentance is a continual process, God wants to keep reforming us as we are transformed by the renewing of our minds.  When we read His Word, it should confront our fleshly ideas and misunderstandings.  Once we embrace the fact God remains in control, we can face trials and temptations with renewed vigour, looking to the One who has supplied all our needs by His grace.  Instead of looking to escape, God turns our hearts to seek Him in midst the trial.  This increases our faith.

I love the picture provided when King Nebuchadnezzar threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego into the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual.  It was in the furnace they were loosed from their bonds and had fellowship with one likened to the Son of God.  They had fellowship with God before they were thrown into the furnace, but how much sweeter and closer His presence as they trusted Him in faith, willing rather to die than to dishonour and disgrace His name.  They did not find death in the belly of the furnace, but new life.  Another picture is Jonah in the belly of the great fish.  I'm sure from the moment he was gulped down, Jonah wished to be free of his oppressive, living prison.  In Jonah's case, God made sure Jonah had changed before He spoke to the fish and had him spewed out.

Paul and other Christians suffered many things at the hands of their enemies in the New Testament, even incarceration, torture, and death.  Paul wrote in Romans 8:16-18, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. ¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."  When our eyes are on Jesus Christ and our lives spent for His glory, we begin to understand the suffering we endure cannot even be compared with "the glory which shall be revealed in us."  To have the glory of God housed in these earthen vessels, what a joy and eternal hope!

I pray that God tunes my heart to hear His voice.  Instead of desiring to change my circumstances, I desire for God to change me.  I know I need to change, and I must be willing to change first.  I need to be more like Jesus, and it will be God who does the work.  My part is to submit to His will in faith and walk in obedience.  It is God who has begun a good work in me, and it is He who will be faithful to complete it.

Don't Blame Church!

Colossians 1:18 says of Jesus Christ, "And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence."  Many times in the New Testament, the relationship shared between Jesus and the church is compared to the head and a body.  Even as a body cannot function without a head, so the church cannot properly function without Christ.  A mistake that many people make is they reduce "the church" to their local fellowship.  If offense, strife, or division occurs, people stand in judgment of one another, adding sin to sin.  When we are hurt, our tendencies are to lash out or withdraw.  Thus hurting people move from church to church or cease fellowship altogether because of what they have suffered.  They pin blame on the "church" or even God for their negative experiences instead of the flawed people which comprise it.

I don't want to minimise the pain or rejection many people have experienced after they bared their souls only to face betrayal or embarrassment.  Abuses and crimes have been committed by people who profess to know Christ.  This is a poor reflection of our Saviour and without repentance is gross hypocrisy.  Even as being overtaken by sin does not mean a person is not a genuine Christian, a church with flawed people can be a legitimate part of the body of Christ.  We should call sin sin, and the manner in which we do so is a revelation of our heart.  We are called to revenge all disobedience when our obedience is fulfilled.  We are also called to harsh self-examination, removing the plank from our eye before we lunge for the speck in our brother's eye.  Our heart should be one of compassion with fervent desire for reconciliation as it is written in Galatians 6:1:  "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted."

Undoubtedly, many people who leave church in a huff over offense have not been obedient to the words spoken by the head Jesus Christ in Matthew 18:15:  "Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother."  The temptation is to tell everyone or no one, not even the one who has offended us - because we are certainly NOT offended!  It is among the easiest tasks to find fault in people.  Therefore it is easy to find flaws in a church filled with sinners saved by grace.  Instead of standing in judgment, we ought to give more grace.  Love covers a multitude of sins, and being angry does not work the righteousness of God.  OK!  So your pastor isn't perfect, the secretary was rude, and an usher ignored your complaint!  In the face of ungrace, may we give more grace out of a pure heart - for they know not what they do.  That follows Christ's example.  When we are treated poorly, even by fellow believers, may we turn the other cheek according to Christ's command.  Let us not forget the exhortation of 1 Peter 2:19-20, "For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. ²⁰ For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God."  The church is a training ground.  It is commendable before God for us to suffer wrong but return good for evil, casting our cares upon God because He cares for us.

Sometimes the frustration of people with their local church is the "vision" or perceived lack thereof.  Let me tell you plainly:  if everyone in the church kept Christ as the sole focus of their vision, much conflict and judgments would be avoided.  Perhaps you are frustrated by the lack of focus on missions or outreach by the church you attend.  Many times you have suggested opportunities for involvement for the Body, only to be denied.  You say, "We should be doing something.  Why aren't we involved in that ministry?"  Please hear me, brothers and sisters:  what are YOU doing about it?  YOU are a member of the body of Christ.  YOU are part of the church.  When God puts a burden on your heart, that the church ought to be doing something, are YOU being faithful to answer that call?  If not, it is YOU who is in sin.  God has shown you something to do, and you have refused on account of others not coming along with you.  God has led you, but you are waiting for someone else to take the lead.  In a church filled with flawed people, by God's grace you can choose to do the right thing in humility.  You can be a good example.  Your hands are never tied as a servant of the Living God!  It is Christ who has given us liberty.

God also desires that we live in unity.  We are called to submit to one another in love.  We need to respect and obey those God has placed in authority in our lives.  We are not to clamour for titles and dictate our terms of service.  Christ humbled Himself and we ought to emulate Him, not seeking our own glory.  Not one person in the Body of Christ is without accountability before God or men.  Let us be faithful to heed 2 Peter 1:5-11:  "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, ⁶ to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, ⁷ to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. ⁸ For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; ¹¹ for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

You know the old adage:  if you point at someone else, three fingers are pointing back at you.  When it comes pointing out the flaws in the Body of Christ, if we do so as part of Christ's body we incriminate ourselves.  May we walk in love, brothers and sisters.  Regardless of where God has us, may we be those who walk soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age.  Instead of seeking to find fault or blaming others, let us stand up and make our calling and election sure.  May our words and deeds be the fragrance of Christ to all!

Church Zero by Peyton Jones

I recently finished reading Church Zero:  Raising 1st Century Churches of the the Ashes of the 21st Century Church by Peyton Jones.  I was blessed and challenged by it.    Perhaps there might be some who may be a bit put off by the large amount of pop culture references, but the substance is scripturally sound and thought provoking.  It encouraged me to seek God's direction and stay the course.  It caused me to examine myself and the ministry of the fellowship I am part of.  It also was another confirmation concerning things God has already been saying:  we cannot just keep "doing church" as we have seen traditionally modeled, but must embrace the scriptural model revealed in the book of Acts.  Jones emphasises the need for kingdom expansion through church planting, not building empires that become insular and hungry for more people so we can afford better toys.

There was one time when our "modern" worship services were cutting edge, proactive according to the leading of the Spirit.  For the last thirty years or so I have observed, not a whole lot has changed.  Well, things have changed - but perhaps not always for the better.  We know so much, but we trust God little.  Once the machine of ministry is rolling, we can be snagged between jagged gears which catch men and women, painfully chew them up, and spit them out.  The church tends to "cherry pick" those who serve, rather than training and encouraging all people to do the work of the ministry beyond the walls of a church.  There is more to Christian service than chores around a building:  it is the building up of one another in love through fellowship, pressing forward towards Christ in faith.

Having worked with children, youth, and adults during seasons of ministry, I can relate to many of the things Peyton Jones says.  What is particularly troubling (in a good way!) is it challenges the model that passes for youth groups and even church these days.  I found several passages almost haunting, as they dripped with raw truth.  Jones writes, "As E. Stanley Jones explained, The very setup of the ordinary church tends to produce the anonymous.  The congregation is supposed to be silent and receptive, and the pastor is supposed to be outgoing and aggressive.  That produces by its very makeup the spectator and the participant.  By its very makeup it produces the recessive, the ingrown, the non-contributive, and the parasite.  Men and women who during the weeks are molders of opinion, directors of large concerns, directors of destinies are expected to be putty on Sunday, and are supposed to like it.  The have little responsibility, hence make little response, except, perhaps, "I enjoyed your sermon."  They have little to do, hence thy do little." (Church Zero, Kindle, highlight on page 199, Loc. 2383-86)

Following Jesus Christ is not a spectator activity.  To be honest, I suspect many Christians are more emotionally involved with their children's sport's teams, a TV show, or a novel than with Jesus Christ!  I do not say these things to criticise the church, but as a part of the church I know that at times it has been and still can be true in me!  Oh, that we would learn to love and follow Christ!  That we would lead others to Him!  This may mean we need to change our methods, but Jesus is still our means and end.  A flaw of church today is the tendency to be reactionary.  In seeking to be progressive by implementing a program or strategising with plans that have worked for others, it remains a reactionary response.  The only way the church can ever be progressive or effective for the kingdom of God is to be led and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

God is working and moving in the church today.  He is stretching hearts and shattering paradigms.  He will break forth with power and might when we choose to repent, inquire of God, and faithfully obey His commands.  In due season we shall reap, if we faint not.  We must be willing to follow Christ standing on His Word alone.  Even if no one follow us, may we follow Christ.  Where He goes, we must follow!