March 5, 2010

Exodus 16
Woops. I missed my glory blog yesterday. No excuses. I could have risen a couple hours earlier than normal and written it; however, I had to leave early to attend a morning funeral in Mustang. I just didn’t get up early enough. Maybe I felt like I could depend upon the glory that I saw yesterday. Do you ever do that?
One would think that the glory that the Children of Israel saw in their deliverance from Egypt would have lasted a lifetime. Wouldn’t you think after those ten plagues, the pillar of fire and pillar of cloud, the parting of the Red Sea and the drowning of the army, that one would be secure in the provision of the Lord? At least, wouldn’t you think that security would last more than thirty days? Well, it didn’t. Was it a problem with the glory? No, it was a problem with the people, short memories. And what was the result? Complaining. If there is one thing I cannot stand it is a complainer. Yet I frequently find myself complaining. Why? Short memory when it comes to the glory of the Lord.
How does the Lord solve this problem? He put the Israelites on a daily diet of glory. What? Does He plan doing some magnificent daily display of who He is? Well, yes and no. Moses tells them, “In the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord; for He hears your complaints against the Lord.” And what was that glory? It was literally their breakfast, lunch and dinner on the ground. All they had to do was go gather it every morning. The Israelites woke up to it and said, “What is it?” It was edible. It was sweet. It was nourishing. It did not last for more than a day, except the Sabbath. It was a daily provision for their need. It was a daily reminder of His glory. It was a daily exercise in gathering the glory of the Lord. Does His glory go bad in a day? No, but because of our bad memories and sinful hearts, we need to be daily reminded of His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

Mark 9:30-50
A couple of years ago, I was appalled to learn that the majority of churches in America have very little ministry to children. Everything is aimed at adults. I had a seminary professor who used to say that Christianity is an adult religion. Although, what he meant is that the decision to follow Christ is one in which we need to follow lines of authority that God has designed in the family. A couple decades ago, I was listening to Larry King on the radio one night. He made the statement that children belong to the state, not the parents. A chill went down my spine when I heard that. The implication of where that will lead, if our culture buys into it, is terrifying for the church. This is particularly true as we think of where this whole separation of church and state thing has led us. Jesus clearly has a special place in His heart for children as is demonstrated in this passage.
The disciples were suffering from what I call, ‘Mohammed Ali syndrome,’ they all thought they were the greatest. Jesus took a little child, set him in the midst of them, took him in His arms and said to them, “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me. . . “ You see children don’t pay the bills. Children aren’t the ones who get things done in the senate. Children don’t catapult you into the limelight. You want to be great? Serve the least. Children are often considered to be least. Moody once reported from a campaign from which he had just returned. He said, “We have two and half conversions.”
Someone said, “You had two adults and one child saved?”
Moody replied, “No, an adult has already lived half of his life. The children still have their life ahead of them. We had two children and one adult saved.” You want to be great? Serve the ones who cannot advance your name or add to your pocket etc.
Jesus takes it a step farther when the disciples had a problem with someone not in their group. If you offend one of the little ones (children, the least), you run the risk of hell. It is not popular to think of hell. Many people want to reject the idea. A lot of people reject the idea that Jesus would send anyone to hell. Yet three times in this passage Jesus indicates that it will happen. Is that glory? You’d better believe it is. What kind of God would He be if there was no justice? He would be an unjust God. Maybe you don’t agree with His justice, but it is necessary that He be just. Your dislike of His justice does not change it one iota.
His glory is found in that He desires the least to come to Him and He is just. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John