July 11, 2010

Acts 17:1-17
When Paul preached, what did he preach? I think it is summarized in verse 3, "explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ." It is a simple message, a true message and not difficult to grasp. Yet at the same time it is impossible to grasp. This simple message speaks of the glory of Christ. This simple message had such a life changing message upon people in Palestine, Asia Minor and Macedonia that when Paul and Silas came to Thessalonica, their enemies cried out in a frustrated rage, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too." Can speaking the glory of Christ be that powerful? In can and will be. We are just too afraid to speak it. Or we really haven’t seen it. Or we speak of things related to the glory of Christ but not the essence of His Glory. The King of Creation, the King of Glory, became flesh for the express purpose of being the substitute for our sin. He died in our place. He defeated death and thereby that sin, by rising from the dead. He ever lives to intercede for us. If we repent and believe in Him, we can know God. It is a simple glorious message that has and will turn the world upside down. Indeed, we serve a glorious king! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

Joshua 14-15
Yesterday, on the way back to MIU, a man was approaching me from the opposite direction on the footpath. Seeing me, he reached down and picked up a huge rock with one hand. He then crouched holding the rock out and looking at me as if he were going to hit me with the rock. I was quite startled. I wasn’t sure what to do. The only way around him was to walk up a mound to the right of him. I am 55 years old. It is not a time in my life when I want to start acting like Nicolas Cage or Harrison Ford. But then, I have never been able to back down from a challenger, even when I knew I would be defeated. My options seemed to be: 1) to be fearful and back down 2) to fight or 3) to trust the Lord to protect me and see if I could just walk around him. Option one is just not in my character. Option two is stupid. If the man were a better fighter than I, I would only get beaten, and he would get what he wanted anyway. If I were a better fighter than he, I would only beat him, and there is a strong likelihood that there would be some severe and unpleasant spiritual and legal repercussions for me. That only left option three. I made the decision to move forward and unaggressively walk up the mound. I guess he realized that I was not going to be intimidated by his stance. By the time I was even with him, I had the higher ground. He set the rock down and went on his way after I passed. I think it was the glory of the Lord that protected me. What if he had attacked as I passed by? I honestly do not know what I would have done or how it would have turned out. But this one thing I know, God would ultimately have been glorified.
Caleb is 85 years old. He was forty years old when they left Egypt. He was chosen to represent Judah when the spies were selected to spy out the land. He and Joshua alone brought back a good report because they knew the glory of the Lord. But the Lord promised him that for his faithfulness he would receive the land upon which his feet had walked. After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and 5 years of fighting in the campaigns to break the back of the Canaanites, Caleb reports, “I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the LORD spoke in that day.” Caleb knew it was the glory of the Lord that sustained him. That gave him the faith to say, “Give me this mountain!” May his tribe increase! What mountain is there in my our your life that for the glory of God, we need to face? His glory is more than sufficient! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john