January 16

Genesis 17 I spent a summer on project with Campus Crusade for Christ. CCC goal was to train the students for leadership back on the campus. We were trained intensively in witnessing, leading small groups and Bible Study. It was one of the greatest summers of my life. We regularly went to campgrounds and beaches as small teams to share our faith. It came my turn to lead an outreach into one of the campgrounds. We had a set of procedures that we regularly followed that helped make things flow smoothly. To make the story short, we had done the procedures enough that we just did them without much prayer. The result in this case was a total disaster. Once the smoke cleared we were asking each other, "What went wrong?" I will never forget one of my roommates saying, "What comes to my mind is Jesus' words, 'Abide in Me and I in you for apart from Me, you can do nothing. I think we became so adept at doing this that we just quit seeking the Lord. We weren't abiding in Him." That is a hard lesson that I keep learning over and over. This is now the 4th time that God appears to Abram. He appears to him in Chapter 12 when Abram is 75 years old and tells him to leave Haran and his family. God there promises him a Land, a Nation and a Blessing. Then after the Egyptian debacle and when he finally separates from Lot, God appears to Him again reaffirming the covenant. That is found in chapter 13. Then after Abram delivers Lot and pays homage to the Lord through Melchizedek the priest, the Lord appears again and makes the covenant unconditional. That is found in chapter 15. So on this fourth time that God appears to Abram, the LORD changes their names indicating Abraham and Sarah will become the parents of a host of descendants and making circumcision the sign of the covenant. By now, Ishmael is 13 years old. Abraham is quite attached to him. He pleads with the LORD to consider Ishmael to be the son of the promise. It was unacceptable in God's sight. He refused to use this child to bring the promised seed. God would use a method by which all would know that He produced the child. Abram was 99 now and Sarai was 89. Both were considered too old to have children--not just by today's reckoning but also by the reckoning of their day. God appears to Abram and tells him, "Yes I will take care of Ishmael, but the child of the promise will be born to Sarai next year." And God changes their names to reflect that promise. Can you imagine that? That is definitely a "God thing." He chooses to do nothing which brings glory to us instead of Him. That is the glory of Jesus. He wants to do great things in us. But He wants to do them so that He will receive the glory, not us. Maybe the difficult circumstances that we endure are ones that He has engineered so that when He finally does His work, we will know He did it, not we ourselves. That is the glory of our Lord Jesus. It is a lesson Abraham learned over and over, guess I am in good company. So, my debacles are turned into good things because I learn to glorify the Lord through them. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John * Nehemiah 6 “And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.” It is the glory of the Lord that He does His work in people. When it is finished, it brings a holy awe upon those who have seen it, even if they do not submit to it. During the accomplishment of that work, it could be a confusing and fearful experience for the people through whom He is working. Nehemiah’s life was threatened. He was not always sure who was a friend and who was an enemy. But God gave Him the assurance of His presence. Nehemiah clung to that and the task which he had been given to accomplish. Is anything about the task God has given me unsure? Is it confusing or fearful? Is my God-given task clear? Pursue it! Don’t get sidetracked! Hang on to the end! God is doing something to reveal His glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * Psalm 16 It was the week of the last game of my senior year in high school. Bill Platt (at that time the radio voice of the OSU Cowboys and the Stillwater Pioneers) had made a habit of doing an interview with 2 seniors per week before the game. Being one of the least talented seniors and not having played very much, I was the last choice. He asked me a question that I will never forget. "Have you enjoyed your experience of football at Stillwater High School? Will you miss it?” I knew what he was driving at. I had very little playing time during the games. I started three games during my years there. They were the first two home games and the last home game of my senior year. During the first two games the coach removed me from playing because of my inability to perform. The last game I played very well, much to everyone’s surprise, but that was the game yet to come. Mr. Platt was nicely asking, “Why put yourself through all the pain of practice if you rarely get to play in a game?” I enjoy playing. Even now I do not watch much football. I’d rather be playing. It pleases me to participate, not to watch. I am a pleasure freak. I want nothing more than to be pleased. Then why do I do things that I do not enjoy? I was willing to put up with the conditioning drills, wind sprints, sled driving and other things because I enjoyed the competition with the other guys. I enjoyed the challenge. I don’t remember exactly how I answered Mr. Platt. But I do remember his summary. He said, “It’s kind of like my Army experience. I am glad I did it, but I am glad it is over.” Basically it is that I will endure a present pain for a future pleasure. I enjoy playing not watching. The Psalmist says, “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Do I believe that? How much pain will I put up with right now if I know that it will lead to a future pleasure? It is interesting that on the day of Pentecost, Peter quotes this Psalm and applies it to Jesus, “For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.” Paul also quotes it in his sermons in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch recorded in Acts 13. Jesus endured the cross in order to receive pleasures in the presence of His Father with us. That is part of His glory. He endured horrible wrath in order that He might have the joy of exquisite pleasure which it would produce. He calls us to die with Him so that we might be raised with Him. Are we willing to endure horrible pain in order that we might have the joy of His exquisite pleasure? When we are, we are giving testimony of His great glory. Exquisite pleasure is found in His presence. We can participate in His life, not just watch or be told about it. But death to self must come first. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John * Matthew 11 He was billed as “Holy Hubert” (a nickname given to him in derision by his enemies). He came to campus when I was in college at OSU. He reputedly had memorized the entire Bible in the King James Version. Now that is impressive. I went out to hear him. What did I go out to hear? I don’t know. But I guess I was expecting somebody who looked really intelligent, maybe like my older brother. (I have three of them so I’ll let them debate over to which one I am referring.) I guess one would expect a certain awe or glory to surround him. If appearance was what I was looking for, well, I was disappointed. He definitely did not look like an egghead. He did live up to his billing though. You could give him any reference location in the Bible and he could pick up there and start quoting it. Pretty impressive! The glory of Jesus can be deceptive at times. John was expecting that glory to show itself in something other than what he saw. To John’s credit, he was in jail. Some of the prophecies of the Messiah speak of a great king who would execute justice. John was in jail for preaching against the unrighteous lifestyle of the king. Why hadn’t Jesus done something to remove the unrighteous king, especially when that unrighteous king imprisoned righteous prophets of God. John wasn’t the only one who had a problem. Jesus said the generation of His day was like children who insist upon you playing just like they want you to play. So His generation had their picture of the glory of the Messiah, yet He, the true Messiah, did not fit that picture. So too with Chorazin and Bethsaida, Jesus’ glory did not fit their picture of the glorious Messiah. (By the way Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum all lie in ruins today.) His glory at that time was not the picture of a ‘strong leader’, who commands and orders people around and they listen. Part of His glory is that He invites the weary and heavy laden to take His yoke with Him. That means to pull the plow with Him. The work continues, but He is the power. He promises those who enter the work with Him, rest for their souls. Hmm. . . maybe that means that if I am tired in my soul, then maybe I am working in my own yoke and not His. Maybe I have my picture of His glory and not a true picture of His glory. Hmm. . . rest sounds good right now. I think I’ll take a nap. Now. . . what was I really expecting when I put on His yoke? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John