January 20

Genesis 21 As a graduation present from seminary, Laura painted a picture for me. It is my favorite painting. On the painting is a verse from the Psalms that says, “Through God we shall do valiantly.” It was a promise that the Lord gave us when we first arrived in Portland. It was the promise that we would accomplish what He had sent us there to do. The picture is a celebration of the promises of God. He enables us to do the impossible. Time after time we learned that in Portland. Sometimes we lapsed into trying to accomplish His purpose in the flesh. Sometimes we just rested in His promise. In the end He brought the accomplishment! Jesus is the God of the impossible. A year earlier Sarah had laughed at the prospect that she would bear a son. Now she holds him in her arms and names him laughter (Isaac). Now she laughs for joy of what she once thought impossible. But now she holds the reality in her arms. God’s promises always come true. But work of the flesh can never be silent in the presence of the work of the promise of God. It is always jealous. A few years after Isaacs’s birth at the feast of his weaning, Ishmael feels that his status as the delight of Abraham’s eyes is waning. He mocks Isaac. The flesh always mocks the delight found in the fresh work of the Spirit. Sarah wanted Isaac and Hagar out of there! That is understandable. But it also distressed Abraham. After all, Ishmael was his son. He loved him deeply. Forcing them out would likely mean their death in the hot desert climate. But there is only one solution to the flesh life—separation/death. So, the Lord tells Abraham, “Separate from the lad. I will take care of him.” It was painful but Abraham obeyed. Dying to the work of the flesh is always painful. After all, it is our child. Usually the work of the flesh appears to be so legitimate. Ishmael was perfectly legitimate in the eyes of Abraham’s culture. But ultimately God produced the child of the promise and the child of the flesh had to go. The glory of our Lord Jesus is that He accomplishes the impossible in us. But He will not allow the work of our flesh to share the stage with His glory. He is severely merciful upon our flesh works as He was with Ishmael. But His glory will always be center stage. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John * Nehemiah 10 “These joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes.” An interesting concept, should we do this? We certainly need to consider Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:33-37. There is a sense in which many people already do this to some degree. I went to a MLK Jr. celebration a few nights ago. On the wall of sanctuary was a large copy of Church Covenant. It was large enough for everyone to read it while sitting in the pew. I have seen such covenants in many churches. They used to be more common than they are today. As I read it, I thought, “Wow! If everyone did this, this would indeed be one dynamic church!” Did posting the covenant on the wall help move the church toward being dynamic? Since this is the only occasion that I have ever attended a worship service at this location, I am not in the least qualified to answer the question whether it helped the congregation that met there to be more dynamic. Does entering into curses, oaths, covenants etc. really help us to experience the glory of God? Certainly Jesus said, “Let your yes be yes and your no, no.” So as a follower of His, when I say, “Yes I will do this,“ or, “No, I will not do this,” there should not be any difference in my behavior than if I were to take a curse, or an oath, or a covenant. But if I never say, “Yes,” or, “No,” then I probably will never do. So, at times an agreement with someone else to do something is valuable in our lives, lest procrastination set in and we never do. Personally, I think I would steer clear of curses. But sometimes radical denunciation of sin and embracing a course of seeking God are necessary. So how does today’s passage tell us about the glory of God? Sometimes we come to the realization that we have ceased seeking the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind and muchness. At those times we need to recognize our sin, confessing it and claiming forgiveness. Then we need to renew our commitment placing ourselves in a position where God may reveal His glory to us. Sometimes when we do that, it means committing together with other brothers and sisters who can help us do that. They should have permission from us to point out in our lives when we strayed from the Lord’s revealed path. It takes a tremendous amount of trust on our part to allow someone else to be so bold with us, but what are the benefits? God normally reveals Himself to those who seek Him with all they are. That means when change or repentance is needed, we are willing. But the benefit is a fresh revelation of Himself. It is in those moments where we experience His glory in life changing ways. I know I need that. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * Psalm 20 The Lord saves His anointed. This Psalm has all the earmarks of what David perhaps prayed over his men and himself before he went into battle with them. God calls us into battle today, not physical battle but spiritual battle. It is His glory to answer, defend, help and strengthen us in the midst of that battle. He seeks to grant our heart’s desire as we seek to fulfill His purpose for us in the midst of that battle. He fulfills our petitions as we rejoice under His banner. Prayer, individual and corporate, becomes the key element in realizing the victory of the Lord in our battle. Some trust in programs in advancing the kingdom of God. Ultimately, programs are like chariots and horses, the top military technology of David’s day. David used chariots and horses, but he trusted in the name of the Lord. We can use programs, but we had better not be trusting in them, rather we had better be trusting in the name of the Lord. True trust will exhibit itself in prayer, corporate and individual. Only in response to prayer is the glory of the Lord revealed. It is in the midst of prayer that His plan is revealed. It is in the midst of prayer that His program is claimed and received. It is in the midst of prayer that His glory is revealed. Lord teach me to pray! Lord teach us to pray! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * Matthew 13:31-58 The way God does things just isn’t the way any of us would do things. We all tend to think that the way we think things should be done, should be the way God thinks things should be done. If we were going to change the world, and we had God’s power, we would do this big flash in the pan thing where-poof-everything automatically changed and worked properly, and everyone did what they were supposed to do. It would be sudden and apart from our participation in it. But the Lord has determined to change the world in cooperation with us. He is all about using His mighty power and wisdom changing one life at a time. He uses those lives which are in the process of changing to spread the word about His wisdom and power. Consequently, the planting of the kingdom of God begins very small. It does not capture the imagination of most because its beginning is not flashy. We all want something flashy. The problem is complicated because in addition to our individual sin natures, which have to be dealt with, we also have an enemy. This enemy is trying to enlist people, who have never experienced the initial life change of salvation, in the task of building the kingdom of God. Not long ago I was conversing with someone concerning spiritual things. He told me that he could not believe in Jesus because there were so many people who say they believe in Jesus but don’t do what Jesus says. He said He just couldn’t be that way. Funny, that is exactly how Jesus said it would be. In my mind that would tend to prove what Jesus says is true—not false. The kingdom of God begins small in our lives. Sometimes that means the changes are gradual and consistent over time. Sometimes the changes come in leaps and bounds. Nevertheless they begin small; and eventually, they become large. Sometimes we are worshiping right next to someone who has not had the kingdom of God implanted in their lives. The enemy aids them in mimicking the life changes so that they look some what like the real thing, but they are not. Eventually the sin nature of the truly born again shows itself, or the sin nature of those who mimic change shows itself. The result is that everyone knows something is false, but no one knows exactly what it is. Some use that as an excuse to just forget the whole thing and discount the whole thing as false. Funny, Jesus said it would be that way. Someday the world harvest will come. And to His glory, He will be able to determine where the true word of God has been planted in an individual’s life and where it was false. He can judge when we cannot. He can change us when we cannot change ourselves. Those who have never been changed, He will send into fire. Those who have been changed will have the sin nature completely removed and they will shine like the sun. It will all be His doing. In the meantime we have the privilege of cooperating with Him in the change. I think it takes greater wisdom and power on His part to get me to cooperate with Him in the changes than it would take for Him to just point His finger at me, speak the word and zap! All of a sudden, I am doing exactly what He wanted me to do without me choosing to cooperate with Him. No, it takes greater wisdom and power for Him to work patiently with me in order to get me to cooperate with Him in that change. Now that is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John