February 1

Genesis 33 I awakened to Laura’s scream and to the sight of snow covering the windshield. It was around 2 in the morning. I had been sleeping. Laura was driving on I-70 in Indiana when we hit black ice. Later she told me that when she hit it, the car immediately went into a spin. In front of us was a semi and behind us was a semi. She said it was like somebody just took the steering and guided it into a snow bank. Gathering my sleepy thoughts, I realized that steam was pouring out from under the hood. My next thought was, ”Oh no, the engine block cracked. I had a very difficult time getting out of the car for the snow was packed around the car half-way up the door. Getting out and popping the hood, I observed that the impact packed snow up into the engine compartment and completely surrounded the engine. The steam was from the melting snow. A highway patrolman almost immediately drove up, got out his shovel and helped dig me out. He helped push me back up onto the road, and then said, “There is an exit in 2 miles. You need get off there and check into the motel and wait till late morning to finish your trip.” He got back into his car and drove off into the night. Later I realized what an amazing thing it was that our car was removed from spinning at 55 mph between two semis and strategically landed in a deep snow bank cushioning our stop (no brakes were applied) so that there was absolutely no damage to either our car or our bodies. Most times we attribute such happenings to coincidence. I have too many such “coincidences” to think of them as just coincidences. I find it harder to believe in coincidences than that the mighty power of God was involved. For those who have walked with God for some time, there come moments when you look back and have this overwhelming realization about the mighty power of God. It is not only that He is mighty, but it is also that he has used that power on your behalf. Such was Jacob’s experience upon arrival at Shechem. It motivated him to build an altar and call it Elelohe-Israel which means mighty God of Israel. No longer was He the God of his father Isaac and Abraham. Now He was the mighty God of Israel. What prompted this building of an altar? I think he was reflecting upon where God had taken him the last 20+ years. He left Isaac penniless, single and a fugitive from Esau. He is now returning, married, twelve kids, wealthy, and reconciled to Esau. Only the power of God could change Esau’s attitude. He claimed that mighty God for himself. His time wrestling with God the night before meeting Esau and the evidence of God’s completed promise in Esau’s reconciled attitude wrought a change in Jacob’s attitude. Jacob/Israel had received more than just a glimpse of the glory of the Lord, and it changed him. How about you? Have you seen the mighty God of Israel. More important, have you seen the mighty God of __________ (insert your name in the blank.) That is when it begins to make a difference in us. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Esther 9-10 What is there of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ here in this story? Perhaps, on a literal level, it is that the Lord provided deliverance to His people through Mordecai and Esther. On symbolic level, is it not that when we needed protection from our enemies, our Lord came and became flesh to redeem us from the curse of law and deliver us from the hand of the enemy. He has come and crushed the head of our enemy, Satan, the serpent of the Garden. He will soon crush him completely under our feet. It may be at the end of our lives, but he will do it! If I were a believer living in Egypt on this day in time, how would this passage speak to me? Egypt at this moment is undergoing much political instability right now. As a result, much violence and theft is being committed. Some of it is directed at Christians by Muslim fundamentalists. If I were a believer experiencing these problems, how would this passage speak to me? I would need to live with the realization that Jesus will one day bring justice. I might not see it in my life time, but He will one day execute justice upon the earth. Until then I must be willing to lay down all that is in my life for His glory. I must cling to the future promise. But I am not a believer living in Egypt. Yet that same attitude must drive my life here and now. I will lay down all that is in my life for His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Psalm 32 Somewhere in 2000 or 2001 my oldest brother was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. They gave him about 10 years to live. Myeloma is a bone marrow cancer that often occurs in multiple spots. It was treatable with chemotherapy. The cancer would go into remission. He would quit taking the chemo. Sometime later the cancer would come back again. I remember when I visited him during his first round of chemo. He looked so weak from the chemo that I thought he was going to die while I was visiting him, but he bounced back after the chemo was over. The chemo never removed the disease. It just covered it for a while. Each time he took the chemo, his body was less able to finish the chemo course. He finally succumbed to death in the fall of 2009, almost ten years. When he died it really wasn’t from the cancer but from the ravages of the chemo and the cancer on other parts of the body. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” In the religious system of David’s day the sins were covered once per year on the Day of Atonement, but the sacrifice had to be completed every year. Why? In reality, it was not the blood of bulls and goats that covered the sin of the people. The sacrifices always looked forward to one final sacrifice. They were mere pictures of a future truth. They were pictures of the sacrifice of Jesus. Christ’s sacrifice is once and for all. When a sin is committed, the eternal Holy God sees that sin. Because He is eternal, He sees it eternally. Because He is Holy, He is offended by that sin. Because He is eternal and Holy, He is eternally offended. Because He is just He must punish that sin. Because He is eternal and just, He must punish that sin eternally. No wonder there is a hell, but that is bad news for all of us who have sinned. But the good news is that the blood of Jesus eternally satisfies the justice of our eternal, holy God. When his blood is applied to my life, first it covers my sin, and second it washes it away. God chooses to forget about my sin. He has the ability to recall my sin, but because the blood is there, it covers it eternally and He does not recall it. It is gone. There is no need for anymore sacrifice. Wow! That makes me happy! Before I repent and confess my sin, my sin is like a cancer in my bones. When I repent and confess, He removes it from me. Because He has removed that sin from me, He is the one place to which I can run to hide out in times of trouble. If He will receive me and remove my sin, what place or person could be any safer? He delivers me and then gives me instruction in the way that I should go. Now if He is willing to do all that, why am I so hard headed about listening to His instruction. Wouldn’t it just make sense that I should instantly listen to and obey His instruction? Lord, help me not be like the mule that needs a bit and bridle or it will not come near. I will shout for joy to the Lord, who takes my spiritual cancer from my spiritual bones. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Matthew 21:1-22 JFK's presidency is often referred to as the age of Camelot. I was almost 6 years old when he was inaugurated. So I can't really say that I emotionally grasped the euphoria of the age of Camelot. But I do remember his famous speech where he said something to the effect of, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country." Why is Camelot idealized? Why is JFK idolized? I often wonder if JFK had not been assassinated, would he still have been idolized? Camelot is idealized because Arthur was a king that broke the mold. JFK is idolized because he was a president that seemed to be breaking the mold. Arthur fought to establish right as might. Kings (at least from an American viewpoint) are thought of as powerful men who yield to their subjects only if it increases their own power. We view it as though they only care about their subjects, if it increases their control over them. Cynically, we also view our politicians the same way. JFK brought a young perspective to the presidency that inspired many young people to service. Arthur brought relief to the monarchy that inspired many knights to serve their country rather than themselves. What's this got to do with Jesus? He is the epitome of the righteous King. He came to serve. Even as He presented Himself to the people as a King, He did so riding upon a donkey. By this time in His ministry, He could probably have organized His admirers to obtain chariots and bands and made quite a parade to enter Jerusalem to present Himself as Israel's King. He entered the temple. He could have presented His plans to make Herod's temple even greater if He was recognized as King. But He drove out those who were profiting from religious corruption. He called the people back to humble prayer before God in the temple. The blind and the lame had been banned from the inner courts of the temple. The outer courts had been consumed by religious corruption. Obviously, this is the first time in a long time that the blind and lame could come in to worship. He healed them there in fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy of 35:5,6. He served even the least of the people. He looked for fruit from His nation. But He found none. In one great prophetic act, He cursed the fig tree that bore no fruit for Him. It withered. He used it as a teaching point for the disciples. Whatever you ask in faith, believing, you will receive. Faith in what? Believing what? Faith in Him as King. Believing in Him as King. Here is this serving King. He calls His servants to serve one another even as He serves. He doesn't tell us one thing while He does another. He served and called us to follow suit. Then He equips us with the promise that whatever we need to serve, ask for it trusting Him, and then we will receive it. Now, I call that glory! It is a glory that far exceeds Camelot. It far exceeds any of the euphoric expectations of JFK's days as president. It is a glory that is the only true reality. It is a glory that will one day cover the whole earth. Let us hasten that day by serving, by proclaiming the glory of our King. Indeed we serve a glorious serving King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John