July 30

JUDGES 13
The children of Israel again “did evil.” This is the seventh and last time these two words are used together in the book of Judges. Each time the words are used, they restore peace. The cycles are representative of us. We stray from the Lord. He brings us discipline. We repent. He delivers. We seem to do it over and over again. The judges are in a small degree are representative of the Lord Jesus. He is the Great Judge. He is the Great Deliverer. Only He has none of the faults that these other judges had. Notice that through the cycles of the judges, each successive judge seems to have more faults than the previous judge. Each of the periods of peace brought about by the judge is successively shorter than the previous judge.
The Angel of the Lord appears three times in the Book of Judges. This last time He appears to the mother and then father of Samson. Gabriel appeared to Mary and then to Joseph. Jesus was called a Nazarene. Samson was to be a Nazirite. A Nazirite was to abstain from any grape products. He was to never cut his hair. And he was to never touch a dead thing or person. Unlike Samson, who lived according to his fleshly passions leading him to break each of the three nazarite vows, Jesus kept His vows. He came to do the will of the Father. He pursued that will to the point of death on the cross. Like Samson, the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him to deliver His people. In His death and resurrection we have peace with God. Lord, let me walk in Your peace and in Your victory. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 29
Constant streaking, crackling, thundering, flashing, lightning, pulsating, rumbling filled the sky from one horizon to the other. Occasionally the strikes were so close that the sound and light were simultaneous and deafening. The display lasted for about 30 minutes. It was the early fall of 1994, and I have never been so awed by a thunderstorm in my life. Oklahoma is famous for its violent weather, and this had to have been the most awesome barrage that I have ever experienced. It illumined the sky in a fireworks display that is unequalled by man.
Such displays overwhelmingly speak to me about the judgment of God. “The God of glory thunders!” My personal theology leads me to believe that before the flood of Noah, certainly before the fall of Adam, such displays did not exist in our environment in a destructive form. They are the result of the curse of the fall and the radical change in the earth’s land masses and atmosphere stemming from Noah’s flood. Electrical storms are a constant reminder of God’s hatred of sin and His sovereignty over the earth. His rainbow is His promise of peace.
David was a widely traveled man for his generation. He spent 10 years on the run from Saul. His travels took him from far south in the Negev to the northern limits of the promised land. Apparently from this Psalm, he had been as far north as Lebanon and Mt. Hermon (Sirion). He was a friend of Hiram, the King of Tyre, who helped David with cedar to build a palace. Early in David’s life the Philistines were the major power in the promised land. Philistines were a sea-going people. Consequently, their gods included sea gods sometimes depicted as part fish. So when David says that the voice of the Lord is over many waters, he is declaring in poetic fashion that the Lord is greater than the gods of the Philistines. The Lord controlled the great flood of Noah; He certainly controls the waters of the Philistine gods, and He certainly controls the elements of the gods around me. But He is not limited to just the sea-gods. He also is sovereign over the mountain forests. This glorious God of ours is sovereign over all things! His power makes the best lightning displays of Oklahoma seem like a mere ripple of 1.5 volt direct current. Whoopee.
Just His voice is full of power and majesty. When Jesus was in the boat in the middle of the storm in the Sea of Galilee, His voice spoken firmly and once, “Peace, be still,” caused the wind and the waves to be still. I have no doubt that His voice not only calmed the sea, but it also caused the storm. Why? Because He wanted His disciples to know His voice was over many waters. He wanted His disciples to know that He is God. No wonder they said to themselves, “Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” His voice speaks storms into my life and speaks peace into my life. Now that is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

LAMENTATIONS 3
“This is a sinking ship, and as long as you are pastor, we are going down.” “Either Pastor John goes, or I go.” “You are a hireling.” “You are probably demon possessed.” “You are lying and putting a spin on this whole situation.” “You are suicidal.” These were the approximate words spoken to me at different times by men who were supposed to be my supporters. They were words spoken by men who hit verbally and then ran, definitely not truth spoken in love, nor in an attempt to bring healing. They then left the church and took a third of the church with them, and left me reeling in the emotional pain. It was as if the church was flaming around me.
Jeremiah watched the destruction of Jerusalem. He had faithfully warned the people to submit to the king of Babylon. He loved His city, even if they imprisoned and beat him. He remained with them. Now he is forced to watch the result of their rebellion. The Babylonian army is systematically tearing down the walls of Jerusalem and setting fire to the temple, public buildings and houses. Jeremiah sits outside watching and lamenting.
While he watches, he is reminded both of the evil the people of Jerusalem have done to him and of the fact that he was commanded by the Lord to speak the words which caused them to hate him. He associates the pain inflicted by the people with the Lord. As he cries over his beloved city, he sees its destruction as from the hand of God. But then in the midst of the pain, God gives him a taste of His lovingkindness. In the midst of the flavor burst of that spiritual mouthful, he blurts these famous words:

22Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. 23They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 24“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” 25The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. 26It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD. 27It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth.

Imagine that! When his world is flaming around him, he declares the faithfulness of God, his hope in Him, and that the Lord’s lovingkidnesses are new every morning. Wait a minute! Am I missing something here? Total destruction of life as he knows it and Jeremiah declares the faithfulness of God? I thought faithfulness would have diverted the destruction of the city. I thought lovingkindness would have forced the invading army back to their home without the loss of life. I thought lovingkindness would have made life comfortable not miserable. I began with an illustration from my own life. I’ve been through a few awful experiences where life seemed to be unraveling, SIDS death, little sister-in-law’s unexpected death, parental, sibling death etc., but the one I shared was devastating because it struck at who I was. I was being told that in the opinion of people, whom I had respected, that I was worthless. That Sunday during worship when my world was flaming around me, two thirds of the church was now gone, I chose to worship God with all my soul, heart, mind and strength. In the midst of the flames God spoke clearly to me. He assured me of His love. He assured me of my worth in His sight. He let me sense His presence and experience the warmth of His compassions. It was incredible! I would go through the same flames again to experience the same warmth! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ROMANS 2
We all, whether Jew or Greek, are guilty before God. One day God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to the Gospel. I can hide those things about which I am ashamed from people. We all have them. Dirty little secrets about something we are or did long ago or maybe even just yesterday. They bring shame to us and we try to hide them. Oftentimes that shame leads in to even more shameful behavior. One day God will reveal them all by Jesus Christ.
How will He reveal them and judge them? The answer to that question is an indication of His glory. How will he reveal our secrets? He is God. He knows all things. He is able. Isn’t that amazing? This God-man knows everything about me. How will He judge everything He knows? He will judge it according to the Gospel. So many people envision that He will judge by putting all our works and secrets, good and bad in a scale the good on one side and the bad on the other side. But what kind of glory would that be for Him? It just reduces Him to a technician who properly operates a scale. Furthermore it is not even remotely related to the Gospel. It is the Gospel that Paul is revealing here in Romans.
It is the Gospel that brings Him glory. What is the Gospel? He died to pay the penalty for our sin. He rose to set us free from the power of sin. We must trust Him to receive the benefits of His death and resurrection. When He judges the secrets of our hearts it will be according to whether or not we have trusted in Him. If we have, then when He judges the secrets of our hearts, what will be revealed? His death and resurrection is what will be revealed. Then He will say to us, “You are perfect without spot and blemish. Enter into my joy.” If we have not trusted in Him, and he reveals the secrets of our hearts, what will be revealed? Our sin is what will be revealed. Then He will say, “Depart from me you worker of iniquity, I never knew you.”
He is not just a technician manipulating a scale. He is the King of kings who gave Himself for us. He is the Lord of lords who removes our sin by His self sacrifice. There is nothing that could give Him greater glory than judging those innocent who trust Him and guilty those who do not. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john