October 30

2 KINGS 12
Over the years I have frequently heard the complaint against churches for the amount of money spent upon buildings by churches. On the one hand they have some valid complaints. How is it that we can spend billions on buildings while people’s needs go unmet? How can we spend billions on buildings while one third of the world has never even heard the name of Jesus, much less been given an opportunity to repent and believe in Him. On the other hand there has to be a place for the church to congregate for worship and to perform various ministries to meet people’s needs. On the one hand the Catholic church spent great riches in the middle ages building gorgeous cathedrals while peasants wasted in poverty. On the other hand, the cathedral was the one place of manmade beauty which the peasants could enter and enjoy. There they could look up and consider the majesty of God. Should the building which houses the worship of the Almighty be a shoddy thing? How should it reflect His glory?
Jehoash had a passion for the glory of God. Yahweh only had one temple. Jehoash’s grandmother had desecrated it. It needed repair. Is it not odd that Jehoash’s zeal for the upkeep of the temple seemed to exceed the zeal of the priests? But then as king and not priest, perhaps his focus was more upon the material realm as opposed to the priests being focused upon the spiritual realm. A friend of mine is an architect. He reports that the balance between building a building of beauty and a building that is cost effective for its purpose is a problem for architects who design church buildings. But there was only one temple in Jehoash’s day, so it seems to me that a little lavishness upon that building to bring glory to God was excusable. That one building served millions of people. Jehoash was doing what was right to demand that the temple of the Lord reflect the Lord’s glory.
Even today there is only one temple that serves the people of God. Both Ephesians 2:21 and 1 Peter 2:4,5 tell us that today the temple of the Lord is not the physical buildings which we build, but it is the spiritual building of which we are the building blocks. Is the Lord most glorified in the physical building or the spiritual building? Obviously the answer is in the spiritual building. Let us have the zeal of Jehoash in building that spiritual temple! Yes there is a need for physical buildings of some sort, but let us never let the beauty of the physical temple eclipse the beauty of the spiritual temple. Let us never let the focus on the physical building drive the growth of the spiritual temple. Yes both should reflect the glory of God, but when all is said and done the physical will be destroyed. Only the building of the spiritual temple will result in true glory for our Lord. Let us pursue that! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

JONAH 3
Why would anyone believe Jonah? As far as we know, they knew nothing of Jonah. There was no reason to believe him. Yet when he preached the God-given message at God’s command, they believed God—not Jonah—and brought forth the fruit of godly sorrow and repentance. If I went out preaching this message today, what would be the response? Probably nothing of value. What is the difference and why? I can only come to one conclusion. God wanted to demonstrate, for all the world to see, His willingness to receive an exceedingly wicked but repentant people. This tells me that no matter how wicked might be the audience today, if we have been commanded preach a message (and we have), then there is somebody out there in whom God is working to bring repentance and belief. If they believe, it is not because of me, but it is because of God. My job is to listen to the voice of the Lord and obey. His job is to draw men and women to Himself. If God uses my preaching to bring someone to Himself, there is no glory in it for me. The only thing I can say is that He empowered me to obey! Everything else is His work. He alone receives any glory. Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

2 TIMOTHY 4
The Lord is a righteous judge. He will judge both the living and the dead. All will one day stand before His judgment seat. I have spent time in a court room as an observer. The times that I have been there have been to be a moral support to those who were either in a court battle or were there on criminal charges. One thing that has impressed me each time that I have been there is the absolute authority that a judge has in a court room. Not having ever been in the military, there is nothing else that I have experienced that is like the authority of a judge. Even a human judge carries a special authority. The lawyers treat them with the utmost respect. The officers respond immediately to their commands. If they want silence in the courtroom, they get it. Even the innocent tend to become timid before them. And this is just a human judge! What if that judge were corrupt, as we know happens every once-in-a-while? The potential for the abuse of power looms great in a judge. They have to be of the utmost highest in character.
If a human judge commands that much authority, how much more the judge of all the earth? I am so glad that He is righteous. But I am not innocent. Should I not be quaking before Him? Not any more. You see, He, the judge, has already paid the penalty for my sin and declared me to be righteous in His sight. I will stand before Him to be judged, not to see whether or not I will go to heaven. That was taken care of on the day I trusted Him as my Savior. I will stand before Him to see if I have done anything that is worthy of reward from Him. Now that is a deal! Not only does He pay the penalty due me and declare me righteous, but He also rewards me of any good work that He deems worthy of reward! Isn’t He glorious? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

October 29

2 KINGS 10-11
Is it possible to see some of the glory of God and be used as a major instrument in accomplishing His will and yet not have a relationship with Him? The history of the Bible cries out, “Yes!” The obvious ones are men like Pharaoh and Cyrus. But they never made any pretense about being on Yahweh’s side. Then there are men like Jehu. He slaughters the worshippers of Baal as no other man had done, including Elijah. God even commended him for it and promised his descendants to retain the throne to the fourth generation. Yet we find these sentences concerning him:
He did not however, destroy the gold calves at Bethel and Dan, the great sin that Jeroboam son of Nebat had led Israel to commit. . . But Jehu did not obey the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He refused to turn from the sins of idolatry that Jeroboam had led Israel to commit.

Is it possible that I could be like Jehu? Could I see glimpses of the glory? Could I be obedient to the Lord in a major work in my culture? Could I be commended even by the Lord for that work? Could I do all these things and still not know Him? If the example of Jehu is the answer, then I think the answer is, “Yes.” How can I prevent being like Jehu? The answer is simple. I simply throw myself on the mercies of God. Everyday I will seek to gaze at His glory and spiritually eat at His table. I will plead with as did Moses, “Lord, show me your glory. . . Do not send me out unless your presence goes with me.” Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 119:113-176
My wife and I have bought 5 houses in our lifetime. Each time we had to put down earnest money. That was money that we gave to the realty company which would show our good intentions about purchasing the home. In return for the money, the house was taken off the market until the purchase was complete. Once the seller accepted the contract and the money, they were not allowed to sell the house to anyone but us. Even if someone came along and offered more money, the seller could not legally sell to them because he had already entered into a contract with us. On my part, if I reneged on the deal, the seller would keep the money because he would perhaps have lost the ability to sell to someone else while the house was off of the market. Another word for earnest money is surety.
In verse 122 David asks the Lord, “Be surety for Your servant for good; Do not let the proud oppress me.” Does he have the same concept in mind here? I believe that he does. David knows his own heart. He knows what is in his heart. At the time of writing this Psalm, he knows the value of the word of the Lord. He knows the richness of the pleasure of walking with Him. He commits to His word and to Him. But he knows his heart. He knows that he will waver and flip flop. He asks the Lord to put down earnest money on His soul. He wants to know that God will be faithful to complete the deal when he wavers from the path. The blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the surety, the guarantee for us. Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians 1:13–14:

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

David knows that he will need help to keep his end of the deal. He cannot do it without the direct intervention and help of the Lord:

133Direct my steps by Your word, And let no iniquity have dominion over me.
154Plead my cause and redeem me; Revive me according to Your word.
159Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your lovingkindness.
176I have gone astray like a lost sheep; Seek Your servant, For I do not forget Your commandments.

This great Savior of ours is the One who enables us to keep our commitments. That is what the Spirit does in our lives. As we commit ourselves to His word, He makes it live, gives us life, gives us power. It is our responsibility to rendezvous with Him in His word, to listen to the voice of His Spirit and to yield to His Spirit. It is his responsibility to empower us. What a deal! What glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

JONAH 2
Yes, it easy to throw stones at Jonah, but at least when he reached the end of his rope, he repented. Boy did he reach the end of his rope! He was swallowed whole by a great fish. Seaweed was wrapped around his head. He had sunk to the bottom of the sea. His soul had fainted, and he was probably dead. But there he realized his folly. There he called upon the Lord, recalling to mind His mercy. He knows that he is about to stand in judgment before a Holy God. He chooses to not forsake the mercy that he knows is there. He chooses to come in line with what God has told him. He chooses to pay his vows. The Lord gives him one more chance and makes the fish vomit him upon the shore.
Isn’t that amazing? He willfully sinned. He refused his God given mission. Not only did he say, “No!” he ran the opposite direction! What mercy God revealed and showered upon him! He showers the same mercy upon us, but we need to be very careful. If we do not obey, there eventually comes an end to the Lord’s patience. Eventually He says, “No more!” and He takes us out of this world. That is the glory of our Lord!
But there is more than the Mercy of the Lord that is seen in this passage. There is also resurrection power that was extended to Jonah. Once Jonah had died to his own desires (refusal to preach mercy to those whom he hated), the Lord raised him up. No matter upon what beach Jonah was vomited, he still had a several hundred mile journey on foot. Can you imagine having died and spent 3 days and nights in the stomach of a great fish what kind of physical condition you would be in the natural. Man I bet he stank! But he got up and fulfilled his vow. He could only do that if he were miraculously empowered by the Lord. What grace the Lord provides His servant to perform His will! That same grace is available to us. All we need do is be willing to heed His command and step out in faith to do it. His resurrection power is available to us if we will die to ourselves. That is exactly what Paul was talking about in Galatians 2:20. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
What mercy He extends to us for not obeying! What grace He extends to us for the ability to obey! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

2 TIMOTHY 3
It is the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ that we should experience persecutions similar to His and to come through them triumphantly! His Word is able to make us strong for those situations. His Word is perfect. He was able to work in and through the writers of Scripture so that everything they wrote on the one hand perfectly voiced what Jesus wanted said, and yet on the other hand, their personalities and human qualities are apparent in their writing. Every single word that they wrote is the perfect word of God, the word of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that Jesus is able to use the Word in us to teach us what is true, to reprove us when we are wrong, to show us how to be right again, to instruct us in the right way to walk in life. The Lord Jesus is able to use His word and His power to equip us for every good work that He desires to do in us. Let persecution come! We have the glory and beauty of our Lord to equip us and empower us! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

October 28

2 KINGS 9
What a gruesome story. What are we to think of a God who condones this? Wait a minute! Is our God supposed to be just? Yes, of course! Is our God supposed to punish evil? Yes, of course! Then this event demonstrates the severity of the Justice of God. Did Jehoram and Jezebaal deserve to die? Absolutely! Jezebaal had murdered many of the prophets of the Lord and had sought to kill Elijah. She was a driving force at introducing and increasing Baal worship in Israel. Her son was walking in the same path. This incident is a great warning to us all that there is a “payday someday.” God will eventually bring about justice to every person. It either comes at the cross of Jesus, or we perish. Can we glory in His justice? Yes. I would rather glory in His mercy, but without His justice, there is no such thing as mercy. Even Jehu, the instrument of justice to Ahab’s house, is the recipient of justice because he oversteps his authority in administrating the Lord’s intent.
Did Hitler deserve to die? Most people would answer, “Yes.” Am I as deserving of death as is Hitler? Some people would answer, “No.” I would answer, “Yes.” Before I met Jesus, God would also have answered, “Yes.” But God carried out the penalty, which justice required, upon Jesus. Because I have received Jesus, the penalty is paid, and I have received mercy. So I will glory in God’s justice. He is just! But I am most thankful that Jesus took the just penalty for me. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 119:57-112
One Christmas in 1961, my parents gave my brother and I a portable Roy Rogers stereo record player. My 11-year-old brother thought it was awesome. In my 6-year-old mindset, I was not so impressed. He offered me one of his other gifts if I would relinquish my portion of the record player. I was impressed with the offer, so I gladly took it. He became the sole possessor of the record player, and I became the possessor of toy doctor’s kit. At the time we were both delighted with our exchange. As the years progressed, I began to think less of the exchange and to realize that I had thought too little of my portion of the record player.
God’s law is more than a list of His commands of how He wants us to live and not to live. Rather, His law is a reflection of what He is like. So, the keeping of His law is not a “do and don’t” proposition. It is learning to dwell in His presence in such a way that we delight in what He is like. He remains our portion. Notice some of the things that David says about the law of the Lord:

72The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of coins of gold and silver.
75I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are right, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.
92Unless Your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction.

When He becomes our delight, He becomes our hope and He enlightens our life (vs. 81 &105). That hope and enlightenment produces strength in adversity. Look at verses 61 &62: “The cords of the wicked have bound me, But I have not forgotten Your law. At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You, Because of Your righteous judgments.” While the New Testament writers did not interpret this as a reference to Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail, it sure is reminiscent of their experience. These two men were preaching the good news in Philippi and having great success. As a result of that success, they were beaten and thrown into the dungeon. Most people who would be beaten and imprisoned for exercising free speech would be rather depressed, but not Paul and Silas. Why? Because the law and the gospel was more than a concept for them. It was a relationship with the living God! It was a delight to enjoy His presence while they suffered! At midnight, bruised and bleeding, fastened by chains to the dungeon floor, they joyfully raised up songs of praise to the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because the law and the Gospel was the presence of Jesus Christ. His presence was delight!
Often I think too little of my portion of the Lord. I trade His presence for the toys of this world. When will I ever learn? O Lord, teach me your judgments, knowledge and commandments for they are more than words on paper. They are what You are like. You are a delight! That is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

JONAH 1
It is easy to throw stones at Jonah. He, as a prophet of the Lord, should have known that one cannot escape the presence of God. He, as a prophet would have read David’s 139th Psalm, “Where can I flee from your presence, O Lord?” But then, he would also know that there is the omnipresence of God and then there is the manifest presence of God. He was seeking to escape the manifest presence of God. Wow, with all the talk of seeking the manifest presence of God, here is a man who had experienced it, but wanted to flee! He knew it could cost him something, his life. Oh but it was more than his physical life that it could cost him. It included the price tag of forgiving ones whom he hated culturally. The Assyrians had brought much warfare to Israel, and eventually would destroy the country. They were a harsh people and deeply hated by Israelites. Not only would he be fraternizing with the enemy, but he would raise the eyebrows of many an Israelite. But wouldn’t all those things be worth the trouble of his life, forgiving his enemy and risking the ire of his follow Israelites, apparently not to Jonah.
Yes, it is easy to throw stones at Jonah. But am I, are we, any different? In order to experience the true manifest presence of God and His miraculous power flowing through me, am I willing to trade my life, forgive my enemy, risk being viewed by those closest to me as a traitor, fanatic or idiot? Do I choose to cling to the glory of the Lord because I understand that it is of infinite more worth than my puny life, my petty grudges or the approval of my peers? Lord, what a weak minded and willed man that I am! Deliver me such petty thoughts of You! I lay everything at Your feet for Your glory is worth it all! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

2 TIMOTHY 2
While I was in college, I used to jog 6 miles every morning. The OSU cross-country course is a beautiful 3 mile course with gulleys and ponds. There is just something about watching the sun come up as you jog along the ridge of a gulley in the coolness of the morning. The birds are singing, and the rabbits sit there watching you as if they are wondering why the crazy human is in such a hurry. It was exhilarating.
One day while stretching out before my jog, a local pastor came jogging by on his morning workout. I thought to myself. "I will finish my stretching and catch up with him.” He was an old man (at least 35). “I shouldn't have any problem catching him." When I started, he was about 100 yards ahead of me. I took off on what I thought was a good pace. I wasn't gaining on him. I increased the pace. Finally after about 2.5 miles he was only about 20 yards ahead. I was tired; no, I was dying. But I couldn't let this old man beat me. I kept kicking. Just about the time I caught up with him nearing the end of the course, I got this tremendous snapping pain in the side of my left knee every time that I extended it forward. It felt like someone was stabbing me in the knee with each step. I had caught Him, but I couldn't go any further. Not much glory in this. I quit. He kept on jogging. Another round? I found out later that he used to run track for OSU and regularly ran marathons. The doctor told me that I should stay off my knee for a couple of weeks. I lost the discipline of jogging.
I've since tried to regain the discipline. It is not fun anymore. I weigh 40 pounds more. I am an "old man". The humidity of Coastal Carolina on a summer morning, even at sunrise is oppressive. I get tired of running very easy.
Sometimes I get tired of ministry. The variety of reasons, which confront me that explain why people don't want to follow Jesus or think they are following Jesus when they really are not, is sometimes overwhelming. I feel a responsibility to combat those reasons and to bring people to the Lordship of Jesus. When I don't see visible success, it is easy to lose motivation. Sometimes I get tired. Its like jogging. I get tired easy. And then every once-in-a-while something happens that is like someone spiritually stabbing you in the knee. I get tired.
What keeps me going? It is the glory of Jesus. His grace is overflowing. His salvation is an eternal weight of glory. He tired on the way to the cross. He had stabbing pain on the cross. He allows me the privilege of dying with Him. He allows me the privilege of enduring pain with Him. He allows me the privilege of living with Him. I never get tired of His glory. If I endure with Him, I will one day reign with Him. WOW! Say that again! If I endure with Him, I will one day reign with the King of Glory!!! But even if I am faithless, He will remain faithful because He cannot deny Himself! I've just gotta get my eyes off of the crud and back onto His glory!
I have named His name. It is not about me. It is about Him. What have I to do with any iniquity? I want to depart from it because my life is not about me! It is about the glory of His name. God forbid that I should shame His name because of my iniquity! I want His beauty to shine through me. I want His name to be spread abroad. He is the glorious King! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

October 27

2 KINGS 8
It is common to us to relegate our Lord to activity in only a certain area. Do we not all segment our lives? Do not many have their “spiritual” area and their “secular” area. We are not unique in this. But today’s reading reveals that this is a dangerous segmentation. The people of Elisha’s day seemed to believe in territorial gods. One god was a god of one area, and another god was a god of another area. They attributed their power in battle to the strength of their god. The Syrian king had seen: 1) his general healed of leprosy by the God of Elisha, 2) his military secrets revealed to Elisha by the God of Elisha, 3) commandos sent into Israel to arrest Elisha were blinded, captured, fed and released at the command of the God of Elisha, 4) a failed siege of Samaria when the God of Elisha placed false sensations in the senses of the complete army performing the siege, 5) the failure of his own gods to heal him of his disease. Clearly the king of Syria believed in territorial gods but now had come to see that the God of Israel was greater than his gods. So, he sends to inquire of Elisha concerning his health. God reveals that He is sovereign over all nations, not just Israel. He deposes the king of Syria as well as Judah and Israel. It was a dangerous thing for the king of Syria to assume that the God of Elisha was only God of Israel and that his god was stronger. It is a dangerous thing when we segment our Lord to one area of our lives. His glory cannot be hidden in segments. It shines in all segments. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 119:1-56
A few years ago when my granddaughter was born my son and daughter-in-law asked what I wanted my grandchildren to call me. I told them, “Grumps.” I thought it matched my mental state at times. From time-to-time if find myself getting rather dour. What causes that state, and how do I get out of it? I know what causes it. Usually it is because I think things are not going the direction that I would like them to go. It can be a variety of things. I suspect that you could identify a few points where the same thing begins to happen to you. My focus gets off of the Lord and on to my desires. I begin to get grumpy. When it happens, I almost feel like I need a cleansing. How can I, an old man, cleanse my way? It is the same way a young man cleanses his way, Verse nine says, “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.” One of His glories is that His word cleanses us. It can cleanse us of great moral failures and it can also cleanse us of the little things that nip at us and make us grumpy. When I ask Him, He will open my eyes to see the wondrous works of His hands. He uses His word and His Spirit to do it. He lifts me up! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
P.S. Recently my youngest visible grandson has started calling me Dumps. I am not sure whether he thinks it is more appropriate for me or whether he can say Dumps easier than Grumps.

OBADIAH
As the twin towers collapsed, it collapsed more than the buildings and the lives of those trapped in the buildings. The target was well chosen, not only for the lives it would take, but also for the symbolic strike that occurred. America was on top of the world economically, militarily, and in security. We were and are trusting in ourselves. The collapse rocked that trust. Our pride was in what we had built. Now? Economically we are collapsing. Militarily, it wasn’t as easy to find Osama or rid the world of weapons of “mass destruction” as we thought. It has come at an enormous price tag in terms of money, lives and morale. Although we may be withdrawing from Iraq soon, we seem to be bogged down in Afghanistan. Security? Well, life is just different now. We are reminded of it every time we enter an airport or a government building. Perhaps there used to be a corporate ego that was embodied in the heights of the twin towers.
“The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high.” If you have seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, then you have gained a glimpse of Petra, the reference of Obadiah to dwelling in the clefts. Petra is located in a mountain. Its sides are cliffs all the way around. The only entrance is through a natural cleft that begins at the bottom and twists up to the top. The cleft at points is very narrow making it impossible for more than a few to ride abreast through the cleft providing a wonderful defense for those above. At the top of the cleft, the inhabitants carved beautiful temples into the cliffs of the sandstone mountain. They thought that they were impregnable to invasion because of their location. So when Judah was attacked by other foes, they could join in without worry of much repercussion. Their corporate ego was embodied in the heights of their defenses.
Sometimes I wonder if I have fallen into the American trap of providing for myself in such a way that I am trying to build my own twin towers of personal protection and economic security. The reality is that I have no protection other than Jesus. When I die, if I have any economic stuff it will all remain here. So If I boast about any security, economic or otherwise, I really have only one secure place to boast—Jesus. Only His glory will remain. Lord, once again I present myself to You. I choose to invest only in Your glory. It is the only thing that will last. As I gaze upon Your glory, let me hear only your voice and submit only to You! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

2 TIMOTHY 1
Why would anyone be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord? When Paul wrote this, he was in jail for the last time. How would you feel if your pastor was frequently in jail for preaching the gospel? Shouldn't this glorious Lord protect His people? Shouldn't His followers be honored rather than jailed? Shouldn't such a glorious Lord not allow His followers to suffer? Not necessarily. Rather, It seems this glorious Lord sometimes chooses to empower his people to suffer through persecution. In the midst of life-even without persecution--we tend to forget the glory of Jesus. When we forget, then we tend to be ashamed. Paul reminds us of some things concerning Christ's glory.
To begin with, Christ saved us. WE honor and glorify heroes. Who is a greater hero than Jesus? Through His sacrifice He saved not just us but also more than a billion people. He has called us in a holy calling a calling which is according to His purpose. He has a purpose for you and me! Can you give purpose to anyone else? No, you cannot, but He does! He gave us grace before time began. Can you do that? He abolished death and brought immortality to light. Can you do that? Do you know anyone who can?
The next time you realize that you are ashamed of the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, why not begin thinking about these things. How could you be ashamed of Him when you realize these things? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

October 26

2 KINGS 7
Why are we so slow to believe the Word of the Lord or to see the glory of the Lord? Elisha was obviously a man who had accomplished many miracles, and the fame of them had spread far and wide. Surely when Elisha spoke, the people would have responded positively. Yet the officer of the king could only respond to Elisha’s prophecy of the coming miracle with, “If the LORD would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” But is this not just like us? Each new test of faith brings with it our inabilities to believe. That is why it is so vital for us to be fixed upon the glory of the Lord. When fixed upon His glory, we believe. When fixed upon our problem, we are in unbelief.
When the Lord provides the miracle, why do we keep it to ourselves? The lepers got up and went into the Syrian camp to find bread. Finding the camp deserted with all of the Syrian possessions left behind, they had stumbled upon the miracle. They busied themselves collecting wealth. Finally, it dawned upon them, ““We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” The Lord constantly showers His glories of changed lives upon us. We busy ourselves collecting wealth. A multitude of people remain imprisoned behind the gates of the city we left. The gates of Hades cannot prevail against us. If we return to the city, walk through its doors and share with the inhabitants where the glory of the Lord maybe found, some will follow us outside Hades gates and find His awesome glory. But am I too busy collecting wealth for myself. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 118
Mercy! Many of us instinctively know that we are in need of it; the rest just lie to themselves. His mercy, once extended, endures forever, and the Psalmist knows it very well! He calls out to the Lord, “Save now, I pray, Oh Lord!” (v.25) (translates into ‘Hosanna!’) He knows that he lacks the righteousness to enter into the gates of the temple of the Lord. He stands before the gates and throws himself upon the mercy of the Lord. Oh Lord, save me! I don’t have the required righteousness to come through the gates into Your presence. But when does the plea for salvation come? After the stone which the builders rejected becomes the chief cornerstone.
On Jesus’ triumphal entry the crowds and the children cried out, “Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” The stone presented Himself to the builders. They rejected Him. They bound the sacrifice (so to speak) to the horns of the altar. They crucified Him. God raised Him from the dead! That death and resurrection became the basis for mercy which pours out abundantly on those who will now kneel and plead for His mercy! He told us about it 1,000 years before it happened. Oh Lord, I receive Your mercy! Wow! Now that is glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

AMOS 9
The little cart rumbled through the haunted ghost mine on the track while the strobe light flashed and produced a sense of terror upon the eyes and mind. New scenes of gore and horror appeared at each turn of the track. As an 8-year-old, it was indeed a terrifying experience as I rode with my friends through the twisted path. About half-way through a hand touched me on the shoulder from behind sending an adrenaline rush through my body that caused me to bolt to remove the unwanted grasp from my shoulder. But as quickly as I tried to move, the hand was gone. But the hand had produced its desired effect, a sense of terror.
The Lord reveals His terror to and upon us. His is not for the effect of an adrenaline rush, but rather that of a changed life. The terror of the Lord is indeed something that should frighten us. His terror has been observed throughout this little book of Amos. As always, His terror should lead us beyond the experience to something rewarding. The Lord calls for the destruction of the nation, the scattering of the people for the goal of an eventual restoration. He will filter the people through the other nations for the purpose of restoring His people in holiness.
Notice from this passage that His terror is inescapable. One can go to Hell or Heaven, to the mountain top or bottom of the Sea, to Rivers that produce abundance or to the nations that are influential, but one can never escape His sight. He finds us wherever we try to hide. His terror sifts us like flour through the twisted paths of life. We can attach to what is evil and remain in the sieve forever, or we can submit to His filtering process and look for restoration to come. His reward is equally inescapable.
Israel benefitted from the sieve process. The benefit was a restoration of the tabernacle of David. In the Acts 15:16-20 James refers to this tabernacle as the church through which the Gentiles would be able to come and seek the Lord. If that is the case, then Paul refers to this (Ephesians 2:11-13 and Galatians 3:26-29) as Jesus breaking down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile to place them in one body. During that journey through the sieve, those who believed in Jesus remained and were made part of the tabernacle of David, and those who did not believe experienced the true terror of the Lord.
What a difference! Through many trials and tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. Therefore let us remain steadfast in clinging to and relying upon the Lord Jesus for if we do, we will receive an eternal reward. If we do not we will receive eternal terror. That is His glory, eternal joy for those who believe, eternal terror for those who do not. Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

1 TIMOTHY 6
Our living God is the one who gives life to all things. Jesus is that living God made flesh. He is the only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords. What is a Potentate? The word is translated sometimes as sovereign. It comes from a group of words whose root word means power or ability. Hence, it is a ruler or a sovereign that has power or ability. A sovereign is the one who can make things work or happen. He is the one who really is in control. Of all the kings, lords, presidents, dictators, premiers, chancellors of the earth, now or past or ever will be, He is the sovereign. He is in control. When we truly yield to Him as our master, no other person or thing can rule us, no unwholesome word, no evil spirit, no pursuit of wealth, no desire to be rich. They cannot rule us because He is the sovereign living God and those things do not give life but He does. Only He provides real life, abundant life, life with meaning, life with purpose. He alone has immortality because He is life.
He dwells in unapproachable light. What does that mean? I am sure that given all the volumes of the world and the ability write wisely and sensibly in them about this subject, I could never exhaust it. His light reveals reality. His light shows me exactly who I am. His light reveals the truth about everyone and everything. If I were to be instantly transported into His light, it would be more than I could bear. Yet He does reveal a little bit of His light to me, just enough to make it bearable, just enough to change me a little bit at a time. He is sovereign. He is revealing His glory in me through His light. If He is your Potentate, He is doing the same thing in you. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

October 25

2 KINGS 6
We had just moved to Oregon. We were only one month into our stay there and our money had already run dry. Deposits and rents took much more from the coffers than I had expected. I was jobless. I had come in what I thought was obedience to the will of the Lord. Little did I know but it would 4 months before I would gain a steady job. The Lord had given us His promise that through Him we would do valiantly. However, it did not feel very valiant at the time. Honestly, a couple of times I felt as if home were closer, I would have quit and gone there. But home wasn’t close, and to wait upon the Lord was easier than returning. “This calamity is from the Lord. Why should I wait upon the Lord any longer?’ Ever been there? I have felt that way before.
The king of Israel was certain that the famine, which Samaria was experiencing because of the Syrian siege, was Elisha’s fault. After all at one point the King had captured a large number of Syrian soldiers, but Elisha would not permit their execution. Rather, he commanded that they be fed and sent home. Perhaps if had killed those soldiers then, the odds would have been more in his favor now and the siege might never have happened. In the king’s mind this is all Yahweh’s fault and Elisha was His representative. It was his fault.
Well, it sort of was. Indeed the king could have executed all the soldiers and he might have a better advantage after that. But he was looking at what could have been and not what was. The Lord had provided several miracles to lead to that point. He had surrounded Elisha’s camp with angels preventing his capture. He had opened the eyes of the servant enabling him to see reality. He blinded the eyes of the soldiers forcing their submission. He could do something just as miraculous now if only the king would wait upon the Lord. Instead of looking at the glory, the king looked at the problem. We need to look at the glory. I have never missed a meal because I lacked something that I needed. Sometimes I have chosen not to eat because I was tired of what was provided. But I have always had what was needed. He does that. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john



The trees in the background are Tamarisk trees. They grow thickly along the Jordan’s banks. These trees are young because of the modern history of conflict between Israel and Jordan.
I am not sure how large a tamarisk tree would have been in Elisha’s day. Can you imagine chopping down trees, and your ax head flying off the handle into the water?

Psalm 116-117
He looked me in the eye and said, “I just want you to know that I don’t like the way you are treating my brother.”
“How am I treating your brother?” I responded.
His open palm went up and he declared, “Enough said!” He ignored my question, my voice, and stormed out of the building. Such a response can be expected out of an immature child, or even and immature adult, but not out of a man in his sixties who has spent the bulk of his life in ministry and is a trained psychologist. He ignored my voice. It did not endear me to him.
Has your voice ever been ignored? The Psalmist says, “I love the Lord because He heard my voice.” If there is anyone in all of creation that I might expect to ignore my voice, perhaps it would be the Creator. After all as I look at the vastness of His creation and its overpowering complexity, I am convinced of my smallness! Why should He listen to me? Not only am I such a small thing in His finite creation, but He has a reason to be mad at me. I have rebelled against His authority and sinned against Him. According to His own justice, I deserve death. The Psalmist cries out to the Lord as he is about to die. The Lord heard his voice and delivered him.
I have called out to the Lord; He has delivered me from death and from the power of sin. Sin no longer has dominion over me. I will take that cup of salvation. It enables me to live victoriously over sin in this life. I can live this life in victory because He has heard my voice. I can call on His name and because He hears my voice, I can expect power to live victoriously. It endears me to Him. I love Him for it.
My death is precious in His sight. Physically I think that means that if I am walking with Him, my death is a valuable thing to Him. It will come neither before nor after the appropriate time. Spiritually, He desires the death of my old nature. It is precious to Him so that He can raise me to walk in newness of life. This infinite God desires to hear my voice. He desires to hear me call out to Him so that He might deliver me from and through death. Wow! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

AMOS 8
I detected tears falling from her eyes as she turned and walked down the jet port to return to Philly. The summer was now officially over. Three short months ago, I had just met her, yet my heart walked with her as she went. She captured it, and I gave it. It was a seeming end to an unexpected relationship. With the exception of the “soft kisses on a summer’s day” Chad and Jeremy’s hit, A Summer Song, written twelve years earlier, had typified our summer. It was filled with fun, laughter, learning and talking. As she disappeared down the walkway, I wanted to cry out, “Don’t go!” But summer fruit left in a basket and uneaten quickly rots and stinks.

And He said, “Amos, what do you see?”
So I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”
Then the LORD said to me:
“The end has come upon My people Israel;
I will not pass by them anymore. “

“They say that all good things must end someday.” Do they really have to end? I suppose that to continue growing, yes they must end. Does God grow? No, He does not grow. He is immutable; he never changes. Then why must good things end? Because we must grow, but is this why the end is coming to Israel? No, it is not. This end is coming because Israel had spurned the Lord. She had said to him, “I loved you yesterday, and yesterday’s gone.” She had become more concerned with trading and making money (v. 5) than talking with the Lord. Do you suppose that we in the American church has become more concerned with doing the business of the church than with actually talking with Him? We build great buildings, pass great budgets, add great staff, promote great programs, but is the Lord there? Do we really laugh with Him while the trees sway in the summer breeze, or have the winter winds sucked the heat out of our passion for Him? Has the passion for other things that we thought looked like Him displaced Him?
Certainly it had happened to Israel. She had found other lovers in the autumn season. The Lord was not going to put up with it. Her adulteries had begun to make her stink. Her rottenness had brought an end. True to His faithfulness, He gives her a warning before it comes. Indeed the end was still 50 years off, but the warning was now to give her plenty of opportunity to repent.
O Lord, help me to turn back from following things that I thought look like you! I am so easily distracted by my own lusts for things that look like you but are in reality, counterfeits. They are the gods of Dan and Beersheba and Bethel. Let me walk in the summer breeze of Your great love! Let me laugh with You in the heat of the summer toil! Let me cast my cares upon you! Let me relish in the richness and abundance of Your word and obey it! I thirst for Your living water. Do not let me walk down the jetways that lead to a destination separate from You! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
P.S. Yes, I did correspond with her that fall, and yes, I dreamed of her when the rain beat against my window pane. And yes we married a little over a year after we met, and remain happily married to this day.

1 TIMOTHY 5
What a mess people are! The glory of Christ is seen in what He does in people in churches. In order to justify their lack of involvement in church, some people use the excuse that the churches are full of hypocrites anyway. So what did you expect? What really amazes me is not that there are hypocrites in the church but that occasionally you come across a church that seems to be functioning properly! I mean think about it! I've been around long enough to know that people just don't get along. People in general are just too diverse and selfish. Sooner or later there are going to be problems and everyone takes sides. How do you handle those problems to keep unity? If I could package that and give a guarantee of success, I could become a millionaire.
But you know what? Jesus is able to do that. He gives us directions to follow. Some of those are seen here. Were told how to exhort an older man, how to handle widows (perhaps the Federal Government could learn from this), how to treat elders of a church and even how to use wisdom in health issues. Our problems in the church stem more from our unwillingness to seek the Lord and follow His commands than from any lack of ability or direction from Him. But when I think about the waywardness of the heart of man, I realize that anytime I see people moving in unity toward the Lord Jesus Christ, that is an awesome miracle! What glory there is in that!
You know there is great glory to Jesus when He miraculously heals someone. Did you realize there is also glory to Him when you choose to follow good health practices in order to prevent disease? You know there is great glory to Jesus when a widow's need is miraculously met (see Elijah and Elisha). Did you realize there is also glory to Him when we follow His directions as to how believing families are to help one another? The glory of Christ is seen in a greater way when imperfect people yield to their perfect Lord, when they see that they have transgressed against His instructions and they work together to follow His instruction to restore one another. I am amazed at what He can do to bring people together. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

October 24

2 KINGS 5
Leprosy is a nasty disease, for which up until the last decade or two there was no cure. Naaman became an object of horror to everyone when he contracted the disease. An enemy of Israel, the Lord healed Naaman. What was his testimony? “Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.” The Lord wants His glory to be spread to every ethnic group on earth in just this way. However, Naaman thought that only in the geographic land of Israel could the Lord be found. In this he was wrong. How could we rephrase this to avoid this error? “Indeed, Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in those who trust solely in Jesus.” Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john


Here is the Jordan river looking southwest from Bethany Beyond the Jordan (the Jordanian side). Across the water is Israel.


While we were at the Jordan, one of the Russian tourists stripped down to his underwear, walked into the Jordan and baptized himself. Can you picture Naaman doing this?

PSALM 115
Our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. A god made by man behaves according to man’s nature. Anyone who has studied mythology can observe this. The mythological gods think and act as supermen, but are men none-the-less. Consequently within the myths, men manipulate the gods in order to get them act as men desire. We become like what we worship. If we worship a god of our own creation, one created in our own image, we simply become more of what we are really like. It is no wonder that many churches have become powerless to change lives. It is no wonder that many churches use manipulation to get their desired results. They do not worship a God who does whatever He pleases. They worship a god who uses programs and plans that are manipulated by men. Why? Because that is what they are like.
But this God who does whatever he pleases also desires to bless us. He desires to bless us so that we will praise Him. He desires that we should recognize Him for who He really is. It is only in that recognition that we find what we were created to be and do. Let us bless the Lord for he does whatever He pleases, and He is pleased to bless us. That blessing is that we should be become like Him. It is not that He should become like us. Is my focus on His glory transforming me into His image? If not, then I am focused on my glory not His. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

AMOS 7
In early January of 2013 I sent an e-mail to the White House expressing my displeasure with the President in his move to force family owned businesses like Hobby Lobby and some non-profit religious educational institutions to provide health insurance for employees where that health insurance would pay for abortions and abortion inducing drugs. In the e-mail I pointed out the inconsistencies with what he had previously promised and now was doing. In the e-mail I pointed out that either he was woefully ignorant of the things that were going on, or he was a blatant liar. Two weeks after sending the e-mail, I received notification from the IRS that I was being audited for the 2011 tax year for which I had already received a tax-refund. After much hassle in which the IRS agent initially ignored the contact of my accountant claiming he had not received the appropriate documents to deal with the accountant, I received notification that I was also being audited for the 2010 tax year. While the audit did reveal some minor things that I had overlooked. The end result was that I paid much more money to my accountant than I did to the IRS. I suspect that the amount of additional money which I paid to the IRS was more than the salary represented by the amount of time the agent spent on the case. In the long run it was a loss for the government financially and a loss for me financially. I am inclined to think that the audit was the result of some clerk in the Obama administration directing the IRS to initiate the audit because of the e-mail. It was not about the money, but rather about intimidation of one who would dare oppose the administration
Amos served in the time of King Jeroboam II of Israel. He was the last stable-long-reigned king of Israel. Damascus had afflicted Israel. He re-established the borders in the north taking back the lands taken by Damascus. Under his reign Israel became prosperous. Yet under his reign the poor were greatly afflicted. Under his reign Israel strayed even further from hearing the word of the Lord. In verse 9 the Lord instructs Amos to pronounce His destruction of the house of Jeroboam, “The high places of Isaac shall be desolate, And the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste. I will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam.” The ‘house of Jeroboam’ refers to the nation of which Jeroboam I was the founder and Jeroboam II was the present king. (Jeroboam did not die by the sword, yet within 25 years it would be destroyed by Assyria).
Amos gets into a load of trouble because of the prophecy. Amaziah the priest hears Amos’ prophecy and accuses him to the king of sedition. He slightly twists the words of the prophecy to bring pressure upon Amos and to force him to return home to Tekoa in Judah. The priesthood of the northern kingdom had from the beginning mixed worship of Yahweh with idol worship and even Baal and Asherah worship. Courageously, Amos fires back a prophecy of doom upon the deceived priest.
So where is the glory of the Lord? True followers of Him will always stand up for what is right and true. Why? Because we are so overwhelmed by His great glory that we cannot but speak what we have seen and heard. Amos was one of those who put his livelihood on the line because of the great glory of his Lord. His glory is more precious than our livelihood. It is even more precious than our very lives. Mr. Obama has reviled the glory of the Lord in his stand on abortion and homosexual marriage. We who know the glory of the Lord will still speak out against his immorality. It matters not that we may lose some or all of our worldly goods, or even as some, our very lives. Why? His glory is too rich to trade it for peanuts. In relation to His glory, my life, my wife, my children, my grandchildren, my friends, my lands, my house, my car are all just peanuts. Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

1 TIMOTHY 4
We trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially to those who believe. The work of Jesus at Calvary, the resurrection and the ascension is potentially available to all men, not just the elect. It is applied only to those who believe. His work is available to Saddam Heusein. It was available to Adolf Hitler until the day he died. You may think of whomever you think is the worst person on the face of this earth. The Savior is available to them until the day they die. Is that not amazing? That is why Ashley Smith could speak the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ to her murderous captor. She could offer him hope in a hopeless situation. Why? Because she had learned the hard way that there was only one source of Hope. That source was the Lord Jesus Christ. She had found the water of life offered by Him.
Strange thing that water, it seems to expand when we consume it. Anyway, it expanded in Ashley. It expanded and bubbled up in her until she shared it with the Atlanta Courthouse killer who had captured her. The killer drank. When the killer drank, he saw the glory. The glory of the Lord is irresistible. The killer surrendered to the law because he had already surrendered to the One who fulfills the law, the Lord Jesus. Wow! Now that is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

October 23

2 KINGS 4
Many who are familiar with the Hymn, It is Well also know the story behind its writing. The following three paragraphs can be read at Suite101: History of It is Well with My Soul: Horatio Spafford's Praise Worship Music Immensely Inspires http://www.suite101.com/content/hymn-it-is-well-with-my-soul-a32616#ixzz13CqlHG1u

Sometime in 1871, a fire in Chicago heavily devastated the city, and months before that, Spafford had invested hugely in real estate by the shore of Lake Michigan. The disaster greatly wiped out his holdings. Before the fire, Spafford also experienced the loss of his son.
Two years after the fire, Horatio Spafford planned a trip to Europe for him and his family. He wanted a rest for his wife and four daughters, and also to assist Moody and Sankey in one of their evangelistic campaigns in Great Britain. He was not meant to travel with his family. The day in November they were due to depart, Spafford had a last minute business transaction and had to stay behind in Chicago. Nevertheless, he still sent his wife and four daughters to travel as scheduled on the S.S. Ville du Havre, expecting to follow in a few days. On November 22, the ship laden with his wife and daughters was struck by the Lockhearn, an English vessel, and sank in few minutes.
After the survivors were finally landed somewhere at Cardiff, Wales, Spafford's wife cabled her husband with two simple words, "Saved alone." Shortly after, Spafford left by ship on his way where his beloved four daughters had drowned, and pen at hand, wrote this most poignant text so significantly descriptive of his own personal grief – "When sorrows like sea billows roll..." The hymn "It is Well with My Soul" was born.

What many do not realize is that Spafford’s refrain comes from 2 Kings 4. What an outlook this Shunammite woman possessed! Her miraculously-conceived-only son died. Asked by her husband as to the child’s condition she said, “It is well.” Asked by Gehazi of her condition, she replied, “It is well.” But Elisha saw beyond her response. He saw the dark anguish of her soul. He offered solutions to her, but she would not be satisfied with them. She would settle for nothing less than the one who had direct access to the Lord. Perhaps it was well with her soul for one reason, “She had direct access to the Lord through Elisha.” She had already learned of the glory of the Lord through her miraculous conception and through her time of hosting Elisha.
Am I so settled on the glory of the Lord that I can rest in the midst of dark anguish that I can say, “It is well?” The Shunammite woman could. Horatio Spafford could. We can too because of His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 114
What would God do to deliver me out of sin and into His holiness? Would He divide Keystone Lake to provide a way of escape? Would He stop the flow of the Cimarron to give me access to the other side? Would He make the plains of Oklahoma tremble with an earthquake that I might know His law? What would He do? He has already done far greater for Israel. Indeed, He has done far greater for me. He has divided the flesh of His own Son on the cross, raised Him from the dead, seated Him at his right hand, so I might be delivered. That provision is mine when I identify with Him. My flesh is, so to speak, divided with His, giving me a way of escape. As I identify with Him, He enables me to stop the flow of the power of the old nature and replenishes it with the flow of His life giving Spirit. I now have a fountain of life giving waters flowing out of me. What would God do to deliver me out of sin and into His holiness? What more could He do? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

AMOS 6
Ever seen the movie Sabrina? There are two by that title, which share the same plot. One starred Humphrey Bogart. The other starred Harrison Ford. The plot is about a chauffer’s daughter who falls in love with her father’s boss. The opulence of the boss and his brother is staggering. They are much like the passage described here in Amos 6.

Who lie on beds of ivory,
Stretch out on your couches,
Eat lambs from the flock
And calves from the midst of the stall;
5 Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments,
And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David;
6 Who drink wine from bowls,
And anoint yourselves with the best ointments,
But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
7 Therefore they shall now go captive as the first of the captives,
And those who recline at banquets shall be removed.

Does God have a problem with us celebrating? Absolutely not, He commanded many festivals in the Old Testament. He has a problem with celebrating for the sake of indulging the flesh at the expense of the poor and as an expression of pride. Drinking wine from bowls spoke to more than just volume of wine. Bowls were used in the collection of blood from the sacrificial offering. By using similar bowls, they were placing themselves on the level of a god. In their celebrations they turned justice and righteousness in to something bitter. They rejoiced over nothing. They reveled in what they thought was their strength instead of His. The Lord has a problem with that. It is His glory to destroy it.
Lord I enjoy celebrating. Enable me to celebrate Your Glory. Keep me from celebrating for the indulgence of my own flesh. Keep me from being enamored with my own strength. Enable me to bring the poor into celebrating You with me! Let us rejoice in You together! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

1 TIMOTHY 3
God is hard to understand. And why shouldn't He be? After all He is infinite. To completely understand infinity, wouldn't one have to be infinite? Can a finite being completely understand an infinite being? It is a logical impossibility. But there is another extreme that one can take--that is to say that the finite being cannot understand any of the infinite being. The finite being can understand as much of the infinite that the infinite chooses to allow the finite to see. So, what has our Infinite God chosen to reveal of Himself? It is what the Apostle Paul calls the "mystery of godliness". God was made known in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what the Apostle John referred to as

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. . . For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. . . No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

We can understand a little of what God is like when we look at Jesus, because He is God in the flesh. In the flesh Jesus was justified in the Spirit. What does that mean? Here is this God-man. He came to live the life that Adam failed to live and then having lived that life, He came to give His life a ransom for many. As a man, He was completely dependent upon the Holy Spirit to live as God wanted Him to live. Beginning from His baptism, where the Spirit descended upon Him as a dove, He began to do works of power in the Spirit. These works were accomplished through the Holy Spirit. These works culminated in His resurrection and ascension. They were all accomplished through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was giving demonstration of the Lord's Deity through the works He performed.
During His time on earth, Jesus was closely watched by the angels. It was a spiritual drama unfolding before their very eyes. What the angels had been wondering about what God was doing in mankind ever since the fall of Adam, God was accomplish before their eyes. And finally, they understood the beauty of His Son and His plan.
Oh but the glory of the Son doesn't stop there. He has chosen to use men to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to all the peoples of the earth. That is amazing! He could have used angels. He could have permanently written it in the stars so that we could look up into the sky and read the good news. But His plan was to use the preaching of men. Some might complain that it hasn't been very effective. However, I would respond by saying, "The gospel is spreading like wildfire across the world today. It is estimated that 100,000,000 people in China are born again. I did not get any of those zeroes wrong. There are more believers in China than the United States. In the mid 1950's Chairman Mao announced that they had closed the chapter on the church in China. You cannot close the glory of the Lord Jesus. It is impossible. His glory is infinite. The finite cannot stop the infinite. Today Mao is dead and the glory of Jesus is spreading across China and back toward Jerusalem with great power! Mighty works of proclamation of our infinite Lord are taking place constantly. He is being believed on in the world, even in Muslim countries where the gospel has been rejected for centuries.
Our Lord was received up into heaven in glory. He is being preached throughout the world in glory and He will one day return in glory, when His purpose of preaching to the nations is accomplished. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

October 22

2 KINGS 3
What does God require of you? Jehoram put away the Baals of his fathers, yet he was still termed as evil. He worshipped the idols of Jeroboam. Why was that so evil? After all Jeroboam still worshipped the Lord. It was just that he used the golden calves as a representation of the Lord. At least he wasn’t sacrificing children to idols as did the Moabites. Well, first of all, the making of images in order to worship the Lord is forbidden in the second commandment. Second of all, the use of the images was for the express purpose of manipulating the people politically. Religion and politics do indeed make strange bedfellows. Jehoram was intent only upon one thing, remaining the top dog of Israel. He would do so by the use of any available tool, including the Lord.
Having committed himself to subduing the rebellious Moabites, he finds himself stranded with his armies and no water to give them to drink. Jehoram is quick to blame the Lord. Jehoshaphat calls for a prophet of the Lord. Elisha prophesies that the Lord will provide water. It happens. The three armies proceed to attack Moab. Moab is doing their best to resist Israel, Judah and Edom, but they are fiercely outnumbered. In one desperate attempt to avoid destruction, the king of Moab sacrifices his own son upon the wall to his god, Chemosh. Shouldn’t that be motivation to the Israelites to destroy such wickedness? No, indeed, it had the opposite effect. The Israelite, who didn’t really know their god, succumbed to their superstitious ways. They were afraid of what Chemosh might do. They knew not the glory of their Lord. Why? They did not know what the Lord required of them. 120 years later Micah would answer the question, “To do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God!” Did they walk humbly with their God? Absolutely not! The Lord was someone to be manipulated. Since they could not manipulate Him, they turned to other gods, which could be manipulated and used to manipulate others. They forgot the glory of our Lord. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

Go to: http://genesistochroniclespictures.blogspot.com/ “Dead Sea-Southern End”

PSALM 113
When I woke up Sunday morning, I already had an e-mail in my inbox from a friend in Japan. He had written it after returning from church and he was telling me about his experience. By the time I read it, it was eight o’clock at night in Japan and I had not yet started to church. Before I had gone to bed Saturday night, people just across the International Date Line were rising to praise the Lord. As the earth spins at the rate of 1,037.56 mph at the equator, people are rising every minute to bring praise to the glory of his name. If believers were evenly distributed in every time zone, and if there are 2 billion believers in the world, then 83 1/3 million rise every hour. We were created for the purpose of praising the Lord. If each of those 83 million were fulfilling their purpose, then what a sound of praise is rising up to heaven to give God praise! “From the rising of the sun to its going down the LORD’s name is to be praised.”
But He deserves more praise! There are still 5 billion people who do not name the name of Christ. There are still 2 billion people alive right now who will die without ever having had the opportunity to hear the name of Jesus in a Gospel presentation! He has humbled Himself to behold us! He beheld us by becoming one of us. He was seen with human eyes and handled with human hands. He was heard with human ears. With human hands He was crucified that He might bear our sins upon the cross. He was raised without human hands by the Father and His own power. In so doing He is able to raise the poor out of the dust and the needy out of the ash heap. I was sinking in the ash heap of sin, and He raised me up! Not only did he raise me out of sin, but He seated me with Himself in heavenly places, the right hand of the Father. I am seated with the Prince of the universe! This is all His doing! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

AMOS 5
It was 1997 at the Clergy Keepers conference in Atlanta. The evening before we had sung a song that I had never heard before, All I Once Held Dear or better known as Knowing You. How my heart resonated with the words of that song which are taken from the Scripture! The next morning in the shower, I was singing it to the Lord. Then as I sang the chorus ending in, “And I love You, Lord,” the Lord spoke to me in one of the most clear ways that I have ever heard Him speak. He simply said, “And I love you too.” I melted. I fell to the shower floor under the awe of such a thought, such a communication. Often in times of struggle, I recall that experience to mind. It encourages me to keep pursuing Him. But you know, I cannot live in the past. I cannot be dependent upon that one experience.
The Lord tells Israel, “Seek Me and live; But do not seek Bethel, Nor enter Gilgal, Nor pass over to Beersheba; For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, And Bethel shall come to nothing.” Why these places? They are historic places where God had met Israel’s ancestors. It was at Behel that God met Jacob, not once but twice. It was Bethel where Jeroboam defiled the country by placing a golden calf for the country to come worship. It was at Gilgal where Israel renewed the covenant after crossing the Jordan before conquering the land. It was at Beersheba that God did at least two significant works in Abraham’s life. Beersheba was the location where, when Hagar was reduced to nothing, the Lord met her need. It was Beersheba where the Lord appeared to Isaac. It was at Beersheba where the Lord appeared again to Jacob. All of these places are rich with past experience of the Lord meeting with His people. The mere mention of them would bring to mind to the past experience of the revelation of God to the people of Israel. But they had perverted it. They worshipped the memory not the Lord in the memory.
Worship of a memory leads to perversion in our lives. Memory, even 100% accurate memory, does not change us. He changes us. When we honor just a memory, we cease to hear what He has to say about our lives right now. At least that is what happened in Israel. How did it pervert them? Past memories don’t convict us of change needed now. When we worship a memory, we cease viewing what the Lord wants done in our lives today. When we worship a memory, injustice occurs around us and we are not outraged. When we worship a memory, God blesses us with material goods meant to be shared with others, and we spend it mostly upon ourselves. When we worship a memory, even the God-ordained methods of worship become a sham and an affront to Him. When we worship a memory, it opens the door for us to bring in even other gods to use to worship Him.
Lord, empower me to worship You today. Thank you for the memories of the past powerful ways in which You have met me. Thank You for the strength those memories give me in current struggles. But Lord, I need You today! Only You can keep me from slipping down the wrong path. Only You can keep me from becoming unjust. Help Lord! I choose to receive Your grace to seek You and live! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

1 TIMOTHY 2
There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. It is the glory of Christ that He is the only Mediator between God and men. Why is that? It is pretty exclusive. Many theological voices are in our world today that proclaim that Jesus is just one among many. “Sure,” they would say, “He is a mediator. But there are many mediators.” Yet this verse is very clear. There is one God and one Mediator between God and men. No one else can bring them together. Only He can do that. Why? Only Jesus has both the eternal nature of God and the perfect nature of a real human being. Only such a Being could pay the eternal price of death for sin and over come it. Only He is qualified to come between God and men—He is perfect God and perfect Man.
When I focus on that glory, what should it produce? It should drive us to intercessions, prayers and supplications and giving of thanks for all men, for leaders and for those in authority. Why? Because our Mediator has chosen to respond to our prayers. He has chosen to cause people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth, when we pray. He delights to include us into His glory. The first step to our being included (after meditation on His glory) is prayer. Our mediator has somewhat limited Himself to our prayers. He does this so that we can be part of His glory. In due time, He gives open doors, power and ability to powerfully testify of His glory. He does this, so that, others might be saved. Oh let us press on to know Him and share in His glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

October 21

2 KINGS 2
“Where is the God of Elijah?” Elijah had performed many miracles. He stopped the rain. He made the widow woman’s flour and oil replenish itself. He called fire down from heaven at the contest with the priests of Baal. He raised the widow’s son from the dead. He started the rain again 3 years later. He prophesied destruction upon Ahab and Jezebel. He knew the unfaithfulness of Ahaziah. He parted the water of the Jordan. In short no less than seven miracles are recorded for him. Elisha desired a double portion of that spirit. Was it the Spirit of God that He desired?
He received the mantle of his master. Now was the time to test whether he had that Spirit or not. He voiced his thought, “Where is the God of Elijah?” Striking the water with the mantle with which Elijah had stricken the water, it parted. The sons of the prophets had all watched the amazing events. Yes, the Spirit of the Lord was now resting upon Elisha.
But what happened to Elijah? Surely they must go look for him. What does that say about what they thought about God? Here these sons of the prophets (prophets in training) believed that God is capricious enough that He would toss away his servant like a used rag doll. What kind of glory is that? But they pressed the issue because they believed it to be true. Elisha was beginning to feel embarrassed by their insistence. Did he not care about his master? Under pressure he sent them. He was beginning to look bad. He knew they would not find him. He knew exactly where Elijah was. He knew the glory of his God.
Sometimes I want to scream, “Where is the God of Elijah? Why aren’t you doing miracles here?” Maybe it is because I am more intent on my own glory rather than His glory. Maybe it is because I am wanting to draw attention to myself rather than to Him. After all, it is he who came in the spirit of Elijah that said, “He must increase, but I must decrease!” Maybe if I completely embraced that attitude, then I would see the miracles of the Living God. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

Go to: http://genesistochroniclespictures.blogspot.com/ “Elisha Spring”

PSALM 112
I asked my mother about her paternal grandfather, Maxey. He was a simple farmer, but he seemed to have an inordinate number of descendants who were ministers, doctors, lawyers and educators. “Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, Who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed.” I never met him, but from what I have learned from my mother and my grandmother, my great grandfather left a mighty legacy concerning the glory of the Lord. It passed to my grandmother, my mother, and to me. Now that is not to say that all his descendants are saints; indeed, I have at least one scallywag for a cousin. Of my grandmother’s children 3 were educators, and one was a doctor. The fifth married an educator. Of my grandmother’s 20 grandchildren there are 4 pastors, one missionary, one college professor, 4 teachers, a lawyer, a medical field professional, a fireman, 2 accountants, a shoe salesperson, a shop owner, and 2 oil field workers. I would say that at least in that line of my great-grandfather’s descendants, there are a number of “mighty on earth” people.
My grandmother prayed constantly for her grand-children. I still possess a letter she sent me when I was in college. She wrote of how she prayed for me in particular and all her grandchildren in general. I have often wondered what the relationship was between her death and the plethora of bad things that happened to her children and grandchildren in the year after she died. I conclude that our prayer covering was gone, and until we awakened to that fact and began taking up the prayer slack, we suffered. I don’t pretend to be able to completely understand the relationship between a man fearing the Lord and his descendants being mighty in the earth, but it is clear that there is a principle (to which there are always exceptions) between the two. That is part of the glory of the Lord that He would honor his relationship with one person to extend to their descendants. And I, for one, am thankful for it. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

AMOS 4
Have you ever considered the sarcasm of God? Sarcasm is one of the most biting of humors. It is painful, and as such, it usually gets attention. This passage reeks of it. He calls the women ‘cows of Bashan.’ Bashan was known for its rich pasture land and therefore fat cows. It is a symbol of rich opulence. How would you like to be called a cow? The rich women of Israel had reached a place of hardness of heart that they crushed the poor and needy in order to continue enjoying their drunken parties. He calls them to worship at Bethel, one of the places where Jeroboam set up the golden calves to keep people from going to the appointed place of worship. He calls them to Gilgal, the place where Israel renewed the covenant after crossing the Jordan by circumcising all of the men. He calls them to offer thank offerings using leaven, a practice forbidden by the Lord in the Law. Leaven was a symbol of sin. Yes the passage drips with sarcasm.
Yet in the biting humor, He gives reason after reason why judgment is about to fall upon them. He gave them cleanness of teeth, lack of food to eat, lack of water to drink, blight & mildew upon their crops, plague and war. The refrain for each one is, “Yet you have not returned to Me.” He desires us to return. The bad things are designed to make us think, “What have I done wrong? What must I do to return to the Lord?” Yet, they did not, hence the sarcasm. It was meant to get their attention. But now He has one thing to say, “Prepare to meet your God!” He then describes Himself
For behold, He who forms mountains, And creates the wind, Who declares to man what his thought is, And makes the morning darkness, Who treads the high places of the earth— The LORD God of hosts is His name.
Wow! Man you talk about a majestic description! I wouldn’t want to meet Him when He has just shared His sarcasm concerning my absolute defiance of Him. Lord, help me to hear and heed Your warnings toward me. Do not let me experience Your warnings without repentance! You are the glorious King! You deserve all of my obedience! I need You. I need a good relationship with You! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

1 TIMOTHY 1
"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." When we look at the glory of our Lord we each would join the apostle Paul in saying that very thing. At our first look at His glory we usually see the brilliance of His holiness. In the light of His holiness our sin becomes apparent. We begin to realize that we are lawless and insubordinate, ungodly and sinners, unholy and profane, murderers and manslayers, fornicators and sodomites, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, blasphemers, persecutors and insolent. We see His holy hatred of sin. Some reject that and run from Him, hiding their sin. But those who take a second look see something else. They see mercy and grace flowing from Him and His cross and resurrection that carries away and cleanses the sin, which we would seek to hide. The need to hide dissipates as we gaze upon Him, for we no longer see Him as the angry God. We see Him as the blessed God. He is happy. He is full of joy. Did you catch that? He is full of joy. His joy is because our sin is gone and replaced with the very righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. When you think of God or Jesus, do you think of Him with a smile on His face? If we have received His mercy and grace, we should, because that is exactly what is there. He is after all, the blessed God. He is pleased with Himself and what He is doing in us. It pleases Him to give us abundant grace. The next time some one asks you, "How are you doing?" Why not answer with, "How could I be doing any better than knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ is smiling upon me right now?" He is the blessed God. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

October 20

2 KINGS 1
As a Freshman in college I had a Sunday School teacher who was a Sociology professor at my college. Sociology departments across the country are notorious for being anti-Christian. He had a vision for creating an upper division course on the family. Of course that fits right in with Sociology, but he also wanted to do it from a Christian perspective and use some Christian resources as a text. Now that would never fly in a secular mindset. The secular mindset would permit all kinds of perspectives but definitely not Christian. So my prof sought to develop the course and hand pick students whom he thought could benefit for such a course and not complain to the administration about any blatantly Christian discussion in class. I had the extreme privilege of being part of that course. One of the things that my prof would say concerning using Christian materials was, “Should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isaiah 8:19b & 20.
Ahaziah would have fit right into our culture in the respect of seeking other sources for truth. Elijah shows up to intercept the messengers, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?” Why is it that Ahaziah is going to idols to find truth when there is so much to be learned from this God of amazing glory Whom we call Yahweh? Elijah disappears immediately after delivering the message. Obviously this is going to annoy the king, just as it does the secularists of our society. The glory of our God though is that on occasion He chooses to deliver His servant for speaking the truth about His glory.
I find what happens next to be comedic, particularly if you define comedy as something that starts out bad but surprisingly ends up good. The king sends 50 soldiers to arrest one prophet. The soldiers recognize that Elijah is a man of God, and they address him as such. Well if he is a man of God, then why are they arresting him? Elijah again calls fire down from heaven. The fifty and their captain are toast. The king repeats the command. We then have fifty more pieces of toast. A third time Ahaziah sends for fifty more. This captain of fifty is not stupid. He recognizes the awesome power of the glory of the Lord as particularly revealed toward the first two squads of fifty. He begs for mercy. Elijah grants it, for mercy is a specialty of the glory of our Lord. The result is that Elijah is able to safely deliver the message of the Lord directly to the king. The king dies according to the word of the Lord. I wonder, did he perhaps repent before he died?
Whenever I seek answers primarily from any other source, I have become no better than Ahaziah. Does that mean I cannot seek truth from any source other than the Bible, God’s Word? No, but it does mean that any time I come across something that seems to contradict God’s Word; I need to do two things. First I need to be sure that I have properly interpreted the Word of God. A lot of our problems come simply because we have not properly interpreted the Word. Second, once I am sure of the proper interpretation of the Word, I need to re-evaluate the apparent truth that contradicts the Word. Since all real truth is ultimately God’s truth, they will eventually complement each other. I don’t need to run after other God’s to find truth, for He is truth. That is part of His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 111
Five times in this Psalm (NKJV) the word ‘work’ or ‘works’ is used. Out of ten verses, that is every other verse. They are described as great, honorable, glorious, wonderful and powerful. The result of His work is verity and justice. It is said that His works are studied by all who have pleasure in them. The converse of that is that if I do not study His works then I do not take pleasure in them. Makes sense. I mean; I don’t study something unless I enjoy it, or I have to study it because I am in school or my job requires it. Do I have pleasure in the works of the Lord? Certainly I enjoy His creative works. They never cease to amaze me. Truly they can be called great, honorable, glorious, wonderful and powerful. The way He works with His people is also of great interest. When I reflect upon the way He has worked with me I understand that He is full of grace and compassion.
But you know, unless I actively call them to mind, I tend to focus on negative things and pain. I guess that is why I need to meditate on His glory. It is necessary for my wellbeing. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

AMOS 3
I have a friend who used to joke with me that one of God’s names was Shirley. “After all,” he said, “the Scripture says, ‘Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.’” Okay, I admit it. It is a bad pun. But it does bring an interesting point in today’s passage. Does God still operate that way? Many would say that the prophet was an Old Testament thing and does not belong to the church. O really? I guess then that they have to reinterpret many major passages of the Scripture such as Acts 11:27; 13:1; 15:32; 21:10; Roman 12:6; 1 Cor. 12-14; Eph 2:20; 4:11; 1Jn. 4:1.
The prophets of the Old Testament were often viewed as troublesome people, kind of thorny. As one king of Israel said of a famous prophet, “Can’t you find someone else? He never has anything good to say about me.” (2 Chronicles 18:7 Chaffin paraphrase.) The Old Testament prophets served in several ways. One major function was to correct the nation when they had strayed from the covenant. If the king and/or people would repent, the prophet would also bring comfort and hope as he extended mercy for the future and for the present,. You can imagine then, if you think you’re right and you are not, along comes the prophet who publicly rebukes you, it is a very thorny situation. You really only have three choices of action: 1) repent & submit, which really is quite embarrassing; 2) ignore him and hope he goes away, which could begin to foment problems resulting in civil unrest; 3) stop him from speaking. Many chose the last option resulting in many prophets being scourged, chained, thrown in prisons, stoned, sawn in half, killed with a sword etc.
How do the prophets serve in the New Testament? Since they are given to the church, would not one of their functions be to correct when the church is going or has gone astray from the New Covenant? As such they might be viewed as troublesome people, kind of thorny, perhaps even abusive. Indeed, if the prophet operates in the flesh, he could become abusive. But if the prophet operates in the Spirit and the church repents, would not the prophet then bring comfort and hope both for the present and the future? But what happens if the message of the prophet is not received? Probably people ignore him and hope he goes away, or they stop him from speaking in some way.
Does the Lord still do nothing, unless He reveals it to His servants the prophets? Why don’t we hear more from the prophets? Maybe it is because we do not listen. Maybe it is because we silence their voices. Maybe it is because we cannot distinguish between the voice of the prophet and false prophet. Maybe they are afraid to speak. I think it is still the glory of the Lord to reveal His will to the church. Since there is a gift of prophecy, one of the routes through which He reveals His will is through His prophets. It is to His glory for us to listen to the prophets. Since there are false prophets, it is to His glory to discern between the true and false prophets. It is a tough task to correct each ‘maybe’ and to discern truth and error. But if it is His glory to provide us the grace, the divine enablement to do each one, is it not worth our trust to seek Him for that enablement? When He provides that grace, will it not bring Him greater glory? Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

2 THESSALONIANS 3
The Lord is faithful. Yes, you've heard it a million times before. The Lord is faithful. But, what does that mean? Do you ever feel like your life lacks a sure foundation? Indeed if your foundation is not Jesus, then you do lack a sure foundation. But I am assuming that those who read this do have Jesus as your foundation. What does it mean that He is faithful? For one thing, it means that He will establish you in Himself. He will plant you such that the evil one cannot wipe you away. 2005 had been a year for hurricanes. We saw via TV & internet the devastation that strong hurricanes bring. They literally wipe houses and buildings off of their foundations. The evil one seeks to wipe us off of our foundations. But the Lord is faithful. Sometimes he stops the evil one's advance, while He makes us stronger. Other times He allows the evil one to advance to demonstrate to all how strong He is in us. But when all is said and done, we remain standing. Why? Because we remain faithful? No, it is because He is faithful. In the midst of the enemy's onslaught, He is the God of peace and He calms us in and through the onslaught. When we look to Him, His inner peace is always available in turmoil. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

October 17

1 KINGS 20
It was my job to block him, and I couldn’t do it. He was first string and I was second string. The second string quarterback was understandably getting perturbed with me. The quarterback was occasionally getting creamed by him. In my defense he was at least 40 lbs. bigger than I, and it was all muscle, not fat. We came in from football practice, and in the shower he scowled, “I beat your . . .” What could I say? He had! But that did not stop the anger. I’m a slow burner. I don’t explode unless I’ve been burning a long time. I burned all night long. I was going to have to do the same thing the next day. The more I thought, the angrier I became. He had some other comment the next day before practice. “Let not him who puts his pads on boast like him who takes it off.” I was boiling now. When it came time, coach was chewing on me again, “Chaffin you’ve got to get under him.” But the lower I got, the lower he went. The physics of that extra 40 lbs. was still working against me. I despaired. If I couldn’t get under him, I’d at least make him hurt. I have always had a hard head. I quit trying to get under him. He was low enough; I went straight for his helmet. Play after play it was my helmet on his helmet as hard as I could hit him. I don’t think I ever properly blocked him, but I did notice that he was no longer penetrating like before. He wasn’t quite on edge like he had been. In the locker room someone asked him a question. He couldn’t remember the answer. They started asking other simple questions. He couldn’t answer them. He had a slight concussion. “Let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off.” To my shame now, I felt only a tiny bit of shame then.
Ahab was a dirty rotten sinner, so was Ben Hadad. Ben Hadad’s country was bigger and stronger than Israel. Is God obligated to protect us when we are in rebellion? Was God under any obligation to protect Ahab? Absolutely not! Ben Hadad was not simply controlling Ahab, he was humiliating him. The Lord treated this as an opportunity to show His rebellious king that He is indeed the Lord and there is no other. He intervened on Israel’s behalf and Israel defeated Syria. It was also time for Syria to learn that Yahweh is the only wise God, and there is no other. But Ben Hadad was insolent, and rather than seeing that his loss was due to the intervention of the Almighty, he attributed it to, “Their gods are gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than we; but if we fight against them in the plain, surely we will be stronger than they.” He was impugning the glory of God. God would not permit that. Did Ahab deserve to be protected? Absolutely not! But for defense of His own glory God destroyed Ben Hadad. Ben Hadad should not have boasted like he was taking his armor off.
Is God obligated to protect me? Absolutely not! But he will defend his own glory. Let no one who has not finished the course boast like one who has finished the course. Like Yogi Berra says, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” We might despair now, but it’s not over yet. When it is over, we will look back and see that God will have glorified Himself. No, I may not understand right now, but I will then. Therefore, I should choose a course of action which will please Him. Getting angry and beating people on the helmet won’t satisfy. But letting God be the judge will because it is all about His glory, not mine. If I make it about my glory, I will make it more than a tiny bit of shame. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 108
There were only 6 teams in the league. We played 10 games each season. We had a spring season and a fall season. In this soccer club, I was my son’s coach. That was kind of a laugh. At the beginning of the first game, I had never observed a soccer game in its entirety. The club had sent me to a coaching clinic to teach me how to coach youth soccer. It was a good clinic. It emphasized making soccer fun for the kids while teaching them the basic techniques for developing good soccer skills. There was a marked difference between what I was taught in the clinic and what I had experienced as youth baseball player. Yet there is still that competitive spirit in me that desires to win. While the years progressed, I progressed as a coach. I certainly wanted to make the experience fun for the kids and to help them increase their skills in soccer, but part of the game being fun is that you win on occasion. It’s no fun to be constantly beaten. In terms of win loss, the first season was a disaster. But I think we did win the recognition of the most improved team.
As the years progressed, the core kids on the team progressed along as a team. The kids improved in their soccer skills, and we began to win a little more. Most of the teams remained intact as we aged. There was one coach whose team I never could beat. I remember after the 4th or 5th time that his team beat us, it had been a very close game, instead of what had been a rout the first time we played them. I went to him after the game to congratulate him on another victory. I could not resist saying, “One of these days we are going to win.” He just smiled and walked on. A good coach wants his players to develop to their fullest potentials, and he wants them to win. He rejoices when they are having fun and are victorious over their opponent.
God rejoices in our victories. “I will rejoice (God speaking). . . over Philistia I will triumph. . . Through God (David speaking) we shall do valiantly.” When we are victorious, it is really His doing. Verse one says, “O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.” What is his glory? He would have no glory if the Lord had not worked through him. David is recognizing the source of his glory; it is the Lord. He trains us for life. He trains us for victory over sin. He trains us to triumph. If we respond to Him, He develops us to our fullest potential. He causes us to win for His glory, and He rejoices in it. That is His glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

JOEL 3
One cannot but help wonder at times if God really is a great Judge as He says that He is. After all when we see ISIS beheading Christian children, or Nazis exterminating 6 million Jews plus 12 million non-Jews, or even the anti-Semitism that is arising again on our college campuses (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAyFlByb64M ), one wonders if God is really a just judge. If He is, then He seems to be rather lax. The making of videos concerning discrimination against so many different people groups is seemingly endless. Just type “anti-discrimination” into your YouTube search engine and you will see what I mean. It seems that every one is discriminated against in some way. Who can sort it all out? Who can really judge?
Joel reminds us that indeed God does and will judge. One day He will bring judgment to the earth. Apocalyptically He pictures Himself to us as setting up His judgment seat in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. This valley is considered to be that part of the Kidron Valley between the Temple and the Mount of Olives. I really like the imagery here. At the foot of the temple, He judges. The temple, where the sacrifices for sin are atoned, is where judgment takes place. West of the Temple just outside the city gate Jesus was crucified. There sin was judged. There atonement was made. There redemption is offered. There at the foot of sacrifice, He will judge. Jehoshaphat means, “Yahweh is Judge.”
The thrust of Joel is that judgment has come upon the nation of Israel, God’s people. But here in the last chapter He calls the nations into the valley of decision. Here He will judge. He is depicted as roaring against the nations, but His people will find safety in Him. He will acquit His people of bloodshed. They will find their safety in Him. What a picture of the Lord Jesus. We find our safety in being crucified with Him. In Him we have peace with God. In Him our sins are atoned. In Him we are acquitted. Apart from Him there remains nothing but a fiery expectation of judgment. That leaves us in the valley of decision. Will we decide to be in Him or apart from Him? What would we trade for His glory? Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
Go to http://genesistochroniclespictures.blogspot.com/ for pictures of the Valley of Jehoshaphat as it appears today.
This passage played a significant part in the ministry of Billy Graham. Go to http://www.ccel.us/billy.ch11.html to read about it.

1 THESSALONIANS 5
The doctrine of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ has at least one major purpose. It is to give us comfort in the midst of darkness. He is our Prince of peace and King of kings. We live in a world that keeps giving us promises of peace. The politics of the world gives us a never ending parade of people who promise that, if we follow them, they will lead us into peace and prosperity. Yet Scripture is clear; there is only One who gives lasting peace, only One who gives eternal prosperity. And the Scripture is clear that, as we progress toward His coming, we will progress into ever greater darkness and trouble in the world. But when He appears, there will be such contrast! Jewelers usually display their diamonds on a background of black. The contrast does much to show off the beauty of the diamond. So also, the beauty of our Lord Jesus will be so amazing in contrast as our husband comes in His glory for His bride. We want to be prepared for the wedding ceremony; that is what sanctification is all about. He calls us to cooperate with Him in being adorned for Him. Yet even as we cooperate, it is He that sanctifies us completely. He will preserve us blameless at His coming! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John