January 11

GENESIS 12
We sat in the parking lot waiting for him to come out. Dad had been gone for a long time. I can no longer remember how long it had been. My memory says it was six months. It might have been six weeks. I remember thinking, “I’m not sure I know what he looks like.” I was anxious and wanted to see him. I wanted to be the first to recognize him. I told my mom, “I’m not sure I remember what he looks like.” She patiently pulled out her wallet and showed me his picture. “Oh yeah, that’s what he looks like.” Soon he came walking out. I hesitated a bit, but sure enough I recognized him. My knowledge had faded but not disappeared.
What would it have been like if it had been not months but years? Walking down the hall of the hospital last week, I saw a woman with whom I was friends in high school. I said, “Hello, Patty.” She looked me straight in the eye and kept on walking. I guess her knowledge of me had disappeared, or I have become unrecognizable or both. Laura thought that maybe it was just too scary of a situation. I have had at least two persons who think that I am scary looking. It has been 37 years since we graduated. How quickly our memories disappear.
The Glory of Jesus, of God, is that He never allows the knowledge of Himself to disappear. He will always raise someone up. Approximately 350 years after the flood, the majority of the world had forgotten God's revelations through Noah and Shem. Shem was still alive. What was he doing/thinking about the condition of the world? Archeologists tell us that both Ur and Haran worshipped a pantheon of gods, but the most predominant was the moon-god, Sin. How quickly they had forgotten. Something prompted Terah to move his family out of the moon worshiping Ur of the Chaldeans to Haran. In Haran, God spoke supernaturally to Abram. He promised Abram three things. He promised that He would give him a land, make his descendents a great nation and that in his seed (singular) all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Abram believed God and God, so he moved. That is the glory of God. As errant as we are, He remains faithful. When it seems the knowledge of God is about to be obliterated, He will come through. In the fullness of time Jesus was born, the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the Son of David to a world separated from the knowledge of God. Jesus showed us what God is like. Anyone who has seen Him has seen God. In Him we are blessed. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--pastor john

PSALM 11
We have once again entered a political season. It seems that we never leave the political season. I remember from past political seasons much criticism of the President, whether Republican or Democrat, for spending too much time out of the office. The criticism was that he was campaigning and not running the country. In all cases there was probably some truth on both sides of the fence. The point was that the President was not in his office doing his job. Does God have an office?
“The Lord is in His holy temple.” Well, where else would He be? Why do we need to be told that? We need to be told because we think and act like He is not. A king would be in His court for several reasons: 1) to receive worship (honor from others), 2) to reveal, establish and administrate justice, mercy and grace, 3) to transact the business of the kingdom, 4) interact with his subjects. God is in His temple for the same reasons.
There are times when we feel like He is not in His office. There are times when we feel like He no longer reveals, establishes or administrates justice, mercy or grace. David was in one of those times when he penned this Psalm. Was it when he was being hunted by Saul? Or perhaps it was in Absalom’s rebellion. Whatever the case, he had a sense that the foundations of righteousness and justice had been obliterated. What was he to do? There was no one to whom He could run. It appeared helpless. He purposely slows down and reminds himself, “The Lord is in His holy temple.” He reminds himself that the Lord is, loves and administers righteousness. There are times when we must slow ourselves down and remind ourselves of the very same thing.
We have an advantage over David. He had to go to the tabernacle to seek the presence of God, which he did on one occasion. Today we, the people of God, are his temple. The Lord is in His temple in heaven, but He is also in His temple on earth, the people of God. He is among us to reveal, establish and administrate justice, mercy and grace. Let us NEVER forget that! He seeks to do that in us! That is His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

NEHEMIAH 1
When your team is being beaten, it is hard to claim your coach as #1. Oklahoma State University finished an almost fairytale football season this year (Fall 2010). What was supposed to be a rebuilding season ended up being a record season for OSU. For a little while we even had a glimmer of hope of being #1. But then we lost to Nebraska and then to the University of Oklahoma. It was impossible to claim the #1 spot after those two losses. But we had the greatest year that OSU has ever had. Mike Gundy was named Big 12 coach of the year as a result. Wouldn’t the most natural thing be to proclaim the coach of the number one team as the coach of the year? Well that depends on what the coach had to work with. A coach who produces a dream team out of a bunch of unproven talent is quite possibly a better coach than a coach who produces a dream team out of a lot of greatly talented players.
Nehemiah’s team was being beaten. The gates and walls of Jerusalem were lying in ruins. Before the invention of gunpowder, if you did not have city walls and gates, you had no security. They were defenseless. How could they have a good coach when the coach did not provide the needed defense? But Nehemiah is still convinced of his coach’s great ability. He knew that his God was great, fearsome and faithful. So he acted upon that knowledge and asked his coach/God for a game plan to improve the defense. He held God to His promises and made sure that he performed what was necessary at his end of the promise. He was willing to take the risk and do what the Lord prompted him to do. It was a risky plan. He could be killed for doing what he planned to do. But he knew the strength and power of His God, and he was willing to risk it all to see that strength and power displayed.
Am I willing to risk it all to see God’s strength and power displayed in my weakness. Now that is a weird game plan. But it is the only one that works because it is the only one that displays His glory. Everything else honors my name, not His name. Lord, put me in places where only your power can deliver for only then will your glory be exalted. Glorify Your name! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

MATTHEW 8:18-34
When my oldest child was 10 months old, my wife and I sold almost everything we had (except what would fit into a small U-haul trailer) and moved from Stillwater, Oklahoma to Portland, Oregon. Even after selling everything, we only had about $2,000 to our name and our car. I remember pulling onto the highway and thinking, "What in the world am I doing? I have just left a secure job and extended family to go to a state that is 5 days travel from here, a state where I know almost nobody, a place where I have no job or even a promise of a job. This is crazy." What prompted me to do such a stupid thing? It was the call of our glorious Lord.
He calls us to follow Him based only on His heavenly glory. He gives no assurance of a place to sleep. He gives no assurance of the company of extended family. He made His disciples get into a boat and cross a Sea which He knew would soon bring a deadly storm. He made them disembark on a shore inhabited by a dangerously wild demonized man. In delivering the man from the demons, He destroys some pig farmer's herd. All the while He encourages His followers with words like, "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head," and, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead," and, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?"
Why would anyone follow such a person, and why would He lead them on such a route? We follow Him because we have glimpsed some of His glory. We follow Him because we know that experiencing His glory is more satisfying than luxurious homes and comfortable beds. We follow Him because we know that His glory involves a love richer than even the richness of the love of the best mother and father. We follow Him because we know that in the midst of the storm, He will be with us, and if He so chooses, He can stop the storm. He leads us on such routes because on a more pleasant route, the richness of His glory would only be hearsay to us. On this route we experience it first hand.
Was it stupid for me to take off for Oregon? Were it not for His call, it would have been. But on that route, Laura and I were able to first hand experience the miraculous provision of His glory! He led us through storms and even made some to cease. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John