March 7

EXODUS 18

10And Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. 11“Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the gods; for in the very thing in which they behaved proudly, He was above them.”

How was it that the Egyptians had behaved proudly? Sure they were proud in that they thought they could enslave God’s people with impunity, but what was the basis of their pride that they could ever embrace such a thought? Was it not their security that they established for themselves because of the situation in which they found themselves? The consistency with which the Nile River overflowed its banks and brought them agricultural stability caused them to trust in the Nile’s consistency. They eventually assigned a god-like status to the Nile and worshipped that god. With each of the ten plagues we could make the same investigation and conclude that they had come to worship the god of their situation that enabled them to have such a comfortable living. They were proud of their advanced society. Their advancement, in their reasoning, made them worthy of subjugating other human beings to accomplish their will.
How did the LORD demonstrate His superiority over all the gods? He judged each and every one of their gods with the plagues. In so doing He caused all Egypt to know and even the surrounding nations to know that He was above them. Does the LORD desire to do the same today to the gods of our culture? If so, how do you think He might do it? How does He want to use me or you? Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 66
It was one of my first experiences where the praise of God was glorious. My brother, five years older than I, was being ordained. The little country church was packed with friends and supporters from all over the association. It was standing room only filled with people who loved Jesus and wanted to praise His name. It felt as if the roof and walls were going to explode with the energy produces by the singing. It is interesting to me to note that we sang hymns. Granted many of them were less than 100 years old, but the people sang with heart-felt exuberance. You see, the music style really doesn’t matter if everyone is singing in spirit and truth. The only instrument we had was a piano, and the pianist and director made sure that we sang with an energy that soared to the heavens, and it did. One could barely hear the piano. It seemed as if the heavens came down. Because the place was filled with people who wanted to sing His praise with all their heart, mind, soul and strength, it increased the ability of everyone to sing with abandon, and we did. His praise was made glorious.
How do we make His praise glorious? It is after all a command. Well certainly, if it is to be glorious, there must be an emphasis on the art of worship, but also if we are to make it glorious, there must be an emphasis on the heart of worship. The above illustration demonstrates that art can be overshadowed by the heart if the worshippers come together with full hearts eager to bring praise to their God. But what if in that service we had picked all songs that were unfamiliar to the congregation both in music style and word content. The result would have somewhat dampened the heart-felt praise of the people because they would have been struggling with the mechanics of learning the tune and embracing the words. It would have been a barrier to everyone entering into praise with abandon. Excellency and familiarity with the art of worship can be an aid or a barrier to making His praise glorious. Similarly the position of the heart can be an aid or a barrier to making His praise glorious. If the people at my brother’s ordination had just been the run of the mill church goer, it would have been a rather inglorious occasion. Half of them would probably not have sung. Another fourth would have felt uncomfortable singing with abandon because they would have worried about whether somebody else might hear them. The last fourth might have entered into their own personal haven where they worshipped individually, but the corporate flow of making His praise glorious would have been inhibited.
So what do we do to make His praise glorious? First we make sure that our hearts are in the right place. We call to mind what our magnificent Lord has done for us for which He is worthy of praise. We reflect upon the awesome works of power which He has performed. They are not hard to find. They are all around us. His creative power is the most obvious. All we need do is to begin to reflect upon His works of creation and we become overwhelmed with His beauty. Then we need to reflect upon saving works. He split the Red Sea so that Israel could pass on dry land. Wow! But what did he do for me so that I could be delivered from the bondage of sin? He became flesh; He suffered; He died; He rose; He ascended; He intercedes for us. WOW!! But that is not all! He brought certain people into our lives so that we could hear the Gospel and respond to His loving grace! Because of Him they loved and prayed us into the Kingdom. WOW! But that is not all! He works not only to set us free from sin, but He also works to change our character in order to work the sin out of our lives. He refines us like silver. So in that refining process, we must admit the iniquity in our lives and cooperate with Him in that refining process. When we refuse to cooperate, He does not hear our praise. His praise becomes inglorious. When I reflect upon all that He has done and is doing, I am prepared to make His praise glorious. I want to do that! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

JOB 36
What do I learn about God’s glory from Elihu’s speech in this chapter? I learn that God is righteous (v.3). I learn that He does not take his eyes off of me (v.7). I learn that wrath is stored up for the hypocrite (v.13). Storing implies a release for a future date. I do not know that release date. It could be soon; it could be after death. I learn that God is exalted by His power (v.22). I learn that I should magnify God’s work (v. 24).
Like Job at times we are tempted to believe that God is not righteous. If God is righteous, then how can He allow. . . But then, we know that He is righteous, so does that mean He has not seen what I think is unrighteous? As the omniscient One, His eyes must always be upon me. If He is always righteous, and His eyes are always upon me, then does that mean that He is somehow powerless? Maybe then His wrath against unrighteousness is just being stored for a future date, perhaps a date after my death. I like the way the New Living Translation puts Elihu’s words in verses 16–18:

God is leading you away from danger, Job, to a place free from distress. He is setting your table with the best food. But you are obsessed with whether the godless will be judged. Don’t worry, judgment and justice will be upheld. But watch out, or you may be seduced by wealth. Don’t let yourself be bribed into sin.

God leads us away from eternal danger, although the way might be through temporal danger. With these things in mind, I must focus on the greatness of His power, lest I lose hope while not seeing it in action now. I can so easily be seduced by the things of this world and lose sight of the glory of God. But Jesus has died because of the wrath of God against sin. His mighty power has released me from having to suffer the penalty of His wrath; although, He would be justified in releasing His wrath against me had He not poured it out upon Jesus upon the cross. Judgment and justice were upheld on the cross. Mercy and Grace triumph over justice when I repent, trust and die with Him on the cross. He then raises me up and actually enables me to not sin, an ability I did not have before I received Him! Indeed His justice, mercy grace and power are great! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!

MARK 10:32-52
I woke up from a dream. It was not a good dream. I was only 5 or 6 years old. Moving from the dream to the conscious state was a process. The plaster of Paris images on the wall were at first monsters, part of my dream. Then, I realized that I was awake, and I was in bed. I looked around and none of my older brothers were there. I could hear the TV down stairs. I was alone. It was dark. I had just awakened from a not-good dream, but to get downstairs meant that I had to walk by two attic doors to the stair case. Attics were always bad places in my dreams. Monsters lurked in there. On the other hand, I didn't think I could lie in my bed and wait for them to come out. Yes, even as an adult, I can really relate to Monsters Inc. I got out of bed, crept by the attic doorways and flew downstairs. I made it to the others and no monster touched me or even showed its face as I made my descent. I was safe at last.
Courage is defined in my dictionary as being fearless or brave. I think that is the wrong definition. I believe courage is taking the right action in spite of the fear that you have of the consequences of the action. Probably the most courageous thing that I could have done was to have laid aside my fears in bed and gone back to sleep. I did the second most courageous thing, I walked past the attic doors to find safety downstairs. The least courageous thing that I could have done would have been to call for my mother to come save me.
Jesus was making the ascent up to Jerusalem (from below sea level in the Jordan valley to the mountains of Jerusalem). Mark records 4 times previous to this that Jesus told the disciples that the elders, chief priests and scribes would make Him suffer and kill Him. Jerusalem is the place where the majority of the elders, chief priest and scribes reside. Notably they were amazed and fearful as they ascended to Jerusalem. Why would Jesus consciously ascend into danger? They still didn't understand the other side of Jesus' glory, the side that chose to die for us that we might live. For the fifth time Mark records Jesus telling them that He is going to His impending death.
How many times has Jesus had to warn me about something? I guess I am just as hard headed as James and John. They were still focused on the 'good side' of Jesus' glory. So they make this outlandish request of Jesus. He doesn't turn them down. He just makes sure they know what they are asking. This story motivated Earl Marlatt in 1926 to pen the words to the hymn Are Ye Able.

“Are ye able,” said the Master, “To be crucified with Me?”
“Yea,” the sturdy dreamers answered, “To the death we follow Thee.”
Refrain
Lord, we are able. Our spirits are Thine. Remold them, make us, like Thee, divine. Thy guiding radiance above us shall be a beacon to God, to love and loyalty.
Are you able to relinquish purple dreams of power and fame,
To go down into the Garden, or to die a death of shame?
Refrain
Are ye able, when the anguish racks your mind and heart with pain,
To forgive the souls who wrong you, who would make your striving vain?
Refrain
Are ye able to remember, when a thief lifts up his eyes,
That his pardoned soul is worthy of a place in paradise?
Refrain
Are ye able when the shadows close around you with the sod,
To believe that spirit triumphs, to commend your soul to God?
Refrain
Are ye able? Still the Master whispers down eternity,
And heroic spirits answer, now as then in Galilee.
Refrain

Jesus made James and John able. James was beheaded for the sake of Jesus. John died an old man in exile for his testimony of the Lord Jesus. They knew both the 'good' side of His glory and the 'bad' side of His glory. Knowing the glory of the Lord, the 'good and bad' sides usually enables me to make courageous choices. Maybe I do not always make the most courageous or even the wisest choices, but at least they are choices that get me past the attic doorways of my life, past the faces of the spiritual monsters who pretend that they have power over me. One day I will slip up the staircase and be safe at last in the glory of my Lord. There I will realize that no monster ever touched me. The faces that I saw were only plaster paris molds of a monster wanna be. The only power they ever had was when I took my eyes off of my glorious Lord. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john