April 6

LEVITICUS 9
The first seven days were for preparing Aaron to serve as High Priest. The eighth day he began to function as the High Priest. Notice the order of the sacrifices which the High Priest presents on behalf of the people. First there was the sin offering, a kid of the goats. We all come to Him as sinners and must have our sin taken care of first. Next was the burnt offering; the grain burned upon the altar. The nourishment for our life is laid down on the altar. He is the bread of life that has come down from heaven. Finally came the peace offering. With His sacrifice we have peace with God. The long war with God is over. Now we can enjoy His glory!
Then Moses and Aaron came out and blessed the people. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to the people. Then fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the sacrifice. Then the people shouted and fell on their faces. LORD, let Your glory appear and your fire fall! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 96
He is great! What is so great about Him? He is our Creator. A long look at His creation reveals His greatness for He is necessarily greater than His creation. We are to fear Him; why? He told Moses that to see His glory fully and frontally would kill us. We couldn’t take it. Infinite power and infinite purity scares me. If we could instantly be placed on the surface of the sun, the heat of the radiated power would vaporize us instantly. Why should being exposed completely to the infinite God, who created that sun, be any less threatening? I don’t walk in fear of the sun destroying me, but I do know my rightful position in relation to it. I know to wear sunscreen, a wide brimmed hat and long sleeves if I am going to be exposed to its rays. I know that I cannot get too far from it, or I will die. I know that I cannot get too close to it, or I will die. So with God, I cannot get too far or too close to Him, or I will die. I need a healthy fear of Him.
Honor and majesty are before Him. Last week I performed a wedding ceremony. Part of the vows that I made the groom give to the bride was to “share with you all the honor of my name.” What if the grooms name was not honorable? What if he was a cheating scoundrel? What would he be sharing with her? His name had to be honorable if that vow were to be of any value to His bride. Suppose honor were something that was already ingrained in Him, suppose that honor was a deep part of His character, then the vow would have great meaning and benefit to his bride. Honor must go before him. We are the bride of our great God. He seeks to share with us all the honor of His name. His honor goes before Him in strength. He is not a scoundrel, but is faithful and true. He keeps His promises. He is pure. We benefit greatly from Him.
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. How is strength in a sanctuary? Beauty I think I understand, but how can strength be in a sanctuary? Maybe I should defer to my friend, Mark Pruitt, an architect to speak to this issue. Some sanctuaries are plain and unadorned. Some are simply the vegetation of the outdoors. Some are grandiose and gaudy. I have had opportunity to travel a little in Germany and Mexico. I have seen great cathedrals and chapels which were built hundreds of years ago. Buildings over a hundred years old in Oklahoma are rare indeed. Most buildings in Oklahoma of that age are decaying and weak. But the cathedrals are strong and will probably endure much longer. But their strength is more than just their ability to stand strong through the ages. When you walk into a cathedral, there is just an atmosphere of strength. There is something about the architecture that exudes strength. It makes you look up. It makes you feel small. It makes you realize the power of a greater force. Hopefully that force would be God, but sometimes it is another god. The point is that He is STRONG! When I come to worship Him, is that what I find, a God who is strong? Is He stronger than all the problems of my day? Indeed He is.
Greatness, honor and strength are all part of His glory. To bless His name, I need to know these things about Him, relate them to my life and then speak them to others. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

ISAIAH 3
“All rise for the Honorable . . . “ I have had many occasions to attend court with people with whom I am serving. Usually the court session begins with the above quote as the bailiff prepares the court room for the judge’s entrance. The court room is still one of the few vestiges of honor left in our society. No one, even the attorneys, questions the honor of a judge in the court room. We may wail upon them outside the courtroom, but in the courtroom, the judge is held in high esteem. In the court room, the judge reigns supreme. It must be that way for justice to remain just. In this chapter Isaiah declares:

The LORD takes his place in court
and presents his case against his people!
14 The LORD comes forward to pronounce judgment
on the elders and rulers of his people:
“You have ruined Israel, my vineyard.
Your houses are filled with things stolen from the poor.
15 How dare you crush my people,
grinding the faces of the poor into the dust?”
demands the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

The Lord is a just judge. In this court room scene, He is bringing in wealthy rulers of Israel who have abused the poor in order to advance their own cause. I wonder how often we abuse the poor in our own society in order to advance our own cause. Yes, I know that most of the time the poor are in the court room because of their own willful breaking of the law. But, how often do the rich not even get brought into the court room because of the connections they have because of their wealth. Not so with the Lord! He is a just judge, and He despises an unjust scale. All of the guilty are brought into His courtroom! And the gavel comes swinging down, “Guilty as charged!”
Fortunately, we have an advocate in the Lord Jesus. His blood cries out for those who repent and believe in Him, “The penalty is paid!” Mercy triumphs over judgment. When mercy triumphs over judgment in my life, how can I ever not extend mercy to my brother or sister who has wounded me? I cannot. Why? Because I am so wonderful? No! Because He is so wonderful! He, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, is a just judge, but He is also merciful. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

LUKE 9:1-17
Remember in high school when you were learning the ropes? There was a definite pecking order in the classes, when it came to authority. As a freshman or sophomore, you had not yet attained to the glory of a 'Senior.' Were you ever told things like, "A freshman is so low that . . ." no I won't go there. Oh of course, every sophomore is told that the meaning of sophomore comes from two Greek words, sophia-wisdom and moros-fool. A sophomore is a wise fool. Freshmen and sophomores had absolutely no authority on campus. Of course as a freshman and sophomore I was also painfully smaller than most guys. If I remember right, as a freshman I weighed all of 125 pounds. I eked up to 135 as a sophomore and 145 as a junior. Being small did not help matters of authority any.
Ah but thanks to a weight lifting program to which my body finally began to respond, my senior year I finally, weighed in at 170 pounds with not an ounce of fat. On Friday of homecoming week (Western Week) everybody was supposed to dress western. If you didn't dress western, then you were liable to be thrown in jail during lunch break. Sitting in the hallway studying at lunch time with my moccasins on (It was the only thing western that I owned), a freshman, who was a brother in Christ, walked up to me. He had no western wear on. I said where is your western stuff?
He said, "I don't have any."
"You'd better be careful, you might get thrown in jail." I replied.
"That's why I'm in here. I'm trying to avoid being thrown in jail. Are you going to throw me in?"
I said, "No, I've got other things to do. Why don't you sit down here you'll be safe till I leave." He sat down. I continued studying. Soon a sophomore jock walked up. He was looking for people to throw in jail. He threatened to have me thrown in jail. I told him that I had moccasins on and that satisfied the requirement. Then he saw my friend. He started to grab him to take him to jail. I said, "Leave him alone!"
He replied, "He doesn't have anything western on. I'm taking him to jail."
Standing up off of the floor I said, "You and who else? Leave him alone." He surveyed my size and backed down. The authority of being a senior and having 20-30 pounds of size on him spoke volumes. He left. It felt good for once to be able use authority for good. At least in the eyes of this one freshman, my glory was enhanced.
In revealing His glory, Jesus gave power and authority to his disciples over all demons and to cure diseases. It was for the purpose of glorifying Him. He then sent them through the country to preach and to heal. Upon the heels of sending them out, He performed the miracle of feeding the 5,000. I believe Jesus still wants to reveal His glory in the similar ways. He desires today to glorify Himself by extending His authority to us to preach and to heal and to feed. It’s a trinitarian focus (to borrow a term from Christian Schwarz) for His body.
In preaching He desires us to use His authority to proclaim the Gospel, to do evangelism and discipleship. In preaching the Gospel He desires us to set the captive free with the truth. The demonic must flee when we claim the truth of His authority and yield to Him. His glory is enhanced in the eyes of men when we do that.
In healing there are different kinds and means of healing. There is medical healing, divine healing, emotional healing, spiritual healing. Where ever the church has gone throughout the world, it has built hospitals and brought medicine to hurting people. This has brought much glory to Him. But I also believe that we are far too lax at asking Him for divine healing. I think sometimes we miss divine healing simply because we don't ask. That freshman would never have found safety had he not at least said, "Are you going to throw me in?" I believe that God still heals miraculously. He doesn't do it every time we ask or even the majority of times we ask. But He still heals. In all of these kinds of healing, we must remember that any healing we see in this age is only temporary. The body is still going to die. The ultimate healing is in the resurrection of the dead at His return. But He occasionally brings a divine healing in order to remind us of where the glory comes from and that the greatest glory is yet to come.
He also wants to heal more than the individual physical body. He also wants to heal social injustice. He wants us to feed the hungry. It brings glory to Him when we stand up for the rights of the oppressed and the poor. It brings healing to a society. He desires that we bring an end to racial prejudice. He desires that we replenish the earth not destroy it. It brings glory to Him when we use wisdom in relating to the environment. He desires to reveal His glory as we take His authority and show concern for our environment. In the midst of our endeavors we must remember that they are temporary. The social healing will be lost. People will return to hating and dominating each other until He returns as King of kings and Lord of lords. The earth will continue to decay until He remakes the heavens and the earth. But in the meantime, He wants to glorify Himself through us as we take His authority to bring food to our neighborhoods and the nations.
Jesus is looking for people through whom He can extend His authority so that He can bring glory to Himself. It is to His glory that He lends us His authority to us. Will I take it and glorify Him or will I try to glorify myself or will I just ignore it? How about you? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John