The Lord hardened the heart of the king of the enemies of Israel that he might deliver the enemies of Israel into their hand. This is a mystery. How can God be just in condemning someone when God hardens the guilty person’s heart? The opposite is also a mystery. How can God be just in redeeming someone when they will not believe unless God first draws them? Why does He not then draw all if He is not willing that any should perish. Just what is the interplay between the sovereign God and the freewill of man? I’ve never quite been able to figure it out. I am convinced that I somehow have the freedom to choose or reject Him. I am also convinced that He is entirely sovereign, and no one comes to Him unless He first draws them. I am equally convinced that He desires the best for all. I am equally convinced that He is not willing that any should perish but that all should repent. How can I bring all of these aspects together to make sense? I cannot. I can only say that somewhere in the infinite mind of God, He is able to make them mesh together for His glory. He is after all, God. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PSALM 148
I have had the privilege of having visited or lived in a number of places on this globe. I was born in Indiana, raised in Oklahoma, matriculated to Seminary in Oregon, lived 13 years in coastal North Carolina, and now again in Oklahoma. I spent 6 weeks in Kenya, weeks in Germany and surrounding countries, ten days in Senegal, weeks in Mexico & Canada, one month in Mongolia, ten days in the Middle East and a week in Cambodia. I have seen a lot of things, swum in 3 oceans, climbed mountains in the Appalachians, the Rockies, the Cascades, Europe and the Middle East. I have traversed deserts in the SW USA, Mexico, Senegal and Mongolia. I’ve seen the wonders of the oceans, the deserts, the mountains, the plains the forests and the swamps. I have sat for hours looking at photographs brought to us by the wonders of Hubbell Telescope. If you have not seen them, check out this website: http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/entire/pr2010013a/ . And yet, I have seen so very, very little in relation to what our Lord has created. The more that I see causes me to realize more that I have seen very little. And yet every ecosystem, every rock formation, every life form screams out at me that the Lord is a Lord of Great Glory!! I am, after all, but a tiny speck in the vast formation of His creation. With the exception of Humans, who are made in the image of God, they all cry out in praise of our God. What is our problem? It is our sin, NOT His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
ISAIAH 59
Strange things continue to happen in our land. Justice seems skewed. Police kill people; sometimes it seems unwarranted. Whether it is warranted or not, people riot, burn and loot in protest. Is that the way injustice should be protested? Injustice protested with further injustice? Does anyone really plead for justice or seek truth? It seems we are more interested in rhetoric aimed to inflame people to follow our path. Like treacherous spiders we weave webs of clothing to cover our iniquity and justify our violence. We run quickly on a path of evil. What is going on? It seems we cannot break the directional path on which we are throwing ourselves down at break neck speed. Does God even care? Is He unable to reach us? Is He unable to intervene for us? Is His arm too short? We grope for justice and find only that our sins are multiplied, but to look for justice when our sins are multiplied only means that if we find justice, we will die.
But there is One who can break the vicious cycle! It is Jesus! He alone is perfect. He chose to go to the cross for that purpose. He died in my place. He took the justice due me upon the cross. He was buried and rose again on the third day, the mighty conqueror died in my place! He bought me out of the slave market of sin. I call him, ‘Redeemer.” Now that is glory!
Pastor john
JOHN 11:1-27
I have had both the privilege and the burden of preaching at funerals. It is a high privilege to preach the funeral of a godly saint who has gone on into the presence of the Lord. They have preceded us into the land of the truly living. Our world is alive and wondrous indeed but it is also at the same time dead and horrible. In the presence of the Lord is true life, life that pulsates, throbs, thrives and is unending. He is life in itself. To know Him is to live. So when a believer dies, it is nothing less than a graduation into greater life and really so much more than we can imagine.
Jesus said, “Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” Yet, every person who has believed in Him has died. What is he talking about? Obviously He is talking about the final resurrection. He is the resurrection and the life. We have this sure promise. This life is only a prelude to life. Or maybe I should say, “This death is only a prelude to life.” For those who know Him we will one day enter into life that makes this one pale in comparison. It will be better than any thing that we could have imagined. It will be because He is the resurrection and the life.
I have also had the burden of preaching at funerals. It is extremely difficult to preach at a funeral when you cannot honestly tell the mourners, “This person is in heaven enjoying the resurrection life of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Where is the glory of Jesus here? The Father has given all judgment to the Son. The Son is glorified in that He will be the judge of those who refused to believe in Him. He is always just. He is always fair. He will glorify Himself in that judgment. And yes there will be those to whom He will say, “Depart from Me. I never knew you.” He will raise those who refuse to believe in Him to go where they have chosen to go—eternally separated from Him. He is just in sending them where they have chosen to go. The glory of Jesus is that He is merciful and just to us all, all of the time. Now that is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
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