An acquaintance of mine has published several books on Christian Education. He tells the joke/story that during book signing events he frequently signs his name with the reference Deut. 29:29, which reads, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” One day after a particularly long day, he signed it Deut. 28:28. Later the lady came back and asked why he had signed it that way. He said that he had meant Deut. 29:29. He couldn’t remember what 28:28 said. So, he looked it up. It reads, “The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart.”
Is it not amazing that the God of the Universe would seek to establish us in a covenant with Him? He desires us to be a people just for Himself that He would be a God to us! How awesome is that? He is very jealous of that relationship. I am very jealous of my relationship with my wife. There is only one person to whom I want her to be more attached, that is God. It is right that I should be that way. The God of the Universe is very jealous. There is no person to whom He wants us to be more attached! It is right that He should be that way. After all, He is the God of the Universe. Nevertheless I am overwhelmed that the God of the Universe should desire such a relationship with me.
Everything He designs and permits to come into my life, He does so with the goal of enhancing that relationship with me. I do not fully understand His motivations in everything He designs and permits. They are often times secret. He does not make them known to me, nor is it incumbent upon Him to do so. But He has revealed this—He loves me, and wants my affections set on Him first. That is also true for my children. He has also revealed that He desires that I should obey Him. Anyone who says they know Him yet has no desire to obey Him should beware. Either they do not know Him, or they are about to receive some pretty severe discipline. Either way, it will not be pleasant. You see He is jealous for His own glory—rightly so. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PROVERBS 24
I remember clearly when I first heard of Randall Terry’s Operation Rescue. It was a radio report of a protest which he was leading at an abortion death chamber in Wichita, Kansas. Convinced that life begins at conception, Mr. Terry reasoned that to do nothing about abortion was to be an accomplice to the death of the innocents in the womb. At the same time, he was committed to the non-violence principles of the Scripture. He rallied his supporters around Proverbs 24:11-12:
Deliver those who are drawn toward death, And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Surely we did not know this,” Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?
How do you rescue those bound for death without violence? You lay down your life and place your body between them and the executioner. You go limp when the police try to drag you away. You may remember the result. Randall Terry and his followers were arrested multiple times in many cities. It was quite frustrating for the pro-death advocates. His ministry was slowing down the death trafficking, but it was not eliminating it. Finally the U.S. government used the Racketeering Laws to bring an end to his radical involvement.
Unable to continue his protests, Mr. Randall has sought other means to bring an end to the abortion practices of our country. Among them was a run for the Presidency on the Democratic ticket against President Obama. In Oklahoma he received 18,400 votes or 18 percent in Oklahoma’s Democratic Primary. Numerically it was enough to secure one delegate at the National Convention; however, he did not get the proper paper work in, so he lost the delegate. One has to admire his desire to stand against what he sees as evil. He surely has done what he could to end the American death march which has now interred without a funeral over 50,000,000 since 1973.
That is the positive side of Mr. Terry. However, if one would go the Operation Rescue website at http://www.operationrescue.org/about-us/who-we-are , one would find a darker side to Mr. Terry. My using him as an example does not mean I endorse him whole heartedly. Indeed it would seem that since Mr. Terry and Operation Rescue parted ways that Operation Rescue has taken a higher road of ethics than has Mr. Terry. But I do think that he provides a somewhat interesting type of Christ.
What does this have to do with the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ? Jesus, the eternal Word of God saw that we were headed for death. He placed Himself on the line. The police came and took Him to His place of death. He volunteered to place His body between us and the wrath of God. He died to take our death, experiencing the full wrath of God. He rose again to defeat our death. Now He offers pardon and peace to all who will trust in Him. He does not just give wise advice in His word, He does it! Now that is glory! ! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
JEREMIAH 19
I was returning a lawn mower to the garage. I was placing it right next to a ceramic footstool. I just barely bumped the footstool with the tire wheel of the lawnmower, and it cracked. I was instantly saddened. It was my son’s creation in a ceramics class which he had taken. It is the nature of pottery that once you have fired it, it is quite brittle. Once it is broken, it can never be as good as new. I once went to a Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Outdoors they had a mock-up of Qumran and you could go dig in it. They had seeded the mock-up with actual pottery shards from archaeological digs in Israel. We found several ancient shards and took them home. The shards were worthless. The pottery could never be restored, but it was kind of neat to hold in my hands a shard of a household implement that somebody 2,000 years ago had used.
Jeremiah was commissioned to bring bad news to the people. The people had once been malleable in the hands of the potter, but the potters to which they had presented themselves were to other gods. They had shed much innocent blood and burned much incense in worshipping the other gods. Finally they were fired in the oven of idolatry in the image of other gods. They had been dug out of the clay pit to reflect the glory of Yahweh, instead they reflected lustful, murderous other gods. The only alternative that the master potter had left was to shatter their corrupt image and bury them in the Hinnom valley, Tophet. God’s glory was at stake. Jeremiah took the flask and shattered it as an illustration of what would be done to them.
Lord, you have created me to reflect your image, your glory. Keep molding me into Your image! Do not let me be conformed by this world into its mold. Make me a vessel fit to show your glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
Part of the Valley of Hinnom, Tophet, as viewed from St. Peter’s Gallicantu (where he denied the Lord).
ACTS 7:22-43
Moses understood himself to be some sort of a deliverer. But even having been raised in Pharaoh's court, his delusions of grandeur were too small. He had not yet met the God of glory. He thought that he could deliver his brethren from temporary oppression through murder. It didn't work. Forty years he lived in Pharaoh's court, believing he was somebody. Forty years in the desert he lived as a shepherd, learning he was nobody. But then he heard the voice of the Lord. He saw the Lord of Glory in a burning bush. Later he met the Lord of Glory atop Mt. Sinai. Understanding the glory of the Lord made all the difference in the world. He delivered 2,000,000 from Egypt to Mt. Sinai by just depending upon God to show His glory. He didn't have to commit murder. He left everything in God's hands. He simply spoke the glory of God as it was revealed to him. Moses learned that God takes nobodies who depend only upon His glory and does marvelous things for His own glory. That is the way Jesus works. Indeed we serve a glorious king! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
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