My father died in January (written in 2010). My aunt died in February. A couple of mothers of my parishioners have passed recently. A friend and former parishioner died a few weeks ago; I preached her funeral. Yesterday, I received word that one of the women of our church passed away alone in her home while I am here in Mongolia. I have experienced some death since the first of the year. Death is an unwanted intruder for which we must all prepare. But God in His glory always brings honor to His name out of it. The Lord tells Moses to prepare to die. He has seen a whole generation pass away. Only he and Joshua and Caleb are left of those who were over 20 years of age when they left Egypt—not too good of a percentage. About .00015% made it to the edge of the Jordan. That’s a lot of dead people each day. Maybe an average as many as 140 people per day.
How do you prepare the people you are leaving behind for your death? You prepare them to live. Thirty-nine years earlier God gave the Law to Moses. He placed a copy of it in the Ark of the Covenant. Moses wrote another copy, Deuteronomy. The second copy was to be placed beside the Ark. He commanded the Priests that it should be read publically to the entire nation at least once every seven years. I wonder what would happen if we required the whole church to be present for the reading of the entire Word of God at least once every seven years. Then he inaugurated Joshua as the new leader. Then, the glory of the Lord appeared above the door of the tabernacle. How can I prepare the people I am leaving behind for my death? I make sure that the Word of God is incorporated into their lives. I make sure that they understand the proper role of leadership. I give them every opportunity to see the glory of God. Certainly it is God’s prerogative to let His glory appear. However, we have a responsibility to be in the Word, yield to leadership and be looking for His glory. His glory is seen even in death, if we are in the right position to see it. We are prepared to live when we see His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PROVERBS 26
There is a vine in North Carolina and Oklahoma that is popularly called, ‘cat’s claw’. It has kind of a heart shaped leaf. The vine itself is very strong and hearty. It likes to grown in bushes and will eventually take over a bush. The only way to get rid of it is to dig up its roots. It is hard to disentangle from a bush because of its multitude of thorns, hence the nick name ‘cat’s claw’. I have received more than one prick while trying to disentangle a bush from the clutches of a cat’s claw. It is easier to get rid of it when it is first beginning to climb the bush. I suppose one could use it as a weapon to cut and tear the skin of an enemy. But only a fool would use it.
Verse 10 says, “The great God who formed everything gives the fool his hire and the transgressor his wages.” This chapter is full of contrasts of fools and wise people, but this is the only verse that deals with the glory of God. As one scans the chapter for the folly of the fool it is easy to see many examples of fools in real life. At times in the past, I have been that fool. I pray that it is no longer so. Although, while I have been on vacation, I have to admit that I have been a little slow to turn on my bed. I like the companion (verse 9) comparison of the fool until I read some of the other translations. Wow, what a difference in meaning! Anyway a fool attempts to use his foolishness to satisfy himself, never understanding that God will eventually bring his foolishness back upon Himself.
Lord, You are the Great God who formed everything. Keep me from foolishness and foolish living. Let my wages be the wages of wisdom. I need Your empowerment in this. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
JEREMIAH 21
I have been in the process of passing a kidney stone. Last night the pain was bad enough that I took one of the Percocets which the hospital gave me night before last. This morning I feel awful. I don’t know which is worse the kidney stone pain or the after effects of the Percocet. If the kidney stone pain doesn’t come back, there is no way that I will ever take another Percocet. This sensation is dreadful. What will I choose if the kidney stone pain returns like it was on Saturday night? Most likely I will take the Percocet. But the point is that I will have to make a choice. Which will be better, no kidney stone pain or no after effects of Percocet.
The Lord sometimes deals with us in a similar fashion because of our sin. Listen to what He says in verse 8, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.’” The Lord was seeking to cure them of their idolatry. Nebuchadnezzar was sent by the Lord to discipline them and cause them to see their need for a cure of their idolatry. They had a choice. They could choose to submit to Nebuchadnezzar, or they could be killed or taken captive by him. Neither option sounded desirable. It would have been far better to never have pursued the idols in the first place.
Why do we pursue idols when we can walk the infinite Creator? He lays the choice before us, the way of life and the way of death. The choice is ours. Lord, empower me to tear down the idols that I have already erected in my life, and keep me from submitting to any new ones. Lord, I choose life, Your life. In You there is no bad after affect. You are my glorious King! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
ACTS 8:1-25
One would think that a glorious King would protect His servants from the enemy, if He had it within His power to do so. Jesus certainly has it within His power to strike down those that hate and oppose Him and hate and oppose His servants. How can it increase His glory to not strike them down? Remember in Acts 1 we said, "Right now, the glory of Christ is seen by the world only in His people who are filled with His Holy Spirit and are busy witnessing by their words and actions, making disciples, building His church." His plan is to increase His glory through us. He desires that because of the filling of His Holy Spirit that each one of us would display His character in each of us. How can the world see the self-sacrificing love of Christ for an enemy, unless some of us lay down our lives for those who hate us? The only alternative is that people read about it in a book, or be told about it in a sermon, or see it in a movie. But somehow none of those are quite as real as when one of us does it. Not necessarily that we should be seeking to be martyred but rather all of life is laid aside for Jesus so that, if the choice is ever presented between Jesus & life, there is no hesitation because we know the excellence of Jesus over life. In this way the people of the world see the glory of Christ modeled in human flesh. It becomes more convincing. His glory is increased.
Also, our glorious King had commanded the gospel be taken into Samaria. The church, although numbering in the tens of thousands had not gone to Samaria. This persecution scattered the disciples. They probably should have scattered much sooner. Philip the deacon, not the apostle, went to Samaria. The King of Glory empowered him to do mighty deeds there. The enemy was scattered and confounded. The King of Glory was glorified through an ordinary servant of the church. That’s what the King wants. He wants to glorify himself through ordinary people. He wants the world to see what He can do. Not what extraordinary people can do. The apostles came up to view what was going on. Then the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the Samaritans just as at Pentecost. This confirmed the second portion of Lord's instruction in Acts 1:8, ". . . You shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. . ."
Does He still want to glorify Himself today? Of course, He does. Why don't we see more of that confounding of the enemy? We don't see more of it probably because I/we don't lay down our lives. We are too busy promoting the self-life instead of the exchanged life. The result is that our lives, marriages, families, churches are all filled with self. God won't glorify that. He has only one solution for the self-life--crucify it. He only glorifies His Son. After all He is the only One worth glorifying. Indeed we serve a glorious king! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
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