June 29

JOSHUA 1
It was 30 hours of traveling including the time spent waiting in airports. I dozed on occasion, but I had no good rest. Additionally, I crossed 13 time zones. I was tired. As tired as I was, I still could not get the proper rest that I needed. My body was out of sync with the new time zone. Even though I needed rest, it took me several days to get it. My body had to adjust to the new rhythm of sleeping. Arriving at a new country required a little bit of courage. It was a bit disconcerting. My luggage did not arrive with me. By the time I had filled out a baggage claim with a clerk who did not speak English and passed through customs, the airport was shutting down. There remained only a handful of airport employees and a few taxi drivers. My ride was not there yet. I had no Mongolian money, and no phone that would work in Mongolia. The lady at the information desk seemed to have limited English and little desire to help me find and use a phone. I needed rest and courage.
You know what? The Lord eventually gave it. This is what the Lord our God gives us: rest and courage. What is it about Him that He would do such a thing? Well, He is a God of great glory. He gives rest and courage, but we must seize it as He gives it. And He does give it! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PROVERBS 29
Verse 7 says, “The righteous considers the cause of the poor, But the wicked does not understand such knowledge.” Why would an outgrowth of righteousness be to consider the cause of the poor, and why would failing to understand such knowledge be an outgrowth of wickedness? Certainly righteousness finds its root in the very character of God. Does that mean that it is part of the character of God to consider the cause of the poor? Jesus himself said that we would always have the poor with us. Does this mean that as God considers the poor, He thinks that it is a good thing that poverty never ends? Obviously from all the Scriptural teaching about poverty, that cannot be true of God. What is the meaning of poverty? What is the source of poverty? What does a righteous God want to do about poverty as He considers it?
Poverty is more than just a lack of financial resources. I recently co-facilitated a Getting Ahead Circle for a small group of people in poverty. The main thrust of the investigation of the circle is that poverty is a lack of resources in one of many different areas, not just financial. One can lack resources in many areas, financial, social, educational, familial, mental, emotional, spiritual, physical, etc. Usually, one in financial poverty is experiencing a lack of resources in many areas. The lack of financial resources is a multifaceted problem. Just throwing money at it will not alleviate the problem. It will give temporary relief but not long term relief.
So when God contemplates our poverty, what does He consider? Apparently, His primary concern is our spiritual poverty. When Jesus came, His primary thrust was not to reshape economic systems, although that has been a by-product in times past of His reshaping cultures. His primary thrust was to restore man to his rightful position. His primary thrust is to give us the revelation that He alone can restore us to that position, and that position is true riches. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

JEREMIAH 24
Are you a bad fig or a good fig? The Lord seems to have classified the people of Jerusalem into two categories, good figs and bad figs. Josiah’s Kingdom fell apart upon his death in battle against Pharoah in 609 B.C. Jehoiakim was eventually put in power by Pharaoh. After a few of years he switched his allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar who had won a decisive battle against Egypt at Carchemish. Later Jehoiakim rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was replaced by Coniah, who after three months was carried off to Babylon. Along with Coniah, Nebuchadnezzar carried off the best of the land to Babylon. It is this exile to which Jeremiah is speaking. The salvageable people are referred to as good figs, and the unsalvageable are referred to as bad figs. Am I a bad fig or a good fig? How about you?
In the midst of this the Lord says of the good figs:

For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. 7 Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.

This is a general principle about God, and it can be applied to me and you. He desires to give us a heart to seek Him. There comes a point when that offer is no longer available. We have become bad figs. But what incredible grace He gives us that we should be given by Him a heart to seek Him! That is the whole issue of meditations on the glory, men & women in the word, families in the word etc. Are we seeking Him? We need each other to spur each other on to seek the Lord! He gives us the heart; He gives us the grace, but we must choose to seek Him! Lord Jesus I choose to receive the heart to seek You that You have given me. Increase my knowledge of You. It is You I crave and need. It is You who salvages my filthy life! Your glory is all I want! ! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ACTS 9:23-43
Sometimes the glory of Jesus is really hard to believe. It seems impossible to believe that Jesus could change someone who once hated Him supremely into someone who couldn't quit talking about Him. But, that is what happened. It happened instantly. None of the Jerusalem believers, save Barnabas (the son of encouragement) believed. But why not? They had seen people healed, raised from the dead, miraculous deliverances from prison. Indeed a few days hence, Jesus through Peter would heal a lame man in Lydda (about 20 miles NW of Jerusalem). Then Peter would go to Joppa (modern day Haifa) and raise a woman from the dead. Why not believe Saul had been converted? To believe would mean they would have to love and trust Saul. Past experience had taught them that this would lead to their imprisonment and perhaps their death, if they were wrong, if Jesus really hadn't changed him. This required them to put their faith on the line. This is a test of faith for the Jerusalem believers that was as strong as Peter's request to walk on water, only Peter requested to walk on water. This test was thrust on the Jerusalem believers by the Lord. True to form, Barnabas, always the son of encouragement, passed the test.
Was it sin for the Jerusalem believers to not trust the glory of the Lord in the conversion of Saul? I really don't know. But this I know, Jesus did not convert Saul in order to add him to the Jerusalem church. He had a big plan for Saul, soon to be Paul. But Saul needed a little down time first, to sort things out. The Jerusalem believers were having a hard time "Going" as Jesus had commanded them to go. (Now that is a consistent problem with the church throughout church history. We enjoy huddling but hate going.) Jesus used the unconverted Saul to force the Jerusalem church to scatter when they had become enamored with their holy huddle. Jesus now had plans for this Jew of Jews to go through the Roman empire to the very heart of Rome preaching the Gospel and establishing churches among the Gentiles. Now that's glory! He takes a man who found all Gentiles to be an unclean thing and changes him to be the foremost missionary among them.
Why doesn't Jesus do that all the time? Certainly, Jesus did not change everybody 2000 years ago, who believed. Obviously He doesn't change everybody today. We still deal with husbands who don't love their wives even though they profess the name of Jesus. We still deal with people who continue to get drunk, even though they profess the name of Jesus. We still deal with people who fornicate even though they profess the name of Jesus. I could go on and on and get really negative here, but you know what I mean. What makes the difference? First it is the exchanged life. We will not lay down our lives for the life of Christ. Second it is a matter of focus. We are focused on our glory rather than the glory of Jesus. Because of that, we won't lay down our life for His. From a human perspective, Saul's hatred for Christians before his conversion was partly because of his passion for the glory of God. Once he saw the glory of Jesus, the exchanged life was a no-brainer. Paul was forever pursuing God's glory. That meant he had to pursue the glory of Christ. Indeed we serve a glorious king! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John