August 7

JUDGES 21
Verse 15 says, “And the people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a void in the tribes of Israel.” Can this be? Was it the Lord who made the void in Israel? Ultimately, the Lord allowed it. Does that mean He did it? The Lord allowed Adam and Eve to sin. Does that mean He did it? He could have made them where they had no choice to obey, but He did not. Does that mean He made them sin? Ultimately, He allowed it and had the power to not let them do it. Does that mean He did it? How far do we press responsibility? The people grieved because they thought the LORD was responsible.
Was He responsible? Was he the one who killed all the people? No He was not. Did He tell them to kill all the men of Benjamin? Well, yes He did. We looked at that issue yesterday. Did He tell them to kill all the men of Jabesh Gilead? No, He did not. I think at this point the people are overstepping their bounds. The chapter and the book ends with this thesis statement, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” He is trying to teach us to do only what is right in His eyes and not our own eyes. The Book of Judges is what happens when we resort to our own wisdom. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 37
Look at all of the commands that the Lord gives us in this Psalm. He has a lot of things for us to do and to focus upon! It is really easy for me to focus upon the commands. His commands are for our good.

Do not fret because of evildoers,
Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.
3Trust in the LORD, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
4Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
5Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him,
7Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
8Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;
Do not fret—it only causes harm.
27Depart from evil, and do good;
And dwell forevermore.
34Wait on the LORD,
And keep His way,
37Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; For the future of that man is peace.

Why are all these commands here? Running mixed with these admonitions is the underlying teaching that God is righteous. In the words of R.G.Lee’s famous sermon, there is a “Payday Someday.” In this values-mixed-up world it is easy in to lose sight of that very basic fact. God is righteous. When all is said and done, righteousness will prevail, one way or another. In relation to man, righteousness will prevail. Wrath against all unrighteousness will fall either on Jesus on the Cross where wrath’s demand is satisfied, or it will wall on those who refuse to receive the mercy of the Cross by receiving Jesus. What a motivation that should be to us to obey these commands!! It is not a motivation of fear but a motivation of gratitude for His great mercy and love. When I realize and contemplate upon His great mercy and love for me, how can I but love Him? If I love Him, how can I but do His commands? OH He is soooo wonderful! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

EZEKIEL 6
Ever been in a romance that went bad? Perhaps it was a boyfriend or girlfriend whom you really liked, but they decided that they did not want you anymore? Perhaps it was a marital mate. Perhaps it was a good friendship that went sour. Remember the anger? Even more, there was the feeling of being crushed by their rejection. Is it not strange that we should refer to the beginning stage of a romance as a ‘crush’ and to the breakup of a romance as being crushed by it?
I do not find the anger of the Lord to be surprising when we reject Him. After all, He is the perfect One. To reject Him is to reject perfection. It’s just, wrong. But do you ever stop to consider that He is ‘crushed’ by our idolatry? In verse 9 the NKJV says, “I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols.” The Lord of Heaven says that he is emotionally wounded by our adulterous heart! That is hard to understand. That is part of His glory. That is a facet of His love which I must grasp, but I don’t grasp it. Have you ever heard Him say, “I am crushed by your adulterous heart, your sin?” Lord, change my adulterous heart so that I might be pure only for You! Give me eyes only for You! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ROMANS 9:1-15
Paul reveals two things of interest to me of the glory of Christ in verse 5.
1. He is over all! Wait a minute Paul. He is over all? You’ve experienced prisons, beatings, hardships and sicknesses and you say He is over all? Paul has seen enough of the glory of Christ that He knows Christ is over all. He feels no need to explain the hardships or the rejection of Israel. He is content to rest in Christ’s sovereignty. Let come what may, which he cannot avoid; Christ will make good out of the bad. He is content to let God be God. God will have compassion on whom He will have compassion and mercy on whom He will have mercy.
2. He is the eternally blessed God! The adverse or positive effects of our temporal state do not effect the state of God’s blessedness. My state of blessedness always seems to be rising and falling with the condition of the circumstances of my life. Not so with God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is eternal. Being eternal, that which is true of His nature yesterday is true of His nature today. That which is true of His nature today is true of His nature tomorrow. That which is true of His nature yesterday, today and tomorrow is true of His nature forever. He is blessed. Jesus is happy. Jesus is joyful. Do you ever view Him that way? I think some people view Him as some kind of Cosmic Grouch. Perhaps they are thinking of His justice and wrath when they think that. Indeed, He is a God of wrath. But because of His blood we are not destined for wrath. We know His joy. He is eternally blessed!
Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

August 6

JUDGES 20
There is justice in the instance when there seems to be no justice. This has to be among the grossest stories told in the Bible. There was no king in those days to execute justice. The tribe of Benjamin refused to bring forth justice for the concubine. I say justice for the concubine because the husband certainly was not righteous. So God brought forth justice. The Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel. Yes justice was served. There was no mercy. As a whole, the tribe protected the evil rapists and murderers. As a whole, the tribe was almost destroyed because of its unwillingness to execute justice. What would have happened had the tribe been willing to execute justice and the guilty men repentantly begged for mercy?
I don’t usually ask for justice for myself from God. If God gave me justice outside of Christ, He would kill me. Instead, I ask for his unfailing loving kindness. He gives it abundantly. His justice has been abundantly shown in my case as well. He poured it out upon Jesus upon the cross. Now that is glory, only glory that He should have. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 36
For just one second the light was out. It was long enough to know that I had forgotten how dark utter darkness is. We were in Hezekiah’s tunnel. If you have ever been in a cave or cavern without light or in a photographic darkroom, you know exactly what I am talking about. You can try to see all you want, but it will never happen. In the midst of Hezekiah’s tunnel, I began having thoughts of what if. What if, my cheap $1.00 dollar flash light wasn’t strong enough to make it to the end? What if, I dropped it in the water? What if I did not have the emotional stamina to walk 500 meters in utter darkness? What if, the tunnel had a fork that led you into a loop from which you could not feel your way out? The last question was leading me into unreality. I had read about Hezekiah’s tunnel, and I knew that there were no loops. Sure it twisted and turned a lot, but there were no loops. But then, right before we entered Hezekiah’s tunnel we came to the entrance of the Canaanite Tunnel or the dry path. I had never heard of that before. What if there were other such tunnels at the end, which I had not read about. What if... Darkness is unsettling.
What makes the wicked, wicked? David says that it is, “There is no fear of God before His eyes. He flatters Himself in His own eyes.” The wicked takes the spiritual vacuum in his life and says, “I know what is here, and this god, who is here, is like this. . .” In reality he has no concept of the true God. Will this gracious God leave us to wander in darkness and all its attendant fears? The wicked think they know what true pleasure and delight is. They think that the true God only wants to take those pleasures away. They think that His light depletes their pleasure. They think this because there is no fear of God before their eyes. Will God leave him to wander in spiritual darkness? Will he spend his days wandering in loops of utter spiritual darkness? Have I not at times been there, and are there not times when I am there? I am convinced that this is the plight of every child ever born on the planet earth, save, of course, Jesus.
But this is where the glory of the Lord Jesus comes in. He is the fountain of life. He is the fountain of true pleasure. In His light we see light! When He is before our eyes, when there is a true fear of Him, we can see reality. Yes, we see the ugliness of things around us, but we also see that His pleasures can eventually wash the ugliness away. Drinking from and walking in His waters washes away the ugly dryness of our souls. It causes true beauty to gradually emerge and begin growing. We don’t have to try to manipulate the darkness because we see His reality. Hezekiah’s tunnel was truly refreshing. As we walked through the cool waters of the tunnel with our little flashlight, we were refreshed from the heat of the day above ground. Jesus is the same way. As we walk in the waters of His cleansing fountain, in the light of His path, we are cleansed, healed and refreshed and gradually see the true nature of reality. The whispers of ‘what if’ fade away in the pleasure of the fountain of His water and the glow of His light. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

EZEKIEL 5
I still remember my first trip to the barber shop where I paid for my own haircut. Until then Dad had always cut my hair. He did a good job, but in junior high in 1968, his style had not changed in the 13 years that he had been cutting my hair. I could have him cut it to any length and style I wanted it cut, as long as it was his. I had a paper route; I could afford to pay a barber, even though it cost a great deal in relation to how long it took me to earn the money. All I wanted was to look a little more like everyone else. In 1968/69 the Broadway musical, Hair, had rocked the nation. Hair had become a symbol not of mere style change but of challenging the moral system of the nation. The Cowsil’s recording of Hair climbed to Billboard’s #2, and helped a hair style become more than a fashion statement.
Hair has long been more than a fashion statement. It has also been a moral statement. Under the Old Testament Law, when one took a Nazarite vow, one never cut one’s hair until one had completed the Nazarite vow, then he would shave his head. Thus when Samson, who had a life-long Nazarite vow, cut his hair, it was the final breaking of the three signs of his Nazarite vow, and it demonstrated his complete abandonment of his moral commitment to the vows. Two women in Jesus’ day washed Jesus’ feet and dried them with their hair. Both were acts demonstrating extreme devotion to the Lord. In the days of New Testament Corinth, long hair on a woman seems to have been a symbol that she was in submission to her husband or father. It would appear that the prostitutes in Corinth (of which there were many) often shaved their heads. Long hair was a public statement of a woman’s submission and fidelity to her husband.
The Lord uses Ezekiel’s hair to make a judgment statement. What Ezekiel did with his hair graphically portrayed what God was doing in judging the nation. Judah had been unfaithful to Him. Therefore, He was judging her. He was cutting her off. She was receiving double for her sins. Let us never forget that a great part of the glory of the Lord is that He does judge. It is unpleasant for us to view, but nevertheless, it is His glory! Whenever we see His judgment, we should remember that it is also His glory! It is amazing that he can even use our hair to bring glory to His name! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ROMANS 8:22-39
I long for the day when my body is redeemed—no more muscle aches, intestinal cramps, headaches, fevers, pulled muscles, broken bones, arthritis, back pain, toothaches. But more than the physical pain, I long for the day when I will be conformed to His image. Indeed, the whole creation longs for that day. Until that day we live in a foreign land. C.S. Lewis called it living behind enemy lines. As we live in enemy territory, He takes every work of the enemy and causes it to eventually work together for us for our good, namely to conform us to His image. There is no work of the enemy that can separate us from His love. His love for us is His motivation to conform us to His image. His glory is seen in each circumstance of our lives that we dislike or like, because He is using them to conform us into His image! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

August 5

JUDGES 19
Where is the glory of the Lord in this chapter? That is really hard to say. Here is an extreme example of what happens when there is no king and men do what is right in their own eyes. Apart from the restraining power of the glory of God, men and women will do the most hideous things; a wife will play the harlot, a father will permit her to do it; men will force their lusts upon others to the point of death; a man will not protect his wife; a man will dismember his wife’s body to get justice. It is pretty sad. The next time someone talks of the innate goodness of man, remember this story. If there is any innate goodness in man it is only because of the restraining power of God. In the midst of deep moral darkness, indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 36
For just one second the light was out. It was long enough to know that I had forgotten how dark utter darkness is. We were in Hezekiah’s tunnel. If you have ever been in a cave or cavern without light or in a photographic darkroom, you know exactly what I am talking about. You can try to see all you want, but it will never happen. In the midst of Hezekiah’s tunnel, I began having thoughts of what if. What if, my cheap $1.00 dollar flash light wasn’t strong enough to make it to the end? What if, I dropped it in the water? What if I did not have the emotional stamina to walk 500 meters in utter darkness? What if, the tunnel had a fork that led you into a loop from which you could not feel your way out? The last question was leading me into unreality. I had read about Hezekiah’s tunnel, and I knew that there were no loops. Sure it twisted and turned a lot, but there were no loops. But then, right before we entered Hezekiah’s tunnel we came to the entrance of the Canaanite Tunnel or the dry path. I had never heard of that before. What if there were other such tunnels at the end, which I had not read about. What if... Darkness is unsettling.
What makes the wicked, wicked? David says that it is, “There is no fear of God before His eyes. He flatters Himself in His own eyes.” The wicked takes the spiritual vacuum in his life and says, “I know what is here, and this god, who is here, is like this. . .” In reality he has no concept of the true God. Will this gracious God leave us to wander in darkness and all its attendant fears? The wicked think they know what true pleasure and delight is. They think that the true God only wants to take those pleasures away. They think that His light depletes their pleasure. They think this because there is no fear of God before their eyes. Will God leave him to wander in spiritual darkness? Will he spend his days wandering in loops of utter spiritual darkness? Have I not at times been there, and are there not times when I am there? I am convinced that this is the plight of every child ever born on the planet earth, save, of course, Jesus.
But this is where the glory of the Lord Jesus comes in. He is the fountain of life. He is the fountain of true pleasure. In His light we see light! When He is before our eyes, when there is a true fear of Him, we can see reality. Yes, we see the ugliness of things around us, but we also see that His pleasures can eventually wash the ugliness away. Drinking from and walking in His waters washes away the ugly dryness of our souls. It causes true beauty to gradually emerge and begin growing. We don’t have to try to manipulate the darkness because we see His reality. Hezekiah’s tunnel was truly refreshing. As we walked through the cool waters of the tunnel with our little flashlight, we were refreshed from the heat of the day above ground. Jesus is the same way. As we walk in the waters of His cleansing fountain, in the light of His path, we are cleansed, healed and refreshed and gradually see the true nature of reality. The whispers of ‘what if’ fade away in the pleasure of the fountain of His water and the glow of His light. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

EZEKIEL 4
I once owned some land in a community which was built on land that was a drained swamp. Before I built on the land, the house behind it had caught fire and burned to the ground and caught the land on fire. In order to contain the fire, the fire department plowed fire breaks in the peat/ground around the fire to keep it from spreading. One place, where the furrows met, greatly resembled the topography of Jerusalem of where the Kidron, Tyropean and Hinnom Valleys meet. At one point in time, I daydreamed about making a model of Jerusalem on the little mounds. I thought it might be a good teaching lesson for teaching the Scripture.
Ezekiel was given a rather bizarre job. He had to make a model of Jerusalem on a clay tablet and set it up where people would see it. Then he built siege walls all around it. Sounds like something that I would have loved to have done when I was a boy. He had to lay on his left side for 390 days and lay siege to the city to represent the years of Israel’s captivity. Then he had to lay on his right side for 40 days to represent the years of Judah’s captivity. He could only eat 20 ounces of mixed grain per day as representative of the famine that would be in Jerusalem as Nebuchadnezzar lay siege to it. He was limited to a quart of water per day. Definitely siege rations. Since in the midst of a siege, no firewood could be gathered, the Lord instructed him to cook his grain into bread using human dung as fire fuel. That was a little over the top for Ezekiel, so the Lord allowed him to use dried animal dung instead.
It reminds me of a line from an old cowboy song from the Chisolm trail of Oklahoma, “Pickin’ up chips to keep from freezin’, way out west in No Man’s Land.” To this day the town of Beaver, OK, hosts the world’s cowchip throwin’ contest. What a great claim to fame!
I wonder what it was like for Ezekiel to lie on his side and play army for a year and two months. His neighbors in Tel-Abib must have thought that he was mentally ill. I can only imagine having made the model of Jerusalem in my side yard and spending the next 430 days lying in front of it. I am sure the neighbors would have all thought that I was losing my mind. But for Ezekiel, Tel-Abib was the city where the exiled elders of Israel came to discuss what to do about eventually going home. It was more than a weird diversion; it was a clear object lesson to the exiles. The city was going to be lay siege, breached and destroyed. It was clear to Ezekiel’s audience what he was communicating. Did he have fun playing army each day?
Where is the glory of the Lord in all of this? He communicates with us to let us know our end. Today in the park a little three-year-old boy came singing, “God has a wonderful plan for your life.” I told him, that’s right, you keep singing it. Moments later he collided with his older brother and fell to the ground hitting his head on the ground. He cried for the next 20 minutes. I couldn’t ask him, “Do you still think God has a wonderful plan for your life?” Suppose I did, would he still say, “Yes?” Most 3-year-olds would probably say, “No.” But as an adult, I know that life has its moments, but over the long haul, I can say, “God has had a wonderful plan for my life.” If you asked someone in the siege of Jerusalem, “Is this God’s wonderful plan for us?” they would likely have answered, “Absolutely not.” But ultimately as we saw in Jeremiah, God knew the plans for them, plans for welfare. The siege was to cure them of their idolatry and iniquity. Where is the glory of the Lord? In the times in which we would deem evil, if we yield to Him, He will turn those times into times of welfare. He calls us to yield to Him and hold fast to the end. In the end we will see the glory and the wonderful plan. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ROMANS 8:1-21
We saw a few days ago that Jesus Christ is the eternal judge. Have you ever had to go before a judge knowing you were guilty? Maybe it was a traffic ticket, or something worse. There wouldn’t be much hope in that, would there? We all constantly stand before the eternal judge, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are guilty. He knows our sin. We cannot hide it or give a decent excuse. But we, who walk in Jesus, have this promise: There is now no condemnation for those who walk according to the Law of the Spirit. NOW there is no condemnation, not in the future but now! We stand before the eternal judge, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He does not condemn us! Not only that but He has sent His Spirit to live in us and lead us! His Spirit is a foretaste of the glorious liberty we have in Him! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

August 4

JUDGES 18
My associate pastor made the decision to start a new church. To this day I am not aware of anything that I had done to drive him away, but he said he felt that God had told him to start a new church. Hmmm. . . When someone tells you, “God told me,” you really have only one of three choices. You can affirm that God has spoken and bless him in following that decision. You can question the decision, and ask him to reconsider. You can say, “No, I think that you have not heard the voice of God and here are the reasons why.” I told my associate, “It may be that the Lord is calling me elsewhere. If so, the people of this church would probably want to call you to be their pastor. Would you consider staying, if I leave?” He thought for about three seconds and said, “No.” Clearly he felt that God had called him to leave. I chose to bless him and send him on his way. Ministry always follows relationships. About 1/3 of the church left with him.
Others within the congregation were unhappy with the way in which I had been leading. They seized upon this opportunity to declare that I had driven off the associate. “Unless we bring the associate back, this church is a sinking ship. Unless pastor john goes, we go.” was their war cry. Another third of church left. We were now one third the size we had been a few months before, and we were left wounded. Where was the loyalty in this? Why couldn’t my associate have felt enough loyalty to me and the church to bring me and the elders of the church into the decision making process of discerning the will of God? Where was the loyalty of those who were unhappy with me and demanded my resignation? Where was my loyalty in pursing all that I could in order to preserve the bond of unity in peace?
Micah says to these ‘men of valor’ from the tribe of Dan, “You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and you have gone away.” Aside from the commandment, “You shall not steal,” everyone involved in this struggle has violated the first and second commands of the Ten Commandments, yet none of them seem to bear any guilt. What’s up with this? How can this grandson of Moses (as some Rabbin have suggested) have drifted so far from the faith? When one has abandoned the first and second commandments, violation of the rest is not far beyond. Could it be that at the center of a lack of loyalty to each other lies a greater lack of understanding the glory of God?
Within the Godhead there is a tremendous loyalty to each other that we really do not grasp. The Three-in-One created the universe. He created us. The Father intensely loves the Son, The Son intensely loves the Father. The Son intensely loves the Spirit. The Spirit intensely loves the Son. The Spirit intensely loves the Father. The Father intensely loves the Spirit. Yet the Father asked the Son to become human so that He might die in our place. The Son willingly did that because of His love for us and for the Father. The Spirit empowered the Son in His human walk because of His love for the Father and the Son and for us. It was loyal love which motivated it all. We were created to reflect that loyalty. Maybe we do not really understand or embrace the glory and unity of the Triune God.
Micah, Jonathan and the men of Dan knew just enough of Yahweh to use Him as a talisman to improve their lives but not enough to empower them to live as ones who would lay down their lives for each other. For when we truly understand and embrace the Glory of God, that is what we do; we lay down our lives for each other. Jonathan’s sons were priests until the day of the captivity of the land. This heresy and lack of loyalty lasted at least 600 years. Matthew Henry draws this conclusion, “See how dangerous it is to admit an infection, for spiritual distempers are not so soon cured as caught.”
The lack of loyalty to each other really stems from a lack of grasping the glory of the love within the Triune God and letting it fill our lives. We treat ministry as a talisman to build a religious community which makes us feel at home, but that ministry does not call us to lay down our lives for each other, as the Son did for the Father. Church becomes something that makes us feel comfortable, perhaps that with which we grew up, or first found Christ. If that loyalty should call us to lay down our traditions, then we abandon the loyalty for what makes us comfortable. It is really rooted in not truly grasping the greatness of God’s loyal love. We have created idols of our own making and have worshipped them. After all that is much easier than laying down our lives for a love which we think may not be returned.
Jesus on the other hand, laid down His life for us. He did it for the love of the Father, which He knew would be returned. He also did it for the love of us, which is frequently not returned. He calls us to understand and embrace His love. I think the degree to which I really understand His loyal love and trust in it is the degree to which I can offer the same kind of loyalty to others. Do I really believe in a glorious King who calls me to lay down my life for Him and for those who may not return my love? Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 35
Of all people who could legitimately claim that he was being hunted down without a cause, David is probably one of the foremost in history. He had been fiercely loyal to Saul, yet Saul sought to destroy him. After Saul’s death, he had sought to unite the kingdom, yet the northern tribes rejected him for Saul’s general. For seven years his men fought battle after battle until the enemy capitulated. Absalom should have been grateful that his father somewhat restored him to the kingdom, yet he undermined his father’s power base and started a revolt seeking to kill David. Finally there was Sheba who led a rebellion after Absalom. David had more than his share of unjust opponents.
What is going on here? Shouldn’t one who sought after God with his whole heart experience a road marked with less opposition and suffering? That might be the case in our expectations, but in real life the one who seeks God experiences opposition. That is why Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:12, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” So much of this Psalm is David’s complaint and his request for God to pay them back. How does David handle it? Obviously, he brings his complaint to the Lord. The Lord apparently invites our complaint, as long as it is done respectfully and in a manner that does not cast blame upon Him. But notice that while the majority of the Psalm is complaint, the last strophe of the Psalm ends in praise.
Notice in particular that He says, “Let the Lord be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.” Does God really have pleasure in the prosperity of His servant? Then why did He allow David to run from Saul for more than ten years? Why did He let David be pursued by Absalom? Why did he permit Sheba to rebel? I think God defines prosperity differently than we do. Yet, He does take pleasure in my prosperity. Even in the most humbling of circumstances, His goal is our prosperity. The model is Jesus, as is recorded in Philippians 2:1-11. That is what God delights in. He is not stuck in one moment in time in order to define prosperity. Rather His is an eternal view. My problem is that I am such a creature of time. He created time. He defines prosperity from an eternal viewpoint. Lord, help me to rejoice from your eternal viewpoint! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

EZEKIEL 3
It is the glory of the Lord that He should reveal Himself to humans, that He should give them a vision of Himself, that He should send them to other humans to proclaim His word, that He should empower them to do so. Lord, let me be so enraptured with your glory that that becomes true of me. Let me see Your glory! Let me be changed by Your Glory! Let me be controlled by your glory! Let me proclaim Your glory! Let your glory be my first thought in the morning and my last thought at night! Let Your glory be my constant meditation and conversation! Help, for I cannot produce this on my own! I need Your Spirit to enter me and lift me higher than myself so that your glory would be seen first. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ROMANS 7
We were born married to the Law. To be married to grace is spiritual adultery. It would be wrong to be united to another. Ah, but through Jesus, we died to the law. It no longer has a claim upon us. I am free to be married to grace. I can be free from sin and death through Jesus. Now I can live a righteous life, not in order to become righteous but because He declares me righteous and lives in me to empower me to be what He has declared me to be. That makes Him glorious. What I could not do and cannot do, He does! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

August 3

JUDGES 17
“Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since I have a Levite as a priest.” How does the New Testament put it, “1But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2For men will be . . . 5having a form of godliness but denying its power.” What could be more pious our godly in appearance than using your own money to hire your own personal priest? Wow God! Look what I am doing for You! Can we get a little Quid Pro Quo going here? Maybe a little tit for tat? I have done this; surely You will be good to me. Sounds ridiculous does it not? In 2006 Time Magazine had as its cover story, “Does God want you to be Rich?” It was an expose on prosperity teachers of many mega churches in the USA. I wonder if their mindset is any different than Micah’s.
What do we think of the glory of God when we operate in such a fashion? The man is not condemned. Or is he? Snuggled in the midst of this story is the theme statement of Judges, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” It is not that everyone did what was right in the eyes of a Glorious God. Micah’s problem was that his eyes were fixed upon His own glory. Does God want to give good things to His children? Certainly, that is part of His glory. But the primary good which He wants to give us is Himself. It does not come as a Quid Pro Quo agreement. It comes as a demand on His part, “Lose your life.” Then He gives us His. That is not a Quid Pro Quo relationship; we get the greater end of the deal. It is an exchange of our life for His life. Worldly riches are a small thing in comparison. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 34
Have you ever done something really stupid and then in the middle of it realized, “Oh my, what have I done?” Our 4¾ years in Portland during seminary were very lean years financially. The first six months that we were there, the only furniture that we had was our mattress, our baby’s crib, a desk, a big ugly black box and a really ugly worn out sofa—better than nothing. After a while, I scraped together enough cash to buy a sheet of chip board and some 2x4s. I made a table and a bench out of it. From time to time over the years somebody would give us a piece of their worn out furniture, and we gained what we needed, although most of it was rather seedy looking. By the end of those years I was making a livable wage working part time at UPS and delivering the Wall Street Journal after I was done at UPS. The running joke for Laura and I was, “Someday when we have the money . . . “
I took my first pastorate in Oklahoma along with a pay cut in comparison to what I was making part time at UPS in Oregon. But the prospects were good and I presumed that things would pick up. Needless to say much of the furniture was not worth the cost of moving to Oklahoma. We joined a purchasing club when we moved. The things that the club listed were much less expensive than if purchased at Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club. Then after a couple of months we realized, that was really stupid. We weren’t making enough to buy anything. We paid the membership fee but were never able to take advantage of the membership. After a year, we had purchased nothing. We let the membership lapse. That was a waste of money. Maybe if I had listened to the Lord first, I could have saved the membership fee and used it for something else. The joke continued, “Someday when we have the money. . . “
Saul had attempted to murder David twice. David had been a faithful servant for years, and Saul was repaying him by trying to kill him. David probably reasoned, “Since I am now Saul’s enemy, maybe I can go to his enemies and they will protect me.” He jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. In the middle of it he realized, “Abimelech wants to kill me just as much as Saul wants to kill me.” Wow! Did David stop to consult the Lord about the wisdom of running off to Abimelech before doing it? I doubt it. But did God abandon him for it? No, He did not abandon David. In the midst of his stupidity, David realized what he had done, and he called out to the Lord. “6 This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them.” The Lord taught David firsthand what deliverance was all about.
In further response to this situation David says, “8Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! 9 Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him.” Want, by the way, has the meaning of lack in relation to necessities, not desires beyond necessities. For the next 5-10 years David lived a life of deprivation in relation to desires for comfort, but he never lacked for necessities. He was a young lion and he never went hungry. He knew that his afflictions would be many, but he also trusted that the Lord would deliver him out of it. I have learned that, and I continue to learn it over again. There are many afflictions that will come my way, but the Lord will deliver me out of all of them. The only question is, “Will I consult Him first and obey his answer, or will I follow what I think best first?” I hope I will consult Him and obey. Otherwise, I will continue to do stupid things and compound the problems of my life. But either way, He shows His glory in the way He delivers me. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

EZEKIEL 2
The last line of Ezekiel 1 indicates that Ezekiel fell at the feet of the Lord when He saw His glory.
The Lord says to him, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you.” Awestruck by His glory, Ezekiel falls to the ground in the presence of the glory of God. What a privilege! But, it is one that no unsanctified human can bear. God help me to seek and find Your glory! Finding Ezekiel in his helpless position gives him a command with a promise, “Stand on your feet!” How can one stand in the presence of sheer Majesty? But what the Lord commands, He provides. The Holy Spirit entered Ezekiel and stood him up on his feet. It was the Spirit who set him upright when he had been given the command to stand. It was the Sprit who gave him the ability to hear and to listen. It was the Spirit who gave him the ability to go as he was sent to do the really weird commands given in his lifetime. Why could Ezekiel do what he did? It was because of the glory and the Spirit. Lord let me see Your glory, as did Ezekiel, and fill me with Your Spirit as you did Ezekiel. Let me obey Your commands that Your glory may increase! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ROMANS 6
What is the glory of Jesus? He allows and yes, even desires, that you and I should be identified with Him! He, being eternal, causes us to be identified with that human part of Him that was crucified 2,000 years ago and that was raised from the dead 3 days later. Because He died, we died. Because He lives, we live. Because He lives and walks in righteousness, we should live and walk in righteousness. We are no longer slaves to sin. We are slaves of God because of His gift to us. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

August 2

JUDGES 16
Samson loved a woman. Sally Jesse Raphael used to say on her late night radio talk show, “It doesn’t matter who you love as long as you love.” Is that correct? Samson, as a deliverer of the people of God, should have loved a woman within the covenant. This Philistine woman never gave even pretense of loving Yahweh. She loved Dagon, the Philistine god. She loved money. When offered a great sum of money to entice Samson to discover the secret of his strength, she had no qualms about misleading him. Because of his love for her, Samson had no qualms about eventually telling her the secret of his strength. I guess he thought that he would always have his strength. Temptation is always like that. He gave in to her pestering. He lost his God-given strength. He should have guarded his heart as to with whom he allowed himself to love.
Having been humiliated by the Philistines, they began to give praise to their god, Dagon. They denigrated the only true God, Yahweh. The Lord is very protective of His glory. Yes, Samson had royally blown it. Yet the Lord is protective of His glory. He answered Samson’s final request. As a result Samson destroyed more Philistines in death than in life. Not only that but it was in the temple of their god Dagon. Hmmm. . . . The Lord seeks to exalt His glory in us. Would it be better to cooperate with Him in life, or let it be accomplished in death? I choose life. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 33
I remember as a kid getting up on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons. Frequently I would awake before the station even signed on for the morning. I would turn on the TV and watch the test pattern come on. After the test pattern, came The Star-Spangled Banner with a picture of the flag & the Blue Angels flying in the background. Following the anthem there was a voice over with the words on the screen, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” Years later, when I was of the age where I would rather be awake when the station signed off the air at night, I found that they had the same routine at night. I no longer watch broadcast TV, so I really don’t know if stations even sign on and off the air anymore, and if they do, do they still say, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord?”
May I ask a question which to some the answer should be obvious? Why would a nation whose God is the Lord be blessed? Well, a nation whose God is the Lord, would be blessed because He loves righteousness and justice. A nation, whose God is the Lord, will pursue righteousness and justice in their dealings within themselves and with other nations. That, in and of itself, would result in blessings for the nation. A nation, whose God is the Lord, would realize that He is the Creator of all the earth, and as such, would be good stewards over the land that God has entrusted them. A nation, whose God is the Lord, would realize that any counsel but His would eventually come to nothing. So, that nation would highly prize His counsel before making any decision. A nation, whose God is the Lord, would consider the wisdom of war and plead before God what He wants. That nation would realize that ultimately their deliverance was not in their military strength, but in God. I wonder how it would change our country if our churches would throw ourselves before the throne of God asking for His intervention rather only trusting in our elected officials? Would God show His glory to us if we did that? Hmm. . . Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

EZEKIEL 1
As we topped the hill on the highway, we saw it in the distance. My brother, sister and I were on our way back from a watch night service at a church in another community. It was probably around 1:00 AM. The fire was brilliant in its amber glow. We could tell from the outline of the flames that it was a house. It was at least half a mile off of the highway, so we pulled down the road to see if this was something we might need to report in the next town. (This was long before the age of cell phones.) Pulling up to the house, which sat at least 100 feet off of the dirt road, we could feel the heat emanating from the flames without rolling down our windows. There were no cars around and no sign of any one living there. Wondering what we should do, a car drove up by us. It was a sheriff deputy. We knew then that there was nothing that we could do. To this day, more than 40 years later, the brilliance of the glow and heat of the fire are etched into my mind.
Ezekiel was in exile 900 miles away from home. He was thirty years old, the age at which he should have become active as a priest, but the nation has been forced into exile and he has been carried off as a prisoner. He can no longer perform the functions as a priest for which he was born, but God has a higher plan for him; he shall be a prophet. A prophet must have a clear vision of God. Ezekiel is one of those prophets who had not only one vision, but multiple visions. These visions form the bedrock of the motivation and enablement of his ministry. The majority of today’s passage describe not God Himself but all that surrounds Him. What surrounded him alone was enough to scare the life out of anyone. But for all the verses of description of the beings surrounding God, we have just a few short verses describing the glory of the Lord:

26 And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. 27 Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. So when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking.

How could Ezekiel describe the glory of the Lord? It was like glowing metal. His glory shone in brightness like a rainbow against a black storm that has just passed. Fire is always symbolic of purifying justice. In the midst of the black storms of my sinful life, the Lord shows up in His purifying fire searing the awfulness of my black sin. He is just, merciful and gracious all at once. What could Ezekiel do in His presence? He could do nothing but fall on his face, a quivering mess because of what he saw. It was forever etched in his mind. In all the impossible things that Ezekiel would be required to do, he could do it because of what this vision of the glory of the Lord imparted to him. Am I ready to give up on the Lord? If so, then I have never really seen Him, or I have forgotten His awesome glory. One true glimpse of Him and that is all we need! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ROMANS 5
Peace is a scarce commodity in our world. Terrorists capture the headlines almost everyday. Even in the USA where we live in relative safety, peace eludes many. In our homes of luxurious comfort, we still fight with one another. We still verbally attack, accuse and defend.
Why? Because we are not at peace with ourselves. Why are we not at peace with ourselves? We suffer from condemnation. Deep inside we know an ugly secret, “There is something that makes us unlovely.” We live without hope that the ugliness will ever be taken away. In actuality that ugly secret is there because we are at war with God.
That is what makes Jesus so glorious. Through His death a peace treaty has been called. His blood is the provision of the peace treaty. His blood bought the peace. It is paid for by Him. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John

August 1

JUDGES 15
Capture the flag was one of our more popular games on a campout night in Boy Scouts. On one occasion after the game had progressed for quite some time without any action, the thought occurred to me, “What would happen if I just walked into the enemy camp as though I were one of them, and then grabbed the flag and ran. Would the person guarding the flag remember that I was not part of their team?” It almost worked, I was just a few steps away from the flag when the guard remembered I was not one of his team. I spent the rest of the game in jail.
Samson was working by the principle, “An eye for an eye,” trying to mete out justice. His own people were too afraid to support him. They felt that the Philistines had too much power over them. When a thousand Philistines came against them to subdue Samson, they gave in to fear of the large force which was left behind. Three thousand men went to Samson to demand his surrender. Is there a type of Christ here? We were bound in the slavery of sin. He left His home in heaven to invade enemy territory to set us free. His own came to Him and arrested Him. They led Him bound before Pilate. Pilate, at the urging of the powers of darkness, sentenced Him to death. While in the tight bonds of death in the tomb, He broke those bonds like flax in the fires of hell. He overcame death conquering thousands, millions, yes even billions with the foolishness of a cross. With the jawbone of an ass, Samson killed a thousand and provided a temporary deliverance. With the foolishness of the cross, Jesus crushed the head of Satan, trampled him under His feet and provided an eternal deliverance for those who would trust in Him.
Just as Samson caught the Philistines by surprise, so Jesus caught Satan by surprise with the cross. The apostle Paul tells us in 1 Cor 2:7-8:
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
My deliverance took Satan by surprise. He keeps me in his bonds only by his bluff that he holds power over me. It’s a game of capture the flag, and Jesus has already captured the flag. He did it by surprise and by His awesome power. If I remain in bondage, it is only because I have not understood the freedom which He has obtained for me! It is only because I have not claimed it as my own! I am such an ass! His glory has obtained the victory! He did it with a cross! Heap upon heap, I am freed by the cross. Upon His deliverance of me with His cross, He gave me His Spirit to quench my thirst and empower godly living. What a miracle! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 31
I remember Mom making preserves. She made several kinds, but foremost in my memory is the sand plum preserves. Sand plums grow wild in thickets. The cattle used to like to go into the thickets to get shade from the hot summer sun. If I remember right, the sand plums ripened in early summer. We went out to the cattle lease to the thickets and picked them empty. When we brought them home, Mom cooked them and did whatever it is you do to fruit to sweeten and preserve it. We had preserves to eat with our peanut butter for months to come. But if they were not preserved, they only lasted a few days at most.
It always strikes me as odd when I read the Psalm and hear it say, “The Lord preserves the faithful.” I get images of the Lord cooking us down to mush and adding sugar and whatever in order to make us tasty and to not spoil. I almost get the image of Him putting us on the shelf for Him to come back later and consume. After all, we were created by His desire, His will, as the KJV puts it, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” So when I cry out, “Preserve me, O God!” I know that what I mean is, “Don’t let me be destroyed!” But do I stop to think that the preservation might involve some unpleasantries comparable to the metaphor of being cooked down to mush and having other ingredients added in order to make me palatable to His taste, and that the whole process is to please Him and not necessarily me?
What does David mean when he cries out, “9 Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble; My eye wastes away with grief, Yes, my soul and my body! 10 For my life is spent with grief, And my years with sighing; My strength fails because of my iniquity, And my bones waste away?” Sounds like being cooked down to mush to me. How does that bring glory to our God? Well the cooking process destroys the bacteria that bring ruin to the fruit. The cooking process in our lives destroys the sin that brings ruin to the eternal fruit of our lives. In so doing, He can enjoy us forever, and we can enjoy Him forever. Preserve me, O Lord! Love the Lord all you His saints! Be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

LAMENTATIONS 5
The scene Jeremiah describes here is absolutely heartbreaking. I have never experienced anything so absolutely devastating. For that reason I have no personal experience to share. I cannot even begin to imagine the emotional devastation which Jeremiah describes here. It must have been incredibly painful. It is painful for me to just try to put myself in that situation. How does Jeremiah keep himself sane? He is bedrocked on this one thought

19You, O LORD, remain forever; Your throne from generation to generation. 20Why do You forget us forever, And forsake us for so long a time? 21Turn us back to You, O LORD, and we will be restored; Renew our days as of old, 22Unless You have utterly rejected us, And are very angry with us!

In the midst of horrible anguish there is one thought that keeps Jeremiah buoyant. It is that God is indeed on His throne and there is hope for restoration. As long as God is on His throne there is hope for restoration. No matter the depth of the horrible anguish in my or your life there is hope for restoration in God. What is the requirement? He must be on His throne. Not only must He be on His throne, but He must be on the throne of my life as well. He will remain forever on His throne. The only question is, “What about mine?” That is always in my hands to choose. His glory will shine one way or another. The question is, “Will it shine in the mercy which He shows me, or will it shine in the justice which He metes out against me?” The choice is mine. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ROMANS 4
Wow, the righteousness of Jesus is imputed to me, simply because I put my trust in Him who raised Jesus from the dead! What does imputed mean? It means that someone else’s actions are counted to be legally true of me. Adam’s sin in the Garden was imputed to me. Jesus’ death for my sin was imputed to me! Jesus’ righteousness is imputed to me!
Have you ever wanted Bill Gates entire fortune to be imputed to you? That is poverty! Jesus shares His righteousness with all those who will truly trust Him. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John