Practically Sanctified

The Big Change

2011-04-23T22:54:00.000-06:00

I have enjoyed using Blogger for the lst few years. But I have made the switch to WordPress for the simple reason I can now host the blog on our church website. It only makes sense, right?

So, you can find the continuation of my sermons over at www.saskatoonnazarene.org/blog. I am still working on it, and hope to get some social media integration and a few other things. Hope you enjoy the change.

Slaying Giants: Temptation

2011-02-27T10:13:00.001-06:00

Genesis 3:1-13 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'"
The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate;
and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" He said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself." And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate." Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

Giants take all kinds of forms around us. In David’s case, Goliath was a very literal, flesh and blood giant. Joseph’s giants were more about life, the loss and waste of time. Job had to face giants of loss, loss of family and wealth and position. Today I want to talk about the giant of temptation. The Greek word temptation does not just refer to the desire to do something sinful, it also relates to very stressful times. Spiritual warfare…

Sometimes the Bible is very clear on things. In the case of temptation, the Biblical authors were inspired to focus on 3 different kinds. We see them very clearly delineated in 3 different passages. Let’s start by looking at the passage that clearly lists these categories.

1John 2:15-16 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.” Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life. In today’s terms it would be money, sex, and power. Temptation falls into acquiring stuff, selfish want, and self importance.

The Garden: Sometimes life is good. You have everything you need in abundance. You have a great relationship with God, your spouse – everything seems to be in harmony. It is this context that Adam and Eve are faced with a choice. The command of God is clear and simple. Do whatever you want except don’t eat the fruit of these two trees. How often do we focus not on what we have, but what we don’t have? This is one reason why Paul challenges us to “in everything give thanks”. It seems when our eyes wander from what we have to what someone else has, the door is open for temptation. Listen to genesis 3 again: “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate.” It was good for food. It added to what she already had. It was connected to that other tree which granted eternal life. Satan claimed she would not die! If you have ever collected anything, you know the search is for the piece you do not have. The focus of the collection is not what you have, but what you don’t have – lust of the flesh it is a very powerful thing. She had everything but that tree, well, that and the other one. It was a delight to the eyes. She had never ate it before – no one did! It would perhaps be a taste that she had never experienced before. Eve’s mind began to consider the possibilities, she began to listen to Satan’s claim – “your eyes will be opened”. The possibilities began to formulate of what new things she would see and be and experience. She began to yearn for that thing that was not physical, but was still able to be grasped. The promise was strong, a lust of the eyes. Then the pride – “you will be like God”. You will have power, you will control your own destiny outside of God. You are not just a steward, but an owner. You… you… you! And so in spite of tall that Adam and Eve had, they ate, and life would never be the same.

The Wilderness: Sometimes life is hard. You have very little, and whether it be health or food or finances, you seek the easy way to what you think will be freedom. If I can just take a little here and there, I will have what I need. It no longer matters how I get it, because I desperately need it. If I had that I could do God’s work so much better, so much easier. We begin to rationalize away the standards so that the end justifies the means. In so doing we circumvent what God may be trying to teach us in the midst of that trial or temptation. It is in the wilderness where there is more often than not a refining work that God is doing in us, a purifying, a shedding of the garbage so that the good stuff remains and shows. Pretty much every major character in the Bible had a wilderness experience: Joseph was in the wilderness of slavery. Moses and Israel were in the Wilderness outside the Promised Land. David spent years on the run from King Saul. Paul spent some 3-5 years in the wilderness after his conversion.

Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and then faced three temptations: turn these rocks to bread and satisfy your hunger - lust of the flesh; bow to Satan and receive the kingdoms of the earth – lust of the eyes; and cast yourself off the temple, demanding God to save you – pride of life. It is more than coincidence – it is a type we need to examine our lives with, whether we are talking about the temptation to sin, or dealing with a trial in our lives. The teaching applies to both, as in both situations we are bent to turn to our own strength to solve the issue.

We are told in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that there are ways to get through temptations. We are told in James that temptation works on our desires, trying to pull them out of balance, out of proportion to life until they become sin. If we are to traverse successfully through the minefield of temptation in life, there are these three things we need to have a proper understanding of.

Possessions: Everything you have – who owns who? God has promised to provide

Desires: Everything you don’t have – adding to your worth? Happiness isn’t in stuff

Center: The unseen focus of life – what is the one thing life is about for you? Filter life through Jesus

The only way to face the giants of temptation is to give your life to Jesus, completely without reservation.

Slaying Giants – Job

2011-02-13T10:22:00.002-06:00

Job 1:13-22 “Now on the day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the Sabeans attacked and took them. They also slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."
While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you." While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and took them and slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."
While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, and behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you."
Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD." Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.

Slaying giants starts by rooting yourself in God, rooting your life in Jesus so that all that you take in through life is filtered through that paradigm. Then when life takes tragic or serious downturns you are not thrown off track nor are you left without hope or understanding. When you look at Job, right at the beginning he is described as “blameless, upright, fearing God, turning away from evil”. We talked about this principle with Jehoshaphat, and indeed it is foundational for any follower of Jesus, even today.

If you took your whole life and were able to put all the different components of it into a pie chart, so that you had family, and work, free time, hobbies, etc – you had them all listed in a complete pie so that 100% of your life was there; and then you started to colour in all those slice where you lived with that focus of God in those areas, how much of your pie would you colour in? If you took one of those slices like free time, how would you colour it? To live a Christ-centered life does not mean all your free time is spent in Bible study or preaching on the street corner or volunteering at the Bridge on 20th – you may do some of those things, but it isn’t just what you do, it is why and how you do them. Are you talking to God in the midst of that free time? Do you have a sense of the Holy Spirit’s presence with you as you do your woodworking or painting or reading? Did you commit that hour or that evening to the glory of God? Do you have to shelve some of your Christian sensibilities in order to freely participate in your activities? Questions like these begin to help you evaluate why you are doing what you are doing, and whether you are doing it within a life surrendered to God. These questions tend to let you know if you have fallen short – kind of like the Law letting you know you have sinned. The central focus here is surrender. The question you will end up asking is, “What does surrender to God look like at work?” “What does surrender to God look like in my woodworking, or my free time?” Because you were created different than me with different strengths and gifts, your answers will be different than mine. My twin brother got into model remote control airplanes. For him, he also saw it as an opportunity to build relationships with other enthusiasts in his community so that he may live his life focussed on Jesus in front of them.

Do you remember when I talked about blessing the first 10 people in your day? I hope you are still doing that and that it is one of those spiritual habits you have developed in your life. Sometimes it was verbal, sometimes it was a quick, silent prayer and sometimes it was a little act of kindness. You didn’t do it just to get something from that person, but because God had called us to be a people of blessing others. My brother didn’t just do what he did to share the gospel, but because his life focussed on Jesus called him to be who he was created to be in the midst of them. That is the missional message, of just living your life focused on God 24/7, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing. And Job did that. In verse 5 you see he kept short accounts with God not just for himself, but for his kids as well. This is what you and I are called to do and be – just live our lives focussed on Jesus and be real about who we are.

In the mean time, in places we can’t see or hear or in some cases understand, there are things happening that will affect us and people talking about us that will change our life. In Job we see this spiritual warfare, the spiritual struggle that takes place in the heavens in a throne room we only have glimpses of in the Bible. The giants that you and I face are not necessarily the real giant or the complete understanding of the problem. In Job’s case we see there was a challenge to the Sovereignty of God and to the work of God in the life of men. All Job understood was his grief of loss of family, and shock at the loss of wealth and security and position; but there were bigger forces at work unbeknownst to him. As you read this story, you see that God put limits and protection on Job. These things, these giants in our lives don’t take God by surprise.

Have you ever considered that there are bigger forces at work behind the giants in your life? A sickness may cause you to influence a nurse or doctor. A financial pressure may cause you to work a second job or be in a place you wouldn’t otherwise, because God has designed to use you to bless a person going through something similar or something from your past which you have overcome in God. I am not saying that everything that happens God causes for a specific reason. Sometimes it is that way, but sometimes we are just caught up as people in a fallen world. Sin is all around us, and people left to their own devices can become violent and mean. When you look at the effects of poverty and alcohol and drug use the reality is we live in a world where caution needs to happen. In all these circumstances, though, whether God planned a specific event or it happened out of our humanity, the Bible is very clear that God can and wants to use it to reveal Himself to us and those around us. As we live that life of surrender to and focus on God, God will take those giants that come against us and use them for His purposes and glory. The nasty stuff that happened to Joseph turned into the salvation of the family of Jacob. The storm in Jonah allowed him to get back on track with his mission for God. The persecution of the church in Jerusalem led to the Gospel going around the world.

Then there are the little stories about people just being faithful in the little things. Billy Graham was saved in a tent meeting by a little known itinerant evangelist. While we have 13 letters of Paul in the New Testament and you can take whole courses on Pauline theology, it was Barnabus who took Paul under his wing and stood up for him before the church leadership after his conversion. While you may consider yourself of little importance in the big picture, you have no idea how God can use you to change the world with a simple word of testimony or act of love. A young girl stood up in a group meeting in 1909 and simply said in a quavering voice, “I just love the Lord with all my heart!” and the spirit moved in what became known as the Welsh revival.

When you look at the story of Job you see this faithful man besieged by all these tragedies. Most of the book is Job asking , “Why?” while his friends said it was his fault and he needed to repent. God finally steps in and simply asks who is Job to question and understand a God who created the universe, the earth, and all it contains. We will not have all our questions answered, but we can rest in the fact that God is sovereign and in control. Stuff happens because we live in a fallen world and people have been given the wonderful gift of free will, of choice, when they were made in the image of God. The message for us is to stand firm in the things you know; that God loves you and created you for life in His Kingdom.

Slaying Giants - Jehoshaphat

2011-02-06T10:30:00.003-06:00

“Now it came about after this that the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon, together with some of the Meunites, came to make war against Jehoshaphat. Then some came and reported to Jehoshaphat, saying, "A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, out of Aram and behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar (that is Engedi)."
Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. So Judah gathered together to seek help from the LORD; they even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the LORD.
They rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa; and when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the LORD your God and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets and succeed."
When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the LORD and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, "Give thanks to the LORD, for His lovingkindness is everlasting." When they began singing and praising, the LORD set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were routed.
For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir destroying them completely; and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. When Judah came to the lookout of the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude, and behold, they were corpses lying on the ground, and no one had escaped.
When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, they found much among them, including goods, garments and valuable things which they took for themselves, more than they could carry. And they were three days taking the spoil because there was so much." 2 Chronicles 20:1-4; 20-25

This is one of my favourite songs of Don Fransisco’s. It is a bright spot in the history of Israel, when you look at the kings following Solomon. The country was split in 2. Israel was the northern part and consisted of ten tribes, while Judah was the southern half and consisted of two tribes. Israel’s capital was Samaria; Judah’s capital was Jerusalem. Every king in Israel was considered wicked, while there were a spattering of good kings in Judah. Jehoshaphat was one of the good ones.

What was a good king? Israel throughout this period of time struggled immensely with the idol worship of the surrounding countries. The good kings were the ones that tried to put a stop to it, and followed several other laws about only marrying other Israelites. The bad kings tended to marry women from these other idol worshipping nations, and both allowed and practiced idol worship themselves. Sometimes the good kings made alliances with the bad kings. Jehoshaphat made 3 bad alliances: he married his son Jehoram (who would be the next king) to a daughter of Ahab (a bad king who worshipped idols), he made a commercial alliance with Ahab’s wicked son, Ahaziah, and he made a military alliance with Ahab, which resulted in the death of Ahab. So, Jehoshaphat was good, but not great. That seems to be the way of life when you look at many of the leaders in church history you see very human traits. God calls us to the ideal, though. He empowers us to get beyond the mundane, to go beyond the mediocrity of society, to rise above the baggage of our old, worldly life. As we read the history we see glimpses of what that life is like – that life where we walk in step with the Spirit of God by total surrender to His will.

This story of Jehoshaphat is one of those glimpses. Here is Jehoshaphat trying to follow God. He works to remove the idols and places of Baal worship, though he is not able to totally rid the country of its influence. On his way back to Judah after Ahab died in battle the prophet challenged him on that alliance, but also said there was good in him for he removed the idols and set his heart to seek God. He was blessed for that, and so he was successful and prosperous. He set up fortified cities and put in place judges a system to deal with law and disputes. He worked to rule well, and God blessed him. It is in this context that the news of the invading army arrives. So what can we take home from this story?

The first thing is to look at what we are doing before the giants arrive, before the news of the impending invasion of the foreign army. Jehoshaphat set the example of living out the Truth of God in our daily life. Because he kept short accounts with God, confessing sin as it happened and seeking the holiness God asked for, he was able to go to God with the problem as soon as it appeared. Do you ever feely “unworthy” to go to God because of the baggage you are carrying. It is like the guy who is drowning and cries to God. He realizes he has been far from God, and has to make promises about the future for his salvation because he has nothing to offer God in his history. “God, if you will save me, I will serve you the rest of my life.” Compare that to, “God, I am in trouble again. You have saved me countless times from things worse than drowning, and I thank you again. But here I am. I have been trying to serve you and find myself in this predicament. I believe you have more for me to do, so I cry out to you, father, and ask for salvation from this fate.” Which of these is more sincere? Which of these is honest?

Jehoshaphat was able to go immediately to God because he kept short accounts – things were looked after between him and God. The second thing we notice is that his first response is to talk to God. He prays. He not only prays, but gets all of the other people to pray. That is why we take pray requests in our service – we need to be a people of prayer. Our success in defeating the giants facing this church whether they be low attendance or low financial resources depends on our commitment to pray. Our success in defeating the giants in our life depends upon our commitment to turn them over to the Lord, for He is the One that can deal with all these things. Jehoshaphat also fasted about this issue. He put aside some of his very physical needs so he could focus on God much more directly, bringing this request in urgency to God. And God heard Him and answered in a most remarkable way.

Salvation is about living a life focused in and on Jesus Christ. You cannot do that without prayer. Yes, some people will definitely pray more than others, but as a follower of Jesus prayer has to be a part of who you are. Prayer is what connects you to the spiritual. Prayer is what keeps in check your ego and pride, and can help prevent you from always trying to do things in your own strength. When you pray and talk to God about your life, you will find it will become much easier to have God’s perspective on life. Prayer gets to the heart of spiritual warfare. It frees up the Spirit of God to work in and through you.

Lastly, as we read this story of Jehoshaphat, we find that he lived a life of praise. I have said many times that using Scripture in prayer is very powerful. Listen again to how powerful praise is: “When they began singing and praising, the LORD set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were routed.” Praise also frees up the Spirit of God to work wonders. It empowers the heavenly forces to work because praise is recognizing the awesomeness of God. We got Ben a new T-shirt that says, “Danger! Extreme levels of awesome!” God wears one that is even better than that, because He is totally awesome. And when you begin to recognize that through genuine praise, through genuine service, through genuine love, God in His Sovereignty works wonders in and through you. The challenge for you and I is obvious. We need to be living lives of praise to our Creator. We live in three arenas: our thoughts, our words, and our actions. Strive to praise God in each of these places.

The story of Jehoshaphat is about keeping short accounts with God, about a life of prayer and praise. May you see the giants in your life slain by the very power of God because of your faithfulness in these things.

Slaying Giants: Joseph

2011-01-30T23:14:00.000-06:00

Genesis 39:20-40:4,23; 41:1 So Joseph's master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king's prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail. But the LORD was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. The chief jailer committed to Joseph's charge all the prisoners who were in the jail; so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it.

The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph's charge because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made to prosper. Then it came about after these things, the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt.

Pharaoh was furious with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. So he put them in confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard, in the jail, the same place where Joseph was imprisoned. The captain of the bodyguard put Joseph in charge of them, and he took care of them; and they were in confinement for some time.

Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he was standing by the Nile.

Giant #1: Lost years/time – many times in life we come to a point of evaluation. It happens as we look ahead after high school or college and realize how big the world really is. It can happen after we have worked for a few years and we are not sure if what we are doing is what we want to do for our life. Then there is the “mid life” one where you begin to wonder what your life has been all about, and you panic wanting to leave something of substance behind. Then, as we get older still, we have a long look back and wonder what we could have done differently or better. Every New Years I sit down and reflect what was and what could be.

Here Joseph is sitting in a prison. Can you imagine the thoughts running through his head? It is one of those good news bad news stories. “I am part of a big and wealthy family, and my father loves me best. It is going to be a good life.” Then his brothers grab him and sell him into slavery. “Well, this hurts and isn’t very nice; and they are taking me far away to a strange country.” In Egypt he is bought by Potiphar, the captain of the bodyguard, and things went well. “Well, if I have to be a slave, then this is pretty good.” Then Potiphar’s wife got involved and wrecked everything. He was innocent but got sent to jail anyways. “Rats! Just when things were turning around”. Things go well and he moves into leadership within the prison system, and he interprets a couple dreams. ”Great, this is my chance to get out!” 2 years later and he is still waiting. “How long?” So here is a guy that just on the cusp of life at 17 suffers a staggering setback (sold into slavery). It is not until he is 30 that he is free from his confines, and suddenly finds himself the second banana in Egypt.

Two questions arise: The first is “Could he have handled the 2nd banana position if he hadn’t had his previous 13 years of experience in the prisons and the waiting?” His mission was framed in years, not months or weeks – he had 7 years to store grain for the 7 years of drought. The truth is that God can use the difficult times of today to prepare us for the ministry of tomorrow. If we fight and struggle with God today, though, we may not get the opportunity of tomorrow. Our response to our situation determines in part whether we are in step with the Spirit of God or not.

The second question to consider is this: “Who’s timetable are we on?” Do we have a sense that God is sovereign and in control and leading us on, or do we feel the need to do things in our own strength and timing. This is an attitude and it makes a difference in how we approach problems. If God is sovereign in our life, there would be no question of what it is all about. We know what it is all about. God is in the business of making us like Himself, and life is the context where that happens. It rains on the righteous and unrighteous. The sun shines on both as well, so it is not about the environment, it is about what we are doing with Jesus today. God knows what is going to happen tonight and tomorrow and next week and next year. You and I don’t have to worry about it. As we focus on Jesus in our life, we can get through anything, knowing God has our back, and that we are all headed for a better thing. Paul said to live is Christ, to die is gain. Don’t hold on to stuff too tightly, because there is much better stuff waiting for you and I. Joseph was 30 when he came into his place of public and prominent ministry. It is interesting to note that it was the same timing as Jesus.

Giant #2: Focus on a dead end job - Slave’s don’t have much of a future. You work all day, eat and fall dead tired on to a floor, just so you can do it all again tomorrow. In doing this are you looking at a future without this hopelessness, a future with some rest and peace? As a slave Joseph had no guarantees. He worked hard and his ethics allowed him to keep rising to the top of his class – but he still was in dead end jobs. Have you ever had a job that felt like that? Has life ever conspired to make you feel like that? They have done several studies over the years about hopelessness, and found it was a determining factor in longevity and survival. Joseph had dreams from God. There were things that he knew God was doing that hadn’t been fulfilled in his life. He had a purpose outside of his circumstances that carried him through the tough times. The joke about the light at the end of the tunnel being a train coming to run you down feels all too real sometimes, but the truth is God is sovereign. Joseph stated himself in conversation with his brothers that what they had meant for evil, God ended up turning for the good.

So if you get stuck on that seeming dead end road, remember Joseph and that it isn’t over until God says it is. There is hope. There is a future in Jesus. There are miracles and all kinds of grace that goes before you into the future. Psalm 37 says,

“Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong;

for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.

Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:

He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;

do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil.

For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.

But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.

These words written some 2,900 years ago in another language, were written for you. Take them to heart from a Sovereign God who loves you more than life.

Two giants that Joseph slayed in his life – wasted years and a dead end job. The truth is this: You never know what is happening in the background, in places even half way around the world. God is going far before and around you with His prevenient grace. He is sovereign and you are never as stuck and the things you think have been wasted have long been redeemed in His own way. These giants are slain by the grace of God. Be still before the lord and wait patiently for Him means that you do what you can and let the Father do the rest. Use your gifts, use the brain God gave you, and live a life focused on Jesus and the giants will fall by the wayside, one after another.

Slaying Giants: Jacob

2011-01-23T10:08:00.004-06:00

Genesis 32:24-31 Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But he said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob."
He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed."
Then Jacob asked him and said, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And he blessed him there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved." Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh.

So, there’s this story of in the Old Testament of Jacob wrestling with God and he extracts from God a blessing. It is pretty easy to have a quick read through and try to apply some principles of prevailing prayer here. All we have to do if we want something from God is to wrestle it from Him. Is that really what is happening in this story? Is this a model of prevailing prayer? Is the giant that Jacob is wrestling with the blessing, the future? What do you know about Jacob?

In Genesis 25:21-26 we read “The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”
When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.” Jacob was in a constant struggle from the womb with his twin brother Esau. Esau had: the birthright, the physical superiority, and was his father’s favourite. And so Jacob began to take what he wanted, even though it was promised to him. You read that passage and you quickly begin to understand that Jacob invariably knew God’s promise to Rebekah because Jacob was her favourite. Jacob tried to get in his own strength what God was going to give him all along. In doing so, though, he lost God’s peace and presence, replacing that for 21 years filled with anxiety.

Jacob then steals Esau’s blessing from Isaac, after which he flees because Esau wants him dead. Esau himself wasn’t all that focussed. He took wives from the Hittites and that upset his parents greatly; enough so that Isaac blesses Jacob a second time, telling him to take a wife from Rebekah’s relatives.

It is on his way to his uncles that he has the dream of the stairs going from earth to heaven, and the promise of Abraham is reiterated to him. God spoke to him in that dream, but Jacob took a “wait and see” attitude. He said if I live through all this, then I will let God be my God. It sounds like that man drowning who cries out to be saved by God and promises full surrender if he is saved. Then he is saved and the rescued man is faced with a decision, a choice he never really thought through. What Jacob did is not that different from what happened in the Garden of Eden. God had said this and this, but Satan came and planted doubt and began to use the word “if”. “Did God really say that?” and “If you eat this fruit, you won’t die…”.

He finally gets to his uncle’s, and ends up working 14 years and gaining 1 extra marriage to get the woman he loved. The con man was conned. Then you get this ridiculous story of two wives, each with a servant, all trying to have babies with Jacob. It is out of this convoluted family that the tribes of Israel are born… and one sister named Dinah! One more story of how Jacob conned Laban to get the best sheep and the dramatic way he leaves Laban like a thief in the night and we find him here, on his way “home”, afraid of his brother Esau.

There is a principle here: You cannot separate what a person does from who he is. I think our biggest error in the church is to have done that. Here Jacob sends all that he worked and swindled for (in his own strength) his whole adult life ahead to Esau. He says, Take it – don’t hurt me!” At the time of crisis Jacob puts everything at risk and is left all by himself. Where is the courage now? Where is the big man in control now, the man with all the plans? He is left with nothing – and then he meets his giant.

In hockey a fight starts and one guy could skate away if he wanted to. They usually don’t, because they’d be called names and they feel that somehow slights their manhood and their worth to the team; but they could. When you wrestle, walking away doesn’t work because the guy is actually holding you. I also know wrestling is one of the most tiring sports there is, and here is Jacob wrestling half the night if not more. He would have been dead tired – and pretty empty. He just let go his love, all his possessions, and now here is this guy who has taken all his strength. What does he have left? At some point the awful realization grips him that he was wrestling with God, who could slay him with a thought. Understand too that Jacob wrestled with God because he had no choice. He was defending himself, not attacking.

I included all this back story because we need it to understand Jacob’s giant. Jacob had been struggling against God all his life. The conflict by the river Jabbox symbolized this – up to this crisis his life had been a long endeavour to resist God’s goodness, a struggle against a God determined to bless and help Him. Jacob had continually insisted on reaching his destiny under his own strength and in his own way. There is an activity that springs from faith, and another from a lack of faith, and Jacob’s life was activity based on something other than faith. One thing that drove Jacob was fear (fear of losing what he had, fear of his brother, of all the people coming against him because he took advantage of them, fear for his life). And to top it all off, he now has to fight his own brother, but can’t because he has a bad leg.

It is at this point, when he has nothing, no hope or anything, that he faces God and surrenders. For the first time (with no other choice) he turns to God and says, “Bless me”. He doesn’t have God in a head lock and say, “You have to bless me now.” This is a statement of surrender. He is so tired and no longer willing to run away from God. It is a surrender to God of all that he is at the very core, and so the giant of self is defeated.

This is a challenge to you and I. Jacob was having the dreams and instructions from God, and he was listening to the big ones. Jacob is a picture of you and I in the church, not of the unbeliever our in the world. The challenge is for you and I to respond to the call of God in our lives to become what He has created us to be, to become what we already are. The work was finished at the cross, the blessings were given at Pentecost, and so the challenge is, “What are you doing with your life?” Are you doing it in your own strength, leaning on your own understanding, or are you man enough and woman enough to let go of all the silly little games that mean nothing, so that the Lord God, creator of the ends of the earth, can bless you, and accomplish His purposes through you. The story of Jacob is so remarkable as it records a thoroughly selfish and conniving man, that God pursued to the point of wrestling with him until Jacob finally understood and believed he could rest in the arms of a loving God. Wasted years, wasted efforts, foolish games, and yet God took all that, and Jacob is renamed Israel at this point, God took all that baggage and accomplished His purposes in marvellous and miraculous ways. It doesn’t matter where you’ve been, or what you’ve done. Today, God will put you in a half nelson if that is what it will take for you to respond to His love for you. Make it easy on yourself, and surrender to your Creator.

Slaying Giants - David

2011-01-16T10:33:00.004-06:00

Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; and they were gathered at Socoh which belongs to Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and camped in the valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array to encounter the Philistines.
The Philistines stood on the mountain on one side while Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with the valley between them. Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was clothed with scale-armor which weighed five thousand shekels of bronze.
He also had bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron; his shield-carrier also walked before him.
He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel and said to them, "Why do you come out to draw up in battle array? Am I not the Philistine and you servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will become your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall become our servants and serve us." Again the Philistine said, "I defy the ranks of Israel this day; give me a man that we may fight together." When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. 1 Samuel 17: 1-11

Ever had a tough life experience where you thought you were going to be overcome? Some huge big problem that loomed over you and threatened to bury you. Sometimes these things are physical, and sometimes they are more giants of the mind that come in and create tremendous stress and strain.
If you were in Sunday school as a child you invariably became familiar with the elements of this story. It is such a classic story of the “supposed” underdog triumphing over a bully, yet it is so much more than that. David wasn’t the underdog - Goliath was; he just didn’t know it. Do you remember where else in the Old Testament we see giants? Israel was sitting at the edge of the Promised Land and they sent 12 spies in. 2 came back and said let’s do it, charge! 10 came back and said we can’t go in because, while the land is more than we could have ever hoped, there are giants living there we could not possibly defeat. I think David may have recalled that history as a boy growing up and maybe even made a vow that he would never doubt like those 10 spies did. God said it, I believe it, that’s final. So he comes to the Israel camp bring food and looking for news of his brothers and Goliath makes his challenge. 40 days Goliath has been doing this, and the army of Israel gets more and more afraid at each challenge, so when David asks how it is going, his brothers get angry at him, taking out their frustration on David. What can we learn from this story about slaying giants? How can you and I overcome these big things in our lives?

Start from a place of strength. When I say this, I do not mean that we find a firm rock when we need it and apply leverage. We do not say, “Give me a place to stand and I will move the earth” as Archimedes did. If you want to slay giants, you need to start long before the giants appear. God was with David when He faced Goliath in part because He was with David when David faced the bears and lions of his shepherding days. David had gotten to know God and had an established relationship with God that stood the test of time. When you read about salvation in the New Testament, it is not a prayer you said one time when you were 8. That is not faith. Faith is not just a quick decision, but a planned following. Look at Hebrews 11. Faith is better translated faithfulness. It is a robust and full word that we have reduced too much in our Western Church to mean just a one-time event. Faithfulness is the strong place we begin – the place of surrender and commitment to following Jesus. Jesus did not say, “Pray and accept Me in your heart”. He did say, “Deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow me.”

There is no way around this. You follow Jesus not with attendance, but with a broken and contrite heart; not with saying the right things, but doing the right things flowing out of the Spirit working in you. These are all things we have talked about over the last few years. There are spiritual disciplines, which John Wesley would call means of grace, that allow us to experience more fully the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

One of my favourite songs from Don Francisco is about King Jehoshaphat. He had a good relationship with God, and so when trouble came he simply asked God what to do and Jehoshaphat went out and did it and the victory was won. Joseph, in spite of his troubles, kept in a good place with God, and ended up saving his family from famine because of his faithfulness. And so David in this story, di and said the things that were in character for him, because of his strong relationship with God. You and I are in that strong place when we do the things like reading the Bible regularly, praying and meditating, fellowshipping in church, living lives of integrity and love. As we are obedient to the Spirit in these things, we begin to live in that place where we can slay the giants who come.

Part of this beginning from a strong place is remembering God’s help in the past. In this story, David recounts to the king how God delivered David from a lion and bear. When you look at the nation of Israel, much of their feasts and annual events are about how God has worked in their lives in the past. There is great value in this remembering, as you invite the Spirit to continue that same work in you. As individuals, we could probably each list several specific things that God has done in and through us. As Christians, we need to look no further than the cross and Pentecost. God revealed Himself to us in the incarnation, and empowered us in the sending of the Spirit. It is the Spirit that transforms us. It is the Spirit who saves and draws men and women to the father. A few years ago I challenged you to set markers in your life; markers that would cause you to remember specific things God has done. Most of us will have a marker of some crisis point in our life where we recognized we needed a Saviour. Most of us will also have a marker where we surrendered our lives fully to God, forsaking all. That is called sanctification. Some call it rededication. The name is not nearly as important as the choice you made, which you continually make in being obedient to the Spirit’s work in your life. As David was going through this story, he had confidence knowing that as God had delivered him in the past, so God would deliver him against this giant who challenged not just Israel, but Israel’s God. How did Israel mark many of those moments? They would make this big pile of stones. What do you think David was thinking as he picked up those 5 smooth stones. Do you think one reminded him of god’s deliverance from Egypt? Perhaps another was the story of Jacob wrestling with God, or maybe the deliverance of Isaac by a ram caught in the thickets. Maybe they were his stones, of God giving him the strength to defeat a bear and a lion. Have you got stones in your pocket? Find some stones, and keep them in sight.

Lastly, when we are facing giants, we know we can go in the confidence knowing God will deliver. How do we know that? We know that because we are involved in God’s mission, not ours. As followers of Jesus we have been caught up by the Spirit and are participating in the missio Dei – the mission of God. David wasn’t fighting for his name, or his families, or even Israel’s. What ticked David off was Goliath’s blasphemy about the powerlessness of the God of Israel. David knew that God was able to give Him strength to defeat Goliath, because God is more than capable of defending Himself. The great part about this story is that He used David to accomplish His purposes. What a privilege to be used of God in this way or any way. That is grace working in and through you, and that is exciting stuff.

Are you facing giants? Be strong in the Lord, remember His acts of grace in your past, and go out in confidence knowing that God is already going before you. You are a child of the Creator of the ends of the earth, a joint heir with jesus, and have the seal of the Spirit upon you. Yes, go out in confidence.

Advent - Waiting

2010-12-19T23:43:00.005-06:00

When you came today, did you think, “God has brought me here by divine appointment?” God has something here for you not just today, but each time you come. There are two things you can take away. You may take them both, or just one or the other, and next week it may be the other one The first thing is what you take for yourself. God is in the business of making you like Himself. As we look at the Word and consider the claims of Jesus God speaks to you about you. Maybe it is something you need to do or to change or to consider. But you may be here and you’ve got it all together. You may not need what God brings today for yourself. In that case let me suggest that God wants you to take this stuff for someone else. Maybe you never really knew how to talk about sanctification or faith or hope, or how to express it to someone else. You can take what we talk about here and share it with others. It helps sharpen your understanding and confidence, so you can build into someone else’s life. I’m glad you’re here, and I pray there is something here for you to take on your journey to Christ-likeness.

As you read the recorded history of God at work in the world, you see time and time again people waiting. We find David, waiting after his anointing for king Saul to die (or leave the throne). Before that we see Israel waiting for deliverance from bondage in Egypt for some 350 years. After the last prophet spoke, Israel was waiting for 300 years for a prophet’s voice. Waiting, waiting and more waiting. Simeon and Anna, both connected to the temple, were waiting for something God had said was coming. Imagine being 5 and understanding God speaking to you and saying you will see the Messiah in the temple. 70 years later the memory is still clear, but maybe you are tired of waiting, tired of waiting around the temple.

Let’s talk about those periods of life when we are waiting for God to show up. We know He is always there, but we are praying fervently for something and waiting for an answer. We want more of Him, but don’t seem to be hearing from Him. Everything seems to be going along pretty well, but we seem to be in a delaying period. How are you at waiting?

The value of waiting right. It is when God is silent, when we are in the in between times of His interaction with us, that we have the chance to prove our faith; to express our faith, to exercise our faith. Ben is in wrestling. If I stay by his side the whole time - he is in a match and I am there whispering in his ear telling him to do this and that, Ben doesn’t learn much. In fact, it is almost me wrestling, rather than him. If I am quiet and let Ben do “his” thing, whatever the outcome, then it is Ben wrestling. So it is with God. God is quiet sometimes so we can see how we’re doing. Our character has a chance to be proven. Often God is silent so He can get out of the way so we can see what our faith is actually made of. Does it bend precipitously under the slightest pressure or is it rock solid through the toughest gale? Is it something we just put on when we think we need it or do we carry it around like the pencil in the ear, always having it ready for when we need it?

I have one of those all in one weight machines in my basement. I know purists will say right away that that is my first problem. I really need free weights to get the most out of my exercises. The truth is if I want a bigger bicep, I have to exercise it. I can’t just look at my arm and visualize an 18” arm and then it will happen. I have to get on that machine and do flys and Preacher Curls and work my arm, 3 times a week for a long time. With right eating and no injuries, I could do it. One reason I don’t have 18” biceps is because I haven’t done it. It’s easy to talk about my weight machine, the specific exercises, and even walk around wearing baggy shirts and shorts. It’s easy to say, but to actually do it is much harder. And it shows in my physique. So, how’s your faith? Have you exercised it lately? Are you exercising it in small things so it grows? It is easy when times are good to talk about Jesus and faith, but do you still cling to Him in the tough times, or when God seems to be silent?

After the last prophet was heard, Israel started waiting. And in the midst of the waiting, when it seemed like God was taking forever, there came the time when the waiting was up! Finally, God showed up, and in a big way!

The result of waiting right. So God shows up! The thing we have been waiting for happens, even if we didn’t know what we were waiting for. We pray, we get into the Word, we fellowship with our brothers, we strive to grow and yield to God so He can continue that work of holiness in our lives. What we will discover is that as we were busy focussing on the basics and doing the little things well, as we were waiting right, we will be ready for God to use us.

We are prepared - Our time spent on the basics has prepared us for God’s presence. Often when He shows up He does a new thing. Remember Pentecost? That’s where the ministry of the Holy Spirit was inaugurated for Christians. Jesus promised He would not leave us comfortless, but would send the Comforter. So the Comforter comes, the disciples spoke in tongues, and in a few short years the Gospel was sent to the Gentiles. Talk about a new thing! Only those current in their faith, though, were able to plug in to what God was doing. As we spend our waiting time becoming all we can be in Christ, He can then lead us on because we get it. If we just sit around and cruise in our faith during the waiting, we run the danger of becoming aligned with the grumblers and complainers. Think of the stories of Israel coming out of slavery in Egypt, and proceeding to the Promised Land. Again and again you see people who couldn’t get with the program God had set. They couldn’t see or hear what God was doing because they weren’t tuned in to Him. Where was their faith when things got difficult? It was way back there somewhere, miles from where it should have been. Only 2 of the 12 spies sent into the Promised Land had a faith that said, “We can do it because God is with us.” And only those 2 entered in. Wait right, so you are prepared for God’s coming.

We are available - God loves to use people for His ministry. Saul became Paul and traveled the world after spending some 3 years in the wilderness waiting for God. Remember when Jesus was brought to the temple as a baby? Two people who had been waiting for God there whole life to show up, were ready to proclaim their simple message. Simeon blessed the baby and was used because he was available and ready. When you are prepared, you are available and ready. Remember the 5 virgins who were out of oil and not prepared and as a result got left out? Be prepared and be available to God.

We are used - Life with God is an adventure. We will find that we were waiting for the big thing, the new thing, the public thing, but in our day to day life God has brought His kingdom near. Every day we live is a celebration of the incarnation. We don’t have to wait for Christmas because Jesus is in our lives today. The miracle of His presence changes us, so that when we look back through that time of waiting, we find that we have actually become so much more than we realized. It is actually those dry times, those times of darkness, those times of waiting that we are most greatly refined. It is one of those paradoxes of the spiritual life. The times we feel most alone, we feel most sad or put down, those are the times our faith grows the most. As you go through that, and do the basics, clinging to God, He will use you in mighty ways to speak to those around you. Stay the course - God will never leave you nor forsake you.

Stay Strong - John 17

2010-11-21T10:50:00.013-06:00

John 17:14-26 "But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

Stay strong in the Faith

The harvest has not been too far gone, and for what they got off the ground it was decent enough. Bonnie and I were watching a show on the Food Network that showed how they grew certain seedless watermelons. As they are ready to harvest you have these workers walking through the fields and selecting the ripe ones and cutting them off the vine by hand. The tractor then comes along with a big trailer and the watermelons are hoisted up and packed in skids right away and off they go to the market. Modern farming has changed remarkably over the last hundred years, so much so that you can grow almost 10 times as much on the same parcel of land as before, by fewer people. Back in Jesus day He talked about the Sower (Matthew 13) who would throw the seed out by hand. It landed in 4 places: the road, the rocks, the thorns, and the good soil. When it landed on the road, it was quickly eaten by the birds. Jesus said this happens when we share the Gospel in a way the person can’t understand it. That is why we need a variety of ways and places to share the Good News. It is also why the most effective way to share Jesus is when you and I do it personally with our friends and neighbours. It becomes an ongoing dialogue so people can understand the Truth of Jesus Christ.

When the seed fell on the good soil it returned 100 fold, which is what the Lord wants to do with you and I. The other two places, the rocks and thorns, are where you and I live life today. Wealth and a failure to really root our faith make us vulnerable to having a shallow and weak faith, a faith that will not stand the test of time and adversity. Jesus says to us, “Stay strong”. He prayed that our heavenly Father would keep us from the evil one. Satan and the world system throw all kinds of things in our path to distract us, to depress us, to destroy us. We are in a spiritual battle, but if God is for us who can be against us? John said, “Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world!” Stay strong in the Faith by doing the little things. How is your prayer life? How is your Bible intake - both the reading and the meditation and memorization? Is it a habit, yet, for you to wake up each morning and commit the day to God before your feet hit the floor? Is the last thing in your mind as you fall asleep prayers of petition and thankfulness? How often do you think about the 2nd Coming of Jesus, rooting your Hope in the promise of God? How much do you prayer prayers of spiritual warfare, asking protection for people and confronting the Enemy with the Armour of God clad about your life? Do you dwell on things that are of excellence? These are all the little things that help you to be strong in the Faith. Most often victory is decided not in the big moments, but in the many little moments that preceded that big moment.

Stay strong in the Word

My dad ended his professional life as a firefighter. He has said he wished he had gotten into it years before he did. It didn’t pay well to start full-time, and before that he was on the volunteer department for quite a while. He had this radio by his bed that would go off when the call came of a fire or a rescue of some sort. He would carry his gear in the trunk of the car so even if he saw a fire truck going down the street all he had to do was follow and put his gear on and he was good to go. Have you seen the gear? I have the helmet, the coat and the boots. I believe they also have some shirts and other underclothing they wear that provides extra protection. The boots can be worn up to the knee, or pulled way up the full leg. It is actually somewhat bulky. It takes time to put on, and it does not always make a positive fashion statement. But is it worth it? Of course it is, because when you have it all on properly, it is a lifesaver. And so it is with the Bible. It takes time to put it on, to study and memorize. It takes effort to understand fully how to apply it today when it was written 2,000 - 4,000 years ago. To quote it in certain places is now even politically incorrect. But is it worth it? Absolutely, for when you have it in your life and properly applied. It is a life saver. It gives life not only to you, but to those around you. Jesus had a conversation in John 6 after some of His followers were leaving Him, and He asked His disciples if they were going to go away as well. It is Peter who replied and said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.” This book is God revealing Himself to you and I and your neighbour. It has the words of eternal life. Get into it, and let it get into you.

Stay strong in Unity

It is time to say, “Goodbye”. I am going to die tomorrow, and this is the last thing I have to say to you as my friends, my disciples, my chosen 12. This is it, and with this I am done: “Stay strong in unity.” Bonnie opened our service with the verse in Ephesians that reveals how important unity in the church is; it is a witness to demonic forces of the reality and Sovereignty of God. We know it is a witness to the world around us; especially in the negative sense when there seems to be no unity. Rupertus Meldenius, a spiritual leader in the German Lutheran church coined the phrase that John Wesley loved to quote, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials liberty; in all things charity.” The truth of this needs to be applied to every level of the church, starting with our own relationships within the church. As Nazarenes, we know what is important, that God’s purpose for us is to change us, to make us more like His Son Jesus through the work of the Spirit in our lives. Others apply it a bit differently, and that is okay, because we know God uses other people. We haven’t got the “corner” on good theology - we are not the only denomination to get it right. But we are who we are, and as we worship in our tradition and sincerity, we spend our time focusing on those who we can reach with the good news, rather than worrying about what or how the next church is doing. We even seek ways to partner with others. I have been in discussions with other men about forming a Saskatoon Men’s Fellowship that seeks to bring support and cohesiveness to the various men’s groups in the city. There are some 31 recognizable Evangelical men’s groups that have been identified.

On a more personal level, we are a family here. While unity is a function of the Spirit, our response involves openness, acceptance, and time. We have people here who have joined our community in the last few months, as well as ones who have been here for decades. One common thing we have is our faith, and that we are all doing our best to apply it effectively to our lives. We are seeking to know God, to become more like Him, and to live that sanctified life out in the world we live in. We take Jesus with us wherever we go and whatever we are doing. It is this vision that forms the basis of who we are and what we do.

Reveal the Real Deal

2010-11-14T10:30:00.002-06:00

Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.
This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.
I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.
While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.
John 17:1-12

Verses 1-5 When is the last time you looked in a mirror. As I look out I think for some of you it may be a day or two ago. Actually, I have a bad habit of going out the door without thinking about the mirror and checking my hair. A mirror is made by putting a thin layer of highly reflective silver or aluminum on the surface of a piece of glass. When the glass is flat, the light bounces back so you see a perfect representation. Apparently magicians use mirrors to great effect, though I can never see them. The ministry of Jesus was to reveal the Father. He was to mirror His heavenly Father. Listen to Hebrews 1:1-3: “Going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently he spoke to us directly through his Son. By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God's nature. He holds everything together by what he says—powerful words!” (The Message) As we look at the Son, we see the Father.
So, when we see the grace of God extended to the prostitute caught in sin, we see the grace of God extending to fallen humanity. When we see the love of Jesus for the little ones He gathers on His lap saying, “Let them come to me”, we see the love of the Father who says that ministry to widows and orphans is true religion. When we see Jesus walking on water and raising Lazarus from the dead, we see the resurrecting power of God at work. Everything you see and are called to do and be in Jesus is really the call to be like your heavenly Father. In some ways, Jesus did what He did because He was divine and could not do otherwise. When you read Philippians 2:5-11 you see that Jesus emptied Himself in the incarnation, and humiliated Himself by becoming a servant to the point of death. Michael Gorman, a British theologian says that He did this because this is the divine pattern. When you think about it, God Himself almost condescended just be the act of creation, creating something much smaller and more finite than who He is to relate to. It is in the very nature of the trinity that there is this sense of love leading to sacrifice. Jesus showed us that, reflecting God’s agape love character in His life.

Verses 6-8 We talked about how a mirror reflects an exact image. A mirror works by putting that highly reflective surface behind the glass, but when you put small gaps in that covering, you end up with a two-way mirror. From one side you see the reflection, but from the other you can see through it like a window. The second part of this passage we are looking at today speaks not of just reflecting Jesus and God in our lives, but of actively revealing God to those around us. In verse 8 Jesus says that the disciples have received all the words from Jesus that His Father gave to Him. Jesus intentionally spoke God’s message to the people and made sure they knew them, and that resulted in faith. It is not enough to just live the good life, you have to speak it. People all around town today are excited about the game. If you live in Saskatchewan and have to ask what game that is, you are not one of us. I didn’t get here until 4 years ago, but I got here as fast as I could. The people are talking about what they are excited about. They talk about the chances BC have, but most people are pretty confident we can take them. Last weekend I was talking to a lady at Safeway because it was “kinda” slow. She said it will go nuts in a couple hours as people rush out and buy food for the Riders game before it starts. There’s the buzz in the air.

Now imagine if we were just as excited about what Jesus is doing in our lives today. Sometimes I wish at the prayer and share time that I would have to cut people off because so many people want to talk about Jesus. This is our chance to celebrate as a community, as a family. This is your chance to share a word of testimony of what God is doing in your life. I know He is doing something because you are here. Just let me encourage you to verbalize it. Bonnie has been doing our call to worship segment for a few months now, and I really enjoy it. Each week she tries to bring something that God has spoken to her that week about. Sometimes it relates to the kids. Sometimes it is about her or I, but it is about her current faith experience. Jesus had that advantage over us, in that He walked with the disciples for about 3 years. He lived with them, ate with them, slept where they slept, and talked with them after His sermons and miracles, making sure they understood. You and I don’t spend nearly that time together, and most of the people in your life don’t get that exposure. Let me encourage you again to use your voice as well as your actions to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. If you don’t tell them you are a follower of Jesus, they might just as well conclude you are a vegetarian or a Mormon.

Verses 9-12 Our lives are to reflect the father, as well as our words. The last part of this passage, though, indicates that Jesus had a very specific ministry with His disciples. In this prayer Jesus says that He asks not on behalf of the world, but on behalf of the disciples, whom God had given to Him. Jesus is sharing a very important truth here. He had some very specific people to whom He was accountable for. He had multitudes following Him. He had 70 on His leadership team that He sent out by 2’s to share the Good News. Then He had the 12. It was the 12 to whom He spent the extra time. It was the 12 that He would explain His parables too. It was the 12 to whom He asked probing questions like, “Who do people say that I am?” followed by “Who do you say that I am?” It was with the 12 He ate His last meal. It was the 12 that He entrusted His ministry to when He left. He took them from fisher men and tax collectors, to men about the business of God. He taught them what they needed to be able to teach others. The truth for you and I is this: We all have disciples to whom we are to reveal God - find them! We just observed Remembrance Day. It was a day to remember the sacrifice of those who have allowed us and others around the world to experience freedom. The Act of Remembrance is a touching poem and declaration used in many of the services:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

These vets are remembered for something very specific by their comrades. As I reflect on Jesus and His disciples, Jesus was remembered for some very specific things by those around Him. My question is this: What will you be remembered for? What is your family reminded of now when your name comes up? What about co-workers, or your friends you have had over the years? What is the legacy you are leaving with your disciples. Are they pointed to the grace and love of God through your actions and words? It is never too late to leave a lasting impression. Decide today to pray for those around you that will allow you to speak into their lives the Good News of Jesus Christ. Decide today to let your light shine before men. Don’t hit people over the head with your faith, but do let it come out naturally. Be true to yourself; be true to your Heavenly Father.

Laurence Binyon, For the Fallen (21st September, 1914)

2010-11-11T11:00:00.001-06:00

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is a music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncountered:
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables at home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end they remain.

Get your game on

2010-10-17T10:30:00.000-06:00

John 15:18-27 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master ' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.
But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, 'THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.' When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

There is a philosophical understanding of life that says all that we see and experience is not real. The task of life is to get beyond the senses to the reality that is found in the mind, in understanding. A hit movie was based on that premise called the matrix, where it showed that the world as we understand it is a complex computer program to which we are plugged into. The hero gets unplugged, and finds reality, and begins to set people free from the illusion. Sometimes we need to draw the curtain aside in our own lives, to be reminded of what it is all about. In Jesus’ conversation with His disciples before He was crucified, He did just that. Let’s have a look at three truths jesus reminds us of in this passage of John 15.

John 15:18 There is a world force with its own agenda. Don’t expect things to just work out. One of the funniest videos on AFV we have seen involves this little kid and a cat. In the first part you see the child being somewhat rough with the cat. Then you see the kid coming towards you down a path. Suddenly this cat jumps out of a bush onto the kids head and they both go flying off the screen. The cat had an agenda, and while it may have been based on poetic justice, the fact is the kid was bowled over. Have you ever been bowled over by life? The world system is in cahoots with the devil. The world system is not for you. It has an agenda of its own that focuses on destruction and hurt and pain and confusion. Some of us have been through a lot more than others. I have been working with a grandmother the last few weeks trying to help her teenage grandson who was living on the streets in Saskatoon. At the same time, she had a son missing in a large city in the US. She was stressed out and doing whatever it took to help find a resolution to the issues. I am glad to say that both the grandson and son are in Ontario and are getting some of the help they need. Do you wonder why finances are always tight, or why your job doesn’t seem to be worth it, or why some relationships are sour? You have to work at and fight for the things that are worth something in your life, because the world is opposed to you having it. Satan would have no greater joy than seeing you wallow in the problems and pains and distractions of life. His agenda is counter to what God wants for you. When you sign up to follow Jesus, you put yourself in the world’s way, and it will try to harm you. Jesus came that we might have abundant spiritual life. You can have that regardless of what is happening around you, because it is rooted in who you are in Jesus, not by how much stuff you have, or how people treat you. As you run this race called life, then, focus on that upward call of God found in Jesus, of becoming like Him in thought, word and deed.

John 15:21 The world’s agenda is intentionally anti-Christ and anti life. In other words, it is personal. Satan is actively trying to keep you down, to knock you off the course you are on with Jesus. Think of it as a game of football. Right now you may be in the second quarter, or fourth quarter. The game isn’t over until you see Jesus face to face, and it is not until then that you will be able to really stop this struggle. If you take the analogy of the game you understand that there are time outs and half times, where you can catch your spiritual breath per se. There are times when you get in the huddle and talk about the next play, but remember that the opposing team isn’t interested in playing fair. They are going to try to cheat you and hurt you and do anything within their power to set you up to lose. The times you have to gather together and worship are times to get encouraged and energized for the fight. These are times for you to better understand who you are and what God is doing in and through your life. The other team is going to be pushing all your buttons so you get distracted from the game and get your focus off of the goal. Have you ever seen a hockey player bug and chip away at another player, trying to goad him into taking a bad penalty or start a fight? He is simply trying to neutralize that player, and he is successful if the gloves drop and that player is looking at a major penalty. Life is doing that to you. It is trying to draw your eyes from the task of becoming more like Christ so as to neutralize any ministry you may have. Don’t give in to that - stand strong in the grace of God and focus on the task at hand.

John 15:24 The fight is about Truth, about the character of God. One of the reasons we don’t fit in the world is because we have morals, a sense of ethics that is beyond ourselves. That moral code is the character of God. Holiness is who God is, and what the work of the Spirit is doing in our lives. The easy way out of this battle is to avoid the battle. Ben has started wrestling with the Saskatoon Wrestling Club. It is bringing back a lot of memories from my high school days. In wrestling you are in the middle of a ring about 20 feet in diameter - just you and your opponent. You can win by pinning your opponents back to the mat, or by accumulating more points than the other guy by the end of the match. I remember watching a match where one guy was obviously outclassed. He spent the whole match backing away from his opponent and was called several times for leaving the circle, with points awarded to the other guy. In this thing called life we may find ourselves choosing that same route. We bob and duck and weave and just try to avoid being involved. We think we can survive better because we have no confidence in what we can do. Often that hesitancy gets us into more trouble than it solves. I have the dubious distinction of being in one of the shortest matches that I ever saw. I was up against a guy by the name of Allan Muir. He had a really strong upper body and I knew I should stay away from his arms. I didn’t have confidence in doing anything else, so right from the start I went to lock up his head and arms up high. All he did was grab me coming to him and flipped me over his hip and I was down for the count with no way out of his grasp. My hesitancy and fear of what might be overruled any sense of what I should and shouldn’t do. The fact is I had some skills, I was taught the moves, and at the very least I should have made him sweat before he won.

We have the truth in the Gospel, in the Holy Spirit as our Counsellor and Coach. We have strengths and gifts given to us by the Creator of all that is around us, and yet so often we think we can’t do it. We are afraid to even speak about our faith. What is at stake, though, are the lives of those around us. When we get into that avoidance and delaying pattern in our spiritual life, the people around us don’t see or hear the Gospel through us. They don’t see the divine as something tangible, something that can touch their lives. The world doesn’t want people to recognize the Truth of God. Satan doesn’t want people to recognize there is a morality, a code of ethics that is rooted in our creation. Because we were created in the image of God, that moral code is imprinted on our souls. People will deny it and do whatever they can to silence that still quiet voice from within, but part of the task you and I have is to uphold and promote that character of holiness. That is why I get upset with people who live with sin and don’t struggle against it. It is why I get so upset with myself when I blow it and get drawn off of what I should be and should be doing. Hold up the standard of holiness, the character of God, and rally to that. Don’t be swayed from that, whether the road seems easy or hard - never back down, never surrender.

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-10-10T10:30:00.002-06:00

James 1: 1-10 “James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.

Have you ever been in “cruise” mode? It happens when people ask you how you are, and they don’t really want to know, and you say, “Fine” because you don’t really want them to know how you are. We often have valid reasons for brushing off these attempts at connecting – but sometimes we just start living without really looking around us. My favourite story of this happening is when those seagulls play “chicken” on logs going down the Niagara River. The gulls land on the logs above the falls and bob along as the rough river waters carry them both to the brink. The gulls then fly off just as the log goes over the falls and think it is great fun. Again and again they do it, but then winter comes, and this one bird isn’t paying attention. As he stands on the log bobbing about in the waves, going forwards, then backwards, he doesn’t realize the water is lapping over his feet and then freezing. When the falls come he gets a totally different experience because he wasn’t paying attention. He allowed himself to drift, and got royally baptised as a result of his feet freezing to the log.

We can do this in many places of life. We can ignore that light on the dash of our car until one day we get stuck on the freeway because the vehicle just up and quit. We can spend and spend and spend without paying attention to mounting debt and bills until we become overwhelmed. We can allow relationships to develop without a second thought until one day we are faced with very drastic actions and decisions, and finding ourselves in a place we thought we would never be – all because we weren’t paying that much attention. It happens spiritually – we skip doing devotions or praying here and there because of busyness, or a vacation, or sickness; and then one day we discover God seems very far away.

Isn’t that tragic? We let the simple little things go and down the road we run into major upsets as a result. How do we combat that without making a list of do’s and don’ts, without pulling the burden of the Law back over our shoulders? The answer is very simple, actually, and found in several places in the Bible. Turn to that passage we read earlier in James 1 and look again at verse 2: “Consider it all joy…”. What the brother of Jesus was stating here comes from a Jesus “focussed perspective”.Consider a Bike wheel. You have the hub, and all these spokes radiating out, and then the rim which holds the tire upon which you travel. What if half these spokes said, “I don’t want to be connected to the hub, I just want to hang around and do my own thing”? The wheel would collapse, because when all the attention is not focused on the hub, everything about the wheel becomes unstable. That focus and connection to the hub creates tension from one side to the opposite, allowing the tire to function and support a great weight.

But back to this “count it all joy” thing, what does that mean? As I mentioned earlier it is about a perspective that knows God is in control. It is based on a faith that allows for questions about God, but stands firm in the existence of God. Job went through all the garbage of losing family, money, houses, herds and possessions with a testimony of not sinning, of not blowing it. While he questioned God why and where and such, you never find in that book the query, “Are your there?” or “Do you even exist?” We get so used to putting God in a box. In our materialistic Western society we think close to God means close to riches. We think a successful bottom line is the same as God being in our life. This means we tend to look at the “down and out” as less spiritual than ourselves. It means the working poor are not as sanctified as us, and we couldn’t be further from the truth. God is not in stuff, He is in us, in relationships. When money and finances go south, as they have especially in the last couple years, we are left to wonder why God isn’t answering our prayers for help. We somehow connected our stuff with God’s presence. They are not the same. Any stuff you or I have is given as a steward by God for His use in our lives. Don’t close your fist on it and try to hold it because it is fleeting. There are greedy people out there thinking up new ways to get it from your hand to theirs, and sometimes they succeed. So don’t let stuff take your eyes off Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith. Make the focus of your life Jesus and let everything else in life flow out of that.

Count it all joy not only means to look at life from God’s perspective, it also means you need to be thankful in all things. Did you know that is a direct command? In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 it says, “In everything give thanks for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” How many other things can you think of that the Bible specifically says, “This is God’s will”?

There is Romans 12:1-2 where we find “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” as a key to understanding the will of God. 2 Corinthians 7:10 seems to connect this renewing process with salvation, that it is the will of God as a follower of Jesus that you become like Jesus in thoughts, words, and deeds. Ephesians 6:6 refers to the voluntary surrender of our will to Him is part of His will for us. Colossians 1:1 infers that there is a will of God for each of us as individuals. For Paul that meant Apostle. For me it means pastor. For you it could be school teacher or retired or almost anything God has been leading you to. Then in 1 Thessalonians 4:3 we are told sanctification or holiness is part of God’s will. That is included in that whole package of becoming more like Jesus. All these verses are bundled together in a package much more valuable than any of Sasktel’s bundled stuff. It is the will of God that you become more like His Son Jesus Christ, conformed to His image.

So when you look at the phrase “will of God” in the New Testament it is not so much about which school or job you will attend, but about surrendering the whole of your life - your hopes and dreams, your stuff, your gifts and strengths, all of it, to God. As Nazarenes we firmly believe that God can change your life. You are not destined to be angry or to struggle with a habit or addiction, or prone to gossip and sin for the rest of your life, because the power of God is at work in you through the Holy Spirit and he will change you. CAN YOU CHANGE? YES YOU CAN< BY THE POWER OF GOD! You are destined to be conformed to the image of Jesus. So when Paul says, “It is God’s will to be thankful”, it connects us to the life-changing presence of God.

When you are thankful for something you are recognizing the giver. The thankful heart goes beyond the troubles of life to the hope of eternity. While death and frustration and all that negative stuff thrives around us, we focus our attention on Jesus and see the eternal values available. We are thankful not for being sick, but for the truth that God can and is using that sickness to make us more like His son Jesus. We are thankful not for the lack of money or job, but for what God teaches us and how He sustains us in those times of difficulty. So we consider it all joy when we encounter various trials because we know that is all part of the process of becoming more like Jesus in our thoughts, words and actions.

So here we are - Thanksgiving Sunday. I remind you to give thanks, to be thankful; but I also remind you that to be truly thankful, it needs to flow from your rock solid commitment to following Jesus with everything you got. Take this truth home this week with this quote from CS Lewis in Mere Christianity:

"The real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussing and fretting; coming in out of the wind."

This week, each morning before you start your day and in the quietness of your sleepy head, say “Good Morning” to your God, and listen for a spell to his reply.

Community - We’re all in this together

2010-09-19T10:56:00.011-06:00

John 15:12-17

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. This I command you, that you love one another.”

When you watch the Saskatchewan roughriders play you see more than just a football game. You see a province that is excited about their team. You see what people call “Rider Nation”, and you see exciting football. They had a couple overtime games last year. They were so close to winning the Grey Cup. And now they have their own loonie! On game day you see green shirts and sweaters all over the place. The Riders are known across Canada for many of these things.

When you talk to people about the church you also get a sense for what the church is known for. In many places around the world the “church” is synonymous with the Catholic Church. The church is known in some countries as a result with the shame of abuse. In other places it is known for issues of control, control of people or money. There are also positive things - compassionate ministries and holding out hope and love. As we continue our study of John 14-17 we want to look at what themes Jesus talks about as what we should be known. You and I have this mission to accomplish, to be like Jesus and to share His love in the community around us. When people look at us, what are we known for? Who we are today, is not who we were 8 years ago. Even if you just go back 4 years, we have changed and grown significantly. So what does Jesus want us to be known for?

Peace - John 14:27 People of Peace - Not like the world. When you read the newspapers, what are the most common headlines? The headlines tend to focus on the problems. That is what sells newspapers. People like to read about other people’s problems. Look at the video games that dominate the market - many are all about war and killing. Look at many of the movies - more senseless violence. What is big in sports? Ultimate fighting. Wars and rumors of war. Peace in the world is often bought and sold to the highest bidder. How long does the world’s peace last? Just reading in the Star Phoenix on Friday about the continuing conflict in eastern Congo. What a mess, and the civilians are paying a horrible price.

Jesus says I give you a different kind of peace. He says, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” He gives us a peace in spite of all the problems around us. He gives us a peace that passes all understanding as we rest in Him - it doesn’t make sense. That peace is connected to the promise of His second coming - we know the last chapter and the promise of seeing loved ones gone before us again in heaven. We also have peace because we are not alone - we are promised the presence of God and the Holy Spirit. God’s love will never leave us nor forsake us. So we have this strange peace - does it show? How can we show this peace to the world around us? How can we be known as a people of peace?

Fruitfulness -John 15:12 People of Love The heart of God is love. That is how the Law is summed up - Love God and Love your neighbour. The problem is the heart of people is corrupted by sin and there is this constant struggle between selfishness of sin and selflessness of love. I had a conversation with Iona Bischu this past week about the international students program at the U of S. A new administrator has come in that is very much anti Christian and shut it down. He later relented because they saw how much good the program was doing, but there is still a very cautious stance. The problem is there are not a lot of people willing to help these students anymore. She said people don’t seem to know how to be friendly anymore.

We saw last week how love is a result of our relationship with Jesus. Love is not what gets us to Jesus, but what happens as a result of being connected to the vine. Here Jesus uses language that no one can argue with, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” He modeled it and expects us to be doing the same as we grow and become more like Him. How natural is love? Probably not very. Love asks us to look to the needs of others first. But love is something everyone needs and wants. There is a shortage of it in families and life. There are many, many instances of love, but it is not nearly enough for the needy world we live in. So, how can we do better? Which is more effective - love as a group through some kind of program, or love as an individual from one person to another? Which do you think people will respond to the most?

Perseverance - John 16:1 People of Testimony Did you watch some of the World Cup? I have never watched soccer before, and was shocked at how easy and often players took a dive and faked injury. Watching the news there for a while it was all over the place. How can a player fake it knowing there are millions of people watching it on slow motion replay? It is so obvious, but I guess it is so natural to take advantage of it they can’t help themselves. It certainly did nothing to attract me to the game of soccer.

So, people are watching us. We have a message of the kingdom of God - one of peace and freedom and love. Some are called to make a stand on behalf of those poor and downtrodden. Some are called to help the homeless. Some are called to stand for truth in places where truth is not wanted. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling.” In the context of persecution, Jesus said to stand firm in your faith. There are several places around the world today where calling yourself a follower of Jesus results in persecution, jail, and even death. We pray for them, but that is not our Canadian experience. We have a both a spoken testimony, what we say, and a lifestyle testimony - what we do; that people see and watch.

Christians are not the only ones being persecuted. What would it take for you or I to give up our faith? We have talked the last couple weeks about two men who are giving up because of how other self proclaimed “Christians” are acting around them. I have heard of some people leaving a church because of disagreements over a whiteboard. Others have broken fellowship over issues of coffee. Others because of moving a broken photocopier off of a platform after it sat there for several years. What kind of poor discipleship have we been doing in our churches if those things are all it takes to walk away? What kind of faith do we have if that is all it takes to cause us to move on? No wonder the church is in decline in North America. The church has gotten soft in the middle, like a piece of over ripened fruit. Where are the men and women who are mature in their faith and will stand up not for coffeemakers, but for the Gospel of Peace? Where are the people of God who will do whatever it takes to reach the lost? Where are the ones who will take up their cross daily and forsake all in order to follow Jesus? May that be our testimony.

A people of peace, characterized by love, with a testimony of enduring faith is what Jesus calls of us. We are all in this together, and may we marked and known here on out by these.

Abide in Christ - Foundations

2010-09-12T10:30:00.001-06:00

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.
These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

You have been friends for a long time. But something has come up and you need to leave for a long time. The time draws near and you have one last opportunity to say something. What will you say? Michael W Smith wrote a contemporary chorus some 20 plus years ago sung widely at separations - Friends are friends forever if the Lord is the Lord of them. We host funerals here at the church from Mourning Glory Funeral homes, and people share and speak from their hearts about the people they will miss in the days and years to come. Shortly before His death, Jesus had the same opportunity. It is significant what He deems important to share with His last quiet time together with His friends. We read some of that earlier, so let’s return to it

In John 15 we have this extended metaphor used describing our relationship with Jesus. While the word ABIDING is at the heart, it is a metaphor of vines, branches and fruit. God is the Divine Gardner. Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. We are pruned or even cut off if we bear no fruit. The fruit is holiness, or sanctification, or love; all of which describe the character of God. There are 2 thrusts here. The first is your personal spiritual care by abiding in Jesus, drawing the sustenance of r your spiritual life from Jesus. The second is the fruit that comes with being connected to the vine: your personal spiritual ministry, which is love. The first is your vertical connection to God, the latter your horizontal connection to the people around you, the rest of humanity. Both abiding and love are your responsibilities.

Andrew Murray wrote a 31 day devotional exploring John 15 titled “Abide in Christ”. He reminds us of the call of Jesus to follow Him, that time of salvation from ourselves, from sin, from selfishness, and that the voice of God still calls us. That “follow Me” wasn’t just for a few hours so we could have a nice conversation but then return to the sadness of life. It was a “follow Me and stay with Me, Abide in Me”. We came to Jesus in faith, in understanding it is all about Him and not about us, and we live our faith in the same way. We abide IN Christ, not just with Him. It is an intimate and complete relationship we have with the Son of God, not something lived at arm’s length. How do we do that? How do we live that out?

Today I want to focus on the context of Abiding to give us a foundation of how to Abide in Christ. If we look one chapter earlier in John we see 3 distinct parameters that frame this discussion of abiding. These three things are foundational to our faith, and we are much strengthened if we focus on them in our lives. We have to be intentional in our Christian walk. Some people walk through their spiritual life as if there is no direction, that we can almost go anywhere and do anything without having to focus at all. Is that how we learned to read? No, there was a process of steps, and so it is with our growth.

John 14:1-3 Have you ever had someone travel a long distance to see you? Maybe a child who has grown up, married, and moved out of the province is coming for Christmas. You may already know what those dates are now, so what do you do? You begin to prepare. You clean and shop for groceries. You stick a turkey in the freezer. There comes a joy of expectation about being together with old friends and family. Have you ever thought that is how God looks at you? He is waiting for you to come like a long missed family member. Jesus says here “do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” Jesus is talking about His second coming. The first time He came as a baby and left in the clouds as a resurrected man. He has a date of when we shall see Him face to face, and so He is busy cleaning and preparing our place that is in His Father’s house. This truth of the 2nd Coming should encourage us, should bring us peace knowing that whatever happens today or tomorrow, nothing can take away or stop this reservation from happening. If you have hope in anything, anchor your hope to this promise of God. He loves you and is coming soon to take us all back with Him. Keith Green joked that it took Him 6 days to create the universe, so can you imagine what heaven will be like when He has been working on it for over 2,000 years?

John 14:6 Jesus then says to Thomas, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” I saw this picture online a few months ago of an apartment building that tipped over. It was laying on its side with many of the footings still attached and sticking out of the bottom like sticks. It was a new building built on a slight slope. A heavy rain, loose soil, and construction of the underground garage combined to knock the thing over; like a lumberjack dropping a tree, it just laid down on its side. Compare that to these lighthouses. The storms come, the waves pound, but they stand firm. The difference is what these two buildings are built on, their foundations. The apartment building was anchored to loose soil; the lighthouse to the bedrock. What is your faith anchored to? Remember when Jesus asked His disciples who they thought He was in Caesarea? It was Peter who proclaimed “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God!” The foundation of your faith is this focus on Jesus. Jesus is who he said He is. Some of these people who today question the existence of God, stopped talking about Jesus a long time ago. Peter’s first sermon was the story of God enacting redemption in history through the incarnation, culminating in the life, death, and life of Jesus. Cling to this truth and it gives you the foundation to abide in Christ.

John 14:16 I read an article this past week from Christianity today. It was a youth pastor at the Saddleback Church and the question posed to him was what the biggest issue Junior High youth face today. His answer was abandonment. People today seem to have so many ways to be abandoned. It could be parental divorce or death or financial issues causing separation; but I don’t think the issue of abandonment is just felt by the young. In all stages of life we can experience a sense of being left out or lost. God knew that, and so in the incarnation He did not just give His Son as a sacrifice for our sins, but gave the Holy Spirit to each of His followers as a seal of His promise of redemption (Ephesians 1). He is our Helper, our Counsellor. It is the Spirit’s work in us that makes us more like Jesus (2 Corinthians 3). He goes to the Father on our behalf even when we don’t know how to express our needs or how much we hurt (Romans 8). Francis Chan’s second book, The Forgotten God, is an excellent study on the Holy Spirit and we would all do well to have a read.

So, here’s the thing. You want to feel close to God, start with a good foundation. The 2nd Coming, a foundation of Jesus as the Messiah, and the reality of the Holy Spirit are all necessary for this foundation. If I came up and asked, “Tell me all you know about the 2nd Coming of Jesus, and where you would find it in the Bible” how long would you need? Would you be done quicker than to takes to hard boil an egg, or would you be going on long after the time it takes to cook ribs that fall of the bone? And yes, it is not just about how much you know, but how that knowledge changes you. One theme that runs through John 14 is how we will be doing His commandments if this is all part of who we are (verses 12, 15, 21, 23). And if we are keep His word, He promises He and His Father will come and make His house in us.

The Year of Jubilee: Community - Communitas

2010-09-05T10:30:00.001-06:00

“Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. For each one will bear his own load. The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” Galatians 6:1-10

The Cirque du Soleil is like a circus and Broadway rolled into one. It has the contortionists and strength shows, the trampoline and trapeze acts of the circus, plus the costumes and live music of a theatre show. And you get to eat popcorn. Watching the 8 man trapeze act was amazing. Two guys were sitting on this swing thing, their legs locked in through bars, going back and forth using one another’s weight to get to great heights. Above them on a framework of bars another guy would start the dipsy doodling circling and rolling around the bars and then fling himself into space, timing it just right so he could grab the wrists of one of the two men on the swing. It really was fantastic. It is also a wonderful metaphor for church. Yes, there were clowns and such, but that is not what I refer to. What I saw was amazing teamwork. These men were strong each and every one as individuals, but they all came to points in the performance where they totally relied on someone else to be there for them. There was the sense that they were a team, a community.

For these men and the rest of the performers it was more than just living communally, more than just being together. They participated and worked both individually and corporately to accomplish a very specific goal. They were there to entertain with a world class performance of a specific program. That focus on common task and the commitment to see that task accomplished brought them into a deeper community than normal – something more intense, more chaotic, and something called Communitas.

Communitas is that sense of being equal partners in an intentional and progressive social way; that together the community is becoming something new, something outside of the normal social structures.
For a church that means becoming something more than just an institutional or traditional church. It means we are actively pursuing God’s purposes for us as a community, as we strive to become more like Jesus both individually and as a church.

Shane Hipps is teaching pastor of Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids MI. His deepest desire is to be a catalyst in people’s movement towards God. Shane speaks nationally on the topics of faith, media, culture, post modernity, and the church. He has this to say about community:

There are 4 things necessary for community:
1. A shared History: this helps to establish a sense of identity and belonging. They say it takes a pastor between 3 and 7 years to begin to be able to effectively minister in a church. One reason is it takes time to have a shared history. I can now travel back almost 4 years with most of you here.
2. Permanence: Something fixed or consistent. It is how you get shared history. You have to stick to something. People who go from one church to another don’t gain permanence. They will not belong to any community. Common faith also helps with this permanence. You say “Nazarene” and we all get you.
3. Proximity: You have to be with one another over time to create meaningful connections. You have to take the time to show up. As a church we seek ways to get together in the midst of busy lives, because getting together helps immensely in creating connections – but you have to be intentional at it, as with each of these areas. It is more than history, it is closeness.
4. Shared Imagination of the future: A sense of we’re all going in the same direction. This is the hardest of all. We have different opinions and different perspectives. One of the reasons Jesus spoke of humility is because we have to get beyond agendas. It is this fourth point I want you to reflect on today. Service to the community lies at the heart of the Communitas’ mission. By its very nature, to serve is a collaborative process; doing with, as well as for someone.

What is our mission as a church? What is our motto? Why do we have it? We have it because this is our shared imagination of the future. It is where we want to go as a church, and where we as a community of Believers want each of us to go. In fact, we believe it is a vital road that we all need to be on with others regardless of whether we fit into one community or another at the present. If you aren’t part of one, find a community you can join because this is a journey where we need friends on the way. The journey has 2 parts.

To Know the Love of Jesus. This first part is expressed in the passage we read earlier. As you read Galatians 6, you get a sense of community involvement and while the chapter is addressing an individual’s error, it is written in the context of the community, the church. That speaks to you and I. Here we are in community, but we have come as individuals. We come from different age groups, different social structures, different histories, both good and bad; both of our doing and as bystanders. Part of what makes us a strong community is those differences, for they add to the whole mix of who we are as a group.

To know the love of Jesus is to know Jesus. You have to have an understanding of who He is (and who He isn’t) and who you are before Him. One of the reasons we meet on Sundays is to seek to know God better. We look at the Bible and see what it reveals about God. This book reveals His character, and so we encourage people to read it, to memorize it, to study it. It shows us God’s character – and reveals our own character. You want to change? Do it with the guidance of the one who created you. He wants to make you more like His Son, more like Jesus. He wants your life to be involved in eternal things, not simple things of no consequence. You and I both know that those eternal things are all focused on people. So we do our best to focus on people and relationships and becoming more like Jesus.

So here we are, all of us on this journey, this spiritual pilgrimage. As community, we are all progressing to this imagined future of looking and behaving more like Jesus. Is that your commitment? Are you with us on this journey? This is what this community is about. Let’s pray and renew our commitment together. Pray after me in your own heart this prayer:

Jesus, today I make this commitment to be more like you. I commit to do it in your strength, your way, not mine. I surrender all that I am and have to this task, and I join my brothers and sisters on this path of surrender, that we may become a community that reflects your love and grace. We confess our shortcomings and sins that get in the way of this journey. Forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness that blacks our relationship with you. We praise your name, Amen.

To Live the Love of Jesus. Just being in a community with others who have made that commitment is quite the thing. The only problem is if that is the only commitment we make we become a modern monastery. We need to have a purpose beyond ourselves if we are to be truly a communitas. This common purpose we share is to “live the love of Jesus in our communities”. This church building is like a mission station. We come to learn and be encouraged, to be equipped and discover our gifts and talents if we don’t already know them, but we don’t really go into the mission field until we leave the door out front. What do we do with our faith out there? How do we live our life in such a way that Jesus can be seen? We sing, “Shine Jesus Shine” but do we live it? Is Jesus seen in our business and money management? Is Jesus seen in how we look after our stuff? Is Jesus seen in how we talk with our neighbours, in how we interact with them? Some people only show their faith as it relates to the church, and so people think Jesus is only concerned about them if they go to church. How small a God is that? Living the love of Jesus is living big on the compassion scale, on the “life on the street” scale. Excellence in all you do is a hallmark of following Jesus.

Our church, our community, our Communitas, is about coming together to know the love of Jesus, and going apart to live the love of Jesus. We all subscribe to that. That is who we are and what we are about. Like those trapeze guys who have their own strengths and part of the program, at the same time as relying on the others to be there when they need them.

Psummer Psalm Pseries - Psalm 113

2010-08-29T10:30:00.000-06:00

Praise the LORD!

Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.

Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and forever.

From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the LORD is to be praised.

The LORD is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens.

Who is like the LORD our God, who is enthroned on high,

Who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth?

He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap,

To make them sit with princes, with the princes of His people.

He makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyful mother of children.

Praise the LORD!

What is a good example of something high and mighty being humble and brought low? As we read this Psalm, we are given several aspects of why and how we should praise the Lord. We often focus so much on music as the best form of worship, but there is so much more. Here are somethings we find in this Psalm:

Lifestyle - Can you remember when you were in love? Maybe it never worked out, maybe is more one sided and a bit obsessive. Maybe it led to marriage and all the rest, but can you remember what it was like? I met Bonnie on January 7, 1999. She was far away, but there was something right at the very beginning that clicked for me. It seemed that every waking hour was taken up with Bonnie, what she was doing, what she was thinking, and so on. There was an all-encompassing focus that came to my life. All the other stuff in my life went dull compared to what was going on with Bonnie. From the rising of the sun, to the setting of the same, my thoughts, my words, my life was focussed on Bonnie. I was in love and it consumed me.

That is why the Psalmist talks about that here in this Psalm. He was in love with God, and was consumed by His focus on the Creator. His life revolved around not just conversing with God, but living out the character of God in His life. You read of people like that throughout the Scriptures. You read the stories of people down through the ages who had surrendered their lives because nothing else made sense but to follow Jesus with all they had. Are you in love with Jesus? Has it changed your life, or have you slipped back into that place where He is just a common piece of a busy life. After 30 years of marriage the love can turn into the “same old, same old”. The emotion can get squashed under the cares and responsibilities and concerns of the broader relationship and the family. God is calling us back to that first love, that exciting sunrise to sunset love.

Humility - We talk about our need to surrender and to love God with all our heart and soul and mind. Sometimes we don’t get it, though, because we don’t really “get” the Gospel. There are many people, even people who have been Christians for a long time, who don’t get grace. They “feel” or “insist” that they have to “do” something to help them be worthy of such love. They have somehow negated grace by their life, their experiences, when it really isn’t about them at all. What is it about? It is about humility. Not my or your humility, but God’s. The very heart of the Gospel is that God humbled Himself. He is high above all nations, enthroned above; but draws near to you and I.

There is a new trend in wedding photography that happens after the wedding and honeymoon. The bride puts on her multi-thousand dollar dress and jumps in a pool, plays in the mud, allows the once white and pristine dress to be muddied and ripped and trashed. There’s that sense of moving from the uptight and prim and proper wedding day to the relaxation and freedom of real life. The dress is humbled as much as a symbol of the unreality of the wedding day being humbled to the reality of day to day life. It’s not a bad thing, though a woman may not want to spend so much on her wedding dress to begin with. God humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant, temporarily giving up some of His divine rights voluntarily. This was done just so He could draw near to you and I.

Relationships - Politics is on every persons mind when every day is a struggle. You look at what is happening around the world and you see the truth of the power struggle. In Pakistan where some 20 million people (1/9 of the population) have been displaced by the recent flooding you see insurgents threatening aid agencies so they can control the population. The civilian government has been weakened greatly while the military has been looked at much more favourably. In war torn countries like Afghanistan and Iraq it is the innocent bystanders, the civilian population that gets stuck in between the warring factions and bear the brunt of the conflicts’ results. Children especially are vulnerable, and life seems to become so cheap. Out of power struggles and class struggles in the early 1000’s arose the communist ideal, of a classless society where the playing field was level for all. 100 years later we see how utterly a failure it turned out, in large part to the corruption of the heart. Man cannot be altruistic on his own. He can’t do it. This guy takes a photograph of him and his family on vacation, and in the background of the picture you can see a thief picking up the man’s camera bag and running off. Go almost anywhere and you can see people being taken advantaged of. Yes, there are many, many instances of people being the proverbial “good Samaritan” but there are struggles everywhere.

But when you take all that mess and lay it up against the grace of God, the love of God, you see the priorities that God has much more clearly. Jesus is about relationships. You have this great big indescribable God who in humility steps out of that awesomeness to come near to you and I. His presence isn’t about just watching, or gloating, or judgement. He comes close for relationship. “He raises the poor from the dust, the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes…” At the very beginning of creation you see that emphasis of relationship between God and man. Man, made in the image of God Himself; man who walked in the cool of the evening talking to God. And God long before this had the path of redemption laid out for man’s inevitable Fall - so that the relationship could be fully restored even though it was fully broken.

While God does care about your life and your very basic needs, He is firstly and vitally concerned about your relationship with Him, your spiritual health. If you follow Ken Rutherford’s journal you know that even though God can and does heal He is much more about what we are doing with Him today. It is appointed man once to die, and after that the judgement. The judgement is not just about sin - it is about what we did with Jesus Christ today, about our relationship with Him.

Barrenness was a huge deal in ancient times as it was the children that look after the old, not the government. Community was important then, because it became your social net. If you were kicked out of the synagogue, it could be devastating. While my closest family is in Ontario, and my older brother Paul recently took a trip out to Banff and stopped by our place last Monday on his way back. It struck me that it had been some 5 years ago that we had the last recent visit from my family, when my dad flew in to Alberta to pick up a car in Lethbridge. While I have had the privilege of visiting my family several times out east, I was reminded of the family that is so important. When we moved here we left Bonnie’s parents in the town we moved from, and so our kids are growing up with very little experience of their grandparents. But when you read this Psalm you see God’s priority is about family, about community. The Psalmist writes that God “makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyful mother of children.” You and I are in the same family. That is what our church is meant to be. Regardless of my physical family, you are the grandparents and aunts and uncles and even brothers and sisters of Ben and Heather. I suppose if one of you really wanted to you could be the “mother-in-law”, but the point is we are a family united by the Spirit of God. Does that change how you relate to one another? Does that change what you feel is your responsibility to those sitting in the chairs beside you?

If God is so big on relationships, how about you? Are you doing whatever it takes to not just know God, but to build relationships with those around you? If relationships that build people up are such a high priority with God, shouldn’t they be for us? If we are called to walk like Jesus walked, if we say we are His follower, we have to make relationships our priority. This may mean you need to let go of the small stuff. It may mean you need to let go of the big stuff. I was talking with another pastor this week about the challenges of following Jesus, of discipleship. He made the observation that many people follow Jesus as long as they don’t have to change how they live. He reminded me that we are not living for ourselves, for the typical Canadian materialistic lifestyle. We are called to be sold out to Jesus, and don’t you think that will be life changing?

Psummer Psalm Pseries - Psalm 103

2010-08-22T10:30:00.003-06:00

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits;

Who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases;

Who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;

Who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

The LORD performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed.

He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel.

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.

What are some of the best things people have given you?

Many of us have been through the whole job searching process. Rick has just finished that, and it starts by looking for that opening. You look through the paper, you scan online sites, you can even go through a third party that does the looking for you. You craft the most up to date resume with all the relevant information. Then you find it - the job that would be a great fit. It has great hours and even better fringe benefits. You feel a bit under qualified, but you never know. You go through the application and do the waiting, then you get the call for the interview. You enter the office somewhat nervous, because it really is a “killer” job. You shake hands and sit and the interviewer starts up and easy conversation with you. “The process is really rather simple,” she says. “We have this check list, so I will simply go through and see if you match up.” You have applied for job 3x9-777, that’s the one for Supreme Sovereign.” She does that thing where she glances at you over her glasses and gives you a dubious look. She turns to Psalm 103 and begins to go through the list:

Ability to pardon sins
Ability to heal diseases
Redeems life, giving an individual true worth
Loves all: in all, through all, in spite of all
Ability to refresh and revitalize a person’s life experience
Delivers the oppressed
Comes close to people: imminence with eminence

She looks at you again, then picks up your resume. You suddenly realize that not only does your bakery supervisor position not have much relevance, but the strained relationship with your neighbour and the looseness of your tongue is a big issue. You are not surprised when she gives a brief sigh and says, “You know, Mr Smith. While you have some good stuff here, I don’t really think you have what it takes for this position. It wouldn’t be out of line for me to say, ”I don’t think you are cut out for deity!” I’d set your sights a little lower.

So you go home and check out the Psalm itself. Indeed, as you look through the first 7 verses you see all of those job requirements. Your heart begins to echo the Psalmist when he says, “Bless the Lord, O My soul, and all that is within me. Bless His holy name.” It really is a good thing you or I are not deity. He really is above all and beyond all. When you look at what He does you can’t help but echo the song that says, “For He has done great things.” So, you continue reading the Psalm and discover that aside from the checklist of the things God does, you see a few other major themes.

In verses 8-10 you see God’s grace. What was the price of grace, that unmerited favour that God shows towards us? While the Psalmist did not know it then, he was pointing ahead a thousand years to the point where the incarnate God died for you and I on the cross. We had this huge, massive debt. The root of that debt was sin. We were born with it - it is that thing that resides within us that causes us to be selfish, to be angry and nasty. Picture that debt as if it was the South Saskatchewan. You are given a child’s pail and told to empty it. When you empty it the debt is done. So you go down to the end of Taylor Street into Buena Vista and down to that park on the river and start dipping. Your task is impossible. Even if you were able to scoop fast enough to keep ahead of the flow of the water, where are you putting it? You throw it on the beach and then the “emptied” water just flows back into the River. Grace is that thing given to you that you could never get on your own. The cross of Jesus stopped that River of Debt far better than the Diefenbaker ever could, for our earthly dams aren’t meant to stop rivers, just harness their power. So even though you and I were drowning in the debt of sin, God did not pass the judgement due those sins. That grace is ever present today. As you go through your day to day stuff and you realize it with a careless word or a thoughtless deed you have blown it again, you have fallen short of the ideal, God reaches down and offers His love and instruction and correction and righteousness. It is all yours, because of the grace of a great and awesome God.

As you read verses 11-12 in this Psalm you continue to be amazed at not just the grace of God, but His forgiveness. So you have this impossible river debt, and in grace God has stepped in and stopped the flow. There has been too much water under the bridge so to speak. You are unworthy, God could never love you for what you have done, for what you are. The Psalmist say, “You don’t get it. Let me give you a picture.” And so he takes this globe. No, understand that even though David’s view of the world wasn’t this big, this complete, he was inspired to write a significant truth about just how big God is and how much He loves you and I. David said our sins are removed as far as the east is from the west. Notice he didn’t say as far as the north is from the south. If you stand on the North Pole and go South, you can only go 20,004 km before you hit the South Pole and start going north. You can’t ever go any further than 20,004 km south. There’s a cap, a limit. But if you start going east, how far can you go before you have reached the end of “eastnest” and start going west? You don’t. You can keep going east until the cows come home. You can go east around the world 1,000 times and still be no closer to going west. There is no end to going east because we live on a sphere. So how much forgiveness does God have? It is limitless.

In verses 13-17 you read of God’s compassion. The picture is of a loving father to his children, and we can all relate to that even if it wasn’t our personal experience. We know how a father should act and behave. We know the ideal of a father giving up all to protect his wife and children. The Psalmist goes beyond this and asks how long do you think compassion would last? How long is a long time? How long do you think the Supreme Sovereign would consider a long time? The Hebrews made it easy to understand for us. If they wanted something emphasized or intensified, they would just repeat the word. Something could be red, or if it was really really red they would say it was the red of reds, the red of all reds. Take all the reds you could find, then the reddest of those would be what I am talking about. It is like the Chuck Norris jokes, which refer to him as the ultimate guy. When He does push-ups, it is the earth that moves, not him. Some people wear Superman pajamas. Superman wears Chuck Norris pajamas. Chuck Norris doesn't breathe, he holds air hostage. When the boogeyman goes to sleep, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris. So when the Psalm speaks of everlasting to everlasting, you know it is beyond forever and a day.

Do you understand why the Psalmist opens and ends the Psalm with six “Bless the Lords.” Do you get disappointed and think God isn’t watching out for you? Be patient and rest assured that God is working on your behalf, and has been since long before you acknowledged Him as your Lord and Savior. Trust Him, rest in Him, listen to Him, seek Him. Just stop and wait on Him - you will not be disappointed.

Psummer Psalm Pseries - Psalm 101

2010-08-15T10:30:00.005-06:00

I will sing of lovingkindness and justice,

To You, O LORD, I will sing praises.

I will give heed to the blameless way

When will You come to me?

I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.

I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;

I hate the work of those who fall away;

It shall not fasten its grip on me.

A perverse heart shall depart from me;

I will know no evil.

Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy;

No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.

My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me;

He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me.

He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house;

He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me.

Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land,

So as to cut off from the city of the LORD all those who do iniquity.

Have you ever seen a manifesto? Down through the years individuals or groups have drawn up papers that make their statement about where they are at, what they believe. Luther’s 95 Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences nailed to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church in 1517 is widely regarded as the primarily catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. The United States’ Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration is a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada has a Statement of Faith, which summarizes the basic beliefs needed to be ascribed to by member churches and denominations. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982. The Charter guarantees certain political rights to Canadian citizens and civil rights of everyone in Canada from the policies and actions of all levels of government. It is designed to unify Canadians around a set of principles that embody those rights. The Charter was signed into law by Queen Elizabeth II of Canada on April 17, 1982.

In order to become a member of the Church of the Nazarene you need to sit down with me for a couple classes where we talk about the church and its statement of faith and statement of membership. This helps us all get on the same page, and contains in part our manifesto as a church.

As you look at this Psalm, you also see a manifesto of sorts. Some scholars will suggest that this is also a royal Psalm, used at the coronation of Solomon. As you look closely at the text we see David writing ethical and spiritual standards for both the personal life as well as the throne. It really is a remarkable document. Listen to the kinds of things the Psalmist has made the commitment to:

Verse 1: Praise God
Verse 2: Following God - choice
Verse 2: Personal integrity - even in the privacy of his home
Verse 3: Be choosey about what he watches
Verse 3: Learn from others’ mistakes
Verse 4: Avoid bad friends (especially those who gossip behind people’s backs)
Verse 5: Stand up for others, and for humility
Verse 6: Look for good friends - in the faith
Verse 7: Not put up with liars
Verse8: Believe they can change the world

We have talked a lot about commitment and surrender to God. This kind of commitment to God is exactly what I understand the New Testament concept of salvation to be. The modern church has made the Gospel too simplistic with an emphasis on heaven so that our message becomes “Pray the prayer and you will be saved.” The problem is that is not what Jesus said. He said blessed are the meek, the pure in heart and the persecuted. He said to seek first the kingdom of God and all the “stuff of life” will be provided. Jesus said one must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Jesus if He was to see God. What Jesus was talking about was making the kind of commitment that this Psalmist had, that they would be a champion of the Kingdom of God, that they would pursue holiness. So some 1,000 years before Jesus lived and died, and some 2,000 years since then, we still have the message that God is calling for us to surrender ourselves to Him, and this is what it looks like. This manifesto tells me a couple things.

The first thing it tells me is that we can partner with God in holiness. There are those who say we cannot participate in this. They are afraid that when we say we have a choice, what I know as free will, that we are saying we are adding to the work Jesus has already finished at the cross and the grave. They are wrong, and sell short their understanding of what it meant to be created in the image of God. God created us with choice, because that is part of His nature. As children of God, followers of Jesus Christ, we were predestined to be conformed to Jesus’ image. That is the work of holiness, of the Holy Spirit working in our life, which only happens as we surrender our lives to God. That is the partnership - the obedience, the surrender. It is not a “work” that adds anything to what Jesus has done, but a reception of the grace of God in our life. I keep getting inappropriate gifts for Ben. He’s nine, but I think he is capable of stuff that I experienced in my adolescence. A couple years ago I gave him a little model tank. He is only nine now, so you can imagine how successful that gift was. His hand/eye coordination isn’t there to deal with something about the size of a fly’s wing, let alone try to glue that to some other tiny piece without getting that plastic model cement all over everything else. And of course he gets into it when I am not around - just to look - and just enough to lose a few small but important pieces. In our partnership, I don’t always do a good job of getting what he needs. In your partnership with God, though, He will never let you down. He knows what you need and don’t need, and as long as you follow His lead, your life will be a living testimony to God’s redeeming grace. God invites your participation in this thing called life.

This manifest also tells me we can choose how much power we give to others regarding our life. You don’t have to listen to someone gossiping or beaking. You can tell them that that is not who you are in Jesus; that Jesus speaks of love and building people up, not tearing them down. You give power in your life to whomever you listen to, and you choose whom you will hear. Do their words match up with what Jesus said? This isn’t an issue of loving or not loving them; but rather it is about having people in your life that speak words pleasing to God. Seek those people out - pursue those who encourage your faith, not just an institution.

This manifest also speaks to me about moving with the movers. Jesus sent His disciples out with instructions that if a town didn’t accept their teaching, to kick off the dust and move on. Jesus was telling his disciples to work with those who were interested with the Gospel rather than sit there and argue with stubborn people set in their ways. Do you have movers in your life or “immovables”? Do you have people actively growing in their faith in your life, or just people who are stalled and back-slidden, and only talk about what is wrong?

Today is the day to choose. Today is the day you can renew your commitment as a follower of Jesus to make a statement about just how important following Jesus is to you. Have you ever made a memorial of your commitment to God? The Old Testament people were always piling stones and naming things so they would remember those kind of events. Here is a piece of paper with this Psalm written out. As you leave today, I want you to sign your name to this manifesto if that is truly your desire and place of dedication. This is not an “I should do it because others are doing it”, or “I think the church or pastor wants me to do it” thing. I only want you to sign this if it is your desire to be all you can be in Jesus. You are covenanting with others who have signed this that together we are making our stand and saying, “Today Jesus is my all in all, He is all I need, and I am pursuing Him with all my heart, soul and might.” This church, this community stands for something, and we are all in it together.

Psummer Psalm Pseries - Psalm 84

2010-08-08T10:30:00.005-06:00

How lovely are Your dwelling places, O LORD of hosts!

My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the LORD;

My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

The bird also has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,

Even Your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.

How blessed are those who dwell in Your house! They are ever praising You. Selah.

How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion!

Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring; the early rain also covers it with blessings.

They go from strength to strength, every one of them appears before God in Zion.

O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah.

Behold our shield, O God, and look upon the face of Your anointed.

For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside.

I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD gives grace and glory;

No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

O LORD of hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You!

This is a Psalm of the Pilgrim. You are a pilgrim. How are you doing on the road you are on in life?

The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come is a Christian allegory written by John Bunyan and published in February, 1678. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English literature, has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never been out of print. Bunyan began his work while in the Bedfordshire county jail for violations of the Conventicle Act, which prohibited the holding of religious services outside the auspices of the established Church of England.

The book is written in two parts. Christian, an everyman character, is the protagonist of the allegory, which centers itself in his journey from his hometown, the "City of Destruction" ("this world"), to the "Celestial City" ("that which is to come": Heaven) atop Mt. Zion. Christian is weighed down by a great burden, the knowledge of his sin, which he believed came from his reading "the book in his hand," (the Bible). This burden, which would cause him to sink into Tophet (hell), is so unbearable that Christian must seek deliverance. The story continues with Christian meeting several people along the way including Help, Faithful, and Hopeful, finally achieving entrance to the Celestial City.

The Second Part of The Pilgrim's Progress presents the pilgrimage of Christian's wife, Christiana; their sons; and the maiden, Mercy. They visit the same stopping places that Christian visited, with some additions; but they take a longer time in order to accommodate marriage and childbirth for the four sons and their wives. The hero of the story is Greatheart, the servant of the Interpreter, who is a pilgrim's guide to the Celestial City. He kills four giants and participates in the slaying of a monster that terrorizes the city of Vanity. It has been quite awhile since I have read it, and I challenge you to look it up and read it too.

The truth is that we are all pilgrims in this life. We are all on the same spiritual journey, trying to figure out truth from myth and fiction, reality from blind hope. We have found the truth, and so we continue steadfast in that direction, seeking to be all that we can be in Jesus. As we read this Psalm of the pilgrim we see four things that need to be part of our life.

Be where God is. Verses 1-4 speak of God’s presence, and the desire to be there where God is. Jesus said where 2 or 3 are gathered, the Spirit is there as well. It is not about being with the most people, but being with the right people. You need to be with others who are also seeking God in their life. There are many people in churches all over this city that are not really interested in meeting God - they are just doing the religion thing. I want the name Christian, but I don’t want it to change my life or lifestyle is their motto. What use is that? One of the things I love about where this church is, is that the people who come are coming to meet Jesus. I know you aren’t coming just for the music. You’re not coming just to get your “feel good” talk - you are coming because you want to be closer to Jesus. God knows, and He will continue to make Himself known to you.

Focused on God. Verses 5-7 speak of people whose life, whose heart, and whose strength is focussed on God. They have eternity in them, as we all do who are followers of Jesus. This Psalm says that everywhere the pilgrim goes he leaves blessing because Christ is in him. There used to be a commercial on TV set in the old west. A dusty old cowboy enters the saloon and walks to the bar. The sun is bright he is dusty and looks so dry. He goes to the bar, but instead of ordering a drink he says, “Give me a bag of potato chips.” If you thought he was dry before, you know he is as he eats the salty spuds. The commercial ends up being for Mountain Dew or some kind of pop - they want you to know it will solve the deepest thirst. In verse 6 the valley of Baca is a dry arid place. As the one passes through whose life is in Jesus, springs rise up and water that once barren place. The joy of your salvation can’t help but bring life to others around you.

Satisfied in God. Verses 8 - 10 speaks of the pilgrim who has found full satisfaction in Jesus. Of all the things you could have in life, from stuff to family and friends, to a relationship with Jesus, it is that relationship with Jesus that is the most fulfilling and satisfying. How do people live without Jesus? How does one go day in and day out with pressures and stress, without any hope in the future in this life or the next? When you get down to the barest minimum of life, don’t you want to know you were put here on earth for a purpose? Jesus is the answer for the world today; above Him there’s no other, jesus is the way.

Dependent upon God. Verses 11-12 speak to the pilgrim’s dependence upon God. Jesus said if we seek first His kingdom, all the stuff we need in life will be ours, because God is faithful and loved you enough to die for you. Who else has ever died for you? Maybe someone has made that ultimate sacrifice, but what are they doing for you now? God died for you and is alive today still working on your behalf. Throw yourself upon Him. Cast your cares upon Him for He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7). Go to Him when you are heavy laden and He will give you rest (Matthew 11:28). He has promised rest for your weary soul. Take those promises and claim them in prayer. God will not fail you.

So what kind of pilgrim are you? Are you in danger of falling by the way side? Seek God’s presence. Be focused on and satisfied in Him. Surrender yourself to Him, make Jesus your Lord and Savior, and your feet will be steady on the path.

Psummer Psalm Pseries - Psalm 72

2010-08-01T10:30:00.006-06:00

Psalm 72:1-14 Give the king Your judgments, O God, and Your righteousness to the king's son.
May he judge Your people with righteousness and Your afflicted with justice.
Let the mountains bring peace to the people, and the hills, in righteousness.
May he vindicate the afflicted of the people, save the children of the needy and crush the oppressor.
Let them fear You while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
May he come down like rain upon the mown grass, like showers that water the earth.
In his days may the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace till the moon is no more.
May he also rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Let the nomads of the desert bow before him, and his enemies lick the dust.
Let the kings of Tarshish and of the islands bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.
And let all kings bow down before him, all nations serve him.
For he will deliver the needy when he cries for help, the afflicted also, and him who has no helper.
He will have compassion on the poor and needy, and the lives of the needy he will save.
He will rescue their life from oppression and violence, and their blood will be precious in his sight…

Here is one of 2 Psalms ascribed to Solomon. Solomon the Wise, one could say, for the Bible tells the story of his God-given brain power and how there was no one else like him. People from around the known world came to hear him speak wisdom. When I first read this Psalm I was reminded of that brain power Solomon had. It sounds like it was written by an academic, from the brain, not so much from the heart like David’s Psalms. Some scholars suggest this Psalm may have been used at his coronation ceremony, and as you read you can sense that proclamation, that sense of “officialness” if you will, in the words. Within this context you see a picture of the Gospel. The king was God’s representative to the people and his reign would reflect the character of God. As we consider that, we also consider that there is a Messianic component to this Psalm, as it ultimately reflects not the earthly king’s reign, but the heavenly King’s reign. So the student of hermeneutics would parse it like this:

Verses 1-5: Justice The king was supposed to make sure all in his kingdom had what they needed. Laws were in place to protect the vulnerable, and so part of the king’s mandate was to make sure the violent and oppressors were not able to take advantage of those who were weak. Justice wasn’t about everyone having the same thing, but that everyone had enough. Jesus spoke much about justice issues as part of His kingdom. His parable about the sheep and goats was about His followers living out justice and love. And so the application for us is to be proponents of justice in our areas of influence as we live out the Kingdom of God in our lives.

Verses 6-7: Peace Here the king’s reign is to be marked by peace. The protection provided by a strong king and army is supposed to bring security and peace to the nation. There is also the sense that as God’s people, they are looked after by divine protection as well. Jesus talked about coming to Him for rest, and about peace that He gives to us. Certainly the Messiah brought peace through His sacrificial death. And so we apply this Scripture to us as agents of God’s peace. We are called to be people of peace, to offer peace, to proclaim the peace of the Gospel.

Verses 8-11: Reigning in power The king’s reign is one of power. He has absolute sway over his enemies. His kingdom is broad - all the land. So God’s kingdom is without threat for He is absolute. We have the confidence of following Jesus knowing He is in control. Nothing takes Him by surprise. He is Sovereign.

Verses 12-15: Compassion Here we see the king saving the needy, dealing with poverty, being their advocate and hero. The Messiah came to seek and save those who were lost, to help those in spiritual poverty. We are called to a ministry to the down and out, to helping the least of our brethren.

Verses 16-17: Prosperity There is a blessing pronounced for the king that is reflective of the success of the kingdom and the blessing of God. Indeed, the Kingdom of God is about spiritual prosperity, of eternal life and relationship with the Creator of the ends of the earth. You have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

Verses 18-20: Benediction and closure We end with praises to God. He is our source, our focus. And we could leave this Psalm at that, for this is good hermeneutics. We see what these characteristics meant for the writer in that day, and how the Psalmist looked to God as the ultimate king. We then understand the Psalm in a Messianic vein. These are characteristics of the Gospel, of the reign of Jesus, of the Kingdom of God which Jesus preached while here on earth. We could leave it at that, but let us also take a cautionary note from this Psalm, a note that talks of the reality of sin and the pursuit of holiness, of Christ-likeness. Holiness, as we have talked about it before, is also called perfect love. What holiness looks like is love in all we think, say, and do. It is that work that God is doing within us in those 3 areas through the Holy Spirit as we surrender our lives to Him. Integrity is that work being evident in those three areas of our life. When our speech lines up with our actions and our true motivations in pursuing God, we are people of integrity, people of holiness.

Solomon, son of David, the great king of Israel and slayer of Goliath. The man who could ask anything of God and chose wisdom, thus ensuring wealth and everything else he wanted. Here we have the academic, wise Solomon, saying all the right things, but when the rubber hits the road, he has fallen short. He took 300 wives and 700 concubines. As you read the book of Ecclesiastes you see his own admission of pursuing everything he could think of, from pleasure to wealth to the arts - everything under the sun. It seems as if he pursued everything, everything except God; and everything left him wanting. So, regardless of all the right words at his coronation, he didn’t have the obedience to follow through.

Today people try to fill that same God-shaped void with all the same things Solomon tried, whether it be drugs or possessions, work or leisure, pleasure or pain. Here’s the truth that Solomon missed in spite of all the right words: Surrender your life to God, to Jesus. Give it up - all up, and live for Him. Don’t give your life up to the church. Don’t give it up to a person like a leader or spouse. Don’t give your life to rules and laws, but to the Spirit of Love. Give your life totally over to jesus first and all those other things will fall into place. How do we do better than the smartest man who lived? It’s not a secret. We have a much better understanding of who God is and who we are before Him. We have the full canon of Scripture to refer to, and the Holy Spirit actively working in our lives 24/7. We understand the age old mystery which is the finished work of Jesus. Pursue Jesus with all your heart, mind, and soul, and you will succeed. A lock has tumblers cut in such a way so that only a matching key will raise the tumblers all to the right level. For integrity to be part of your life and my life, we need each of those tumblers to be raised to the right level. The key to integrity is this: our thoughts, our speech, and our words all have to be in sync with that singular pursuit of God. Let me suggest what one of the keys looks like.

First, our thoughts: Motivation. Ask the simple question “Why are you doing what you’re doing?” How much does God play in your decisions and activities? Remember Solomon, we can be saying and doing the right things, but that doesn’t please God unless your heart is after God. You and I need the ongoing work of the Spirit in our lives, leading and guiding us. In the fall of 1981 I was going to the University of Waterloo, enrolled in a math program with a Chartered Accountant option. I was part of a Christian group that met weekly and I remember one of the challenges we were given about doing daily devotions. The question was were we doing it out of devotion to God, or because it was something we were just supposed to be doing? The motivation behind it makes all the difference in the world. Live life, and pursue the calling God has for you, and surrender your will, your motivations to God.

The second area is our words. Ask the question “Is this conversation honouring Jesus?” We are good at saying the right things just like Solomon, but do we recognize when our words turn from being zealous for God to just “beaking” about stuff, or worse, gossiping about people and situations. This is the year of jubilee for our church and in our history there have been issues with words and people taking sides - but that is not who we are today. We have worked hard at being the body of Jesus, of bearing one another’s burdens rather than being one another’s burden. The New Testament spends a huge amount of time talking about the danger of the tongue. It lists gossipers in the same list as murderers and haters of God. Surrender your speech, your conversations to God, and commit to using your words to build people up, to give all praise to God.

The last area is our actions. Ask the question, “I can do anything for God - what will it be?” Preachers always talk about doing this or that, and not doing that or this. Take a step back and consider that probably the biggest error people make in life is to not act at all. People disengage because it is easier, it’s safer. We get tired. We feel our wounds. We feel our age. Sometimes Satan even stops trying to trouble us so we get lulled into inaction. But here we are celebrating our 80th birthday as a church in 2 months and God has declared renewed freedom for us. What are you going to do with your freedom? What has God been speaking to you about?

Psummer Psalm Pseries – Psalm 3

2010-07-04T10:37:00.006-06:00

O LORD, how my adversaries have increased!

Many are rising up against me.

Many are saying of my soul,

"There is no deliverance for him in God." Selah.

But You, O LORD, are a shield about me,

My glory, and the One who lifts my head.

I was crying to the LORD with my voice,

And He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah.

I lay down and slept;

I awoke, for the LORD sustains me.

I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people

Who have set themselves against me round about.

Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God!

For You have smitten all my enemies on the cheek;

You have shattered the teeth of the wicked.

Salvation belongs to the LORD;

Your blessing be upon Your people! Selah.

Who came in third in the Stanley Cup last year? Who was picked third in the NHL draft that just happened? Who was the third Prime Minister of Canada? You may know the answer to some of those questions, but we tend to forget third place finishes. It is good enough for Bronze in the Olympics, but usually we focus on the winner, and the loser of the championship. Next Saturday you will know who takes third place at the World Cup. When was the last time you read Psalm 3 (before today)? Here we have tucked away a nifty little Psalm of David, just 8 verses long. Let’s spend a few minutes with it today.

Hopeless: Have you ever felt alone – really alone? Most people have an understanding that that life is not all roses – there is a struggle that occurs. In spite of the wealth of our nation, there are many people struggling financially and relationally. There is an area on the west side of the city in Confederation Park that contains subsidized housing for families. It is also unfortunately in the middle of a low spot in that area. For the 7th time in the last ten years their basements have been flooded out. Did you see the picture in the paper where the water was gushing up and out of the manholes? So here we have those with low income struggling with all the stuff of life and having consistent issues of flooding on top of it all. Where is the help? The justice? The enemy sets himself against us, and starts with the proclamation that there is no hope. For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life? He will spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun? Solomon waxed long on the futility of life. What are your futilities? What are the things in life that seem to be set against you? Where do you feel pressure?

Let’s take a minute and pray for those points of stress. Tell your Creator of your struggles.

Often life cycles through seasons that we in Canada know so well. Storms come, and bad ones, but when you look at the bigger picture you know sunshine is coming in its own time. Potential sunshine doesn’t always make the day better, when hail and damaging winds is what the present is about. What strikes me about this Psalm is that David’s antagonists threaten to overwhelm him. It starts like the small leak in the dam. As water begins to push through, erosion steps in and the small leak quickly becomes a raging torrent. Sometimes we set ourselves up for it. We get so stretched out in life, so thin because we are so busy and so involved, that when the problems start we are set up like dominoes ready to fall with a single push. There is a lesson here for you and I to slow down, to focus, to put down deep roots so that in times of storms and drought we are able to stand firm.

It’s not about the 10,000, but about the 1. Add insult to injury. Not only are there all these problems, but they come from places unexpected, from places we thought were firm and sound. David is king and has a big family, but his son Absalom rebels (2 Samuel 15 – 17). I understand how hard it is to face the vast enemy that is our there, but when it comes from the person beside you, it can knock the wind out of you. I could face a lot of opposition, a lot of difficulties, as long as Bonnie is with me. What would I do if one day she woke up and decided she wanted something different, someone different. I can’t ell you how devastating that would be. This is the danger of vulnerability.

People go through life with arms across their chest. They refuse to open them up because of some hurt they experienced in the past. The wounds they have stay open and fresh. They cannot move past them as there has been no significant healing. The power of life is given to those wounds, so that we are no longer free, no longer ourselves. You see it when people follow in the footsteps of an alcoholic parent, when the child who swore he would never be like the parent becomes a mirror image. Don Francisco has a song called the Walking Wounded, about a woman carrying with her wounds of life, and not letting the God who made her heal them. Sometimes we find comfort in the familiarity of our wounds. Unfortunately we will never quite see how much we are missing of the life God has for us when we hang on to them. Are you wounded? Is there things in your life you need to let go of and let God heal? Let’s take a minute and pray for this.

God will answer. And in the rest of this Psalm we see David’s confidence in God. Where the world was saying there is no deliverance for him, David was saying that deliverance belongs to the Lord. He understood that God was in control. His testimony is awesome. He had very little Scripture. There were a few prophets in the country that spoke God’s words. But here he is in exile while his son usurps his throne – with a battle eminent that will take the lives of many people. And David wasn’t perfect. Part of the consequence of his sin was that the sword would not leave his family, and here he was living it out.

And what of your life? What are you trusting God to answer for you in your life? I am trusting God for much in terms of this church. I expect us to grow, to see people introduced to Jesus. I am trusting that God will increase our ministry to many different places and in many different ways. As a church we have things set against us. It may be age, it may be the financial base, it may be things in our past, it may be lack of programs or the wrong program, it may be location, it may be lack of kids, it may be anything and everything – I have heard a lot. But God is bigger than all of that. He used 12 men to start a new movement. He has promised that He has plans for us, and has proven it by works He has done in our midst, in our lives. Be encouraged, for the Lord has announced freedom, the Year of Jubilee for us. Take to heart what God is saying to us. As we move into summer let me read this Psalm again in the sense it is written for us, for our church:

O LORD, how our adversaries have increased!

Many are rising up against us.

Many are saying of our soul,

"There is no deliverance for them in God." Selah.

But You, O LORD, are a shield about us,

Our glory, and the One who lifts our head.

We were crying to the LORD with our voice,

And He answered us from His holy mountain. Selah.

We lay down and slept;

We awoke, for the LORD sustains us.

We will not be afraid of ten thousands of people

Who have set themselves against us round about.

Arise, O LORD; save us, O our God!

For You have smitten all our enemies on the cheek;

You have shattered the teeth of the wicked.

Deliverance belongs to the LORD;

Your blessing be upon Your people! Selah.

The Year of Jubilee - Freedom

2010-06-27T10:31:00.002-06:00

Romans 5:15-23 So, since we're out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we're free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you've let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you've started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!
I'm using this freedom language because it's easy to picture. You can readily recall, can't you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as you live in God's freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness?
As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn't have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you're proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end.
But now that you've found you don't have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God's gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.

There is the old story about how to cook a frog. You put it in a pot of lukewarm water and slowly turn up the heat. By the time the frog realizes something is wrong, it is too late to do anything about it – and you get the French delicacy of frog’s legs. Good for you, bad for the frog. So, what if I told you that you were the frog – that there is something all around you that is heating up? Sin captured us unawares when we were born, and jumped us as we made conscious decisions to go against God’s will; His will of love and grace. There was nothing but bad news for the frog, but for you and I there is wonderful news – and that news is simple God has done the work of setting us free. So often we try it set ourselves free. The only problem was, it is impossible. It is even more impossible than escaping a German POW camp in the middle of World War 2.

In 1943 in Stalag Luft 3, a German POW camp southeast of Berlin a plan was put into place to escape. The prison camp had a number of design features that made escape extremely difficult. The digging of escape tunnels, in particular, was discouraged by several factors. First, the barracks housing the prisoners were raised several inches off the ground to make it easier for guards to detect any tunnelling activity. Second, the camp itself had been constructed on land that had very sandy subsoil. The sand was bright yellow, so it could easily be detected if anyone dumped it on the surface (which consisted of grey dust), or even just had some of it on their clothing. In addition, the loose, unconsolidated sand meant the structural integrity of a tunnel would be very poor. A third defence against tunnelling was the placement of seismograph microphones around the perimeter of the camp, which were expected to detect any sounds of digging just below the surface.

In spite of all this, three tunnels were to be built so that some 200 prisoners would escape at the same time. The tunnels were named Tom, Dick and Harry. Dick was the first tunnel abandoned when the camp expansion made it unusable. Tom was discovered and so that option was ended. Harry was eventually finished about a year later. Unfortunately the exit was just shy of the tree line. 600 prisoners worked on the tunnels. 76 prisoners got out during the attempt, and the 77th was discovered. Of the 76 escapees, 50 were executed. Only 3 made it to freedom. A 1963 movie was made called the Great Escape starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough.

Here is a list of what the POWs used to make the tunnels and all the clothes and forged papers they needed to escape: 4,000 bed boards had gone missing, as well as the complete disappearance of 90 double bunk beds, 635 mattresses, 192 bed covers, 161 pillow cases, 52 20-man tables, 10 single tables, 34 chairs, 76 benches, 1,212 bed bolsters, 1,370 beading battens, 1219 knives, 478 spoons, 582 forks, 69 lamps, 246 water cans, 30 shovels, 1,000 feet (300 m) of electric wire, 600 feet (180 m) of rope, and 3424 towels. 1,700 blankets had been used, along with more than 1,400 Klim tins.

Many people know about this “Great Escape” and some of the details, but few people know of another escape that happened at the same camp about 6 months previous. Conjuring up a modern Trojan Horse, the British RAF constructed a gymnastic vaulting horse largely from plywood from Red Cross parcels. The horse was designed to conceal men, tools, and containers of dirt. Each day the horse was carried out to the same spot near the perimeter fence, and while prisoners conducted gymnastic exercises above, from under the horse a tunnel was dug. At the end of each working day, a wooden board was placed back over the tunnel entrance and re-covered with surface dirt. The gymnastics not only disguised the real purpose of the vaulting horse, but the activity kept the sound of the digging from being detected by the microphones. For three months three prisoners, Lieutenant Michael Codner, Flight Lieutenant Eric Williams, and Flight Lieutenant Oliver Philpot, in shifts of one or two diggers at a time, dug over 100 feet (30 m) of tunnel using bowls for shovels and rods of metal to poke through the surface of the ground to create air holes. No shoring was used except near the entrance. On the evening of October 29, 1943, Codner, Williams, and Philpot made their escape. Williams and Codner were able to reach the port of Stettin where they stowed away on a Danish ship and eventually returned to Britain. Philpot, posing as a Norwegian margarine manufacturer, was able to board a train to Danzig (now Gdansk), and from there stowed away on a Swedish ship headed for Stockholm, and from there repatriated to Britain.

So much time and effort – but freedom is worth it, isn’t it? Here we were, stuck in our lives, our sin, with no hope for tomorrow, for the future. Then God took initiative and set us free through Jesus Christ. He said Himself that if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. We didn’t have to try to escape. We didn’t have to dig tunnels or file bars. We just needed to accept what God had already done on our behalf. But what is freedom? Remember what we read earlier, that the choice to use freedom to be selfish and self-consuming leaves you empty and enslaved. Sin is like the drug the addict pursues. The addict revels in his or her freedom to shoot up or inhale, but the reality is that he can’t help it. They are a slave to the drug, and it wrecks everything. I just read a testimony this past week of a guy who was addicted to gambling. He lost his wife and family, his stuff – everything. Some people think freedom means they can run amuck over other people’s freedom, but that selfishness will consume them and lead to hurt, pain, and anguish. The freedom that God gives is about the ability to make choices that result in hope and love and things that count for eternity. If you want a life that is fulfilling and connects to the reasons why God created you, in Jesus you have the freedom to make choices that lead to that. If you want the freedom to experience the joy of life, you can make those choices in Jesus that lead to that. When you are buried and entangled in sin, you are not free to make those choices. You are like that POW walking the perimeter of the camp. You can see the trees, the road that leads to the train station; but the fence and the guards are there. You see it, but you can’t reach it.

But in Jesus you can reach it. You have the freedom to get involved in the kingdom of God. Jesus talked much of this kingdom. It is a kingdom of heroes and love and victory. You have a place in this kingdom of grace. You can become a prayer warrior and pray against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. You can be a messenger taking the message of the King to the people around you. You can be the warrior with you shield of faith and sword of truth. You can be a healer, who by their gifts of compassion and care ministers to those down and wounded. You can pursue holiness because God has given you everything you need to do that. You can be all that you were created to be because you are free in Christ.

A person born in captivity may not even know they are captive. All their life has been in bondage, and so they don’t know what true freedom is. They don’t know anything different. All kinds of people have been in bondage down through the ages. The common thread through all is the bondage of spirit. Whether the person is a slave or the master in life, their soul is held captive by their sin. Some revel in it and they run to chaos and violence. We see those when we read the news of what is happening in Toronto with the protests. Others just cruise through life not paying any attention to that still, quiet voice that says they are missing something vital. They think by ignoring it, it will go away. How will they hear unless we tell them? How will they be set free unless we go to bat for them on our knees before the Father. This is part of your role in the Kingdom of God.

I like how Eugene Peterson put it in the passage above when he said, “A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way!” The message of Romans is that if you are following Jesus with all you got, you are free. There is healing for you. There life for you. There is love for you. Jesus is your All in All.

Fathers’ Day 2010

2010-06-20T10:30:00.002-06:00

2 Timothy 2:1-13 “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules. The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops. Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned. For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.
It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”

Prisca and Aquilla (Romans 16:3-5). One of my claims to fame is that I am Bonnie Grove’s husband. Her debut novel won the Best Contemporary novel at the Word Guild awards this past week. When you read the back cover copy you see the words “…blah blah blah Grove, and her pastor husband, Steve blah blah blah…” That’s what I am talking about. I got mentioned on the cover of a real book – how much better can it get? I know it is not all about me, that it is really all about Bonnie – but in her ministry there are people who pray and support her. In every celebrity’s life there are all the unfamous who do all the background stuff. Sometimes they get mentioned, sometimes not. We like to focus on the celebrities, the famous ones. I can talk of Joseph and David and even Gideon who was famous partially because he wasn’t famous. He was the last of the last, yet God used him. There are whole stories behind those other names, the behind the scenes regular people. For example, who are Prisca and Aquilla? We find them mentioned in the closing of Paul’s letter to the Romans. There are two things we note in Paul’s comments. The first is that they risked their necks for Paul. What? Isn’t that a story you’d want to know? Here we know all about Paul. Paul goes to the Gentiles. Paul almost dies a zillion times. Paul is almost shipwrecked. Paul is beaten. Paul this and Paul that, yet here is an unknown couple that sounds like they saved Paul’s life. If they didn’t do what they did, we may not have heard about Paul past Acts 16! How many of his letters would not have been written if these two unknowns hadn’t put their life in harm’s way on Paul’s behalf? God likes to use the unknowns. He likes to use you and I.

The message I want you to go away with today is that regardless of who you are, if you show up God can use you. Showing up means you are willing to do the work. There are two guys sitting on a park bench eating their bag lunches. One of them has a special phone that is supposed to connect straight from God. You can’t dial out on it, only receive. He is talking to the other guy about God and waiting for His call – the call that will change his life; the call that will give him his ministry, his purpose in life, that might even make him famous. Down the path a little old lady stumbles and the bag of groceries she was carrying scatters all across the ground. The guy without the phone jumps up and helps her up and picks up the groceries while the other guy keeps rambling on about reception issues and how far away heaven must be. The second guy comes back, but just as he does he sees a little boy down the other way looking around like he is lost and starting to cry. He runs over and calms him down and starts asking him about his parents. Shortly the frantic mother of the lost boy comes running over from across a green area and the situation is resolved. The second guy returns to the bench to hear the man with the phone wondering about the data plans available on the phone. A homeless man shuffles by looking for handouts, and receives the bag lunch from the second man while the first just scowls and shoves the rest of his half eaten sandwich in his mouth. Then it happens. The phone rings, and it is ever so melodious. It is as if the angels are playing the ring tone themselves, and the guy with the phone almost panics as he chokes down his mouth full of food. He composes himself, nods and winks at his buddy saying, “This is it! This is the call I have been waiting for!” He answers the phone with a confident , “Hello”, but his face shows great disappointment when he turns to his friend, the one who has been running around and helping people with their needs, he turns to his friend, extends the phone and says, “It’s for you.” You see, the guy with the phone didn’t really show up. Showing up isn’t about sitting on an easy chair waiting for the call, the finger of God to come down and point to a ministry and a loud voice bellows, “Do this!” Showing up is being faithful to the things right around you. He was not engaged in life with his faith, with the people around him. The second guy was full of life and good works and love – that is the man God calls.
And so God is looking for men, for people, to stand in the gap. He is looking for the one who will be faithful to the calling of a life of ministry. He is calling you to show up today.
Outstanding among the great world heroes of ancient times were the Scottish torch runners. Long before the invention of the internet or telephone or telegraph, if a message had to be sent throughout the land, it was entrusted to the strongest and swiftest young man, chosen by each town to be their torch runner.
In one secluded highland town, there was a man famed as among the greatest of this valiant band, and widely known for both his speed and faithfulness. His name was Duncan, known throughout the land as “Duncan the Swift.” He stood constantly ready for the arrival of the runner from the next town. He would listen carefully to the message, seize the lighted torch, and sprint to his appointed town, there to relay the message first to that town’s torch runner and then to all the people. Only then would he return home.
Duncan’s young son, Douglas, was deeply moved by his father’s constant readiness for action and his reputation as “Duncan the Swift.”
When Douglas turned twelve he was allowed, if ready when the torch came, to run with his father to the next town. He could not keep pace, but would follow, and when the torch and message had been duly delivered, father and son would walk home together. Within two years, Douglas could run all the way with his father.
One day, when they had worked hard in the fields harvesting grain, Duncan was greatly fatigued. But at nightfall, the flaming torch was delivered with a crucial warning that enemy forces from the north were to attack that very night. Duncan heard the message, grabbed the torch, and sped off into the darkness.
His son, Douglas was nowhere in sight, but arrived just as the message was being relayed to the people. Learning that his father had already left, he took the road to follow him without any hesitation. In less than half the distance, he caught up with his dad, and immediately noticed that his dad’s running was labored. Suddenly Duncan’s legs gave out, and he fell to the ground. Quickly he turned to his son. “Do you have the message?”
“Yes, Sir!”
“Then go!” And he handed him the torch.
Without delay, Douglas seized the torch and sped off into the darkness, reached the next town and delivered the message, first to their torch runner, then to the people. Returning swiftly, he found his father able to stand and to walk home with his hand on his son’s shoulder. Then Duncan told his son with pride, “One day you will be known as ‘Douglas the Swift.’”
In time Douglas became one of the fastest of all the torch runners of Scotland, known widely indeed as “Douglas the Swift.”
But there was another torch runner, whose name no one remembers, in a town on the northernmost Scottish coast. His job was to carry the message out to a little village on a peninsula stretching far out into the North Sea. In another harvest season, this runner was extremely weary. He listened to the message warning of an enemy attack, seized the torch, and took the trail. But as he ran, his feet became heavier and heavier.
Out of sight of the townspeople, he chose a shortcut leading to a nearby third town, to which the runner from out on the point should have carried the torch. Bypassing the town on the point, he gave the message to the runner and to the people, and then returned home. All the highland villages had been warned, except for that tiny town on the northern point.
That night, the enemy attacked with mighty warships at that very point. The people were unprepared. Many died. The town was taken. The attackers established a beachhead. Great damage was done—all because of the failure of one man, forever nameless, the torch runner who took the short cut.

Do you know that God has chosen you and me to be His torch runners, to take His wonderful message to the whole world? This message is the Good News of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He commands all who have received Him as our Savior to go into the entire world to deliver the Good News that everyone who believes in Him will have everlasting life. We each have a path to run. We each have a shortcut before us, tempting us to do it the easy way.
Are you willing to become one of His torch runners? Are you ready to run with perseverance and stay on the right path? Make that commitment to Jesus today. Tell Him you are in it for the long haul, that whether famous or unknown, blessing or calamity befalls you, your voice is for Jesus and His mission.

The Year of Jubilee - Foundation of Prayer

2010-06-13T10:30:00.003-06:00

1 Timothy 2:1-8 “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.”

The Year of Jubilee is about freedom: freedom from the past; freedom for both land and people to be restored. When you think about it, things were always leased or borrowed, not bought and sold. When you understand the truth of that, you come to realize the truth that you and I are stewards. The stuff we have is not really ours. Anything we have when we are born is a heritage, and anything we gain in life is a blessing; both gifts from God our Creator. As stewards we look after the things we have on behalf of God. The question is how we can better utilize our gifts and strengths, our possessions and time for the Kingdom of God. We start by having the best foundation possible.

We were at Pike Lake yesterday. They have cabins for rent on the south side of the park and I got talking to the Charlotte, the lady who manages them with her husband. They are little 2 room cabins made of finished logs - really quite charming. Late in the season last year they had an arson pour gas inside a cabin and light it on fire. The cabin was a total write off, but when I went to look at the site I could see the concrete foundations were in good shape and the camp manager was ready to rebuild. When you have a good foundation it makes all the difference in the world. The CN Tower, located in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a communications and observation tower standing 553.3 metres (1,815 ft) tall. Construction on the CN Tower began on February 6, 1973 with massive excavations at the tower base for the foundation. By the time the foundation was complete 56,000 t of dirt and shale were removed to a depth of 15 metres in the centre, and a base incorporating 7,000 cubic metres of concrete with 450 tonnes of rebar and 36 tonnes of steel cable had been built to a thickness of 6.7 metres (22.0 ft). This portion of the construction was fairly rapid, with only four months needed between the start and the foundation being ready for construction on top. To build the main support pillar, a hydraulically-raised slip form was built at the base. This was a fairly impressive engineering feat on its own, consisting of a large metal platform that raised itself on jacks at about 6 metres per day as the concrete below set. Concrete was poured continuously by a team of 1,532 people until February 22, 1974, during which it had already become the tallest structure in Canada, surpassing the recently built Inco Superstack. In total, the tower contains 40,500 cubic metres of concrete, all of which was mixed on-site in order to ensure batch consistency. Through the pour, the vertical accuracy of the tower was maintained by comparing the slip form's location to massive plumb-bobs hanging from it, observed by small telescopes from the ground. Over the height of the tower, it varies from true vertical accuracy by only 29 millimetres. You can look around Saskatoon today and see several sites where they are pounding long piles into the ground that will provide a solid foundation for the building. Most of us have heard about the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I think you can guess why it is leaning. They have tried several things to help straighten the tower and fix the problem of a poor foundation. Unfortunately it is a very hard thing to do. The most time on any project needs to be the foundation, because if you have not got that right, it doesn’t matter how good or expensive or elaborate a building you put on top - it will always be in rough shape and dangerous because of the bad foundation.

So here we are celebrating the Year of Jubilee that God has announced for us. It is a year of transition, a year of change. We need a foundation, and as children of God there is always only one foundation: Prayer. Prayer for the follower of Jesus is like water to a fish. It is the environment we live in if we want the abundant life Jesus talked about. Prayer is what connects us to the spiritual world around us. Prayer is what frees up the Spirit to work in and through our life.

And so we lay our foundation. When you put in a foundation you do some very specific things in a certain order for it all to work. You dig the hole, you put in the forms and rebar, you pour the concrete, and then backfill when all is set and dried. As the body of Christ we are going to be very specific about our foundation. The house we are building is a spiritual house. People are going to be introduced to Jesus. People are going to be challenged with the Word, to grow in their faith. It is time to start, so let’s roll up our sleeves and put the shovel in the ground.

Monday - The first thing we are going to do is to dedicate our homes as lighthouses of prayer. Lighthouses have a bright light, a beacon for those out on the water in the darkness. The lighthouse brings both joy as sailors know the harbour is near, and relief as they warn of shallow waters. So we, in our lives, dedicate our homes as beacons of hope. We do this by very specifically committing our house or apartment and our life to the Lord. We commit to praying regularly for our neighbours. Those prayers are focussed on their needs, which could be physical, social or mental, and spiritual. Try keeping a prayer journal where you have 4 columns: Name, Need, Date started praying, Date answered. One group did this for a semester at university, and they saw 25 people make a decision to follow Jesus that year. They started to refer to their journal as the Book of Life. So we pray for people that they would find safety in the Harbour of Heaven, as it were. The second thing we consistently pray for are opportunities to share our faith. Some people say that the biggest part of prayer is that it changes the one praying. Yes, and no. It does change us, but it also changes the spiritual climate of a place. 2 Corinthians 4 says that the god of this world has blinded the eyes of the unbelievers. One of the reasons your neighbour isn’t a Christian is because Satan is blinding him. He can’t see the truth. Now is the time for you to step in on his behalf and ask God to open his eyes that he may see. Not only do we pray for that healing of spiritual sight, but we pray that we may be used to be a guide to that person. And you know what? If you just ask and speak in sincerity of heart, you can’t mess it up. God draws people to Himself, but He so much wants to use us in that process. Meditate on Ephesians 6:10-20. We are involved in changing the spiritual climate of this city. We are involved and on the front lines of spiritual warfare. So sharpen your sword of the Spirit and repair the shield of faith, for we have a job to do. So on Monday, dedicate your house as a lighthouse of prayer in this city. As you do that, include our church. Commit our church in your prayers as a lighthouse to the community around us and a spiritual lighthouse to this city.

Tuesday - On Tuesday we will spiritually cleanse our homes. We started this process on the Monday by dedicating them as places of prayer. In a sense Monday is the decision, the choice. What follows the choice or intention is the tossing out of the garbage. Simply spend time asking God to reveal any unclean thing that is hanging around. Meditate on Psalm 139 and Psalm 51.It could be something physical that we have been hanging onto when we should have given it to God earlier and given it away. It could be something in us, like a bad attitude, a judging heart, bitterness, or a little closet of selfishness we have been trying to keep hidden from Jesus. It could also be a sense of oppression from Satan as he tries to lean on us and squeeze the joy and the life from us spiritually. Claim the promise that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. As you spend some time in prayer in renewal of your spiritual walk, pray also for our church. Pray that our past would no longer weigh on us today, for we are in the Year of Jubilee. Pray that Satan would have no more influence or oppression over this church, its ministries, or its members. We are an oppression free zone - OFZ if you will. Take the spiritual duster to your house and life, and your community here.

Wednesday - On Wednesday we will prayer walk our neighbourhoods. EM Bounds, a Methodist Pastor in the late 1800’s, stated that “talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still." Ed Silvoso describes prayer evangelism in his book by the same title as “simply talking to God about our neighbours before we talk to our neighbours about God.” The third stage of this foundation we are building is to go out into your neighbourhood for some fitness. Stretch not just your leg muscles and get some cardio, but stretch your spiritual muscles and get some spiritual cardio. As you walk, simply bless each house you pass. Pray for the people connected to the house that God would bless them spiritually and draw them closer to Himself. For many people it will mean salvation. For some it will be to go deeper with their personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Thursday - As a body we will have a day of prayer for our community, our church. Sign up for a half hour time slot. We can have more than one person praying at the same time, but find a slot in your day where you can talk to God. It may be two 15 minute times if your day is full. You may want to fast at lunch and include that discipline as part of your prayers for the church. If you cannot pray between those hours, sign up for one of them and then pray in the evening - God is outside of time and He can backtrack your prayers to earlier in the day. He’s God - He can do that! We are simply going to pray that God would visit us in a special way over the next year. Pray for some or all of the following: The Board and Church leadership for wisdom and direction, Pastor Steve (Bonnie, Ben and Heather) for health and wisdom, Bonnie for her Writing ministry, Pastor Debbie (Don and Dori) in her ministry with Chaplains, Church Programs: Upward VBS August 9-13, Men’s Bible Study, Women’s Ministry, Sunday School, Seniors’ Ministry, Your Best You ministry and Divorce Care this fall, Pray through the church phone book for each family, pray for the prayer items in the bulletin including the missionaries, pray for our church’s finances this year - that we would not have a deficit, pray for a release from all the things that hold us as a congregation back whether they be physical (ie, location), social (lost friends and splits), mental (ie, focusing on tradition over ministry), or spiritual (ie, Satan oppressing us from stuff in our past), for more help in leading our ministries (Jesus said to pray for workers), for evangelism and people meeting Jesus through our church , for the spiritual integrity of our people and our church, for Jesus’ 2nd Coming, and take time to listen to see if God has a message for you and our church.

And you know what? Feel free to make this a weekly habit for the summer! Prayer is our foundation. Prayer connects us to the Holy One. Always take the time to pray - everyone can pray.

The Year of Jubilee: The blind shall see

2010-06-06T09:09:00.003-06:00

John 9:24-34 So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, "Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner."
He then answered, "Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."
So they said to him, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?"
He answered them, "I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?"
They reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from."
The man answered and said to them, "Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing."
They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?" So they put him out.

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Helen Keller, atheist

Albert Einstein once said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." What he meant was this: knowledge is finite. Imagination can take a person into the infinite. Knowledge includes only what has been already developed. Imagination is about our dreams, our visions, which have no limits.

So we have this story of some guy born blind. He was minding his own business, when along comes Jesus and “poof” he can see. Up to that point he could hear the noises, but not understand what much of it was. Everything he understood came by feeling and listening. He would turn his face to the sun and feel the warmth. He would plunge his hand into the water and fell the coolness of it. Someone would try to describe how the liquid was clear and he would struggle with that reality. The colors of cloth and the world around him were confusing, for red and green and brown all felt the same. I can’t imagine the shock to his brain when his eyes were opened. The colors I think would have been the first thing. Then the shapes, the three dimensions of site. His world that used to be as big as his reach was now boundless to the horizons and beyond. The stars at night that would have been just imagination were now the reality of sparkling lights. Can you imagine being blind from birth and then suddenly seeing? God did that. As you read the story, you see the man not only had his sight, but he had understanding. The whole situation pointed to Jesus being God. When he stated the simple fact, he got in big trouble.

In 1880 Helen Keller was born perfectly normal. At 19 months she had a short but serious illness that left her not only blind, but deaf. By the time Helen was 7 the family was desperate for help for the girl had become almost uncontrollable. Enter Anne Sullivan and a month later the miracle happened. Anne and Helen ended up at the pump and as Anne held Helen’s one hand under the water she spelled water by letters into her other hand. At that moment, Helen saw that which she didn’t previously. She understood words and language. It changed her and she went on to be an advocate for the blind and a social activist for many years, passing away when she was 88.

Vision is more than just eyesight. Vision speaks to understanding what is seen. In a sense, Helen Keller lacked sight, but she gained vision as Anne Sullivan worked with her. In Luke 11 Jesus compares our vision to a lamp and talks of darkness and understanding. Jesus said vision is about understanding God, and His work in us. It is akin to repenting, for Jesus makes a reference to those in Nineveh long ago who heard the word of the Lord from Jonah and repented. They saw the truth about who they were before God and it changed them. Their vision was changed, healed. The Year of Jubilee is about having the eyes of our hearts opened up. I pray often as a pastor that our eyes would be opened to see what God would show us today. I do that because I know God speaks to each of us. There is an Old Testament prophecy about the young men having visions and the old men dreams. This prophecy is fulfilled in our lives today as we listen and hear from God.

Let me put vision in perspective for you and I today by asking you a rhetorical question: “If you could do anything you wanted to in the world, money and health being no object, what would it be?” Think about it. How different would your life be from what it is today? Let’s ask the same question of our church - “If we could do anything in our church, if we could be anything, what would it be?” Take a moment and if you have a pen, write down a thought or two. I am not going to look at it or ask you to share it, but just between you and God, what comes to mind? How different are your dreams from the reality of today? If someone asked that man born blind the day before Jesus came and touched him, what would his answer be? Would he have the foresight, so to speak, to consider a life where he could see, or would that have been beyond his dreams, his vision? Why do we have that difference between what we think life could be like and what it actually is like?

Why don’t we realize those dreams we have? Let me suggest it is a vision problem. Some of these dreams are ours and not our Creator’s. We too often pursue our own plans, our own ideas, and in doing so we miss God’s plans, God’s dreams for us. While I was talking to Bonnie this past week I noticed behind her chair the dog was acting funny. As I watched, Poppy started spinning around in circles, trying to grab this black furry thing that was teasing her from behind. Actually, it WAS her behind that she was chasing - she was getting in the way of herself. Poppy is not the only dog to get in the way of herself. America’s Funniest Videos had their final “clip that changed the world” on TV about a month ago. My favourite video was this dog sitting on a couch chewing a bone. She started growling at this thing that was sneaking up beside her. I am sure the dog thought it was after her bone, and she would snarl and growl and bark and eventually snap at it until it moved away. The thing sneaking up on her was her own hind foot. Totally goofy - the dog was so caught up on itself. What are you caught up on? What has distracted you from the vision God has? When God calls us to dream, He calls us to lose ourselves. He calls us to “lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus.” When we pursue our own stuff, we trip on it. When we focus on what we want we get entangled in it. We need to repent of pursuing our own stuff.

The bigger question is not just our selfishness, but our lack of faith. We who are called a people of Faith; we who are told that if we have the faith the size of a mustard seed “we will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to us”; we who acknowledge that our God is the Creator of the ends of the earth somehow think that life is too much for God to handle. If I asked the question, “If God could do anything in this church what would it be?” we would not doubt so much because we have added God to the equation. When we think of God doing it, we have no doubt He can, we often just think He won’t. If we truly believe God has a purpose for this church and that we can grow and become alive and effective in ministry, why do we accept something less? We need to be calling out to God to fulfill His purposes in us and His church. We need to repent for our lack of faith and pursue what He has called us to do and to be.

Maybe you and I need to be healed first. That man born blind suddenly had a whole new perspective and take on life. His vision was radically changed when he was healed and he saw things he never imagined. Yes God provides. He helps us grow through trials and all that stuff. But what if God wants to open blind eyes here in this church this year? We need to consider that we might have vision problems because he is doing some pretty cool things these days around us. God looks at us and asks the question Jesus did of the man by the pool - “Do you want to be healed? Are you ready to take up your palette and walk?” Are you ready to have your life changed because the Lord God of eternity is going to reach down and touch you? Helen Keller’s sight was restored in a different fashion than the man born blind, but both had their sight restored, one physical and one mentally. Afterwards, the man born blind was thrown into a flurry of accusations and judgements. Who was the real blind man in his story? It was the Pharisees who failed to see the Truth of the Messiah right before them. You can be healed like that man born blind. Let the scales of the past that limit our vision fall away with a touch of the Savior’s hands. Let the blindness that comes from the god of this world be healed as you stand firm in the armor of God, as you consider the new world of possibilities that God offers to you and I.

So here we are. God has announced the Year of Jubilee for us, the chance to push that big cosmic reset button. Today is about the challenge of being ready for it. Are you ready to push that button with me? Are you ready to have your eyes opened to a new world of colour and dimension? Are you ready to have your mind opened to new possibilities that maybe what we have done for decades is due for a cleaning and upgrade? That God is leading us where He will, so let us make the commitment that we will do whatever it takes to follow Him!

The Year of Jubilee

2010-05-30T09:14:00.007-06:00

The US space shuttle Atlantis touched down this past week on its last planned mission. It has been in service 25 years and travelled some 120 million miles over 32 missions. NASA is ending the Space Shuttle program with 2 more flights by the other two shuttles. After all is said and done, you can buy one of the used shuttles for $28.8 million.

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4’ 8 ½”. That is an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that is the way they built them in England, and by and large, English expatriates built the US railroads. Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that is the gauge they used. Why did “they” use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools they used for building wagons, which used the same wheel spacing. Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that is the spacing of the wheel ruts.
So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England) for their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the US standard railroad gauge of 4’ 8 ½” is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. Bureaucracies live forever.
Now the twist to the story: When you see the space shuttle sitting on the launch pad, there are 2 big booster rockets attached to the side of the main fuel tank. These are the solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you know, is about as wide as two horses’ behinds. So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world’s most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by some guy measuring the width of a horses’ rear end.

Do you see how the past can create baggage, often when we are not even aware of it? Baggage is not necessarily good or bad; a lot depends on how we carry it. If something happens in life, we can hang on to the emotions that will resolve into bitterness. We can harbour bad feelings left over from disagreements. We can carry wounds from emotional and other battles. On the other side we can use the challenge to lead us to growth. In dealing with issues of truth we can use it to sharpen and clarify our faith. We can also carry forward cautions and knowledge that inform and direct our actions today. But know this: holding on to the bad stuff makes us a captive, and in so doing gives away the power and control of your life to the past. While the event or other person has moved on, we cannot. We get stunted in our growth as people and as followers of Jesus. We get stuck in that spiritual nursery that Hebrews 5 talks about, where we lose our ability to discern the difference between good and evil: Hebrews 5:8-14 “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” We lose our ability to discern between right and wrong. We lose the joy and peace that comes from a clear and uncluttered relationship with our Creator. We lose the sense of that still, quiet voice of the Spirit as He leads and guides us. In short - we lose. But then Jesus announces the Year of jubilee.

What is the Year of jubilee? The Jubilee was to be sounded every 49 or 50 years. Every 7th year was a Sabbath year. The Year of Jubilee was the 7th Sabbath of the 7 year sabbatical cycle - hence 7 times 7 is 49. The biblical requirement is that the Jubilee year was to be treated like a Sabbatical year, with the land lying fallow, but also required the compulsory return of all property to its original owners or their heirs, in addition to the freeing of all Israelite indentured servants. Two freedoms were in place - the land was “freed”, or returned to the original owner. This had the effect of ensuring the 12 tribal boundaries in the Promised Land would not change. In essence, you couldn’t sell and buy land in Israel - you only leased it for a maximum of 49 years. The second freedom was of servants. No Israelite could be a servant for more than 7 years. So the Year of Jubilee was about freedom. It was about freeing the land and the people. This is what the Lord proclaims for us today. In fact, we have three Jubilees before us.

The first is the Jubilee of Salvation. At some point in our lives we have all been captives of sin. When you read the book of Romans, you quickly understand what bondage means. You can imagine a scenario where you have no choice in life. In our own history in Canada we have situations where children were taken from parents with no recourse, and taught values and traditions totally foreign to their history. No choice was given - it was a done deal. You could try and fight it, but that got you nowhere. You could do nothing, absolutely nothing. Each of us existed in that realm spiritually. Sin was in your life and you were under judgement for that. It didn’t even originate in you, but went back to a Garden long ago. You came of age and made your own choices, and they fell short. Nothing you could do could help you save yourself. But in the midst of that lost-ness Jesus reached down, drew you to Himself and gave you love. He took your sin with Him to the cross, and redeemed you. He bought you back from sin. When you were lost in the Egypt of your sins, He sent the Deliverer to bring you out of captivity and so you are free. He has given you the Holy Spirit as a guarantor of that salvation. You are sealed to the day when you shall see Him face to face, and in that work of God He brought healing into your life. He brought healing from the ravages of sin. He is still at work in your life, bringing healing from the past. In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ He declared the Year of Jubilee from sin. You are free to follow, free to choose, and free to be all you can be in Jesus.

The second Jubilee is the Jubilee of Sanctification. It is such a big word, but you know what? Even after salvation and being freed from sin, you were still a slave to Self. You were forgiven the sin that was in your life, but there is a connection to that past that tries to drag you back. As the nation Israel walked further and further from Israel, again and again the tug to go back to the slavery and the bondage there pulled at them. Even at the border of the Promised Land they did not want to go forward, and so they wandered around in disobedience and confusion, missing out on all the Lord had for them. And so we, even after Salvation, wander around in our spiritual lives without much direction. We circle around and don’t seem to be getting anywhere. And then Jesus breaks in and declares the Year of jubilee. The work of His Spirit brings renewal to your life. As you surrender to Him you are freed from the tyranny of self. You are no longer in the struggle of doing the things you don’t want to do, and not getting done what you meant to. It is a work of God, in response to your surrender. Give up your rights just like Jesus gave up His rights in the incarnation. Pursue humility not just before man, but before God, and He will come and bring freedom and a peace that is beyond understanding.

The third Jubilee is the Jubilee of Revival. Have you ever had someone walk past you, and in their passing you enter their scent. Usually and hopefully it is their perfume or aftershave. On occasion it is due to their hygiene. The fact is they left a lingering residue of their presence. The things in our past can hold us captive. We talked about baggage, but sometimes it is not so easy to describe what lingers. We understand there is a realm beyond our senses. As we walk through life and engage with one another and experience tensions and issues, we know there is a spiritual battle going on. We know that there are very often things around us even today as a result of those interactions in that spiritual realm. But we also know this, that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. Yahweh is greater than the god of this world. There really is no comparison, but Satan tries to disrupt the work of God any way he can. His minions follow and disrupt, trying to get us to focus on ourselves. He keeps pushing on us, wearing us down. Like the boa constrictor, the snake wraps around our souls and spirits and community and squeezes. He constricts so it is hard to breathe, hard to see clearly. Our thoughts turn inward to survival, to our needs. And we feel hurt, and disappointed, and angry, and vengeful, and the list goes on. But Jesus comes and declares the Year of Jubilee for you and I. He calls us to lay our baggage and sacrifices down at the foot of the cross and look to Him. As we call out to Him for freedom from the captivity of where we were and what has happened, He sends His Spirit to work in us revival. The head of the snake is cut off and we are free without constriction. And this Jubilee is not just for our church, it is for our city. God is moving. He is breaking down the rulers and powers and the world forces of this darkness. There have been strongholds set up and Jesus is breaking them down into nothing, because the presence of God will not tolerate those things. For you and I, as followers of Jesus, they have no power or influence. We are free in Jesus, and as we meet from week to week we can rest in the victory of the freedom God gives.

Have you experienced the Jubilee of Salvation? Give up your striving and accept Jesus. Have you experienced the Jubilee of Sanctification? Surrender. Have you experienced the Jubilee of Revival? Call out for Him in a new way.

Journeys and Destinations

2010-05-23T10:27:00.003-06:00

Exodus 15:1-13 “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.
Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea. The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.

It makes sense to talk about Journeys and Destinations at this time of year. Being the long weekend, many are travelling to cabins and cottages to open them up for the summer. I remember as a kid travelling from our home in Bramalea, Ontario to Huntsville, 2 ½ hours north to my mom’s parents house - a cottage on a wonderful lake. For a little guy that was a long trip. At the end would be a private sandy beach, a great lake with swimming and fishing, cool moss to run around on, birch trees providing wonderful shade. But there was that necessary confinement in the back seat looking for the bridges and markers that said you were almost there.

There are at least 2 distinct ways of taking trips. The first emphasizes the destination. We want to go to Victoria Island. We get on a plane, and in a few hours we arrive at the island’s airport. You arrive for a business meeting or to visit family. You get there, get it done, then return home glad to be back to the routine you left behind. The second emphasizes the journey itself. We get our maps from CAA and after a couple or three days of travelling we board the ferry to the island; after we have spent time in the Rockies and Banff, in the Okanogan Valley and Vancouver, camping and spending time exploring what lies between us and the destination. Sometimes the first way needs to happen. Sometimes the second way should happen, but we don’t bother. The second way is harder and longer. It breaks our routines. You learn things along that journey; most of them good, but sometimes a breakdown occurs. It costs more, because of the greater time you are away from home longer - you eat out and sleep at camp sites or motels. You can also take this scenic route and not learn anything. Some people will hop the train and just watch the scenery whisk by.

Several thousand years ago the nation of Israel went on a journey. They had been trapped in the land of Egypt by a ruler who turned them into slaves. They cried out to God and He sent a deliverer by the name of Moses. God used Moses to get His people free and so they left. As they were leaving we find that the Egyptians gave them gold and jewellery, an unexpected blessing as they entered the wilderness. They left what was known for the unknown. They were headed for the Land promised to Abraham so long before. Some people on that trip had one thing in mind - the destination. The stuff they experienced on the way was just inconvenience until they got to where they were going. I expect comfort was one of those things they valued. They couldn’t stand living out of a suitcase, with no mailing address. It is interesting to note that many individuals throughout the Scriptures had no permanent address. Adam and Eve had to leave their home, evicted, though that was pretty much their fault. They went into a big unknown world to make a life for themselves. Abraham was called out of his country to a place he didn’t know. Many of the prophets had no real home, wandering and spreading the message of God. Mary and Joseph had to flee to Egypt for a couple years. Jesus had no place to lay his head during His itinerant ministry. Paul wandered all over the known world - his suitcase was his home.

So off Israel goes, to the Promised Land. First stop is Mount Sinai. Moses has to pick something up, a map as it were. The moral map that Moses was after would guide them along the way. This was a major step to the Promised Land, something they couldn’t skip. The nation of Israel went from bondage and slavery, to freedom following God. And what did they do? First they complained about the taste of the water. They walked out into the desert and immediately were thirsty. They came to a place of bitter waters - the water was sick. The first thing they did was let fear control them and complain. They just crossed the Red Sea, the waters parted so they had dry land to cross. The Egyptians followed and were drowned. They saw the power of God move them out… and they were afraid of where He moved them. Here at the bitter waters, God healed the waters and then God led them to the springs of Elim. Then Israel complained about the food. They were hungry - where would you get enough food for a nation when you were in the middle of the wilderness? God provided Manna. The only thing was they had to gather it day by day. God only provided what they needed that day so they had to learn to trust Him. A bit further along they complained about being thirsty - they weren’t even at Mount Sinai yet and already bang, bang, bang they have grumbled and complained 3 times, many wanting to go back to Egypt. What did God do? He provided water from a rock. Moses called that place Massah and Meribah because they quarrelled with himself and wondered if God knew their problems. Finally they got to Sinai, and while Moses was gone talking to God they made a golden calf. Now, if it was me, I would hope I would have acted differently. Do you get that sense of kids asking, “Are we there yet?” The kids all pile out of the car as they reach the first gas station and continue to find faults. The whole way you had people grumbling and murmuring. You had people questioning Moses’ leadership. These people just wanted to get where they were going. It seems that they would have preferred bondage and slavery to God’s presence.

They missed the lesson of the water at Elim. Moses said in Exodus 15:26, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, He will put none of the diseases on you which He put on the Egyptians; for God says, “I, the LORD, am your Healer.”” They missed the lesson of the manna. When they were hungry He provided something that tasted like wafers and honey. Until they went to the Promised Land, manna was there - day in and day out. Even though they wandered for 40 years in the wilderness, some 1.5 million people, they never went hungry. God was their Provider. They missed the lesson of Meribah, where God showed them in the midst of testing He was there. He was their Comforter. The worst of it all was that by the time they got to the edge of the Promised Land, they were too afraid to go in. The land was all they hoped it would be but the people, the obstacles in the land were too big. The promise of God was extended to them and all they had to do was reach out and take it. What a crazy story of people trying to get somewhere, but never arriving. The only reason for failure was their lack of faith in the God who had done so many miracles in their midst. At one point we read that God said He would destroy the people for the 10 times they failed to trust Him. Isn’t it interesting that 10 is the number of plagues God placed on Egypt before Pharaoh would let the people of God go? Here at the Promised Land they themselves turned their back on God 10 times.

And so we are on a journey, both as individuals and as a community of Believers. As individuals we are on the road to glory, to the revealing of who God is in our lives. God changes us day by day into the likeness of Jesus, revealing Himself to us and the world around us. As a church God takes this motley group, if I may say, and uses us to accomplish His purpose in this place. We are all travelling to the Promised Land, to the place where we will be in His presence, a place we can call home. And we haven’t arrived yet, but we have a choice. We can choose to look only at the destination and let the journey pass us by. In so doing, we will miss much of His blessing, for He leads us with His presence today like He led the nation of Israel through the wilderness. As a Church we need to be a people of the journey, of God going before us and we following His lead. Let the destination worry about itself. We will cross the Jordan River in due time, but in the mean time, let us see the miracles of God’s healing and provision and comfort in our midst.

Let us learn the lesson of the bitter waters that God can heal. Over the last 15 years as a church we have lost many friends. We have made bad decisions that cost us fellowship. But we have also seen God heal in our midst, so let us call Him Healer; let us recognize our mistakes and our brokenness and ask God to heal.. Let us trust Him with our lives, our loved ones’ lives. Let us not just trust God for our physical lives, but our spiritual lives that are worth so much more. God heals us spiritually. Eternal life is what happens to us when we are healed of the sin problem. So let us not be like the children of Israel and grumble about things that we feel are obstacles or aren’t right. God will make all right. He is our Healer, and anything that is out there against us, pulling us down, strangling the life out of us has no power here. God is the Healer and He will heal us.

Let us learn the lesson of the manna, of trusting God for all we need. He is our Provider. Day in and day out He has promised to provide for us. Jesus said to seek first God’s kingdom and that He will look after the rest. There may be things that come against us so we look poor, we look hungry, and the future looks bleak. But God, our Provider, Jehovah Jireh, is faithful and will not leave us hungry. We are the Bride of Christ! How can we say He will neglect us and leave us and not provide? Those are the lies of the evil one, and they have no power here. Spiritually you have a feast with the Master Chef of the universe at your disposal every day. Rest in Him. You don’t need to store up treasures here on earth. We don’t need to protect our bank accounts, our savings, our building, our stuff. None of that really matters because we know the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Would you rather have onions on the banks of the Nile back in bondage, or rib steak in the presence of God almighty? It doesn’t look so much like a wilderness with God at the helm, does it?

And let us learn the lesson of the dry times. When we are tired of the journey, when we are parched from the stuff of life and the winds of change, let us go to God who is our Comforter. We are so short sighted sometimes. We look at what is in front of us and think that is all there is. God is so much bigger than the here and now, than these things we have around us. We see a rock, but God sees a fountain of life. We see empty chairs but God sees room for us to grow and reach out. We need to stop our striving of trying to be more than we are in our own strength, of trying to be things that we are not. It is not us that is so great, but our God, and who is bigger than He? God is in us right now, in the details in our lives. As we rest in Him, He will come and comfort. He will come and change us; He will do that work that transforms us. We will go to Him weak and heavy laden and He will give us rest.

Learn the lessons of Israel’s past: Don’t grumble, but step out in faith and praise God. Don’t doubt and fear, but surrender all you are to Him, trust in Him, and He will give you the victory. And when God says go, go; you don’t want to be wandering in some desert for 40 years because you weren’t willing to step out in faith. Know this: we are not only on a wonderful journey together, you and me, with God; but we are entering our Year of Jubilee. I look forward to sharing with you next week what God has said about that!

Mothers’ Day 2010

2010-05-09T10:29:00.003-06:00

2 Timothy 1:1-7 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy.
For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well. For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

Raising children is hard work. So much so that an American writer once suggested to never have children, only grandchildren. Bill Cosby talked of the first generation by uttering “parenting can be learned only by people who have no children”. Remarking on the adolescent independence Bill said. “You know your children are growing up when they stop asking where they came from and refuse to tell you where they are going.” Another gave the threat: “What my mother taught me about JUSTICE – “One day you’ll have kids, and I hope they are just like you… then you’ll see what it’s like.” There is also a truth that says, “ An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.”

There is a general consensus about the value of mothers. Most of us can relate stories of a mother’s love or a mother’s protection. It is taken for granted that you do not cross between a mother and her kids. There is wildness in the protection many mothers have for their kids. They not only fiercely protect their children, but they are the ones who leave the way open for them to return home when they leave. There is grace that flows from a mother’s heart that we men struggle with at times.

In Yancey’s book ‘What’s So Amazing About Grace’ he admits that grace is unfair. It is unreasonable to expect a woman to forgive the terrible things her father did to her just because he apologises many years later, and it is totally unfair to ask that a mother overlook the many offences her teenage son committed. Grace however is not about fairness. Yancey goes on to talk about God’s amazing grace - unmerited favour towards us.

Unfortunately, “ungrace”, or the lack of grace, is like the background static of life for many families, nations and institutions. It is our natural human state. We read the paper, watch the news and we can think that we are surrounded by poor examples of mothers and fathers. We try to relate what our faith means to us and so we talk of the Father’s love even though there are many people out there with no father or a negative understanding because of the failures of the dads. With mothers we have a better record. As we reflect on mothers today we think about the difference they have made in our lives and that of our society.

First, mothers should be saluted for their tenacious love. A mother’s love goes deep. Part of this is the nature thing. Any mother, be it a human or a bear or other animal, does what she can to protect her young. When danger comes near to little ones, you hope you are not the cause of it. A mother’s love for their child can supersede all else, including their own health and well-being. When Bonnie asks how much I love her, I tell her mine is an undying love; but I know her love for us is a dying love - she would give the ultimate sacrifice for us. Jesus said the greatest love is just that - that one would die for another.
That tenacious love mothers have is also long. How long will a mother love a child who wanders far from home, and the values of home? What can a child do to be separated from his or her mother’s love? The answer to both those questions are pretty obvious. I have known mothers who have prayed for their children their whole life. They have been supporters from day one in the areas where it counts the most - eternity. I just read an article about a woman who lost her parents 11 years ago. About a month before they died she had a dream they died and phoned them. The woman’s mom told her they had recently been on a plane with very rough weather and they didn’t know if they were going to make it. What did she pray for when she thought it was the end? She prayed for her daughter, for all the things she would need if they were gone. A month later they did die in a plane crash and eternity will reveal the fact that she was still praying for her daughter. A mother’s love is tenacious -it is deep and long.

Does this remind you of Another’s love? There is One who loves with an agape mindset. It is an unconditional love, and whether you had a great mom or not; regardless of whether you mom is still alive or not, there is Someone who loves you with much more than a mother’s tenacious love. God loves you - so much in that while you were still a sinner, still far from Him, He died for you. His agape love waits for each of us, every day, to come to Him so that He may bless us with His presence, with His love. That love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Spirit. His love has no limits and He has promised His presence and acceptance for all of eternity. We sing that song, “How Deep the Father’s Love For US” and wonder that we could be loved so much.

Secondly, mothers should be saluted for their tremendous impact. When you read this passage from 2 Timothy you can see the eternal impact a mother can have. Men tend to leave the babies to the mother. They get all busy working and then get home and get tired and watch football or hockey, while the mother continues 24/7 care for the child and the house. When the kid gets old enough to throw a football or shoot a puck, then dad then perks up and thinks he can contribute. Meanwhile the child has the faith of their mother. The developmental years of the child were spent in the arms of his or her mother. I am reminded of the stats that talk of how men are happier after marriage; women not so much. These days it tends to be the day care workers that spend the most time with the children, and we need to be careful where that will take us as a society. Many a leader in the church today will talk of time spent with their mother; of the influence of their mother’s prayers on their life. A mother’s love is transformational. To know you will always be accepted regardless is a priceless thing. It can provide that safe place to grow and learn and explore.

There is that other One whose love changes us, who provides all the resources we need to live in holiness. He goes before us, setting things up by His prevenient grace. He can do that, because He is not tied to our time, but is outside of time - He is eternal. He knows us intimately for He is our Creator. In this knowing He provides what we need to stand in this fallen world. He has given us a Comforter, a guide on our path. And His love and grace is not just for the good ones, but for all. While we were yet sinners He died for us. All these things are about impact - impact not just in the world, but in our individual lives. He is changing us, and His Kingdom is about change in the people, the world around us. We are not saved just for eternal life, but to effect peace and justice, love and grace in this world today. The P E A C E Plan is an initiative begun by Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. Senior pastor Rick Warren's stated intention in launching the P E A C E (or PEACE) Plan is to involve every Christian and every church in every nation in the task of serving people in the areas of the greatest global needs. The tag-line is 'Ordinary people empowered by God making a difference together wherever they are'. P E A C E is an acronym for the stated methodology for achieving the plan: "Promote reconciliation - Equip servant leaders - Assist the poor - Care for the sick - Educate the next generation." We are all called to that on the local level; to be involved in people’s lives, helping with needs as we can. In doing this we are worshiping God. In doing this we are following Him. In doing this we are living out our faith in life.

Mothers should be saluted because where they are that is where home is. What makes a home? Is it the four walls and a roof? There are many people without that - does that make them not a family? Watching the news in Nashville this week and seeing the effects of flooding you quickly come to the conclusion that most of what we have is just stuff. It is not going to last forever, and will probably leave our possession one way or the other much sooner than we expect. If it is not the stuff, it must be the people. A home is where the love is, where the care is, where the relationships are. Studies in years gone by show that being loved and accepted is ranked consistently as one of the highest values we hold dear, whether we are young or old. We all need a place to call home, but it is with the right people regardless of the place. Most often than not, that is where mom is. As we grow older, we still need mom, we still connect.

Doesn’t this sound familiar too? The church is all about meeting together in the presence of God. The Bible doesn’t say, “Where you have a nice building, I am there.” It doesn’t say, “Where you have an ordained clergy, or a nice red hymnal, or any of the things we like to think are important, God is there.” It says where 2 or 3 are gathered. We could go meet in a cardboard box and still have a wonderful meeting in God’s presence. I am glad we have this facility, but it doesn’t make us any more a church than without it. We have one another, and that is what is important. It is the people - the love and grace between us that makes our community our home.

So we celebrate Mothers’ Day. Motherhood is vital, and it is important to understand what God has built into mothers is a reflection of His love and care for us. The chorus we sang earlier? The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning, great is Thy faithfulness O Lord.

The 7 Points of Valour: #7 - Dedication

2010-05-02T10:13:00.012-06:00

If you watched the closing ceremonies of the winter Olympics from Vancouver a few months ago you saw a cross between a circus, a parade, and a stage show all dedicated to the stereotypes of Canada. Rooted in both Big and small RCMP, you saw giant floating moose and beavers, you saw Maple leaves and William Shatner. When things are dedicated you give a nod to the history and worth of the object. In almost every book you can find a dedication to someone or something that the author appreciated and allowed the book to be written. Dedication also means something given over for a specific use. In the Old Testament the utensils and items used in the Jewish temple were dedicated items. A very strict protocol was instituted for both the items and the priests charged with using them. In the IT world they talk of dedicated servers, a computer that has one use and only one use. When we talk of dedication as a point of valor, we are talking about this sense of focus. We are talking about the denial of selfish ambition and the complete surrender of all that we have - body, mind, strength, possessions - to the control of Jesus. Toby Mac in his song Made For You expresses it as “Anything I would give up for you. Everything, I'd give it all away.” That is what Jesus asks. He set the example in the incarnation. Not us, but Him. Not ours, but His.

DEDICATION is a man or women of whole-hearted dedication to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the 7th Point of Valour that ties the previous 6 together. This dedication, this complete surrender of self is the heart of the Gospel. It is part of the story of God. There is the historical story that goes way back to the beginning of time. It involves Creation and a Garden, a snake and a single command; and ends with a death on a cross followed by a resurrection. This is the story of redemption. Then there is your story. It too begins with a creation - your creation by the God who created all around us. It too is a story of redemption, but it is also a story about purpose. You were created with wonderful gifts and strengths. In generations gone past the church has focused on the separation between man and his Creator. It has focussed more on where you and I have gone wrong rather than the stuff that is good. There’s a truth there about sin that we all have to face at some point, but beyond that is the story of God in the world today. This story talks of a community marked by justice and love and peace and holiness. We live in a fallen world and there is much we can and should do as the people of God. He has called us to live out our faith in ways that reveal who Jesus is, His love and grace.

So what do we do with this? First of all, know that the One to whom you dedicate your life to is your Creator. Let me read you a favourite story of mine from Bonnie’s Your Best You.

The Palmist reminds us in a different way of who we are before our Creator in Psalm 139:1-16 “God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I'm an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I'm never out of your sight. You know everything I'm going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you're there, then up ahead and you're there, too— your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful— I can't take it all in!
Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you're there! If I go underground, you're there! If I flew on morning's wings to the far western horizon, You'd find me in a minute— you're already there waiting! Then I said to myself, "Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I'm immersed in the light!" It's a fact: darkness isn't dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they're all the same to you. Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb. I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvellously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, the days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day.” That’s you! You are loved and known by the creator of the ends of the earth. The One who calls you to follow Him has Love at the heart of His very character. If God is anything, He is love.

To what does the Object of our dedication ask us to dedicate ourselves too? Some people would try to sell you the Health and Wealth schtick. These are the people at the top, in leadership roles. The reason they do it is so you will give your money to the church so they can have more. They love the things of the world. It is easy for them to say it works because everyone gives money to them. Have you ever thought it odd they don’t live any longer than the next person? If God was really about health, wouldn’t they be the ones to live to 110 or 130? Unfortunately, the love of the Father is not in them. God did not come to make you rich, or keep you healthy. You can’t serve God and money; you can’t serve 2 masters, it just doesn’t work. So if it isn’t health and wealth, what is it?

There are 2 things we dedicate ourselves to. We dedicate ourselves to allowing the Spirit of God to work in our lives, to holiness. Paul put it this way in Romans 8: “God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.” Well, that sounds great. You understand though, it is a challenge? How much are you willing to struggle with an addiction? How long will you struggle against anger or gossip or bitterness? The challenge to be like Christ is done in the power of the Spirit, but it takes will and effort to respond to God. Listen to the Romans passage preceding what we just read: “And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” We are citizens of two places. We have a heavenly citizenship marked with the seal of the Spirit and we are tied to this Fallen world while in these physical bodies. These bodies age and suffer the results of sin and the Fall from so long ago. But we know we will be changed one day, and see Jesus face to face in glorified bodies, changed into His likeness more completely than we could ever imagine.

The second thing we dedicate ourselves to is kingdom living - God’s kingdom. The command was to love our neighbour. Remember the Sermon on the Mount? Jesus talked of a changed life, a life that is bent to holiness and love. Jesus challenged us in each area of our life to be involved with others. We know this - this has always been the challenge of the Church. In dedication, we renew this commitment to do it in God’s strength and God’s timing. We don’t do it just out of duty, or out of a sense of evangelism, but because we are called to give that gift of cool water to the stranger on a hot day. The Gospel is about holiness and love. We are changed towards holiness before God, and challenged to acts and attitudes of love before others.

I am a big believer in setting markers in our lives. As you read through the OT you see again and again a mound of stones raised to commemorate a special event, a time when God stepped out of eternity and acted in time. In a sense Christianity has a huge one - the cross is a marker of the point of salvation, of the finished work that Jesus did on our behalf. The cross reminds us as does communion, of our relationship with Him. They are markers, and Jesus asked us continue with the Bread and the Cup until He comes back so we will remember. What about your spiritual walk? Do you have markers along your path that you can remember? Can you remember not just the times that God reached down and did a miraculous thing in and around you, but when you made a stand and said this is where I make my commitment? This is my future, He is my all in all. I have talked about how every day we need to wake and make that commitment. We dedicate ourselves to God, to following Jesus with all we got regardless of the cost. There is great value in marking these moments. In our tradition we ask people to come up and kneel at the alter rails and surrender all you are to God. Seek His Perfect Love, His entire sanctification. Every service you can do that as we close, but I also believe strongly this is a decision of the will. It is not made in some emotion, where when the emotion is gone so is the will to follow through. I invite you to take a few minutes in the quietness of your own mind, and dedicate yourself anew to Jesus. You have been given a card and a pen. Put the date down, May 2, 2010, and write a statement about who you are before God. Are you sold out? Are you surrendered to Him? You can make that decision today, now. Making a mark on that paper is much easier than making a pile of stones to remind yourself, but the challenge is here to make an alter to praise God. Out of the stones of your life, set them down, rough as they are, and raise them up. He can make them holy - He can make you holy. Take that card and put it in the back of your Bible or on your dresser where you will come across it from time to time so you can be reminded of this moment of dedication. Listen to this song as you consider what is before you. We are dismissed when it is done.

The 7 Points of Valour: #6 - Obedience

2010-04-25T10:30:00.014-06:00

John 14:16-27 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him."
Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?"
Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

OBEDIENCE: A man who knows how to obey will be better able to lead others. John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” Obedience has a couple elements. You have the voice or command. Then you need to hear the command, and we need to hear God's voice. We need to know it intimately. We need to let it sink deep into our soul so that His desires become ours. We need to put our faith into action.

I have a bad habit. I tend to change what my children say as if I heard them wrong. They repeat what they said, so I change it to something else. Why I find that funny, I have no idea. “Can we go outside to play?” turns into “You want to eat mice and clay?’ After they repeat it turns into “You want to tan hides today?” This kind of thing doesn’t help my case when Bonnie says I am half deaf. I went for a check-up at a doctors some 15 years ago and they did a hearing test. They found my upper and lower ranges of hearing were fine, but my middle range was poor for some reason. The problem I have is if there are a lot of other noises going on it can be hard to focus on someone specific. When I was young my dad lost part of his hearing at a large fire when he was a fire fighter. A gas main had blown and the roar of the burning gas was quite loud until they got the main gas valve turned off. Like father like son, we both struggle to hear the quiet sounds.

Hearing is so important. You don’t realize how much you rely on it until you lose some of it. Hearing is important to obedience. How often have you told a child to clean up or do something and when it doesn’t get done the excuse is “I never heard you.” Maybe, once in a blue moon, a spouse has tried this one. One of the reasons you see and hear drill sergeants yelling at the new recruits is so that there are no mistakes – everyone hears the sergeant! Can you imagine the rookie using ear plugs so he doesn’t have to listen? A couple years ago there was a ladies night out in our backyard. It was a lovely time until the plane went over - all conversation stopped because hearing was impossible. We are called to obedience to God, to Jesus, but that is impossible if we can’t hear Him.

There is that picture Jesus shares with us - the one of the Shepherd and His sheep. The sheep hear the Shepherd’s voice and follow, and are safe. They know his voice. So how can we here Jesus? How can we get to know His voice?

Be Quiet: Where was the Lord; in the powerful display of nature? No; God spoke in the gentle blowing.
Elijah 1 KIngs 19:4-15 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers."
He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, "Arise, eat." Then he looked and behold, there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. The angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, "Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you." So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He said, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."
So He said, "Go forth and stand on the mountain before the LORD " And behold, the LORD was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave And behold, a voice came to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
Then he said, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."
The LORD said to him...

Know the Bible: Life, people, work, the pursuit of pleasure or leisure - all kinds of noise, physical, emotional or spiritual can plug our ears.
Jesus Luke 4:1-14 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE.'"
And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, "I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours."
Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'"
And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; for it is written, 'HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU TO GUARD YOU,' and, 'ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'"
And Jesus answered and said to him, "It is said, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'" When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time. And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit...
Psalm 119:9-11 How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.

Don't give up: How long will you wait? What is more important in your schedule than hearing from your Creator?
James 5:16 The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
Hebrews 11:39-12:2 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Matthew 26:36-45 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me." And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will." And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done." Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. Then He came to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinner."

Surrender: You will not hear if you don’t turn your ear towards the One speaking.
Matthew 26:39 My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.
Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Romans 6:22-23 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Colossians 3:1-5 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
Ephesians 4:17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind

Be Rea:l God wants authenticity above all else. Bring who you are and He will speak.
Not like the Pharisees, more like the disciples - ordinary men and women
Peter - fisherman, quick tempered, impulsive, emotional, loyal
John - fisherman, ambition, temper, intolerant
Andrew - fisherman, brings others to Jesus, 2nd banana
Thomas - courage, bewildered, doubter, devotion
Matthew - tax collector,

The 7 Points of Valor: #5 - Loyalty

2010-04-11T10:30:00.001-06:00

1 Corinthians 15:50-58 “Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

I was reading a blog a couple weeks ago. The topic was holiness, and all the comments from people were how hard it was to not sin. They said they were lucky if they went 10 minutes without sinning. The kids were home, life was busy… but how ridiculous is that? They either had a great misunderstanding of sin, or they were embracing it with their whole heart. Their sense of loyalty to their Savior seemed somewhat missing. They moaned how hard it was, but gave no credence to any effort they put forward.

Team Hoyt is a video about loyalty. The father did whatever he could over the almost 5 decades of his sons life to give him a life, to allow Rick to experience as much as he could. Dick wasn’t just loyal in racing with his son, but from the beginning sought to provide everything possible that other kids of his age had. Loyalty is a mark of character that takes a lot of time, but it is also recognized quite easily when it exists.

We have talked about Honour, Courage, Chivalry and Purity. We have also just finished the Easter season and now fittingly talk about Loyalty. Were Jesus’ disciples loyal to their Rabbi? Did they live lives of Valour before their fellow men? I have been talking to my dad a bit about death lately. His cousin died last year and his sister this past January. When you talk of death your thoughts tend to run to, “What am I leaving behind? What is my legacy? Will I be known as a man who stood for something, for loyalty?”

True Loyalty precludes a clear understanding of the truth. We have all heard stories of soldier just following their superiors’ orders without a thought. Some people call that loyalty when in reality it is just blind obedience. True loyalty knows the truth. There are a lot of scams and people selling stuff out there. Most recently on Facebook is gift card for IKEA worth $1,000. When you read the fine print, you have to sign up for 13 other programs you pay for, and IKEA is not even involved in the promotion. This is the third time they have distanced themselves from a hard sell company that has done this. If something is too good to be true, it invariably is. In our materialistic society, it takes money to live, money to make things happen. People try so many ways to take advantage of others. Dig down deep. Seek the truth about things. Do your homework, especially about the things and people you get involved with.

What about your spirituality? How much have you investigated it? Take the time to read the whole chapter of 1 Corinthians 15 sometime this week. When you see the context you get what Paul is saying. People were saying the resurrection of Jesus wasn’t real - it didn’t happen. Paul responds, “…if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.” We would have no hope. We would have wasted our time. So who goes to church but doesn’t really believe? Does it make any sense? You cannot really be loyal to Jesus if you don’t believe the history involved: the incarnation, the birth, the miracles, the crucifixion and the resurrection, and the ascension. You have to understand the truth that we are in a spiritual battle, that Satan and his minions try to disrupt our lives individually and communally. You have to believe that prayer is effective, that God hears and answers. You have to believe that holiness is possible, that God is powerful enough to do a work in us leading to Christ-likeness. Know what you believe in. It will see you through good times and dark times.
True Loyalty starts each day with a choice. Even when you know the truth you have to commit to it. Life doesn’t just happen. You want to be loyal? You have to live intentionally. Many in Saskatchewan love their CFL football team. They call us the Rider Nation. There’s this guy who is part of that. He has never seen a Roughrider game, on TV or in real life. He doesn’t know any of the players’ names because he never bothered to look it up. He knows enough to wear green, but even though he considers himself part of the fan base, he is not loyal in any real sense of the word. He thinks it will just happen, that he doesn’t have to put any effort or work into it. Consider the 3rd generation business owner. His grandfather started the business and his dad consolidated it. His turn comes up and he assumes almost everything. He has no history of the struggles in the past, but because he has the same last name, he feels it is his right to do as he pleases. The third generation leader has one of the highest incidences of company failure, simply because that loyalty to the guiding principles of the company is assumed.

Each day, each morning you and I should wake up and pray, “God, I surrender this day to you. Help me to go through it with you at my side. Help my decisions and actions reflect the fact that I am your disciple. Help to me to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow you.” Again and again we see that any change that happens in a Christians’ life is based upon that concept of commitment, that point of dedication, that choice, that decision. Do you think you could pray that prayer, and then go chasing after the things that distract us from Jesus and not be affected by it? In that prayer you are giving God permission to speak to you when you are veering off course. You are giving the Spirit permission to speak into your soul conviction and correction. As you pray that prayer, you are looking at each new day as a blank slate upon which you can write your testimony, so that at the end of the day as you fall asleep you can say, “God, thank-you for using me. Thank-you for giving me the opportunities I had to day to share my faith. Thank-you for helping me to grow, and staying by my side.”

A habit that you have a hard time breaking doesn’t make you any less a true disciple than without it if you continually turn to God for help. You have a choice to listen to the voices that say you are not good enough, or you can listen to the voice of Jesus that says, “You don’t have to be good enough, because I am.” True loyalty means you are committed to being committed. You will do the hard work of making the right choices.

True loyalty is lived out in the long term. The CFL is a passing game for the most part, but consider the running game. Have you ever thought what it must be like to be an offensive linesman? Each play you crouch, and when the ball is moved you bump into the guy in front of you, pushing him one way or another. You have made maybe three steps in the play, and the ball was moved a couple or 3 yards. The next play you crouch, and when the ball is lifted you ram your body again into the guy in front of you. Again and again you do that. Sometimes you move down the field, sometimes you don’t. 60 minutes of playing time runs out and then it is over. You look ahead to the next game where you get to do it all over again: crouch, wait, bump; crouch, wait, bump. What makes a man do that? There is a loyalty to the long term goal. There is the hope of the playoffs, and a Grey Cup ring at the end. The men on the line have to do their part if the team is going to get there. He has to be loyal play by play. The one play he decides to go easy and not bump, is the play the quarterback gets sacked. He understands that the other team is made up of guys just as determined as he is, except they want to get to the quarterback, the ball. Sometimes an injury sidelines you for a spell. Sometimes you take a spell on the bench for a rest, but loyalty demands that you are in it for the long haul.

We talked about the parable of the Sower in our men’s study a couple weeks ago. Remember the story where some seed fell on the path and in the rocks, and it died out quickly. Then there was the seed that grew up but got choked out by thorns. None of those seeds produced any fruit. It was only the seed in the soil that stayed for the long term that produced a hundred fold. One of the hardest things is to get up after you have made a mistake, and continue on. We want to wallow in our self-pity. We struggle with self-esteem. God comes in and wants to heal and teach, but shame and guilt can often push Him away.

Understand this: Loyalty is not perfection; it is getting up each time you are knocked down and starting again. Loyalty is the hard work of the 7 points of valour. LOYALTY is a man of faithfulness, devotion, and allegiance. Life is not a series of quick fixes. It is largely the task of 3 steps forward, two steps back. It is the rushing game on the gridiron. We need to plug in for the long term, but be open to the vision, not just the method. Loyalty for the Christian is not to the institution, but to Jesus and His people, the body. Sometimes we confuse our loyalty. God is doing some neat things in Saskatoon. He is doing some different things, and the challenge will always be to be loyal in following Jesus.

How Powerful is Your God

2010-04-04T10:30:00.001-06:00

Acts 2:22-36 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know-- this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.
For David says of Him, 'I SAW THE LORD ALWAYS IN MY PRESENCE; FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN. THEREFORE MY HEART WAS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTED; MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE; BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES, NOR ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY. YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE; YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF GLADNESS WITH YOUR PRESENCE.'
Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SEAT one OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONE, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.
Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: 'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET."
Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified."

When you look at Christianity, at who we are and where we have come from, there is a startling fact. Most of our theology and our understanding of God comes from stories, from experience. It is not some angel or extraterrestrial being that stands and gives us definitive statements about deity. It is not some celestial book found under a rock. Who we are as children of God is defined by stories - stories written by people like you and I who encountered God in some manner, in person or in dreams. We read the story of that encounter, and out of that story we come to understand the truth of God, he truth of who we are before that God.

Right out of the gate there are many that make the claim that all those stories are just fabrications, myths and legends. I find it amazing that in practically every culture, whether touched by modern man or not, that stories of both the flood and of a spiritual environment. People don’t have to be told there is a God. They know deep down because it is in His image we were created. People can deny the reality of God’s but that doesn’t change the Truth of His existence. An atheist is not really interested in this conversation, so let us accept the truth of God. The question then becomes, “How powerful, or how big is your God?”

In the Jewish Torah we see the story of Creation. We see the eternal God creating not just matter, but time itself. Out of eternity there is an action causing a clock to start. At some point time will end and eternity will continue on, but for that part of existence there is a measurement applied. David Felter, the editor of Holiness Today blogged about this aspect of God. Does God exist outside of time, or is He limited within time while it exists? I have no doubt that God is beyond time; that it is from God’s “eternalness” that He reaches down and interacts with Creation. Scripture and prophecy make no sense, otherwise. We have talked about the wastefulness of creation, of the grand expanse of our universe that contains billions of galaxies of which they themselves each contain billions of stars… and we look around at the seemingly easy beauty of the world around us. That is a pretty powerful God! Sometimes we try to start with a definition of God and assume truth by definition. God is omnipotent - all powerful, so how could He not be Creator? In the story of Creation we extrapolate what we consider facts out of the story’s text. We see the Spirit’s brooding, we understand the power of Christ in Creation. It is only later in the Jewish writings that we understand there was a creation possibly before Genesis, a creation of heavenly beings who maintain ranks and powers and principalities. There is a whole spiritual realm that we can’t see out there. In that place God is absolute. There is no denying truth, for truth is known. All is laid bare in ways we cannot imagine. It is a place of holiness, a holiness that examines and finds sin - all that is against God’s character. This is a mighty God who created and lives in this realm.

So God, in His power, is Creator. That is The God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, the ends of the universe. God not just created me but He also knows me intimately. As the Psalmist says He knows me from my beginning, for it is He who knit me together in my mother’s womb. He knows the number of hairs on my head, and keeps my tears in a bottle. In fact, there is no place I can go where He is not. So God is not only the Creator, He is also the one that draws near. He knows us intimately not as an art critic examines a vase, but as the potter who created that vase. He knows where the clay came from and molded it in His time in His place. As we walk this earth, He walks with us and talks with us. How many encounters in the Jewish Scriptures do we see God speaking and interacting with man either directly or through an intermediary? Time and time again we see the power of God not just in His awesomeness and grandness, in His eminence, but in His closeness, His presence, His imminence. The Creator of the ends of the earth has drawn near to man. In the Garden He walked with Adam and Eve. He spoke to prophets in dreams. Theophanies and christophanies, God and Jesus becoming flesh, show up in the stories of Israel. Moses saw the hand of God.

And then was revealed the ultimate power of God, revealed in the story of Jesus, the Son of God. It is the story of the incarnation, the miracles, the crucifixion, the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus. Peter told this story in his first sermon which we heard earlier. How many of the God’s out there take the initiative and do the finished work so that all humankind needs to do is accept in faith the free gift of eternal life. How many of the God’s of this world demand service and sacrifice, pain and suffering so that we can make ourselves worthy. My God was so powerful that He not only came near, but He redeemed me. He so loved me that He gave His only Son to die on a cross so that if I would believe with my heart and confess with my mouth, I would be saved. And that salvation is outside of time, for it shall last for eternity. It is outside the physical limitations of this world and resides in that other realm, that spiritual realm of which we know so little.

So how powerful is your God? Is He your Creator? Do the miracles in the Gospels excite you and cause you to surrender all you are to Him? Do you experience miracles in your own life? Sometimes we don’t receive because we don’t ask, and sometimes we don’t ask because we don’t really believe God can or will. Understand there is a power that resides in you if indeed you are a follower of Jesus. It is not your power. It is not an outside power at your disposal to command. It is the power of God, the power of the Holy Spirit that enlivens dead and dying things. Just as Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, so he has raised our spirits from the dead. We are made alive in Him, to Him. The power of my God heals and raises. The power of my God knows no limits within the natural or the spiritual worlds. Do you know this God in your life? Do you experience the death defying power of God?
Does your God you follow draw near to you? Do you have a sense of His presence? He who visited man in the Garden has drawn near through the gift of the Holy Spirit which He has shed abroad in our hearts. Do you commune with this God? Does He speak to you in your quietness; do you know Him in the inner workings of your life?
That redemption that Jesus did in the finished work of the cross is alive in you and I today. While the work of the cross was the finished work of Jesus, He is not finished with us today. What a wonder that the power of God can transform a lowly man, a girl without hope, into a man and women who are leaders in His Kingdom. He lifts us up out of the miry pits and puts our feet on solid ground, the rock of our salvation. He takes our garments soiled with sin and replaces them with garments of holiness, washed in the blood of the lamb. The power of this God who is Creator, who has drawn near in Love, is at work in your life today. Do you know Him?

I don’t mean do you know of this God, but do you know Him by experience, by relationship? Easter is about restoration, about the power of God restoring relationships. The question we ended up last week was in essence, “Why do you come to church?” Is it the Palm Sunday syndrome of following the crowd, or is it the Easter Sunrise looking for your risen Lord?

God has yet to reveal His final power - that of ending time. He created it and someday He is coming back. In that return we will see Him face to face and will be changed into the likeness of His Son, Jesus. Time will wind down and end, and we will be ushered into eternity. What a wonderful hope we hang our faith on. It is not just this life we are citizens of; we have a heavenly citizen ship and someday we will be in the presence of God Almighty forever and a day. Know Him today. Grow deep in your relationship with Him. Make Him the focus of your life.

Palm Sunday - When the rubber hits the road

2010-03-28T10:30:00.001-06:00

Mark 11:1-11 “As they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples, and said to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. If anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' you say, 'The Lord has need of it'; and immediately he will send it back here."
They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they untied it. Some of the bystanders were saying to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?"
They spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission. They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it. And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields.
Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting, "Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!"
Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.”

Word of mouth is what it takes to sell something these days, it seems. 2,000 years ago that was the only way not just to sell, but to get news. For 3 years Jesus had been walking around teaching and healing and proclaiming the Kingdom of God. He challenged the Pharisees at every turn. Each year He had come up to Jerusalem for the Passover and this year would be no different - or so the word on the street was. During those 3 years his popularity and following grew. Jesus was coming! Would this be the year He would call down the power of God like Elijah and vanquish the foes? Maybe He would part the enemies like the Red Sea was parted so long ago by Mose. People were saying He was the Messiah, that we would finally have peace and prosperity. He would re-establish the temple worship and no more would we be under the control of someone else.

So in He comes, riding on a colt, the crowds gather and shout, “Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Lord.” There is noise, a celebration prompted by the entrance to Zion of the Messiah. It is hard to imagine the hubbub, until you remember back a few weeks to the Gold medal game of men’s hockey at the Olympics. So there’s dust and noise and celebration, and a run on palm leaves as people throw them on the ground for Jesus’ animal to walk on. Flash forward a few days and you see the same hubbub and noise, except instead of celebration you hear the anger as the crowds cry, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

Why the difference between Palm Sunday and Good Friday? How can you explain the shift in public opinion? For some of it you can blame the religious leaders manoeuvring and back room deals, for inciting blame and even violence;, but that doesn’t account for how much people changed their thinking. This is a valid question for today as we see church attendance on the decline, as we see the emergent church leaving traditional ways and messages and many of them following a modified Gospel message. The truth is, the message never changes from one culture to the next. You and I are loved by the Creator of the universe. He sent Jesus to die for our sins so that we may have relationship with Him as we respond to His gift of grace. So why do people stop following Jesus?

Some people are just in it for what they can get out of it. They jump on any bandwagon that looks successful. These people want their “fire insurance policy” of eternal life but don’t really care for the whole “deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow Jesus” thing. That costs too much, and they are in it for what they can get, not what they can give. Consider Judas. He was probably called just like the others - he just wasn’t coming from a fishing background. Considering he became the group’s treasurer, he probably had experience in dealing with money. He had to leave what he was doing, maybe even a good job, but we also know he helped himself to funds belonging to the followers of Jesus. He was in it for what he could get out of it. When the opportunity came to cut loose of the organization and make a profit, he did. He grabbed his 30 pieces of silver and ran. In the end, he found that all that getting left him empty. He wasn’t happy, and his life ended up being forfeit.

Many in the crowd were like this. They wanted healing or a full stomach, and figured that Jesus was their meal ticket. They followed Jesus and His disciples as they travelled around the countryside. People use the church like that today. They opt for easy way outs and look for religion to provide. They are more than happy to take, but giving is another matter. When the rubber hits the road, though, they would just as soon as join the crowd shouting, ”Crucify!” and then move on to the next church. The church is community. We are all in this together, as a body. It is about sharing what we have for the benefits of one another, and they do the same for us.

Some people are just in it for the hoopla, the excitement. They crave the adrenaline rush. They are not much different from the first group, but instead of looking for stuff, they are looking for emotion. They want something that makes them feel good. When you look at some of the mega churches out there with wonky theology, you ask yourself, “Why? Why do people go after that stuff?” The short answer is they want something that makes them feel good. They want a religion that says they can have “it” all, and there are no consequences. They want the short cut to health and wealth. They want to believe that they can have it all because they feel they have a right to it all. They get told that they deserve it, that God wants them to have it, and it becomes an emotional high. They get sucked in by the talk and the glitz and if that ever goes, so do they. These people who followed Jesus quickly left His band of followers when the rubber hit the road. They joined the next fashionable crowd, which was anti-Jesus.

Can you imagine going through life like that? Today people hop from church to church for the silliest reasons, rather than looking for the place where they get spiritual nourishment and a chance to participate in the body. The church and Jesus are about connecting to Truth, not just feelings. Truth is not always popular, but we are lost without it. A pastor just had gall bladder surgery this week. He had pain that came out of the blue. What would happen if he ignored it? If he didn’t feel like getting to the bottom of it because he was afraid of what it might be. Something like that is pretty hard to ignore, because your body reaches the limit of pain or endurance where you have to seek help. The truth is he was sick. He needed a doctor’s care. That little red light comes on your dash, saying something is wrong in your engine. What do you do? You tap it a couple times to see if it goes out. Maybe you turn your car off and on again to see if the light comes back on. You drive with it for a while and see if it stays on, and you feel great relief if it goes off. Then it comes back and you think, “Maybe I should do something.” Then it starts blinking… If that light starts blinking stop right away and get it looked at. While there is an outside chance that a sensor may be wonky, a blinking light means something is seriously wrong. How long can you go avoiding the truth? Don’t go for the hoopla and glitz - go for the Truth that will change your life.

Some people seek, but never commit. There are people who followed Jesus but never committed to what He stood for. They liked his ethics and morality, they liked his teaching, they even liked His worldview. When it came to making choices, though, they couldn’t side with Jesus. He was too radical, too much on the edge that He rocked the boat. They wanted truth, but not the hard truth. There was a hockey player that finally made it to the NHL. He put in his time in the Juniors and the leagues below and finally made the big time and was called up to the Montreal Canadians. After consideration he turned it down. He said the NHL life was not what he wanted. When he was faced with the truth of his pursuit, he decided it was not what he wanted. Wow! It shocked a lot of people, but he had some serious soul-searching to do. Those people who were following Jesus like that had no voice when the rubber hit the road. When the time came to make a decision, they too yelled, “Crucify!” They had the right words, but no power - they were hollow. To make a piñata you make a frame out of a balloon covered in paper and flour and water. When everything is dry and hard, you pop the balloon and you have a hollow shell that looks good on the outside, but empty on the inside. When the crunch comes, there is no strength, and the piñata gives in. Make that commitment that gives you a foundation in life.

Each of Jesus’ disciples abandoned him at one point. They struggled with choices when the rubber hit the road. Maybe they struggled with some of these issues, but they somehow found the ability to stay connected with one another, and with God. They found that deep down they had to understand and so they waited upon God, upon Jesus. Not only did God meet them where they were at, Jesus specifically met some of them to restore them. After Peter denied Jesus 3 times, Jesus asked Him 3 times to continue on.

Easter is about restoration. There is the restoration of Peter, of the church; of you and I in Jesus Christ. The simple Gospel is that Jesus died on our behalf. He died while we were yet sinners, while we were far from Him. He is in that process of bringing us near Him so we may see Him for who He is. In 6 days Jesus went from Triumphal Entry to hanging on a cross. What will you do with Him in the days you have this week? What words will come from your mouth when someone asks if you are a Christian? Spend some time with Him and reaffirm your choice to take up your cross and follow Him.

The 7 Points of Valor: #4 - Purity

2010-03-07T10:30:00.001-06:00

Romans 6:6-14 "Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin's every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did.
That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you've been raised from the dead!—into God's way of doing things. Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God." (The Message)

PURITY To be clean in heart, mind, speech, and body is to be strong. Psalm 119:9 Our materialistic society is a breeding ground for idols and temptations. All of who we are needs to ring true to the Good News.

Consider food colouring. You have a large pitcher of cool, clear water. What happens when you put a couple drops of food colouring in it? The food colouring spreads out and tints the whole pitcher, not just one little part. How easy is it to get all the colour back out of that jug - quite difficult. Consider the kid playing with white gloves in the mud. Do the gloves get muddy, or does the mud get glovey? Sin is all pervasive. They say a little leaven leavens the whole loaf. As we focus on purity, let us start by looking at what wrecks purity - sin.

The Fact of sin. There is a standard. Whether you believe it or not, it exists. This standard is universal, applies to everyone. A popular children's toy is a plastic ball with 8 or 10 different shapes cut out of the sides of it; a circle, a square, a rectangle, a cross, a star - you get the picture. You also have a separate shape that exactly matches each hole. The one shape will only fit in the corresponding hole and nowhere else. The child learns over time how to match the shapes with the proper holes. This standard that is out there is like this plastic ball with a cross cut out of it. Though we were originally created in the shape of a cross, our shape got marred and no we look more like a square. Try as we might, we can't fit ourselves into that spot.That is sin at work. Sin is falling short of that standard, of not fitting that one spot. It is like the archer aiming for the bulls-eye, the target that is down the field. I spent several summers at camp and graduated through several ranks of the archery program. As you start, you know all the right stuff, how to set the arrow up on the bow, how to hold it so when you pull back the arrow doesn't go flinging off sideways; how to protect the inside of your forearm from the string hurting it.Unfortunately it is easy to miss the target. It takes no practice to miss. Right out of the gate you miss. Add in practice, discipline, time, and a teacher and you can begin to hit the target consistently. The Bible says, "We all have fallen short" of the mark, or the target, but what does that mean? What sometimes happens is we get confused about where this standard comes from. What is the target to which we align ourselves? The target is the character of God, the image of Jesus. The whole Old testament and its Laws is all about revealing to us that character. All the Laws and rules in the Old Testament simply are trying to show us that shape to which we need to conform. Sin, then, is anything that goes against the character of God. At its most simplest definition sin is selfishness. It is doing stuff for our own image. The heart of sin is not the rule that's broken, but the intent behind it. Let me explain this further, but understand that, as the passage we read earlier says, we are not under the rule of sin. In other words you have a choice. It is a God given choice, and is only presented as we follow Jesus. That choice, to say, "No" to sin is what purity is all about. To understand purity, is to understand sin and how it works in our lives.

Consider the Process of sin. James 1:13-15 says "Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death." See where sin starts from? It starts from here in our hearts, and here in our minds. We have these desires and wants that are focused on us. These can be very natural things like the need for love or food. But if we allow these natural desires to become the controlling factor in our lives, they get pulled out of proportion and we no longer look like that standard we just talked about. Salvation and Christianity, then, is not so much about the rules and stopping the bad stuff as it is about pursuing the good stuff; the stuff that relates to that image of Jesus. Did you notice the clothes of the athletes during the Olympics? With the exception of figure skating and snowboarding, it was all about speed; and in their pursuit of speed they dropped all the stuff that held them back because they were pursuing the best way to get to the finish line the fastest. They weren't concerned about making a fashion statement. They weren't concerned about wearing stuff just because it made them look like an athlete or made them look fast. They focused on their race and did their best to avoid all the obstacles that would trip them up and slow them down. At points in following Jesus, you have choices to make. Do you do what is selfish and just for you, or do you live out of love. Do you allow yourself to be tripped up by the obstacles of life and get your eyes off of the race. Do you allow your desires to take you out of the race? Purity is the act of keeping your eyes on the finish line and pursuing that to the end.

The Power of sin. What gives sin such power? Why does it have such control over us? Sometimes we are so caught up in issues of holiness that we give power to sin by pushing the Law; the rules. The power of sin is the selfish intent. There is a thinking that we can do it all ourselves. We can be good enough in following Jesus on our own strength, so we don't even need His help. Unfortunately that is pride, and the downfall of countless people, and of Satan himself. Believe it or not, you have a choice in this. Have you ever ticked someone off? Have you ever apologized but they keep coming after you? They keep blaming you for all their problems and they work hard to make you miserable - and you let them. You give power to them when you let them control your emotions, your life. Guilt and shame are 2 key controllers we use on each other, and that Satan uses on us. You don't have to give in to them. In the power of the Spirit you can find release and peace from those things, because you are no longer slaves to sin. That is what freedom in Jesus is about. When you walk in the love and forgiveness of God you walk in purity.

The End of sin. Listen to Romans 8:1-8 "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God." Do you see the choice here, the decision you have to make? Where is your mind set today? Each day you have to ask yourself that question. There are countless men and women who feel called by God. They start out on the road to be all they can be but they don't finish. The simple reason is that they love the world. If you pursue the things of this world you can’t please God. The things of this world are all about how you feel, what you want. There is no room in that for God. Purity is about walking in step with the Spirit – giving these temporary things away so that you may gain eternal things.

Purity is a result of something else, not something to be pursued on its own. The pursuit of holiness is the pursuit of the Law. We make a list of all the don’ts, and try not to do them. We make a list of all the do’s, and try to do those things. All we are doing is trying to change our behavior on our own strength and as Romans 7 indicates, it doesn’t work. Purity is about what God is doing in us. It is about that process of the Holy Spirit leading and guiding and transforming us. We make the decision to follow Jesus with all we have. The outworking of that choice, that commitment is holiness, or purity. Consider sin as darkness. A big empty room, but full of darkness. What happens when you bring a light in? Does the darkness overcome the light? Impossible. The Light goes straight to every corner, every space and brings illumination. Stay close to the Light. Stay close to Jesus, and you will be a person of purity.

The 7 Points of Valor: #3 - Chivalry

2010-02-28T23:03:00.006-06:00

Philippians 2:3-4 “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”

Luke 10:29-37 “But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Matthew 20:26-28 “But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Team Hoyt: As we watch the video again I remind you of the first 2 Points of Valor. The first was honour, which we identify as integrity. The challenge is to not just know the right stuff, but to apply it. Integrity of words and life are the foundation of our testimony, our witness. If people around us are to see Jesus in us, our word must be true. This is honor. The second is courage. Courage is about working in the present. So often it is the fear of the future or the unknown that holds us back in life; but courage deals with today’s problems. Jesus Himself said to work in today for tomorrow has its own issues. Courage is about doing the right thing, even in the toughest of circumstances.

You will find 2 common denominators in these 7 points of valor. The first is the discipline of self-sacrifice. Jesus asked those who would follow Him to take up their cross and do so. The cross is the ultimate symbol of self-sacrifice, for not only did Jesus give up his mortal life, but in the incarnation He gave up His divine right. For Dick Hoyt , his life and goals were forfeit for what he could do for his disabled son. There was one thing that made his son feel alive - and he has sacrificed so much of his time and energy and resources to give his son that freedom. To be a man of valor, a woman who stands for what God stands for, you have to be willing to pay the price of following Jesus. The sacrifice of discipleship is coupled with the concern for others. We do not follow just words of a book, or ideas of a person long gone, we serve our brothers and sisters, our fellow humans regardless of creed or religion. We sacrifice ourselves for the sake of others. That was Jesus’ life, and so it is ours. One way to say this is Chivalry. Chivalry is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood. It is usually associated with ideals of knightly virtues, honor and courtly love. The word is derived from the French word chevalerie", itself derived from "chevalier", which means knight, derived from "cheval", horse (indicating one who rides a horse). It has a 3 pronged reference: duties to one’s fellow men, including the weak and the poor; duties to God, emphasizing the dedication to one’s Lord and the championing of good over evil; and the duties to women, to his own lady first and after to all ladies in gentleness and graciousness.

A real man is concerned about those who are weaker or less fortunate than he. He would rather suffer personal loss than allow another to be mistreated. He has trained himself to think of others and to act for their good rather than his own. He is always considerate of girls and women and respects their needs for protection and consideration. We live in a man’s world in many aspects and though chivalry is a dated term, it relates to both honor and courage in our lives.

What is our duty to our fellow man? We are called to love our neighbor as our self, and it is in this context we find the parable of the Good Samaritan. Who is our neighbor? Start with those who are in close proximity, and go as far as what Jesus said - the Samaritans of our lives. They are those who believe differently, those who think their faith is right and ours is wrong, those who are racially and culturally mixed; some might even mention our enemies. Paul said it this way in Romans 13:8 “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” What does it look like? Think of the tales of the knights. They would support those who are weak and downtrodden. They did it because they had trained for battle: they knew their weapons and how to use them. Have you ever read that passage about the armor of God in Ephesians 6? There is a sense that all of us who are mature Christians are garbed in armor for warfare. We all, as mature Christians, wander about our days as agents of chivalry who help those who are spiritually weak and oppressed. We look for those whom Satan has beat down, whom the world has shut up behind religious bars and stripped of all spiritual esteem; those whom the Creator made in His image and then died for so that they could be restored to a relationship with Him. We watch for those to whom we can help, and we use the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet and foot ware and belt of Truth. It is all there, so that God can do His amazing work in people’s lives through us.

Whether man or woman you are called to something set apart for the elite. One understanding of the knights of old is that you had to have been born into the right family to attain that position. It wasn’t just any lackey off the street that could become a knight. It had to be in their blood. You had to have wealth behind you for the training and the armor and the horse. And you, who are followers of Jesus, have been adopted into the right family. You have the blood of the Lamb on your life so you are called joint heirs of Christ. What is your duty to your fellow man? Stand up and make a difference for those who are weaker and poor, especially when no one else will.

What is our duty to God? Chivalry means we recognize we have a Master or Lord whom we serve. Do you get that picture of a knight standing at a gate or a bridge forbidding all to pass? The knight stands by command, and obeys until his strength runs out. Sometimes it is to the answer of a riddle or the display of virtue that allows passage, but it is the dedication to the Lord that makes the knight risk his life. There is no other option, it is do or die trying. This aspect of chivalry is not unlike the Olympic athletes we have been watching these past 2 weeks. They don’t come to Vancouver to lose; they come to win. There chances may be slim, but they still put in years of training and countless other resources of muscle, sweat and tears just for the chance to compete. They give up the things in life that will take away from their training, They do their school work if they are students, and work as they are able, but their focus is on the training so they can complete the task they have been given to do to the best of their ability. Our duty to God is to give him our focus, our abilities, and allow Him to use us in His mission. His example and character lead us on as we give our all to the task at hand.

What is our duty to women? Men, we live in a society that favors you. While we like to think we are civilized, we still struggle with equal rights. The vulnerable ones of our society need help - children and widows, whether widowed by death, or widowed by absence or abuse. You have to go out of your way to be chivalrous to women, because they will not get it from anywhere else. While Jesus lifted the stature of women; a movement in society in the last 50 years has tried to make us all equal by tearing down men and the institutions of family and marriage. At the same time there has been recognition that men and women are indeed different. One of the greatest tragedies of porn beyond the individuals involved is how it shapes society’s concept of women. They become objects and chattel, pretty things to look at but of no real value. There is great abuse given to the young women of our society. Listen to these stats:

One-half of all Canadian women have experienced at least one incident of violence since the age of 16

Almost one-half of women reported violence by men known to them and one-quarter reported violence by a stranger

One-quarter of all women have experienced violence at the hands of their current or past marital partner (includes common-law unions)

One-in-six currently married women reported violence by their spouses; one-half of women with previous marriages reported violence by a previous spouse

More than one-in-ten women who reported violence in a current marriage have at some point felt their lives were in danger

Six-in-ten Canadian women who walk alone in their own area after dark feel "very" or "somewhat" worried doing so

Women with violent fathers-in-law are at three times the risk of assault by their partners than are women with non-violent fathers-in-law

Source: Statistics Canada. The Daily, Thursday, November 18, 1993.

University of Victoria's Sexual Assault Centre posts the following childhood sexual abuse statistics:

1 in 3 females and 1 in 6 males in Canada experience some form of sexual abuse before the age of 18.

80% of all child abusers are the father, foster father, stepfather or another relative or close family friend of the victim.

Incestuous relationships last 7 years on average

75% of mothers are not aware of the incest in their family

60-80% of offenders in a study of imprisoned rapists had been molested as children

80% of prostitutes and juvenile delinquents, in another study, were sexually abused as children.

In this context, ask yourself how do you treat women? Men, to be a real man today means you have to support and encourage the women around you. While we don’t put them on pedestals, we do recognize the great gift they are from God. In the Creation story we see the partnership God desires, but so often today we are grieving Eden. So much was lost, and we recapture some of that when we honor our women. Respect and graciousness should mark our relationships and our service. Who is looking out for these kids? You and I need to not shirk away from difficult circumstances, but find a way to help women find safe places, and to be a champion on their behalf.

Make the commitment today to be different, to be chivalrous in your approach to people and situations. Stand up for what is right, and strengthen your arm with the Spirit as you go forth in the power of God to proclaim the freedom Jesus brings to our lives today.

The 7 Points of Valor: #2 - Courage

2010-02-07T10:30:00.009-06:00

Joshua 1:1-9 “Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' servant, saying, “Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

What is courage? What does courage look like?

Team Hoyt has many applications. Today we take the lesson of courage from the father and son team. They have run over 1,000 races together including 234 triathlons (6 of them were Ironman competitions and 7 Half Ironman) and 67 marathons (27 of them the Boston Marathon) over the last 33 years. Their best time in a marathon is 2 hours and 40 minutes, their best time in an Ironman is 13 hours and 43 minutes.They have 2 half marathons this year before they do the Boston marathon in April - it is Rick’s favorite race. His dad, Dick, will be 69 this year, his son will be 48. They did a 3,735 mile journey in 1992, running across the U.S. The courage of the father to attempt whatever he could for his son is inspiring.

There is the soldier on the battlefield. He is in his early 20’s and nothing prepared him for the reality and horror that is war; but he does whatever it takes to get the job done. There’s the young mother left alone with a child by an absent father. She works three jobs and lives on little sleep so that her child may have a good start in life. She also does whatever it takes so her family has what it needs. Then there is the person diagnosed with terminal cancer. It comes suddenly and shocks, bringing emotions and feelings deep and dark. Like Job, though, the response is “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” Three situations, and perhaps stereo-typical in the messiness of life, but all illustrating courage and inner strength.

Courage is about working in the present. So often it is the fear of the future or the unknown that holds us back in life; but courage deals with today’s problems. Jesus Himself said to work in today for tomorrow has its own issues.

Courage expresses itself in many ways, but if you want to be all you can be in Jesus, courage has to be a part of your life. What’s the antithesis of courage? Is it fear, is it apathy? It is whatever that prevents you from action, from “doing” something. Quite a few years ago I was in a bookstore in a large mall. I walked around the corner of a bookcase on the wall opposite the cash register. Just as I turned the corner a huge man was putting a book under his coat. He turned and in a few strides was out of the store and gone in the crowd. I didn’t yell, or even move. I was shocked - shocked at witnessing a crime, and I choked. I stood frozen and unable to respond to what was happening at hand. It was one of my more pathetic moments and I still remember today that I did nothing. If it happened today I believe I am in a better frame of mind and would act quicker. At the very least I would call out from the safety of another book case; but then I failed to act.

So, how do we apply courage today? How can we become men and women marked by courage, the ability to act in the face of opposition? The process of change has 3 elements that I know of. There is a commitment, a moment of surrender and dedication. There is then the throwing off of the negative stuff and behavior and a throwing on of the good stuff. Romans 12:1-2 illustrates this when it says “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” “Present”, “do not be”, and then “be”. That is the pattern we see again and again in the New Testament, and it is the process of God working in our life. Let me leave you with 3 commitments, or decisions you and I need to make if we are going to be courageous.

Consider David. We think of Goliath or the lion he killed as examples of courage. We could also think of his reign as king and the military exploits he had; but consider something else - David had the courage to be open and honest with himself about who he was; about his life before God and the people. He knew who he was. How many men do you know could stand up in front of a group and recite poetry, much less write it? Real men - poetry, they don’t usually go hand in hand, but David didn’t care. He loved to sing praises before God and to dance before Him, even though he would be considered foolish for doing so. When the prophet Nathan confronted David with his sins of adultery and murder, he didn’t make excuses or hum and haw; he “fessed” up and said “Before God I have sinned.” When confronted with his fallenness he pled guilty before God and accepted the consequences of his sins.

It takes courage to be real, to be authentic in community. It takes courage to show the “not so polished” sides of our lives. This church is your community and you and I need the courage to be vulnerable and make ourselves accountable to each other. There is power, incredible power when we open up ourselves to one another in the Spirit. I was talking to a lady yesterday about the Your Best You conferences. Her comment was the correlation between how “churched” women are and how closed they are. The more “churched” the women are, the more closed relationally they are. That’s the exact opposite of where we should be. Take courage, and let us all to be real.

Consider Abraham. Here he is cruising through life, successful at what he does when God says, “Move!” Say what? Where, why? “Just move!” So up come the roots and off he goes. Abraham heard God and was obedient to the call on his life. He took the initiative God asked of him and left the familiar and comfort. He had the courage to surrender all he has and was, and to step out, to break new ground, to believe God when He said, “Go” knowing God would provide. So, Abraham goes and gets to a wonderful land that God says will be his and his descendents. Then God says, “Offer you son as a sacrifice to me.” Abraham lived in a time when that was not uncommon. The land he came from practiced that, and Abraham thought the God he served was different. So, trusting in God again, with the courage of his faith, he was just about to follow through on God’s command when God intervened. And Abraham’s courage was counted to him as righteousness - his belief in God’s deliverance pleased God. The Psalmist tells us God is not interested in sacrifice, but in the broken and contrite heart that pursues Him. Do you have the courage to pursue God or is something holding you back? Have you dedicated your family and your money and all you have and are to Him? That is what God asks - everything. Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but Thine.” Give up your small ambitions and pursue God. Again and again we see followers of Jesus throwing away careers and money and all the stuff this world holds dear, just so they can do what God created them for. They have the courage to surrender all and follow Jesus. Have the courage to take up your cross daily and follow Jesus.

Consider Daniel. Here he is as a captive in a foreign land, but finding favour with God and moving up in the ranks of government. And there are people who are against him, and jealous and they devise a plan to do him in. He is faced with a challenge - turn away from God or die. He has the courage to stand up for his faith. He had the courage to do what is right regardless of the consequences. Think of this: you have a son or daughter. They have grown up and are now in the exact place of Daniel’s friends Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego. How would you want teenage son or daughter to respond to the challenge of bow down or be thrown in the furnace? God does not call us all to stand on a street corner and proclaim the day of the Lord. He does not call us all to sell all our stuff and give it to the poor and live a monastic lifestyle. But He does call all of us to holiness and a life changed by His Spirit. What IS God calling you to do and be. Most often God’s will has to do with being, with who we are in Him and how we live our life before men. Sometimes it is about location and task. Are you up for it? Are you ready for the challenge? Join your brothers and sisters in community and let us make the decision to follow Jesus whatever the cost.

The 7 Points of Valor - Honor

2010-01-24T10:30:00.012-06:00

Philippians 4:4-13 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

Exodus 20:12 “honour your father and mother…” Respect for position, place of trust
John 19:9 Honor is inherent to each of us for we are made in the image of Christ- we can give it up!
Matthew 13:57 Honorable jobs - prophet
Romans 9:21 Compares something made for honorable use rather than just common use - think of the items found in the Old Testament temple made of gold.

Honor: The man of honour is the man whose word is true. Psalm 15:1, 2 “O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart.” The challenge is to not just know the right stuff, but to apply it. Integrity of words and life are the foundation of our testimony, our witness. If people around us are to see Jesus in us, our word must be true. This is honor.

Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.

The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

The narrator had a choice. We need to find our own way, and often the common road or easy road is a cop-out. If this metaphor speaks to destination I would have chosen a different metaphor myself, because I like driving down easy roads. I just want to get to where I am going. Give me the 4 lane highway rather than the slower 2 lane country road, especially the gravel ones. I avoid roads that are difficult to travel on, yet we often miss interesting things that are only on the back roads. On the other hand, when this metaphor speaks to the journey it is better understood. The road to honor is less traveled and rough. Who wants to go down the hard road? But the destination is not the same. Integrity takes time and sacrifice. It is going to cost you in many different ways. The road to common compromise is wide and easy, and most people follow the crowd.

Honor is the higher calling. For the 15 year old hockey player it is the call of Junior A and the NHL - to reach that dream career of professional hockey. For the author it might be writing that bestselling novel, or the literary work that will stand the test of time. It takes effort and discipline, time, and more. I was talking to one father this past week whose 15 year old son has a shot at the big leagues. He gets invited to the next level up, most of the others being 16 and 17 year olds. One of the boys takes the initiative and says to the group, what’s your name, your age and something about yourself. Half the boys say they like to party. Drinking and smoking dope is common place for these guys. But this young man wants to move on. He keeps his body clean and works hard at his game instead. He knows that to have that one in a million chance he has to pay the price, take the road less traveled. He also declared in front of his peers that he is a Christian. I look forward to seeing how God will use that young guy.

So it is with you and I as followers of Jesus. We aspire to be men and women of God - to be all we can be, to reach our potential for which we were created. Are we willing to pay the price? Honor is about respect, respect because of integrity, and when we are called to be honorable, or set apart from the common we are pursuing a sense of the divine calling. It has been suggested that honor is being true to your word. He is an honorable man because he says something and does it. For the child of God, for the man of God, we make a public confession to following Jesus Christ. We get baptized because we want people to know that this is where we make our stand. This faith is who I am. So often the complaint of the non Christian is that what that Christian says in church isn’t translated into what they see in his life. He is no different from the next guy. How many people have been hurt by someone else in the church? This disconnect between the image of our faith and reality of our life is what honor speaks to. So what does Honor look like? There are 3 arenas of life where we live. There is the private place of our thoughts and attitudes, of our opinions and intellect. The second is our speech, the words that proceed out of our mouth. The third arena we live out our life in is our actions - the places we go, the things we put our hands to. What would honor look like in each of these arenas?

Honorable thoughts
Philippians 4:8 “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” How organized are you? If you look at my bookshelves I like to organize books by height. It makes it easier to put loose papers on top of the books, but that is another story. I also like to put like things side by side. I have all my woodworking magazines in one spot, genealogy books in another, and so on. It helps to group like things together. Look at this list in Philippians and see what honorable thoughts are grouped with: Truth, right things, purity, lovely things, and integrity - anything worthy of praise or anything of excellence. That is pretty good company! We tend to speak and act out of who we are. Where we spend time with our head and mind is going to reflect in our words and actions. It is also in the mind that we form our opinions and allow the filters of life to develop.
As we go through life many things cross our path. King David was looking out of his palace and saw a beautiful woman. He allowed that to draw him away. Joseph, on the other hand, ran as fast as he could in the other direction when confronted with the same thing. We have a choice on what we will focus on. Where are your boundaries? I try set mine well in from the danger zones, while others foolishly see how close they can get to the fire. They end up getting burned. I recognize my humanness, my fallen-ness. Victory as a child of God is not running around crazy in our liberty in Christ, but recognizing that we live within grace.
So what will you let your mind dwell on? Be proactive. Grab some good books, listen to uplifting music, and let the Word of God seep into you through reading and memorizing and meditating on it. Many men can tell you the stats of their favorite hockey team, or who has signed or not signed back with the rough riders. But who can quote 1 Corinthians 10:13, Psalm 119:11 or Matthew 22:37?

Honorable Words
Proverbs 25:11 “Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances.” There are some things I wish I was, but I “ain’t”. I wish I was quicker with my wit. I am one of those guys that an opportunity presents itself, there’s a pause, then it is gone and THEN I come up with the funny or the tidbit of wisdom. Maybe that’s why I like preaching - I can have it all thought out beforehand. There have also been times when I was as surprised as the next guy by what came out of my mouth. We all know, though, when we are the recipients of that word in the right circumstance. It doesn’t have to be long or eloquent. Sometimes it is as simple as, “I will pray for you.” Just make sure you do pray. Maybe a simple “I missed you!”
Our words can be used for great good or great harm. When we thoughtfully respond to somebody out of the honesty of our heart, we can’t do it wrong. Someone asks us about Jesus. We try to think about what is important, but we get flustered and feel like we failed. As long as we just respond out of what God has done for us He will use us. God looks at the heart, so don’t not say anything just because you feel inadequate. Just be real and let God do the rest. He promised He would if our words come out of who we are in him.

Honorable Acts
Have you ever met someone who said one thing but did another? This is where that metaphor of the two roads come in. A lot of people talk about that road less travelled. They have the right words and know the right people and read the right books, but when the rubber hits the road, they are not at all where they thought or said they were. Honor is about integrity, and we have precious little people of integrity. Another fallen pastor after 30 years of marriage. Another person leaving a church because someone abused them spiritually, or just because they got upset about a paint color. A guy pursuing the pastorate as well as a promiscuous lifestyle. A church elder abusing his daughters. There is a lot of talk from a lot of people, but when you take away all the layers you see truth in how you treat and relate to others. Men - how do you treat women? Are you honorable in how you relate, or do you take advantage of them at vulnerable times. If we don’t have honor among the men of our church, where else will we find it? Honor is not passive, it is active. What are you doing to lift our sisters in Christ up?
Justice and ministry to the single ladies and orphans top lists in the Old and New Testaments. How are we doing today with integrity, with acting honorably? Does our life live up to our words?

The View From Here…

2010-01-10T10:30:00.002-06:00

Psalm 119:1-11

“1 How blessed are those whose way is blameless,

Who walk in the law of the LORD.

2 How blessed are those who observe His testimonies,

Who seek Him with all their heart.

3 They also do no unrighteousness;

They walk in His ways.

4 You have ordained Your precepts,

That we should keep them diligently.

5 Oh that my ways may be established

To keep Your statutes!

6 Then I shall not be ashamed

When I look upon all Your commandments.

7 I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart,

When I learn Your righteous judgments.

8 I shall keep Your statutes;

Do not forsake me utterly!

9 How can a young man keep his way pure?

By keeping it according to Your word.

10 With all my heart I have sought You;

Do not let me wander from Your commandments.

11 Your word I have treasured in my heart,

That I may not sin against You.”

A new year; a new vision. A chance to start over again; to realign our life. God is moving in my thoughts in some very specific ways, and I want to share a bit of that with you. These things are for all of us, even me. These things come as the next step that God has put before us. They come as part of a plan He has for us as a church. I have invited friends here to day so that we can share a bit of who we are and where God is leading us. I have been asking myself a question for several years. “How does discipleship work?” I know there is no one easy answer, in part because we are all unique and need different things in our lives. But I do believe there is a core of knowledge, a core of behaviors that make up a body of discipleship. One of the largest churches in the USA discovered that they had been missing the boat for the last 20 years. Willow Creek has done a phenomenal job of reaching people for Jesus, but they have done a lousy job of seeing people discipled. How do we move pole into a deeper place in their relationship with Jesus. I know it is the work of the Spirit that does that, but God chooses to use us in that process. What can we do with our resources to help you become more Christ-like? I want to leave you with two thoughts. The first is the vision, the picture of what we can be; and the second is some foundational elements that drive our programs to that vision. We don’t do stuff for the sake of doing stuff. We do stuff for a purpose, a reason. First, the vision; one for the men, and one for the women:

Strong Men - it’s a guy thing
When one thinks of men one tends to think of sports. It is the area in our society where men can be men - rough and tumble, mixing it up with roughness. Heroes emerge and we look to the winners or the home team. Where else do we see real men today? Sometimes we find a political figure that takes a strong stand, but often the media represents that man in a negative light as a result. It is hard to be a man in today’s world. What would it look like if we had a church where we understood what it was like to be a man - a godly man?

Luke 2:52 says that “Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man.” So if the men of our church banded together to challenge each other to go further and harder for Jesus Christ, would you be interested in a church like that? If we encouraged our men to grow in each of those areas of life - physical, intellect, spiritual, and social - would you want to see what God would do with those men? And men - what do you want out of life? Many guys like to cruise, to take the back seat and let others drive. Most often it is the women that pick up the slack… and the slacks! Our “get up and go” got up and left. We believed society and culture telling us that we are powerless, that the time for male leadership is past; that we need to let women be the things that used to be us. So men today are in confusion and stand on shaky ground when it comes to trying to define who they are and need to be today. As a church we want to provide the building blocks it takes to reinvent the Godly man of today.

There’s a commercial on today connected to the Olympics that shows athletes working hard at training and saying victory isn’t about destiny, it is about the months and years of discipline that comes before the event. The same thing rings true for men of today. We don’t just grow into men because we get older or because we get married. We don’t become mature Christians by osmosis or wishing. Men become men by working at it and by the encouragement of others. The verse in Proverbs says that as “iron sharpens iron, so does one man sharpen another.” Don’t read into this more than I have said. I am not advocating a return to aloof and power hungry leadership. I am talking about living out the calling Jesus has on our lives as men. He said that we need to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him. Does that sound like an easy task? Does that sound like something anyone can do without effort and support? The Romans pulled a guy out of the crowd to help Jesus with His literal cross because He stumbled. What if we stumble? Who do we have to help us? That is what the body of Christ is for. The church, our church, is here to help you be all you can be in Jesus. You have marching orders from Jesus. In Philippians 3:12 we read that Jesus laid hold of us for a purpose. Generally we find that purpose in verse 9 - to be “found in Him” with a “righteousness that comes from God”. And this “laying hold of” isn’t just a tap on the shoulder. It grabs and is forceful - do you want to turn your back on that?

Men, you are called to be strong; to reflect the image of Jesus. Ezekiel was a prophet in exile 2600 years ago. He spoke from the banks of the Euphrates River when Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon. Jerusalem and all Israel were under judgment for being a people of apathy and idolatry. The spiritual walls of Israel were being breached by the enemy. God stood and “looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before Him in the gap.” He found none. Today the spiritual walls of our men and youth and society are still being breached. The enemy is still pouring through the holes with lies and deceptions and false promises. God is still looking throughout the land for men who would build up the walls and stand before Him in the gap.

How this applies, men, is really between you and God. I don’t know what God is calling you to. You may already be fulfilling that place and all we can do is come alongside and cheer you on. Regardless, you are not called to be a lone wolf. Each of us is called to function within a local body, using your gifts to build up not just yourself before God, but everyone around you.

Connected - for Women only
Now you ladies have heard the challenge to men. Don’t think we haven’t got a place and a challenge for you as well. We have, as a society, been inundated with strong feminist ideals. How is it then that we have so many women who don’t like themselves? I was trying to think of what the ideal woman would look like in our community. You can’t define ideal by anything external for the simple reason that God doesn’t look at the externals. Anything ideal flows out of what is inside. My thoughts went to “vibrant” or “full of life”. I pictured someone who was involved and happy and energetic, but I was still seeing externals. Proverbs 31 comes to mind as well, and there is a large online community of women called just that - Proverbs 31 Ministries. My desire as pastor is not to create any mould that people must match in order to belong. I desperately want people to be free to be who they are, to help people throw off the expectations and obligations so that they are free to be themselves - to live in the way they were created. So I asked Bonnie the question, “How would you define the Ideal Woman with one word?” Her answer was what I was trying to speak but couldn’t articulate - Connected.

So think about this: what would it look like if the women of our church were Connected in life; connected to their Creator, to themselves, and to those around them. To be connected to your Creator speaks to your spiritual condition. It speaks to holiness and the Spirit working in and through you.

To be connected to your Creator gives you the foundation to self. It gives you purpose, it gives you direction and focus. Your connection to your Creator gives you what you need to connect to yourself. God loves you. He died for you, and He lives within you to give you confidence. Your self-esteem should be through the roof because the Eternal God, the Creator of the ends of the earth loves you, relates to you, has gifted you, guides you, and so much more. If God has your back, you can go out into the world and do wondrous things in His power. There is nothing to fear. God calls you to places where your love makes all the difference in the world. He calls you to places that men would be stupid and inept at. He made you for a purpose to, and is calling you to join Him in this wonderful adventure of life. If I could do one thing for the women of Canada, the women of the world, it would be to let them know that they are accepted just the way they are. The god of this world beats you down in so many ways; but in Jesus you can find strength, acceptance, purpose, and so much more. As a pastor my desire is to make this place a sanctuary where we can all come and feel accepted, and in accepted understand the confidence that comes with God’s Spirit working in and through us.

Having this confidence in yourself gives you the strength to connect to others around you in deep and meaningful ways. Women often do so much for so many already, but much of it is done in isolation, even in the midst of a crowd. My desire is that your connections to other ladies becomes a catalyst for a larger work of God than is possible with everyone doing their own thing. I was so proud of the ladies involved in the Girls’ Night Out event a year and a half ago. We had numerous obstacles, and frankly, some of them were quite large. But the ladies involved and persevered and prayed, and God used us to reach over 200 ladies with the truths of Jesus. We did that. Us! We have also had some 70 women of Saskatoon go through 2 Your Best You conferences here in Saskatoon; another 40 in Olds, and an expected 40 the end of this month at the Bridge on 20th. No one person could do this alone. You have prayed and pulled together when needed, and given of your time and allowed others the freedom to do what is needed. God has much more in store for you ladies and for us as a church in the months and years to come. Isn’t it exciting?

So, here is the challenge for men and for women. How are we going to do it? It is one thing to get a vision and get all excited, but another to plot the way to reach that lofty goal. The Biggest Loser TV show takes obese men and women and through a combination of diet and exercise gets them to lose weight. How does one lose 213 pounds? The answer is one pound at a time. Every journey starts with a single step. The road to the grey cup starts at the first training camp with a sit down like this. The coach looks at his players and asks, “Why are we here?” Are we here to get some fresh air and exercise? Are we here to settle for 4th place? Are we here to get a big pay cheque? No! We are here to win; to win the Grey Cup. It starts today with this list of drills and skills development activities. And tomorrow we will do these ones… and so it starts.

And so we start here at Louise Street Community Church of the Nazarene. All that has gone on before has brought us to this point. I don’t know all your commitments, but plug in when you can. Make following Jesus your top priority. This church is only one of many ways you can do that. I am not offended by people who go outside of what we have to offer so they can get what they need. We are all on the same team. My responsibility is this group, and so I teach and organize and equip with the resources at hand. Here are three things that are part of our game plan:

1. Identity in Jesus. At this church we focus on who you are in Christ. You will hear it from the pulpit, you will hear it in Sunday School, and if you phone me and ask, you will hear it on your cell. Don’t compare yourself with people around you - look to God instead. He is the one that loves you with an undying love that caused His Son to give up His life for you. He has promised to provide all that you need for today, both physically and spiritually. His Holy Spirit is at work in your life, quickening you with His eternal purposes. This is fundamental to our church.

2. A Focus on the Word. You will not get far in any argument with me if you do not bring Scripture to the table. My ministry and the ministry of this church is founded on the Word of God. I preach it on Sundays; it is taught in Sunday School, and if you phone me up… well, you get it. This book really is our playbook. The stories and truths it contains provide guidance and principles for us to live by. I will always challenge you to get into it. I was encouraged this week by one of our members who mentioned he was working on reading it through this year, as he has the last couple of years. Wow! One of Bonnie’s blog friends talked about how she tries to do that every year. She mentioned how she always fails, but that she knows the book of Genesis really well.

3. A Foundation of Prayer. This is another key element, without which we will not survive. You are a praying people. And we will continue to provide opportunities to do that, both individually and as a group. We will be starting a men’s weekly prayer group with a study. On top of that the men will be challenged to work through a booklet called Herald of Christ for Men. Who knows what God will bring out of that? Your Best You conferences will continue to be held, but we will also be starting a women’s prayer group. There is more that we will be doing in time to come, but know that God is leading and guiding us into some exciting times. Consider how you can be apart of what is happening here at church.

Post Christmas: Stewardship

2009-12-27T10:30:00.000-06:00

Matthew 6:19-24 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other You cannot serve God and wealth.”

We talk a lot about stuff at Christmas time. The church likes to say stuff is bad, but the church so often has a lot of stuff itself. The issue is not how much stuff you have, but what you do with it. Bonnie and I were talking with a friend on Thursday and we mentioned how it seems the people who are most generous in life are those with the least amount of stuff to give. The more we have, the harder it is to give stuff away. Stories abound of rich people passing by the poor and homeless, and the ones near poverty themselves are the ones who help one another. Jesus and His disciples watched a rich man put a whack of money in the offering plate, and how it counted little because he did it in such a way so everyone would know it was him. His stuff had made him proud. As they watched a poor widow put in a few cents, most of all she had, He commented that God was greatly pleased because she gave sacrificially. Today we still encourage tithing because it provides the facilities and a place from which to minister - this is a real privilege in freedom. We have to make sure, though, that we don’t get to the point where this building owns us, where our bottom line is what drives ministry. So how do you know when stuff is owning you? What are some indications that we are getting off focus of following Jesus with all we got? Let me suggest a few ways we need to check ourselves:

1) You stop praying. When I was in high school I was on the wrestling team for 4 years. One of the principles they taught you was to fake your true intentions. If you wanted to attack the other guy’s legs you first reached and touched him near his head. His attention is drawn to where your hand is, not where your body is beginning to move to. Ephesians 6 says that we are in a wrestling match today. We are wrestling “not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” When Satan tries to come against us he is going to reach into our stuff. Sometimes he distracts by letting us have a lot, sometimes by not enough. His purpose has nothing to do with our stuff for he knows it is so temporary, so superficial. It is that slight of hand he is pulling so we look away from what is really happening. And what is happening? In that passage in Ephesians 6 Paul goes on to talk about the armour of God and then these words: “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” Prayer is the environment that connects us to the spiritual. Prayer connects us to God and allows the Holy Spirit to work freely. Prayer moves things that don’t otherwise move. Prayer directly battles the forces of darkness. Prayer lets us see into the spiritual realm with eyes that would otherwise be blind. When we are distracted by stuff, then, we stop praying. Sometimes it creeps up on us gradually, sometimes all at once without realizing it, but we don’t seem to have time to spend with our Creator and Savior.

So I ask you not about your stuff, or even what you are doing with it; I ask you about your time spent before the throne. God longs to use you and I, but we need to be talking and listening to Him.

2) You stop watching your words. In the New Year we will be looking at 7 Points of Valour. There is an integrity in following Jesus that we pursue; a congruency between the things we believe and how we live. One of the things that seems to be slipping in those who profess a relationship with Jesus is words. We use careless words, we use careless language. I am shocked at how little respect there is for people and children in public. You go to a mall with little ones and a group of teenagers or twenty-somethings go by having a conversation and invariably it is salted with swear words. I have seen it on blogs by people who profess Jesus as Lord and I wonder what their sense of holiness is. God calls us to be like Jesus in thoughts words and deeds. So often deeds are emphasized, but what we say should agree with our behaviour, and behaviour with our words. Not only purity of language, but gentleness of words. When we get distracted we begin to forget how easily words fly off our tongue and can harm others. We forget how easily our life can turn astray by talking behind people’s backs, by not guarding what comes from within. James likens the tongue to the small rudder that has the ability to turn a large boat around. A person can spend years build a good character and depth of ministry only to throw it all away in a moment of anger and poor choice of words.

There is a discipline in life as followers of Jesus. We seek to be like Jesus in thoughts, words and deeds, as the Holy Spirit works within us. Freedom in Jesus is not licence to do anything or say anything we want. It is the freedom and ability to do the right thing because God is changing us. When a person starts a diet, they begin a discipline. They count calories. They start a regimen of exercise. And they go through the next several days or weeks on schedule. Then along comes something to distract them. Maybe it is a good book, a person, Monday Night football, a cream puff. Their discipline gets broken and one day turns into six, and soon they are back to where they started. When stuff distracts us we begin to lose guard of the little things like our words. But those little things begin to turn our life. How have your words been? Have they been encouraging and God focussed, or complaining and self-centered? Let God use you through your words. Focus on Him and not the stuff around you.

3) Your concern for others “tanks”. The passage we read earlier is found in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount. In the course of that talk by Jesus he touched on so many aspects of our life in relation to others. One of the basic premises of Jesus’ teachings is that you cannot be a follower of His and NOT love your neighbour. In parables and practise Jesus said the love of God will change you. From pastors and evangelists, church leadership and scholars you will hear the truth that justice and mercy go hand in hand with our faith. Tony Compolo was a guest on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos and was quite articulate about our mission as followers of Jesus. He said you can’t separate the church from compassionate ministries. They go hand in hand. Jesus said we need to minister to those who are sick and homeless. And so Jesus calls possessions or wealth a “master”. I remember watching AFV on TV and watching as the little kid is dragged along by a huge dog, trailing from the leash. Where the boy thought he would be controlling the dog, reality had it the other way around. If stuff is getting control of you, it will become your master, and the commands to love God and love your neighbour will take second place to what you want.

4) You begin to live by comparison. One of the biggest problems people have in affluent societies is to live by comparison. They begin to think they should have as much or more than the next guy. Affluence becomes the gage of our faith; or at least our sense of entitlement. We fail to acknowledge that those stuck in cycles of poverty look to us with the same envy, that they wonder why they do not have what we have. Life is not about comparison. It is living as a steward - God’s steward. We are responsible to God for how we live our lives. What we deserve is based on God’s grace, not our worthiness. Let go of your concern for what others have, and look to God who has given all you need to accomplish His purpose in you.

We live with the understanding that all we have is a gift from God, and that it still belongs to God for we are His steward. He gives us these things with the expectation that we will use them not for ourselves, but for His glory, His kingdom. We get upset quite easily at exorbitant bonuses paid to people who think their position of leadership is worth so much more than the person who does the actual work. Part of the frustration is not the comparison, but the expectation that those to whom much is given will reciprocate in turn. Look around you today and issues of stewardship are all over the world. There are issues with the stewardship of our financial foundations and economies. There are issues with stewardship of our climate. There are issues with the stewardship of our environment, and the list goes on. We each have a challenge before us as this year draws to a close and a new one begins. What will we do with the stewardship of gifts and talents and resources like time, money and relationships that we have from God? This is our year. 2010 is the year God is calling all of us to put forth our best efforts and focus on what He is calling us to do and be. 2010 is the year God is calling Louise Street Community Church of the Nazarene to cast off the past and any comparisons of other churches. He calls us to consider what and who we have and to use all to His honour and glory.