Protect Us

I know some of my congregation must wonder a bit when I share a prayer that I pray daily. You see, I pray many prayers from scripture daily and they must wonder how I have time to do that much praying. I am able because I get up between 4:30 and 5:30 every morning so that I can spend alone time with God before I attempt to start the day. Rest comes not only from sleep; but, from being in communion with God.

Some of my prayers are for friends, and family. Some are for the congregation, the community, the world. Every morning and sometimes more often, I pray the Lord's prayer and the Shepherd's Psalm; not just for myself, but, for all whom I know. Every morning, I begin by thanking and praising God for all that He has done and is doing for us by recalling the various names that He is called by.

As I listened to the news this morning, another prayer that I pray daily for family and friends came to mind. Deliver us from our enemies, O my God; protect us from those who rise up against us. Deliver us from those who work evil; from the bloodthirsty save us. Psalm 59:1

The enemy prowls about and so I pray:
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Num 6:24-26

God's Peace - Pr. J

Revelation 2:18-29 No Compromising With Jezebels

Revelation 2:18-29 NIV

The congregation I serve is very welcoming. They truly love each other and our visitors. As the people are sharing the peace, I could almost take a nap some Sundays as everyone has to share the peace with everyone and it does take a bit of time. They have been very faithful and are doing much more than even a decade ago. They have grown both in faith and numbers because of their involvement in loving service to God and the whole community.

Jesus commends the church in Thyatira for their love and faith; their service and perseverance; and that they are doing more than they had previously done. Yet, he warns those who tolerate the woman prophet, Jezebel. He warns them that if they do not repent of their immorality and quit following her ways that they will suffer intensely.

He will, he says, repay each of us according to our deeds. (vs 23)

Now, I hear quite often that we are not suppose to "judge" anyone because we are Christians. This is usually intended to mean that we should keep our mouths shut and not condemn sin even within the church. But, this message from Jesus commending some and condemning others in the church at Thyatira; how do you suppose such a message was delivered to them if not by one of Jesus' followers? We are not the judges that is most certainly true. But, we must discern between right and wrong; faithfulness and sin. The church must not compromise God's word or will for the sake of keeping the "peace." Sin must be confronted.

Although, the world around us might strive for peace by compromising God's word and will; may God help his church to grow through faithfulness to Him.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Col 4 - Prayer and Proclamation; Don't forget Praise!

Colossians 4 NIV

Young Evangelists - Youth Choir
Say it! Sing it! Just do it!
Share the Good News!

Prayer, praise, and proclamation; that is my evangelism strategy. As Paul closes his letter to the Colossians he reminds us to be diligent in prayer and proclamation. Devote yourself to prayer. Pray that God will open doors for the message so that mystery of Christ may be proclaimed. We don't need a program. We just need the grace of God in order to do His will.

Years ago, my congregation was involved in a multi-congregation effort to do more evangelism. We met quite a few times to talk about evangelism among ourselves. As I drove home with two of the congregations "delegates" to this consortium, we discussed the fact that we were driving quite a distance and spending an awful lot of time talking about evangelism and not actually doing any evangelism.

The truth be told we had these many meetings and had come to the conclusion that we were not of like minds. Leaders from various congregations did not trust one another; everyone seemed to have different and personal agendas, and we were not working well together. We talked a lot at every meeting; but, we never actually got to the point of proclaiming the mystery of Christ. We never got around to doing any evangelism. We had been too busy trying to figure what kinds of evangelism programs would work best. We agreed on that drive home that evening that we already knew in our hearts what we needed to do.  That we would quit wasting time, energy and financial resources talking about evangelism. We were determined to get back on track and put our time and energy into doing the ministry we had received from the Lord. Rather than just talk about it, we would get on with the business of evangelists: praying, praising God, and proclaiming the Good News through both word and deed. We presented this to the council. The motion was approved. By the grace of God, we continued to grow both in Christ and in numbers.

The growth that happened though, did not happen because of one or two or even three people. In this closing section of Paul's letter; he reminds us that he had many co-workers in the gospel. They proclaimed the Good News with one heart and mind. They served together. There were no special programs. They did not discuss strategies. By God's grace, they prayed that God would open doors and proclaimed the mystery of Christ clearly to the glory of God. And... the church grew both in Christ and in numbers.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Daniel 5 - The Handwriting Is On The Wall

You may have heard the saying: "the handwriting is on the wall." My mother use to use this expression whenever someone was heading in a direction that she and most other people could recognize would lead them on a path to destruction. She used this expression synonymously with this expression, "Their days are numbered." (Dan 5:26) Whenever she used one of these expressions, I knew that someone had messed up "big time!" She meant that she expected that soon and very soon everything would blow up in their face and they would lose everything. Often as she predicted someone's destruction, she would also warn: "What goes around comes around."

The expression "the handwriting is on the wall" comes from this fifth chapter of Daniel. In the midst of a party, King Belshazzar (son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar) leads the group in praising the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone as they drink from the gold goblets that had been stolen from the temple in Jerusalem. "Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking." (Dan 5:5:6)

Daniel is called to interpret as no one else can figure out the meaning. Belshazzar was a hard-hearted and an arrogant king. He knew what consequences his father, Nebuchadnezzar, had suffered for his inflated ego, but Belshazzar learned nothing from his father's experience of being mad into the wilderness. Daniel tells him:

"“But you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.
“This is the inscription that was written: mene, mene, tekel, parsin

“Here is what these words mean:  Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom. That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.""  (Dan 5:22-31)

 

There is only one God. Put away your false gods and worship only Him.  Can you imagine the fear that one would experience seeing a hand come out of nowhere and write on the wall? If a simple hand can bring such fear, how would we react to seeing God face to face? The days of that meeting are indeed numbered for all of us. It will happen. The day is coming when every knee will bow before the LORD. Everyone will acknowledge that He is God. It is written:

"'As surely as I live,' says the Lord,
'every knee will bow before me;
    every tongue will acknowledge God.'"

So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God." (Rom 14:11-12)

 

The handwriting is on the wall. What does it say?

 

God's Peace - Pr. J

 

Psalm 95 - God Was Angry

I wonder how many "Christians" know the story of the Israelites escape from Egypt.  If they have heard it, did they really listen?  I think we like to forget the part that the Israelites wandered through the desert for forty years because God was angry with them for not trusting Him. They were not wandering around just because they were lost.  Well, I guess they were lost in a sense because they did not trust nor listen to God. 

God was angry!  How many of you, does that surprise?  Isn't God suppose to be an all loving, all giving, just an even-tempered, all gracious God.  Indeed, He is all loving.  But, scripture also tells us that God can be angry when His children refuse to listen to Him, refuse to trust Him, refuse to follow in the way He has led them.  Indeed, He is quick to forgive all who turn to Him in the name of His Son, Jesus the Christ.  But, he is not overjoyed knowing that there are those who would forsake Him or His Son who was willing to die so that all people might be reconciled to Him in the promised land, the Kingdom.  Make no mistake, when you sin and willfully follow in the ways that would lead you away from the kingdom of God, you are separating yourself from God and the promised land.  God wants you to be reconciled to Him in His Kingdom.  Why would He be happy if you chose another way and rejected the promised gift?

The Israelites feared entering into the promised land in the way that God would have them go.  They feared and chose another way.  They rejected God's full promise to them, at least in the way that He would give it to them.  And... God was angry. The consequence was to wander around outside the promised land for forty more years. For sure God was with them as they continued their journey through the wilderness.  And... God is with you.  You have no need to fear following in the way that God has prepared for you through Jesus Christ, our LORD.

God's Peace - Pr. J

P.S. If you're having problems remembering the story, read again the story of how the Israelites decided, out of fear, that they would not enter the promised land as God directed them. It can be found in Numbers 13 and 14.