Is the Lord with You on This?

People are always trying to discern God's will. They often do so in mundane things like whether they should choose a certain color car or which dress they should wear to work. Some of that is ridiculous.

The first question we must answer in knowing God's will is whether or not God has commanded us to do it. If He has called us to a task we should not continue to ask if this is His will. It is. He has already said so.

The next question is for most of the other things we do. These are the things where we seek His will but are not really sure because we know that we can find a scripture or a sign for just about anything we want to do. Thus, we can't even trust ourselves in determining God's will.

The question is: Will God be with me in what I am seeking to do? Of course, you should know that He is with you right now before you ask that question. If you don't know His presence, you should seek Him with your whole heart. You must seek Him until you know His presence. Then, you will be ready to ask whether He will be with you in what you desire.

There has to be a trust that is developed. You trust Him with all your heart. Thus, you can trust that He will answer your prayers. You can trust that He will bring about anything He has desired for you. You can know you have victory before the battle begins.

God told Joshua that He would be with him in the taking of the Promised Land. He told the Israelites that rebelled against Him that He would not be with them when they decided to go to take the Promised Land. It is clear that God's ultimate purpose was to give this land to His people but those who would do so needed His presence. The lack of His presence assured defeat.

Personally, I don't even want to start something that is guaranteed defeat. Why would I want to do something without the Lord?

Sometimes Christians make decisions as if it is the next logical step. They see the extension of church buildings or even the beginning of a mission as things that must be the will of the Lord. After all, doesn't He want us to reach people? Wouldn't it all be easy if you could just put things in categories like that? No, the Promised Land had to be taken with the right people at the right time. And so it is with a church or a person.

So, the real question is whether or not God will be with us when we do what we would like to do.

Deuteronomy 31:23 (ESV)
²³ And the LORD commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give them. I will be with you.”

Deuteronomy 1:42 (ESV)
⁴² And the LORD said to me, ‘Say to them, Do not go up or fight, for I am not in your midst, lest you be defeated before your enemies.’

The Responsibility of the Preacher

Isaiah 61:1-3 (ESV) ¹ The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; ² to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; ³ to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

My focus on Sunday mornings is to preach. That is a surprise to many who attend church. Someone will come to me and say, "The door is stuck on the north side," or "The ladies bathroom in the children's wing is out of toilet paper." They have actually told me these things within minutes of entering the pulpit. These are the clueless individuals who neither realize what I am doing or that they should take action beyond telling the preacher. He can't do anything about those things right before he preaches but they can.

The importance of preaching has waned in recent years. The books written for preachers do not exhort preacher to hold their office in awe but to take action which will get more people in the door. I would say there are more books written on developing a church's electronic footprint than on preaching in the last several years even though preaching is at the core of all churches.

Maybe the emphasis has changed because preachers have changed. Many of them don't seem to understand their anointing. I wonder if some are truly anointed myself. I think they are just good speakers who didn't know what else to do with their gift. They may be able to hold your attention but they don't fulfill the call of the anointed. They fail in binding up the brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty to the captives and opening prison doors. They do not see each preaching experience as one in the year of the Lord's favor. They do not understand the justice of God nor victory for those who been faithful. They do not see their task of participating with the Lord in making oaks of righteousness in their congregations.

I suppose all preachers need to be reminded of these things. I know the Lord has reminded me of this before I preach today. I certainly needed to remember what I am doing. It really wouldn't hurt for me to read this passage as a prelude to all of my sermons.

So, today I will preach as if this is the last sermon I will ever preach. I will preach as if it is the first. It carries the weight of both. A sermon always should.

Those who pray for their preachers should remember this too.

The Blessing of Revelation

My Bible was open. The right page had been the one I was reading. It had been the source of my quiet time the day before. I had meditated it during the day. I had gone back to it by the end of the day. For some reason I started reading the left page. There is a passage was the answer I was looking for concerning the sermon I would preach Sunday. God had the answer prepared for me to find today.

That verse had been written long before I needed to find it. It was there waiting. I found it when I really wasn't looking It was "revealed" to me. Here was a buried treasure which I discovered once it was uncovered.

Isn't this just like God? He doesn't create new knowledge for us. He reveals knowledge that already exists. He takes the scales from our eyes to see what is already in front of us.

Sometimes I study the scriptures thinking that I must merely cognitively understand them. This makes them so two dimensional. They stop living when I read and study them that way. However, revelation makes the scriptures alive. They interact with my spirit to change me rather than simply give me more knowledge. They give a deeper meaning to themselves each time they are revealed.

This is spiritual truth. It is not how many times I have been through the Bible but how many times the Bible has been through me. Every true encounter I have had with spiritual truth has come through revelation. Most of the time I didn't even know what I was looking for. God uncovered it.

A needle in a haystack is not hard to find if you have an incredibly strong magnet. The magnet can draw out the needle so that it can be revealed. The Holy Spirit is our magnet which separates the hay from the needle. He causes us to see what would never have been seen by drawing it to us.

I have had people accuse me of talking with their friends and relatives so that I would preach a certain message. These people are not always happy about it. They cannot understand how my topic coincides with things going on in their lives. They believe that I am revealing things particular to their lives publically. They are using their indignation on the topic to mask their own disobedience to the things God is revealing to them.

I have had not inside knowledge of their lifestyles nor would I ever preach messages publically when I should speak to someone privately. God merely reveals what I am to say. I don't know the stories of those who need to hear it. (I do think it is funny that people will blame the preacher when they hear something they don't like but they never blame the newscasters when they get news they don't like. Don't they undestand that preachers are simply deliverers of the messages. They don't really make the messages.)

Revelation often comes without prompting. It is a taste of God's grace as He continues to work on us even when we are unaware of what He is doing. So, we have a Damascus Road type of experience on our way to do something else. We find a scripture we need while simply passing time. We hear a word very specificly designed for us even when the speaker is unaware of our own predicaments.

And there are many more revelations coming.

Ephesians 3:1-3 (ESV) ¹ For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— ² assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, ³ how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly.

Psalm 5:3 (ESV) ³ O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

Walking in the World But Not with the World

Maybe I'm a prude.

This morning I am driving to work. The car in front of me is driven by a high school student. I can tell by the "Younglife" sticker on the back and the young age of the driver. There is also a Christian fish symbol and a "Girls Kick Ass" sticker.

Now, I like to have fun. I like to kid around. I even like to prove that Christians are have more joy and fun than anyone else. I have to admit though, I wouldn't put that last sticker on my car. I just don't want to identify with the world that much.

I have noticed that Christians have tried very hard to relate to others. They have tried to be less judgemental. I believe that is good. Judgement is not our place. (I am not even condemning this young lady with the bumper sticker. I don't know her heart. Maybe someone else stuck the sticker on her vehicle. However, I suspect she knew about it but didn't see it as harming her Christian testimony.) However, relating to others doesn't mean that we participate in the things they do when they reflect badly on the testimony we are trying to project.

I may go into a bar, befriend someone and share Christ with them but I won't get drunk with them as I share Christ. I don't have to identify that way. There has to be a difference between me and them or there is no reason for them to come to Christ. He should be seen as making such a profound change in the believers' lives that non-believers would want to know who He is.

The "two people in one body" mentality appears ubiquitous. Many of the people on facebook speak of Christ in glorious ways in a post one day. The next they may say something lewd or put a racy picture up.  They take seriously their responsibility and privilege to imitate Christ on one day but imitate the world the next. Do they see the conflict?

I find people more loyal to the Washington Redskins than to their Lord. They would never say anything that reflects badly on the team they love. Why will they do or say something that diminishes the presence of Christ in them?

Does this mean that a Christian's life is restricted by His faith? Not really. You see, I don't go to certain movies because of their content but I don't follow this as some type of prohibition. I don't attend because I no longer want to. The One who lives in me has changed my life so much that I have changed my lifestyle.

Yesterday, I had to speak to a government official who had assessed a late payment for a bill I never received. She would not relent from making me pay the late fee. I was very stern but I never said a bad word or raised my voice. I believe I stood on the side of what was right but I could not take the position of the world in bullying this lady into releasing this fee. No, she did not know that I was a Christian but that's not the real issue. Christ has made a change in me whether or not anyone knows I am a believer.

Yes, I believe a bumper sticker may appear to be a small thing. Yet, small things have a way of becoming large. The nose of the camel may be all I see in the tent at the moment. The moral of the fable with the camel was that the whole camel will enter the tent if their or no objections to keep it out at any time. The camel needs to be stopped before the nose enters.

I certainly have to make sure I am God-honoring in everything I do. I fail at times too. Yet, those failures are never without impunity. I know when I do the wrong things and my whole world turns upside down. I repent, confess and receive cleansing for my unrighteousness. I just can't walk joyfully with my Lord while walking in the world's ways.

I have to walk in the world but I don't have to walk with the world.

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 (ESV) ²¹ but test everything; hold fast what is good. ²² Abstain from every form of evil.

3 John 1:11 (ESV) ¹¹ Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.

Some People Only See Beauty When They Look in a Mirror

None of the really beautiful people I have known have given any indication that they thought they were the only beautiful people in the world. Most of them would point to some flaw when pressed on their looks. Everyone has a flaw if it is pointed out.

There are some people who think that their chief goal in life is to point out the flaws of others. They may do so as a critic who can distinguish real beauty from good looks. They point to a moment when the voice cracked in the song, the hesitation in a line in the play or the landing from a jump in a ballet. They say, "Not good!" whilc others gather around to listen.

Recently, I read that a former "Idol" said that he wanted his money back after seeing  the movie Les Misrables. He claimed that he music was horrible. I didn't see it or hear it that way. You see, when I see a beautiful painting I try to see the whole painting rather than the brush strokes. My admiration does not come because there are no flaws to be found. It comes in the whole of the painting. When I watched the movie, I did not see it as actors singing lines. I saw it as a story of redemption.

It was the story of redemption for the former prison inmate who sacrificed all for the sake of a child. He was transformed from one who would steal from a priest by a priest who gave him what he had stolen. It was the redemption of an orphaned girl and even a spurned love.  It was the attempt to redeem the policeman who hunted this former inmate, He didn't know what to do when he could not longer condemn the one he hunted.

I had seen the musical live twice. I was afraid that the movie would ruin that experience. However,  I felt that the big screen enhanced the story. I saw it all together not as performances that need to be critiqued.

Now imagine if we were to look at everyone that way. Right before us are stories of redemption. It isn't about whether we have it right and they have it wrong. It isn't about whether there are flaws in their lives. It is seeing the beauty within them. It is being kind and tenderhearted. It is forgiving all that has been done against us. It is joining with Christ as One who looks upon them as stories of redemption.

The beautiful people I know are more beautiful inside than they are outside.

Ephesians 4:32 (ESV) ³² Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Wanted: Dead and Alive!

Romans 6:11 (ESV)
¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

The Bible has a lot to say about life and death. It had to for this world teaches us all the wrong things about it. This world says that we should grab all that we can get as if real life existed in this world. The Bible tells us that this world is fading away. The world teaches that keeping all that you can keep means you will have more. The Bible reveals that giving all that you have means you will have more. The world says that real happiness is when you have everything you want. The Bible says that joy is more important than happiness. Joy comes from peace- not possessions.

Even people who professed to be believers get this so mixed up. They think that their giving to the church (or to God- this depends on their point of view) will mean God will make their lives sweet and plentiful on the earth. They do not understand that God is working on making them wealthy in heaven, not in this world. He is working on their faith.

Still, some say that they have faith but they have no evidence of their faith. They do not give, serve sporadically and attend church when it is convenient. They do not confess, never repent and live lives very much like the unbelievers next door. They put Christian symbols on their cars and drive like a bat out of hell. They claim to know Christ yet as I hear them drop His name, their actions reveal that they do not have a clue who He is. James said, "So, faith without works is dead."

Death makes no sense to a lot of people. They cannot understand how they can be alive in Christ but dead to themselves. Their own understanding is that being alive in Christ must make them more alive to themselves. Death is the inability to respond to an outside stimulation. The flesh will never relinquish its ability to be stimulated. In fact, its desire for stimulation is insatiable. It is like the hamster in the wheel who runs harder but never gets anywhere. Every goal of stimulation which is met demands more.

Death is a totally different matter. Death makes us totally responsive to God rather than the stimulations of this world.  What is this world will concern you when you are dead? Will it be your taxes? Will it be your bank account? Will it be what car you were driving before you died? No, the only things that will matter once you are dead are the things that you want to have with you. Those things will be the loved ones you knew in this world. You cannot make a decision for them but you can live a life of death which will reveal the life of Christ to them. Living a life for yourself will never lead someone to Christ. Hedonism is only good for a very short time.

And while I write this I know that I struggle with dying to sin. I still have pride and drool at big screen televisions. (However, dropping cable has made an enormously positive impact on my life this past year.) It seems that I am only dead to sin for short spurts. They are like breaths of air for a drowning man but I still can't seem to keep my head above the water.

So, my life today will be to commit myself to Christ. I will renounce my flesh and be filled with the Spirit. The only way to truly live is to be both dead and alive.

The Life of Christ in Me

The change in my faith has truly been a miracle. At one point I believed all the snake oil salesmen preachers who gave lectures on how a church should grow. I admit that I wanted what they had and believed I could have it too if I just did what they did. So, I put my nose to the grindstone and tried it. I think I tried it all. The results didn't work out so well.

I have come to a conclusion that should not surprise any mature believers. God is not so interested in my ministry as He is interested in me. He is not allowing people to go to hell because of me. He has already moved heaven to provide salvation and will not stop because of me.  He is making me a testimony to Himself. I may never see what He has done with me or the lives that were influenced by the ministry I have performed for Him. I am to be His and that alone will require my greatest effort for I must die to myself in order to live the life He has for me. Jesus will never be seen in my flesh.

Thus, I am discovering that I am never truly growing in my faith when all is well with my circumstances. In fact, I am learning that I am never really happy when all of my circumstances are great. It's not that I love adversity. I abhor it. But I also know how it makes me cling to my Savior and allow Him to live in me and through me. This is the time of testimony. This is the time when my faith means something.

I have read that most pastors would follow another profession if they could. I suppose I would do so too. The reason I can't is because I know that God has called me to this. I am realizing that He has also called me to this life of death. I will never be the testimony He wants me to be when I have no testimony of faithfulness when faithfulness makes no sense to the world. Thus, I am knocked down but not knocked out. I am tripped up but I am also helped up. Eventually, His strength is all I have to live on.

Then, it really isn't me who is living if I am living on His strength. He is finally living in me. No, not as I have said when I have proclaimed salvation though this is very much about salvation. He is truly living in me. I stop trying to think for Him and I think through Him. I speak through Him. I am changed through Him. I am empowered through Him.

Will this improve my preaching or my pastoring? I would think so but that does not mean that the results will be different. My church may never grow much. It may always struggle financially. I may never see any significant changes in people's lives while I am on this earth. Who knows; it may be that someone, somehow finds this blog a hundred years from now and is makes a decision to follow Christ even though this faith may mean for them more hardship. It will also be the only true joy they will ever know. Maybe that will start a movement of faithful people who aren't looking for Jesus to give them more money, power or healing.

At this moment I am fully content. My church struggles financially. We have more members than before but only a few of them are showing significant spiritual growth. I have a feeling that Jesus looked out on a crowd one day and saw that they wanted them to feed them food more than they wanted to hear the true message of salvation. Yet, He stayed on course. He finished the mission.

Christ lives in me so that people will be truly changed by Him. Not by me.

2 Corinthians 4:7-12 (ESV) ⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. ⁸ We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. ¹¹ For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. ¹² So death is at work in us, but life in you.