Posts

Showing posts from November, 2013

How God Calls

When you look at how God called Ezekiel, there are a couple of conclusions you can come to.    One thing that I like about the story of Ezekiel’s call is that it was completely initiated by God.    Ezekiel wasn’t looking for a calling or wanting to be a prophet or actively looking for God.   God came along while Ezekiel was in exile and called him.   The whole thing was initiated by God.   The second thing is that God was able to make his mission to Ezekiel very clear and personal.   Ezekiel didn’t have to try and figure God out.   God came him the words to say, which is symbolized in Ezekiel 3 as God giving Ezekiel a scroll that he would eat.     “and He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach, and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you.” Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.” Ezekiel 3:3      God also told Ezekiel that his mission would be difficult.   Yet, God was with him and made him able to hold up and even be victorious over his advers

God Calls the Prophet

In Ezekiel 2, we see God reach out to Ezekiel and speak a calling into his life. Ezekiel was from a family of priests. He wasn’t a prophet by birth which is a very different calling. But Ezekiel apparently had a heart for God and was open to being used by God in whatever way God wanted to use him. In this day and time it was rare since the idolatry of Israel was so great that it caused God to exile them to Babylon. There are a couple of things that I noticed about this passage. One is that God says over and over again that he is sending Ezekiel to a rebellious house. God uses the world rebelled or rebellious 7 times in the first 8 verses of chapter 2 of Ezekiel. He also used the words or phrases, “obstinate children”, “stubborn” and “transgressed”. Right from the very beginning, God wants Ezekiel to know that he is sending Ezekiel to a people who have failed to live up to their calling. The second thing is that Ezekiel was to share God’s word with them whether they listened or no

The Glory of God Ezekiel 1

    Today, I was studying in Ezekiel 1 and wanted to share some thoughts with you about what I read.  The story of Ezekiel begins when he was in exile in the land of Babylon.  He was sitting by the river Chebar, with some of the other exiles when this vision appeared to him.  It is not necessary since it is a vision to believe that the others around him saw this vision.      Ezekiel sees the glory of God that surrounds his throne.  These beings are the seraphim and cherbim that were around the throne of God.  In this chapter, the throne is not mentioned until verse 26.  There is an expanse between the cherb and the throne.  There is a rainbow of emerald around the throne Revelations 4:3.  Compare this to what is said in Revelatons 4:7-11.  These creatures that Ezekiel is seeing are worship leaders day and night near the throne of God.  We can see them as literal beings, but there is a lot of symbolism here as well.      The creatures are describes as having human form, yet they do

Missionary to Nevada

   For some reason, I guess because I am graduating again from school, I have been thinking about my days at Sam Houston State lately.  I was involved during my time there with Campus Crusade for Christ, the Baptist Student Union and Intervarsity Christian Fellowship.  A group of us tended to go to either one or the other.  The BSU's Wednesday lunches were popular because they were only $1 and usually a good meal and Intervarsity was popular for a time and even had a Bible study that met in our dorm for a while.    The best part, in my opinion, was the trips to different convention sites that we took. One year in particular our BSU took a trip to Waco.  It was during that trip that I felt impressed that God was encouraging me to go on summer mission trip.  I interviewed at the BSU, but that year I couldn't go because of my grades.  So, after getting my grades up, the next year I decided to try again.  I interviewed at the BSU and was officially "sent" by what was c

Do not be anxious. . .

Image
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”   Phil 4:5-7, NIV        This is one of my favorite passages about anxiety.   I think it gives us a lot of clues about how to overcome anxiety.   One thing that it says is that we should pray in a spirit of thanksgiving.   This tells me that even as we are praying, that our expectation should be that God is going to act.   We should not pray expecting that nothing will happen.   Or that while God is sympathetic that he cannot do anything.   We should pray knowing that God hears and cares.   And that at the right time that He will respond.         Praying in an attitude of thanksgiving also tells me that even as I pray, my heart and mind should be reminded of past times when God has answered prayers.   I should recall them to mind and

memories of Campus Crusade for Christ

   A few weeks after starting college in the fall of 1985, I was feeling alone and depressed and wandered one night up to the student center.  It was a Thursday night and Thursdays on SHSU is considered the "party night" because many students go home to the Houston area on the weekends.  I've heard that it is called the "suitcase college" because so many people go home on the weekends.  So, I'm sitting there feeling sorry for myself on the top floor of the student center and I watch two ladies walk by with Bible.  Turns out it was Heather and Kim, who were worship leaders for Campus Crusade for Christ.  At the end of the hall, ready to greet them is Scott McMahon and John Cole and some others that would become friends for many years after that.  But, I didn't know that at the time.    So, I followed the two ladies to the end of the hall and saw some believers greet these ladies in a warm way.  I still didn't know what group it was.  At that point,