The Importance of the Kingdom

  A few years ago, when I was a pastor of a church in West Virginia, we did a study called EKG: The Heartbeat of God by Ken Hemphill.  Ken use to be the President of the seminary I went to in Ft.Worth and is also the author of several books.  In this study, Ken points out the importance that Jesus and the Bible emphasize the Kingdom of God.  For example, when Jesus says in Matthew 6:33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you."

   The word "seek" is the same word that Jesus would use in Matthew 7:8.   It means a continual and constant seeking.  It has a lot to do with priorities.  In the verses before Jesus said this he was talking about people who were very worried about worldly priorities, what to wear, what they would eat and things like that.  They were, in a sense, worried about their own kingdom, while Jesus was singular focused on God's kingdom.

  This is the same kingdom that Daniel mentioned to King Nebuchadnezzar that became the great mountain and overcame and endured more than all the other kingdoms.  It is a kingdom that has Jesus as its king.  The disciples mistakenly thought that the Messiah would be an earthly king because scripture does mention that type of Messiah.  What they didn't realize is that Jesus had a different kind of kingdom in mind.   Jesus said in John 18:36-37 "My Kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of ths realm. Pilate then said to Him, "So you are a king?"  Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king.  For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. . . ."

    The challenge becomes then, in the rush of everyday life, to have ourselves focused on the bigger picture while at the same time to realize we have to do our jobs, take care of children, bills, homes and other things.  As christians though, I operate with another agenda.  I need to be thinking about how can I promote and further the kingdom.  Am I allowing God to be king in my own life?  Am I thinking about what he wants or just what I want?  Who rules and reigns in my life?  As it turns out, the idols that the Old Testament people worshipped may have been easier to see, but the idols of money or power or position or a myriad of other things still exist.  The truth is, the devil doesn't care who your idol is, as long as it isn't Jesus.

Positive Changes

  I've been thinking a lot about changes I need to make in my life to help me feel better, less depressed, less burned out and more in charge of my future.  To tell the truth, for the last 6 months I do feel like I have been burned out.  I wake up exhausted and drag my body out of bed like I'm 89 instead of 42 years old.  I dread this feeling and wish it would stop.  Knowing that my body, mind and spirit are all linked together, I decided to go on an exercise program and start to eat better.

 Having said that, I will confess this is probably the 30th time I have vowed to make changes only for them to last a few days or weeks.  I start off well, but then simply don't have the energy to continue.  Life gets busy and I forget or don't want to lift the weights or go walk or do what I know I should do.  Maybe I try to do too much too soon.  I started on Sunday and today is Tuesday and I have already exercised with weights twice and gone walking once. 

 I say mind, body and spirit are all connected because I get the sense in which when I feel more depressed and tired it also seems like more work to have faith and to read my Bible and to go to church.  Church itself often seems like work to me these days and I sometimes wonder if the issue is that church for me represents a ritual and not a relationship.  Maybe it shouldn't be that way, but it is.  So, not only do I want to eat better, take my vitamins, but also be more consistent with spending time with God and prayer.  My prayer life is kinda like my exercise plan has been, spotty and inconsistent.  Maybe that shocks you to hear that I am human, but that is how it has been for as long as I have been a christian.

 So, a big part of the issue for me is consistency.  Whatever I am going to do I want to be consistent about it.  I was with a client today at the gym and we were talking about muscle and working out.  I told him the old saying, "if you don't use it you'll lose it."  The truth is, not only do you lose it, but you lose it quite quickly.  I can remember being able to lift the equivalent of my own weight over my head using free weights when I was in school and now I would be doing good to do half that.  I haven't use some of those muscles nearly as much as I use to, so I lost some strength there.  The good news is, that I can also gain it back.

  Another change that I want to make is to work on letting go of some anger and bitterness.  I have some people in my life and some situations that I wish I could change.  I'm sure that you do also.  But, wish that I might they don't seem to change and I can't make them.  What I can do is change my attitude toward them.  The bitterness and anger as it turns out is only hurting me.  I want to let go of the things in my life that are toxic.

  When I was talking to some people on facebook the other day I mentioned that I was going to try and change my diet.  I said, "Reese's peanut butter cups stock may take a dive when they hear about this."  I said that because I love Reese's peanut butter cups.  I'm also quite fond of Krispy Kreme donuts.  If I were to eat one of them it would be great, but the bad things about it is, Krispy Kreme donuts by themselves will make my blood sugar go up to about 300.  Sometimes I think just looking at them makes my blood sugar go up.  So, even though it is good for some people, it isn't that good for me.  I wish I could say the same for broccoli or spinach. :)

Anyway, I wish for 2010 that I would press ahead to a healthier and happier me and I wish the same for you.

If you see me around, ask about how I'm doing.  Hold me accountable!! I need the encouragement.

Jeremiah's Call and Commission

  I got a new commentary of Jeremiah the other day in the mail, so I decided to do a study of this book.  Jeremiah isn't an easy book to understand.  A lot of it is not in sequence and Jeremiah seems at times to be very depressed.  In looking at Jeremiah 1 we see Jeremiah's call and commission into a ministry that spanned 5 kings and about 40 years. 
  In summary of Jeremiah's call and commission, I came to these conclusions:
1. Jeremiah's call and commission was not his choice.  Jeremiah actually was a priest through heritage and not a prophet.  But, God said that he chose Jeremiah before he had actually existed.  That is consistent with what it says in Psalm 139:15,16, where it tells us that God seems all our days when as yet one of them has been.  It is an awesome thing to realize that not only is God not surprised by whatever happens to us, but saw it before we were born or existed.  God saw Jeremiah before he existed and he also sees you where you are and me where I am.
2. Jeremiah was a youth. vs.6  Jeremiah was about 14-15 years old when he was called.  His youth didn't discount who he was or what he was called to anymore than youth is an excuse to sin or not to follow God.  Some people say when they are young, I will repent and follow God later in life.  By the looks of things, God didn't allow Jeremiah to use that excuse that he was young.
3. God promised to be with him vs.8.  God doesn't send us to do things for him.  He goes with us.  This doesn't mean it will be easy or viewed as a success in the world's eyes. Jeremiah's ministry by worldly standards was a miserable failure.  Even his own family and people tried to kill him and wouldn't believe him.  He died in exile in Egypt.  But, it was a success because he did what God told him to do with God. 
4. God gave him the words to say.  Jeremiah didn't make things up and it didn't always sound great to listen to Jeremiah.  His was not a feel good message.  It took courage to say what God wanted him to say.  Sometimes it goes against the trend and popularity to do what God wants you to do.  But, God honors those who honor him.
   I had times when I was in college when it was tempting to follow what everyone else wanted me to do.  It is natural to want to be popular.  There was a television show years ago called "Cheers".  The beginning song talks about going somewhere where everyone knows your name.  We all want to feel like we belong and want to feel popular and well liked.  I wanted to have the pretty girlfriend and be popular with all my housemates also.  But, I didn't want to compromise my values and go to bars and do the things others were doing and that got lonely at times.  Jeremiah's ministry was also lonely, but God was with him and he was not alone.
5. God told him the majority would not accept his message.  In the last verse of the chapter it says that they will "fight" against him.  That is exactly what happened.  Jeremiah started his ministry during the popular reign of Josiah.  Josiah, who I call the "child king" was very popular.  During his reign they found the law in the temple during repair work.  Things had gotten so bad that before that they had simply lost the law.  When it was read to the king the king repented and proclaimed a time of repentance and fasting.  Josiah tried to bring the people back to God.  But, Jeremiah continue to speak to the people as though they had not repented.  He told them that they had both forsaken and forgotten God.  In chapter 2 of the book, he will say that God says you forsook the "fountain of living waters" for "broken cisterns that would not hold water."  They didn't like to hear that and rejected, for the most part, what Jeremiah had to say.

Did Peter jump the gun?

  I've started reading through the book of Acts again and noticed that in chapter one of Acts Peter indicates to the other disciples and to those gathered that Judas betrayed Jesus and led others to arrest him.  He says that there needs to be a witness to take his place as an apostle.  It then says in Acts 1:24-25 "And they prayed and said, "Thou Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these two Thou hast chose."  Meaning, the two men they set forward, Barsabbas and Matthias.  So, by lots Matthias was chosen and numbered among the 12 apostles.

 Having said all of that, Paul also calls himself an apostle of the Gentiles, so is he now number 13 or is Matthias not to be counted?  I wonder since it doesn't appear that God specifically told Peter to bring this up if this is another case of Peter jumping the gun?  Remember, this is Peter before Pentecost that we are talking about.  It would not be the first time that Peter would do that.  Furthermore, we never hear another word about Matthias, good or bad.  It could be he was martyred early as James was, but that is only speculation.

  I ask the question, because I believe it goes to the heart of how God works.  The church was in unity at this time.  They were in agreement that Judas should be replaced.  They also agreed that it should be someone who had been around from the beginning of Jesus' ministry to the end.  Matthias was apparently a faithful close follower who had been active the whole 3 years of Jesus' earth ministry.  Furthermore, they were in prayer about the subject. 

  On the negative side of things, they limited the choices to two men who they put forward.  Paul at the time was still unconverted and a part of the Sanhedrin.  In fact, he was a persecutor of the church at the time and an unlikely candidate for the job.  I'm not so much concerned about the idea that they cast lots.  Many times in the Old Testament you see things like that to determine God's will.  I am concerned I don't see God specifically speak and say yes or no or bless this decision.  In fact, I don't see God confirm or deny this choice at all

  What do you think?  Did Peter jump the gun here or just do what is necessary?
Are apostles limited only to 12?  I know some people believe it is a gift that still exists, but I don't.  Apostles were eyewitnesses of what Jesus did and nobody is that old, so that is irrelevant to me.

When God hides

1 [a]Why, O LORD, do you stand far off?

Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
Psalm 10:1; NIV

  There are many verses, particularly in psalms, where the psalmist indicates that God appears to be silent or hidden to him.  Keep in mind that this is David who wrote many of these psalms, not just for him personally, but for all of Israel.  It appears to be an experience that was common to David.  I am glad these verses are there because at times I struggle with understanding what God is up to or why he does not act.

  If you've ever prayed for someone to be saved and seen them walk further and further away from God.  Or if you have struggle with unemployment only to see jobs go to other people less qualified.  If you've struggled with understanding why these prayers have not been answered these verses are for you.  What do you do though when God appears to be silent? 

  I have had times when I have prayed for a job only to have to wait and wait and wait.  Not only do I not get the job, but had a temporary job that I liked quit while waiting.  Not only did God not open a door at the time, but he shut a few windows as well.  I remember going to my pastor in Virginia while I was waiting and telling him, "I feel like God is ignoring me."  Those were really difficult time.  In times like that I have a tendency to take matters into my own hands and try and force things to happen.  It's almost like my thinking becomes "Better for something to happen then to sit and wait."  Later, I realized that I should be thankful for the prayers that were not answered because I couldn't see all the possible consequences of my requests.

 I also see looking back on things that those were times when my faith took a beating, but eventually ended up stronger through the process.  It is almost as if faith is like a muscle that grows when it is used.  When everything is going well it doesn't need to be used and doesn't grow.  But, when it appears that everyone else is having prayers answered and heaven shuts its door to you it is almost as if God is saying, "Do you still trust me though you don't see me at work?"  We have a chance to prove whether or not we truly believe that God deserves our trust.

  A friend of mine who is a pastor in Texas was moving his church to a new location.  He had signed a lease agreement on a building that use to be a hispanic nightclub, but he was going to turn it into a church.  It came with 12 acres of land.  They had a month to get over $12,000 together for the closing.  A week before they closed I saw him at the post office and he told me they were stll several thousand dollars short.  I told him I thought he should be on the phones trying to get the money together.  I remember asking him if he was worried.  He replied in an absolutely calm voice that he wasn't worried and that it would all work out.  The night before they closed, this man's former church called him and asked how much he needed.  They wired the money to him overnight and they closed on time.  He didn't see God at work for weeks on the amount he needed, but rather than panic, he saw this as an opportunity to grow in his faith.

 I would add that his experience educated me also regarding a living example of what faith is.  Vic use to be fond of saying, "Just because God is quiet, doesn't mean he isn't working."  That's an important idea to keep in mind.  When the Israelites went into the desert God deliberately moved them where the Red Sea was blocking their path.  They thought they were stuck and paniced because Egypt was after them.  But, God had a plan all along and when they cried out to him he heard them in his good time.

Some other verses
Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior.  Psalm 27:9


Psalm 31:20 NIV • Read this chapter

In the shelter of your presence you hide them from the intrigues of men; in your dwelling you keep them safe from accusing tongues.

Psalm 40:10 NIV • Read this chapter

I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.

Psalm 44:24 NIV • Read this chapter

Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression?

A New Creation

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come."  Holman Christian Standard 2 Corinthians 5:17

   I was telling someone today that I really kinda regret putting up a message on the blog about thorns because it seemed this week has been full of them.  I am tempted if this trend continues to only talk about positive things.  It is much easier to write than to live out dealing with thorns.  It is much easier to sit and talk about how God is going to bring good out of bad than to actually experience some of it.  If pain is God shouting then he has been screaming at me all week.  With that in mind, I may have to be more careful about what I actual say on this blog.

   Seriously though, I was thinking about how we are in process.  As a chaplain friend use to say to me, that sanctification is both an event and a process.  In one case, we are as saved as we are going to be.  In God's eyes, the new creation has been fulfilled and the sins have been forgiven.  But, in another real case, the battle continues daily with the old nature.  It is dying, but it isn't going down without a bloody fight.  I find that is the case with me and Paul said it was the case with him in the book of Romans.  We are all a work in progress.

     As I struggle with the daily battle of dealing with my frustrations and disappointments, God sees the finished product.  He can because of the greatest of the cross and resurrection.  The blood of the cross is adequate to wash away the sins I commit.  In fact, at that moment before I took my first breath, God saw me and my problems and forgave me even when I had not yet taken a breath.  He could do this because of his perfect foreknowledge.  He could want to do that because of his unlimited love.  That's really what it comes down to in the end, not how wonderful I am, but how wonderful and loving God is.  Good to know we rest on a solid foundation!

   Years ago, when I was a teenager, I went to a christian concert at a church in Houston.  The singer, whose name I don't remember now, had an album titled "DaySpring".  One of the songs on there has a line that says, "He's still working on me."  I would also say that, but I would add, "He's got a lot left to do."  As I sit here, I have been in church all my life and a practicing christian for 26 years.  I have read the Bible cover to cover at least a dozen times or more.  But, it isn't a matter of how much I have read it, but how much I live it.  I am aware that I fail everyday.  I am aware that if I was in God's shoes I would have given up on me a long time ago.  But, because God's grace is greater than my sin I am forgiven though I am still stumbling along at an alarming rate.

  

A Thorn

Paul plead with the Lord three times that he would take away what Paul termed "a thorn in my flesh." When he did, God responded, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Cor 12:9

  I want to say right up in front that in writing this verse, I am in no way comparing myself to Paul, the great apostle.  His problems were far more vast and spiritually great than any of mine.  It is a verse that goes through my mind sometimes when facing various trials.  Since today was a pretty bad day, it was a verse I thought of.  It is snowing as I write this, which is beautiful to watch, but not when your on the road.  I have been sick for about a week and a half and am tired of that and I had some difficult clients today who I am not sure how to help.  So, thorns have, in a manner of speaking, been on my mind.

   Back in 2001, I have a bad cough much like I have had this week.  I went to the doctor and he ran a series of tests.  A blood test showed that my blood sugar was elevated.  My doctor came back and said, "You have something worse than a cough.  You have diabetes."  That was another blue ribbon day for me.  I remember asking the doctor what to do about it and then we went from there adjusting my diet.  Someone has once described diabetes as a baby who is constantly crying, demanding attention and that's exactly right.  I never have a day of vacation from it.  Here I am, 8 years later and now I get 4 shots a day and take pills.  If I ignore it for one meal, I will feel terrible.

    When I was diagnosed with diabetes a friend came to me and quoted Romans 8:28 "And we know that  in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called accordng to his purpose."  He was telling me that even though  God did not cause me to have diabetes, that God could bring something good out of it.  I don't believe that God causes people to get diabetes or cancer.  I believe it is a result of being in a fallen world where there is decay and death and illness.

One of the things he taught me is how to help my son who is also diabetic.  My son, who is also diabetic since he was 5 years old, has someone who can relate to him in a way few can.  We use the same types of insulin.  We use the same type of meter (though not the same one).  There are also a lot of other things that God has taught me through this trial though I never would have wished for it.   Paul heard what God told him about his grace being sufficient and then was able to say, "Therefore, I wll boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when  am weak, then I am strong."

 Years ago, Henry Blackaby wrote some material called "Experiencing God".  It is some pretty powerful stuff.  One of his sons was one of my Sunday School teachers, so I heard a lot about Henry and how much his son loves him.  One of the things Henry says is that God sometimes speak to us through our circumstances.  I believe one of those circumstances is pain.  In fact, I would go so far to say that not only does God speak to us sometimes in our pain, but he shouts in pain.  It has a way of getting our attention.  The discomfort causes us to look up, to realize we cannot do it, to realize that I need God's grace.  Then, God message to us is that His grace is sufficient.  Maybe it is because when we are relying on grace, we get out of the way and allow God to work instead of trying to take all the credit?

1. Look back in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 and see if you can find out why Paul may have had to keep the "thorn" he was given for a while.  In verse 7 what does it tells us that Paul avoided by having this?
2. Think back about some of the thorns in your own life, whether they be physical problems or financial or whatever.  What do you think God was trying to teach you?
3. Next time you encounter a thorn, remember that God speaks to us in our pain and ask yourself if God isn't trying to teach you something or say something at that moment to you.