The Rock that Quenches

During the course of my reading this week I came across this statement, “The ability to precisely define reality is the starting point for any hope of equilibrium.” They are simple words in one sense but very profound at the same time. I believe one of the greatest challenges in a believer’s personal journey is the ability to see and be honest with himself about his own condition.

Think about the Nation of Israel as they left Egypt and journeyed through the wilderness. It had only been three months since their leaving Egypt. They had watched as God rescued them from Pharaoh. At the hand of Moses, they had been given from their captor wealth, freedom, and now they are guided by God Himself through the pillar of fire and cloud. They have experienced starvation and bread from heaven. They were literally thirsting to death and had their thirst quenched from a rock. If there ever were a people who understood what it is to be discombobulated, it was Israel.

Sometimes as children of God, we allow the distortion of this life to mess up our equilibrium– spiritual vertigo if you will. However, in reality and from what we see in Scripture, God was and is right there all the time!

There are a tremendous amount of life lessons we can learn from the Nation of Israel during their wilderness journeys. For example, often times we confuse God’s presence with plenty. God’s presence in our lives doesn’t equal material possession. The Israelites were moving just as God instructed; they were led by the pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day.

Can we be honest for a moment? I don’t like that! They were doing what God asked; they were following instructions, and yet God still led them to a place that didn’t have water. Be honest with me; how many of you have ever felt, or currently are feeling, that you’re doing everything your supposed to do, you’re following God, you’re really putting your best foot forward, and God leads you to this dry and desolate place?

Listen, that’s a view from the trenches, that’s our perspective. Let me give you a view from the throne; “Dear children, if you’ll just go where I lead you, there is not a place I will lead you that I will not sustain you!

In every aspect of life, there is perplexity attached to it— perplexity that takes us to our limits and draws us near to God. It is in the midst of the struggles of this life that we learn that this world does not hold any finite answers. And it is in that unrest and dissatisfaction that we are forced to look beyond the limits of this earth to an unlimited God!

May the opportunities of this life force us to cry out for the new life to come…”Come, Lord Jesus!”

Pastor Barry

Worshipping the God Who Saves

Robert Coleman writes, “Worship is the adorning response of the creature to the infinite majesty of God. While it presupposes submission to Him, to worship, in the highest sense, is not supplication for needs, or even thanksgiving for blessings, but the occupation of the soul with God Himself… The end of it all is the pure joy of magnifying the One who alone is worthy.”

 Do you get this? When we approach the throne of God, we are not there to feel better about our Christian lives; we are not there for some sort of believers pep rally. We are not there to petition God for anything; we are there as the faithful subjects of our Creator, to pay tribute before His throne, to bring honor and glory to Him!

“I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory. And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.”                                                                Isaiah 6:1-4

 While I don’t want to stereotype all worship, one of the fundamental problems with worship today is

Christians often times are not worshipping the God who saves but rather we worship the worship.

Our focus is not on the God who redeems, God who rescues us from our human plight; often times we are striving to achieve some utopia of worship through the modem of worship. When in truth, if we would see God on His throne high and lifted up, the modem wouldn’t matter, no longer would music, giving, preaching, prayer be tools to bring us into the presence of God but they would be a response to having been in the presence of God!

 Worship today tends to measure itself according to the following terms:

·         The quality of the preaching

·         The music we sing

·         The length of the service

·         The comfort / knowledge / encouragement it brings the participants

·         The feeling of fellowship / friendship

 All of these are very key elements of worship! However, God-honoring worship begins when it focuses on the God who saves rather than the vehicle of worship. It’s so easy when all the elements of modern worship come together to find yourself looking to the elements for pleasure, encouragement, for emotional stimulation. Listen, these characteristics of worship in and of themselves are not bad! However, when they pull our eyes off God—when worship becomes about me— worship has just become defiled and worthless before the throne of God! Remember, it’s all about the one who saves!

 

 

Burn Us Up: The Scorch of Surrender

I spent a good bit of time reading in Daniel chapter three this past week. I encourage you to stop right now and go read the passage before you finish this blog.

You may recall that it tells the story of Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego and how they surrendered their lives to be burned rather than bow down before a false god. Wow! What a powerful call in the life of the believer for surrender!

Determining where the line between worldliness and godliness lay can be one of the single most difficult tasks of the Christian today. So much gray has been painted into the portrait of our walk as a believer. I want you to know spiritual maturity removes the gray areas and leaves crisp, clear lines for the follower of Christ.

In this biblical account, we can see that going the way of the world is always the path of least resistance, but in the long run, it is never the path which brings God the greatest glory.

We also see that just when we have made up our mind to do the right thing, to stand by the Word of God and stand by our convictions, there will always be someone there to point out how different we are, always someone there to bring charge, or to bring accusation against the child of God. Why do we feel as though we owe this world an explanation? “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter” (3:16).

These men were making a powerful statement of faith! Believers today are so afraid they’re going to be asked to share the Gospel with a stranger or knock on a door; however, more times than not, you are making a statement with your life without speaking a word! What is the life you live saying about the God or gods you serve?

It is extremely important to see that these men recognized that their fate was not in the hands of an earthly king, Nebuchadnezzar; rather their fate rested in the hands of the King of Kings! I am reminded of the passage of scripture found in Matthew 10:28, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to kill both soul and body in hell.”

The enemy will always respond to righteousness with envy, with malice, and anger! Remember “…He that departs from evil makes himself a prey” (Isaiah 59:15).

The biblical account of Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego is an awesome display of God’s righteousness at work both in the life of the faithful as well as in the life of the enemy. While God’s righteousness was being displayed in Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, it was also being displayed in those men dead on the ramp of the furnace, and it was also being displayed in the heart and eyes of King Nebuchadnezzar!

 
These men were bound up and cast into the fire all for doing what is right in the eyes of God. Remember these men the next time you face hardship, trial. The next time you’re facing the fire of tribulation, ask yourself the following questions: Are others seeing Christ through my tribulation? Is my attitude, my conduct, my behavior, my talk, my actions, my convictions displaying true faith and trust in God?

For Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, they had but one message… “Burn us up! Burn us up, King Nebuchadnezzar, but we will never worship a false god!”

Burned Up For Jesus

It has been years since I have heard anyone refer to another as “on fire.” Has our culture and church life, the understanding of spiritual things, changed so much that we are even ashamed to get excited about Jesus? I’m not talking about being charismatic or Pentecostal; in fact, I’m not speaking of behaviors that relate to external beliefs; rather, I’m speaking about the passion that rises up from deep within the soul of the believer. The one who has put his or her faith and trust in Jesus Christ and as a result of that relationship longs, or as I wrote last week, craves the Christ-life.

Fire is an amazing thing. Having served several years in the fire service and still being associated with it through a chaplaincy, I have had opportunities to see fire at work. Fire gives off heat; fire gives off light; fire causes expansion; fire burns. I truly get excited when I think about the character and nature of fire and how much the church of the Lord Jesus Christ has in common with it.

Ministries have even been built around the matter of “burn out.” There is an enormous difference between being burned out on Jesus and being burned up in Jesus. Simply put, burn out is when we rely on our own strength (which is limited). Being burned up is relying on the strength that is in Jesus Christ and never coming to a place of burnt out.

After this summer, I can now say that I think I know what it means to be right on the brink of burning out. It took some deep soul searching, prayer, and time alone with God to realize the areas of my life that were under my own power rather than the power of Jesus.

The Prophet Jeremiah found himself in a similar place, on the brink of burning out or burning up! Jeremiah 20 records his complaint vividly. I simply want to point out one nugget of truth we find in this passage that is key to our survival when in the midst of the fire. In verse 9, we read the well-known verse in which Jeremiah proclaims “But if I say I will not remember Him or speak anymore in His name,” Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it.”

Here is a great truth for the moment; surviving burn out has little to do with the circumstances on the outside and much to do with the situation on the inside! Are we doing what we do because of Christ who lives in me or because I am trying to condition my life for results? Even though Jeremiah was frustrated, discouraged, confused, angry, and absolutely wanted to quit, he was compelled from the inside to persevere. Rather than burn out, he burned up for Jesus! In verse 11, Jeremiah proclaims with an emboldened heart, “But the Lord is with me like a dread champion…”

I pray that you will join me in striving to condition our hearts rather than condition the circumstances of our lives. I pray that we would live under the power of Jesus Christ rather than our own strength. I have embarked on a journey to do just this. I pray you would join me so that together we would never burn out but rather burn up for Jesus!

Cravings for Christ

Over the last year, setting a course to lose a sizable amount of weight has not always been fun or easy. However, it has been one of the most fruitful endeavors I have ever embarked on in my life. The fruit not only manifest itself in the obvious physical health but in the inward spiritual health as well. Prior to this journey I loved to indulge in Blue Bell ice-cream. In fact, I loved it and found myself craving it! I discovered, ashamedly, it was beyond my control. At times, the desire for Homemade Country Vanilla would well up from within and I had to have it. Soon into my healthier habits of eating, those cravings were gone and they were replaced with a new craving-a craving for health.


I wonder how many of us crave The Christ Life? At any given moment an overwhelming need wells up from deep within, an overwhelming passion, and it’s not for Blue Bell but rather it is to glorify God! It’s so powerful, much like the physical body under the influence of food, the spiritual man becomes influenced by the indwelling Jesus, who is working His way to the surface of our lives. To the onlooker this presents itself as a person with an intense craving for the things of God. It is such a craving for Christ that we disregard the physical, we ignore the counsel of men, and we throw caution to the wind. What if...you and I craved Christ like Blue Bell?


Pastor Barry

P.S. 80 pounds lost to date. Learn to change your cravings!

Depravity of Man & Freedom in Christ

The recent shooting in Colorado reminds us of the brevity of life; also, it is a tragic display of the depravity of the human soul. Humans are so peculiar in that, when tragedy strikes, we look for the cause yet never do we find ourselves returning to the root of the problem— our own sinful and depraved nature. It amazes me that in our efforts to be blameless before men, we are even willing to blame the tragic occurrences of life on inanimate objects, such as a gun, a car, etc.

Shifting blame and pointing fingers has been around since man first sinned in the garden. Remember Adam? He blamed Eve for his inability to be obedient to God (Gen. 3:12). What cannot be missed is the truth that Adam, regardless of Eve’s actions, had to answer to God for his own. The same is true for you and I. We may be able to avoid condemnation while we walk this earth, but one day we will be held accountable before God. Matthew 12:36 reminds us that “…every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.”

As Believers, we should endeavor to live our lives with authenticity first before God. Only by giving Him the preeminence of our lives can we keep our relationships, to Christ, to man, and to sin in perspective. Only in authentic living do we find the humility to recognize, confess, and grow beyond pride and sin.

We cannot recognize the freedom and strength that is ours in Christ until we have realized the weakness of our own flesh. The Apostle Paul shared a tremendous truth with the church at Galatia that still serves us well today “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” (Gal. 6:7-8).

What sin is there in our lives that we need to be honest about today?

The Bitter Sweet of Hope

 Last month I was blessed to have taken just short of a full month off. What a tremendous time! It wasn't to take a vacation, but rather to spend time with the Lord and simply refresh spiritually.During the course of my time off, I had opportunity to truly discover that my soul had become discontented in many areas of my life and ministry. What is frightening is how subtle it can happen to any of us regardless of the time and energy we are putting into ministry or the Word. What I found at the end of the day were two truths that, once realized, gave me the power to mature in Christ. First, any discontentment in our lives always leads back to a failure to trust God in a particular situation. Secondly, our blindness to the subtleness of discontentment may stem from our own unwillingness to deal with tender areas in our life.

While in Georgia on my sabbatical, I went out on the property to pick wild blackberries. I don’t often do this, but I want to share a note with you that I wrote in my journal that evening. I believe it will help you visualize the truths above.

Wednesday 6/20/2012: “Blackberries are a cruel beast, so beautiful, tasty and sweet yet so painful to pick from the bush. Dealing with our inner feelings, our insufficiencies and our attitudes, dealing with our sins can be much like that. At the end of the day, you have a bucket full of delicious berries, but it takes wading through the briars to get there. This week has been slow – I’m afraid it’s my own reluctance to deal with the briars.”

I am reminded of the Psalmist who sang “How sweet are your words to my mouth! From your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.” Guard yourself against discontentment; learn to continually trust God! “God our Savior and….Christ Jesus our hope”

Pastor Barry