Pastor John’s Blog

Years ago I was invited to attend a quinceañera to say a few words about this wonderful young lady and offer a prayer for her. I was told by the family that it would be a small event in the family’s backyard and that they would fire up the barbecue to cook for everyone. Being that this was a small backyard event I went in jeans and a button-down shirt. When I got there everyone had on either a suit or a tuxedo. The quinceañera had on the most beautiful white dress, one of those with the wire bottom that makes the bottom look like a bell. The problem is that they had forgotten to tell me about the dress code! When I saw the elegance I did not want to go in. I fought it! Even though I was clean, I felt dirty and messy compared to how everyone else was dressed. Had I had time to go home and change I would have done so, but I had no time so I decided to go in. Needless to say, I felt so uncomfortable and out of place throughout the entire party! Well, this is how many feel about entering God’s presence during the song service at church. They feel dirty and unworthy to sing to the Lord and bask in His presence. They feel uncomfortable, as if they do not belong, and all they do is remember the filth of their past, which makes them feel even more unworthy. Here is what we need to know. Hebrews10:19-22 says, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.²⁰ By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.²¹ And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house,²² let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water” (NLT). We are not dirty any longer! We are not unworthy any longer! Jesus Christ has washed us with His blood so that we no longer have to carry a guilty conscious! Our sinful bodies were also washed clean! All the sinful things that we ever did with our bodies have been washed away! We are dressed for the occasion and are told to boldly enter God’s presence! So join with the Prophet Isaiah in saying, “I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10, NLT).

We may make excuses as to why we can’t answer God’s call on our life. Moses said to God, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled” (Ex. 4:10, NLT). Gideon said to God, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!” (Judges 6:15, NLT). Esther said indirectly to God in response to Mordecai’s request concerning the plot against the Jews, “All the king’s officials and even the people in the provinces know that anyone who appears before the king in his inner court without being invited is doomed to die unless the king holds out his gold scepter. And the king has not called for me to come to him for thirty days” (Esth 4:11, NLT). In the end, however, these were nothing more than excuses to God. He brought each of these excuses down and these three individuals responded to His calling. We, however, also make excuses as to why we cannot attend the banquet that the Lord prepares for us each Wednesday and Sunday. The excuses sound something like this: “I have just bought a field and must inspect it [business]; I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out [new toys]; ‘I now have a wife, so I can’t come [relationships]” (Luke 14:18-20, NLT). In the end, these are nothing more than excuses to which the Lord replies saying, “Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame” (Luke 14:21, NLT). God’s answer shows that at the heart of all excuses to answering His invitation to attend His house stands a lack of priority and a lack of gratitude, something that the less fortunate would never do. Let’s set all excuses aside.

God is a covenant making God. He makes agreements and promises that He always fulfills. Another way to say it is that God’s promises guide His actions. Take for example Titus 1:2 that says, “…in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began” (ESV). God made a promise to Himself in eternity past that he would give eternal life to those that would trust in Him. He did this before there was even a creation. This means that only the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit heard this promise. Yet, it was this promise that has guided God’s action toward the human race ever since. You see God moves around His promises. His word is His guarantee that he will act. Hebrews 6:17-18 also says that “God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind.¹⁸ So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us” (NLT). Notice that it says that “God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind.” Any oath or promise that God makes is binding. It steers the course of His actions. This gives us confidence because God never lies and never changes His mind regarding an oath or a promise that he has made! This is why Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise” (NLT). Therefore, take time to study the word of God to find the promises that God has made to you. Then believe those promises and watch God fulfill them in your life!

When we think of a king we think of someone with the power to make decisions and with the authority and the resources to make things happen. Solomon was such a king. 2 Chronicles 1:1 says, “Solomon son of David took firm control of his kingdom, for the Lord his God was with him and made him very powerful” (NLT). This was a man who had the power to lead, and yet the first decision he makes, and the first display of his authority and first allocation of his resources and his first act of leadership all centered on worship. 2 Chronicles 1:2-6 says, “Solomon called together all the leaders of Israel—the generals and captains of the army, the judges, and all the political and clan leaders.³ Then he led the entire assembly to the place of worship in Gibeon, for God’s Tabernacle was located there. (This was the Tabernacle that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had made in the wilderness.)⁴ David had already moved the Ark of God from Kiriath-jearim to the tent he had prepared for it in Jerusalem.⁵ But the bronze altar made by Bezalel son of Uri and grandson of Hur was there at Gibeon in front of the Tabernacle of the Lord. So Solomon and the people gathered in front of it to consult the Lord. ⁶ There in front of the Tabernacle, Solomon went up to the bronze altar in the Lord’s presence and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings on it” (NLT). Solomon understood that in order for his reign to be successful he needed God to bless him and his people. So the first thing he did was the people to worship God. We must learn this from Solomon. Let’s place our decisions, our gifts, our authority, our resources, our influence and our leadership skills before the Lord as an act of worship so that He may bless everything that we do.

Psalm 136:1 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever” (NLT). If the basis for our thanksgiving is God’s goodness then it is important for us to know what this goodness is. The word good or goodness is the translation of the Hebrew word tov. A good way to start defining the Hebrew word tov is to notice that this verse says that He is good. This describes not just God’s actions but His very nature. Exodus 33:19 makes a connection between God’s goodness and His nature when it says “I will make [God speaking to Moses] all my goodness [Hebrew, cal-tovi] pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh” (NLT). Here, at Moses request to see God’s glory, God tells Moses that He will give him a quick view of his nature. When the Lord finally passed in front of Moses, momentarily, as if showing the many facets of his goodness, He called out saying, “Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.⁷ I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin” (Exodus 34:6-76). Therefore, when the Bible says that God is good it means that he is compassionate, forgiving, slow to anger and rich in mercy and unfailing love toward us! This is who He is and what He does for us! So today “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever” (NLT).

Years ago, when I was first learning how to use computers I was writing a paper for school and had invested many hours on several pages but forgot to hit save. Something happened to the computer that caused it to reboot on its own, this was before the days of document auto-save! After the computer rebooted I discovered that all of my work was lost. I was devastated to say the least! Not having any other option I restarted to type, but this time I hit save continuously! Jeremiah the Prophet knew what this was like for God gave him a message that he was to dictate to his assistant Baruch who was then to write down Jeremiah’s words verbatim so that the message could be delivered to the king of Israel. However, the king’ assistant, Jehudi, got possession of the finished scroll and “Each time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king took a knife and cut off that section of the scroll. He then threw it into the fire, section by section, until the whole scroll was burned up” (Jeremiah 36:23, NLT). Then after the scroll was completely burned God said to Jeremiah, “Get another scroll, and write everything again just as you did on the scroll King Jehoiakim burned” (Jeremiah 36:28). Being that I was so devastated at losing several pages of my paper on my computer I would think that Jeremiah must have felt as frustrated as I did for having to redo his work. However, we are not told how Jeremiah felt. All that we are told is that Jeremiah did as the Lord had commanded him. He spoke the words and Baruch repeated the difficult task of writing the words on a scroll. Jeremiah and Baruch both demonstrated a patience with God’s request that we must all learn from. Sometimes God asks us to do things that we have already done and may even find tedious. It may be to teach children once more on Sundays or pick up an instrument we thought we would never again use or serve in a position that we thought we simply had outgrown. However, when God tells us to redo something we need to exude the patience that both Jeremiah and Baruch demonstrated. What is God asking you to redo?

David wrote Psalm 34 after God helped him escape the clutches of King Achish of Gath. Running away from King Saul, David tried to hide in Gath but the officers of King Achish recognized him and started saying, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land?’ they asked. ‘Isn’t he the one the people honor with dances, singing, ‘Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands?’” (1 Samuel 21:11, NLT). Fearing what King Achish might do to him, David “changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard” (21:13, ESV).  This caused King Achish to say “Must you bring me a madman?¹⁵ We already have enough of them around here! Why should I let someone like this be my guest?” (21:14-15, ESV). As a result of this deliverance David wrote in Psalm 34:8 “Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!” (NLT). What is so interesting about this verse is that the word translated here as “taste” is the Hebrew word “tam.” Here it is used in a figurative sense meaning to “taste by sampling a little” and stands as an invitation to sample the saving goodness of God that David had experienced. What is so fascinating about this Hebrew word “tam” is that it also means “behavior” and is the exact word used in 1 Samuel 21:11 that says, David “changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane” (NLT). By using the word tam (taste) in Psalm 34:8 David makes a connection with the word tam (behavior) in 1 Samuel 21:11 and tells us that he sampled the saving goodness of God when he pretended to be mad and was thrown out by King Achish. In other words, David connected the saving goodness of God in his life to a specific moment of deliverance. By saying that he tasted God’s goodness David is expressing that this was only one sample of the many samples of God’s goodness that he had experienced because God’s goodness is so great it can only be sampled one bite at a time! Like David we need to “taste and see” that God is good by remembering a time when God delivered us from something. As we think back and see (perceive) what God has done, whether big or small, we will begin to sample a small bite of the immense goodness of God toward us. Start tasting!

God works in stages throughout our lives. He does not do everything all at once so as to give us the opportunity to grow in faith toward Him. Take the people of Judah, for example. They were taken captive by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, in 586 B.C. for a total of seventy years as punishment for all of the centuries that they had practiced idolatry. When they were finally released from their captivity the psalmist wrote Psalm 126. The first three verses capture the joy that accompanied their release. They say, “When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream!² We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy. And the other nations said, “What amazing things the Lord has done for them.”³ Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us! What joy!” (NLT). This act of liberation by God seemed like a dream to them that brought about joy and laugher and amazement. However, after returning to the land to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and the Temple of God and their houses, and after plowing the hard arid soil that decades earlier was rich with life, they longed once more for God to intervene in their lives as he had done when he set them free from their captivity. Verse 4 captures this when it says, “Restore our fortunes, Lord, as streams renew the desert” (NLT). The first stage of their deliverance was great, but now, as they faced the hardships associated with planting and harvesting they needed God once more. This new challenge made them look to God yet again and caused their faith in Him to grow. As a result of having to wait on God as they shed many tears planting seed on hard dry ground they were able to say the words found in verses 5-6: “Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy.⁶ They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest” (NLT). In this second stage of planting and rebuilding God intervened, and once again they were filled with joy as they brought in a large harvest. God could have brought them back from captivity and have also caused the ground to produce immediate results. However, God chose to work in stages to allow them time to struggle, pray, believe and finally, rejoice. This is how God works in our lives. He is giving us time in between stages to learn to trust in Him. Tears are not meant to be forever.

Coming to faith in Jesus Christ requires us to shift our complete allegiance to him. This means that His authority must be supreme in our lives even if this comes with a heavy cost. Many in Ephesus came to understand this as the Apostle Paul came to their town preaching the gospel message. Acts 19:18-19 captures this when it says, “Many who became believers confessed their sinful practices.¹⁹ A number of them who had been practicing sorcery brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars” (NLT). Sorcery deals with the occult. It is satanic in nature. However, a number of sorcerers fell under conviction by the preaching of God’s word and came to faith in Christ. After having done so they realized that they had to burn all of their incantation books for these represented an allegiance to their old master—Satan—and that having these books would divide their allegiance between Christ and the Devil. This came at a high cost to them for books in those days were very expensive. Keep in mind that the printing press had not yet been invented. Books were written by hand on expensive parchment paper. This is why we are told that “The value of the books was several million dollars.” Yet despite the cost these new converts burned this bridge to their past. We must do the same. Like the Ephesians we must burn the bridges to our sinful past. This may mean letting go of past relationships, or discontinuing visiting places where we used to indulge our flesh, or stopping sinful practices or even getting rid of items that are connected to our sinful past. The question that you must answer today is this: Is there anything in your life that stands in defiance to Christ that you must burn (or simply throw away), whether literally or figuratively?

I remember as a child standing next to my father and holding his hand as the two of us waited in line. Being curious and easily distracted I began to look around. Without even thinking about it I let go of my father’s hand. Little by little, without me being aware, I had begun to move away from father as my mind wandered and my eyes gazed at my surroundings. Finally, realizing that I had let go of my father’s hand I reached for it without looking, and took hold of it. I held his hand for what seemed to be a long time. When I finally looked up at my father the blood rushed out of my head and went all the way down to my feet. Frightened and confused I stared at a man whose hand I was holding that had a long salt-and-pepper beard like one of the members of ZZ Top! Being convinced that I had never let go of my father’s hand I thought to myself, “How did my father transform!” Scared straight I frantically looked around the room until I saw my father standing back a few people in line, laughing! Then I looked at the man whose hand I was holding and he too was laughing! I immediately let go of the man’s hand and ran back to my father and hugged him feeling mad, frightened and confused all at once. When I finally asked my father what had happened he said that I had gotten distracted and let go of his hand and started to move forward until I had finally reached out and held that man’s hand. Well, this is what we do with God. We let life distract us until we slowly let go of his hand and begin to drift away. Sometimes we may drift so far that after reaching out for God’s hand and holding it for a while we realize that we have been holding the hand of our enemy, the Devil. However, just as my father was there looking out for me God is also there, ready for us to look for Him, go to Him and take His hand once more. God never wanders away from us for Joshua 1:5 says, “I will not fail you or abandon you” (NLT). It is we that wander away from Him.