God

Unashamed Worship

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Matthew 26:7 “a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table.”

Right up in the middle of everybody

They didn’t like it
It wasn’t proper
She didn’t care
He was worth it

Those who waited for the “proper” time had no opportunity to anoint Him, for He was already risen. (Luke 24:1-3)

She may not have understood the significance of what she did. But she was one who sat at His feet, learning Him, loving Him….and so when her heart was moved within her, she was unashamed to worship Him.

May we learn a lesson from her.

Building the kingdom

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“Building the kingdom of God must be our primary objective in life, but the underlying motivation must be love for the King. The only way a person can be truly committed to the kingdom of God is to be consumed with love for Christ. If we are driven by a philosophy or an ideology, a desire to make the world a better place or to see a new order established, then our ambition falls into the same category as communism, Marxism, socialism, and all the other “isms”. Seeking the kingdom of God is in a category all by itself because it stems from a fountain deeper than any motive in this world – divine, supernatural love for the King. This love is the foundation and the driving force behind the kingdom that will endure long after all others have crumbled to dust.” Daniel Kolenda

Compelling them to come

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Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, “Come, for all things are now ready.’ But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, “I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ And another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ Still another said, “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, “Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ And the servant said, “Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ Then the master said to the servant, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.” Luke 14:15-24

This is no ordinary supper. This is a parable about eternal life. At the cross everything was completed….all has been made ready. So now the invitation is given —– come to the banquet the Father has prepared. And yet, many…..so very many, refuse to come. What a sad reality this is, that there are many who reject the offer of eternal life. But heaven is not hindered by man’s rejection. God is a pursuer. He started by sending His servants with an invitation. Then He sends His servants to bring them in. And finally, the servants are instructed to compel them to come. As the hour becomes later, the call to come into the kingdom becomes more urgent and intense.

Do you feel the urgency of heaven? God is not willing that any should perish. We shouldn’t be willing that they perish either. I think we are well beyond the days of invitations, and even of bringing them in. It is time to compel them to come. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit, let’s be about the Father’s business that His house may be filled. It’s not a day to be fearful and timid. Eternity is at stake. Souls are in the balance.

It shouldn’t end that way

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Yesterday I had jury duty. After they had given us all our instructions, we just had to sit there and wait a few hours for them to choose who would stay and who would be sent home. So while we waited, they played a movie on the 2 large screens in the room. It was called “Taking Chance.” Normally I would have gone into the quiet room to read, but for whatever reason I just stayed in my seat as the movie began. The basic storyline was as follows: The main character was a Lt. Colonel in the Marine Corps who worked an office job, but he seemed to feel some stirrings of guilt because was not a part of the very conflict that he had been trained for. He volunteered to escort the remains of a Marine who was killed in combat to the family for burial. It seemed as though on the whole trip he was having an awakening as he considered the young man who was killed in battle as he was sitting safely in a cubicle.

Any my heart was almost exploding because it was like watching a parable of the church….many safe and comfortable on the sidelines while others are risking everything on the battlefield. But there are these moments of clarity when we see…..eternal realities…..God’s purposes….and ourselves somewhere on the outside. It is a moment of truth. A valley of decision. A choice must be made.

I anticipated the ending. He would leave everything and enlist for a tour of duty in Iraq. That was the only reasonable ending. But it wasn’t the ending. He arrived home to his nice house, hugged his wife and kids and shut the door. And the movie was over.

And everything in me screamed “NO…it’s not supposed to end like that!!”

People of God…..please….don’t let that be our ending. We have been trained and equipped for battle and everyone is needed for the fight. It is a moment of truth. A valley of decision. A choice must be made.

Not my will

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“….not my will, but Yours, be done.” Luke 22:42

Jesus prayed it. Jesus lived it. Many times in Scripture He talked about how important what the Father wanted was to Him:

  •  “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” John 5:30
  • “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”  John 6:38
  • “Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” John 5:19
  • “For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.” John 12:49

This same thing is what He taught us to pray: “ So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Luke 11:2

It was important to Jesus. We would all, as Christians, say that it is important to us as well.   Because God wills some pretty amazing stuff – salvation, healing, deliverance, and more. And we say, “Your will be done Lord! Amen!” But there’s that other part of Luke 22:42 that maybe we don’t find so exciting – NOT MY WILL.

We are very happy to fit the will of God in between our will, of course as long as it doesn’t squeeze us too tight. But to exclude our will entirely? Deny our own rights and desires and wishes and wants and pleasures and comforts and conveniences and entertainments? Surely that isn’t what it means.

That is exactly what it means.

It isn’t – my will + His will

It isn’t – His will most of the time

It is- His will regardless of my will

“….not my will, but Yours, be done.” What glory there must be in the life surrendered to this.

 

Report for duty

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No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.  2 Timothy 2:4

The soldier who is actively engaged in combat thinks only of the battle.  It is life or death, not only for himself, but for his fellow soldiers and the land he is fighting for.  There is much at stake, so his life is focused, disciplined and courageous.  There is a great loyalty that motivates him.  There is a cause greater than himself, and he has given himself fully to it.  His whole life has been so ordered that he might be most useful and available to those he is serving.

It is a good analogy for us….the picture of a soldier.  Because we too, as followers of Jesus, deal with life and death realities.  Lives are depending upon us.  God has chosen to use His church to reach the world with the gospel….there is no backup plan.  And should we fail to accommodate our lives to the progression of this heavenly kingdom on earth, many…..so very many, will neither hear, nor avail themselves of God’s great gift of grace through Jesus Christ.

It is good to go to church, but it is not enough to simply sit on a pew.  We must be the church.

It is good to pray, but it is not enough to say reverent words.  We must move heaven with our prayers.

It is good to worship, but it is not enough to sing our songs.  We must encounter the heart of God.

Otherwise we will not go and they will not hear.

Many things will present themselves as obstacles: the cares and troubles of this life….. the emotional disruptions we face due to the irritations, hurts and offenses caused by others….. our own fears, inadequacies and weaknesses..… but what do any of these have to do with the gospel?  The mission has not changed.

It is time to report for duty.  Our Commander-in-Chief has given the command.  Our weapons are unstoppable and victory is assured.  Sitting on the sidelines of the conflict has never been a place of safety, child of God.  Engage the heart of God….and then engage in the warfare.

Live after Five Outreach – Friday May, 2015

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There were two women who passed by us on the sidewalk several times Friday afternoon. What caught my attention about them was how entirely they were trying to look like men. I prayed a simple prayer in my heart for them, that God would reveal Himself to them and help them to understand who He is and who they are.  A little while later they were passing by on the sidewalk again and this time one of them headed directly for me. I braced myself, expecting her to angrily confront me concerning what Christians believe about homosexuality. But instead she asked me where I went to church. I told her and she said she thought she had seen me before and we discovered that we had gone to the same church more than 10 years ago.  She told me how she had walked with Jesus for twenty years, being very zealous for Him, until her godly husband died, leaving her in a place of sorrow and confusion.  And then she confessed “ after he died, I went down a path that I knew I shouldn’t have gone down”.   With tears she said God had been dealing with her heart. I only had a few brief moments to offer her some encouragement to return to Jesus. Still crying she said “thank you for what you’re doing”, hugged me and walked away down the sidewalk.   I hadn’t given her a gospel tract. I hadn’t even preached the gospel to her.  But just standing on the sidewalk for Jesus was all God needed in that moment to speak to a precious soul that had strayed away.

Local Outreach – March 27, 2015

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Yesterday afternoon we did our first outreach at an LSU baseball game. It’s a great opportunity to put the gospel message into the hands of many people in a short period of time, which we are always glad to do. But we are very watchful for opportunities to speak to people. Yesterday a precious young lady, a high school senior, stopped to talk to Charles for a few minutes. I could hear bits and pieces of their conversation from where I was standing and was very disturbed to hear that her family had been asked to leave their church after her mother was divorced. They hadn’t really been involved in church since then. She walked off shortly afterwards, but passed by us again later that afternoon. I stopped her to tell her how sorry I was that her family had been treated that way, that I was also divorced but had found forgiveness in Jesus and love from His people. It broke my heart to think of her and her mom feeling thrown away by God because of how they had been treated by church people. God forbid that we should be the reason people don’t find their way to Him. It matters how we treat people.

Later that night we were on Third Street and within a few minutes of getting there a college student stopped to talk when I handed him a gospel tract. He had been raised to believe in God but had strayed away from any interest in Him. At LSU he had listened to the people who came to preach at Free Speech Alley, wanting to know truth, but very turned off by the manner in which the preachers dealt with people, even when they only wanted to ask them questions. Even though he did not disagree with their message, he wanted no part of something that was presented in such a way that it seemed so angry and hateful. He and his girlfriend had been talking about spiritual things….. they are seeking and wide open to Jesus right now. And being pushed away by people who claim to represent Him. It matters how we treat people.

Born again believers…..we represent Jesus Christ on this earth. It matters how we treat people.

Choosing the Eternal

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2 Corinthians 4:18 “while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Colossians 3:2 “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”

The tendency of humans to place too much importance on the things which affect their senses and feelings has been a problem from the beginning. When Eve looked at the fruit on the tree of knowledge she considered not the command of the eternal God but “that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise…” It appealed to her senses and in that moment she valued that temporal momentary gratification more than the eternal benefits of obedience. And the whole world has suffered for it.

It can be easy for us as believers to avoid those things that are clearly sinful. However, there are many things in this world that are not evil in and of themselves, but they are merely temporal. We can give time and attention to them without it necessarily being a matter of sin…except that it takes our focus from the eternal things and dulls the spiritual senses. Daily we are faced with choices….the temporal or the eternal. This material world so often casts a shadow over our life…a veil over our mind. And so we live in a fog, unable to see those things which are truly important. Meanwhile a world perishes without Jesus. The cost of temporal living is far too high.

Third Street Outreach – Friday October 10th

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I had been on Third Street for about thirty minutes when I noticed a young man walking unsteadily down the sidewalk with the police following behind him, watching him. He passed by me and overturned one of the metal garbage cans into the street. (The garbage cans are very heavy and it took two men to set it back upright). As he continued to walk down the street he was screaming and cursing at the police officers until he disappeared from sight. I silently prayed that God would touch his heart and bring him back so I could talk to him. Less than an hour later he was back and instead of passing by me, he walked right up to me and stood there looking at me. So, assuming that he wanted to hear the gospel, I spent the next twenty minutes telling him about our wonderful Jesus and how desperately he needed Him. He listened so very attentively and when our conversation was over he walked away meek as a little lamb, thanking me for talking to him. Please pray for this young man.